Age of Decadence - Preview, Demo Update Coming

Dhruin

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We received word of a large gameplay update for The Age of Decadence Combat Demo that is expected on Monday. The update tweaks and improves the gameplay, so should be worth a look for anyone following this.
First, a snip from a preview at the Adrenaline Vault we missed a couple of weeks ago:
As much as I enjoy treachery and deceit, however, sometimes it can be just as necessary to bonk someone on the noggin to reinstill a sense of reality within them. AoD has taken an interesting and unusual approach to combat as far as most modern RPGs are concerned. Violence is turn based, and is played out on a grid. It is reminiscent of the system employed by Betrayal at Krondor, an absolutely remarkable 1993 game. Either way, a few days ago a combat demo was released for AoD and naturally I was very keen to take a look at it. Now, after having spent some hands-on time, I’d like to share my impressions with you.
...And here are the changes that are coming on Monday:
Ok, so the demo is out, the technical issues have been solved; you now have a good grasp of the mechanics and most of you have beaten the demo with different characters. Let's tweak a few things:

- new THC (to hit chance) formula
- change axes' split shields chance from 15-70 to 10-45
- change daggers' passive trait from "ignore armor" (DR set to 0) to "hit a weak spot" (DR is cut in half)
- add a CS check to aimed attack:torso. Currently, if you hit, you get the halved DR effect automatically, without any CS check. Basically, you trade 2 extra AP for extra damage. We're adding a CS check to give you a chance to ignore armor completely. So, now if you hit, you roll for CS, if failed - you get the "hit a weak spot" effect, if succeeded, you ignore armor completely.
- min attack speed is now 2. So, if you get the balanced dagger, you can't spam 1AP fast attacks, but all other attacks cost less.
- change various damage ranges (by 1 point only): slightly decreasing fast attacks, slight increasing power attacks, and slightly increasing 4AP weapons damage.
- nets - add a penalty to defense and double the movement rate; give nets to some arena fighters and guards; add Throwing/10 to THC.
- lower Dodge counter-attack chance from 25-80 to 15-70.
- you can block/dodge 4 attacks per turn without penalties; each subsequent attack in the same turn will be progressively harder to block/dodge. So, uh, don't get surrounded.
- shields can resist splitting. Tower shields are harder to split than a buckler, etc.
- some weapons (like 2H sword) will get a small chance to split shields. The axes will remain the most effective shield-splitting weapon, of course.
- the ammo system is changed completely

before: ammo modified the damage and DR
now: ammo modifies DR and critical modifier, so for example, AP ammo has superb armor penetration but doesn't cause a lot of critical damage (crit damage modifier "-1"), while barbed ammo has very low penetration but causes high criticals (crit damage modifier "0.5").

The passive trait chance is modified by the attack type now. Fast attacks reduce the chance by 5 points, power attacks increase it by 5 points.
More information.
 
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"Betrayal at Krondor, an absolutely remarkable 1993 game"

I couldn't agree more (which was why Return to Krondor was such a "nut-shot"); now I am more excited to see AoD.
 
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Excellent ... very excited for this one!
 
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this combat demo is very very boring.
some "real" playable materal woul be nice.
 
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Any comparison to Betrayal at krondor is a good thing. To this day, the combat in BaK is the best i have ever played. I am amazed that more games didn't try to copy that.
 
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Any comparison to Betrayal at krondor is a good thing. To this day, the combat in BaK is the best i have ever played. I am amazed that more games didn't try to copy that.


What amazes me even more is that nobody has started a project to update BaK. I would really love to play a modern remake.
 
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Any comparison to Betrayal at krondor is a good thing. To this day, the combat in BaK is the best i have ever played. I am amazed that more games didn't try to copy that.

It is being worked on ;)
 
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