Talking about the very unique cRPG that is The Age of Decadence after doing all of the things!
Timestamps:
00:00 Intro
00:36 Overview
02:08 Story Set-Up/Thoughts
04:19 Character Creation/Builds
07:24 Gameplay/Worldbuilding
12:10 Combat
15:22 Positives/Negatives
17:04 Conclusion
19:01 Wrap Up
Intro Music By Juan Andrés Matos, www.juanmatosmusic.com/
Merch Shop: / @mortismalgaming
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#gaming #gamereviews #ageofdecadence #irontowerstudios
Apparently I’ve reached the point in my gaming career where I’m watching reviews of games I turn out to already own, my backlog has gotten so bad 😂
same lol
At this point I just call them "collection" or "library", with my limited time there no chance for me to play all... I mean, most... I mean some... anyway - backlogs ain't for me.
At this point I'm more of a "game collector" than a "game player." And, I'm sure I'll add another 10 or so games to my collection during the Steam Autumn sale. Oh, and don't forget the winter sale...that'll be another 10 or so games I'll buy and never play 🤣✌️
@@billb0313 that’s _right…_ I *choose* not to play them, because my collection is worth more if they’re kept in mint condition, in their shrink-wrap!
I watch videos of my backlog games to remind me why I wanted it in the first place so Im motivated to go back and play them.
For a game made by part-time developers, and it being their first, I'd say they did a good job.
Would love to hear about more "lesser known" but interesting/complicated games like this.
After watching this video I started my own playthrough as a thief. The game is brutal, especially combat and... Traps. They always kill me :)
Underrail
Try Stellar tactics, Atom rpg and The guild games.
The Romancing SaGa games
colony ship
Really happy to see this review! As someone with almost 700 hours poured in, I appreciate your honesty in tackling both the good and the bad. One thing to mention is that many of the failure states actually lead to unique sidepaths, and as long as you're alive, there are very few instances where you're locked out and not capable of progressing. Thank you for the review, I'm definitely subbed for more in-depth analyses!
It's an ugly game, but I fell in love with it, it's such a rich roleplaying experience, I completed it 5 times and got 5 VERY different experiences and endings. This game's design speaks to me like few do.
The best storyline for me are the Assassins and the shady merchant (also the best ending 😂).
One of the first modern CRPG's I played. I loved the world and how what caused the problems is honestly not even your goal to solve. For their first game this was an amazing experience
Glad you enjoyed it, having so many different methods of getting through a game is what I liked the most about it. Many games only give you the illusion of choice, or maybe 2 branching paths, whereas this game allows you multiple completely different playthroughs.
I mean, to be fair. The Illusion of choice is nothing but game devs wanting to create a specific experience for your to "experience". This Dev wants you to only play with the viable builds and nothing else. That's the experience and thus this game does infact have illusion of choice, because the only choice is to use one of the builds or just save scum multiple runs. That is the experience the dev wants, and as I have said, that is illusion of choice.
@@NoInfoAvailhow is that illusion of choice when you have multiple, vastly different paths to choose from and multiple ways to solve most quests? To date ive finished this game 10 times with very different builds. Every run was very different from the other and the first 3-4 runs had wildly different content. Honestly there are very few RPGs out there that gives you so much freedom and CNC.
You can try Dungeon Rats as well. Made on the same engine. Different premise though, it is a dungeon crawler focused on combat. Similar to how IwD is for BG. But a good game to play if you ever have the time. Keep up the good work and ill keep being subscribed and upvoting your work. Peace!
It is just about murdering everybody and everything.
I was going to suggest the same, very difficult but love its just combat.
The fact that the player has the option to avoid combat altogether while completing a play-through says to me that this game was very well thought-out and very well executed.
Well thought out yes, well executed no, combat is way too punishing.
@adhabens The game executed my fun. Imagine making a game where you have to build the way the devs want you to build and thus role-play the way they want you to. That isn't an rpg
Hey, thanks for that review. I love irontowers dedication to crpgs. Really hope they make it to better financial spots. Would be very beneficial for us crpg lovers. Such people is it that we want developing our games. Not micro transaction corporate greed blizzard.
Good stuff. Thanks for covering Age of Decadence!
Thanks for the review!
Great video man, I've had this game in my library forever, I reckon it's time to install.
Insane ur a 100%, completions do all is, COOL! So2 happy for u. Really hope u like 100%ing. Pls keep it up!
Another game scalp for your collection! Good review/overview it is an interesting game for sure. Though it can be frustrating and hard I love the setting. Vagrus the Riven Realms has a similar setting as well and can also be a tough one to get into though it plays very differently.
Truly great game. For me Imperial Guard was most interesting, but I also did full LORE playthrough. Great world wotrth discovering.
Would love to see your thoughs on The Dungeon Of Naheulbeuk: The Amulet Of Chaos.
Mort's quality of editing, scripting and narrating is top notch. Covers every aspect of a title then gives fair opinions and checkable facts. Thank you Mort. ♥
Hey! Thanks for this video, first of all. Now I'll ask my question: do you know Masquerada: Songs and Shadows and will there be a review of that perhaps? I've asked my question.
A great review this game deserves.
I've played through this every once in awhile since I bought it. I can absolutely agree I came away each time feeling like I found something new. Either that or I forgot stuff from prior playthroughs each time, since the playthroughs were well far apart.
Nice video, I subbed. Think that doing Avernum games series would be your alley? Those are games with tactical battles and book-level scenario and lines of text. Planescape Torment would be closest around with it's ratio of text to action. Now onto the installation of Age of Decadence :) Bought it years ago, never started :o
I've been playing Spellforce 3, and have been absolutely loving it. The Fallen God campaign I played first, and I absolutely love this game. You may want to give this a try. Im not an expert at rts games, but the rpg elements, and atory, really raised the game up for me. I've not played Spellforce 1 or 2 though.
I remember playing this on my old laptop years ago. Back before I was spoiled by the narrator of Divinity Original Sin 2, I used to love reading. Nowadays my reading tolerance in a game is limited to codex entry and item description. It's good to know that there's still a place for games like these in the world.
I was hyped for the game when it was in development. Than it got delayed and droped off my radar. Thanks for bringing it back for me.
Beautiful game. Encouter with The demon still gets me the chills
Good show sir, a nice little game with a great setting =)
One of the only few really hardcore CRPG, most of the modern CRPG try to be as easy as possible with it mechanics and buildmaking to attract casual gamers which kills joy of character creation in CRPG. I love to dive deep in game's mechanics, to try, fail then improve and new build actually make new playthrough different. Age of Decadence and Underrail probably the only modern games that can give you that experience.
Hardcore would imply that the game needs some skills from the player. It doesn't. Like Mortym says in the review: it's game designed for save scumming, You can easily beat it with save scumming. It's no Fallout or Baldur's Gate.
@@icarian553 Except 1 The game isn't designed for save scumming, even when I beat the game for the first time I did it with no save scum whatsoever and the only time when I was save scumming was my first combat build (it was really bad), 2 You can easily beat fallout and BG with save scumming too 3 Yes, it's not Fallout or BG, the game much closer to Planescape with it hard focus on text.
@@icarian553 i dont know why people always say its no fallout. As much as i loved fallout, its combat was horrible and even for crpgs dated. Its basically just walk up and shoot and whoever has the better armor, guns and stim paks wins. Wasteland and even fallout tactics was much better there.
Have you played Inquisitor? Very hard game, and looks much the same as this one.
@@alisaforster28691 because people don't like fallout for the combat. What AoD lack compared to fallout is just being playable whitout having to optimize like crazy because the dev was too focussed on ensuring the "wrong" character cannot clear a quest to realize that the game was plenty replayable even whitout locking every little things behind somewhat speciphic builds.
Could I implore you to make a review of a standalone Skyrim mod called Enderal (calling it mod is a bit of a disrespect, they have their own assets, voice acting, setting and mechanics)? It's not long, it's very plot and character focused, the story is incredible imho, and it's one of my favourite RPGs. The mod is free on Steam if you have the main game bought, and it deserves more love from the community. If anyone wants to learn more, please see the trailers on YT, you will get the feel for it.
How many people works on this channel? No way you can finish these giant RPGs in days and have daily videos.
Impressive review as always! Although I'm not sure it's completely fair to compare Age of Decadence with other 2015 releases, considering that it got released in early access in 2013 and was in development for many years previously (there was a playable demo as early as 2009 I believe)
I really wish this game had actually been MORE historical. Imagine if it was actually set during the fall of Rome.
Great review! I've seen comments about Dungeon Rats but imo it doesn't hit the same. It's easily comparable to the Black Pits for BG1. Let's you experience the combat as the main focus but the best part about the game for me was unraveling the story threads and playing my character role not the combat
did you ever try Spellforce 3 ? (isometric crpg mixed with rts elements) i think you would enjoy it.
How good would you say this game is? Bought it on sale with one expansion and want to try it out but people seem to have very conflicting opinions on those titles.
@@Lulasz Personally I really enjoyed it. Neither the rts or rpg elements are particularly deep but they work. The story and especially the voice acting however was excellent. Definitely worth a try imo if you already own it.
@@Dominos1011 Thanks, I think I will give it a go.
I'm really impressed that you got 100% in this game! I've got 241 hours, but haven't 100% yet. Only routes I haven't done are the trader, grifter and drifter.
I'm surprised that you haven't reviewed Ember yet. Classic style CRPG that seems right up your alley. Hope you get to it soon. ✌️
I wouldn't mind a look on the actual state of Colony ship, looking forward to that title
Not the type of game for the Age of Kaid, but thanks for the review! I’d also love to see more “lesser known “ crpg reviews from you
Combat loremaster plays well both in and out of the combat. Alchemy, yo! :)
WTF dude you did 100% on this game? That's extraordinary for sure.
I forgot about this game.... had it forever and havent played it since
On sale on steam for $3.24
Could you try either Crusader Kings 2 or 3? It is a huge RPG but in a unique style.
Love this game
Time to check out that demo they have
Excellent video, Mortym! I like how you covered the highlights and lowlights and provided tips for how to 100% this game. Now I am pumped to 100% this game! In the video introduction you have your standard opening where you mention that if the viewer goes to your home page on KZhead, there is a video explaining "everything that you go over." That is not accurate or maybe I misunderstood what "everything that you go over means,: which would be all your videos? I do not think that is the intent. You have a variety of videos that do fit that description, and those videos are extremely helpful. In fact, I used them to develop skill as a starting completionist. May I suggest that you include the links to those videos in the show more section of each video and in your introduction, refer to the links down below instead? That way the viewer can also look at them from the page of the video they are looking at rather than have to navigate to the Mortisimal home page. The videos include "Why I Review Games After 100%," "Do Reviews After 100% Lead Me To Burn Out?," "My Approach To Achieving 100% On Games," "Answering The Channels FAQs," "Five Favorite Game Mechanics," and "Three CRPgs for Beginners." Maybe there are others? Thanx for considering my suggestion, Mortym!
It only shows up as the first video you see if you aren't subscribed. I can pick what people who are and aren't subscribed see first when they click on the channel. Of the videos you listed many aren't really relevant to these reviews, and are outside of the scope of explaining what I intend to cover with them. The statement at the beginning of the reviews is really only intended to direct people to all of the content that '100%' actually means, and isn't meant to be an indication of all of the content on the channel.
@@MortismalGaming Thank you for answering that. I have been a subscriber for a while, so I never saw the video. I found it now by visiting your channel with a different Google account that is not subscribed. Very nice video! I very much like your other videos I listed in my original post, as well. The whole collection helps with learning and understanding your 100% cadence. Thank you SO much for producing all those videos!
Mort, have you ever played any of the games from Spiderweb Software? Avernum series, for example. They are all crpgs and seem up your alley for sure. I searched your channel and couldn't find any references and haven't heard you mention them before.
I've played a few, but I havent gotten around to reviewing any of them
hey dude, ,mind if I ask you how you approach making these videos? do you record 100% of all gameplay?
I record the first few hours usually, and then on an as needed basis from there, on top of anything that feels pretty important in the moment.
This reminds me of an earlier solo project by a French video game company called Cinemax, called The Inquisitor.
Great review as always, hoping to see one for a game called Dead State: Reanimated it's very similar to this games system and mechanics except it's a isometric post apocalyptic zombie c-rpg check it out! It's on steam as well and pretty underrated! :)
I played this game many times, i always enjoy more the combat since i life turn based, i just go for 2 handed hammers + dodge and armor that gives me around 11 ap and my character turn into a killing machine, i think i had 100+ bodycounts by the end of the game since i was killing everyone i came across
Awesome game, I had the most fun playing trader pacifist. Never understood "combat is too hard" argument, it really isn't if you know what you are doing and if you put your mindset into can't fight against 3+ opponents right now. Also there's an interesting game made by the same studio, that's in the same engine and uses the same character creator and it is a dungeon crawler type, where you can recruit and use different companions as you go further and combat encounters are made to be challenging because you have full control with your squad. I can't remember the name on the top of my head and I haven't played it much, but from what I remember it was a fun side project.
There's quite a number of interesting endings and they can range from dying an anonymous and ignoble death to, well, spoilers, becoming a god. That one's tough though, requires specific stats (at least 8 in both CON and INT) and a long chain of events. Get your lore skill high and search every ruin thoroughly. That's all the hints you'll be getting! Well, from me anyway but the journey is most the fun so try not to use any step by step guides if you can help it.
How are the party mechanics? Are there any? Can't seem to find anyone mentioning this critical cRPG element. I can make an assumption about why, but I prefer to confirm than to assume.
It's just you most of the time
@@MortismalGaming Thanks. That's what I thought. Okay, not my sort of game then.
A very fair review. I very much disliked the game but you've described well who may like it and in which way is it supposed to be approached.
Watched through twice, liked, and commented. Wish I could financially support you, but unfortunately that's all I can do for support at the moment. Just wanted to say a whole hearted thank you Mortym for the many hours of amazing content you've given me. We appreciate your dedication to the genre, and for the respect you give each and every review
I may have missed it, but is this a solo character game? Do you get a party?
Just you outside of the occasional fight with allies.
In the end it was the hard skill checks which pretty much ruined the game for me, mostly because I ended up feeling like I really _need_ to succeed on the skill checks and like I couldn't allow myself to fail themselves, that unlike in Disco Elysium I was simply either hardlocked out of something with no alternative route or made feel like the failure was acceptable. As such the game devolved into me hoarding skill checks and saving before every interraction to see what skill I needed to pump up to proceed which wasn't much fun at all. In general after playing Disco Elysium I do wish that more games would take the % skill check approach because it really feels much better to me. Not that it's the only reason why it failure in Disco Elysium felt acceptable and even good, huge part is the writing which made it feel justified and whenever there were a situation you simply couldn't succeed in it felt, well, justified. I am curious about the devs next game and hope that it won't contain the hard skill checks because otherwise it'll be a total pass for me.
the problem of % skill checks ia thatbyou can brute force them by save scumming, and you can 100% do that in DE if you want.
in fact, the author of AoD is fairly active on his forum explaining why he made things the way that he did. he rejected dicerolls because he want to make sure not every character was able to clear every quest in order to increase replayability. i can't say i agree with his mindset but he has his own reasons and explained them.
@@noukan42 Also a bit of the point is that adding % to dialogue skill checks creates a gameplay loop that relies even more on savescumming, and undervalues the choice of increasing skill (by either allowing not investing into it as you can get by with retries, or by investing into it and failing anyway). With this design, your points into a skill have a defined value. Having chances in combat is different as you take a lot more actions and creates interesting and unexpected situations, while on limited checks in dialogues is "fail, reload and try again, etc".
Given that there will usually be a lot of negative comments for this game, I wanted to add my perspective. The main thing for people is that it requires 'save-scumming'. My view on this is that this too narrow a view on the way it is set up. The game allows failure, and allows it to play out. You play by the rules you made for yourself at creation. If your merchant is breaking and entering, you'll likely not get away with it. If your assassin is engaging in direct combat, you'll have a hard time. If a failed mission for you is a reason to reload, that is not on the game. That is on the choices you made, which were different from what you indicated at creation. I laud this game for letting me fail, and having the decency for letting us players makes the wrong choice, and even having taking into account a story for said failure, rather than not even allowing the attempt. Because of this, the story, and unique setting, it has for me been the best game to come out in ten years.
Yeah, it comes a bit from the game having a different paradigm in which skills matter a lot, so that if you don't invest them you can just "wing it". One of the main ideas was that if you make a character that's not good at combat, you meet a bandit that says "your money or your life", you really should give him your money.
In fact, there are quite a few unique quest paths that are only available if you screw up!
How do you feel about a system like Radiant Historia?
Yes, that is the typical copy/paste reply straight from the Iron Towers forums as well as the developers themselves, but sorry... I have to wholeheartedly disagree. There is a huge difference between making a bad choice and experiencing a negative consequence (whatever it may be) and making any choice only to be teleported into an unwinnable situation due to bad design. For example... I made a combat-oriented character and in the very first inn where I was spawned I was given an option to protect some guy. I clicked on "accept", naively thinking the game would then let me conclude my dialogue, let me run around a bit... maybe find someone to help me out... maybe let me buy and equip some armor before sending me to my death... that sort of thing. Nope, I got immediately teleported into a small room, where I didn't even have the time to equip my armor and weapons -and then I was immediately ambushed by a bunch of enemies, which made short work of my combat focused character. Now, this isn't just me making a bad choice... this is horrible design, since without the meta-knowledge of teleportation mechanics and exactly at what point they will be activated... you have no way of preparing yourself... which you would obviously do if you were in the character's shoes. The fact that the game takes that option away from you and just teleports you into a death trap is bad design. There is no way around it. And if this was the only such example... ok... who care... but this happens in the game all the time. That is why you absolutely have to save-scum all the time. Now, with that being said, if you don't have a problem with using guides/walkthroughs/meta-knowledge/save-scumming/etc -you might enjoy the game. However, at least to me... using such methods is not that much different from cheating. And if that is the only way you can beat this game... then what's the point of even playing it?
@@redknight4805 1. You do get to ask for weapons/armour. 2. First fight is against one guy who is much weaker than you. 3. Second fight which is against multiple enemies warns you explicitly that you're very likely to die and the smart thing is to walk away. You get no penalty from skipping it, but the default mercenary character can still beat it easily without restarting.
What do you think is the correct order of characters to enjoy the whole story?
One of the most thorough lore options of the game can be experienced through the Assasin background, but its complex: Step 1) betray AG in Teron by shooting Dias and ambushing the guild hall to join Imperial Guard 2) Do 1st IG mission in Maadoran but DON'T report back to the IG base 3) Go to Gaelius, betray IG to join him as a Praetor 4) You have now just joined your 3rd house and will have access to 99% of the locations in the game, as well as some secret ambush fights when the AG/IG attempt their revenge. Enjoy!
Alternatively, play Thief with 10 Int/civil skills, sneak into Feng's with Perception 8 for +1 Lore and +1 Lockpick, and then max out sneak and lockpick (with 5 in steal for overflow points) and enjoy a slew of free CP for stealing from the Inns and shops that basically more than refunds the cost provided you hit every interaction.
Hmmmm looks cool to me
My experience with this game was a mixed bag of good and bad. I managed to create a build with broad but shallow pool of social skills. It was fun for a while, but I got locked out of some areas because there was no peaceful options and no hirelings/allys I could acquire. I tried to roll with that and managed to fail forward with some conspiracy plot where I was not skillful enough to perform well but was spared and allowed to change sides. But then I just got locked out from any quest or area because I've got no specialisation for this or that and no way yo acquire enough xp to unblock myself. So not only you should minmax physical pr mental skills you should specialize in a few key skills, basically locking yourself from a lot of content. I usually don't replay games so I'm not a fan of some game design choices here.
like it says in the intro of the game, you are not the "hero" nor some all powerful "chosen one". the game is meant to be brutal, forcing you to choose a path and stick with it
@bryanvaldez9398 My dude if the game wants to be realistic than what more realistic than hybrid builds? Historically their have been many famous fighters in history who have walked many paths and done many things. For example Miyamoto Musashi isn't just a swordsman (a damn good one too) he was also an artist and writer. If you want a game to be realistic you give the player choices not forcing them to be pigeon holed.
Well, need to check it out after finally beating fallout 2
Now I've got to buy this 😂
free comment.
Hey Mortismal, you should check a game called Balrum :)
Tried it several times and each time bailed out. Just didn't feel worth the RNG and trial & error.
I don't mind stealing bread, when I play Age of Decadence. :^]
The game looks cool, but, is there any VO? I get tired really fast reading in english
As I mentioned, no there is no voice acting
IMO best RPG ever made, with unique setting and story, convincing characters and writing, exciting quests and a revolutionary approach to narrative where we find out the story from different perspectives. And I see nothing wrong with UI, it serves its role and everything is easy to access so I don't understand why you consider it as obsolete.
I prefer diplomatic playthroughs because I suck at combat, but damn was this game epic.
Played this game while it still was in early access on Steam. At that moment it was f***ing ruthless! Few wrong skill points and you couldn't finish one of the first Main Quests. Looks like they have changed things since then. Still don't recommend this game to people who don't like rerolling characters just to progress the story.
While I did grow up during the text rpg age of BG1, Fallout, etc, today I just find games without much voice acting rather dry. I am not sure how much voice acting Pathfinder Wrath had, maybe half? That's about the least amount of vo I can handle these days. Games without almost any VO just feel old compared to modern titles. With smaller titles even going full VO now, I feel it's less a smaller studio issue, and more a issue of Studios just not wanting to hassle with it, or save money by cutting corners. I have played pure narrative text titles, but often those are designed to be a narrative experience, when CRPGs lack voice, it's rather bland in my view.
AoD was a big disappointment for me, I was hoping for an RPG with freedom of choice, but I got only a railroad on a cliff where you have 1 or at most 2 correct decisions, and everything else will just cripple your walkthrough for life. The benefits of meta knowledge in this game are pretty absurd, playing with an open wiki is much more enjoyable than a raw playthrough.
I have a love hate relationship with this game. I dislike how you're somewhat shoe-horned into a very specific playstyle to make it to the end, but the world is interesting, the little plots are fun, and your actions have consequences.
Yeah, I think I'll give this one a pass. IMO, save-scumming is the death of roleplaying.
One thing you fail to mention is the succinctness of the writing. Imo it's not text dumpy at all but nicely to the point while still having enough lore to build a cool world.
I really wanted to like this game but after many crashes and the lack of quality regarding its presentation, it was a bit too much for me, so i refunded it.
The looks, feel and gameplay of this game IS VERY THE SAME LIKE NEVERWINTER NIGHTS! How I wish there will be NEVERWINTER Nights 3 sequel and so on! If this game becomes successful and popular, I want this game to spawn many sequels.
The fact that save-scumming is really important in this game is really what bother me the most, in my opinion it's pretty anti-immersive.
Games pretty over the top overbearing. After a dozen or so runs and a handful of completions the actual playing of the game is... unique. It's more of a routing RPG than a gameplay one where things don't even work unless you already know about the interactions and what you need beforehand. Then the rest of the game is just seeing the character you designed at character creation work its way through to the end with nearly no deviation.
I remember installing and uninstalling this game after 5 minutes, I just couldn’t get past the aesthetic
I will pass on this.
One of the best games I've ever played. Inherently flawed but has so much soul, much like fallout 1 or deadly premonition. One of the best worlds ever crafted with so many stories to piece the grander narrative together over like 4-5 playthroughs. While there is a definite best ending in unraveling and taking advantage of the relics of the past, I will still always love the extremely difficult to achieve joke ending where you ally with the "best" man for the job.