I recently talked with Vince Weller (VINCE WELLER), studio head Iron Tower Studios, developing The Age of Decadence – Today, perhaps, one of the most anticipated independent RPG. Naturally, we recalled the good old days, we spoke about Planescape: Torment. And I asked: why today no one makes RPG, which can be completely without battles, only with dialogs? “Why isn’t anyone doing? We are doing!” – a little offended by Vince. Soon I had to make sure of this personally, getting to know the preview-version The Age of Decadence.
At almost every step there is an option to apply one or another social skill. So, you can force the huckster to pay you for an allegedly expired license or powder the brains of a noble lady and rob her.
However, we will make a reservation right away – comparisons with Planescape: Torment here are appropriate, but not correctly correct. IN The Age of Decadence There is no philosophy in the plot, as well as the same bright, unusual characters like a speaking skull or a man-nurse. Everything is much simpler and more standard. Action, as usual, takes place in the world of a sword and magic, which has survived a certain global catastrophe. After that, the Troubles began, the huge empire broke up into separate cities and provinces, and four scattered factions – the Imperial Guard, as well as the noble houses of Aurelian, Daratan and Crassus, which are struggle for power for power, acquired special power. In the midst of all this, the player will have to look for a certain ancient temple and the powerful artifacts hidden in it.
At a crossroads
The Age of Decadence takes others – nonlinearity and variability of what is happening. You can eventually give any faction the same artifact – even if you originally worked for its competitors. True, in this case you will lose the reputation in it, the opportunity to fulfill some quests and, quite likely, life in a cruel world The Age of Decadence do not stand on ceremony with traitors.
Reputation is the basis of everything. And it is calculated not only by four main fractions, but also for smaller groups – these are guilds of merchants, killers and thieves. Your starting relationship with everyone is determined by one of the eight classes of the character. For example, Praetor initially serves the Daratan House, the killer works for the Assassin Guild, the merchant for businessmen, and https://tramonterealty.com/news/comparing-payment-titans-revolut-vs-skrill-vs-neteller-for-gambling-transactions.html the thief on local mushrooms. At the same time, the same thief with everyone except his accomplices is on knives: there his reputation goes into minus. The killer is simply hated in the imperial guard. And the mercenary, on the contrary, has the best relationship with the guards: he, unlike most characters, can immediately go to their service. Keeper of Knowledge (Loremaster) is a local “mediocrity”: initially he has an excellent relationship with everyone, especially with noble houses. But perhaps the most interesting characters are a tramp and a fraudster. They start with a clean sheet, have no relations with any of the fractions and therefore can enter any of them, literally rising from mud to the riches.
There is an arena in the second large city, but even the first fight against a half -naked tramp will be how difficult.
Accordingly, depending on the choice of class and you start the game in different ways. The main plot quest is issued to everyone at once, but the details, the nuances and related tasks are quite seriously different. The killer is sent to remove an unwanted merchant who recently arrived in the city with a map leading to that very ancient temple, the mercenary will, on the contrary, have to protect the unfortunate, the tramp will become an accidental witness of the incident and find a map in the pockets of the murdered. And the thief, in order to get to the merchant, will have to sneak in the night and crawl along the roofs. The easiest keeper of knowledge is the easiest way: they just give him money to hire a killer.
Well, then work begins on your guild, in which scandals, intrigues, investigations and unique quests are immediately found. So, the mercenary who joined the imperial guild is forced to change clothes of the robber and attack the trade caravan. Thieves who want to control the supply of smuggling to the city come into conflict with businessmen. Well, if you play for the latter, then you will be sent to the lair of the thieves’ guild to “resolve the situation”. And God forbid you tell you something superfluous or offensive there ..
In a word and deed
Monitor the words, control, about what, with whom and how you say, you will have to the whole game. Any quest here can be solved in different ways, but The Age of Decadence – The only RPG for today, where the power method is almost always the most risky and least profitable. No matter how many attributes you put in force and dexterity, no matter how much the skills of ownership of this or that type of weapon (here only cold), the chance of evasion or block, your hero will initially be very weak.
In the game you can make weapons and armor, cook all kinds of useful potions, walk around the merchants, but throughout the preview-version (and these are the first two chapters) there is constantly not enough money: you simply will not be able to buy something really powerful and properly arm ityour character. Therefore, even a fight with one enemy becomes extremely complicated, and even with two or three – this is almost always a “gamer”. For lovers of fighting, the authors initially provided for the option of passing a pre -created, well -equipped fighter, but even he had a hard time in the very first battles. And then it was removed.
Moreover, c The Age of Decadence The step -by -step system of battle is used, which seems to always always let everything be weighed well and retreat in time: we spend the strokes on the attack or movement, and the game always tells how great the chance to get around the enemy is and what kind of damage we will cause. But this does not particularly help.
Therefore, the main rule acting in this world: always try to agree. And the main characteristics are intelligence, perception and charisma. The numerous social skills depend on them, which are more here than combat. The belief, knowledge of etiquette or the laws of the streets, camouflage, trade, hacking of locks, secrecy-all this allows you to solve the problems in different ways and, if desired, to avoid fights in almost any situation. You were sent to save a high -born hostage? You can, of course, immediately climb onto the knives, but it is better to agree on a ransom. And then no one will forbid to assign the amount received. You need to remove an unwanted character? Take it to a lonely house and cut your throat there, thereby spoiling relations with the dominant house. Or convince him to leave the city forever. Or, conversely, hand over the customer and get gratitude to the city leaders. True, the devoted you will remember this well. And if you had well developed skills, there would be a chance to convince the thieves’ guild not to attack the merchants, but to fake the necessary documents and do without bloodshed.
Tell me who you are ..
Almost every task is built as a text quest, where we choose different replicas, move between locations and try to use certain skills, and the game checks their level and gives the result. So, at the very beginning, no one forbids not to carry out tasks for the Daratan home in order to gain his trust, but try to immediately get an appointment with the leader. In this case, a whole detective story will unfold, divided into several stages. She will test a variety of skills (for example, masking, secrecy and beliefs), but if at least one of them is not sufficiently developed, then most likely your character will expose, put him in prison and beat him up – as a result, he will forever decrease his life points.
Finally, another important detail – almost all your actions are reflected not only in the reputation of different groups, but also on the personal characteristics of the character, which show others, with whom they actually deal. Among these indicators there are, for example, the “person of the word”: if you often promised one thing, and then did another, then he will go into minus. If you prefer to work for one fraction, even if you are seduced by all kinds of bonuses (or threaten) another, your loyalty will grow. If you prefer to solve problems without bloodshed, then everyone will know you as a peacekeeper. Well, if, on the contrary, you go along the corpses (although in this case it is almost impossible) – as a person who does not have better to stand in the way.
The Age of Decadence It is still in the active stage of development: today is ready about 60% of the game. The authors actively update it and complement it as part of the early finish program in Steam. But now it is clear that we are waiting for an extremely exciting, diverse and nonlinear RPG in the best traditions of the “old school”. While eminent developers show only screenshots of their future heirs Planescape: Torment, Little -known people from a small independent studio are already doing and demonstrating a completely working game, which, apparently, can be passed without a single battle.