Opinions on their games (Age of Decadence, Colony Ship) ? I quite like their design philosophy for choices and consequences, especially making pacifist playthroughs viable. On the other hand, there's barely any leeway in your builds and combat is punishing but not very rewarding. Some of their systems feel a bit antiquated too, the way encounters work in Colony Ship for example (stealth has no use outside of specific sections in the game, most maps are very small with little cover etc.).Speaking of Colony Ship and stealth, there's one section where you can sneak by a couple of thugs, if you come back after a successful sneak to confront them (you're going through that area several times), the game breaks the 4th wall about farming skill points. I legit did not know if that was supposed to be a genuine joke or if it was a manifestation of the devs' autism.
>>3831174Age of Decadence was great. Dungeon Rats was also pretty good for what it was. Haven't played Colony Ship yet but I've owned it since early access. In fact, maybe I should do that. Maybe I should play Colony Ship now.
I never understood the fascination for these guys' games. To me it seems like a DS/ER situation where all fans shield them from criticism with a simple "git gud". Most NPCs you meet are dicks so there is no surprise on the dialog, the writing isn't particularly stellar, the combat systems are terrible since you can't enter combat dynamically or even sneak around to get a better positioning before initiating a fight (something you could do in FO1), it's all through dialog or context options. I don't think they're bad RPGs but I simply don't understand the level of praise.
>>3831174They're good games but also appeal to a niche within a niche. In a sense it's a self-defeating business approach because the target audience is too small. I wonder if their next game will be more accessible.
>>3831288>Most NPCs you meet are dicks so there is no surprise on the dialog,I found it funny how players have grown to accept video game and RPG tropes so much they find nothing suspicious in a total stranger asking you to join him in the back alley because they have a quest for you.
>>3831174Shit game design. Roleplaying eschewed in favor of optimization.
>>3831293it's a legitimate case of devs developing a game they themselves wanted to play. even most crpg players can't really get into it as a result.
>>3831288I was able to befriend backstabbing merchants, hostile extradimensional invaders, savage barbarians, paranoid lords, and everything in-between. You do need to git gud.You are right about the stealth thing being a bit gimped.
>>3831174I didn't like AoD. The concept and setting were pretty interesting but the gameplay and writing just don't carry it. Colony Ship was much better. Nothing amazing but a decent 7/10 in my opinion.I never tried Dungeon Rats because it just doesn't appeal to me.
I like a lot about Colony ship. It has some of the most realistic companions I've ever seen. They're a bunch of emotionally motivated dipsticks who can't concretely tell you what they want, but sure won't let you hear the end of it when it comes to what they don't want.On the other hand, for it to be a sci-fi game with guns, the combat is weirdly less lethal than Dungeon Rats. It takes way too long to conclude firefights compared to a bunch of slaves and soldiers cutting each other up with swords. I think them going back to a more melee focused game with Heralds of the Third Apocalypse, with the lessons they've learned up to now, will bear fruit.
>>3831288>or even sneak around to get a better positioning before initiating a fightYou can do this in Colony Ship, though it's certainly limited compared to other CRPGs. At any given point in stealth you can jump right into combat, and it plays out from there.
>>3831371>On the other hand, for it to be a sci-fi game with guns, the combat is weirdly less lethal than Dungeon Rats. It takes way too long to conclude firefights compared to a bunch of slaves and soldiers cutting each other up with swords. I think them going back to a more melee focused game with Heralds of the Third Apocalypse, with the lessons they've learned up to now, will bear fruit.That was clearly intentional as even AoD had combat too lethal for most people, and DR was made for the weirdoes who actually ENJOYED that combat. CS was a concession to normalcy.
>>3831372This is only if the game gives you the option to sneak in. I'm not giving them TOO much shit for that however because noy having a way to initiate fights on your terms is probably mostly technical and financial limitations.
>>3831288Playing a conniving merchant in AoD is one of my favorite RPG experiences ever.The best thing about their games is that they get role-playing, and facilitate it for different approaches and builds.And the worlds, characters, and stories are fantastic because they aren't afraid to portray things harshly or hostile to the player. Takes a refreshing approach to game design.
>>3831391As one of those weirdos, I understand making the concession, but it does feel odd having a high powered rifle, and taking longer to kill someone with it than with a sledgehammer or a sword in Dungeon Rats.
>>3831409Entirely fair, you do pretty bluntly run up against the limits of their budget, even with CS being an overall cleaner affair.
>>3831241My first playthrough of Colony Ship was super fun and engaging but I've cooled on it a lot after playing through a couple more times. The middle part of the game is a bit of a drag, there are some design decisions regarding skills and combat that really suck, and so on. But I still think it's worth playing. If you liked AoD you'll almost certainly find Colony Ship is worth your money.
>>3831174Colony Ship was so terrible from a gameplay standpoint that I never want to play another game made by them again.
>>3831371>the combat is weirdly less lethal than Dungeon RatsThat would have been a story decision because you have a party going around with you. If the combat is too lethal then your companions just die.
>>3831410>>3831652These two sum it up for me. It's worth playing at least once. I think its one of the few genuine roleplaying experiences out there. They arent afraid to give you wildly different experiences depending how you goIts actually very different from disco elysium which is pretending to do this but you can see behind the curtain within an hour and how think the systems are and how its all just different colors of the same exact thing. Its popular for a reason. These games are going to in contrast give totally different experiences and feelings and reflections depending how you play. A lore run in AOD is truly unhinged In saying that , I wouldnt ever touch them again or more than once. CS in particular just blows its load and feels rushed or like a downgrade. Padding, uninspired often. I used a cheat engine to get to the end of my route because I softlocked and Im glad I sped through because it just fizzled out.Most of the complaints about these are from people who want their games to be a fantasy where everyone just loves you as a stranger and will let you say and do anything and everyone will fuck you if you are nice enough. So dialogue wise their shit isnt rooted in fantasy which is nice
played AoD for like half an hour, despite my best efforts got into a fight i had no chance of winning. i'll pick it up again for sure, it already grabbed me way more than Pillars
>>3831174I only played Age of Decadence (didn't get around to playing Dungeon Rats yet).Setting is very interesting and better than usual generic fantasy slop, and despite poor graphic quality aesthetic looked great.Gameplay was a bit too autistic for me. Combat needlessly complicated and more for hardcore char builders, and saving up skill points just in case made me feel paranoid about doing side quests. Still, it actually gripped me enough to play it, which is more than most games these days.>>3831293Will it be set in AoD setting?
I'm kind of torn on age of decadence. I like a lot of it, but having basically no supporting cast with a personality other than them being a sociopath is kind of off putting. I never really felt much desire to play their other games because of it. It was kind of fun exploring and figuring out the system, but in the end it just felt like a world with nothing to fight for.I wouldn't call it a bad experience though
One thing I dislike about their games is that factions are ALL different flavors of shit and you can't finish their games without joining one of them. Yes I know everyone being terrible is a choice but it would be nice if there was at least one super difficult route where you don't join any, even if you miss content.
>>3832902What's wrong with Gaellius and House Aurelian besides bullying that manipulator noble lady instead of trying to make worthy successors with her?
>>3832902Conning your way to godhood by fucking over everyone is an option in AoD. I consider it less hard and more meta knowledge intense, but it is an option
>>3832911I didn't know there was that option but I didn't do many playthroughs.>>3832909I was mainly talking about Colony Ship. It's been a while since I played AoD but my memories of it are somewhat similar.
>>3832913Well, you probably are talking about how pretty much everyone is an asshole which is not wrong, seems like a common complaint, that I also did and can do again, because I agree with it. The one good thing about it is that the player doesn't feel too much like an asshole for bullying or double crossing them.Besides his killing of other minor or not so minor Noble Houses to consolidate power, I think Aurelian under Gaelius is the best faction to live under, No mob lynching or crosses everywhere like under Crassus or Imperial Guard. Plus there's their preference to either hide or destroy powerful technology of the past. Of course, partly they do it because they are already the strongest faction alongside the IG but it's pretty reasonable considering how much the player can destroy or warp the setting further while meddling with it.
Playing Colon Ship right now, combat is a lot better but the game feels more railroaded. Big step up on the polish for fights and animations too.My biggest gripe with their encounter design is that it's always>start fight through dialog>you start in a disadvantageous position and all the enemies are neatly positioned behind cover so you need to waste APs in your first turn to position yourselfIt's a shame the game didn't sell as much as they would've hoped, I think the next step that would have elevated their games is having more reactive and interactable worlds.
>>3831174I wanted to like Age of Decadence, but ultimately gave up on it. It's one of those RPGs that's not really an RPG, it's more of a puzzle game. There are always right and wrong answers, there are objectively right and wrong choices... I don't know, it may as well have been a visual novel with bespoke routes. The game is just exploring different story routes through trial and error. I guess you could say the same for any RPG, but Age of Decadence felt more overbearing in its lack of immersion than usual, in that regard.I think there worldbuilding is pretty tight, I like the total commitment to a kind of--if not realism--then at least fairness in how the world worked. I just don't think it was engaging on any kind of emotional level. It's a very cerebral, detached kind of game. There's no real moral to the story, and the player has no place within it beyond being a mute judge of what seems most pragmatic at any given moment.I wish it would have more immersive elements and more of an emotional core instead of just rendering everything down into the bland misery of acute pragmatism. I guess those are the kinds of worlds the devs like, but it really felt like the world was just bitter, empty, and full of bland robots with no emotions.
>>3833076Fair review. It's an RPG made by people who really liked Fallout but didn't seem to enjoy any of its whimsy. Underrail feels the same to me, in a very different way.
>>3833184I see underrail as more for the purely gamey build loving types that see savescumming and metagaming as a feature to build around more than a flaw. They might both trace their DNA back to fallout and be single character turn based games, but past that I think the differences are pretty extreme in direction
I forgot how strong a fully combat-focused character was
>>3833076>It's a very cerebral, detached kind of game. There's no real moral to the story, and the player has no place within it beyond being a mute judge of what seems most pragmatic at any given moment.You really put the finger on what weirded me out the most about their games. Colony Ship is better in that regard because you have small interactions with your companions, but other than that I think you're right on the money.I haven't looked up the origin of the devs at all but I'm ready to bet they're eastern euro or Finnish, their games often have this grim outlook.
>>3833459Things are absolutely fucked. There is no moral reason to do anything. And the pursuit of power and money always leads to blood sooner or later.
>>3833460I understand, but things can be fucked without a general feeling of apathy and detachment permeating through everything.
>>3833470If people are this apathetic in the most peaceful period in human history, how apathetic do you imagine them in a post-apocalypse?
>>3833459>I haven't looked up the origin of the devs at all but I'm ready to bet they're eastern euro or Finnish, their games often have this grim outlook.You called it, they're slavs. Ukrainian, apparently.
>chapter 4>everyone hates me>sided with the monks>war : protectors, brotherhood and church all hostileI'm probably getting the shittiest ending.
>>3833719>sided with the monkslollmao
>>3833720We did it reddit. The monk acted retarded once they got the machine so I screwed up everything, out of spite.
>>3833730>Muties get to live as miserable fucks forever, never to be Kangz ever.Good.
>>3833740Sending the Ship home is the only ethical choice. Otherwise you would've unleashed entitled woman priests on millions of unsuspecting aliens.
>>3833279Yeah a pure combat character rapes everything. Which is fun but also a little unfortunate because a combat focused character isn't getting the "true" combat experience where things are challenging. It only really shines in Dungeon Rats.
Iron Tower games are honestly mid and I'm convinced Vince is a bit of a hack. Not by himself, but due to how codexfags continually try to fabricate a narrative about these games.Age of Decadence was interesting, lots of neat ideas and setting concepts, but it is possibly the ugliest, most clunky CRPG ever made. Torque3D was an insane choice. It has some decent writing though.Colony Ship is bizarre, you'd think that by solving the engine and graphics problems it would be perfect, but the writing comes across as unironically AI generated at times. It's like someone killed Vince and trained an LLM on his brain. It also has shockingly little replayability and the main factions barely exist.
>>3832957Yeah, I think there were situations where you should start out of position (like walking up to some head honcho and starting a firefight in his crib) but there were a lot of fights that were really frustrating because of this. Giving the player a bigger deployment area or letting the player dynamically choose to send companions through several entrances, that kind of thing, would have solved the problem.
>>3833744You would rather doom humanity than inconvenience a few aliens you don't even know and who are probably all puppy-kicking cannibals?
>>3833757Humanity will never be slaves to pale edgelord reactor refuse. Aliens would thank us for keeping those abominations unsatisfied.
>>3833753>Torque3D was an insane choice.It wasn't a choice, it was the only available option. Nobody voluntarily uses that engine. Remember, development started in the mid 2000s. You couldn't just make a game on Unity for pennies or get a licence for Unreal Engine easily like you can today. Personally, I actually find AoD pretty ergonomic to play and not bad looking, but that might just be stockholm syndrome talking after so many playthroughs. If you want to see a *really* ugly and clunky CRPG, try AoD's spiritual inspiration, Prelude to Darkness. It is genuinely painful to play as a modern gamer.
>>3833757I'm sure there are still a few humans left back on Earth, as bad as it looked. Letting a bunch of fanatic mutants take over a fresh alien planet is how you end up being invaded a few centuries later.
>>3833759Oh don't worry I'm sure the colonists would genocide the mutants soon enough.
>>3833760>it was the only available option.... no it wasn't! GLScene was much more approachable since it both used a language most UKR students are familiar with (Delphi, Pascal 2.0) and was the choice of indie (using that word very liberally here, I mean solo devs and small teams pinning for publishers like PopCap and ReflexiveArcade) developers worldwide. Torque had visually impressive demos and renders going around the net and wasn't as painful to use as Nebula, hence the choice. None of the visual fidelity got realized in the end for obvious reasons.
>>3833740And now the deed is done (restarted and handed the machine to the Church). I wonder if that ending is possible if you don't kill The MotherI also did the ending where you tell everyone to fuck off and land with just your companions.
>>3833793Try bringing down the entire ship>>3833730fucking mad man
Changing intelligence to give a flat skill increase ruined it in Dungeon Rats
>>3833821I've never liked intelligence giving more skill points per level in really any form
>>3833824why?it needs to give something
>>3833828Every intelligence point over 5 should increase gold rewards by 10%.
>>3833833what
>>3833835That's all intelligence should ever do.
>>3833836retard
>>3833828I guess I just find it too gamey. There's basically just a right number to pick for every single character that can be calculated if you have that, as opposed to just tying it more heavily to specific mechanics that may or may not be relevant for every character
>start dungeon rats>get to the fucking ants
>>3831174I liked Decadence but I got into a bit of a roadblock where my character couldn't just past muster for one of the (maybe early-midgame? It was after you leave the first city) combat encounters and I didn't make any backup saves so I was kind of fuckedGonna give it another run soon; I'm trying to decide between a sword and board combaty craftsman or a merchant-prince with high critical strike
>>3833184Underrail has plenty of whimsy which I think helps saves it a little bit
>>3833858might i interest you in an absolute mad lad build?
>>3833860>bodycount 232Slut.
Dungeon rats filtered me hard
>>3833860>might I interest you in this mad lad buildYes let's see--What the fuck absolutelyThank you anon; I will likely steal and modify
>>3833862the beginning is the worst
>>3833833I don't think I've ever played a cRPG where money is important, the economy always gets fucked mid-late game and all the shit money can buy you can find better through stealing/lockpicking/quests etc.I would enjoy an RPG where you're actually encourage to hustle like a sigma grindset entrepreneur to get something unique or a real advantage but so far it's never been the case. Even games with "elaborate" economy systems like Mount & Blade make money irrelevant in the long run.
>>3831174Their games are original but quite flawed in their approach, which doesn't keep them from being overall cool experiences. >>3832902CS factions do indeed suck.
>>3833730>>3833744>Sending the Ship home is the only ethical choice.Correct. >>3833757>You would rather doom humanity The humanity that is still present on the Starfarer largely doesn't deserve anything better. And whether the proximans are puppy-killing cannibals or not, it's still their planet.
>>3834053You shouldn't really be able to use armour you loot off corpses, anyway. It would be ruined by whatever you did to kill the wearer. All armour should have to be bought and fitted.
>>3834070that's what you do in aod if you damage armor
>>3833860I need stats at start of game; how did dodge work out for you?
>>38340784/10/6/8/8/4Dodge is ultimately inferior to block, but that takes a long time to come into play. By the end game, you won't be getting hit at all regardless of what you picked. I advise getting to 5 dodge before you leave teron to handle all the combat encounters there with little difficulty if RNG is being generous.
>>3833755The worst is fights with any enemy that use neural attacks.>You're about to enter a room with clearly visible mind worms or any other type of enemy that induces panick/daze/etc.>cool, can I stim before battle>mmh nyo...>guess I'll use my first turn to stim then>sorry sweetie those enemies and only those enemies (besides bosses) have ridiculously inflated initiative that you can never reach on any build without cheatingI have the fucking stims in my inventory, let me use them it's a finite resource present in the game AND they have clear drawbacks that make them inferior to stacking neural resistance through implants.
>>3834094But dodge allows you to use two-handers, I assume that greatly helps against Agaman. Or at least I think anything is better than one-handed spears against him. I could bully him in early release versions with spear-shield craftsman but when I tried replaying the game with the same build the nigger started mindblasting my dude, getting in range and powering up/regenerating (?) through the fight. The devs really wanted to sell him as a godly being, I guess, he is now even stronger than that generic Fourty Thieves ambush in the slums, which was the hardest battle before.
>>3834153He was a god, but he only woke up. Should have given him a chance to get his bearings before fighting. To be fair.
>>3834161Alchemy nobles now style on craftsman peasants even harder than before... And the devs not only buffed him they also expanded that endgame just enough to make player start regretting taking him up on his offer. Before it looked like a pretty sweet deal with the player becoming a lesser superbeing servant and the shadow behind the throne of a chosen puppet leader, with only a bit of mind invasion to ensure his loyalty. Now the game won't stop dropping hints that Agathoth might get rid of the PC if he feels like it and be the one behind the trone directly or choose a more suitable servant, that unloyal tentacle whore. And Aga gets a sweet looking power armor too.
>>3834153Oh, the trick to Agathoth is getting criticals to his head, which permanently damages his perception and letting you easily dodge his slaps.
>>3834168The other one is more honest, even as the game makes him out to seem more evil.
>>3833471I'd be over the moon if society broke down and laws didn't stop me from killing pajeets.
>>3834109If I remember right you can activate consumables while you're in the deployment menu, before oyu start the battle. You lose the corresponding amount of AP from your first turn.
>>3834173the squid bitchslap is so funny. when I first fought him I laughed out loud as he immediately bitchslapped my dude across the room and killed him in one turn. it's like something out of a cartoon.
>>3833865Nah, Dungeon Rats is definitely a game that gets harder as it goes on. Except the stuff on the surface, that's easier than the two areas before it but the sheer length of the fights makes it hard.
>>3834186>Hey thanks for putting me in this worldly vessel, that was really cool of you.>Yeah sure, I can use my godly powers to give you infinite bling, food, whores, and slaves. You deserve it.>Nah you don't have to do anything really. Just occasionally indiscriminately smite people for shits and giggles to put the fear of God, uh, me in them.>Oh, I'm just going to sit at the top of a really big pyramid and watch people draw funny shapes in the ground all day. It's really quite therapeutic.>Use my mastery over all of humanity to like, do something other than build ziggurats and crop circles? Oh, you humans are so funny!Balzaar really was a bro-tier eldritch being.
>>3834275Only gadgets not consumables or nades
>>3834294>>Oh, I'm just going to sit at the top of a really big pyramid and watch people draw funny shapes in the ground all day. It's really quite therapeutic.Based beyond belief. What's wrong with turning the entire planet into a giant computer, anyway? Absolutely nothing.
New blogpost about the new game
>>3834307
>>3834307>>3834308>ue5sadness
>>3834309Well, they were already using UE4 for Colony Ship. I do wonder how bad the performance will be though.
>>3834294All the "gods" had strange peculiarities>XenorathJust wanted to chill in the ocean because it reminded him of home.>Accursed One Had a thing for dead stuff, likely because it was an entirely foreign concept to it.>AgathothFucking hates Balzaar. Like, in a really human way. Easily the most human of the lot because he wants to control people the way they control each other.>AthazorLiked playing with creative mode on. >Bar-Hathorjust enjoyed flaming shitthe bolad one was bolad
>>3834325They took on some of their host's personality, too, right?So I wonder, even if the wards hold, would the good ending still eventually go horribly wrong?
>>3834641The God ending is horribly wrong from the get go. A loremaster who manages to pull it off would be hardly any better than any Void Dweller.
>>3834644are you retarded?
>>3834646Are you?
>>3834644Hey, that's not fair. I just wanted to do something that would finally help out my bro Antidas.
>>3834644>autist obsessed with archaeotech becomes godGrim.
>>3834641I mean, you do take in Balzaar.
it's age of decadencing time
>>3834771>Alchemy 2NGMI (literally)
>>3834775nahalchemy is only useful for health potions>muh berserk and APlearn to crit bitch
>>3834782>giving up superhuman regeneration just so you can use some sharpening stones slightly betterDon't you have some rocks to be banging together, Mr Caveman?
>>3834786>superhuman regeneration+2 really isn't that much
>>3834788It's pretty good when you regenerate to full health while the enemy misses half his attacks and barely gets through your armour when he does hit.
>>3834788Compared to the usual 0, it's pretty neat. And you can combine it with the power armour.
>>3834799by that point, you've already killed everything you'd want the armor and regeneration for
>>3834801So? The point is in having it, not in needing it. And if you beeline for the regenerative mixture it can be very useful.
>>3834804Not really.
>>3834807It is, though.>but you could kill X easily enough without itSame is true of everything else in the game.
>>3834808I'd say it's only necessary for the Pass Garrison fight
>>3834809True. My point wasn't that it was necessary, though, only that it was useful. You can more than spare the HP for it.
>>3833730I got skill issue'd out of this ending. I wanted it so bad but they were too strong and I didn't know how to make it easier.
>>3835215It's 99% impossible if you didn't kill Azrael and both Delta dudes in the tunnel while escorting the machine. No matter how optimized your build is or how good you are you will get your entire squad raped in one turn if those guys + the rest of the monks are still alive. Your only chance is lots of statis 'nades with cloaking devices and pray you're not pelted with pulse nades by the boss characters with inflated initiatives.
>>3834644nah, it's funny and great ending and you dupe all the other power hungry shitters
>>3835337I beat it with Azrael and Delta by cheesing the cloaking device and stasis granades. The only character who could damage them was evans with energy sniper rifle in the eyes and they fell after 2 shots or so. The rest of the party acted as meathshields and granate throwers
Something about the armour system in Colony Ship just didn't quite feel right. It's like armour blocked too much, so you wound up plinking away at enemies for a long time.
>>3836337Yeah, that's what I thought after going back to Age of Decadence. Combat should be quicker with guns, not slower.
do you think an extra physical stat point is worth being a thief?
I could solo all of Dungeon Rats with this
>>3836770I mean, fuck
My opinion is that the lead developer sure likes to whine on the rpgcodex about profitability and amount of time it takes to make a video game, while slavs shat out Atom in a week on a budget of vodka and salami and it was more profitable than AoD and CS combined.
>>3836986I guess it's all about presentation and marketing. I didn't know about Colony Ship until this year and I avoided it because the name sounded stupid and I thought it was something lame
>>3831174Colony Ship using skillgates instead of skillchecks still tripped me out. No roll or anything, just pass or fail. That's cool and all, but how would I train combat if I just talk my way out of everything?
>>3837148>That's cool and all, but how would I train combat if I just talk my way out of everything?Go for the 15 minutes long sneak/pacifism speedrun. Yes, that is a thing. Fallout 1 and 2 say hello.
>>3836986>the lead developer sure likes to whine on the rpgcodex about profitability and amount of time it takes to make a video gamego back
>>3837148You can be a good fighter and max out all skills but you need to calculate your choices and do a lot of backtracking. You also don't even need to have speech skill if you have high charisma and leadership module>>3837222Hello Vince
>>3837234>hurr durrback to the cuckdex, cuckdexter.
>>3837236We love the 'dex here.
>>3837148You can't. Skill tokens exist to let you train up skills that you neglected early on but they're too little too late. If you solve most potential combat encounters non-lethally, then you will never have the skills to succeed in the encounters you want to do.
>>3837307It's pretty good.
>>3831319I dig the fuck out of their games and I'm a casual fag. The only decision that fucked them really bad was that fuckin splatter mechanic in colony ship where you get hit regardless of your evasion rendering your evasion moot and hence forcing you to metagame into armour. Owlcat game has much more metagamey bullshit horsecock stats and builds but they're more popular than them.
>>3833828Intelligence is a useless stat, unless you're able to build a game mechanic around it like "inventing drones that drop poison gas", "manipulating the stock market to bankrupt the villian"...etc. it's useless in most 3d game formats and specially low fantasy ones where you don't have "magic". Now you can mention the shadowrun games for having "decking" and "rigging" but they're implemented awfully and you end up playing a combat character anyways.
>>3837430okay?
>>3837148>>3837319lollmao
>>3837437>implantsyou did not beat the game
>>3837586copeseethedilate
>>3837437It's funny how solo actually winds up easier than a full party. You get all the skill points on one person, you don't have to worry about the enemy focusing fire and killing your weakest in a single turn, you can keep all the best gear for use on one person.
>>3837592>cloaking deviceyou did NOT beat the game
>>3837603my only regret is not being able to use the mk 2 combat armor effectively>>3837604copeseethedilate
>>3837604Let's see you doing a combat only playthrough solo without a cloaking device though guy, Azrael will rape you before you even get to your turn.
>>3837222I'll use whatever damn site I want to.
>>3837792https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8HjurIPR0ZQ
>no gore>no voice actingTheir games are crap
Dungeon Rats roasts my GPU.
BeholdThe Great Unholy Fusion of Scholar and Slaughter
>>3840628no contest
>>3840628>charisma 4>manipulator>silver-tongued devilSeems a bit strange, doesn't it.
>>3831174I really enjoyed Age of Decadence, I did one full playthrough as a merchant, and another full one as a praetor plus trying the various other backgrounds at least through their unique opening bits. I thought the world building and everything to do with the exploration of it in the game was its best strength, and the combat was serviceable with the occasional bad placement of your character at the start of combat which can ruin an otherwise good encounter. There’s a lot of cynicism to the story but there’s also opportunities to do some good and improve things that made me have investment.Colony Ship I did only one full playthrough siding with the Church, and it felt like the only thing Iron Tower had worked on since the AoD was accentuating all the minor flaws of that game into major defining parts of the experience and pushing its great bits into the corner. The story was completely cynical and even the “good options” felt like I was being pushed into playing some 4D chessmaster who was doing it solely out of pragmatism, none of the beliefs system values seemed to have an impact, and there’s really no world building to speak of on the ship. The combat was terrible with pretty much every encounter deliberately starting you in the worst position while your enemies are fully set up in the best possible ones and every win felt like I was cheesing the game. I haven’t played Dungeon Rats to see the quality of that game but the jump from AoD to CS was so jarring I can’t see AoD being so good as anything but a fluke with how many basic design decisions ruined CS.
>>3841015>I did only one full playthrough siding with the ChurchThat's the problem with the factions. It seems like you would have 3 major playthroughs just for them, but the other 2 are so retarded that on your first run you're almost bound to side with the Church.The Church is the only one with a goal, the only one with hope. And as you and other anons have said, it's a grim and cynical world so the hopeful option is the best one.Replaying the game for the clueless Brotherhood or the one-dimensional Protectors, both of whom define themselves only by their war, seems pointless.This doesn't make it bad writing, though, to be fair. It's just a bit hard to invest in your character's success, since it becomes pretty clear he's not going to get rich like he planned.
>>3841001You don't need to be charismatic to manipulate and convince people>>3841015>>3841021Wade through the river of blood to ascension beyond petty politics.
>>3841021I think the major issue is that you get the same standard plot of the factions regardless of which side you take, and much of the quests remain the same really even if you’re doing vastly different sides like a church playthrough trying to unite factions vs a full combat protectors run. Age of Decadence has the same plot flow and location visits but each background approaches it in vastly different ways with unique content that it makes it engaging. Colony Ship feels like they tried to do a lot more in content and scope but it ended up feeling lesser than Age of Decadence because you can almost see where the variables and characters are swapped out for the same missions and cutscenes between the “choices”.
>>3841021>but the other 2 are so retarded that on your first run you're almost bound to side with the Church.Nah. I didn't side with the Church in my first playthrough, and they are all equally retarded.
>>3841050nahthe church is goodand the protectors are reasonable but are led by a council of glowiesthe brotherhood are fucking commies
>>3841054>the church is......lead by an opportunistic glowie (confirmed by Vince). >the protectors are reasonable but are led by a council of glowiesThey are too absorbed in their larp.>the brotherhood are fucking commiesActually fundamentally indistinguishable from Protectorate.
>>3841056>...lead by an opportunistic glowie (confirmed by Vince).nani>They are too absorbed in their larp.And?>Actually fundamentally indistinguishable from Protectorate.They're fucking commies
>>3841056Doesn't matter who currently leads the Church, the player will take over: >>3841023
Just finished my first AoD run through-- made Paullus the hand of Aga-Thoth and became Paullus' favoured holyman, sword and block with the power armorI want to do a spear+dodge loremasterman but I keep accidentally putting too many skills in non-combat skills and eat shit in too many fights
>>3831174I've only played Colony Ship and despised it. Every character is either unlikable or boring, the combat is atrocious and the game punishes you for not having meta knowledge of it.
>>3842048lol what>>3842017man fuck that guy
VINCE
>>3843832
>>3843832I SAY NAME OF DEWEPOLER BEACAUSE FUNAY
>>3842048
>>3831174Age of Decadence was an accident, they used a charming, clunky engine all the while wanting to be a generic tactical RPG developer. It had a good story that was filled with choices reminiscent of VtMB but they lacked the ability to weave it into the gameplay, instead you just teleported between prompts. Combat was very good and very hard. Everyone was a hard asshole.Colony Ship is one of the ugliest games I ever played, you can't see shit due to how poorly designed the areas are, how shitty lighting is implemented along with teal nu-xcom tactical elements. Every character was a generic normalfag, couldn't care less about anything and the game had no sense of place.
>>3834308nobody gives a fuck about lovecraftian themes, not even fagsmake it stop\since i know they can't do underwater style combat it's just going to be fights on rafts
>>3846851what
Am I the only person who enjoyed some of Colony Ship?
>>3831174Tried playing Colony Ship but the UI and game mechanics suck ass and there wasn't anything else good enough to keep me engaged.
>>3846894No.I liked it. Just felt like combat should've been faster.
Wish they hired better composers for their projects, their music direction seems a bit lackluster
>>3847520I thought it was okay. The kind of games they make don't require sweeping orchestral stuff or metal riffs
>>3846851>instead you just teleported between promptsThat was my favorite thing about the game. The par isn't an engaging gameplay segment, it's walking around to get to the next NPC. AoD just cut the mindless padding.
