Tyranny, new RPG from the makers of Pillars of Eternity.

[Gusington]

Is character building more detailed here than in Pillars of Eternity?

[Grim.Reaper]

Is character building more detailed here than in Pillars of Eternity?

No, probably less, which is actually what I like more about it.  You don't have classes, sub classes, culture, etc.  You pretty much choose appearance, your background (how you joined the cause), primary skill, secondary skill, skill/attribute points, and name.  Then you can play the conquest mode which you make a series of choices that sets the world up for you based on them.  I usually agonize over building, but not so far in this game.  Really like it.

[Gusington]

Ah streamlined.

I really like the conquest mode idea. Don't think I've ever seen that before.

[ghostryder]

I ended up buying it. First impressions. Not much to character creation really although the conquest portion is interesting. i even ran a couple characters through it a couple times to see the different starts. Dispite the different paths my quess is most players are going to wind up siding with disfavored as they seem to much less chaotic -- and during the course of the game your dealing with other factions like the scarlet chorus, Vendrian guard, bronze brotherhood, etc. I'm pretty sure there's amble oppurtunity to jump sides to any during the game-but as far as the intro and conquest portions go between the two factions under Kyros--the god badguy- the disfavored seem the logical pick.

Story wise early on it's pretty much just about being appointed by Kyros to be an oathbringer and reading Kyros's edict-which pretty much says the two armies aren't getting the job done as they are always at odds with each other-and to get it done or Kyros is going to stomp both into dust. After that it's a military pursuit to do just that story wise-- so early on if there is any excellent writing and plot it certainly isn't taking place in the early portions of the game. In fact I find the writing thus far pretty underwhelming.

I've picked up a couple of companions--one early on and one later ---a guy captured and stuck to a pole awaiting execution---but supposively has some needed information so I freed the Sage --we're see where that leads-but doing so didn't do wonders for my reputation---which when leveled towards a certain faction opens up new abilities.

Music wise it seems to fit with the world and setting. Nothing epic here-mostly subdued background music.

The GUI isn't the most user friendly. As an example if your switching between meelee and range---or in other words just want to swap out your weapon your forced to go into sub menues to do so--there is no easily 'swap weapon sets' button to be had on the surface GUI at all. Also abilities are displayed by tiny icons--and strangely if you want to perform any you must select the individual character to bring them up---which would make sense except some abilites can be performed with party members as a combo---and even these must be selected by first picking an individual character---instead of logically having those combos displayed while the group is selected.

There's a tiny mini map paired with the action log---and choosing it covers up the action log and choosing the action log covers up the mini map---and other functions like inventory, character screens or journals are located far to the upper part of the screen overall giving the impression the gui is far from logically laid out or easily accessed. Generally most pauses in combat are in fact due to having to wade through it all to give any kind of combat orders--

The art is far from my tastes. I'd perfer less cartooney--especially the portraits. i would not call it horrible but it does come far to close to a Stardock game--which is pretty damn bland---whereas once in the gameworld window everything art wise is far better and darker as you'd expect from the setting. So in the end my main grip is the portraits---and the character creation screen art---once in game the art becomes far better. I expect a ton of portrait mods to hit the nexus soon.

So overall my early impressions are 'meh' . Art a bit off putting and very basic plot starts and a GUI that forces you to work harder than you should be. But this is very early in and is probably the cause of a lot of steam negative reviews- whereas I'm nowhere near a point of actually giving any kind of review as a game as a whole-just be forwarned early impressions won't blow anyone away.

[Gusington]

Thanks for posting.

[Sir Slash]

Ditto.

[ghostryder]

13 hours in- more impressions.

This game is very combat heavy. And the combat on normal is hard. With 4 party members I was thinking it would feel like Dragon Age--but it really doesn't. For one-there's not the hoards of enemies that dragon Age threw at you for challenge--here rather it's usually 3 on 4 or 4 on 4 but it takes a lot to bring an enemy down. And before they go down your take lots of damage. You won't die as lone as one member survives but you do when all go down--and it happens a lot with me. There isn't a lot of loot-or money-and potions are few and expensive--so you certainly want a good healer-like the Sage I spared earlier--which i have now replaced having taken the Citadel =the main aim in chapter one= as the female commander there begged for mercy and ended up swearing loyalty to me--I let her join the group and sent the Sage to homebase--which is the Citadel I just conquered.

To say much without spoilers is kinda hard here---so lets just say things get worse with the opposing army--each believing they should be key in leading attacks and so on--and after the battle I'm summoned to the Overlords main Judge--who has now tasked me with finding out who's in treason. You do not choose to join a faction or not. Instead you have reputation with the fractions. You can gain Favor or Wrath. Once you reach certain levels in a faction--both negative and posative-you gain abilities. This play through I went mostly with siding decisons for the unfavored so I have a lot of Wrath built up for the Scarlet Chorus--even though I have a companion aligned with the Chorus. Companions have same reputation system, only its called Favor/Fear - You can make a companion hate you and unlock some cool abilities- The abilities for Favor/Fear also vary-

Having mentioned that lets not get the impression you can willy neally around as a bad guy and do whatever you want because your a minion of an all evil and powerful Overlord -- because you can't. In a lot of ways the game restrains you moreso from random acts of Evil than most RPGs--including Pillars. Want to kill that soldier that just mouthed off to you? You Can't. There not even the staple of an attack button. What you can do is restricted to the text on the interaction.  But let me make clear Kyros might be Evil--his rule promises peace--and there's a whole litany of propaganda behind it. So to you--Rebels are the trouble makers--those opposing Kyros threathening the peace. playing evil in the game thus far has really meant dealing with the greed and massive egos of those in the Scarlet chorus and The unfavored. Thus--your role is pretty much standard fair --your just on the other side of Good--a neutral Oathbringer--sort of agent for Kyros--seeing his will is being followed and as things unravel in the realm you having to deal with it.

Other restrictions are the small areas. There's not a lot of exploring as you had in Baulders Gate or Pillars--the areas -though expertly laid out with awesome art-are pretty small with perhaps less than a handful of loot to actually discover-so as I mentioned loot is scarce which makes money scarce. Most things armor and weapon wise are picked off dead foes rather than purchased. Lots of trainers you can't afford can be found and lots of merchants selling stuff you can only window shop. There's no steal function in shops being evil or not either.

As for Writing? depends on how you look at it. The World--and lore-are expertly conceived and written-your companions and they're backgrounds well done--but thus far quest wise it's been nothing but being asked by the generals to go join this battle or go find the missing iron or so on. The plot thickens as the unfavored and Scarlet Chorus continue to bicker-but it's solely centered on that alone and pretty standard stuff. Chapter two seems to be getting more interesting as I now need to find who's been working against us within our own ranks--so in that regard it's okay--but there's no Planescape Torment level writing going on and in a lot of ways the game seems scaled down from Pillars not just in the mechanics but also scope. It's linear and confined--probably so the stories change with your actions--so the replay value is high-but the actual RPG'in is pretty scaled back-Spiderweb has games much more involved that let you play a bad guy as a comparison- so overall it's okay but I think it's not Obsidian's best effort.

The more i played it the more I liked it--it's certainly fun--and if you can get past the fact it's not no Epic BG or Pillars--and take it as it is it's been well worth playing thus far--and i'm looking how things pan out--so it's griped me to want to play through it to find out what happens next. If you want something a little different and something you don't need a quest book to get through this is your game. I've yet looked once online for help---and that can be a huge plus for those not wanting to have to work through an RPG. But be warned-play on easy if your not good at combat because normal is brutal in this game.

[ghostryder]

As a side note: Portraits from Pillars work with tyranny as they have the same exact size and format-so any on the nexus can be used  :hug:

[Gusington]

I like the idea that this is a smaller world than Pillars. Sometimes you just want to dip your big toe in for a while without making a big commitment to a giant RPG world.

[ghostryder]

Agree. not only that but most quests can be finished in under an hour--and the game is so straightforward your not confused or bogged down with a journal that has 15 plus quests marked yet to do--here your given a mission..there might be one side mission to go with the area-and both can be done in a short game sitting. For those with limited gaming time this is exactly the type of RPG made for them. And they give nothing up in terms of Lore or the World--both are very strong in this game-companions are interesting as are most characters. Hard choices , tough combat and there's no trolls or Dragons -- this is pretty much an alternative Medieval world---even most weapons are iron. Sure-Kyros is some 400 year old being-but for the most part this isn't high fantasy- it's more dark fantasy grounded in mostly realistic settings. Even the combat is pretty much as you'd expect (at least on normal) where there's no masterful Kung Fu move that'll kill 5 enemies in a single move. All in all if you'd shy away because of time constraints there are none of those worries here.

[Gusington]

I'm liking what I hear more and more.

[panzerde]

This seems like it might put me in mind of Glen Cook's Black Company novels, which is no bad thing at all.

[Gusington]

Glen Cook is one of my heroes!

[panzerde]

Glen Cook is one of my heroes!

Re-reading the first of the Instrumentalities of the Night series right now. I've never read the most recent two of those, and I want to get reminded of the what happens before I do. I've read the Black Company books so many times I've actually worn some of them out. I think I have a thing for Lady. Or maybe Soulcatcher.


I also have really enjoyed the Dread Empire series. For a long time those were tough to find but I pieced them all together from used bookstores over 20 years. Now they've been republished and there's even a new one - which I also need to read.


So yeah, definitely getting that vibe from this game, and that's tempting me to spend the money on it.

[Gusington]

I love both Dread Empire and Black Company. Did you know that Cook did most of his writing while working for The Man at a GM office job?