Putting the 'role' back in role-playing games since 2002.
Donate to Codex
Good Old Games
  • Welcome to rpgcodex.net, a site dedicated to discussing computer based role-playing games in a free and open fashion. We're less strict than other forums, but please refer to the rules.

    "This message is awaiting moderator approval": All new users must pass through our moderation queue before they will be able to post normally. Until your account has "passed" your posts will only be visible to yourself (and moderators) until they are approved. Give us a week to get around to approving / deleting / ignoring your mundane opinion on crap before hassling us about it. Once you have passed the moderation period (think of it as a test), you will be able to post normally, just like all the other retards.

Ludo Lense Thread

Cadmus

Arcane
Joined
Dec 28, 2013
Messages
4,264
Great review, dude! Now go do AoD!
 

Jaedar

Arcane
Patron
Joined
Aug 5, 2009
Messages
9,839
Project: Eternity Shadorwun: Hong Kong Divinity: Original Sin 2 Pathfinder: Kingmaker
Good review, made me happy I made the decision to not play tyranny at all.
 

RK47

collides like two planets pulled by gravity
Patron
Joined
Feb 23, 2006
Messages
28,396
Location
Not Here
Dead State Divinity: Original Sin
It's nice that you went in-depth.
I just didn't feel like it lived up to the whole #evilwon hype they tried to deliver.
The atmosphere felt like a final year school project where your team is in shambles, stuck in perpetual blame game and struggling to deliver a result.
 

Invictus

Arcane
The Real Fanboy
Joined
Nov 3, 2013
Messages
2,789
Location
Mexico
Divinity: Original Sin 2
While I liked your review you broke the cardinal rule of reviewing anything; just because you dont like something doesnt mean it is bad. For example the music, it had this Basil Poleduris Conan vibe which I found very fitting both for themes as for the overall setting of the game... if you didnt like it yourself that is fine but pointing that out of a personal taste was weird.
I found the magic system very entertaining and the "level skills by doing" Darklands style was great too, but I agree that the combat is a bit steamlined from Pillars (not a bad thing) the glowing purple energy spikes is highly derivative of a Mordor like baddy vibe, and the two main factions are very generic... but overall the game has some very good ideas (like the begining campaign to setup the gameworld based on your decisions) some very good designs (the pop up text) and actually lets you play a character that is neither a goody goody "I will fetch your car good lady" nor a retarded "I will skin your cat amd eat it" baddie.
Kind of suprised you didnt mention anything about the reactivity of the game, especially for the beginning scenario setup and how your choices affect the gameworld for each playthrough...
Finally I do agree too I would love to see a video on Age of Decadence
 

Darth Roxor

Royal Dongsmith
Staff Member
Joined
May 29, 2008
Messages
1,878,406
Location
Djibouti
just because you dont like something doesnt mean it is bad

7aEeHR.jpg
 
Self-Ejected

Ludo Lense

Self-Ejected
Joined
Nov 28, 2014
Messages
936
Basil Poleduris Conan

Without the masterful percussion and vocals, then yeah it is just like that. Also:



It takes 03:34 minutes for the song to earn and reach its apex.



This is just aggressive without earning it.


For those interested in AoD or a Underrail review I am waiting for them to be feature complete since why not at this point.
 

DeepOcean

Arcane
Joined
Nov 8, 2012
Messages
7,394
Man, I just hope for Obsidian sake this game had been really, really, really cheap to make because Tyranny has 122.939 owners based on Steam Spy.
 

Jaedar

Arcane
Patron
Joined
Aug 5, 2009
Messages
9,839
Project: Eternity Shadorwun: Hong Kong Divinity: Original Sin 2 Pathfinder: Kingmaker
Man, I just hope for Obsidian sake this game had been really, really, really cheap to make because Tyranny has 122.939 owners based on Steam Spy.
It is sometimes said that the quality of a game primarily impacts the sale of its successor. Doesn't speak well for public enjoyment of pillars.
 

Invictus

Arcane
The Real Fanboy
Joined
Nov 3, 2013
Messages
2,789
Location
Mexico
Divinity: Original Sin 2
Basil Poleduris Conan

Without the masterful percussion and vocals, then yeah it is just like that. Also:



It takes 03:34 minutes for the song to earn and reach its apex.



This is just aggressive without earning it.


For those interested in AoD or a Underrail review I am waiting for them to be feature complete since why not at this point.

Age of Decadence is complete but Underrail will get a DLC in a couple of months
 

skyst

Augur
Joined
Jul 26, 2010
Messages
294
Location
Philadelphia, PA
Overall fantastic review! But I do have a criticism to make...

When Tyranny dropped I was working really weird hours and had tons of free time while the rest of the world was at work and I ended up playing it through 3 times to check out how the game reacted based on different decisions. Your review fails to explain how much the game world reacts to taking different paths or supporting different factions. For instance, there are certain dungeons and various magical items (artifacts, the more interesting type) that are only accessible by taking a certain route through the game. There are also maps that are vastly different, even in appearance; my first 2 games showed one of the towns in utter ruin, think post a bigass earthquake, all chasms and crumbled buildings. In the third run, likely as a result of my choices during the choose your own adventure introduction, the town was still in pristine shape. Details like that added a lot to my enjoyment of this flawed (in such an Obsidian way) game.
 
Self-Ejected

Ludo Lense

Self-Ejected
Joined
Nov 28, 2014
Messages
936
Overall fantastic review! But I do have a criticism to make...

When Tyranny dropped I was working really weird hours and had tons of free time while the rest of the world was at work and I ended up playing it through 3 times to check out how the game reacted based on different decisions. Your review fails to explain how much the game world reacts to taking different paths or supporting different factions. For instance, there are certain dungeons and various magical items (artifacts, the more interesting type) that are only accessible by taking a certain route through the game. There are also maps that are vastly different, even in appearance; my first 2 games showed one of the towns in utter ruin, think post a bigass earthquake, all chasms and crumbled buildings. In the third run, likely as a result of my choices during the choose your own adventure introduction, the town was still in pristine shape. Details like that added a lot to my enjoyment of this flawed (in such an Obsidian way) game.

I heavily enforced the 25.000 word limit. If something isn't there it is probably because it got cut. Regarding the choice aspect I praised the fact that they are there and well done but given the writing I could never get invested. I have never been swayed by reactivity in and of itself.
Age of Decadence is complete

I could swear I saw something about an AoD patch post Dungeon rats Vault Dweller
 
Self-Ejected

Lurker King

Self-Ejected
The Real Fanboy
Joined
Jan 21, 2015
Messages
1,865,419
The worst part of the review was the comparison of Obsidian with famous directors like Tarantino. Obsidian never came close to such high standards in game design. What do they have to show after 13 years of existence? F:NV and MotB, that's it. Two good games in 13 years. If you consider that the most important people that worked in these games left and were replaced by SJW activists, it becomes obvious that things will keep going downhill. The real question is why people had any hopes about Obsidian in the first place. Maybe it is because of the cRPG drought that afflicted the genre for many years or the delusion that they were the heirs of Interplay. Well, the drought ended and Obsidian not only didn’t live the hype but is also following in the same steps of Bethesda and Bioware. It’s time to move forward and leave this popamole studio in the past.
 

felipepepe

Codex's Heretic
Patron
Joined
Feb 2, 2007
Messages
17,274
Location
Terra da Garoa
I agree that Obsidian is overrated as fuck, but that doesn't mean that there aren't certain expectations about their games. Above average writing being usually the main one.

What's bullshit is that, in a cold analysis, the "Obsidian standard" is derivative mediocrity, the absolute lack of surprises. The new, unusual and creative we get from stuff like Blackguards, Knights of the Chalice, 7.62 High Caliber, Sunless Sea, NEO Scavenger, Undertail, Underrail, AoD, etc... companies that do more in their first RPG that Obsidian in their 10th.

That's why it's so laughable and condescending that Feargus go out on interviews like this:

PCG: What do you think have been the most important role-playing games of the past few years? Which games have inspired you?

FU: It’s probably been more than a few years, but I was always impressed with the Mass Effects. You have to play a more specific role, but they really fulfill the feeling of being James T. Kirk in many ways. More recently, the Witcher 3 did an incredible job of creating a very living world, and it’s cool to play an RPG with a bit more of an action slant. When it comes to Fallout 4, no one does it better than Bethesda in creating a visually dense environment helping to really put you in the post nuclear world of Fallout. I’d also like to point out Spider, another RPG developer, who is still learning the craft, but has made some interesting games with Mars: War Logs and Technomancer. I’m interested to see where they go in the next few years.

Spiders is from 2008 FFS, they made some very interesting games, much better than NWN2 OC, Dungeon Siege 3 or Tyranny. But noooooo... Obsidian are the masters, the ones with standards. Spiders are just kids playing around.
 
Self-Ejected

Lurker King

Self-Ejected
The Real Fanboy
Joined
Jan 21, 2015
Messages
1,865,419
100% agreed. I think this tells more about the importance people give to pedigree than about facts that are right under their noses. The fictitious narrative is that Obsidian must be awesome because it was funded by some of the ex-Interplay developers. The fact that they always tried to portrait themselves as cRPG geeks that played tabletop games and PnP on their spare time is laughable too. But the most surprising thing is that the countless interviews in which Avellone, Feargus, Tim Cain said positive things about Bethesda games and the importance of praising the player’s ego. These hideous foolishness are magically ignored and rationalized as insincere. NWN2 is banal boring? That is because of the publishers. The games are buggy? Blame the evil publishers. Now they had the opportunity to show their talent without constraints and they release more mediocre and unpolished games. PoE story is blatant plagiarism of NWN2 and nobody noticed. The lights are on but nobody is home.
 
Last edited:

Invictus

Arcane
The Real Fanboy
Joined
Nov 3, 2013
Messages
2,789
Location
Mexico
Divinity: Original Sin 2
While I agree about Obsidian beign a fanboi dream than a reality I have always though Fergus is a doddering idiot with zero managing skills and I attribute the fact the company is still functioning more as a testament to his ball craddling skills than the products they are releasing... bit still I like Tyranny and think it is a much better product than Pillars, with none of that rose colored nostalgia going for it it manages to deliver a better game overall and yeah I think Ludo sells it short and doesnt take into account one (if not its biggest) strengths because of the reactivity and replaybility of the game because of the whole "campaign" scenario before you actually play.... it is one of its main selling points in my opinion and again ignoring ot or just glacing it over means you either didnt actually replay the damn thing to check it out or your thought it was worth more your 25,000 word limit to talk about kills-in-shadow's tits
 
Self-Ejected

Ludo Lense

Self-Ejected
Joined
Nov 28, 2014
Messages
936
While I agree about Obsidian begin a fanboi dream than a reality I have always though Fergus is a doddering idiot with zero managing skills and I attribute the fact the company is still functioning more as a testament to his ball craddling skills than the products they are releasing... bit still I like Tyranny and think it is a much better product than Pillars, with none of that rose colored nostalgia going for it it manages to deliver a better game overall and yeah I think Ludo sells it short and doesnt take into account one (if not its biggest) strengths because of the reactivity and replaybility of the game because of the whole "campaign" scenario before you actually play.... it is one of its main selling points in my opinion and again ignoring ot or just glacing it over means you either didnt actually replay the damn thing to check it out or your thought it was worth more your 25,000 word limit to talk about kills-in-shadow's tits

I wasn't impressed by the origins in DA:O and neither was I impressed by Tyranny in this regard. Most of it is flavor or there is an extra fight here and there. The only part I liked was that certain places can look better or worse. I have to actually like most of the choices otherwise going into detail is just mindless bashing. Thus I sum it up:

"It a good system for a game that wants to accentuate choice and consequence but it is all undermined by one simple fact, Choice& Consequence means nothing without Context. But which I mean is that all the complaints I have about the writing just drag everything down. Tyranny has the skeleton of a game with powerful choices, just not the meat. The game is structured in 3 acts with 4 choices at the end of act first that decide the character’s faction through out the game. Afterwards it is a pretty linear affair with several small deviations that are taken into account in the ending slides similar to games such as Fallout. From a purely structural perspective, Tyranny does give the player old school choice and different outcomes, you can kill almost everyone in the game if all paths are taken into account."

It would have not been a better video if I also said:

That the ending trial with Tunon makes the NWN2 OC and PoE trial genius, the fact that he can be converted on all paths is spectacularly nonsensical. Or that the rebel path is stupidly saccharine. I could have spent 20 minutes more on all the bad choices.

Also you might have noticed I haven't put the disclaimer at the start in this video since I tried to avoid spoilers. That is like the number 1 complaint about my videos.

I'd also like to say that I see a world of difference between reactivity and contextualized choices. Going into the bathroom and getting chewed by your boss in Deus ex is completely different from choosing between several equivalent telegraphed choices, most likely in the dialogue interface. Tyranny doesn't really have reactivity, you are on the rails most of the time but you get to switch to which track you want to be on. Which isn't bad, it is a stylistic choice but reactive it is not.
 

Invictus

Arcane
The Real Fanboy
Joined
Nov 3, 2013
Messages
2,789
Location
Mexico
Divinity: Original Sin 2
I beg to difer Ludo and again it certainly looks like you are now defending your opinion with your "I dont like the game because I don't" argument. If you didnt like the game and that is why you didnt replay it to check out the differences is one thing, saying that the game is not different becuse it leads to pretty much the same ending....yeah that Planescape Torment sucks because I always have to confront the Transcient One hell the game is always the same! Or that damn Master in Fallout; the game is still going to be "the same" to certain extent on those any most games but Tyranny is the first to have that reactivity before even your first dialogue since whole factions might even be unavailable even before the end of the tutorial because of this.
A friend of mine sidded with the Chorus from the start and he was surprised I managed to side with the rebels which was pretty much decided since the Conquest because of the choices I made and that lead to different areas and very different encounters
In the end I agree that yes you know that you will have to do a dance off with Kyros because that is how the game is set up but selling the game short on perhaps its most innovative selling point because you didnt care to try it. Your remind me of another reviewer I follow that didnt like Dragons Dogma because the wanted the game to be skilled based (like Dark Souls) rather than item and level based (like pretty much every japanese game ever)
Perhaps it is a matter of perspective; I enjoy things for what they are (or not) based on what they are rather that what I want them to be.
Still I enjoy your viewpoint and hope to see your take on AoD
 

Lacrymas

Arcane
Joined
Sep 23, 2015
Messages
17,948
Pathfinder: Wrath
Yeah, you can blow up the base without going near him. Otherwise, yeah, at least Absurdian tried to do C&C. I see what he's trying to say though - the writing being so inconsequential and trivial that it drags the C&C down.
 

As an Amazon Associate, rpgcodex.net earns from qualifying purchases.
Back
Top Bottom