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Tyranny + Bastard's Wound Expansion Thread

Mareus

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I just came to say that Tyranny is awesome! I haven't had this much fun playing a game since the golden years. Where PoE fell a bit short and missed the opportunity to become one of my all time classics due to in your face kickstarter content, non-opinionated party members, and superficial choices and consequences, Tyranny has succeeded - despite some obvious flaws. The amount of choices and consequences is staggering, setting is brilliant and the game keept surprising me with it's options up to the very end! Damn, I never wanted a sequel more! Things to complain about: small areas, lack of exploration, no walking option AGAIN for us roleplayers (WTF Obsidian??), no friendly fire, cooldown combat can be a bit clunky, and at times it feels like the game was a bit rushed. Everything else is however just pure genius and I would rather play a flawed gem like Tyranny, than pretty much anything else! Agree or disagree with me, I absolutely love this game! To me it is a real classic! If this game is any indicator of upcoming Obsidian and InXile games, I think I can then die happy!

What other games did you enjoy in past?
Err, lets see now. Ultima series, Baldur's Gate series, Fallout 1 and 2, Arcanum, Planescape Torment, Bloodlines, NWN2, Wasteland 2, Kotor 1 and 2, Dark Souls, etc...

Why? You wannna evaluate my taste? LoL. I ve been playing games since ZX Spectrum era and Tyranny is great. I am not denying that it has some problems, but people who are shitting on it are doing so only because they are so full of shit that they can't hold it in. The shit just drips out of them wherever they turn.
:shitandpiss:
 

prodigydancer

Arcane
In My Safe Space
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Mareus I don't necessarily agree that Tyranny is our newfound messiah, but I think I know what you mean.

Tyranny and WL2 (original, not DC) have something in them that I'd call the soul of old school. Something from the era when games were just games, and we were happy to accept them as such.

P.S. D:OS too, if you turn that annoying VO off.
 

Abu Antar

Turn-based Poster
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Enjoy the Revolution! Another revolution around the sun that is. Shadorwun: Hong Kong Divinity: Original Sin 2 Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire Pathfinder: Wrath I'm very into cock and ball torture I helped put crap in Monomyth
Tyranny is a frustrating game. I did like it overall, but there were many things to dislike. It's far from Obsidian's best efforts.
 

DeepOcean

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Nov 8, 2012
Messages
7,394
Funny, "Liked videogames in the past, means all games I like are good." I liked some shitty games too Mareus, no shame on it.:lol:
 

Mareus

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Tyranny is a frustrating game. I did like it overall, but there were many things to dislike. It's far from Obsidian's best efforts.
Oh I agree there were many things to dislike. But at the same time the number of things I liked is right up there with my favorite titles and it's not like my favorite titles don't have issues of their own. Besides, the things that I disliked didn't bother me that much. The way I see it is this (btw, SPOILERS below):

CONS:
1. My biggest issue in the game were small areas with reused resources. Bad Obsidian! Lazy Obsidian! NO! NO! NO! :deadhorse:
2. ACT 2 writing feels a bit rushed. For example, I just facepalmed when my Fatebinder started casually chatting with people about overthrowing Kyros. No hidden note in the hand like in ACT 1, no different approaches to this problem,.. nothing. This is obviously either rushed or lazy and just stupid.
3. The ending feels rushed. Now, I know we will probably get a sequel or DLC, but goddamn it I hate it when game developers do this! If they go bankrupt or bought off or fucking earthquake eats their HQ, we are fucked! So no! NO! NO!
4. There seem to be an astouding number of female leaders in this game and all of them sound and act like they have a huge chip on their shoulder. At the same time, the Disfavored northeners seem to come in all rainbow colors! WTF Obsidian?! Don't start with that SJW shit, unless you can make it so that it makes sense. Now, I understand that there is some type of matriarchy at works in the Tiers, so I can look pass the number of female leaders who act like giant dicks. If you have a rogue SJW in your writing team, I would still argue it's retarded to make all of them behave like assholes, since in a game like Tyranny this will just end with people brutalizing these chicks to put them in their place, but ok... I can let it slide due to the setting which explains it to a degree. But how in the fuck do northern Disfavored - who by your own lore pride themselves with racial purity - come in 753 race colors??? Scarlet Chorus... no problem! You can have as many races as you want there, since they hire anyone, but this makes absolutely no fucking sense for the Disfavored! You see, this is why we hate SJWs! They just end up fucking up their own lore!
5. No walking option! AGAIN! :argh:
6. No friendly fire! Seriously? We are not console players ffs! No dumbing down please!
7. Combat feels clunky at times with certain commands not working or just freezing up. Yeah, the game definately needed a few more months in the polish department.
8. Your party members should start dialogues after certain important events automatically to avoid situations where a character one moment wants to kill you and another is singing praises in your name.
9. Certain transitions after huge events feel out of place. Example, Bronze Brotherhood just slaughtered half of the villiage. Dead people lying on the streets. I go into a house and have a chat with an old man, and when I come out... everything's back to normal! WTF?! Baaaaaad Obsidian!
10. Its hard to understand the whole rule system behind Tyranny when it comes to what certain things do. There is so much shit that for my warrior build I just min-maxed my Might for damage, went with leather, added some finesse on level ups for extra defense and accuracy and said fuck it. Worked out great, but I'll be fucked if I know how or why.

PROS:
1. Choices and consequences a plenty and done right! N'ugh said.
2. Characters who actually express their opinions! Finally! To me this is what makes the characters actually feel alive. PoE taught me that a decent backstory is just not enough. You have to give them a personality, a moral code and make them respond according to these things and only then will you have a real, live character. The fact that you can actually learn things from these characters makes them even more interesting. Great job there!
3. Setting, wrting and story! It's dark, brutal and Kyros feels like a real threat. Hell, when I started playing on my "good" playthourgh I was just trying to cause the least possible harm. I had no idea I would actually be able to stand up to Kyros. I really thought this is a game where the evil overlord is undefeatable! But then as I played I found certain hints which may allow for Kyros defeat, and that surprise just screams great writing to me. I had a real mistery, I really was constantly on my toes and unsure about my moral choices, there was the feeling of a real threat, a real feeling of hopelesness, etc! And then later, feeling of hope! It has been ages since I played a game which managed to arouse curiosity and so many feelings during my playthrough! Just brilliant stuff!
4. Communication through writing missives and sending them with birds! Haha... didn't see that one coming! Nice one Obsidian.
5. Moral dillemas.
6. You meet all sorts of characters in the world and sometimes they are really pushing it. I just love it when someone is being a dick and I get to put him in his place. THIS IS SPARTA!
7. I have never played a game which so seemlessly allows you to play a bad guy in so many ways. Bloodlines came close, and perhaps Fallout too, but in the end you are still saving your vault/villiage which kinda makes you a good guy. In Tyranny you can just be a major prick. Or you can be a clever evil backstabbing diplomat who pretends to be good, but all with the goal to betray people for your own goals! Brilliant stuff!
8. Legendary items feel good again! This is one of the things I didnt like about PoE, since many legendary items didn't really feel anything special. In Tyranny... damn... some of those items really brought a smile on my face when I found them.
9. Many different factions who all react to your choices.
10. Spires, customization, building, upgrading, etc. I just love that stuff, even though it can be ignored for the most part.

And I could go on, but the bottom line for me is this. Bad stuff that I didn't like didn't really bother me that much - except maybe 1, 2, 4 and 9. But the good stuff is really, really good! And if Obsidian can polish this game further with DLC and sequels, I think this is at the moment my betting horse for a true classic.
 
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Whisper

Arcane
Vatnik
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Feb 29, 2012
Messages
4,357
Not sure if you are serious, but ok, i will bite.

PROS:
1. Choices and consequences a plenty and done right! N'ugh said.

Let me see, your bigget choice in this game is either you confront Kyros .. or you confront Kyros.
That's right in this game your most important decision is made for you.

Also a lot of C&C comes from Lore, Athletics, Subterfuge skills, that (in theory) make your choices depend on your character skills. In fact though, you can easily pass any check with your character.

2. Characters who actually express their opinions! Finally! To me this is what makes the characters actually feel alive. PoE taught me that a decent backstory is just not enough. You have to give them a personality, a moral code and make them respond according to these things and only then will you have a real, live character. The fact that you can actually learn things from these characters makes them even more interesting. Great job there!

In game you meet Iron Marshal Erenyos (Disfavoured high officer) who asks you to take his subordinate Barrik as companion.

First, you cant refuse this offer.
Second, in less than 1 hour you can go and kill said Erenyos without any problem from Barrik. Barrik will object, but this is easily passed via dialogue options. Bonus points: you dont even need to pass any checks (which are auto-passed anyway, see above).
Same story with Lantry who is ok when you kill his fellow sages, etc.

No companion will leave if you do even things that totally againtst their goals and values.

3. Setting, wrting and story! It's dark, brutal and Kyros feels like a real threat. Hell, when I started playing on my "good" playthourgh I was just trying to cause the least possible harm. I had no idea I would actually be able to stand up to Kyros. I really thought this is a game where the evil overlord is undefeatable! But then as I played I found certain hints which may allow for Kyros defeat, and that surprise just screams great writing to me. I had a real mistery, I really was constantly on my toes and unsure about my moral choices, there was the feeling of a real threat, a real feeling of hopelesness, etc! And then later, feeling of hope! It has been ages since I played a game which managed to arouse curiosity and so many feelings during my playthrough! Just brilliant stuff!

I had a feeling of hopelessness that you cant actually choose to remain loyal to Kyros. Because game designers know whats best for you. See: choices and consequences.

5. Moral dillemas.

Such as?

6. You meet all sorts of characters in the world and sometimes they are really pushing it. I just love it when someone is being a dick and I get to put him in his place. THIS IS SPARTA!

Yes, in typical CRPGS you dont get to fight evil overlord and his minions who act like dicks to you.
Ok, lets pretend you are not trolling.

7. I have never played a game which so seemlessly allows you to play a bad guy in so many ways. Bloodlines came close, and perhaps Fallout too, but in the end you are still saving your vault/villiage which kinda makes you a good guy. In Tyranny you can just be a major prick. Or you can be a clever evil backstabbing diplomat who pretends to be good, but all with the goal to betray people for your own goals! Brilliant stuff!

Age of decadence. Done this by 100 times better.
 

Mareus

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Let me see, your bigget choice in this game is either you confront Kyros .. or you confront Kyros. That's right in this game your most important decision is made for you.
True, but isn't that the case for every game out there? For example - in one of Codex all time classics - Fallout, I could say the same thing: "you help your vault/villiage... or you help your vault/villiage". Don't get me wrong, I would be happy if joining Kyros was an option, even if it would lead to your execution by Kyros in the end. But regardless of the lack of option to join Kyros, there is a plethora of ways to play the game - much more so than in any other title I have ever experienced. Now, if you know of a game that does this better, please point it out to me, because I would hate to miss something so awesome, but it still wouldn't be enough to prove your point because Tyranny would still be a game that has a huge amount of choices and consequences.

Also a lot of C&C comes from Lore, Athletics, Subterfuge skills, that (in theory) make your choices depend on your character skills. In fact though, you can easily pass any check with your character.
Agreed. The system is somewhat flawed, since you are gaining skills too fast and this allows you to become an expert in pretty much everything. But I think that you are in a way missing my point. Namely in Tyranny, I think these skillchecked choices are there mostly for adding different flavors to roleplaying. They are not there to make huge shifts in the storytelling department, beyond an occasional free faction point. True choices - which are numerous - come independent of any skill checks. I personally don't have a problem with this, beyond the fact that you can be an expert in pretty much everything. The ruleset is what it is, and I already complained about it, but I don't think the ruleset alone is enough to shit on the game.

No companion will leave if you do even things that totally againtst their goals and values.
Well, they will not leave if you don't let them leave, but yes.. you have a fair point here. My point however was that this is finally a huuuuge step up in the right direction in comparisson to PoE, where the characters were nothing more than blank emotionless slates with an occasional neutral comment. Besides, any inconsistencies and moral conflicts I think are sufficently explained by the characters for me to not make a huge deal out of this. To me the most important thing is that they complain and express their opinions.

I had a feeling of hopelessness that you cant actually choose to remain loyal to Kyros. Because game designers know whats best for you. See: choices and consequences.
I already addressed this. Won't do it again.

Moral dillemas? Such as?
Being a judge in numerous individual cases where two parties have conflict of some sorts, the whole conquest character creation screen is full of moral dillemas, deciding who to join and how to behave, etc..

Yes, in typical CRPGS you dont get to fight evil overlord and his minions who act like dicks to you. Ok, lets pretend you are not trolling.
Hey, just because other RPGs have it, it doesn't mean I am not allowed to enjoy this particular aspect of Tyranny and it certainly doesn't mean that all the games do it equally good. Namely, I have played pretty much every good CRPG out there, and I don't know too many games where you can literally torture people, or force them to bash their friends to death with a blunt object, or manipulate them similarly to how Littlefinger from Game of Thrones manipulates people, or kick people of a tall building just for the lulz, etc.

Age of decadence. Done this by 100 times better.
Oh, you are one of those... *sigh*... Look, AoD has a lot of brilliant ideas that I can gladly subscribe to, BUT... the execution was horrible. From annoying teleport mechanics, horrible art design (and this comes from someone who regularly enjoys ZX Spectrum graphics), incredibly frustrating learning curve with countless brick walls every few hours, clunky combat... and I am sorry, but I will have to pass on this one. The only way I can see myself enjoying AoD is by playing it with the help of a guide that pre-warns me of what obstacles I will encounter and what options I will need to choose in order to successfully progress. But that beats the whole purpose of the game imo. And if you decide not to use a guide, the whole game becomes an agony of threading through horrible design decisions that you could not predict in any way. But if you are one of those... masochists... well, knock yourself out. I would rather play Tyranny for the fifth time.
 
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Ezrite

Learned
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Nov 20, 2014
Messages
205
I have some issues with this game. Seemingly non of my weapons do dmg. It is "so simple" a friend tells me. But what the fuck. What is the problem?
 

HeatEXTEND

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Ok, finished the game last night and Obsidian finally did it.

There is no way in hell I'm paying full price for Obsidian releases again, fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me, fool me thrice ? I don't think so. The short of it:

- Writers stop giving a fuck mid paragraph, most characters are complete schizzo's. Every little detail noted everywhere ("you see a ragged looking man, his clothes wear the grit and grime earned by many a hardship fought, although it's not quite clear if coming out on top would be something he's used to. His shoes-JEZUS CHRIST I GOT IT ALREADY)
doesn't invoke imagination, it shuts it down. Mostly bad writing in general.

-No "CRPG" quests to speak of, zero creativity.

-Forgettable music (what music ?).

-Massive railroading in a game about choices, oh the (T)irony.

-Combat/equipment balance is all over the place.

-The "AAAAAAHOOOOOUUUAAAAAA HAAAAAOOOUUUUUU" had me in stitches coughing up my drink the first couple times, after that it made me want to just alt-f4/find the nearest Obsidian employee and kick his teeth in.

-Towards the end it just completely falls apart, making the character feel like a total Mary Sue. A nice mix of cringe and nothing-makes-sense railroading.

-Replayability is nice, too bad I don't see myself touching it ever again.

-Obs:"I've got three words for you, Dee. El. Cee.
Para:"Those aren't words"
Obs:"Who cares?"
O+P:"HARHARHARHARHAR"

-I don't think any game other than fighting-games and danmakus ever made me actually angry, and in those cases it's usually at myself. Didn't even watch the credits.

-The engine is (still) shit.

Yes I'm being a negative nancy, sorry not sorry. Learned my lesson though. Fucking piece of shit.

had to get it off my chest :]
 

Ezrite

Learned
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Nov 20, 2014
Messages
205
Im not sure if im a idiot or not...but seriously. All my weapons bounce on fuckers. How the hell do this armour system work? It sure ain't a + enchantment system like in DnD 3,5 and in PoE I could 2 shot the last boss with my ranger, but in this fucking game all my attacks are useless.
 

LESS T_T

Arcane
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Oct 5, 2012
Messages
13,582
Codex 2014
Paradox just released their year-end report: https://www.paradoxinteractive.com/en/year-end-report-2016/

Here's a thing about Tyranny; nothing revealing, just vaguely implying additional contents:

We also released a larger title on November 10th, Tyranny. Tyranny is developed by Obsidian Entertainment and has received a very warm reception by critics and gamers all over the world. We believe Tyranny is a game where the sales will stretch over a longer period of time and where the positive reception will be a contributing factor. Just like with our other titles, the developers are continuing to develop the game in dialogue with its community, something that also contributes to its long-tail potential.
 

Rev

Arcane
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Feb 13, 2016
Messages
1,180
It also implies that current sales aren't really good. Not that it comes as a surprise, since Steamspy shows it at less than 150k.
 

HeatEXTEND

Prophet
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That's not how you spell "Continuing to develop the game's dialogue" is it ? Now lets see how much POE2 money gets pumped into tranny dlc...
 

Flou

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It also implies that current sales aren't really good. Not that it comes as a surprise, since Steamspy shows it at less than 150k.

If the budget for that game is somewhere near Pillars 1 budget (~5 million dollars), that 150k sold units (at 40 dollars/euros) should make the game almost profitable though. Paradox's whole year seemed great though with operating profit getting a 27% bumb from last year.
 
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Rev

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If the budget for that game is somewhere near Pillars 1 budget (~5 million dollars), that 150k sold units (at 40 dollars/euros) should make the game almost profitable though. Paradox's whole year seemed great though with operating profit getting a 27% bumb from last year.
Well, considering GOG and other stores it should've been a bit more than 150k copies and the budget for the game cannot be higher than PoE (most of the asset were recycled, the maps were incredibly small and with little things to do besides talking and fighting, etc.). It probably surpassed the break-even point already, but it's not a hit in any way and Paradox and Obsidian probably hoped/expected higher sales.
 

Flou

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Well, considering GOG and other stores it should've been a bit more than 150k copies and the budget for the game cannot be higher than PoE (most of the asset were recycled, the maps were incredibly small and with little things to do besides talking and fighting, etc.). It probably surpassed the break-even point already, but it's not a hit in any way and Paradox and Obsidian probably hoped/expected higher sales.

Not an immediate hit, but Paradox is patient with their IP's and they rely heavily on Steam sales and DLCs bringing more buyers etc. Naturally hopes and expectations would be higher after Pillars 1.
 

Starwars

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I'm doing a replay of this right now. I'm doing the "rebellion path" this time, whereas I went with the Scarlet Chorus path the first time around (well, I ended up betraying them). The rebellion path is more enjoyable I would say. And it is pretty cool to see how the paths differ toe be honest.

It's just such a shame that... well, a lot of the actual content isn't really interesting enough. You get different sidequests but the quests themselves aren't very interesting. The main quests feel a bit more fleshed out on the rebellion path but they're still not interesting enough. I mean... gathering artefacts? Really? It's a shame because the world they built really deserves better. And to make it all worse, it's buried under the horrendous combat. And the fucking Oldwalls, ugh...

As for the companions, I actually kinda like them. But I think a big problem with Tyranny is that OEI tried to fit it into the "IE games mould". The combat encounters, the Oldwalls "exploration", the companions who join you... it doesn't fit very well with the Fatebinder's role, and the focus on choices & consequences. The game would've been better off if it had been more of a Fallout-ish game with the Fatebinder on a lone journey (well, more or less) in changing the gameworld.
Well, it would've been better of as an Age of Decadence-esque really.

I dunno... pretty much everything from the IE tradition, except the whole isometric, painted backgrounds things, that can be seen in Tyranny kinda brings the game down or doesn't feel like it fits.
 
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Infinitron

I post news
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Codex Year of the Donut Serpent in the Staglands Dead State Divinity: Original Sin Project: Eternity Torment: Tides of Numenera Wasteland 2 Shadorwun: Hong Kong Divinity: Original Sin 2 A Beautifully Desolate Campaign Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire Pathfinder: Kingmaker Pathfinder: Wrath I'm very into cock and ball torture I helped put crap in Monomyth
Everybody who pledges to the Pillars 2 campaign will now receive a discount coupon for Tyranny. 33% off if you back at the $29 tier, 50% off at $45 or above. That's $15 and $22.5 worth of savings, respectively.
 

Starwars

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Finished my replay with the rebel/coalition path. I have to say that I liked this playthrough a lot more than my first one. The rebel path felt more "meaty" and it felt more like a proper game somehow. Some of the reactivity is pretty impressive I think.

But yeah, I'm not normally an advocate of just putting things on easy and blazing through but the combat in Tyranny is really that bad in my mind. It just makes for a better experience to take the difficulty down in order to avoid being bogged down in combat. If the game had done away with a lot of the slow, trash fights and focused more on the bigger and more interesting fights (yeah, I guess this is true for most RPGs but especially this one) it would've made the pacing a lot more pleasant.
 

Ezrite

Learned
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Nov 20, 2014
Messages
205
Think I just drop by mage, she seems so fucking horrible and just bring in my bearded bearman who swings a two handed weapon around at everything.
 

DeepOcean

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Nov 8, 2012
Messages
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Tranny would be the best Obsidian game if they had good writers and decent game designers working on it, imagine the people behind MotB working on this project... Great ideas that die because of terrible execution. Obsidian really, REALLY needs a decent creative director and an editor to cut all this crap they call writing.

It is by far the game with most choice and consequence Obsidian made but a living proof that all this doesn't matter if the quality of execution isn't up to par. Imagine a Ziets and Avellone fleshing out those empty cardboard factions and empty cardboard NPCs and we would have a hell of a game. Really funny that when Obsidian gets the chance to make RPGs that aren't of popamole quality, they lose their best personnel. Not feeling impressed at all by the quality of the replacements.
 

Deleted Member 16721

Guest
So, we've got story-based Infinity Engine style RPGs again. Are we going to get a new Icewind Dale-style game now?

Preferably twice as long as the original IWD. :)
 

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