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.

Interview Brian Heins talks about Tyranny and the nature of evil at PCGamesN

Infinitron

I post news
Patron
Staff Member
Joined
Jan 28, 2011
Messages
99,223
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
Tags: Brian Heins; Obsidian Entertainment; Tyranny

There hasn't been any major news about Obsidian's upcoming Tyranny since the game was officially announced at GDC last month, so for now we must subsist on a trickle of interviews that flesh out what we already know about it. The latest of these is an interview with project director Brian Heins over at PCGamesN, that reveals something of the nature of life under Kyros' Lawful Evil rule. Here's an excerpt:

“Kyros’ empire is a large, sprawling one that covers the known world,” Heins explains. “One person can’t directly control and micromanage everyone, so Kyros has lieutenants called Archons, people who are very powerful, and one of those Archons is your boss, who created the Fatebinders to resolve disputes between the different Archons and the groups that report to them: the armies, the mage guilds and the bureaucrats who run the empire.”

So instead of being an aimless adventurer, you’ll be an employee of the ruler of the known world, solving disputes and dishing out justice, more Judge Dredd than Bilbo Baggins. And this important role will be reflected in the quests.

“We want the quests to reflect your status in the world,” Heins says. “You’re not the one being sent to get the cat out of the tree, you’re the one that has to decide whether an entire population has to be relocated.”

And that means, thankfully, that the fetch and kill quests that fill up so many other RPGs won’t be present in Tyranny. Instead, the Fatebinder will be mediating disputes and enforcing Kyros’ will in the fringe of his empire, the last part of the world to be swallowed up by the tyrant. And being in the most distant part of the empire will make things difficult. While Kyros has ostensibly ended war and conflict by uniting the world, the region that Tyranny takes place in is still adapting to this new regime. While some welcome the structure it provides, the fact that it’s demolishing native culture and subjugating people is a bit of a sticking point for others.

While the Fatebinder may choose their own path when it comes to doing their job, and that can even involve going against Kyros’ rules, the enigmatic overlord is actually surprisingly pragmatic. Certainly his actions can be deemed cruel, but Obsidian is trying to avoid binary morality.

“Kyros cares about the law and everyone conforming to the laws and rules he’s established. Each person has a certain level of autonomy. As long as they don’t try to rebel against Kyros or try to flout the law in any way… Kyros doesn’t really care all that much about whether people individually are happy or sad, it’s more about the collective world being improved by Kyros’ law.

“There’s not much room for different opinions and voices in that, so people who don’t agree are generally unhappy, but one of the things that Fatebinders can do is they can resolve these problems and add to some level of contentment to the world while still maintaining Kyros’ law. That’s absolutely a possibility.“

While players will be free to try and make people’s lives better, they can also take on the mantle of villain. It’s not much of a leap, given that the Fatebinder has already been complicit in the conquest of the known world, a conquest that has ravaged many towns and states. But the nature of evil in Tyranny is not easily defined.

In countless RPGs, playing a villain means being an arsehole. It means extorting NPCs, murdering innocents and generally being very rude to everyone. It’s a sort of aimless evil, being bad for the sake of it. It’s possible to be a nasty creep like that in Tyranny, as well, but there’s also the potential for more nuanced villainy.

“There’s that whole notion of the ends justifying the means,” notes Heins. “It’s for the greater good, that lie people tell themselves that can justify any action. Maybe you’re doing horrific things, but it’s all for some greater good. That’s what we’re trying to do when we give players choices: they’re not cartoony black and white, good and evil.”​

As the interviewer points out, it sounds like this game is really about Tyranny in the original Greek sense of the term.
 

ArchAngel

Arcane
Joined
Mar 16, 2015
Messages
21,003
I hope our InquisitorFatebinder will be able to carry around a lightsaberbig sword and deal with pesky subordinates by choking themhaving them executed. If we can also get some princess into chainsfree prostitute services it will be even better.
 

Naveen

Arcane
Patron
Joined
Aug 23, 2015
Messages
1,115
Steve gets a Kidney but I don't even get a tag.

“Kyros cares about the law and everyone conforming to the laws and rules he’s established. Each person has a certain level of autonomy. As long as they don’t try to rebel against Kyros or try to flout the law in any way… Kyros doesn’t really care all that much about whether people individually are happy or sad, it’s more about the collective world being improved by Kyros’ law.

There’s not much room for different opinions and voices in that, so people who don’t agree are generally unhappy, but one of the things that Fatebinders can do is they can resolve these problems and add to some level of contentment to the world while still maintaining Kyros’ law.

Upholding the law, pragmatism, personal autonomy, and some people are unhappy but you can make things easier for them. This Kyros fellow seems a monster, all right.
 

oldmanpaco

Master of Siestas
Joined
Nov 8, 2008
Messages
13,620
Location
Summer
This might be the least excited I have ever been for an Obsidian game. Their idiotic way of revealing information about it probably has a lot to do with that.

I do hope I am wrong and its good though.
 

Infinitron

I post news
Patron
Staff Member
Joined
Jan 28, 2011
Messages
99,223
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
You might be spoiled by the way Kickstarters have done things. It's Paradox's decision when we get our next big load of info. Maybe they're waiting for PAX or something.
 

felipepepe

Codex's Heretic
Patron
Joined
Feb 2, 2007
Messages
17,299
Location
Terra da Garoa
Reminds me of the world in Ultima V.

What I'm curious is how they'll make this into the "mandatory" epic adventure... you're not the underdog, but part of an empire that conquered the world. So if a dragon attacks, why not just radio for backup and stuffies?
Or will Obsidian really deliver a Way of the Samurai-like non-linear game with several endings and plot lines?
 

Naveen

Arcane
Patron
Joined
Aug 23, 2015
Messages
1,115
Steve gets a Kidney but I don't even get a tag.
What I'm curious is how they'll make this into the "mandatory" epic adventure... you're not the underdog, but part of an empire that conquered the world. So if a dragon attacks, why not just radio for backup and stuffies?

Like it was done in Mass Effect I guess, you just don't mention anything about it and expect nobody will think too much about why are you scavenging for everything when your ship alone costs gazillion credits.
 

duanth123

Arcane
Joined
Mar 22, 2008
Messages
822
Location
This island earth
Like it was done in Mass Effect I guess, you just don't mention anything about it and expect nobody will think too much about why are you scavenging for everything when your ship alone costs gazillion credits.

I'll expect a lot of collar-grabbing then.
 

Gremius

Augur
Joined
Apr 17, 2014
Messages
104
In countless RPGs, playing a villain means being an arsehole. It means extorting NPCs, murdering innocents and generally being very rude to everyone. It’s a sort of aimless evil, being bad for the sake of it. It’s possible to be a nasty creep like that in Tyranny, as well, but there’s also the potential for more nuanced villainy.
Sounds interesting. I wonder how actual execution of this pragmatism-evil approach will turn out.
 

LESS T_T

Arcane
Joined
Oct 5, 2012
Messages
13,582
Codex 2014

Infinitron

I post news
Patron
Staff Member
Joined
Jan 28, 2011
Messages
99,223
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
Maybe they're waiting for PAX or something.

No PR blitz in the foreseeable future, I guess.

More information will be released in the coming months, we have a rather hectic period before us with both Stellaris and Hearts of Iron 4 but rest assured that we will share more details in the near future.

https://forum.paradoxplaza.com/foru...oing-to-have-dev-diarys.917920/#post-20925565

Well, at least that tells us the game is definitely coming out after June (HoI4 release date).
 

Tigranes

Arcane
Joined
Jan 8, 2009
Messages
10,350
We'll see if the execution is shit or not, but the pitch itself is great. I have no idea why it wouldn't be exciting. New IP, a world that is distinctly underrepresented in common RPG fare. You play an evil overlord's messenger rather than the ragtag band of insurgents that will eventually over throw the evil empire with the protagonist's strange Chosen One powers. You have the return of classic Obsidian complicated morality that defined K2/FNV. Quests with decisions not fetches. If they do what they say they'll do it'll be a great game - and certainly a more interesting setting than any Kickstarter renaissance RPG. Combat gameplay is what sounds a lot less inspiring, though there's few details on that.
 

agentorange

Arcane
Patron
Joined
Aug 14, 2012
Messages
5,256
Location
rpghq (cant read codex pms cuz of fag 2fa)
Codex 2012
“There’s that whole notion of the ends justifying the means,” notes Heins. “It’s for the greater good, that lie people tell themselves that can justify any action."

So they bring up the ends of justifying the means as a legitimate course of action and then immediately dismiss it? Looks like it's just going to be the same result as the Legion in New Vegas, a promising concept poorly handled because they can't help but paint anything other than liberal democracy as "evul."
 

ArchAngel

Arcane
Joined
Mar 16, 2015
Messages
21,003
Road to hell is paved by good intentions didn't come out of nowhere. People often think they are doing good or for greater good but are really just deluded.
 
Joined
Sep 18, 2013
Messages
1,258
Synopsis is good on its own, no world-saving and heroics. Finally. Marrying the concept to the combat-driven grindfest gameplay that it will most likely be; eeeeh. Cautious.
 

Tigranes

Arcane
Joined
Jan 8, 2009
Messages
10,350
Librul demokratic NCR didn't get such a glowing treatment in FNV.

I really expected Tyranny to take on some strategic level stuff from Paradox, but maybe it's for the best given Obsidian's past efforts at complex genre-jumping gameplay. I would prefer AOD's mix of handcrafted encounters and a lot of noncombat options. As long as it's not 8000 APRG mobs...
 
Self-Ejected

Sacred82

Self-Ejected
Dumbfuck
Joined
Jun 7, 2013
Messages
2,957
Location
Free Village
What I'm curious is how they'll make this into the "mandatory" epic adventure... you're not the underdog, but part of an empire that conquered the world. So if a dragon attacks, why not just radio for backup and stuffies?

It sounds like you're out in the field and doing actual work, which I take to mean you are a grunt and expendable. You are the backup.
 

Infinitron

I post news
Patron
Staff Member
Joined
Jan 28, 2011
Messages
99,223
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
The area the game takes place in is described as recently conquered, so they have some room to handwave away the possibility of reinforcements by saying that Kyros' forces are still thin on the ground.

(although I guess another way of looking at that is that a recently conquered area should have more troops around rather than less)
 
Self-Ejected

Excidium II

Self-Ejected
Joined
Jun 21, 2015
Messages
1,866,227
Location
Third World
The PC is still no common grunt though, he answers to someone who answers directly to the emperor.

Anyway it doesn't really matter, it's going to be a game about going places and bumrushing monsters/talking to quest NPCs regardless if you are a 16yo farmboy turned adventurer or imperial authority. Because CRPGs.
 
Self-Ejected

Sacred82

Self-Ejected
Dumbfuck
Joined
Jun 7, 2013
Messages
2,957
Location
Free Village
The PC is still no common grunt though, he answers to someone who answers directly to the emperor.

Then you're a privileged grunt. But travelling through hostile territory with a merry 4 man band doesn't sound like a dignitary's work.
 

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