Completed Let's play Tyranny, a classic old-school cRPG -- Blind LP -- Make Terratus Great Again!

[Darth Roxor]

Information that will lead to the arrest of Hillary Clinton!

Curiously, the game also presents another opportunity to betray the Disfavored and strike out on our own

and once again, the option, the repercussions and the circumstances are completely retarded

Also, this game is just so thoroughly... uninteresting. It's impressive. I've already lost track of what the story is about, because IS there even a story here? Like, you just go around doing errands for idiots to murderise other idiots.

Anyway, INTO THE BREACH.

 

[Helly]

Closest one sounds good. And good job getting rid of that potty-mouthed brat. It felt like there could have been a way to join with her too... God forbids.

 

[Zanzoken]

Also, this game is just so thoroughly... uninteresting. It's impressive. I've already lost track of what the story is about, because IS there even a story here? Like, you just go around doing errands for idiots to murderise other idiots.

The story has definitely started go off the rails a bit, but I think it's more due to inconsistent worldbuilding than obvious plot holes.

The character motivations of Graven Ashe and Voices of Nerat make sense to me. They are competing warlords with a great deal of personal and professional animosity who want to destroy each other. Fair enough.

It's really Kyros and Tunon whose actions don't make sense. I can't understand why they would allow these shenanigans between Ashe and Nerat to persist, and even have the Fatebinder -- i.e. us -- directly aid one of them, which seems way beyond the scope of our office.

Maybe this will all be borne out as the story continues, but for all the talk of this empire being fixated on law and order, it seems like the Archons (and the Fatebinders) get to pretty much do whatever the fuck they want, even to the point of letting things spin out of control.

 

[Zanzoken]

Chapter 17: Release The Crickets

Spoiler

Trump arrives at the Oldwalls breach to find the Unbroken camped outside the entrance. Their leader, Gregos, steps up to confront us.

The Unbroken quickly move to attack, and we deal with them in short order.

A party of Sages who were accompanying the Unbroken watch from a short distance away. Their leader, Hieronymus, asks if he can make a record of what he just observed.

The name is HRH Donald J. Trump, be sure to include that detail. Several times.

... but do make note that I did not start the fight -- I merely ended it.

Hieronymus says the Unbroken already attempted to enter the Oldwalls, but were chased away by the Bane. He says we'll need to recover a series of torchkeys in order to make our way around inside.

The Unbroken party had managed to obtain a torchkey, but the soldier who was carrying it was killed and had to be left behind. His body is just across the ditch from where the Sages are camped.

Trump and crew fight off a group of Bane, recover the first torchkey, and prepare to make their entry into the Oldwalls.

As soon as we step inside, the Bane attack again. After dealing with them, we use the torchkey on the nearby beacon, and the door opens.

There's another Spire at the top of the facility, and we find the first piece of the glyph we'll later need to activate the Spire portal.

At the center of the dungeon is a large energy globe. It contains the dead body of the Regent -- and presumably the Steadfast Insignia -- but also what appears to be an absolute unit of a Bane.

To open the globe, we'll need four keystones hidden throughout the facility. We loot the first one from the dead Sage apprentice nearby.

What follows is a very long, very boring dungeon crawl with a few basic puzzles and traps, along with wave after wave after wave of Bane trash mobs.

After what seems like an Eternity of trash mob battles (see what I did there?) we obtain all four keystones and are ready to release the Kraken from its prison.

But as is often the case with Krakens, the boss Bane is less impressive than one would anticipate, and mostly just sponges up damage while every so often summoning adds.

Eventually the monster falls and we're able to recover the Steadfast Insignia from the Regent's body.

We completed the Spire glyph while exploring the dungeon, so it's time to head up to the portal chamber to activate it.

Per the usual, tracing the glyph onto the floor opens the portal to the top, and an opportunity to build a new structure.

Trump opts to build a Forge on this Spire, and it's quite an impressive sight.

In addition to supplying a few vendors, the Forge gives the ability to upgrade standard equipment and even create powerful new artifacts.

We're pretty flush with cash, and since we can instantly warp back to the Mountain Spire from here, I decide to spend some time training and optimizing the party.

The Fatebinder trainer is expensive, but once you unlock him you can respec your characters for free as many times as you want.

Trump is now level 11, and upon respec gains significant increases to the Two-Handed and Lore attributes.

We forget the magical buff to Thrust and replace it with the Arrow Storm ability, which allows us to dump the Dodge stat and just focus on boosting Parry.

Trump also adds a new passive ability that gives bonus accuracy for every kill.

And finally, we're able to craft a new Lightning spell that adds elemental damage to Trump's melee strikes, and also gives a major buff to his Recovery for a short time after being cast.

Anyway, with everyone fit and ready for action, it's time to once again report back to Graven Ashe for instructions.

Now that we have the artifact, it's time to make a play for Sentinel Stand and bring the Edict of Storms to its dramatic conclusion.

 

[Darth Roxor]

I know that this is just your bog standard rpg trash, but you'd think that with Trump's reputation, scrublords like this would think twice about threatening him by now.

 

[Zanzoken]

Chapter 18: The Sun Emperor Brings The Dawn

Spoiler

Trump arrives at Sentinel Stand to find the Disfavored and the Unbroken fighting for supremacy of the keep's outskirts.

The Disfavored captain, Rumalan, is in a stand-off with Janos, the Unbroken scout who taunted us from the ramparts last time we were here.

Again, another betray alliance opportunity pops up. It seems there is really no rhyme or reason to when these appear.

Maybe we should've taken the betrayal option though, because the Disfavored promptly raise the drawbridge and flee, leaving us to deal with Janos.

We make our way across the map clearing a few combat encounters, and finally get a chance to use the Steadfast Insignia to make a path through the storm.

Wouldn't you know, it works.

Trump leads the party through the storm tunnel, and soon we're at the gates of the Regent's keep.

Things are escalating quickly with the gate guards, but soon the Regent himself, Straydus Herodin, appears to confront us.

Barik's pretty fired up today.

The dialogue is fairly lengthy, but ultimately goes nowhere. Herodin retreats back into the castle and the gate guards attack. We deal with them easily, but the castle gate slams shut, presumably barring us from entry.

Luckily, a crank to operate the portcullis is accessible through a breach in the outer wall. Trump grabs a broken spear and uses it as a lever to operate the mechanism and open the gate.

The Regent's guards put up a brave fight, but the Disfavored have also breached the walls, and soon Herodin is trapped inside his keep.

The other Disfavored commander, Dimitris, has Herodin cornered, although he doesn't seem to realize that before we showed up he was at a 5-to-1 disadvantage.

There's a bit more dialogue, but we all know why we're here. Herodin and his forces attack, but eventually meet the same fate as everyone else who gets in Trump's way.

Suddenly, someone bursts into the room. It's Amelia, the daughter of Graven Ashe.

It appears that during her long captivity with the enemy, Amelia is now a turncoat. Sad!

Amelia bucks up like she's going to try to stop us from killing Herodin, but he commands her not to intervene, and she leaves the room.

With that bit of drama out of the way, it's time to do what we came here to do.

Surprisingly, Herodin's death does not cause the Edict to abate.

And then...

Amelia had a baby with the Regent's son, who is since deceased. So it's now the child, not Herodin, who is the last of the Regent's line, and must be extinguished in order to resolve the Edict.

Trump is disgusted that Amelia is now a bleeding heart liberal, but killing babies is really a level of evil best left to Democrats.

Trump uses his superior intellect to determine that Amelia can abdicate the Regency on her daughter's behalf, thus putting an end to the Regent's line without the need for bloodshed.

Amelia agrees, and once she speaks a vow relinquishing the family's title, the Edict does indeed break -- and Trump seems to absorb its power.

Amelia agrees to return to Ashe and submit to his judgment. We need to go report to him too.

Back at the Disfavored camp, Ashe is stoked to hear of our victory. I guess no one has yet told him the... unfortunate news.

Trump tells it like it is.

Ashe is understandably upset, but after raging for a bit, he calms down and is able to enjoy the victory.

We're given a choice for our next mission -- returning to Lethian's Crossing, or venturing out to the ruins of the Vellum Citadel a.k.a. the Burning Library.

I feel like this one's a no-brainer, so Burning Library it is.

This is Scarlet Chorus territory, so we should expect to face decent resistance from them. We'll start by visiting the village of Effigy to try to track down Ashe's scoutmaster, who was surveying the area but has since gone missing.

 

[Darth Roxor]

this makes no seeeeeeeeeeeeense

also lol @ amelia

 

[Erebus]

I do appreciate the fact that the game allows you to betray your allies. The problem is that the option is usually offered in circumstances where it makes very little sense.

 

[Butter]

I assume they intended for a more NV approach where you can work for competing factions for a while, and decide to betray them by just murdering them all, no dialogue required. Then they got their budget stolen and had to railroad the decision-making in order to keep the scripting simple.

 

[Zanzoken]

One thing I was enjoying about the game up until recently was the encounter design, while not interesting, was at least restrained. In each area of Act One, you'd only face a handful of encounters before the game would give you a break. The only exception was the Citadel mission, but that's acceptable given that it's meant to be the climax of the first part of the story. And even there the trash mob spam wasn't egregious.

Well, the Blade Grave questline pretty much threw all that out the window. I tried not to bore you all with the details in the LP, but it was massively overbuilt. By my recollection, it went something like this.

Sentinel Stand #1: One encounter
Duskwatch Fort: Five encounters
Rust Canyons: Eight encounters
Oldwalls: Massive three-level dungeon with probably 15 or 20 encounters
Sentinel Stand #2: Eight encounters

So that's 1 + 5 + 8 + 15 + 8 = 37 encounters as a conservative estimate just for this section of Act Two, which I'm pretty sure is more than all of Act One combined. That's not to mention that after each of these areas, you have to travel back to Iron Hearth, run across the entire map, have a pointless conversation with Graven Ashe to unlock the next area, then run back across the entire map to leave.

And I peeked at a walkthrough just to see how far is left to go in the game, and it looks like we have three (3) more major sections just in Act Two. And that's crit path only, no sidequests.
To think that some people actually complained that this game is too short!

 

[Erebus]

I think the Banes are the worst encounters. They're even more repetitive than the other enemies, and they don't have any personality or purpose. The fact that they're magical creatures makes you think that they should be interesting, but in fact, they're worse than giant rats.

 

[Zanzoken]

Yeah the Bane are a huge letdown. Essentially just will o the wisps and they only bothered to design three common variants -- Wisp, Scourge, and Malice -- plus the Havoc which is the boss variant. Not really scary or intimidating at all.

I expected them to be something like the Elementals from Age of Wonders.

 

[Storyfag]

Ah yes, Tyranny. The incarnation of potential for greatness which has been misused at every other step.

 

[Zanzoken]

Chapter 19: Fire and Fury and Library Books

Spoiler

Trump arrives in the village of Effigy to find a group of Sages have asserted control over the area.

Their leader, Renata, openly admits to having taken Maric captive, but isn't keen on letting us see him.

Despite a fairly extensive dialogue, there's really no option here except to kill the Sages.

After dealing with Renata and her guards, we find Maric tied to a pole nearby.

Once again we're given an option to betray the Disfavored and go into business for ourselves. And once again, it's unclear what we would stand to gain by doing so.

Maric explains that a Scarlet Chorus operative known as The Censor has been tasked with recovering the Silent Archive, which is hidden behind a magical barrier. Unlike Graven Ashe, who asked us to destroy the Archive, the Voices of Nerat wants the Archive preserved and brought to him.

Maric also asks that we try to save two of his soldiers who've gone missing, and deal with a traitor named Jalena who betrayed their group.

With that, we head for the Burning Library, where the Chorus has established a camp guarding the entrance.

After dealing with a few groups of Chorus enemies, we make our way inside. The way down is protected by a magic barrier.

While exploring the upper level, we find a book that -- after passing a high Lore check -- allows us to pass the barrier.

As we proceed through the dungeon, we run across several groups of Chorus, most of whom aren't immediately hostile.

It appears that instead of organizing a proper search effort to find the Archive, the Censor has elected to make it a contest between the local Chorus gangs. While Trump is certainly no stranger to pointless competition, even he can't help but think that this is a strikingly inefficient way to solve the problem.

Anyway, after another lengthy but unremarkable dungeon crawl, we find the four passcodes and clear the barrier to reach the Archive.

Once inside, we're finally confronted by the Censor. She appears to be struck by the sudden realization that her plan to find the Archive was completely retarded, and then makes the even worse decision of trying to best the God Emperor in battle.

With the Censor dead, all that's left is to explore the Silent Archive and see what all the fuss was about.

It turns out that the Archive is a magic item containing all of the Sages' collective knowledge.

In addition, the Archive is the key to the magic the Sages used to prevent the Edict of Fire from wreaking total destruction on their academy. If the Archive is removed, the magic will dissipate and what's left of the Library will go up in flames posthaste.

We have the option of taking the Archive for ourselves -- a direct violation of Kyros' will -- or destroying it, which will fulfill our mission from Ashe.

Trump's not about to discard something so potentially valuable, so we elect to keep the Archive for ourselves.

We remove the Archive from the pedestal and run like hell as the Library begins to spontaneously combust.

Upon reaching the surface, we feel the magic of the Edict resolve. And just like the Edicts before, Trump absorbs its power.

We also get to keep the Archive as an accessory, but it turns out to be pretty lame.

Anyway, time to report back to Ashe. He admonishes us for not destroying the Archive, but is content to let the issue drop.

Our next mission is in the Stone Sea, which is Nerat's home territory. Ashe is ready to finally settle the score with his arch-rival, and our first stop is a place called Jagged Maw Shrine.

 

[Erebus]

It's annoying that you're given the option to betray the alliance at times when it doesn't make any sense, but not when you would have a good reason to do it. Keeping the Silent Archive for yourself, for instance, would have been a valid motivation.

 

[Darth Roxor]

Who the hell is even AROUND to SEE that you killed this Maric guy and ~broke the alliance~?!

 

[abnaxus]

Verse was a waifu

 

[SausageInYourFace]

Interesting, I never got to this section in my playthrough. I feel there should be more options with somethig as valuable as this magical wikipedia.

By the way, it is easily missed but sometimes (at least twice, iirc) there is interesting stuff happening at Tunon's court.

 

[Zanzoken]

Chapter 20: Too Stoned To Breathe

Spoiler

Upon arrival at the Jagged Maw Shrine, Trump is greeted by Radix Ironcore, leader of the Earthshakers, and his younger brother, Caedis.

Radix is somewhat unique in the Disfavored in that he is trained in Earthshaker magic but also wields the equipment and tactics of the Iron Guard.

We get an opportunity to attack them right from the start.

Radix and Caedis are en route to an Earthshaker camp that guards the site where Cairn, the former Archon of Stone and traitor to Kyros' regime, lies trapped and dying beneath the Edict of Stone.

However, their progress has been halted by attacks from the Scarlet Chorus and the tribe of Beastmen known as the Stonestalkers, and they need the God Emperor to clear a pathway forward.

Our first stop is a place called Stone Down Gorge, where the Beastmen call home. Before we leave, Radix teaches us a sigil of Cairn's forgotten name, which is a code we'll need to enter the Earthshaker fort when we get there.

After smashing through a few parties of Choirmen, Trump arrives at the Beast encampment and is in no mood for fucking around.

Run for your Prima, Beast. Bray a warning as I slaughter your tribe and skin your young.

She runs away faster than if he had offered her a job.

Trump makes good on his promise and kills the Beastwomen and the Beastchildren, too.

They should've joined me and taken the Platinum Plan!

With the enemies in the Gorge defeated, the way is clear to Howling Rock, the site of Cairn's body and the Dawning Spire.

Cairn is unique among Archons in that he is a giant, apparently made of pure stone.

Like many of us, Cairn hasn't had the easiest time over the past year.

After making our way around the winding canyon, we reach the Earthshaker fortification. Another betray alliance option pops up, but instead we give the secret handshake Radix taught us and are allowed entry.

Radix arrives just behind us, and we convene next to Cairn's body.

Radix tells us that although he is incapacitated and dying, Cairn still has a lot of energy left to harvest. Radix wants to use that energy in a ritual that will poison all of the Stone Sea forever, rendering the land unusable.

The supposed advantage of this is that the Scarlet Chorus and the Tiersmen depend on this region for their food production, and if that's lost they'll be unable to continue their war against the Disfavored.

It's kind of a scummy plan, but Radix asks if Trump will go see Ashe and convince him to support it.

We're already at the base of the Dawning Spire, so we might as well unlock it and use it to fast travel back.

With the Spire unlocked, Trump elects to construct an Infirmary, which is used to create and source all manner of potions.

I wonder if they have anything that can treat a Fentanyl overdose??

Back in Iron Hearth, we report Radix's plans to Ashe, and get his blessing.

We return to tell Radix that the plan can move forward, but first he needs us to travel to a place called Gulfglow to rescue a party of Earthshakers and a collection of Azurelith crystals that we need for the ritual.

Once we arrive, we learn the Earthshakers are having problems with the Beastmen again. Trump elects to just slaughter them all and move on with life.

After a few battles, we make our way to the Aurora Spire, where the leader of the Beastmen is holed up.

With the last of the Beastmen defeated, our mission is complete. But first, we capture the last of the Spires and construct our final upgrade, the Training Grounds.

Everything is finally in order for us to execute the ritual and release Cairn's energy.

But just as we're getting started, the Scarlet Chorus launch an attack.

The Chorus are attacking the Azurelith lodes, which if disturbed will interrupt the ritual. Radix asks Trump to make sure they don't succeed.

Trump and the Earthshakers fight off a few waves of Choirmen, but their commander, a Crimson Spear named Misery, arrives to make one final push.

Trump deals with her personally and restores the final Azurelith lode.

The Earthshakers complete the ritual, killing Cairn and fallowing the land. The Edict of Stone is ended, and Trump absorbs its power just like the others.

Radix praises Trump for saving the mission, and as a token of thanks, offers Trump the right to chip off a piece of Cairn's remains as a souvenir.

We're given six options, and no, unfortunately his penis isn't one of them.

The choices are:

Head
Eye
Heart
Arm
Left Hand
Right Hand

What piece of the stone giant will make for the best trophy?

 

[baud]

let's take the eyeball. Or left hand if you can set it to flip the bird and mounting it at the top of our spire

 

[Storyfag]

Eye. Mount it atop a spire for THE quintessential Evil Overlord decor.

 

[Zanzoken]

Chapter 21: Lightning In A Bottle

Spoiler

Each piece of Cairn's body gives a different attribute buff, so Trump picked his arm in order to get the most useful accessory.

Anyway, as usual we need to return to Ashe and report our success. He clearly has mixed feelings over the passing of his former ally, but confirms that justice was done.

Just then, a Disfavored messenger interrupts our meeting.

Trump heads for the Mountain Spire to repel the attack and finds Iron Marshal Erenyos there ready to assist.

And then...

The big structure in the center of the Spire has woken up. Trump moves in for a closer look.

As a result of dispelling so many of Kyros' Edicts, it appears we've gained the ability to use the Mountain Spire to cast Edict-like magic of our own.

All three of the Edicts we've resolved are now at our disposal.

Trump is partial to Lightning magic, so he unleashes the Edict of Storms.

Erenyos is in disbelief at what she just witnessed, but pulls herself together and says we should head down to confront the Chorus invaders.

At the base of the Spire, the Edict is obliterating Choirmen with blasts of lightning.

Many in the Scarlet Chorus invasion force have turned to flee, but Death Knell, the Scarlet Fury that Trump punched in the ovaries way back when, is still itching to fight.

Fools, did you not hear me proclaim that Edict? Either I cast that Edict by myself, or did so with the Overlord's blessing -- think that through very carefully.

She decides to strike before they all lose their nerve.

The battle is over quickly, and the rest of the Scarlet Chorus contingent quits the field.

Erenyos encourages us to return to the top of the Spire to enjoy the victory.

And with that, we get another round of narrative slides, signifying the end of Act 2...

 

[Darth Roxor]

Trump finally getting those renewable energy sources up!

 

[Storyfag]

What irks me is the plethora of lieutenants, commanders and sirs in the Bronze/Iron Age transition. One would expect lords, masters, great ones, legates, centurions and hegemons*, to name but the few titles/ranks that would be easily recognisable by the mass audience.


*

Spoiler

 

[Erebus]

What irks me is the plethora of lieutenants, commanders and sirs in the Bronze/Iron Age transition. One would expect lords, masters, great ones, legates, centurions and hegemons*, to name but the few titles/ranks that would be easily recognisable by the mass audience.

Good point. The fact that the technological level of the setting is lower than what's usually observed in fantasy is interesting. But in the end, it doesn't have many consequences and is easily forgotten most of the time.