Tyranny + Bastard's Wound Expansion Thread

[MrMarbles]

The range of enemy types in Tyranny is smaller than any crpg I can think of. You get Human (Ranged, melee, caster), Beastmen, Bane, and a handful of unique boss battles. That's some meagre pickings right there.

Dead State and Age of Decadence.

Disappointing show Roguey, that is incorrect. AoD has humans (ranged and melee, with a larger range of weapons and builds), robotic sentries, that worm/insect thing in the ruins, radioactive insects on riverbed, Guardians and last but not least, an alien tentacle-monster boss.

 

[Roguey]

Disappointing show Roguey, that is incorrect. AoD has humans (ranged and melee, with a larger range of weapons and builds), robotic sentries, that worm/insect thing in the ruins, radioactive insects on riverbed, Guardians and last but not least, an alien tentacle-monster boss.

Mostly humans though.

 

[Starwars]

Are you guys telling me that you didn't find the Bane interesting and varied enemies to fight? WAHT?!

 

[Projas]

Spoiler

Is there a way to avoid killing Voices of Nerat or Bleden Mark on the Chorus path?

 

[Cyberarmy]

41 - Hunter

Most of these are either animal sounds or threats when dealing with beastmen tribes.

 

[Bonerbill]

Arcanum does more with less and has it's priorities right. It's better to add a companion quest that sprawls across whole game continent than 50 lines of dialogue you can exhaust by just clicking on them when you first meet the companion.

That's what i meant - Tyranny companions feel like i'm clicking through Morrowind-styled Wikipedia which gives me bonuses for reading all that stories, while in Arcanum it was done in a more proper way. Quantity isn't quality, and both PoE and Tyranny suffer from that

No, it wasn't done well AT ALL in Arcanum. You can't have quality when there barely anything there to be quality. You might as well say Skyrim NPCs were goo if you're going down that route.

 

[Carrion]

Mostly humans though.

Then again, fighting humans in AoD was more interesting and had more variety than more or less the entire bestiary of PoE.

 

[GloomFrost]

My opinion of Tyranny slightly improved after the I finished it for a second time. Saw some new quests, locations, dialogues, characters (not many though). Game is something in between not tooooooo bad and come on Obsidian you can do a lot better. Still the biggest problem is combat ( I m very sorry to admit that but i enjoyed combat more even in DA:O). Killing bane inside the spires was painfully boring and dull. Companions are good but nothing special (although some Lantry comments are priceless), dialogues are ok, some of them are well written and lots of stat checks. But literally no memorable side quests (and there are hardly any sidequests to start off with). Ending is weak and predictable. And of course its way to short. I know its a bout quality not quantity but there is absolutely nothing outstanding about Tyranny.

 

[Abu Antar]

Spoiler

Is there a way to avoid killing Voices of Nerat or Bleden Mark on the Chorus path?

I'm also curious about this.

Just some quick thoughts at 3AM.

I finished the game. It took me 40 hours but I have a habit at taking twice as long as other people. Overall, I liked the game but not as much as Pillars of Eternity. Encounter design was boring, enemy variety was lacking. Some encounters were fun, I guess. My problem with combat was less encounter design and even enemy variety and more that you kept facing damage sponge enemies. The writing was a mixed bag. There were some legitimately good writing in there but also some less than average writing. Itemization was a mixed bag. It was mostly boring, but I liked the idea with artifacts. The spell creation system was fun. I'd like to see it in Pillars of Eternity 2, but not to replace the regular spell system. Maybe have it be specific to a class. I do like that there are lots of factions to deal with, but I don't know how much this matters if I don't replay the game. Companions were fairly weak. I didn't care much for half of them. Barik has to be one of my least favorite Obsidian companions ever. There were a few decent tunes, but the soundtrack wasn't much to write home about.

Overall, I liked the game. Still rate KOTOR II, PoE, FNV, MotB and PoE above this. Probably, Alpha Protocol, too. It's a solid experience with some flaws.

 

[Sentinel]

Spoiler

Is there a way to avoid killing Voices of Nerat or Bleden Mark on the Chorus path?

I'm also curious about this.

Just some quick thoughts at 3AM.

I finished the game. It took me 40 hours but I have a habit at taking twice as long as other people. Overall, I liked the game but not as much as Pillars of Eternity. Encounter design was boring, enemy variety was lacking. Some encounters were fun, I guess. My problem with combat was less encounter design and even enemy variety and more that you kept facing damage sponge enemies. The writing was a mixed bag. There were some legitimately good writing in there but also some less than average writing. Itemization was a mixed bag. It was mostly boring, but I liked the idea with artifacts. The spell creation system was fun. I'd like to see it in Pillars of Eternity 2, but not to replace the regular spell system. Maybe have it be specific to a class. I do like that there are lots of factions to deal with, but I don't know how much this matters if I don't replay the game. Companions were fairly weak. I didn't care much for half of them. Barik has to be one of my least favorite Obsidian companions ever. There were a few decent tunes, but the soundtrack wasn't much to write home about.

Overall, I liked the game. Still rate KOTOR II, PoE, FNV, MotB and PoE above this. Probably, Alpha Protocol, too. It's a solid experience with some flaws.

Haven't finished the game, don't think I ever will.
Why did you dislike Barik so much? Seemed to me that Lantry was gonna be the most boring of the pack.

 

[Bonerbill]

Haven't finished the game, don't think I ever will.
Why did you dislike Barik so much? Seemed to me that Lantry was gonna be the most boring of the pack.

I'm not Projas, but I think I know why. Barik is pretty much a dick to you in 3 out of 4 of the paths in the game (Which is understandable. You're forcing him to go against his faction). So I can see why someone would hate him.

And Lantry is probably the most likable companion in the game. He seems dull at first, but he gets more interesting the more you talk to him.

 

[circ]

The range of enemy types in Tyranny is smaller than any crpg I can think of. You get Human (Ranged, melee, caster), Beastmen, Bane, and a handful of unique boss battles. That's some meagre pickings right there.

Dead State and Age of Decadence.

Well you're being sarcastic, I assume but -- DS is a zombie sim, even if you added zombie heavies or zombie rushers or whatever, it would assumably still be limited in encounter variety. AoD is supposed to be semi-realistic (?), so you're already excluding fantastical creatures, but the enemies have some very varied tactics that I remember from the demo a few years back.

 

[hell bovine]

Still the biggest problem is combat ( I m very sorry to admit that but i enjoyed combat more even in DA:O). Killing bane inside the spires was painfully boring and dull.

DaO had far better companion AI customization, at least, and more encounter variety. Tyranny - just like Pillars - uses trash mobs as an area filler, which wouldn't be a problem if the combat system was good, but it just isn't. Act one was basically a copy & paste of the same encounter everywhere.

On a side note, apparently the modding tools for Tyranny are out (I didn't even know Pillars had them ). Considering the interest in this game is still fresh, there's a chance modders will fix some of the bad stuff. That, or you'll get to romance the walking loo.

 

[ilitarist]

That's what i meant - Tyranny companions feel like i'm clicking through Morrowind-styled Wikipedia which gives me bonuses for reading all that stories, while in Arcanum it was done in a more proper way. Quantity isn't quality, and both PoE and Tyranny suffer from that

More proper way of characters losing any personality after they join you outside maybe 1 quest dialogue and maybe something right before final boss battle? Tyranny is bad about allowing you to talk to people for half an hour to exhaust their personal stories and gain most of loyalty/fear right after recruiting. However companions react to major story events, participate in dialogues, talk to each other and all. It's miles ahead of Arcanum. Even better than BioWare's "Carth wants to talk about something because you've leveled up".

I have many concerns about combat. It's not the variety of enemies, it's a design of encounters what bothers me. There are enough types of enemies, it's just you mostly meet them organized in the same groups. You always are attacked with melee and ranged and magic. You always have a "typical" battle. Banes add something interesting because sometimes they're croud control oriented and sometimes not. Still like combat more than PoE.

The real problem with combat is difficulty curve. Act 1 on PotD was extremely hard. By the middle of Act 2 combat became trivial. I was starting to get artifacts, craftable stuff, new spell types - and I didn't need any of those toys, because I'm already steamrolling everyone. Typical problem for an RPG, but it usually happens when you have all the tools, not before that. PoE was guilty of it too but not to that extent. And DLCs more or less fixed it. I'd be very happy to have another playthrough once they make PotD consistently challenging. I understand they may leave the difficulty curve on other difficulty levels as it is because many players wouldn't bother with optimizing party and doing sidequests, but PotD is supposedly as hardcore as it is. And right now it becames boring on a very first playthrough, and I'm usually not that good at tactical combat. Waiting for patches.

 

[Infinitron]

On a side note, apparently the modding tools for Tyranny are out (I didn't even know Pillars had them ). .

???

 

[Bubbles]

41 - Hunter

Most of these are either animal sounds or threats when dealing with beastmen tribes.

Actually, it's mostly a mix of this:

<DefaultText>"Beastmen can smell water - plain old clean water - from leagues away. Did you know that? Course you didn't. Cultured folk never talk to the help, now do you? Die in a fire. Oh wait, you survived one already..."</DefaultText>

and this:

<DefaultText>"Smells good. Smells feral. Reeks like kith. Want to hunt-claim-kill-rut. Want."

Massive jaws part and a mauve tongue lolls over the side of her yellowed fangs. Thick drool drips to the ground.</DefaultText>

<DefaultText>"Whoa. Down, girl."</DefaultText>
<DefaultText>[Growl in warning.]</DefaultText>
<DefaultText>"I'm not joining your pack, Beastwoman. But you're welcome to join mine - as my Beta."</DefaultText>

On a side note, apparently the modding tools for Tyranny are out (I didn't even know Pillars had them ). .

???

https://github.com/SonicZentropy/TyrannyMod.pw

 

[Infinitron]

Oh, that. I don't think you're going to get anything more from it then you got for PoE, and most likely less.

 

[Jick Magger]

Just beat the game now. Went with the disfavored route.

Overall, I agree with the consensus that the game has a lot of great ideas on paper, but in execution is incredibly hit-or-miss. A lot of the companions have the capacity to be interesting, but your ability to simply exhaust all of their dialogue options and max out their loyalty tree as soon as you meet them is a serious misstep that just leads to you seeing them as basically just objects to pump and dump for special abilities. Combat is way too simplified, and the magic system, though giving the veneer of adding a bit of complexity to the mix, ultimately just results in you adding different buffs to bog-standard DnD spells. The game also likes to pretend that the favor/wrath system lends itself to a lot of C&C, but beyond the choice of which faction to side with in the first act, you're pretty much railroaded in to doing what the game wants you to do. There're a couple of really poorly designed progression routes (i.e. even though Lethain's Crossing is open to you as early in as the beginning of Act II, you can't do anything in there beyond shop around and take the spire until much later in the story, despite there being no logical reason why you can't even just ask if you can help), the encounter design is real fucking weak, and the bestiary was ridiculously lackluster (lord knows I love killing dozens and dozens of identical colored wisps). On the positive side, the writing was very good at certain points, and the setting is still interesting enough that I would be interested in a sequel, provided they greatly improve upon the problems I just went through.

Also, is it just me, or does the game feel as though it was designed with the intention that the player character be a melee tank character? I mean, your two other melee-oriented characters who can tank can't even wear armor, so if you don't melee or decide to go out of your way to build one of the three casters up as tanks, all the heavy armor you come across is basically just vendor trash, and a majority of the combos seem to be designed with the intention that the player character is in melee distance.

 

[Bubbles]

For all the talk about Obsidian's self-censoring in this forum, they've made one of the sweariest RPGs in recent memory:

<DefaultText>"You can eat shit and bleed for shoving this Edict up our asses without as much as a warning."

<DefaultText>"Shut your cock scabbard!"

<DefaultText>"Well fuck me with Kyros' cock, that's Dauntless you're holding - famed blade of the Regents of Stalwart!

<DefaultText>"You two-faced, smarmy pile of cock seepage!

That last one is a bit heavy on the mixed metaphors imho.

 

[Bubbles]

And because I know that Infinitron is keeping score on this particular point:

"In the first few days of occupation, settlers suffered under rampant theft, murder, rape, and arson."

<ActorDirection>Bloodthirsty, threatening, sexy (she has a weird love-hate relationship with the character she's speaking to, basically she wants to rape him and kill him but she's not sure which she wants to do first).</ActorDirection>

"The Overlord brutally raped my parents in front of me and then whisked me away for an elaborate series of training exercises and rituals that enhanced my martial prowess and sarcasm. Is that the tortured origin story you wanted to hear?"

"Kill and rape a realm enough and everyone comes out of the woodwork to shiv you in the ear."

"It's fine, victorious pillagers say all sorts of things to justify sticking their spears into nations and raping their way into the family vines."

"Be thankful I'm not having you gang raped by Chorus warriors or forced to haul gear for the Disfavored like a common beast. Though if you're game for either, that would accurately settle the score."

"Oh I get it! Ok, I'd rut Barik since Kyros' forces need a little pillage and rape in return. I'd mate with Verse, mostly to take half of whatever lands she's going to someday conquer. Obviously, I'd kill Lantry. Who wouldn't?"

 

[Haba]

Also, is it just me, or does the game feel as though it was designed with the intention that the player character be a melee tank character? I mean, your two other melee-oriented characters who can tank can't even wear armor, so if you don't melee or decide to go out of your way to build one of the three casters up as tanks, all the heavy armor you come across is basically just vendor trash, and a majority of the combos seem to be designed with the intention that the player character is in melee distance.

There is also very little armour in the game. A series of linear upgrades for which ever archetype you chose, then maybe one or two artifact if you are lucky.

 

[Abu Antar]

Just beat the game now. Went with the disfavored route.

Overall, I agree with the consensus that the game has a lot of great ideas on paper, but in execution is incredibly hit-or-miss. A lot of the companions have the capacity to be interesting, but your ability to simply exhaust all of their dialogue options and max out their loyalty tree as soon as you meet them is a serious misstep that just leads to you seeing them as basically just objects to pump and dump for special abilities. Combat is way too simplified, and the magic system, though giving the veneer of adding a bit of complexity to the mix, ultimately just results in you adding different buffs to bog-standard DnD spells. The game also likes to pretend that the favor/wrath system lends itself to a lot of C&C, but beyond the choice of which faction to side with in the first act, you're pretty much railroaded in to doing what the game wants you to do. There're a couple of really poorly designed progression routes (i.e. even though Lethain's Crossing is open to you as early in as the beginning of Act II, you can't do anything in there beyond shop around and take the spire until much later in the story, despite there being no logical reason why you can't even just ask if you can help), the encounter design is real fucking weak, and the bestiary was ridiculously lackluster (lord knows I love killing dozens and dozens of identical colored wisps). On the positive side, the writing was very good at certain points, and the setting is still interesting enough that I would be interested in a sequel, provided they greatly improve upon the problems I just went through.

Also, is it just me, or does the game feel as though it was designed with the intention that the player character be a melee tank character? I mean, your two other melee-oriented characters who can tank can't even wear armor, so if you don't melee or decide to go out of your way to build one of the three casters up as tanks, all the heavy armor you come across is basically just vendor trash, and a majority of the combos seem to be designed with the intention that the player character is in melee distance.

I only had Barik as a tank. I sold all heavy armor if it wasn't an artifact. Went with Barik, Lantry and Verse for most of the game. My MC was a dual wielding warmage. I agree with you that heavy armor was useless to me.

What level were you guys when you beat the game? I was 14/15 and I somehow feel that I was lower level than I should have been.

Also, is there a way to avoid fights with some of the archons? I killed all but one.

One more thing. How the outcome ends with one archon was laughable. Again one of those moments where inconcistency showed itself.

 

[Jick Magger]

Also, is it just me, or does the game feel as though it was designed with the intention that the player character be a melee tank character? I mean, your two other melee-oriented characters who can tank can't even wear armor, so if you don't melee or decide to go out of your way to build one of the three casters up as tanks, all the heavy armor you come across is basically just vendor trash, and a majority of the combos seem to be designed with the intention that the player character is in melee distance.

There is also very little armour in the game. A series of linear upgrades for which ever archetype you chose, then maybe one or two artifact if you are lucky.

Also, the game has probably the second worst mage outfit designs I've seen in a modern RPG, just behind Dragon Age: Origins. Most of the varieties you can wear are basically just rags. I laughed when I managed to find a set of masterwork ancient archon robes... and it was a fucking glorified burlap sack.

Also, is there a way to avoid fights with some of the archons? I killed all but one.

Spoiler

I got Tunon to side with me and convinced Graven Ashe to secede control of the Disfavored to me. I've heard that Bleden Mark can be convinced to join you, but I can't really see how you could pull that off without killing one of the other archons. I'm pretty sure that you're gonna end the game with at least one archon dead, no matter what way you play it, seeing as I couldn't talk the Voices of Nedrat in to backing down.

EDIT: I went with a staff-oriented warmage and took Verse, Barik, and Sirin, only subbing Verse with Kills-in-Shadow in the stone region to see if it changed interactivity with the beastmen much (It really didn't. Besides adding a few extra comments from KiS, it goes the exact same way. KiS wasn't even particularly upset that I was killing so many beastmen, so long as I didn't instigate the fights and promising her constantly her that yeah, that was totally the last group of beastmen I'm gonna wipe out to the last man). Sirin's buffing/debuffing made all fights utterly trivial, and she can become a good support if you're willing to buff up her lore a bit.

 

[Abu Antar]

Also, is it just me, or does the game feel as though it was designed with the intention that the player character be a melee tank character? I mean, your two other melee-oriented characters who can tank can't even wear armor, so if you don't melee or decide to go out of your way to build one of the three casters up as tanks, all the heavy armor you come across is basically just vendor trash, and a majority of the combos seem to be designed with the intention that the player character is in melee distance.

There is also very little armour in the game. A series of linear upgrades for which ever archetype you chose, then maybe one or two artifact if you are lucky.

Also, the game has probably the second worst mage outfit designs I've seen in a modern RPG, just behind Dragon Age: Origins. Most of the varieties you can wear are basically just rags. I laughed when I managed to find a set of masterwork ancient archon robes... and it was a fucking glorified burlap sack.

Also, is there a way to avoid fights with some of the archons? I killed all but one.

Spoiler

I got Tunon to side with me and convinced Graven Ashe to secede control of the Disfavored to me. I've heard that Bleden Mark can be convinced to join you, but I can't really see how you could pull that off without killing one of the other archons. I'm pretty sure that you're gonna end the game with at least one archon dead, no matter what way you play it, seeing as I couldn't talk the Voices of Nedrat in to backing down.

Spoiler

The only one that I didn't fight was Tunon who bent his knee. I tried to swear fealty to Nerat but his reward for me was death. That was after I sacrificed Sirin.

 

[Popiel]

What level were you guys when you beat the game? I was 14/15 and I somehow feel that I was lower level than I should have been.

Finished the game with the same team as you did, 16/15 level, and I had a feeling (Hard dificulty) that I'm somewhat overpowered.

Spoiler

Killed Nerat and Bleden Mark with literally no effort whatsoever.