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!
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!
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.
