Obsidian and Paradox's new joint title: Tyranny

[Malistrae]

So, I saw nobody made a thread about this yet (as far as the search function revealed).
You can watch the teaser here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yc-WqIRNDKY
The game's site also has some screenshots and some world information.
I am actually pretty excited for this title. PoE was OK, but Tyranny seems geared for the bad guy. I am getting some inquisitor vibes from it, since we are acting as roaming officers charged with judging and executing stuff. And we serve the Evil Overlord who conquered the world. I always relish games that make the PC villainous from the start (instead of adding Evil options on the side that ultimately don't really impact the heroic plot) .
However, this population mechanic seems like the most interesting bit. The player can apparently influence the status of the general population within specific areas. This looks like tons of fun to me. I am hopeful that I can be a hanging judge and decimate unruly populations.

[Sannom]

How about a little more content for this?

First, the official blog, on which you will find developer diaries about the gameplay and lore, and some short stories.

Second, the E3 Trailer.

Third, direct links to the various developer diaries :
#1 - The Vision for Tyranny
#2 - The Basic Game Systems
#3 - Fatebinder (the role of your character inside Kyros' Empire)
#4 - Archons (beings of great power, many of whom serve Kyros)
#5 - Combat
#6 - Barik (the presentation of one possible companion)

Fourth, direct links to the short stories :
#1 - Under New Management, a short story about a small Scarlet Chorus (one of the Overlord's armies, which functions like a reaving party most of the time).
#2 - Commission, a short story centered on a recruit of The Disafavored, one of Kyros' elite armies.
#3 - The Archon's Voice, which gives us our first in-universe glimpse of an Archon, in this case the Archon of Secrets, called the Voices of Nerat.

[Sannom]

Another dev diary about a companion, this time Verse of the Scarlet Chorus :

https://blog.tyrannygame.com/2016/07...diary-7-verse/

[Sannom]

And another short story, this time focused on Barik (one possible companion) and featuring Graven Ashe, the Archon of War (those guys are really starting to sound like they're the gods of the setting) :

https://blog.tyrannygame.com/2016/08/05/trial-by-iron/

[Sannom]

And yet another dev diary about a companion, this time the Sage Lantry :

https://blog.tyrannygame.com/2016/08...iary-8-lantry/


An interview of the writing team by Game Revolution :

http://www.gamerevolution.com/featur...rannical-world


An interview of the game director by Gamebanshee :

http://www.gamebanshee.com/interview...interview.html


A presentation of the Scarlet Chorus (one of the factions) by Gamespot :

http://www.gamespot.com/articles/pil.../1100-6442531/

[Sannom]

The game will come out on November 10. It's available in three different editions and you can preorder it on Steam and GOG right now. Here is the pre-order trailer :

[JadedDM]

I'm wondering, though, do you have to be evil in this game? Are there options to be good at all?

[Rodin]

I'm wondering, though, do you have to be evil in this game? Are there options to be good at all?

As I understand what I've read of it, you can be good but idealism is discouraged. For example, if you go into the store and find your favorite merchant being blackmailed by the local syndicate, in most games you'd go in and bust heads, the merchant thanks you, cake and ice cream all around. In this game, doing so might get the merchant pissed at you, because now the crime boss is pissed at the merchant and he has to live there. You would then have to go and deal with the crime boss, which might mean making an unsavory deal. If you don't want to make that deal, you can bring the hammer down and murder the whole lot of them...but now the local populace is terrified of the brutal police force that just executed a load of their family members who were just in the gang because they have dental.

And unlike, well, every game out there, the rewards for being evil aren't significantly worse than the rewards for being good. For some quests, being an utter bastard might make it a lot easier.

The premise is really interesting and the setting looks quite different. It looks like it's going to have a standard real-time pause party combat system which I have never been fond of, but I might just try setting the difficulty to "Story Mode" for once and just playing through that way. I'm definitely going to give it a try either way - a game that sets out to make being evil make sense is something that I don't think I've seen before.

[Spore]

I was pretty unimpressed at first but I think the concept of "reasonably evil" has really warmed up with me. You are bound to evil choices by a superior godlike being but which one is the smarter choice? Which one brings the least death and destruction? Which one appeals to you more? Can you really risk going soft? Survivors can be your deadliest enemies. So while killing everyone in a giant fireball might not be the smartest thing to do it may benefit you in the future. Maybe having the reputation of being a vicious killer ruins your chances at diplomacy and spawns more brutality.

I like that you cannot play the game from a pure non-shifting philosophical standpoint but you actually have to deal with reality as well.

[Morty]

This game looks quite interesting. Mechanically, it seems a bog-standard RPG, but the concept, setting and atmosphere are potentially quite fresh. I'll try it sooner or later.

Also, the lore pop-ups in dialogue I've seen are ingenious in their simplicity. I wish they'd thought of that for Pillars of Eternity, which can sometimes overwhelm you with all the lore, names and terms.

[Sannom]

I'm wondering, though, do you have to be evil in this game? Are there options to be good at all?

It seems hard. I mean, during the Conquest, you almost always have to choose between the Scarlet Chorus and the Disfavored and neither are good people. And when there is a third option, it's a "Kyros" option that is usually just worse than the others, even if it's generally more efficient.

That prisoner in the early part of the game? It's a choice between having him executed or sent to a fate worse than death. No third path. No ability to call rank and set him free. You only choose who gets their way between the Scarlet Chorus and the Disfavored.

[Aotrs Commander]

I'm wondering, though, do you have to be evil in this game? Are there options to be good at all?

Isn't that sort of defeating the entire point, though? Like trying to be play good in DungeonKeeper or War for the Overworld?




Personally, I'm looking forward to, if not absolute moustche twirlinglt-Lawful Evil-ness, at least good old fashinoed proper Lawful Evilness.



Though I'll admit, I was more psyched about the game before I read they'd dropped it back to four-character parties and classless (given that I really liked Pillars of Eternity). I'll probably pre-order it, like the day before (which is nearly like bying it on the day, plus a couple of extras, and Obsidian and Paradox have earned enough faith I'm prepared to "buy before waiting for lots of reviews"; probably won't PLAY it properly for a while, mind! Both PoE and Paradox stuff in general is teaching me "buy when on sale (usually at release of New Thing)/at release, wait 2-3 weeks/3-4 months for them to patch/hotfix/balance...!"

[mollylayne]

Thanks for the wonderful Information..

[Morty]

I'm glad that they dropped classes, but I worry that they reduced the variety of weapons Pillars of Eternity has. No single-weapon style, for one. Still, they added a thrown weapon style, which doesn't get enough appreciation. I'm going to play this game sooner or later, so I'll just see for myself.

[Archpaladin Zousha]

Having just taken a look at the first little bit with character creation and stuff...wow! I like how this game immerses you right from the start!

[Inarius]

Having just taken a look at the first little bit with character creation and stuff...wow! I like how this game immerses you right from the start!

Yeah, I took an hour or so just fiddling with the creation process, going through all the campaign options. The campaign options expand on the lore pretty well to set you up for the start of the game. Then I got into the game and realized there's a spell crafting system and talent trees and a whole bunch of other further customization options for your characters as you level... That being said the combat feels a little unsatisfying so far. Maybe itll spice up later on, but even if it doesn't the setting itself seems like its going to be well worth the playthrough.

[Rodin]

I've played a fair bit already. I don't have any comments on the combat because I've got the difficulty set to story mode - I've never been a big fan of the real-time pause and while this seems like a well-implemented version of that it doesn't interest me. I basically steamroll every fight by only controlling my character and letting the AI handle the rest. I will say that party combo attacks are amazing.

What is interesting to me is the world. There's obviously a lot of different paths you can take, just from the huge choices I've been offered. I've had options to straight up murder 3 of my party members rather than take them on. Choices on which faction to support that have major ramifications. Choices to say "screw ALL you people, I'm going rogue".

I'm finding it all a lot more interesting than what I saw of Pillars of Eternity, which had some interesting ideas bolted onto a bog-standard fantasy boilerplate. Not playing a hero out to save the world makes the plot all the more fascinating. I think it's going to be very possible to have an agenda in this one, which is super rare in RPGs.

It is dark though. There's been quite a few occasions where I've wanted to be merciful, and been turned down either by my allies or by my enemies...and the failure to be merciful then echoes down the line as the next set were friends with the guys who just got killed, etc. Playing something more light-hearted between play sessions may be necessary - I refilled the puppies and rainbows in my soul with Zelda.

[houlio]

I am not totally convinced on the mechanics (besides the combo attacks, it's like reliving Chrono Trigger days), but the story is so awesome. I've loved all the ways the game has so far given me to resolve quest lines.

[Sian]

I really, really would love to like these kind of games much more, but I'm willing to wager that, just as with Pillars, Dragon Age, or earlier variants such as Baldurs Gate and Neverwinter Nights, I'm going to be utterly unable to submerge myself deep enough into the history to care.

Probably a bit to perfectionistic when it comes to getting the best result (for a certain measure of 'best result' depending on what my specific goal is).

I have no major problems with linear games with levels, and i have no problems with complete sandboxes where you have all the time in the world (no matter how much the game tells you that you really should continue your bloody mission instead of using several hours in the arcade next to the murder alley), but I've always found this sort of Semi-open sandbox with explicit timers and some content more gated than others, some softer than others, to fit me like a foot in a glove.

[Malistrae]

It seems my thread got revived without me noticing, :).

Anyway, I also started playing Tyranny, and so far, I found it pretty nifty. I fiddled a lot with the conquest options at the beginning. Gameplay is nice. I like the spell crafting system, but I would say PoE had a more complex gameplay overall. I do not think it detracts from the overall game, since the branching story is really good, and I am total fanboy for being able to make meaningful choices. I especially loved that my conquest decisions did manifest in the actual game.

I also love the moral ambiguity of the whole thing, especially when it comes to the two armies of Kyros you have a lot of contact with in the early parts of the game, the Disfavored and the Scarlet Chorus. Here's a short summary for those who are interested:

The Disfavored are the Lawful Evil guys. Though small in number, they are highly trained, well-equipped and exceptionally disciplined. They are fanatically loyal to their Archon of War and frequently demonstrate excellent tactics and a reverence towards order. They take fierce pride in their army, being honorable and treating each other as family (the Archon knows the name of every soldier and mourns every death, for instance). However, if you think they are a Lighter Shade of Black, you are sorely mistaken. They are incredibly racist and elitist, considering themselves leagues above of everyone else (except Kyros the Overlord, obviously). They exclusively recruit from select Northern bloodlines and refuse entry to everyone else, even if they demonstrate their competence. This exclusivity extends even to the most basic things, like refusing to share barracks or provisions with another army or having sexual relations outside of the Disfavored. Furthermore, their training is monomaniacally focused on war and nothing else, turning them into obedient drones. Their policy towards prisoners of war (summary execution) and civilians (slavery) are also pretty ugly. And despite their supposed tactical brilliance, their weird code of honor causes them to commit incredibly impractical actions.

The Scarlet Chorus are the Chaotic Evil guys. A horde of murderes, rapists and criminals with poor equipment. They are extremely disorganized (their basic formation being ad hoc gangs held together by the gangbosses' will), and have little loyalty to each other or to their Archon of Secrets (who apparently loves the chaotic infighting in his army). In battles, the Scarlet Chorus relies on their overwhelming numbers and blood-frenzy to defeat their enemies, caring little for their losses. However, the Scarlet Chorus practices Equal-Opportunity Evil, in sharp contrast to the Disfavored. It doesn't matter who you are or what is your past, if you survive the initiation (typically fighting other recruits to death), you are in, no questions asked. This often results in the Chorus being much more merciful than the Disfavored (since you can't recruit dead people!). Don't like your gangboss' tone? If you can kill him, you can take his place (provided you are strong enough to hold it, of course). Unlike the Disfavored, the Scarlet Chorus members are lively and individualistic (which makes them excellent saboteurs, independent operatives, etc.). They revel in both traditional hedonistic pursuits, and the carnage of battle. They are true hedonists, only caring about having a good run. And despite their society resembling the Abyss of D&D, they do form friendships and romances. Strained relationships, sure, but they are there.

Personally, I very much favor the Chorus. I came to dislike the racist, exclusive Disfavored with their inefficient sense of "honor". Sure, the Chorus is insane, harsh and pretty nightmarish. But they are on a much, much longer leash than the Disfavored. If you have to be a slave, at least you should try to enjoy your life as much as possible. And the Chorus is a true meritocracy: the strong and talented rise to the top, the weak and incompetent suffer for their mediocrity. That is a very just system, if a brutal one (I like the Dark Eldar and the Sith for the same reason). But you can't make an omelette without torturing some eggs to death, after all...

(Edit: Not to mention that I think (I am still in the early parts of the game) the Disfavored are pretty much doomed on the long run, due to their small numbers and extreme difficulty in replacing losses. No sense in backing the losing side, obviously.)

[houlio]

Interesting, I ended up favoring neither. Both in my book seem not only far too incompetent, but their tactics also actively endanger the Overlord's Peace. I sided with the Disfavored for awhile (because they seemed to offer the most expedient solutions to most things), but eventually I just couldn't stand their management of things.

[Malistrae]

Interesting, I ended up favoring neither. Both in my book seem not only far too incompetent, but their tactics also actively endanger the Overlord's Peace. I sided with the Disfavored for awhile (because they seemed to offer the most expedient solutions to most things), but eventually I just couldn't stand their management of things.

Yes, the Disfavored suffer from the chronic deficiency of trying to act pragmatically, but their weird customs and traditions keep getting in the way. And I think the Voices of Nerath are(?) way more charismatic than Graven Ashe (who I am convinced is a latent traitor like Cairn was). Still, an army that combined the best of both worlds (the meritocratic equality of the Chorus and the discipline of the Disfavored) would probably be more efficient than either of them.

[houlio]

Yes, the Disfavored suffer from the chronic deficiency of trying to act pragmatically, but their weird customs and traditions keep getting in the way. And I think the Voices of Nerath are(?) way more charismatic than Graven Ashe (who I am convinced is a latent traitor like Cairn was). Still, an army that combined the best of both worlds (the meritocratic equality of the Chorus and the discipline of the Disfavored) would probably be more efficient than either of them.

"[Glare Silently]"

Yeah. I chose not to side with the Chorus initially mostly because I though their tactics would be ineffective for dealing with main battle (and I also fought with the Disfavored during the conquest of the Bastard City).

One note to bring up is that, compared to other games in the genre, Tyranny seems to offer so many more ways of resolving quest lines. The writers have done a fantastic job with it.

[Arcane_Snowman]

I finished the game just yesterday with the Disfavored as my allies, mostly just because they fell into my lap with my play style.

I had to lower the difficulty from the highest to the second highest during the first big boss fight (which I'm not a big fan of) because I hadn't built optimally, but once I overcame that hurdle it became relatively easy to win most fights. That being said, I did a mostly "by the feels" character creation rather than a straight up number crunching one so I suppose that that was a big part of it.

The game is definitely better than Pillars of Eternity, whose ending infuriated me mostly due to it's lack of options when I was playing a heavily talking character and they've definitely left space for that here. That being said there's still a great lack in the way options are presented, quite often I found myself unable to do anything other than try to kill those with which I was talking despite having good reputation with said faction. One such situation was particularly infuriating was meeting up with the leader of a faction with which I had a good reputation, being given no other option than to kill said person, then finding and rescuing an NPC which informed me that I could probably talk to said leader to hash out an alliance.

It felt kinda short (finished it in 20 hours, which isn't actually short) but that may have been mostly due to where it ends more so than anything else. I'm definitely going to be playing again though, which rarely happens for me especially after just finishing a game.

[Archpaladin Zousha]

From my understanding, that was kind of the point: A game that is, by RPG standards, short, but with enough branching paths that it offers a heck of a lot of replay value!

[Cespenar]

I also think that this is one of best RPGs to actually play a "good" character (if only partially), because neither there is any direct gain for it, nor the game actually gives you anything resembling "good points" in return. If you want to be good, you do that despite the circumstances. Which is refreshing.

[Spore]

I also think that this is one of best RPGs to actually play a "good" character (if only partially), because neither there is any direct gain for it, nor the game actually gives you anything resembling "good points" in return. If you want to be good, you do that despite the circumstances. Which is refreshing.

There is certainly the possibility of playing the game as the "worst evil advisor ever", literally playing into a possible resistance's strongpoints. Let people escape your edicts (to save a few useless spies for the Chorus), give expensive iron weapons to the Chorus while the Disfavored need it more. Don't invervene when both factions attack and steal from each other and just laugh and point at them when they kill themselves.

[tigerusthegreat]

90% sure Tyranny is just what happens when I play CK 2

[Aotrs Commander]

90% sure Tyranny is just what happens when I play CK 2

I'm 100% sure Tyranny is just what happens when I play CK!

(Not quite got the immortal part yet, but that next on my list of things to do during the remaing 400 years of my Rome game...)



I've been at it, what, eight hours so far and I've, like done the first three area (i.e. the first one and the camps), so I think it quite likely I'm going to be one of the longer ones.

(Mind you, that also includes a restart when I realised that magic staffs do NOT affect your spells and I may as well go unarmed, then.)

[Archpaladin Zousha]

Got a question regarding the questlines:

Spoiler: Quest Questions with Spoilers?

Show

So, from what I'm hearing, it's impossible to DO ALL THE QUESTS in a single playthrough of Tyranny, and not in the sense of "There's a set of faction paths each with mutually exclusive quests" but in the sense that "There are three quest areas in the game and you can only go to two in a single playthrough, so you'll miss an entire chunk of story no matter what you do." To be more specific, you'll always go to Stalwart, and after that have options to go to Leithan's Crossing, Stone Sea or The Burning Library, but if you go to Leithan's Crossing and Stone Sea, you lose the chance to go to The Burning Library, and if you go to the Burning Library and Leithan's Crossing, you can't go to the Stone Sea and if you go to the Burning Library and the Stone Sea, you have to skip Leithan's Crossing. Is this accurate? Has anyone who's completed the game to confirm or disprove this? I'm kind of worried that if I want to undo all the Edicts, I'll have to abandon Leithan's Crossing to its problems, and for an obsessive completionist like me that's UNBELIEVABLY frustrating.