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Game News Tyranny Dev Diary #13: Companion Overview - Sirin

Infinitron

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Tags: Nick Carver; Obsidian Entertainment; Robert Land; Tyranny

Breaking free from their biweekly schedule, today Obsidian have published what will be Tyranny's final dev diary update. It's an overview of the game's last known companion - Sirin, the young Archon of Song, who has already appeared in a dev diary video and a recent short story by her writer, Robert Land. In the update, he explains why she isn't as powerful in the game as she is in that story. Mechanically, she's basically a Pillars of Eternity Chanter. Here's an excerpt from the update:

Sirin caused the death of more people before she was seven than most soldiers do in their entire careers. One of the few mages on Terratus who was born with magic, Sirin first displayed her abilities the first time she cried. The midwife assisting with her birth burst out crying and asked what that bright light was and why everything was so cold. Her parents quickly learned anyone who heard Sirin’s voice was compelled by the emotion behind it. Fortunately for them, she was a genial and easy-going child, so it wasn’t much of a problem. Occasionally they would have to remind her not to use her powers on local children – especially after an episode with a local bully – but there were never any major incidents until she was seven years old.

Once word spread that Sirin had powers, people from all over requested her help. Crops weren’t growing? Send for Sirin. Your son broke his leg? Send for Sirin. People spoke of her miraculous voice and its heavenly sound. It wasn’t long before she gained the nickname Songbird, and everyone wanted to hear the Songbird sing. Eventually, tales of Sirin’s voice reached Kyros, who knew that if this child truly was as powerful as everyone said, she could be a power tool for conquest. Using the Voices of Nerat, Kyros kidnapped Sirin from her family and delivered her to the royal court for training. During her schooling, she was deemed too dangerous to be allowed to use the full extent of her powers, so Kyros and the Voices of Nerat created a special helmet, placing it permanently on her head. If Sirin tried to go beyond the limits the helmet placed on her, the gem placed in it would shatter, killing her.

Once she was deemed ready (and properly under control), she was given back to the Voices of Nerat to help the Scarlet Chorus in their recruiting efforts. From that point on, her voice was used to convince any and all to join the Scarlet Chorus and fight for Kyros. But Sirin knew that she – and her voice – were simply a means to an end and that the moment she stopped being useful, her life was forfeit, so she did her best to recruit as many bodies as she could for the Chorus while planning a means of escape if the opportunity ever presented itself.

Combat Role

Sirin was designed to control and manipulate the flow of battle by afflicting her foes with terrible sicknesses of the mind and body. Sirin’s power as an Archon grants her the unique ability to influence others with song (Those who played Pillars of Eternity’s Chanter class will be familiar with her mechanics). In combat, she will passively sing, causing minor blights and hindrances to foes that hear her voice, as well as subtle benefits to her allies.

As Sirin sings, she builds up a resource called ‘Breath’ that is later used to perform an ‘Aria’. Arias unleash powerful concentrated magical effects from Sirin’s voice on those she directs it towards. These effects can be devastating for enemies, or invigorating for her allies, depending on the Aria performed. A unique progression tree is used for Sirin’s songs that is automatically advanced as she gains levels, unlocking new songs, while Arias must be purchased exclusively from her two talent trees. Overall, the focus from each tree is directed towards either making Sirin a peaceful songstress who aids her allies with powerful beneficial effects, or an aggressive weaver of vengeful arias who aims to break her enemies where they stand.

Since Sirin’s songs are passive in combat. When designing them we thought it reasonable to assume that many users will want to pick one that has an enjoyable effect and leave it active in most cases. This is absolutely OK, and many songs serve to support this strategy. However, we wanted each song to also exist as a tactical counter to occasional problems posed against the party. For instance, I may enjoy using the song ‘Glory in Battle’ to grant my party several direct stat boosts, but if I’m currently facing against the Bane, I might be inclined to temporarily switch to the song ‘Bane of Night’, which is incredibly effective against Bane units. Every song is intended to have a specific theme to its effects and is also designed to have a larger payoff at the end of the song if the last stanza is reached.

When building Sirin’s talent trees, we wanted to allow players to decide if Sirin fits better in their group as a supporter of party offense or defense. Sirin’s ‘Peace’ tree provides several defensive talents, utilities, and a number of Arias that help to bolster ally defenses, free them from hostile effects, and even revive unconscious party members. Sirin’s ‘War’ tree has talents built to use Arias more quickly as well as a variety of offensive Arias that affect enemy minds, push them around the battlefield, or even shock them into submission.

Sirin is a literal font of power. With enough time, Sirin’s songs and arias can bring ruin to armies. While not exceptionally powerful in the early moments of combat, when Sirin builds enough Breath to perform an Aria, she can completely lock down small groups of enemies, or grant a surge that sends allies to victory. However, choosing the right Aria for the moment is important, since her Breath takes time to rebuild. Sirin is also rather frail defensively, so while it’s important to make sure she’s close to the battle for her songs, she should not wander close enough to draw attention. If she finds herself in trouble, abilities like Guise of Innocence can help her to escape, but ultimately she will need another ally to step in and take the enemies’ focus.

The longer a battle rages on, the more Sirin’s power seals the enemy’s fate.
Read the full update for a list of some of Sirin's songs and other abilities.
 

DeepOcean

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I miss the days where bards were guys that standed on a tavern singing and pick pocketing... this over the top fantasy stuff is just killing my interest.
 

MRY

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The two are different issues. "Sirin" is ridiculous because: (1) AFAIK, there are no sirens in this setting, and hence no reason for an X-Men style naming convention; (2) why not just spell it correctly? Regarding arias: (1) the art form did not exist anywhere close to the bronze age; (2) the word itself is from a language that didn't exist anywhere close to the bronze age; (3) music actually did play a major role in bronze age warfare, just not "arias" or anything like them. "But arias are from Italy and so were the Romans and they had an empire long ago, so it's all cool, right? Roman Hoplites used to love arias when they were running using their javelins and slings."
 

MRY

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I just think that if you're going to work to capture the spirit of a time and place, you should really try to do it. Or just call your product an imaginative work of high fantasy that isn't grounded in any particular time and place. It's not so much the inaccuracies as it is the combination of obvious inaccuracies with articles touting the game's designers as taking a "professorial" approach to the setting. Obviously my own approach to this kind of thing is neurotic, and there's nothing wrong with saying that gameplay should trump accuracy, but so stuff (like not knowing what a hoplite or an aria is) is kind of annoying.
 

Volourn

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All the word vomit and basically it made me puke. Seriously, ther eis NOTHING interesting or special about that character yet all the spam will fool fanboys into thinking there is.
 

Infinitron

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MRY is really butthurt about Obsidian raping the bronze age setting. :P

It's a good thing he didn't notice she was literally described as an opera singer in that dev diary video. Oh wait :kfc:
 

MRY

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:sigh:

During the year I’ve spent writing Sirin’s dialogue, I’ve gotten very attached to (and protective of) her. . . . Her life has consisted of nothing but tragedy after tragedy and she has refused to let it stop her. I have come to admire her for that. She may only be fifteen years old, but she has lived more in those few years than many people do their entire lives and she shows no signs of giving up.

When I was asked to write a story, there was no question who I was going to write about and what story I was going to tell. I wanted to show exactly how powerful Sirin is. Even when she was a little girl, her power was unparalleled . . . .
I wish there were a term for this kind of character. Maybe one came up in the Star Trek context once? :smug:
 

J_C

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All the word vomit and basically it made me puke. Seriously, ther eis NOTHING interesting or special about that character yet all the spam will fool fanboys into thinking there is.
Pretty much how I felt about this (well, not the puking part). It is not interesting a bit. Hopefully their character will get more interesting in the game, but this is just meh.

Damn, MCA should just had been their lead writer in all of their games. Giving up the company leading work and sticking just to writing, giving him free reign.
 

Volourn

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"During the year I’ve spent writing Sirin’s dialogue, I’ve gotten very attached to (and protective of) her. . . . Her life has consisted of nothing but tragedy after tragedy and she has refused to let it stop her. I have come to admire her for that. She may only be fifteen years old, but she has lived more in those few years than many people do their entire lives and she shows no signs of giving up."

And, I somehow missed this. HOLY FUCK! A writer who is 'over protective' of a character they mad eup? ARE YOU FUKKIN KIDDIN ME? it is one thing to be 'protective' in the sense of writing a character and being prideful of the work and making the character but he's writng it in the sen of like a 'father' would care for his 'child'. HOLY FUKK.
 
Last edited:

Darth Roxor

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PrettyDeadman

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(1) the art form did not exist anywhere close to the bronze age; (2) the word itself is from a language that didn't exist anywhere close to the bronze age;

What makes you think that in Tyranny world it did not exist during or prior to the bronze age? Actually, character description suggests otherwise, it clearly uses word 'aria'.
 

mutonizer

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I miss the days where bards were guys that standed on a tavern singing and pick pocketing... this over the top fantasy stuff is just killing my interest.

As a bard player myself whenever possible, I'm with you on that. That said, it's true for everything it seems.

Fighters are not just dudes with some armor and weapons, they now "SPLIT THE EARTH OPEN WITH EVERY SWING AND THEIR SHIELDS THROW BEAMS OF DEFENSIVE ENERGIES!!"...
Wizards are no longer near senile dudes who spent all their times reading books and shit, they now "SHAKE THE ENTIRE FOUNDATIONS OF THE EARTH WITH EVERY SPELL"...
And now bards, no longer fancy poets who are jack of all trade, master of none, apart from maybe the babes at that one tavern, they "HAVE VOICES THAT CAN SHATTER THE WILL OF ENTIRE ARMIES AND LITERALLY WAKE THE DEAD"...


Awesome buttons, awesome buttons everywhere! They're coming!
:shunthenonbeliever:
(this image is, for once, appropriate...go figure)

Anyway, as some said, "Sirin", the one with the voice. The end....
 

MRY

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(1) the art form did not exist anywhere close to the bronze age; (2) the word itself is from a language that didn't exist anywhere close to the bronze age;

What makes you think that in Tyranny world it did not exist during or prior to the bronze age? Actually, character description suggests otherwise, it clearly uses word 'aria'.
:notsureifserious:
 

Neanderthal

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Character shoulda been a bloke called Manowar, an songs he sings should be various excerpts from "Achilles: Agony and ecstasy in eight parts."

Or just screamin hail an kill.
 

Roguey

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Damn, MCA should just had been their lead writer in all of their games. Giving up the company leading work and sticking just to writing, giving him free reign.

See my sig.
 

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