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- May 29, 2010
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I was going to skip this, but after enjoying Tides of Numenera far more than I expected, I decided to give it a fair chance.
First, I was pleased to hear the menu theme's slight similarity to Front 242's Gripped by Fear, considering the suggestion I made. It's likely a coincidence, but I'm taking credit for it anyway. Aside from that, the music is about as nondescript as Pillars of Eternity's.
The second impression is that, much like Temple of Elemental Evil, the art looks far better while playing than it does in still shots. They successfully hot-rodded the art style, because I prefer it to the muted tones of Pillars. This is a beautiful and fantastic ruined world.
Going through the Conquest decisions was fun, and the animated board game presentation enhanced the experience. This may have been made with a tight budget, but it feels like a double-AA game, more so than Pillars even.
Of course there's still some jank. I noticed a couple of minor bugs, and even though this uses a newer version of Unity, load times are as long as ever (not too surprising considering Tyranny's save files are larger than PoE's). Fortunately, the only area with multiple interiors is Lethian's Crossing, so it's not something one will have to endure multiple times within a short time period most of the time.
To my surprise, I enjoyed the writing more than every other RPG in recent memory that isn't Witcher 3. There's plenty of text, but fewer text walls, and this time around they made sure not to disrupt reading along with the voice over with prose descriptions. I found the world and the self-interested characters in it compelling. It's a surprisingly nuanced take on fascism from SoCal liberals. Barik, for example, would have a home with the alt-right.
And much like a true alt-righter, the guy has the urge to race mix.
Additionally, Eb is a sex realist.
I didn't like being around Verse on account of her being a low functioning sociopath, but her character didn't annoy me like I thought she would. I particularly enjoyed how she shoots down anyone looking for a romance.
Even though Sawyer wasn't directly involved, there's still talk of rape and sexual assault.
On that note, it's a bit disappointing that Eb essentially begs to become your slave, but there's no dialogue option to pimp her out or imply anything suggestive. A Dance with Rogues this is not. Too bad, because the way she says "Shit! Shit! Shit shit shit shit!" whenever an enemy sets her on fire is hilariously endearing.
I have a feeling my coining of Fenstermaker's Folly really struck a chord with MacLean and/or Kirsch, because a variation of it is used not just once but twice. Too bad they couldn't work some alliteration in there.
Persuade, bluff, and intimidate getting rolled into lore, subterfuge, and athletics was a good call to make when it came to making sure each skill would get enough use. I didn't make a spellslinger, so it wasn't until I was past the middle of act two before I could pass all the checks; even then, I wouldn't consider any of them optimal no-brainer choices.
For those curious, here's the loyal to Kyros ending text, where compassionate fascism wins.
Given how simple and brief it is, and how the last sentence still leaves an opening to railroad you into the standard ending for a sequel, I imagine it was only absent from the release version because they just never considered it. Better late than never anyway.
The biggest surprise came with the combat: I consider it some of the best Obsidian has ever delivered. I suppose the improvements to enemy ability use and targeting priorities they made with 1.1 played a factor here, in addition to all the general balance improvements they made through multiple patches. Unlike Pillars, combat speed felt just right at normal, with the slow mode being too slow for my tastes. It's true that you're mostly fighting other humans, but there's plenty of variations provided through their armor and abilities, and the use of terrain. Up until the middle of act two, I couldn't get anywhere on Hard with select all-attack or alpha striking; every battle required me to pay attention to positioning and properly prioritize targets. It did falter with the Oldwalls dungeon in Stalwart (too combat dense, too much trash, and too much time without reading breaks), but it picked up soon after (I can't speak for the Lethian's Crossing path, but the Library was a great area), continued to provide demanding battles, and never hit that nadir again.
Granted, I can still see how it's not for everyone. Like Dragon Age: Origins and Divinity: Original Sin, it disregards the illusion of strategic resource management almost entirely and relies on cooldown-based abilities (with some extremely powerful one-shot per-rest abilities meant to be used for emergencies). Some people aren't ever going to like this particular style of combat no matter how well it's executed, though I have no doubt the majority of scrubs at Obsidian love it and can understand it better than the style of combat Pillars of Eternity attempted to improve (hence why Deadfire's gameplay is being changed to be a lot more like Tyranny's even though PoE sold more).
Here are my end game stats:
Turns out that two hours can feel like a long time. Even though my kill count was about one hundred more than Planescape Torment, it felt like I was doing a lot more fighting the entire time, which can be attributed to better pacing (most of Torment's takes place after you leave Sigil) and Tyranny's de-emphasis on easily killed trash mobs. As you can see, my accuracy monster made those trades-jacks' hit rates look pathetic, but my shameful damage:hit ratio is on account of so many enemies having sky high piercing armor (I'll live an archer and I'll die an archer; I suppose I could/should have used more whetstones).
Even though I liked it, I'm not sure if I'll ever bother with the DLC. The Tales from the Tiers CYOAs might be worth a spin, but I vaguely recall that Bastard's Wound adds another Oldwalls dungeon that's allegedly no better than the one I went through. It also has a companion quest called "Annal Sects," a crude pun to which I have an intense negative reaction.
Tyranny learned a lot from the writing and combat mistakes and missteps of Pillars of Eternity, and though I don't prefer some of the solutions with regard to the combat, I consider it the best party-based computer role playing game in recent history (keep in mind it'll be a while before I play Original Sin 2). As far as I'm concerned, it leaves Wasteland 2, Tides of Numenera, and the Shadowrun trio in the dust in every way possible. Divinity: Original Sin and Pillars of Eternity surpass it in some ways when it comes to gameplay, but Tyranny has stronger writing and reactivity. It's changed my mind about Deadfire; I was going to skip that as well, but now that I've seen first-hand what Sawyersidian can do with a familiar engine, I have little doubt it's going to be a great experience once they've spent a year or so polishing it after release.
First, I was pleased to hear the menu theme's slight similarity to Front 242's Gripped by Fear, considering the suggestion I made. It's likely a coincidence, but I'm taking credit for it anyway. Aside from that, the music is about as nondescript as Pillars of Eternity's.
The second impression is that, much like Temple of Elemental Evil, the art looks far better while playing than it does in still shots. They successfully hot-rodded the art style, because I prefer it to the muted tones of Pillars. This is a beautiful and fantastic ruined world.
Going through the Conquest decisions was fun, and the animated board game presentation enhanced the experience. This may have been made with a tight budget, but it feels like a double-AA game, more so than Pillars even.
Of course there's still some jank. I noticed a couple of minor bugs, and even though this uses a newer version of Unity, load times are as long as ever (not too surprising considering Tyranny's save files are larger than PoE's). Fortunately, the only area with multiple interiors is Lethian's Crossing, so it's not something one will have to endure multiple times within a short time period most of the time.
To my surprise, I enjoyed the writing more than every other RPG in recent memory that isn't Witcher 3. There's plenty of text, but fewer text walls, and this time around they made sure not to disrupt reading along with the voice over with prose descriptions. I found the world and the self-interested characters in it compelling. It's a surprisingly nuanced take on fascism from SoCal liberals. Barik, for example, would have a home with the alt-right.
And much like a true alt-righter, the guy has the urge to race mix.
Additionally, Eb is a sex realist.
I didn't like being around Verse on account of her being a low functioning sociopath, but her character didn't annoy me like I thought she would. I particularly enjoyed how she shoots down anyone looking for a romance.
Even though Sawyer wasn't directly involved, there's still talk of rape and sexual assault.
On that note, it's a bit disappointing that Eb essentially begs to become your slave, but there's no dialogue option to pimp her out or imply anything suggestive. A Dance with Rogues this is not. Too bad, because the way she says "Shit! Shit! Shit shit shit shit!" whenever an enemy sets her on fire is hilariously endearing.
I have a feeling my coining of Fenstermaker's Folly really struck a chord with MacLean and/or Kirsch, because a variation of it is used not just once but twice. Too bad they couldn't work some alliteration in there.
Persuade, bluff, and intimidate getting rolled into lore, subterfuge, and athletics was a good call to make when it came to making sure each skill would get enough use. I didn't make a spellslinger, so it wasn't until I was past the middle of act two before I could pass all the checks; even then, I wouldn't consider any of them optimal no-brainer choices.
For those curious, here's the loyal to Kyros ending text, where compassionate fascism wins.
Given how simple and brief it is, and how the last sentence still leaves an opening to railroad you into the standard ending for a sequel, I imagine it was only absent from the release version because they just never considered it. Better late than never anyway.
The biggest surprise came with the combat: I consider it some of the best Obsidian has ever delivered. I suppose the improvements to enemy ability use and targeting priorities they made with 1.1 played a factor here, in addition to all the general balance improvements they made through multiple patches. Unlike Pillars, combat speed felt just right at normal, with the slow mode being too slow for my tastes. It's true that you're mostly fighting other humans, but there's plenty of variations provided through their armor and abilities, and the use of terrain. Up until the middle of act two, I couldn't get anywhere on Hard with select all-attack or alpha striking; every battle required me to pay attention to positioning and properly prioritize targets. It did falter with the Oldwalls dungeon in Stalwart (too combat dense, too much trash, and too much time without reading breaks), but it picked up soon after (I can't speak for the Lethian's Crossing path, but the Library was a great area), continued to provide demanding battles, and never hit that nadir again.
Granted, I can still see how it's not for everyone. Like Dragon Age: Origins and Divinity: Original Sin, it disregards the illusion of strategic resource management almost entirely and relies on cooldown-based abilities (with some extremely powerful one-shot per-rest abilities meant to be used for emergencies). Some people aren't ever going to like this particular style of combat no matter how well it's executed, though I have no doubt the majority of scrubs at Obsidian love it and can understand it better than the style of combat Pillars of Eternity attempted to improve (hence why Deadfire's gameplay is being changed to be a lot more like Tyranny's even though PoE sold more).
Here are my end game stats:
Turns out that two hours can feel like a long time. Even though my kill count was about one hundred more than Planescape Torment, it felt like I was doing a lot more fighting the entire time, which can be attributed to better pacing (most of Torment's takes place after you leave Sigil) and Tyranny's de-emphasis on easily killed trash mobs. As you can see, my accuracy monster made those trades-jacks' hit rates look pathetic, but my shameful damage:hit ratio is on account of so many enemies having sky high piercing armor (I'll live an archer and I'll die an archer; I suppose I could/should have used more whetstones).
Even though I liked it, I'm not sure if I'll ever bother with the DLC. The Tales from the Tiers CYOAs might be worth a spin, but I vaguely recall that Bastard's Wound adds another Oldwalls dungeon that's allegedly no better than the one I went through. It also has a companion quest called "Annal Sects," a crude pun to which I have an intense negative reaction.
Tyranny learned a lot from the writing and combat mistakes and missteps of Pillars of Eternity, and though I don't prefer some of the solutions with regard to the combat, I consider it the best party-based computer role playing game in recent history (keep in mind it'll be a while before I play Original Sin 2). As far as I'm concerned, it leaves Wasteland 2, Tides of Numenera, and the Shadowrun trio in the dust in every way possible. Divinity: Original Sin and Pillars of Eternity surpass it in some ways when it comes to gameplay, but Tyranny has stronger writing and reactivity. It's changed my mind about Deadfire; I was going to skip that as well, but now that I've seen first-hand what Sawyersidian can do with a familiar engine, I have little doubt it's going to be a great experience once they've spent a year or so polishing it after release.