Pyre, From Super Giant makers of Transistor and Bastion

I think I screwed up with

Spoiler:

who I released first: Ti'voh. I'd prefer to remove Jordarial but she wasn't high enough level. My other options were Rukey and Gilman and Gilman requested that he not be sent back yet.

Got some time in last night, so 6 or 7 rites in now, plus a couple practice sessions. Am loving it, won't be playing anything else on PS4 until have played through at least once.

+1 on the tunes. I have tried recently to pay more attention to soundtracks and this one is excellent. Like being able to cycle through different tunes in the wagon. Having a listen without the distraction of gameplay a welcome feature.

bhchrist wrote:

Music is so good. I don't get into game music the way many do, but 10 minutes in, I was regretting not buying the bundle that included the soundtrack.

Haven't listened to the OST yet, but that's always been a major highlight of Supergiant's games. You can always buy the OST from Bandcamp.

Yeah, music-wise, SG Games went from, "Oh this is really nice for a video game" to, "I would listen to this even if I weren't playing."

The Bastion and Transistor soundtracks have been staples for me, particularly as working music. My partner and I have learned some of them on guitar even. So the soundtrack bundle was a no-brainer, and I'm even more impressed with this one so far. Waiting to listen to it separately until I've played more of the game though.

I'm a decent bit in, and there's a lot to love about this game and a lot to dislike. The world, the music, the characters, the art all great. And the Pyreball itself, well, I don't dislike it, but it feels like it needed a few more iterations of development. It's fine at the earlier levels, when the other teams are set on easy. But when the heat turns up a bit, dealing with three different characters one at a time is a giant pain in the ass. It kind of feels like this game was built to work like Transistor, where you could pause and plan out your strategy before executing it. I wonder if it was originally built that way, but the AI just couldn't match pace. As it is, the flow of the game makes any multi-character strategy very basic if not altogether ineffective.

But that's not a gamebreaker. It's still fun, I'm still enjoying it, and I'll probably spend some time tomorrow refining my strategy to see if I can make better use of multiple characters.

Are you guys playing with controllers? Tried with keyboard and mouse and didn't click with the Rites gameplay.

Controller here.

Controller all the way.

OK. I think I'll give it another go with the controller.

I'm only a few rites in, so still super early, but yeah, I'm having a hard time wrapping my head around the actual gameplay part. I keep swapping pass and toss in my head, so I pass when I meant to toss, etc. I also have a really hard time keeping track of all three of my players at once, never mind trying to also watch the opposing team. I kind of get that what I should be doing is setting up my big guy as a blocker and then maybe also set up pass plays, but actually executing that is pretty difficult for me.

I suspect what I'll wind up doing is getting team of three fast players, and then just trying to one-man it around, focusing on jumping over enemies, just so I don't have to worry so much about tracking my other two teammates.

Finished last night with about 12 hours of total playtime. I won't get into ending details here but this is my favourite Supergiant game. While I appreciated the experiments in story telling in Bastion and Transistor, I really like the Pyre tells a cohesive story with an unambiguous beginning middle and end. Every character gets a story and, one way or another, and climax.

My ending spoiler:

Spoiler:

Volfred, Bertrude, and the Reader remained behind while I won every Rite so everyone else went free. Oralech committed suicide. There was a peaceful revolution and the world has been changed for the better.

I love this game. I finished my first playthrough last night, and I will go back and do a Platinum run later (I screwed myself out of a on my first playthrough).

I would be interested in who everyone else left behind.

Spoiler:

The last five for me (I threw the match so Tamitha could go free) were the Reader, Bae (and yes,
that's what I named her), Ti'zo, Sir Gilman, and Big Bertrude. I sent Oralech through in my and Bae's place. But who would you think are the optimal people to keep behind? I tried to always send either the most deserving character (based on how effed up their exile was) or the character I thought would be most useful for the revolution.

UpToIsomorphism wrote:

I love this game. I finished my first playthrough last night, and I will go back and do a Platinum run later (I screwed myself out of a on my first playthrough).

I would be interested in who everyone else left behind.

Spoiler:

The last five for me (I threw the match so Tamitha could go free) were the Reader, Bae (and yes,
that's what I named her), Ti'zo, Sir Gilman, and Big Bertrude. I sent Oralech through in my and Bae's place. But who would you think are the optimal people to keep behind? I tried to always send either the most deserving character (based on how effed up their exile was) or the character I thought would be most useful for the revolution.

Spoiler:

I decided that Bertrude just wanted to be near Volfred and had no real love of the Commonwealth. Volfred should stay behind as his role was to provide guidance to the revolution and would be a big asset for those left behind in Downside. From my experience, all of your party members are useful to the revolution but it seems Jodi and Hedwyn are extremely crucial to its success. Apparently Almer is a huge boost to the revolution as well but haven't seen it myself.

Vector wrote:
UpToIsomorphism wrote:

I love this game. I finished my first playthrough last night, and I will go back and do a Platinum run later (I screwed myself out of a on my first playthrough).

I would be interested in who everyone else left behind.

Spoiler:

The last five for me (I threw the match so Tamitha could go free) were the Reader, Bae (and yes,
that's what I named her), Ti'zo, Sir Gilman, and Big Bertrude. I sent Oralech through in my and Bae's place. But who would you think are the optimal people to keep behind? I tried to always send either the most deserving character (based on how effed up their exile was) or the character I thought would be most useful for the revolution.

Spoiler:

I decided that Bertrude just wanted to be near Volfred and had no real love of the Commonwealth. Volfred should stay behind as his role was to provide guidance to the revolution and would be a big asset for those left behind in Downside. From my experience, all of your party members are useful to the revolution but it seems Jodi and Hedwyn are extremely crucial to its success. Apparently Almer is a huge boost to the revolution as well but haven't seen it myself.

Spoiler:

I also won all matches in my game and left behind were: the reader, Volfred, Sir Gilman and Ti'Zo. The first three I sent were the initial trio (Jodariel, Hedwyn, Rukey, in that order). I found it quite difficult to make up my mind every time and believe that the way those choices were handled in the game, how it made you weigh the mission and your fondness for the characters in addition to what being fond of someone actually meant in terms of your decision... it was all really compelling.
Anyway, I decided Bertrude would probably be a great asset to the revolutionary forces up there, so I sent her rather early. Ti'Zo I decided would be left Downside as soon as I learned that the opportunities left to sent someone "Upside" were limited. He was born here and did just fine by himself for quite a while, no use sending him up now. Sir Gilman chose exile, which automatically put him at the bottom of my list. Volfred I wanted to send up last but when they threw the final wrench in there I instead sent Oralech. Myself (the reader) was never up for debate at that point, I had long made my peace with staying. Sending Oralech instead of Volfred was kind of a snap decision, but I was pretty happy with it in the end. I don't Volfred himself would object, and according to Oralech's epilogue it all worked out fine.

Tae I sent... second to last, I think? She was one of my favorites and I selfishly kept her with me for a bit longer than I otherwise would have, but she had definitely earned her release. (Also "Bae" is literally the worst out of all the options they give you, what is wrong with you!!! :D)

I actually enjoyed all the characters, I was always looking forward to whenever somebody would be in the wagon waiting to talk to me. The spirit in the Orb was also great fun.

I enjoyed Bastion back when I played it but grew less fond of it with time. The narrator was a neat gimmick, but most of the game was just a mediocre narrative and mediocre (at best) gameplay, plastered over with very pretty art and great music.
Transistor's world and characters didn't grab me at all, to the point that I actually don't remember anything about it other than that it was kind of cyberpunky? The gameplay was sublime though.
In Pyre I can now finally see what many others seem to have seen in their previous titles. Visually and auditorily it's as great as all of their output if not better, but this time I could really get invested in the story and the characters. The sportsball part of it, while not up to the level of what they created in Transistor, was also really fun - after the first couple of matches or so at least, which were much too easy.
I think Pyre is definitely their best game yet.

HOW DOES THIS THREAD ONLY HAVE TWO PAGES?!? ARISE THREAD!!!!!
As some of you might recall, this game did really well on my own GOTY list.

The fact of the matter is, I've only played seven hours of it. I'm not even finished. But I listen to the soundtrack all the time. I have Pyre on the brain, and I'm wondering what I could pick differently, what path to choose...

And I do have a question I wish to address, because I'm trying to remain as spoiler-free as possible. So don't read if you haven't finished the game yet:

Spoiler:

I've completed the first Liberation Rite and sent Ti'zo onwards, though it grieves me greatly. I adore the little imp to bits, but he seemed so worthy, so pure, I couldn't not pick him.
So at this point, I know that the reader doesn't get to gain their freedom. I've accepted that. But I'm wondering about one thing, and I definitely want a yes/no answer to this spoilery question. My understanding is that I'm going through the Rites again, and we're going to get to attempt the Liberation Rite again. So I'll get more opportunities to free people. Question is... Since you need a triumvirate to attempt and win the Rite... doesn't that mean that some people, two from the roster, will *never* escape?

Seriously, it's keeping me up at night, no joke.

So obs, I've only skimmed the thread, apologies.
Also, yes controller, controller all the way. I started out with mouse and keyboard, because I grew up as a M+K gamer, but I busted out the XBoxOne controller eventually. It's so much smoother with a controller, though I'm not all together comfortable with one.

This is a great game, and was my GotY two (or three?) years ago. Definitely worth playing through several times and losing some matches so not everyone gets to go home.

You are mostly correct in your assumptions Eleima… Was going to elaborate and type in some more spoiler material, but I think I'll just leave it at that.

I adored everything up to the First Rite. After that, the difficulty didn't so much spike as become a massive wall looming over me. It was clear that at the very least, I was going to have to change from M+K over to gamepad, but more than that, I was running into a problem where the computer could move all three of its players at once, whereas I could only move one. That made defense almost impossible.

With gamepad skills honed, I thought I might be able to make a go of it, but I had no motivation to relearn the game, so it just sort of sat in my library until I realized I hadn't played it in forever.

kazooka wrote:

I was running into a problem where the computer could move all three of its players at once, whereas I could only move one. That made defense almost impossible.

Wait what? That feels like cheating!!! :O

Sooooo I’m not exactly sure what happened, but in a spectacular display of lack of brilliance, I managed to banish one of my own people. Cue the narrator: “what happened there?”
And I’m laughing so hard, replying “I don’t knoooooooooooow.”

Arise!

Getting back into this and am loving it. Originally bounced off it hard cause I was using a K/M and couldn't get the game mechanics, but with the controller it much more smooth.

Totally loving the story so far and the characters. Had my first liberation rite and so am not too far into the game.

I'm just waiting for this to come to Switch.

That's one of the first things I looked up once I realized how fun it was with controller, and it looks like that's not going to be happening soon.

Really need to play this.

aspect wrote:

I'm just waiting for this to come to Switch.

Is it?

It probably won't come to Switch any time soon.

Here's a blog post from Super Giant about Bastion and Transistor coming to Switch. The relevant part for Pyre is here.

P.S.: With Bastion and Transistor coming to the Switch, you might be wondering, what about our third and latest game, Pyre? The thing is, our games are built on our own custom tech so it's not a small undertaking for us to bring them to new platforms. So, while we haven't ruled anything out for the future, currently we don't have plans to bring Pyre to other platforms. We appreciate the interest, and are looking forward to seeing the response to Bastion and Transistor on the Switch!

I envy you, mwdown, these first steps you’re taking on this journey. Enjoy it. Savor it. Because it’s going to be gorgeous, and powerful and amazing.

Just lost my first Liberation Rite. I won the very first one I did, but this one, the second, was against the Essence, which I really have a hard time beating. So now Tamitha is up there causing chaos in the Commonwealth. Dammit, Tamitha, my teammates are supposed to be causing chaos in the Commonwealth!

Ooooh, fascinating!!! I never had that happen to me. I like that you can fail and the story still progresses. Kinda like life.