The GWJ CRPG Club - Game 13: Tyranny

Call me in. I've beaten it before pre-most DLC. Would like to try a build and story arc against my normal type this time.

In! I went through character creation first, then poked around on the interwebs yesterday to try to find some hints. It seems a lot is similar to Pillars, but here are a few nuggets I found that might be useful:

  • If you're going pure mage, it is helpful to double up on the same type of magic rather than take 2 types. This is because doubling up lets you get a Talent, which is essentially like a free skill point and can help you go down the mage tree faster. Getting a different type of magic just grants you a different rune, but apparently you can find or buy all runes during the game.
  • Any physical choice, on the other hand, gives you a Talent. So, if you are not starting as a mage, you'll get 2 Talents. Might be better than a Talent and a rune, but then again, mages get a big amount of Lore.
  • How you answer "How did you join Kyros' army?" affects your skills a small amount, though these boosts don't appear to be listed.
  • Apparently, enemies are more willing in Tyranny to break away from engagement than they were in PoE, and so they'll come for the squishy characters.
  • The main character has an ability called Thrust, that starts pretty weak but can get modified by different Talents. Apparently, these modifications stack.

Count me in, I hope to be able to focus more of my gaming time on this and also finish The Banner Saga!

I might play this one again. I've done it twice already, but it's fun, and it's meant for replays, so I might well do it.

Ye gods, the GOG version is hugely more expensive. You'd think they'd do it the other way around, since anything on GOG can be gotten for free anyway. I'm a little annoyed at spending the extra $15, but at least I have an unprotected version now.

edit: Oh, the GOG version was the full deal, all the DLC, where the $7.50 Steam version is just the base game. The full thing on Steam is a couple bucks less than GOG's flavor, not $15 cheaper.

Spent a couple of hours getting a character going. From what I've read, lore, subterfuge, and athletics are the traits that most influence dialogue, and I really want to maximize my options there. So I went diplomat (lore and subt bonus), along with a primary in unarmed and a secondary in control frost. I'm tempted to do the creation over again to select different background options (really threaded the line between factions there), but I'll likely just roll forward.

IMAGE(https://bn1303files.storage.live.com/y4pyxEbxpgNYvc8UhPCM3K8-mn0IGHWKtCxaDY9uH9oHc_Vq5ELjwlH1m7lGZ66FPqrfeUiB7I-O4mkqeYH4-9RyKt36OYH-jMGlBJSXTFqX9DMbdh62KLFZ9sBhbNcNRyWpFS2KiQDMbY13zAo0RP9ddUnvMtXpXNfPKRwP-9ry3o0mB_khF4bHDUMi6Wyi2Vp/TyrannyCharacterScreen_Rubicon.jpg?psid=1&width=1379&height=775)

Welcome aboard, jdzappa, Malor (possibly), and neutrino! Be great to have you along.

I did pretty much the same thing as you did, ubrakto. I tried to create a "good" character, which seemed to have me threading a needle between both factions. I've no idea how this will turn out, but I'm rolling with it too.

Thanks for the thoughts on character creation, Last Surprise! I had no idea on the "How did you join?" question, but my "lawbreaker" choice seems to have given me at least some decent stats for a boost.

I'm planning to lean-in and be evil, though (hopefully) an amoral-and-selfish sort of evil and not the nihilist-kicking-puppies sort of evil so common to RPGs.

Having read around, I will probably go for a 1-handed, light armour fighter with a few supporting spells.

I've made some progress, just another 45 minutes or so. The plot feels like it's starting to take shape. We've read a thing, and now have some tasks to do.

The balancing of favor and fear is an interesting mechanic, and clicks together in interesting ways with the starting premise of the game. I can see how playing the conquest differently could lead to lots of different game options, as I'm seeing a number of in-game options arise because of the selections I made in the conquest.

It's starting to feel like fun, and I can see the direct connections to the Pillars of Eternity engine. This feels lighter and more manageable to me so far. I'm enjoying myself at the moment, taking my time with the conversations, and leaning in to things without rushing through them.

Math wrote:

I'm planning to lean-in and be evil, though (hopefully) an amoral-and-selfish sort of evil and not the nihilist-kicking-puppies sort of evil so common to RPGs.

Having read around, I will probably go for a 1-handed, light armour fighter with a few supporting spells.

I'm very curious to hear who this works out for you. It feels like a game almost designed around playing an evil character, although you might have to choose a faction to side with, I suppose.

I’m an hour or two in at this point, far enough to start doing quests and getting into fights.

So one of the things that becomes clear fairly quickly is that everyone sucks. That may be obvious from the setting, but I’m having a hard time determining which faction to oppose less (let’s not call it siding with). I think I gave more favor to the Scarlet Chorus during the Conquest segment, but I tried to keep it somewhat even. But now that I’m actually interacting with a bunch of people from both factions, I’m finding that I dislike the Disfavored less, for now.

I’m also trying to thread the needle of dealing with the factions, and after one big conversation with leaders from both factions (it’s early on), and restarting it a couple of times since I didn’t like how it went, I’m starting to settle in a sort of ‘trying to keep it professional, but will snap if someone really hacks me off’ sort of groove, while not letting each faction’s internal rules from getting in the way of what I think will work better. I’ve gotten accused of throwing around my Title a few times now for my trouble. And I’ve really only snapped once now, in a sidequest where someone used me, and when I went back to see them I just straight punched them in the face. I picked up some wrath points for the faction, but the character in question approved my action.

And there are a lot of opportunities to antagonize people of all factions if you so desire. But most of the time when you do it, rather than coming off as a monster on a black and white morality scale (think Fallout 3), here, it come off more as you just being another self serving power center who squabbles with and steps on others, just like everyone else you deal with. I don’t yet have a feel for how ‘nice’ you can be to people yet.

Sundown wrote:

So one of the things that becomes clear fairly quickly is that everyone sucks.

I feel like I may have found a way out of this, but I'm not as far along as you, so we'll see where this goes.

Godzilla Blitz wrote:
Sundown wrote:

So one of the things that becomes clear fairly quickly is that everyone sucks.

I feel like I may have found a way out of this, but I'm not as far along as you, so we'll see where this goes.

Spoiler:

I did run into some of the Oathbreaker rebels as I was running along, and remained professional with them as well during the parley, despite the protests of Barik. Rather than just outright killed them, I heard them out and answered their questions, without antagonizing them or giving them unusual amounts of favor that would make no sense for my character to do. They may be an option later, but I don't know how we get to that point yet. And I've got no particular read on how bad they may or may not actually be. I don't think this setting will be a black and white morality, but I might guess more of a black and grey, with the rebels potentially being grey.

Sundown wrote:
Godzilla Blitz wrote:
Sundown wrote:

So one of the things that becomes clear fairly quickly is that everyone sucks.

I feel like I may have found a way out of this, but I'm not as far along as you, so we'll see where this goes.

Spoiler:

I did run into some of the Oathbreaker rebels as I was running along, and remained professional with them as well during the parley, despite the protests of Barik. Rather than just outright killed them, I heard them out and answered their questions, without antagonizing them or giving them unusual amounts of favor that would make no sense for my character to do. They may be an option later, but I don't know how we get to that point yet. And I've got no particular read on how bad they may or may not actually be. I don't think this setting will be a black and white morality, but I might guess more of a black and grey, with the rebels potentially being grey.

Spoiler:

Yes, that's what I ran into as well. I felt like they were ... good. And I probably spilled more information than I should have being an agent of Kyros. The conversation went well, and I can see that Eb will eventually be a party member. I've already earned considerable favor from her. So I'm wondering if this might allow me to slant the character cleanly to the good side as the game continues.

LastSurprise wrote:

I rolled up a character yesterday, but probably will hold off on starting for a few weeks, so that I can finish a game or two before I begin. I really want to clear a couple things off my backlog instead of doing what I often do: play 5 things at once, and really only focus on one or two of them.

Delay? Filthy lies. I started today:

IMAGE(https://i.imgur.com/U8QB9wp.png?2)

Here's my character, Theras. Also a Lawbreaker, though less because I'm trying to find a way to role-play a good guy, and more because that background involves more agency than the others. I can see a person who lives in this world think that life's brutal, but joining the regime at least gets me a better life, some stability, and a seat at the table. You know, the self-justification of the complicit. I do love that the evil in this game is more nuanced than the Chaotic Stupid you often find in CRPGs, though.

My choices during the Conquest mostly went for the Disfavored, as Theras tends to respect their confidence. I went with the Scarlet Chorus choices a few times when they were asserting their rights. Theras knows his authority comes from being an instrument of Kyros' will, and not from the favor of a particular sect.

Of course, as did other people, I really wanted to push the ability to take dialogue options. So I pumped all my skill points at character generation into Lore (10), Athletics (5), and Subterfuge (5). I put some attribute points into Quickness, even though Theras doesn't yet have enough skills to warrant reducing cooldown durations. As a result, he's not a very good fighter. There was a lot of scratch damage through the first map. Though he did gain a few levels in one-handed fighting very quickly.

Edit: Also chose the "sneaky" male voice because it's Matt Mercer and I had to. One of the female voices is Erica Lindbeck, who I also love, but I can't tell which one.

I got this free from Epic and started playing yesterday.

I love old school meaty RPG's like these.

How are people hosting screen shots to post here? I used to use imgr but it seems to have gone wonky.

I used imgur. I do recall a time, not too long ago, when I had to make a new account. But it seems to work just fine.

strangederby wrote:

How are people hosting screen shots to post here? I used to use imgr but it seems to have gone wonky.

I think imgur has been struggling under the weight of Christmas. They had some sort of post a selfie thing that worked out too well or something like that. I expect they'll be back to normal ... soon?

Sundown wrote:

So one of the things that becomes clear fairly quickly is that everyone sucks. That may be obvious from the setting, but I’m having a hard time determining which faction to oppose less (let’s not call it siding with). I think I gave more favor to the Scarlet Chorus during the Conquest segment, but I tried to keep it somewhat even. But now that I’m actually interacting with a bunch of people from both factions, I’m finding that I dislike the Disfavored less, for now.

I'm having a very similar experience. In the prologue, while vile, the Chorus seemed inclined to give all an opportunity to live and thrive, which kind of played to my bent. But it quickly becomes clear how loyalty-free and meaningless that condition is. The Voices of Nerat appears a mashup of the Joker and Apocalypse, an agent of chaos in which only the fittest are deemed worthy of survival, which has made me more inclined toward the Disfavored through the first map. At least they have a code of sorts.

IMAGE(https://media.giphy.com/media/Sx6tIhRDWORpK/giphy.gif)

Granted, when it all comes to it, if I can set the Tiers free, I likely will.

strangederby wrote:

How are people hosting screen shots to post here? I used to use imgr but it seems to have gone wonky.

I've got a public-enabled folder on OneDrive that I put mine into. Linking to the image there seems to work pretty well.

Installed, made a character, played through the first couple of fights. Nothing spectacular so far except for reminding me why I don’t like character creation. Just give me some pre-made builds to pick from please...

Ugh... I think i hate every character i've spoken to thus far with the exception of the very polite rebel lady in that one random encounter. Possibly the old sage guy as well.

Basically, i'm CLEARLY on the wrong side in this game.

Picked up my playthrough, which was at the edict declaration, and played through the rest of the chapter.

Spoiler:

Sided with the Vendrien guard, although I was tempted to go at it alone again, and gave Fifth Eye the Leonidas treatment:

IMAGE(https://i.imgur.com/jgUETXv.jpg)

I pushed through and finished Act 1. All things considered, I'm good with how things turned out.

Spoiler:

I had not been nice enough to the oathbreakers to be able to side with them (which earned me a nastygram from their leader near the end of the act), so when it was time to wrap up the act and take the tower, I was back to having to choose between the Unfavored and the Chorus. Since I had a bit more favor with the Chorus overall, I chose to side with them to take the tower even though I hate how the actually treat prospective recruits to the horde. This pushed Barik, who already was at fear level 2, to punch me and threaten to kill me. I then used my position to force him to to keep being my minion, even though he wanted to leave. Can't let my tank go just like that, after all. He may still betray me at some point, and has threatened to do so.

From there, we crushed the rebels and took the tower, but I was given the option to betray the Chorus and take it for myself. I did so immediately, which lead to a second fight with Five Eyes, the Scarlet Chorus lieutenant. We whupped him, and then teleported to the top of the Spire. I then had Lantry write a letter to tell the Chorus the news that I wasn't handing it over to them to control, gave it to Five Eyes, and Sparta kicked him off the tower with it. And now, like I mentioned off hand in an earlier post, I'm now fully my own power center, while the other two factions turning on each other and fighting it out. At the very least, I didn't have to side with either in the end, but now I'm not totally sure how things are going to play out now.

And now Tunon is calling me back to find out what's up, so let's see accepting he is of my actions.

EDIT:

Alien Love Gardener wrote:

Picked up my playthrough, which was at the edict declaration, and played through the rest of the chapter.

Spoiler:

Sided with the Vendrien guard, although I was tempted to go at it alone again, and gave Fifth Eye the Leonidas treatment:

IMAGE(https://i.imgur.com/jgUETXv.jpg)

Spoiler:

What do you think the odds are that everyone will take the opportunity to kick him over the side?

Sundown wrote:
Spoiler:

What do you think the odds are that everyone will take the opportunity to kick him over the side?

Oh, I'd say about 100%.

I made it another half hour or so, but not much progress, just basically explored the second camp and advanced the story a bit.

I'm having flashbacks to Pillars of Eternity when I try to evaluate weapons. I basically stare at them and wonder. "Well, this new weapon does more DPS, so it's better. But wait, it has significantly less armor penetration than what I'm using. So do I use one weapon against soft targets and switch it out against armored targets? What if there are both unarmored and armored targets in the same fight? Or what about lightly armored targets? And do I really want to pick weapons based on who I'm fighting all the time? That seems pretty micro."

Usually I end up equipping whatever thing I happen to be using and lug all the rest around in hopes that someday I'll be smarter and be able to figure it out.

pyxistyx wrote:

Ugh... I think i hate every character i've spoken to thus far with the exception of the very polite rebel lady in that one random encounter. Possibly the old sage guy as well.

Basically, i'm CLEARLY on the wrong side in this game.

I hear ya. I'm in the same place.

Hrm...so far I feel like the two factions are attempts to break down and clarify what it means to be 'Chaotic Evil' vs 'Lawful Evil' at a point where most sensible ttrpgs have long since moved away from rigidly defined alignment systems (even 5e only really pays lip service to alignment these days, with most people i know at least sensibly ignoring it)

IMAGE(https://i.imgur.com/hCWzRhJ.png)

Tower taken the

Spoiler:

Chorus

threw a strop and have declared me the enemy.

I'll join you folks. I'm not sure if I'll make it all of the way through since I find I lose interest in this type of RPG after a bit, but I'll at least give it a start and see where it goes.

Went with a shadow mage + two hander build w/Sunder as a first ability. I usually play a tank and/or healer so I thought it might be fun to try a debuffer build this time around.

IMAGE(https://i.ibb.co/8d7807W/nephele.jpg)

Just delivered the edict and am visiting around the army encampments before heading out. Again the first time I played through this was prior to any DLC, so I'm looking forward to revisiting the story and seeing any new content.

I played a few hours today, basically up to reading the Edict to the two faction leaders. Took it slow, explored the UI, and talked to folks, so it could probably go faster. I went with the Guild Apprentice background, and chose a mix of Vigor magic and unarmed abilities to start with. I like the spell maker, and the first companion, Verse, has been entertaining. I like the overall presentation with the stylized graphics (both 2D and 3D). It's beautiful overall. The UI is a little overwhelming, but being able to pause and take my time trying to grok everything has been helpful so far.

Yeah I really like Verse. She knows exactly what she is and doesn't try to hide behind a vaneer of justification like the Disfavoured.

So far I'm playing as someone loyal to the evil empire who none the less sees murder as a waste of resources and and always tries to force a peaceful outcome when possible.