The GWJ CRPG Club - Game 13: Tyranny

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For more information on the GWJ CRPG Club, go here.

Tyranny is the GWJ CRPG's Club's 13th winner, winning the vote in a most decisive fashion.

Tyranny is an isometric RPG developed by Obsidian Entertainment and published by Paradox. Published in 2016, the game builds upon the Unity engine and gameplay from Pillars of Eternity. The player takes on the role of Fatebinder, a class-less character that the player develops in a skill-based fashion through the actions the player takes in the game. The game is available on Windows and OSX.

We'll be playing this game until June 30, 2021. This thread is for friendly discussion as we play through the game. Share your reflections, successes, defeats, tactics, wishes, impressions, and whatever here! The more conversation the better, so post away.

For BIG spoilers, please use the spoiler tag. (No! I am your father!) Tactics, strategies, general story progression likely won't need them.

Anyone and everyone is welcome to participate, and can start at any time, so join the fun! One quick favor: If you decide to play, make a post here along the lines of "I'm in!" to let us know. If you start and finish the game before the end, you'll level up your GWJ CRPG Membership.

Helpful Links
Steam ($7.49 <-- SALE!)
GOG ($24.99)
Is There Any Deal: Tyranny
How Long to Beat (20 - 45.5 hours)
Fan Wiki
Wikipedia Page
Achievements Guide
Metacritic (80 metascore, 7.8 user score)
Character Creation & Walkthrough
(Taking suggestions)

Members Completed
Alien Love Gardener
Sundown
bfgp
strangederby
Malor
ubrakto
gewy
beanman101283
GioClark
strangederby
Math
billt721
Godzilla Blitz
Sorbicol
Redherring

Members Playing
Last Surprise
pyxistyx
brokenclavicle
PurEvil
Carlbear95
Hardek
DC Malleus
jdzappa
Neutrino
DonD
Lakerboy32
blackanchor
deceivious1

In

In. I WAS going to play the steam version i had but then i remember GOG gave away the 'gold' version with all the DLC so...I'll play that version instead thanks!

I’m in. I was interested in this one when it first came out, but it sort of slipped off my radar. Between the Epic giveaway a few days ago and now the club voting for it, nows as good a time as any to get around to it.

I started playing last night anticipating the win, but didn’t really get very far past the conquest segment. I spent longer than I’d like to admit trying to look at builds. For now, I’m trying the unarmed thing.

I'm in as well! Installing now.

pyxistyx wrote:

In. I WAS going to play the steam version i had but then i remember GOG gave away the 'gold' version with all the DLC so...I'll play that version instead thanks!

Wait, was this the game where I've heard recommendations NOT to get the DLC? I vaguely remember a conversation like that, but maybe I'm getting my games mixed up.

EDIT: I think maybe it was Bastard's Wound DLC that received a lot of complaints about how it messed with the main game and was buggy. It's never easy to tell with Paradox DLC content though, as they tend to get slammed for any DLC they publish.

EDIT^2: So yeah, just poking about a bit more about Bastard's Wound, it seems that it somewhat breaks some of the elements of the main game. Here's a paragraph from a review on the DLC. It doesn't seem to spoil anything.

If you finished Tyranny, then you know that there were some major story events and some major choices for you to make at the end of the game. Disappointingly, the DLC all but throws these choices in to the trash can at the outset. Anyone that you killed is still dead, but nobody in the entire world seems to know about it or care. Everyone that you meet still talks to you as if it is Chapter 1 of the original game. For many games, this problem would not be a big one, but Tyranny was largely defined by how well the world reacted to your decisions. Taking that strength away removes much of its identity and spoils much of the experience.

I'm in, but currently have too many ongoing games, so I'll probably start in a week or two.

Did play around with the character creator and already the game feels like it has more personality than Pillars of Eternity, which just felt horribly bland to me. I like the stylized look of the characters and the bleak world. So that's promising. The desert wasteland landscape reminds me a bit of Dark Sun. The idea of having a supremely powerful, distant evil overlord and a bunch of secondary, mysterious and not quite as powerful minions with their own agendas reminds me a bit of The Black Company. Not sure how much those initial impressions will hold up though.

I did spend a bit of time reading about character builds, and one thing stood out to me. Skill checks seem to be based around lore, subterfuge and athletics only, so I'll be dumping a lot of points into these. I'd rather have a harder time in combat than miss out on special dialogue and puzzle solutions. It's unclear to me though if other attributes like might secondarily impact things like athletics though- didn't go that deep into my reading.

Will play on normal difficulty.

Also, I read that Chris Avellone had a hand in initial development. This worries me a little bit. Although Planescape: Torment is one of my all time favorite games, I found his character writing for both POE and the Fallout: New Vegas DLC to be eye-rollingly annoying. I may be in the minority, but I also suspect I'd prefer the relative straightforwardness of KOTOR 1 to KOTOR 2, even if you could somehow undo the second game being prematurely rushed out. He definitely has a certain type of character he likes to write, with all this mysterious overwrought dialogue. A little bit of that goes a long way. And he puts a lot of it in.

(*re: DLC notes)
good to know!

OK, reading up on it, it looks like Bastard's Wound is one of those DLC that integrates into the middle of the base game. I suspect the effect won't be as jarring if you complete it fairly early on instead of loading up a save toward the end of the game when you've already won it, which is probably what the reviewer did.

I'm so in! Will be realistically joining toward the latter end of January, for sure.

I'm in! I actually already started - twice - since I got the urge to reinstall after some chatter about it in the main thread. I'm not going to be able to get back to it until I get back from visiting the parent units' in a couple of days though.

And just in case, if someone feels the urge to press the button since they give you the option - for the love of god, don't skip conquest mode. It gives so much more flavor for the coming events, and the choices you make will have a genuine impact on the main campaign.

Got it, don't skip Conquest mode, thanks! It actually sounds intriguing to me. I'm also a fan of RPGs that drive character development by skills used in game, so I'm even more excited to play now.

gewy wrote:

OK, reading up on it, it looks like Bastard's Wound is one of those DLC that integrates into the middle of the base game. I suspect the effect won't be as jarring if you complete it fairly early on instead of loading up a save toward the end of the game when you've already won it, which is probably what the reviewer did.

Good to know, thanks. I don't have the DLC so I'm going vanilla in any case, but I'd be curious to hear how the DLC goes for those who try it.

I'm in too although I do have a number of other games I'm looking to play through and finish first. I'll get round to it in the new year!

I may be in, if I can get through The Dungeon of Naheulbeuk. I just don't want to drop one game to start another. I've had Tyranny on Steam and EGS for a while now and never got around to diving into it, so it'd be nice to remove that one from the pile.

I’m in, I think I have at least two copies of this already...

Welcome all! I think I've gotten everyone's names in the first post. Let me know if I've missed you.

I'm in. Downloaded and installed today, though I probably won't start til after the 1st. I want to try to finish up one or more of my currently in-progress games before starting this one. Looking forward to finally getting around to it, though. The premise certainly sounded interesting at the time.

I'm in. I think I already owned it on Amazon Games (formerly the Twitch Launcher) but will be playing it on Epic instead because it has the DLCs.

I think one reason why I've never been able to get farther than the intro/setup in this game before is the overall idea that the dictator has won so dramatically, and is so ridiculously all-powerful that his grip on the world is absolute. And the fact that you are unironically supposed to be On His Side. One of the indoctrinated, brainwashed loyalists of his regime (and one pretty much complicit in some horrific war crimes just by character creation alone).

It's unique, certainly, but It's not a setup that appeals to me in the slightest, if I'm honest.

I don't know what sort of options I'll have going forward, but right now it looks as if my choices are between...

Spoiler:

Being instrumental in supressing the last glimmer of hope these people have for freedom, of having their culture and history deliberately torn from them and forced into conformity with the Empire --- or condemning tens of thousands to a horrible death (including, presumably, significant proportions of the Empire's armies). Frankly, I'm leaning towards the latter at this point.

^It is an ominous start, isn't it.

I got a bit of a ways into character creation last night, but only far enough to realize that I wanted to start over.

On a bit of a side note, I feel like character creation, along with inventory management, is an area where RPGs in general could use better design. With character creation, I often feel like the order of things is wrong, and it's asking questions of me that I'll only know the answers for after I play for a while. In Tyranny, for example, it's having me create a body and pick an avatar image before I've picked my background and attributes, etc. If I know what I want to be, that's great, but if I want to see what the game is offering before deciding, it's all backwards. Anyways, rant off, I'm hoping to dig back into creating a character shortly.

Godzilla Blitz wrote:

Welcome all! I think I've gotten everyone's names in the first post. Let me know if I've missed you.

Seems there's a banner saga typo.

Not sure if I'm in yet. Got free on Epic. Probably should do it now with peer pressure or I might never. We'll see.

Stele wrote:
Godzilla Blitz wrote:

Welcome all! I think I've gotten everyone's names in the first post. Let me know if I've missed you.

Seems there's a banner saga typo.

Not sure if I'm in yet. Got free on Epic. Probably should do it now with peer pressure or I might never. We'll see.

Thanks for pointing out the typo, all fixed!

One nice thing is that it's not a terribly long RPG, so it's not a massive commitment. Be great if you could join!

Well I was looking for a new game to start and lo and behold something that's been buried deep in my pile for at least a year.

Will at least give it a start and hope to stick with it.

gewy wrote:

I did spend a bit of time reading about character builds, and one thing stood out to me. Skill checks seem to be based around lore, subterfuge and athletics only, so I'll be dumping a lot of points into these. I'd rather have a harder time in combat than miss out on special dialogue and puzzle solutions. It's unclear to me though if other attributes like might secondarily impact things like athletics though- didn't go that deep into my reading.

This. I'm right there with you.

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.

I’m in. Owned both on steam and epic, but epic has some DLC so installing that one.

Time to start reading character creation guides

Hardek wrote:

I’m in. Owned both on steam and epic, but epic has some DLC so installing that one.

Time to start reading character creation guides

I'm finding the Steam one I've linked in the first post pretty helpful.

I've started the game. I've created Lopexia, a dual-wielding, vigor-casting lawbreaker with a soft spot for the downtrodden and justice. We'll see how she gets along.

IMAGE(https://i.imgur.com/1bsa3Bl.jpg)

I enjoyed the Conquest prologue in setting the scene, and it's interesting to see how things unfold with those choices in the game. It immediately makes me wonder about the impact of different choices.

So far so good, I've just done the first small area and made my way to the Disfavored Camp. Still largely unsure of what I'm doing with skills, attributes, and combat, but we'll figure it out as we go.

I also went with Lawbreaker. It seemed...least brainwashed of the options present.

pyxistyx wrote:

I also went with Lawbreaker. It seemed...least brainwashed of the options present.

I'm not sure I've played a game where the main character has started the game so far perched on the evil end of the moral spectrum. After playing for an hour or so, I'm starting to get a sense for the designers' intent. It's an interesting design decision and I'm curious to see how this plays out.

I’m tentatively in if I can interject myself I keep lurking in these threads wishing I had the time to commit and Tyranny looks compact enough to finally do it! I’ve just got to finish my Prey playthrough first, but I figure I’ll have enough time for both. We get a month or two to complete as part of the club right?

DC Malleus wrote:

I’m tentatively in if I can interject myself I keep lurking in these threads wishing I had the time to commit and Tyranny looks compact enough to finally do it! I’ve just got to finish my Prey playthrough first, but I figure I’ll have enough time for both. We get a month or two to complete as part of the club right?

Welcome welcome! Glad you can join.

We have three months before we pick our next game and it's during this time when the most conversation happens. But we leave the thread open for another 3 months for stragglers. Then lastly, we toss the game in the Retirement Home and you could still finish it there. The most activity happens in the first three months though.

Hey Godzilla I’m in - though need to make one last push to beat Endless Space 2 for that other game club.

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