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[thegoatgod_pan]

Just figured out how the magic system works. It is pretty great: dyi, approach. You find scrolls with specific runes, which can be an effect like Heal or Freeze or Illusion, forms like personal, cone,line etc, and intensifiers, like extra damage, extra range etc.

As a result, you build spells to your liking and your character's skill level. Casting illusion on yourself will make you harder to hit, but casting it in a cone stuns and hurts enemies, etc. etc. Very flexible and fun to play around.

[umiman]

Played some more.

Then it ended.

Wat.

I only played like 8 hours.

...

Is this... is this really it?

[Virtz]

It's unfortunate that this game is so similar to Pillars of Eternity, another example of clinging to obsolete, cumbersome systems just for nostalgia's sake. Literally every genre has evolved in the past 16 years, and it makes little sense to stay primitive, reinventing not-D&D mechanics, just as convoluted, and insisting on an obscure, dull combat system.

I appreciate the twist of the story, and the effort they put into the lore. It's unfortunate to see all that potential wasted on an archaic, rusted golem of a game structure.

Considering the modern variants are generally either shitty MMO combat like in Dragon Age 3, or Bethesda-esque Action game combat where the RPG elements barely matter, then I think the PoE combat system is ok.

[Greenbane]

Considering the modern variants are generally either shitty MMO combat like in Dragon Age 3, or Bethesda-esque Action game combat where the RPG elements barely matter, then I think the PoE combat system is ok.

Literally the only thing that nominally sets this combat system apart from shitty MMO combat is that you're controlling things from a strategy-like perspective instead of third person. Beyond that it's the same non-tactical bar brawl. And well, the system is more convoluted, bloated with stats, secondary stats, tertiary stats and a million skills out of which you only use a handful.

And you don't really need to go as far as Bethesda games, which are pretty much another subgenre. There's Wasteland 2 and the Shadowrun games, for instance. Their combat systems aren't perfect either, but they're CRPGs who have seen past the apparent need to clone D&D yet again to give an illusion of depth and meaningful complexity. They achieve the same effect through more streamlined mechanics.

Oh, I almost forget about Divinity Original Sin, which does something really interesting with combat and its whole elemental system.

Anyway, the sad thing is that I'm considering a purchase despite the fact I know there's an even or greater chance Tyranny won't impress me. The story seems nice, choice is nice and the whole thing seems fairly polished, but I can't shake the feeling it's little more than a book wrapped around an ancient game structure I've long since exhausted.


PS:

Played some more.

Then it ended.

Wat.

I only played like 8 hours.

...

Is this... is this really it?

Now this is alarming. An abrupt end after a relatively short amount of playtime? So far I had read the game was at least 20 hours long.

[Sirian]

I just tried it, and I didn't enjoy the beginning enough to keep me playing. It felt more like an interactive story than a game. The combat wasn't very engaging either. Although the story seems to be nonlinear, the progression through the game feels very linear. So far, most of the choices I made were basically "red faction or blue faction". The game kept raining those choices, each giving me notices of "favor gained" which felt unnecessary and annoying.

Starting to play, I quickly encountered my first merchant, but he actually sells only starter gear and consumables. Same with the second merchant, even though he's telling me that he has superior stuff and being from the heavily equipped faction. That's disappointing.

The premise of letting you play a "bad guy" is interesting but I don't think that this game delivers it properly. I'd be interested in reading a short version of the story but I don't really feel like going through it myself.

[Malus]

Now this is alarming. An abrupt end after a relatively short amount of playtime? So far I had read the game was at least 20 hours long.

I've put in... 11 hours and I don't think I'm close to the end (probably? I'm maybe halfway through finishing my third spire). Admittedly, I am reading all the lore and exploring literally every dialogue option and doing every sidequest. It definitely seems like the kind of game where if you critical-path your way through and skip all the conversations you could finish it in 2 hours or so, but the game is literally 90% about the writing so I have no idea why you'd do that.

[Neonivek]

Played some more.

Then it ended.

Wat.

I only played like 8 hours.

...

Is this... is this really it?

This was on purpose. The developers wanted to create a game that is short, but has a lot of replay value.

[A Thing]

Played a couple of hours of this last night and is it just me or is loyalty/fear on companions really easy to raise? I haven't even done a real side-quest or main-quest yet and Verse is already at loyalty 3 (out of five,) fear 3, and Barik is already at loyalty 3. Just from looking at the reputation screen it seems it might have something to do with the conquest choices I made but I'm still not quite sure if it should be raising this fast.

Spoiler: Conquest choices that seem to matter (click to show/hide)

Burnt the Bastard Tier.
Provoked and killed the Queen.
Gave no warning to the Tiers about the Edict of Storms.

[Puzzlemaker]

Honestly I wish more dev's would do that.  A lot of Dev's want to avoid locking levels and work they have done behind choices the player can make.  It makes sense, but it means that your choices don't really have too much impact.  It would be much nicer if they would shorten the game, and make your choices more meaningful.

[thegoatgod_pan]

The main thing to buy from merchants is spell scrolls to build spells.

[Taricus]

It is actually pretty easy to build up loyalty in companions. Or at least for Verse/Barik given how early you get them and how much their personal conversations boost their loyalty. The others are a little more circumstantial in their gains I suspect.

And I'll agree the game is short. I'd say that it makes it a lot more entertaining to play through repeatedly and taking different character choices since it's not such a slog or chore to get through the early parts of the game.

[Neonivek]

It is actually pretty easy to build up loyalty in companions. Or at least for Verse/Barik given how early you get them and how much their personal conversations boost their loyalty. The others are a little more circumstantial in their gains I suspect.

And I'll agree the game is short. I'd say that it makes it a lot more entertaining to play through repeatedly and taking different character choices since it's not such a slog or chore to get through the early parts of the game.

Kind of wish it did what some short games did and instead of relying on completely fresh playthroughs...

They had New Game+ Systems that actually expanded on what is in the game.

[umiman]

Now this is alarming. An abrupt end after a relatively short amount of playtime? So far I had read the game was at least 20 hours long.

I've put in... 11 hours and I don't think I'm close to the end (probably? I'm maybe halfway through finishing my third spire). Admittedly, I am reading all the lore and exploring literally every dialogue option and doing every sidequest. It definitely seems like the kind of game where if you critical-path your way through and skip all the conversations you could finish it in 2 hours or so, but the game is literally 90% about the writing so I have no idea why you'd do that.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

You're at the end of the game.

[Neonivek]

I guess here is an example of one thing I mean.

War of the Samurai is a game you can beat extremely quickly... Definitely can beat the game in perhaps an hour.

AND it has multiple paths just like Tyranny does.

However you are the same character in every single playthrough and collect things, learn knowledge, and get hints towards alternate endings. Some of the toughest bosses only appear in certain playthroughs (the toughest in the game is hidden and optional). Then as you up the difficulty entirely new things start to appear (The Scythe, Saw, Ninja Wand are all hard mode only weapons).

Short but expansive is great in my mind. Yet starting fresh can be what kills it.

Even FTL knew this and has you unlock features and learn how to circumvent events along the way.

[Retropunch]

Problem is that with a very story heavy game, there's only so many times you can face going through all the common stories. Yeah, you can go back to it some time later, but that's not really that motivating for buying, unless there's some solid reasons for multiple plays through.