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[Greenbane]

Caved and bought it, figuring I had some disposable cash.

4 hours in, and so far it feels fairly average and quite like Pillars of Eternity.

The Conquest setup was nice, I suppose, but then the actual game is rather meh so far. Lots to read, and not nearly as much is interesting: I suppose some would find it immersive to be able to ask every minor NPC about their lives and what's their role in that place, but for me it's just meaningless fluff. It may not have binary good/bad decisions, but I wouldn't boast about it when you've merely replaced those with an equally binary "support blue/red faction", for the most part.

Been in a few battles, and again nothing remarkable in the mechanics: just like "shitty MMO combat", quoting a previous poster, only more convoluted so actually worse. Playing on Hard, that more or less forces me to give a damn about the million possible consumable items you can gather, and while some might find it engaging to find the ideal combination of fruits/vegetables/herbs/potions to distribute to each character according to their needs and class, I find that kind of "inventory management" as entertaining as coming up with a family-sized supermarket grocery list and calculating the costs with an abacus.

So I might dial back the difficulty to Normal so I don't have to go full grognard to get ahead. It's a shame, but I suppose I knew what I was getting into. I'll give it a few more hours, and if it still doesn't grip me, at least I got it for ~21 dollars on Nuuvem.

[Culise]

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.

My, and this comment made me wish I'd never lent out Breath of Fire: Dragon Quarter out to a friend and never retrieved it.  I never did manage to finish that game completely, but it was a game that assumed from the start that you'd lose and need to restart with the New Game+, and unlocked different parts of its story accordingly.  The game got a lot of flak for being a fundamental ground-up reworking of what had been to date essentially an extremely conservative "JRPG-classic" style franchise, but I think it wasn't that bad. 

Anywho, I'm probably not going to pick this up until it goes on sale.  My game budget is already tapped for the month, and to be honest, I can't say I really finished Pillars of Eternity, either.  I just couldn't really get into it; maybe I'm getting older and less flexible.

[Retropunch]

Anywho, I'm probably not going to pick this up until it goes on sale.  My game budget is already tapped for the month, and to be honest, I can't say I really finished Pillars of Eternity, either.  I just couldn't really get into it; maybe I'm getting older and less flexible.

Weirdly, I think I'm becoming more flexible about the kind of games I like as I get older. I never thought I'd enjoy games like Limbo/Inside, but now I love them.

There was honestly a time in my life when I wondered if I would ever play a game that wasn't Diablo 2. Like, seriously wondered.

[Malus]

Hmm, I finished it. Game time clocked in at 17 hours. It feels like I'm definitely not getting the full picture, so I'm already starting on my next character. I think it's probably a better game than Pillars, or at least it feels better. I'm actually more hyped for Pillars 2 now... Obsidian seems to be getting better at making these RPGs.

Edit: Looking at the achievements, I definitely missed some huge stuff.

Spoiler: Ending spoilers (click to show/hide)

Also, the people on the Tyranny subreddit seem thoroughly convinced there's going to be a sequel where you import your choices from the first game, but I don't see it. The ending I got wrapped things up pretty well, and while I think there could be one more act where you take the fight to the North, I can't really see where a sequel would come into play, unless they did it Dragon Age style and you played a different character that has to deal with the world you created.

[Neonivek]

Ok I will give this game one HUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUGE credit.

For once having a "evil" companion... and not being a horrible backstabby insane sociopath... Isn't a disadvantage.

HECK for once actually just choosing what your character would say doesn't hurt your game either.

I WISH I could just tell Sten to shut it in Dragon Age origins. Yet in Tyranny you can totally do it.

[Retropunch]

So I ended up getting given this as a gift. So far, very mixed feelings.

The 'be the bad guy' thing is exactly as I imagined really - you're basically just given a few more morally dubious choices than you're normally given, and you can say things that are mean sometimes. That's about it. Everything else is pretty standard. The story isn't exactly riveting, and it doesn't have an interesting enough setting to justify the pretty pedestrian story.

The combat is a bit blah - it's nothing exciting and its starting to feel a bit repetitious already. Same with all the mechanics really.

Overall, it just feels like a slightly more polished PoE. Now I liked PoE just because I hadn't played an iso-rpg in forever, but now that I've played some more recently Tyranny just feels like a chore. It's not that it's bad, and it'd be fine if it was the first game of it's type in years, but now it's got to be actually interesting to keep my attention and this falls a bit flat. I feel zero compulsion to load it up for a big session, and that's why I play games.

[Neonivek]

Well you see the story of Tyranny is about a bunch of toddlers who are throwing hissyfits at one another.

You rose to power because you are the only person in existence who can take 2 steps without getting into a fight.

[Viken]

So far I've enjoyed it.  Yeah, the reading is somewhat of a chore, but then again not every game can be Skyrim where every NPC has a voiceover to listen to.  I wish there was more lore and history you could find out about the world beyond the Tiers, but that'd be even more reading!  Lol.

On a fatalist note though, I'm stuck with a weird combat bug.  My characters won't drop out of combat at all.  Ugh.

[Retropunch]

So far I've enjoyed it.  Yeah, the reading is somewhat of a chore, but then again not every game can be Skyrim where every NPC has a voiceover to listen to.  I wish there was more lore and history you could find out about the world beyond the Tiers, but that'd be even more reading!  Lol.

Whilst it's well written, it's not particularly riveting or fresh.

I mean I've not really warmed to any of the characters - they seem 'quirky' but in the most humdrum sort of way. Slightly odd scribe, angry metal man, feisty blade woman. Similarly, the quests are all standard RPG fare, with little to push me on.

Don't get me wrong it's an ok game, I just guess that I had hoped it'd be slightly more interesting.

[umiman]

It's easier to like the slightly odd scribe when you realize he sounds identical to Garrus Valkarian (but not the same voice actor).

[Mithras]

Not that far into the game but at the moment I'm mainly feeling let down by my side. Occasionally I look at the giant purple guy with the hammer taller than I am and think, man you wouldn't be in this horrible mess if you actually did anything.

Then there's assaulting the enemy stronghold, I go help a few minions out outside the walls and when we've cleared a group of enemies up I'm thinking they'll move forward and give me a hand with a bunch of other mooks standing around idly watching. They don't they just fade to black.

It's just so hard to respect either of the two factions we're supposed to have a relationship with, the ones who are supposed to be super disciplined and fearsome just come off as a bit cowardly and incompetent (except for the specific times when being cautious and letting the other group take the lead would be tactically sensible, and then they're all "damn the losses we DEMAND the honour of storming the walls and taking massive casualties) and the ones that are supposed to be sneaky and subversive just come off petty and careless, (yeah we recruited a whole bunch of enemy soldiers and made them murder each other for sport, now we're just going to let them do whatever the hell they want! Except the potentially useful guy, we're going to execute him because reasons) and yeah there's the possibility that each of these factions is playing a long game, except it still looks like they'd both manage to fail spectacularly without me to handhold them.

It doesn't help that the good guys are just as unsympathetic so far.

Now I think about it I might just do a play through where I let the 8 days elapse and see what happens. It wont get rid of all the incompetence but it'd be a step.

[Retropunch]

It's just so hard to respect either of the two factions we're supposed to have a relationship with, the ones who are supposed to be super disciplined and fearsome just come off as a bit cowardly and incompetent (except for the specific times when being cautious and letting the other group take the lead would be tactically sensible, and then they're all "damn the losses we DEMAND the honour of storming the walls and taking massive casualties) and the ones that are supposed to be sneaky and subversive just come off petty and careless, (yeah we recruited a whole bunch of enemy soldiers and made them murder each other for sport, now we're just going to let them do whatever the hell they want! Except the potentially useful guy, we're going to execute him because reasons) and yeah there's the possibility that each of these factions is playing a long game, except it still looks like they'd both manage to fail spectacularly without me to handhold them.

I felt that exact same thing. I'd say it's because they've tried to give the factions 'depth' but they've missed the mark a bit, and the factions just come across as being a bit contradictory and useless.

It's like all the sub-writers were great, but the lead story writer is rubbish. You've got incredibly well put together conversations, but with pretty lame stories and characters to base it around.
 

[lordcooper]

it still looks like they'd both manage to fail spectacularly without me to handhold them.

Well yes, you weren't sent there because everyone had their shit together.

[Chosrau]

I don't think the inefficiency of these 2 factions is just down to bad writing.

Voices doesn't really care about leading the Chorus, and isn't above murdering his own competent commanders just to sate his curiosity. It's no surprise the Chorus is more of a squabbling rabble, rather then a coherent force.

And yes, the Disfavored are a bit disappointing after being displayed as some kind of elite force propped up by mystical protection. But once you consider that even back during the conquest

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Voices supplied the Disfavored enemies with information on their battle plans, maybe even whatever "Legion Secrets" he got from absorbing Ashes son

it's atleast reasonable their commander got overly cautious. If your enemies are always one step ahead of everything you plan, it makes sense to take a step back and not force the engagement before all your reinforcements have arrived.

I find way worse how unreasonable every faction after Vendriens Well is. I never even had the choice to work together with the Unbroken, even though I broke my alliance with Voices just to help them out. Though thats probably down to the game forcing you down one of the 4 paths, so I guess I was already locked into the Anarchy path.

[thegoatgod_pan]

I think the petty squabbling is the exact reason behind the central premise of the game: the whole reason for the initial edict, is that the overlord is sick of their shit, sick of their squabbling and sick of their inability to see the extent to which both sides are necessary for a successful and efficient conquest, and is actually willing to wipe both armies out completely, if they cannot either A. fight to the death and resolve the differences violently, or B. reconcile and get their shit together.

If they were not perpetually their own worst enemies, the entire edict issue would have been massive overkill, here you cannot help but think it is a pragmatically good plan to force progress.

I do like how both sides come off both sympathetic and loathesome.

The Disfavored are loyal, faithful and loving Nazis, complete with a sense of racial superiority, a love of murdering everyone for cleanness sake, and work camps left in their wake.

The Chorus are a fun, democratic and dynamic mob of rapist, murder monsters with a side of child soldiering. They offer mercies, but their mercies are honestly way worse than death.

I am never sure who I want to support, and mostly I want everyone involved to shut up and obey the mission parameters, but I suppose the frustration I feel, is exactly what motivates the edict:Kyros is also fed up with their shit.