Tyranny - Review @ Gamepressure

[HiddenX]

Gamepressure has reviewed Tyranny:

Tyranny Review – an RPG full of contrasts

As we wait for the sequel to Pillars of Eternity, Obsidian Entertainment gives us Tyranny – a game where we play as the Big Bad’s loyal agent. This short-term project features numerous ideas and mechanics, but only some of them pay off.

Tyranny is a project from Obsidian Entertainment that appeared almost out of nowhere. After the success of Pillars of Eternity we expected the devs to be hard at work on a continuation. The veterans of RPG development, however, have picked up a side job – they've returned to an old project, buried deep in their archives for years after it almost sank the company in 2012. For Feargus Urquhart's team it was all about sentiment – settling some scores with the past by digging up the world and the story of a game that could've been an Xbox One launch title but ultimately led only to mass lay-offs and financial instability of the company.

It seems that by releasing Tyranny so suddenly, Obsidian itself has submitted to the tyranny of the new era, with its growing popularity of classic role-playing games and the market which abhors vacuum and demands regularity. It’s clear that the product, which was conceived as an escape from larger, epic RPGs, is a game whose premise was formulated centuries ago and was finished quickly in-between other big titles. Tyranny is a patchwork of all kinds of mechanics and ideas – while some of them may spark some enthusiasm, others will raise nothing but doubt.

[...]


After all is said and done Tyranny remains a proposal that will be controversial among fans of the genre. An ambitious, unique plot is being sold in a package with a lot of mediocre ideas. Delight born in the first hour is killed in the following acts, when the game begins to put too much emphasis on combat, which seems to be only a cheap filler in place of some truly interesting content. This lack of consistency is visible on many levels, which may worry when we are talking about a game coming from the veterans of the genre. Now the question remains, what lessons will Obsidian learn from this – we shall see after the release of Pillars of Eternity 2.

Score: 7/10

Thanks Farflame!



More information.

 

[luj1]

and thats being generous

 

[SSIGuy]

Combat in PoE was the thing I liked the least as it become a chore imo. The prospect of even more of it in Tyranny is not appealing.

 

[ChienAboyeur]

A revealing review.
Time spent on telling tastes more than the product.

and in the first act we have a time limit hanging over our head, within which we have to complete our main quest for that chapter. It's been a long time since I've felt such pressure in a classic RPG –

It takes little time in the first run to find out that this pressure does not exist.
If one pressure exists: the pressure to bottle it. Just as in ME2, failure must be engineered.


It is one failure from the product: there is no pressure to perform in combat. It is a drawback originated in PoE and the product does not correct it.
Killing one enemy by a succession of 1 damage hits or 30 damage hits makes no difference.
Performing well, that is despatching fast the enemy, decreases the likelihood of injuries (and decreased performances in combat)
Fights are not chained together as rest allows to reset the consequences of a fight.

Putting a time limit could have solved the situation. Rest would have come at the cost of the time limit. Rest too much and the time limit is expired.

There are hints other time limits were thought of for the rest of the game. Nevertheless, the devs gave up on constraining the player that way because the time limit is way too large to put pressure on the player.

As an example, I'll share with you the story of one of my companions, who didn't agree with the majority of my decisions from the very beginning. During the dozen+ hours of fun I was unable to earn even the most elementary loyalty from his person – he was afraid of me, though. It would seem that at some stage of the game I'd have to reap the fruits of this ambivalent relationship. The man, however, stayed with me to the very end, even when it came to beating up his ex-buddies from the army. It turns out that regardless of the ups and down on the graphs of loyalty and fear, our companions will remain in the team either way. They will simply find some other motivation to do so

The industry is about giving people what they desire. Which is different from what they tell to want.

Examination of the request: a run lasts 20 hours. A four member party. After spending 18 hours in shaping a proficient squad working as a unit, it is requested one member leaves before one of the final fights. Nothing else. The party is crippled by more by one fourth, jeopardizing the completion of the run.
Of course devs showed they knew their job by discarding this kind of ideas because this is not what players desire.

Instead, they sticked to the original proposition: shaping the fate of thousands, including companions.

Too many fights with identical groups of enemies;

Comments like this show no interest in gameplay.

 

[luj1]

Its their job to provoke interest in the gameplay. i got bored literally after the second fight in the game. and i cant blame anyone who feels that way … same enemies, same encounters, same combat flow every encounter.. Tyranny is a cheap project to grab quick cash. Its nearly 50 euro on Gog, what a robbery

 

[joxer]

Compared to Destiny and $50+ priced season passes others pull out, that's hardly a robbery.

 

[luj1]

Sure, if you have a fat wallet + low expectations

 

[joxer]

Apparently millions bought mentioned Destiny. You're the minority who didn't. And me too…

 

[screeg]

The release price of a game is often robbery. Judging by fan reactions, Tyranny will be in a humble bundle for ten bucks soon enough.

 

[luj1]

Compared to 200$ Dota cosmetics Destiny doesnt feel like a robery at all. I see no problem with this logic

Please go on joxer

 

[zahratustra]

Apparently millions bought mentioned Destiny. You're the minority who didn't. And me too…

And over 700,000 bought No Man's Sky. And 61,955,843 voted for Trump. People make dumb decisions. Nothing new here.

The release price of a game is often robbery. Judging by fan reactions, Tyranny will be in a humble bundle for ten bucks soon enough.

I wrote before that I hoped that Tyranny won't do well so I'm hoping that you are right but what are your sources?

 

[forgottenlor]

Tyranny has sold almost 100k copies on Steam in a little more than 10 days. That's pretty good.

http://steamspy.com/search.php?s=tyranny

That's just a bit fewer than Pillars, which had about 200k owners in about the same period (if I remember correctly) and a good many of those were kickstarter pledgers. Obsidian considered Pillars pretty successful, and 100k owners at full price is over 4 million is revenue. So if it keeps up sales at the rate that Pillars did, I'm sure it will be considered a success. Remember Wasteland 2 sold about 350k copies within its first year, and that was also considered very successful.

 

[BoboTheMighty]

Eh, played only a little but so far get the same impression. More interesting than Pillars, but feels closer to an indie title.
Stats should have a higher direct effect and equipment should have some measure of dps scaling tied to it, to better differentiate builds.
Sawyer obviously dislikes gameplay in old IE games( far too much cheese "I win" "strategies" and player had to use his own restrictions, to make game even remotely challenging past a certain point), but balanced it to a degree where everything feels so equally flat. For this style of gameplay enemy AI is too one sided and simplistic...either blindly charge at back line or are easily held in place by tank(s)....combat should be deadlier, with far more more dynamic/interactive play with classes and different abilities...instead it's more of a slow, tedious battle of attrition.
Also it's puzzling why they went with exp gain for skill checks?
'spite all their issues Obs is my favorite developer, but I don't like this current direction. They'll slowly erode their player base with half done projects if they continue like this.

 

[luj1]

As much as I loved KotOR II Obsidian's once-legendary staff is stripped to the gills . All the veterans are either on managerial positions (Urquheart) or are honorary associates who're involved very marginally (MCA)

been like that for YEARS

 

[ChienAboyeur]

In addition, for the companions thing, players are offered to get rid of their companions early (reflecting taken decisions)

Past a certain point, companions stick to the PC, their fate being shaped by the decisions made.

Its their job to provoke interest in the gameplay.

No. It is a matter of taste. Players do not like it. They cry for their 'ugoigo'

same enemies, same encounters, same combat flow every encounter..

Unfounded. Each faction has types of unit and units are not the same one faction from the other.
Can be told about any product featuring armies with infantry, calvary, archers etc

Shows no interest in gameplay.

enemy AI is too one sided and simplistic…either blindly charge at back line or are easily held in place by tank(s)….combat should be deadlier, with far more more dynamic/interactive play with classes and different abilities…instead it's more of a slow, tedious battle of attrition.

With players unable to key inputs in real time?

 

[ElderGnome]

I love this game. I didn't play Civ 6 for days after it came out (days!) because I was playing Tyranny as my wife stood behind me and kept asking, "So this is the game where you play the evil guy? What's it like? Would I like it?" (Answers: Yes, Awesome, and probably.)

I must really love the style because I haven't enjoyed a game like Tyranny since Age of Decadence and Pillars of Eternity. These games just hit every spot for me - isometric top-down, close enough to turn based, etc. The writing and story are also great.

Sorry. Saw a "Tyranny" post and had to praise the game.

 

[BoboTheMighty]

Spoiler: Plot

So how exactly does protagonist go against Kyros? Don't mind the spoilers, I've already read quite a bit on it, will postpone the game at least for a few patches until they reduce loading screen.
( If I understand it right) That's the thing that seems ridiculously far out of place. In less than eight days and starting as lvl 1 soldier you end up toppling godlike figures like Tunon and archons…while having trouble with endless mobs that the game keeps throwing at you. For this kind of setting, the plot seems to advance too quickly.

 

[zahratustra]

Think of it as a gaming equivalent of a fast food Bobo

 

[azarhal]

Spoiler: Plot

So how exactly does protagonist go against Kyros? Don't mind the spoilers, I've already read quite a bit on it, will postpone the game at least for a few patches until they reduce loading screen.
( If I understand it right) That's the thing that seems ridiculously far out of place. In less than eight days and starting as lvl 1 soldier you end up toppling godlike figures like Tunon and archons…while having trouble with endless mobs that the game keeps throwing at you. For this kind of setting, the plot seems to advance too quickly.

Spoiler

Endless mobs? There isn't that many fight in the game and based on your choices and skills, many of them can be resolved in other way. The only Archon I fought is the only fight where I wiped too.

The 8 days is just the prologue. You are given an Edict (something read by someone that trigger a huge cataclysmic spell which is the base of Kyros's power) that proclaim everyone in the area will die in 8 days unless you defeat the rebels which require to get the Disfavored and Scarlet Chorus to work together. Ending the Edict (fulfilling the conditions for ending it) cause you absorb its power (less or more) along unlocking a connection to the Spire of the Mountain and remove any time dependence on the plot. Through the plot you'll end up recognized as an Archon with the power cast your own Edicts which scare Kyros.

As for going against Kyros, that really depends on how you play the game. You get judged at the beginning of the Act III, mine was found not guilty.

 

[BoboTheMighty]

Spoiler

Endless mobs? There isn't that many fight in the game and based on your choices and skills, many of them can be resolved in other way. The only Archon I fought is the only fight where I wiped too.

The 8 days is just the prologue. You are given an Edict (something read by someone that trigger a huge cataclysmic spell which is the base of Kyros's power) that proclaim everyone in the area will die in 8 days unless you defeat the rebels which require to get the Disfavored and Scarlet Chorus to work together. Ending the Edict (fulfilling the conditions for ending it) cause you absorb its power (less or more) along unlocking a connection to the Spire of the Mountain and remove any time dependence on the plot. Through the plot you'll end up recognized as an Archon with the power cast your own Edicts which scare Kyros.

As for going against Kyros, that really depends on how you play the game. You get judged at the beginning of the Act III, mine was found not guilty.

Spoiler: Do not OPEN! Do not OPEN!

Ah, I see. Guess I expected something differently. Imo, would be more interesting (and fitting in the setting) if character slowly rose through the ranks ( or even failure playing out as very divergent storyline) through subverting/commanding factions, than plot given "magical gift".