How is Tyranny compared to Deadfire?

[Verde]

Is it less buggy? That is my primary concern at this point. With the new Deadfire patch I'm experiencing tons of new minor and major bugs and I'm about done with it.

[xzar_monty]

I understand minor bugs, but what have you seen that constitutes as major?

 

(I found Tyranny almost completely uninteresting and gave up on it in less than an hour, but please, do not take my word on it. I may be totally wrong.)

[Verde]

So they fixed the fast stealth but now my general movement is messed up. Sometimes I run really fast other times I cant run at all. There are some other minor bugs like Xotis quest not updating but the movement bug is crazy, I can't play like this.

 

What didn't you like about Tyranny?

Edited February 7, 2019 by Verde

[xzar_monty]

D'oh. Those bugs do sound nasty. I haven't seen any of them.

 

I found the entire Tyranny uninteresting: the premise, the setting, the approach. Also, the first fights felt unsatistying. But this is definitely a matter of opinion, and as you're mostly asking about bugs, I have nothing to say on that.

[Verde]

I've seen some good reviews on Tyranny but the user reviews are usually love or hate.

Edited February 7, 2019 by Verde

[xzar_monty]

There's nothing in it worth hating, I just found it uninteresting.

[MaxQuest]

Is it less buggy? That is my primary concern at this point. With the new Deadfire patch I'm experiencing tons of new minor and major bugs and I'm about done with it.

I have completed two playthroughs during 1.08.

- one with full party, Disfavored path

- one solo, Independent path

 

Tbh, I don't remember encountering any gamebreaking bugs. There were some minor, but it was easy enough to play around them.

 

In my opinion Tyranny had problems of mechanics kind... Quirky attack resolution, ability to one-shot bosses, and limited amount of optimal builds. After only one playthrough you could spot the strongest build, and everything else would just be subpar to it, so there was little incentive to experiment further.

Edited February 7, 2019 by MaxQuest

[algroth]

Bugs-wise, I never experienced any major bugs in Deadfire, or major enough that they irremediably broke my game. Not so with Tyranny, where I had to cut my last playthrough of it short following a strange situation where my party and passive roster would gets scrambled up in the weirdest of ways and lead to me being unable to recruit or dismiss characters at all, as well as generating numerous copies of the companions in the process.

 

In terms of the game I think the premise is great, the world is fantastic, and the first act is pretty damn solid throughout... But the game does wane a bit moving onto acts 2 and 3, which feel a tad rushed and bare-bones. Still enjoyable and hitting some nice story beats and satisfying encounters - what there is there is good but it could have been great had there been more to flesh the world and conflict out. I get the feeling there was a plan at some point to add more content to them via DLCs, which never occured due to the game not performing as expected.

 

I also enjoy most of the approach to choice and consequence in the game, and its take on evil and so on. This is a great video on that aspect as treated in Tyranny (with spoilers of course):

 

Edited February 7, 2019 by algroth

[mychal26]

I enjoyed it quite a bit, a lot more than POE 2, and somewhat more than POE 1. Main issue is that it ends way too early, seems the game is ramping up, but just ends. Took about 40 hours to 100%, but that was one route. Can't remember any major bugs. Really wish it would of done well, I liked how they approached the game, a lot of gameplay interactions with companions, much better reputations that give abilities, and choices that drive you down widely different paths. Hmm, hmm, kinda makes me want to stop my POE 2 playthrough to go through it again...

[Verde]

Thanks all. Deadfire is like a hot gf who bothers me sometimes but I can't keep anyway

[bugarup]

I had a rather annoying bug with disappearing companions a couple of times, but loading the earlier save that's not in the same location fixed it, albeit not always from the first try. Other than that, nothing serious.

 

Loved Tyranny's setting and atmo to pieces, the story was also great if a bit abrupt towards the end but I didn't really mind. And reactivity to things you do is IMO only second to "Alpha Protocol" albeit not dynamic like in AP but mostly decided by your choices in the intro; that's why I liked the game being short, because story-wise play-throughs were really different -- even you side with the same faction, people might react quite differently because of your previous choices.  Loved the IKEA DYI spell system, found combat irritating at first but eh, got used to it. Also, if you're of the people who love playing good guys -- you cannot do that in Tyranny. You can tune your level of murderosity at best, but be a good guy? Nuh-uh.

 

Some tips if you decide to try it:

 

Lore is the king skill, invest almost everything into it;

Don't go independent, at least not on your first playthrough -- nobody will want to talk to you and you'll have to murder your way through and it is not a good thing in this game.

The dungeons (aka the Walls) suck. Brace yourself for disappointment.

[Verde]

Thanks for the tips. The Walls?

[bugarup]

Thanks for the tips. The Walls?

 

The Oldwalls, to be precise -- it's the name of dungeon system.

[Verde]

Ahhh and you say they are no good?

[bugarup]

More, like, boooooring. Samey, predictable enemies. And backtracking. Oh the backtracking.

[Triple - A Foxy Lad]

the oddwalls are a bit of a slog and full of annoying mobs. not enough to make me stop playing, but deffo not the games selling point. combat in generals a tad iffy.

 

games written with a lighter touch than its premise and content would suggest. there are a couple of nasty moments, but for the most part it leans towards oddly cheerful w40k grimdark shenanigans rather than edgelordism.

 

when its good, its very good. it couldve been more. part of me's hoping paradox poach a couple of the core devs to HBS and set them on a sequel, (what is Matt MacLean doing atm? aint seen his name mentioned since Tyranny) but i aint holding my breath.

[thelee]

tyranny is also a much, much shorter game than PoE1 or Deadfire.

 

depending on your tastes, this is a plus or a minus.

 

this short length does give the game an extreme amount of reactivity. Just for fun I picked it up again after hundreds of hours on Deadfire and I had forgotten just how much reactivity there is in the game even compared to Deadfire.

 

but like MaxQuest said there's a lot of issues with the mechanics. I really hate how obtuse attack rolls became, the ability trees while interesting actually leave room for very little design space for character customization, while straddling the classless "use your skill to strengthen them" has all the problems of literally every other system that has tried it without doing anything to fix them. Also in contrast to PoE/infinity engine per rest or even Deadfire per encounter systems, due ot how abilities work in Tyranny combats really, really, really boil down to just repetiviely using the same 4-5 skills over and over and over and over. The main saving grace is that this was the first Obsidian game where enemy encounters could have technical aspects to them (watching for certain abilities being signaled so you can avoid them, proper positioning, etc) but ultimately Deadfire does this pretty well in some fights as well (e.g. I enjoyed enemy mage fight in FS, the improved Ukaizo fight, and even the sometimes-very-frustrating seeker challenges in SSS).

 

in conclusion: meh

Edited February 8, 2019 by thelee

[Purudaya]

Really enjoyed Tyranny. The combat isn't as good as Deadfire's, but it has an incredibly interesting world and companions that are better written than any of the PoE cast. There's also a lot of player agency: you can play for the favor or overthrow of Kyros (with possible benevolent and malevolent motivations for both), side with mutually exclusive factions, go it alone, etc.

 

Being able to play in a world where evil has just conquered everything offers some really interesting RP options. If you enjoy a solid story, good lore, and are open to a unique approach to the genre, I'd highly recommend it.

Edited February 7, 2019 by Purudaya

[MountainTiger]

I find the core gameplay in Tyranny incredibly boring, which is a shame, because I like the setting quite a bit. But I didn't see as many obvious bugs as Deadfire, so if you're looking for stability it should be better.

[bringingyouthefuture]

I had a rather annoying bug with disappearing companions a couple of times, but loading the earlier save that's not in the same location fixed it, albeit not always from the first try. Other than that, nothing serious.

 

Loved Tyranny's setting and atmo to pieces, the story was also great if a bit abrupt towards the end but I didn't really mind. And reactivity to things you do is IMO only second to "Alpha Protocol" albeit not dynamic like in AP but mostly decided by your choices in the intro; that's why I liked the game being short, because story-wise play-throughs were really different -- even you side with the same faction, people might react quite differently because of your previous choices.  Loved the IKEA DYI spell system, found combat irritating at first but eh, got used to it. Also, if you're of the people who love playing good guys -- you cannot do that in Tyranny. You can tune your level of murderosity at best, but be a good guy? Nuh-uh.

 

Some tips if you decide to try it:

 

Lore is the king skill, invest almost everything into it;

Don't go independent, at least not on your first playthrough -- nobody will want to talk to you and you'll have to murder your way through and it is not a good thing in this game.

The dungeons (aka the Walls) suck. Brace yourself for disappointment.

 

I disagree - you can be a good guy, it is almost like you start neutral good but and end up chaotic good   I like the game did 3 or 4 playthroughs - all the critiques above are true though - short; easy combat once you learn how it works; etc.  The expansion helps a bit.

 

Best playthrough I enjoyed was the Chorus .... also I loved the dungeons but not trying to be contrary on this just expressing the smalls joys I have found in life!!!

Edited February 8, 2019 by bringingyouthefuture

[M4xw0lf]

I like Tyranny about the same as PoE I, better than Deadfire. That's not to say that it's an overall better game than the latter - it's shorter and has a lot less to offer in terms of loot and character builds (so much less of those, I can't stress this enough), but I do like it a lot nevertheless. The setting and premise are cool. I like the magic system, where you can combine sigils to spells, with some degree of customization; although you'll probably end up with the same ones every time, because they are objectively better than other combinations.

Where it really shines is replayability. (I find Deadfire especially lacking in that - apart from trying out different character builds, you can see and do basically everything on the first run. Sure, you'll find someone else depending on your choice of faction, but it all feels and plays the same)

Tyranny has 4 paths, of which 3 feel really different, while the fourth is just killing everybody. You also won't see every location and quest on just one or even two playthroughs. In a way Tyranny is the total opposite of Deadfire: Your character will probably always feel the same, because magic is by far the best way to go, but the quests you get, people you meet and fight, and the choices you make, will be largely different. I say this is the opposite of Deadfire, as in my opinion, your character is the only thing that ever feels different here (if at all).

Edited February 8, 2019 by M4xw0lf

[bugarup]

 you can be a good guy, it is almost like you start neutral good but and end up chaotic good

 

Best playthrough I enjoyed was the Chorus ....

 

I assume those were different playthroughs, because 'good' and 'with the Chorus' kind of...do not work together.  

[Franknstein]

In my opinion Tyranny had problems of mechanics kind... Quirky attack resolution, ability to one-shot bosses, and limited amount of optimal builds. After only one playthrough you could spot the strongest build, and everything else would just be subpar to it, so there was little incentive to experiment further.

This.

 

The story is OK, ends abruptly thou. I did like my playthrough, but culdn't force myself for a second one. And the game is kinda meant to be played more than once.

[mydnightscrivener]

IMO Deadfire>Tyranny>POEI

 

Tyranny had a lot of potentially but towards the end felled rushed and much content veered towards trash mobbing. A lot of loose ends left untied. IMO if Tyranny II never gets made it would be a MAJOR shame as it has the potential to be better than the POE series.

 

Bugs are minor (I guess, by Obsidian standards   )

Edited February 8, 2019 by mydnightscrivener

[Verde]

I love the build possibilities in Deadfire but hate the lack of quest options/reactivity. So for that reason I may check out Tyranny. Appreciate all the candid feedback and glad to see a healthy discussion.

Edited February 8, 2019 by Verde