Tyranny - Gold Edition

Tyranny is to Pillars of Eternity what Planescape: Torment was to Baldur's Gate.

I'm kind of conflicted on this one. It is definitely one of the more interesting RPGs I've played, but "interesting" isn't necessarily the same thing as "good". I do intend to play this again sometime, but for now, here are my thoughts based on one playthrough (Scarlet Chorus path). In terms of roelplaying Tyranny's record is mixed. On the one hand, I can't think of an RPG that did as good of a job in getting me "in character" as Tyranny. I found myself thinking about situations and events as my character would, instead of just roleplaying as myself. However, when it comes to actually giving you choices for your roleplaying, the game stumble a bit. Sometimes, there's an impressive amount of options available to the player; other times, the game seems needlessly restrictive. Once you've sided with a faction, the game seems to assume that you'll act in their interests no matter what, outside of giving you a few opportunities to abandon them and switch to the independent path. Combat is engaging...for the first few hours. However, it gets repetitive before long, and the difficulty takes a nosedive a bit into act 2. I actually stopped spending the skill and talent points I got on level up to try to artificially increase the difficulty, but even then, the game wasn't hard (I was playing on Hard, btw). As for Bastard’s Wound, I have a hard time recommending it. On the on hand, the new location and lore it provides is pretty interesting, but on the other, I can’t imagine anyone playing through the base game and thinking “You know what would make this game better? Spending even more time in the Oldwalls fighting Bane!” Well, this review turned out somewhat more negative than I thought it would. If GOG allowed for half stars, I’d probably give it 3.5 (the dreaded 7/10), but since I still do genuinely want to play it again, I think I’ll round up to 4.

This game has some very fresh ideas, especially the magic system. Not every game mechanic is streamlined or perfectly balanced, but the game system has evolved from the "technical predecessor" Pillars of Eternity. The story is pretty good as well, especially the Worldbuilding. Superb writing and very interesting characters and factions. The main plot is not quite as good, but works well, until the aprupt ending, that is. All in all, a good game that i would love to have a successor.

A lot of people praise this game because it's very easy to get into. As opposed to games like Pillars or Shadowrun, this world is fairly straightforward. Few new words and little lore to bog down the start of the game. This should be a sign of growth on Obsidian's part after the criticism levied at Pillars a few years earlier, but that would have required this game receive the same kind of love Pillars did. Most CRPGs will have a certain degree of linearity to them but this one is ridiculously linear. There are only a few paths to tread, and far too few sidequests to flesh out the world. The entire game is basically just one giant main quest with four branches. In all fairness, you are given a few chances to change direction, but that's usually just between any of the three main branches and the third anarchy branch. Imagine your favourite CRPG's main guest, and now imagine if that's all that CRPG was and you'll get an idea of what Tyranny is. I own the Gold edition and played with 4 of the 5 DLC that came with it. The interface wasn't envisioned with that many portraits and coats of arms, which is why the're free DLC and not inbuilt in game. Bastard Wound and Tales do flesh out the world but had little-to-no QA with cartoon villains - unlike the main game. By now most bugs and typos you'll notice are from their content. The fifth "DLC" is inbuilt in game and needs a Paradox account to unlock. The New Game+ was never fully fleshed out and the interface for respecking is problematic at best. Because Obsidian stuck with Unity the load times are long. They also stuck with a pen and paper d100 combat parading. It's a CRPG guys, stop rolling virtual dice already, just use probability and more complex formulas! The one thing were they go full PC, spell making, is allowed to get tedious. VA is also inconsistently used. Voiced intro and act I narration. Voiceless: acts II, III and the epilogue narrations. Some dialogue BRANCHES are voiced, but only for some companions.