Tyranny
The previous Awkward Mixture article about Tyranny introduced the setting and choices in Obsidian Entertainment's interlude between Pillars of Eternity and Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire. This second article will focus on the mechanic issues of combat, especially spells, abilities and health.
While Tyranny shares a common system
with its many predecessors (Baldur's Gate, Icewind Dale, and Pillars
of Eternity) it offers its own innovations. Undoubtedly, readers
will find it most similar to Pillars of Eternity, because of their
shared developer, but with distinct differences.
The biggest of these occur before and
after battles. Pillars of Eternity didn't allow characters to
cast spells to buff heroes before an encounter. Tyranny does.
This would improves the game, but one finds this improvement marred
by a serious error of judgment. Certain
buffs override other buffs. The Vigor buff,
Titan's Touch (which increases the targets Vitality and Might)
disappears if the Illusion spell, Spectral Blur (which increases the
change to avoid damage) is cast on the same target. However, the
Vigor spell, Surge of Glory (which increases damage) can be paired
with either of the prior buffs. In short, some buffs stack, while
others override previous spells. While Tyranny hopefully
includes an easy to understand system, it never mentions this issue
in advance, and most player's won't notice the problem (and suffer
for it) or won't take the time to figure out which spells are
compatible. This issue limits the otherwise functional Combat AI.
The Combat AI (which can be turned off or adjusted) chooses when
companions use spells and abilities. It performs reasonably well,
except that it stacks unstackable buffs. One companion would
constantly cast the Spectral Blur spell on a hero already buffed with
Titan's Touch. The AI also has difficulty with pathing, as it did in
Pillars of Eternity. If ordered to move in battle, heroes
move directly toward the target, instead of moving around to avoid
fighting an enemy in the way. Aside from these issues, the AI makes
reasonably informed choices, and the player can override it at any
time.
Tyranny needs a reasonably
capable AI, because hero spend most of their time using an ability or
casting a spell. While every heroes can attack normally, abilities
inflict a greater effect. By the end of Tyranny each hero
will know so many abilities that one will always be one available.
Even when all abilities are on cooldown, one must pay attention for
the instant they become available. When a hero gains a level the
player selects an ability for them to learn. Acquiring spells is
more complicated. Heroes don't learn spells based on their class
level, because Tyranny does not include classes. While a
small minority of spells are learned like abilities, most are gained
by the same method as Divinity: Original Sin; by reading the
proper book. The concept offered little to promote it in Divinity,
but Tyranny made it worse. In Divinity merchants
or dealers sold all the spell books in easy to access locations. In
desperate circumstances a player could craft the spell book
themselves.
In Tyranny spell books are
scattered haphazardly throughout the world. They must be discovered
to unlock the particular spell. Unfortunately the books are rarely
repeated and hidden in difficult to find locations. Looking at a
complete list of the spells right now (to write this article), I
realize I missed at least half of the scrolls. To increase the
difficulty of this task, some spells requires a specific skill of a
specific companion (Lantry's Voice of the Ages), in a specific
location, the Oldwall. While specific attributes determine the
effectiveness of a spell, the Lore skill determines which spells a
character can cast. Players create spells out of three parts. A
spell must include one Core element, which determines the character
(fire, illusion, or vigor), one Expression which translates the Core
into a particular form (ranged attack, buff, area of effect, debuff,
etc...), and a number of accents to improve the basic spell (longer
duration, greater cast range, stronger effect). With 11 different
Cores and 9 unique Expressions, one might assume Tyranny
includes 99 different spells, but Cores only combine with five or six
Expressions, for a total of six-four spells.
Now, a slight detour from combat into
the source of magic in Tyranny. All magic derives from the Archons.
As mentioned in the previous
article, Archons unlock the power to reshape reality. This much
is clear, but Tyranny remains reticent about the process to
become an Archon. From the clues provided one can ascertain certain
facts. The Archon to be must perform great feats. Other must
witness their achievements and become believers in the power of the
Archon. This belief empowers the Archon. This becomes a feedback
loop, power creates belief, which generates additional power. An
Archon, with extra. They shape their sphere with will, emotion, and
belief. The clearest example during my play-through was Graven Ashe,
commander of the Dishonored. History relates how Graven Ashe, as the
leader of the North, fighting a war of resistance against Kyros,
began to manifest his power. As a great general he demonstrated his
skill in tactics, strategy, training, and leadership. Despite his
skill, he had no magical power. Facing the Archon of War, each
success of Ashe's demonstrated skill and inspired devotion in his
soldiers. Eventually the power to shield his soldiers manifested
itself and grew stronger as his soldier's built his mythos. While
spell casters seem powerful, they create no magic of their own, but
use the forms already created by the Archons.
The magic of Tyranny offers more
complexity than that of Pillars, but seemed underwhelming in
comparison. The visual effect weren't as amazing, and many (though
not all) of the spells seemed oddly ineffective. On the other hand,
Tyranny offers its version of the Resurrection spell very
early. Lantry learns this ability at a low level. In Pillars,
the revive spell only becomes available to the Priest class at level
9.
In addition to regular abilities and
spells, heroes share combo abilities. These abilities are cast by
the protagonist and one of their companions simultaneously. Each
companion shares multiple combo abilities with the main character.
These abilities possess incredible power, and for this reason are
limited to one cast per battle, or one cast per rest.
A quick comment on battle sizes.
Combat in Pillars of Eternity always felt small, with six
heroes against a number of enemies. The exception was the great
Battle of Yenwood Field. Tyranny's party of four is smaller
than Pillar's but a number of battles include additional
allies. Still, it includes nothing as big as Yenwood, and a smaller
company translated to smaller battles overall.
During battles the heroes grunt, cry
out, and exclaim. Readers may remember the best battle cry of
Divinity:
Original Sin, “I sing the body electric!” Tyranny
competes with Eb's declaration when her attack inflicts no damage;
“This weapon is like nipples on men. Useless!”
Eventually battles end and healing
begins. Pillars of Eternity used a more complicated health
system than most RPGs, with a maximum Health and a temporary
Endurance. Losing all endurance during a battle knocked a hero down,
inflicting a wound. Losing all of a character's health resulted in
irreparable death. The only means to heal Health or remove wounds
was to rest, using one of the campfires (and the party could only
carry four at a time). Tyranny eliminates Endurance and no
one dies when their health reaches zero. They collapse and suffer a
wound. When battle ends everyone heals automatically, though not
instantly (five to ten seconds). A character can't die, but they do
carry their wound until they rest with a campfire (Tyranny expands
the supply to eight).
And after winning a battle, or before
fighting one, or just after every five minutes, don't forget to save.
Before concluding, I want to touch on
two last mechanics which are supposed to impact battle, but never
seem to.
Heroes have a number of skills and
abilities which require stealth. Based on previous RPGs (including
Pillars of Eternity) stealth seemed unreliable as a combat
mechanic. The enemy sees the character before they attack, and
hiding in the midst of battle never works. So, I never tried stealth
in combat.
Also, Tyranny includes traps.
Traps made sense in Pillars and Divinity because health
didn't replenish automatically. In Tyranny,
a hit from a trap doesn't impact the game, unless it deals enough
damage to one shot the hero. This happened on a rare occasion, but
only requires a campfire to repair. A solution, activating a trap
should cause enemies to run toward the heroes. This never happened.
After being hit by a trap, all the player needs to do is stand in
place for five seconds so their heroes can heal.
Next week Awkward Mixture will wrap up
its three part review of Tyranny by looking at the bigger
picture.
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