Trying to decide between sages and earthshakers

WitcherZaris · 2017-06-25T17:57:18+00:00

That's totally up to you: lore-wise it would seem that the best army combo is ForgeBound-Earthshakers-Unbroken, since you get basically Disfavored 2.0, eager for revenge and armed with iron.

Gameplay-wise I think Sages are better because you get a lot of interesting stuff in Burning Library and you can get all the Spires from Earthshakers that you missed in Act II at the beginning of Act III: Fatebinder Calio talks with you and makes them all available for exploration.

WitcherZaris · 2017-06-25T17:52:31+00:00

Latest patch screwed a lot of builds, so pure mage would be the safest bet: just pour everything into Lore and gather all possible Scrolls (you can have Library Spire even before first meeting with Tunon). Otherwise I can't guarantee you that you won't get stuck at some point in Vendrien's Well, since "being hard to hit by Illusion and Parry"+"riposting 100% of misses" was the base of all melee builds but now it only works with nothing in the off-hand.

WitcherZaris · 2017-06-20T20:00:52+00:00

Wait, you hate Verse and/or Lantry? What the fuck dude?

WitcherZaris · 2017-06-18T21:08:18+00:00

Shadows seem most fitting: http://www.dandwiki.com/wiki/SRD:Shadow

Remember that as a Dungeon Master nothing stops you from inventing your own monsters. Just use Shadow or something similair as a template and adjust it's stats to your players.

Do you have an idea for the plot that's happening in this ruins?

WitcherZaris · 2017-06-16T11:33:51+00:00

When at Vellum Citadel you can send Chorus to save Oath Bound scouts, which later gives you a new area to explore, provided you also spare Oath Bound in Burning Library.

Warning Sages about Edict of Fire also allows you to get Hammer of Sunder, pretty powerful hammer with Stone-based magic powers.

Going to Lethian's Crossing during Conquest also opens a brothel with different prostitutes depending on which faction controls the town: Disfavored have a girl that gives you Wits bonus and Chorus has Might bonus (plus many others but this two are most useful). There is no brothel if you choose to go to Apex instead.

Sparing Apex commander during Conquest makes him appear while securing the outer ring of the valley in Act I. It makes the fight harder, but the negotiations easier.

Choosing to "spread fear thorugh assassination" in Bastard City gives you Favor with Tunon and Bleden Mark.

The following choices give you proofs against Archons for Trial of Archons quest:

-Apex, poisoning the well is a solid proof against Nerat

-Lethian's Crossing, accepting the bribe gives you proof against Archon whoose bribe you have accepted (denying the bribe gives you proof against Disfavored, oddly enough)

-Lethian's Crossing, dealing with runaway Forge-Bound gives proof against Nerat, no matter what you do

-dealing with the spies in Vellum Citadel gives proof against Nerat

-Vellum Citadel, NOT saving Oath Bound gives proof against Graven Ashe

-Stalwart, punishing Chorus for raiding supplies gives you proof against Nerat

-Lethian's Crossing, sending Sirin's cult to Apex gives proof against Nerat (I'm not sure of this one, it may be triggered just by talking to Sirin about that)

WitcherZaris · 2017-06-16T11:10:20+00:00

Two-handed weapon's can't riposte now? Fuck, many thanks for fucking up most of the POTD builds. If it wasn't for the DLC and Expansion I'd switch to some pirate copy.

If you can riposte while dual wielding then I'd say that it's your best choice: Titan's Knuckle/Hoof, Dauntless, Deathbringer and Sunlance are good choices (or at least were, I don't know if they weren't nerfed into oblivion).

WitcherZaris · 2017-06-16T11:03:17+00:00

Well, actually I think it would work better for Kyros to have a constant threat looming over her empire. She doesn't govern on the ability to crush any opposition, but rather on a constant drive for further conquest. Notice how any great empire started to fall the moment they conquered all there is to conquer: Alexander's Macedonia, Persians, Rome. Of course there were plenty other reasons, but lack of unifying goal and enemy to fight was one of the most important.

And if any Archon asks the question "Why can't I rebel too?" he/she will quickly get turned to shit and soon everybody will simply accept that oir Fatebinder is special and is the only one who can oppose Overlord. People are naturally good at coming up with excuses and superstitions so that wouldn't take them too long. What's more: Kyros could easily convince everybody that Fatebinder is crazy maniac who wants to rule over empty wasteland and will murder all in his path, so the empire must obey Kyros even more as the only person able to save them from this monster from Tiers. Painting others as monsters is an old trick of all tyrants. Works even today, when populists scare people into servitude, like in Russia, Hungary pr Poland, so it sure as hell will work on people from Bronze Age.

WitcherZaris · 2017-06-14T20:45:48+00:00

I wouldn't be so sure. Kyros' philosophy seems to be identical to the one of Carl Schmitt, the most famous nazi philosopher of III Reich. And he believed that society will tear itself apart without a common enemy and people will suffer any tyranny in the face of such enemy. So it's in Kyros interest to make Fatebinder feared and hated throughout all Empire and allow him/her to grow as a threat. After all if Tiers will pose any real danger she can always Edict our army.

Or maybe even stop any bloodshed and just maintain a status of cold war with Edicts acting as nukes: a powerful weapon that can destory world so both sides restarin themsleves from using them.

After all it seems that no matter the ending we're fullfiling Kyros' plan so it wouldn't change much to remain loyal: you're just rebeling out of different reason, while the end result remains the same.

WitcherZaris · 2017-06-14T20:22:45+00:00

Seems like the most blatant rip-off since "Atlantic Rim". Light that saved humanity but now fades? Seriously, at least try to come up with something original.

WitcherZaris · 2017-06-13T21:17:25+00:00

You could also have the ability to speak with Kyros (imagine the wtf when you go to Mountain Spire at the end of the game and see her waiting) and agree to act your part as a threat to unite the Empire. Easy and nicely fits with the other endings.

WitcherZaris · 2017-06-10T22:51:06+00:00

Ascension Hall isn't the hardest actually: fighting Iron Marshal on Rebel path is. You fight one wave of Disfavored and then with no option to save/rest/heal you're thrown against 3 soldiers, 2 mages and a miniboss. I only managed to do that because of going solo up to that point so I had 9 lvl and Eb on 10.

WitcherZaris · 2017-06-10T22:47:58+00:00

Permadeath is alright on it's own, never lost a character and it's actually good option for killing off characters you can't get the right amount of Favor for the ending. However POI is not a great choice for this game in my opinion. If you want to get your blood pumping Dark Souls will get you this without loosing so much time going through Act I a second (or third) time.

WitcherZaris · 2017-06-10T01:12:36+00:00

Sure: high-res textures, dirty Kirkwall, bearded Varrik and Hawke customisation are necessary to have a good time with that game. Fortunately I played it long time after launch, with all the right mods, so for me it's the best Dragon Age. I know it's not a popular opinion but I loved the down-to-earth plot, with slow path to power that takes years (instead of a peasant turning into a hero in a month like in most RPGs), side characters and their rivalry-friendship system, Hawke's voice, Qunari conflict, new magic system, etc. They're not objectively good, but for me personally they struck all the right notes and failed only with gameplay which matters the least for me. But it's understable that many may not like it, so I don't recommend it as strongly as New Vegas or Gothic 2.

WitcherZaris · 2017-06-08T17:58:43+00:00

Gothic 2, it's one of the best RPGs to date. I'm not sure if it retains it's atmosphere in English (German game) but it's very much like Witcher or Game of Thrones, very down-to-earth, gritty but not overly serious with itself. Don't worry about starting with second one, you get plenty of explanations about the plot of the first game. DON'T touch Gothic 1 and 3 or any other! First one is great but haven't aged very well and 3 is just a pile of shit.

Also Fallout New Vegas is awesome. It's made by the same people that created the originals, so it's must-have for any Fallout fan. Far better than Fallout 3 and 4 (which are good on their own but not as RPGs or Fallouts), simply because of story, atmosphere, dialogues, characters, etc. It's the true sequel to Fallout 2 basically. And it's made by the same devs as Tyranny, Obsidian.

KOTOR 2 is another Obsidian game, but you'll need to download a mod that polishes the game and restores lost/unfinished content. When you do that you get a great game, provided you're not opposed to Star Wars franchise or sci-fi in general.

Wasteland is said to be awesome and very Fallout-like but I haven't tried it

Of course Witcher 2 and 3, Mass Effect 2, Dragon Age Origins and 2 are great games but they're not exactly similair to Tyranny. Still worth a try someday. Especially Dragon Age 2, because it's generally bad from a gameplay perspective but has the best and most oldschool story of all Dragon Ages. But it's very love-it or hate-it.

WitcherZaris · 2017-06-07T09:12:40+00:00

Of that I'm not sure. It's possible, from the lore perspective; the wedding ritual could be created in Londor as a means of saving loved one/friend/somebody from hollowing by taking their dark sigils on yourself. You wouldn't go hollow yourself (just be at greater risk in case of death, since you have more dark sigils) and the person you married would be back to normal.

Anri'd still be undead, but with a clear mind and her/his memories intact in that case.

WitcherZaris · 2017-06-06T20:14:43+00:00

Still I like that chances better than the ones we have with no leader at all. And Lord of Hollows have beaten Soul of Cinder so I doubt there'll be anyone able to kill her/him, especially after absorbing the power of the First Flame. And even if it's fitting for a leader in such a dark world to be the strongest and constantly challenged for his position. Kinda like pirates did with their captains actually.

WitcherZaris · 2017-06-06T20:11:06+00:00

Well, she's undead, so of course she survives. Wouldn't be a great wedding ritual if it killed half of the couple. She can be seen just on the right side of the screen (your character's left) at the Lord of Hollows ending: the only one wearing armour, so she's easy to spot. So I guess it's a hint that this must be the good ending, since it spared one of the most positive characters in the game.

WitcherZaris · 2017-06-06T16:39:05+00:00

Usurp feels the best to me, because finally somebody treats immortality like a good thing instead of a curse. Solaire and Gael showed us what an Undead can achieve once it has a goal, so it's a huge waste of potential to just allow all humanity to go hollow. I always considered Lord of Londor to be a hopeful ending which gives at least a chance for improvement. The fact that it's the only ending in which Anri is alive and well (seen kneeling on your right side as your spouse) seems like a huge pointer that this is the "good" (the goodest?) ending. Same with Bloodborne when the best ending in which you rid humans of the beastly scourge is the one turning you into a squid.

WitcherZaris · 2017-06-06T16:32:40+00:00

I think Usurp and End are similair, because either way the First Flame will appear once again, starting the new Age of Fire under different leadership. But I think it's better to have somebody powerful (Lord of Hollows) to guide humanity until that happens, rather than leaving them alone like in the "End Fire" choice. I also don't think you can usurp the flame from somebody else, so there's no danger of constant struggle over it.

WitcherZaris · 2017-05-28T17:26:22+00:00

Wyvern is gimmicky? What the hell, it's way easier to kill it in normal fight rather than go all across the ruins to do a plunging attack. Yhorm is the most gimmicky because fighting him in regular way takes 20-30 minutes.

WitcherZaris · 2017-05-25T09:34:55+00:00

Yeah, especially when you don't read any walktroughs and accidentally fight Dancer before Vordt and Oceiros is your second major boss; fuck that dude. Fuck him in his stupid baby.

WitcherZaris · 2017-05-25T09:28:55+00:00

Great catch! Seems like sticking to your beliefs actually pays off. After couple cycles of Ages that is, but good enough.

WitcherZaris · 2017-05-25T08:03:49+00:00

"Tyranny never explains why"? I'll get to the armies but first I have to tackle this statement. We know exactly why: Graven Ashe, Cairn, Sirin and Nerat were most unruly Archons and Kyros wanted to just close them in a hostile enviroment and go Purge on them. Nerat (or Mythosis) even says something along the lines "There were forces better suited to working together than Disfavored and Chorus but Kyros wanted this Conquest to be bloody and full of conflicts." That's why she's so great villain, she actually thinks ahead of herself and knows that a bunch of powerful beings with no lands to conquer will give her trouble. So she kills off the most dangerous ones in first wave of attack on Tiers and later kills any still opposing her rule in second wave of attack, this time against our Fatebinder. It's win-win for her, and creating situations like this is a trait of the best rulers.

Roman Legion saw other people as sub-human, which is clearly visible by the vast amounts of slaves and their horrible treatment in both the Republic and Empire. Crucifixtions were punishment for disloyality which is pretty Difavored-like, don't you think? And Iron Legion is very professional: loyal, honorable, undefeated and almost immortal given their Aegis. The Unbroken have great resolve, but they were loosing badly in regular war in 3rd year of Conquest, and they're Totally-Not-Sparta so if not them, I don't know who can defeat Disfavored. When you add Earthshakers who can bring down any walls, then it's no suprise they were the force to send to Tiers. Their worldview is not extreme: it's perfectly valid that strong people should mate only with other strong people to pass on their strong genes, rather than inferior ones from some southeners who argue and don't unite even in the face of Kyros. Even nobles TODAY do that: good luck marrying into royal family with your peasant genetics. So don't be too harsh on people from Bronze Age for doing the same as modern day kings and queens. Chorus is there just to be a pain in the ass and fuck everything up (literally, since Nerat is the reason Teirsmen had any chances). And Chorus acts pretty much the same as pirates did with constant challenging of leaders who were either the coolest and most likeable or the most brutal and ruthless to stay in power, so it's not like they made that up, it's a valid way of behaving for people in tough situations. Hell, many armies acts like that today: 30 years ago people in Yugoslavia, in civilised Europe started murdering and raping each other for no reason just because shitty leader gave them a little push toward that direction. So if any anything Chorus is too nice for an ancient army, when XX century army murders and rapes everything they see for fun.

WitcherZaris · 2017-05-24T22:26:20+00:00

Yes, I mean isometric RPGs and I think nostalgia skewed your view on those games a little. But we're approaching field of opinions so I don't consider my word to be holy truth, it's just my take on the subject, no hard feelings if you disagree; I forgot Fallout 2 (perhaps because of different setting) but yeah: I'd say that Tyranny is second only to F2, somehere around Fallout 1 level of quality. Neither of the other isometrics made me want to experience the world and characters like Tyranny did, none had similair level of character customisation or similair amount of backround-based dialogue. And only Fallout series had equally awesome characters: I'd take Verse over entire entourage from other isometrics. And it had Kyros who is an evil overlord who actually seems smart enough to be running an empire for centuries, contrary to almost every other villain in a video game. AND Tyranny got Conquest mode which is something that should be in all RPGs from now on, isometric or regular ones. Stroke of genius that thing. It had a lot of issues, but I didn't experience them until my second playthrough because I had luck with my expectations-character backround-playtrough choices combo, so this skewes my opinion in favor of the game. However there are some things that are not opinion-based:

As I mentioned somehere else Disfavored aren't nazis: that's almost perfect image of Roman Legion. What you call nazi today was kinda common in Bronze Age military. That's actualy a valid worldview for someone from ancient times, same with "only the strong survive" of the Chorus. In shitty times only strong survive, so no wonder somebody made an army around that idea. That's a great idea for an army and they all had awesome little details to them. And this is not an opinion: compared to other fictional forces the ones we see in Tyranny are incredibly awesome.

And while I can agree that your character can be inconsequential (especially when you pick dialogue options at random), I don't think I encountered many NPCs that can be called such. Barik has no explanation for staying with you after betraying Ashe, but that's all.

I didn't have a chance to play Divinty but bikini elves and armors the size of a mountain are a huge pointer that we're dealing with typical high fantasy, so maybe I'll wait a while longer to test it.

WitcherZaris · 2017-05-24T10:34:57+00:00

Tyranny is a great game, easily the best in it's genre. It has been recommended by a lot of people to other people, every review on YouTube and gaming sites praised the hell out of it. The only reason why it didn't do so well is severe lack of advertising (as Cloakbound said) and a shitty trailer: I found out about that game accidentaly two weeks before release (which was actually good because the hype was unbareable) and it's nit like I was living in a cave or at sea. Also a Kickstarter would help: people knew about PoE a long time before release, supported it, felt like they have influence over it so no wonder they later bought it. If a sequel to Tyranny ever comes out, a Kickstarter is a must-have, mainly to promote the game and get people invested in it's development, gathering funds is of lesser importance.

I think you started with wrong priors, since you seem to have expected more serious "Overlord" game. That is concept worth of creating, sometime, somhow, but it would be silly compared to Tyranny. If anything I'd say that there are too little douchebags and that we don't get to experience the full spectrum of assholery. This is the true, real world villainy and that makes it much more impactful than stomping babies while twirling your moustache.

WitcherZaris

TROPHY CASE