Tyranny 100+ Hours (No Spoilers, Path of the Damned) REVIEW

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After more than 100 hours on Path of the Damned I got to say evil winning is pretty intimidating, though sometimes it's clearly just throwing a tantrum for a pacifier. Here's my spoiler-free review/critique!
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Tyranny
Release: 10/11/2016
Developer: Obsidian Entertainment
Publisher: Paradox Interactive

[@haasgaming]

Looking for my Tyranny: Bastard's Wound review? Here it is! kzbin.info/www/bejne/aGTVfmyXZq2nfrM

[@neosho3953]

I sent a message to my troops by kicking an enemy commander off a pillar because I couldn't be asked to fiddle with the magic portal. Instead of writing this message myself, I had this commander's turncoat countrymen do it for me, because again, I couldn't be asked. This led one of my enemy's powerful mages swearing fealty to me on the spot out of fear and desperation. When she joined my team, her fear reputation was immediately maxed out, netting me a golden steam achievement attained by less than 10% of the game's user base. Couldn't be more happy with how Tyranny turned out from a role play perspective. I don't think I've ever had so much fun crafting a character in a video game before.

[@XKillertofuX]

I never said this; but your reviews are really good. Your perspective of going in depth in titles you fundamentally love is quite unique.

[@haasgaming]

That's great to hear, thank you!

[@TheWolverine1984]

I actually liked the magic system a lot in this game. Instead of choosing out of a list of 40 or so specific spells where you don't really know what they would do (Like in PoE) here you design your own spells and if you find a spell you like you can scale it so it will still be relevant at higher levels.

[@robertjohnson558]

Going back to playing PoE 1 and I have to agree. The amount of spells Durance gets becomes overwhelming

[@pmarreck]

There are very few games that have a spell system like this and I loved it

[@haasgaming]

With Bastard's Wound coming out, I can confirm that I will be reviewing that as soon as possible!

[@haasgaming]

Apologies this wasn't sooner, I had it planned at least 1-2 weeks earlier but y'know. Hopefully the wait paid off! Good chance I'll cover the game in a few guides too (POTD builds etc), if there's interest for it.

[@arcanethink]

HaasGaming Have you ever thought of reviewing Planescape Torment , Arcanum or the first 2 fallout games ?

[@haasgaming]

Hmm, sure, thought about it. I rather focus on newer games that haven't already been analyzed to pieces I suppose (in the case of the BG EE editions I think it's a different story, I did plan to do Icewind Dale EE's too but didn't get to it). That's not to say I never will do those though, but it's honestly unlikely.

[@arcanethink]

HaasGaming True enough for fallout 1 and 2 but in case of Planescape torment and Arcanum , very few have analysed them to pieces , at least on youtube and none of those reviews are nearly as good as yours.

[@Dreez76]

This channel deserves so many more subscribers. Keep up the awesome work on the reviews !.

[@nemmielicious]

Been waiting for a good review of this for a while. Thanks bud!

[@dylanschnabel4859]

I remember maxing out the Agility tree and the Finesse stat and I was basically invincible while causing massive counter attack damage to any enemy that attacked me. It got to such a ridiculous point that for bosses I'd actually set my companions to passive so I could 1v1 the Archons and stuff. Really made my character feel like a badass, but probably a bit overpowered.

[@amiserable]

Your review on recovery speed and heavy armor really opened my eyes. I've been a min/maxer, but there is a point where you are ruining your gaming experience because of ignorance. Thanks for helping me out and making me re-think my party strats.

[@theweebchannel4850]

Man, you just got a new subscriber.... I love your videos.

[@drew55555]

Playing this gem in 2021! Who's doing the same? :)

[@eliasstouraitis9183]

While it could use a lot of balancing, and some features could be a bit more elegant, I think that Obsidian is on to something special with Tyranny. It's been a while that I had so much fun in a crpg. Combat is surprising fluid, dialogue is fun and allows for many roleplaying opportunities, the game is always giving you the appropriate context so you never feel out of touch and it really does it seemlessly. These were all major problems I had with Pillars of Eternity. I felt like Obsidian was reading my mind.

[@taomahNEGEV]

Thorough review. Love Tyranny but I feel it desperately needs a long story based DLC with a deep, dark atmospheric and challenging dungeon (just like PoE Endless Paths of Od Nua). Oldwalls could be a great base for that. I was puzzled by the lack of friendly fire even in the higher difficulties. Simplification is just the wrong way for a great RPG.

[@adrianr4750]

should i get this or pillars of eternity , i'm new to classic rpg which would you recommend me getting ?

[@haasgaming]

Depends how much time you're willing to invest into it. Pillars is a better game if you're an RPG enthusiast, but it takes far longer to get going. Tyranny has a really exciting introduction and makes for a better short story experience. Pillars is more of a long, rewarding experience if you are willing to explore everything. Personally, I definitely prefer Pillars, but if you want something more short and sweet Tyranny is better.

[@adrianr4750]

hmmm, i really want to get the feel for cRPG first, and i guess Tyranny is a good start for me to do that... i guess it is, thanks for the reply Haas and awesome review

[@Icannothandleany]

Gameplay wise almost identical

[@celdur4635]

If you are new to classic RPGs, then start with BG1 and then BG2 after that you'll be set for life .

[@oliviawilliams6204]

A bit late on that but I’d say Tyranny hands down, the story is shorter and much better paced. And I say more interesting at least for me. PoE completely failed to grab me

[@Siperos]

Thank you for your well made in-depth review! Tyranny is my favorite CRPG right now. Tyranny's expansion pack, Bastard's Wound, is coming out this month. Are you going to return back to the game and let us know if this expansion pack and Tales from the Tiers DLC make the game better?

[@haasgaming]

Thanks for the kind words! I'm looking into Bastard's Wound currently, I'd certainly would like to review it on time, so if time permits I should definitely have something for it in the upcoming days.

[@GiaBao-gr2zd]

I mean by the time we are around 15 16 lvl, in the story we are also a quite unique powerful human too, I mean no one in that world has ever done something like us in the first place sooo yeah

[@dylanblade5459]

Excellent review as usual. I will say that the ending of the video felt a little disjointed. It didn't feel like there was any conclusion (usually in the form of a farewell, sound effect or splash screen), but did not change the fact that you're an intelligent reviewer. Keep being awesome!

[@haasgaming]

Thanks. I can definitely see where you're coming from regarding the outro, I'll look into adding something fitting in the future.

[@R3GARnator]

Heh, heavy armor too useless? Hello KOTOR and Dragon Age!

[@thomasstufe1676]

Very nice review, thank you!

[@FlackooPretty]

Excellent review! Good job! What are your top 5 cRPGs?

[@masaheimoi]

Secret easy mode:1recruit Landry2level him up giving him poits that makes spellcasting more easier and beater3reap on ya reaper

[@KnightCrown]

I would really live for obsidian to make another fallout spinoff. I can't really get into the crpg gameplay but I love the writing

[@haasgaming]

I would do a lot of dramatic things for a New Vegas 2.0.

[@kummakummakummakummakummac8606]

KnightCrown - 5 more days and we will see what Obsidian's next rpg will be.

[@Trancecend]

Great review.

[@typesciencepersonality]

Can you please do a little summary comparison of how this compares to Pillars? Don't know which one to play. I'm not very patient though I also like big worlds and strategic depth.

[@simonjrobinson]

Thanks for the fantastic Tyranny review! So what difficulty setting would you recommend for a first play through?

[@haasgaming]

If you're new to cRPGs start with normal. If you're familiar with them, start higher for sure.

[@simonjrobinson]

Thanks Haas! I'll start off on the second most difficult one then .

[@nicoinformatics]

To be honest, it doesn't really matter which difficulty you picked, even potd provides roughly the same challenge than easier ones. It's more about how many mages you bring on your party, you want the hardest experience possible? Ignore raising Lore and picking mages and play in potd, want the easiest experience possible? just play 3 mages companion and play a mage/tank MC, focus on raising Lore in any way possible and voila, nothing, and I mean, literally, nothing in the game will pose a challenge in any way.

[@Trobinson97]

So for a fan of Dragon Age: Origins, would this be a recommend? And wow, no friendly fire? Not even at higher difficulties? That's disappointing. I wonder if that is on the table to be added later or possibly even modded in. Speaking of, how _is_ the modding scene, if there is one?

[@haasgaming]

Is Dragon Age: Origins your only experience with these titles? Assuming it is, Tyranny does actually have quite a bit of familiarity with DA:O. Mostly in the sense that their combat mechanics are very similar, that is to say they both utilize real time and pause and are centered around a cooldown-based system rather than a vancian (per rest) system more present in older titles such as the infinity engine games and Pillars of Eternity. So how does it hold up purely in contrast to DA:O? Well, Dragon Age Origins did handle combat better. As it did have some resource management through the use of mana and energy, and it introduced far more enemy variety, from a pure combat perspective that definitely takes the cake. On that note, I myself highly enjoyed Dragon Age: Origins. Of course they both have entirely different perspectives (meaning isometric as opposed to third-person) and this is honestly a matter of complete subjectivity. I've always greatly enjoyed both. DA:O was also a lot longer while managing not to have much padding (barring a number of rather tedious darkspawn or.. spider filled caverns etc etc) and quite a lot of side content from what I remember, Tyranny again suffers in that regard. Similarities are certainly also there in how it handles companions and dialogue, something I think they both handle well. Honestly, purely from a 'casual RPG player' perspective (that I'm just going to assume here if you're just familiar with DA:O) I think Tyranny is worth your time regardless and makes for an excellent roleplaying experience with a solid amount of freedom and companion interaction that is certainly comparable to DA:O, though if you are expecting a similar amount of world traveling and side quest content you won't find that here. They both have a very good, involved storyline and universe.

[@SpartanWolf222]

If I had to compare Tyranny to a Dragon Age game, I would compare it to DA2 in terms of world scale, longevity and replayability, gameplay and companion/character-development (all are good in my opinion) BUT with the freedom you would expect from Origins. (Inquisition offers more choices, per se, but Tyranny game actually has consequences.) I think Tyranny is the most noob-friendly modern CRPG out there, followed by Pillars of Eternity, which is closer to Icewind Dale/Baldur's Gate.

[@MaynardKeenanX]

the entire dragon age franchise is trash

[@Ricard1807o]

MaynardKeenanX cool

[@kummakummakummakummakummac8606]

@@MaynardKeenanX It was supossed to be a spiritual successor to the Baldurs Gate games but ended up as action games.

[@TyroneTasty]

Good review. The more I played the less enthused I became. Toward the end I was just glad to be done with it and move on.

[@dzikripratama3776]

Same

[@PRID8R]

nice one dude thanks for the review. Convinced me to buy tyranny.

[@PBnicos]

Personally liked it much more than Pillars of Eternity. Imo a very very good game, will wait for the next parts a lot. Finished it 2 times... or 3... i don't remember already. Tried different paths, though only ones on Path of the Damned (or before it) as a mage. Enjoyed every second, though the end was unexpectdly 2fast :c

[@nicoinformatics]

Replaying Tyranny while waiting for PoE's incursion league to come, and while I quite enjoy the game despite already knowing how things are going to end up, this third play through reminds me of the major flaws the game have, and why I still consider Divinity Original Sin 2 as the best overall cRPG todate, and yes, I'm a huge fan of the cRPG genre, from Baldur's, Neverwinter, DA:O, all the Torment games, Pillars, Divinity, to Tyranny. I've played and enjoyed them all. DOS2 is not a perfect game, but it doesn't have the two major flaws Tyranny has. Content Length and Playstyle diversity/balance. Tyranny offers a lot of branching path, there are at least four ways you can go through the main story, Disfavored, Scarlet, Anarchy and Rebel path (For someone who has over 100 hours, I'm not sure why you said there are only two). Problem is, they did this by sacrificing the length of the gameplay. As a completionist, it took me roughly 40 hours to finish Tyranny the first time, back when it first came out. In contrast, 80 hours in DOS2 brought me not even halfway through the game. My second issue is Tyranny's combat system. And boy this game truly is the mage simulator of the cRPG genre. I mean, what the hell were they thinking? The more mages you have in your party and the higher your Lore is, the easier the game is, it's that simple. Spectral Blur and Mirror Image spam and that's it, you just win the game, it does not matter what you do, how crap your gear is, it doesn't even matter what kind of a weapon you use. They really didn't learn anything from Pillars.

[@kummakummakummakummakummac8606]

Nico -How would you rate DOS2 against the older rpg's (like the ones you mentioned)? And would you recommend Tyranny if I like rpg's?

[@oliviawilliams6204]

Personally I see the shorter length more as a strength than a weakness in this case, it allow a much better pacing with much less padding. DOS2, I never got far because the whole prison island at the start of the game is slow and boring

[@ethosterros9430]

Magic system was very innovative but ultimately it had the same issue as talents of very specific spell combos was good.

[@darkgladiator27]

I'm thinking of getting into the genre. What would you recommend to a newcomer? I'm thinking of getting Planescape Torment or this.

[@haasgaming]

Planescape Torment as in the classic? This is definitely easier for newcomers and well worth a shot, I think, but ultimately not nearly as satisfactory. Planescape Torment is an amazing game, but immensely outdated so will be rough to get into enhanced edition or not. If you like story heavy, it's definitely worth it through (don't get the game if you want RPG combat, PST is not about that at all.)

[@nicoinformatics]

I know this is a very old question, but as a long time tactical/cRPG fan, I'll give my opinion just in case someone else is asking the same. This might "anger" some super hardcore cRPG fans, but if you want to jump into and try a game that represent most of the elements of what made cRPG as enjoyable as it is to it's fans, the story, the tactical combat, different playstyles, role-playing, interaction, world building and environment, exploration and no hand-holding along the way, and branching story paths. I'd strongly recommend you to start with *Dragon Age:Origins*. Why? Because it's the last classic styled tactical RPG Bioware has done, and the best one. It has all the elements of cRPGs, but with far better polish, an actual good and not overly complicated storyline, has arguably the best customizable companion AI to ease you through the way tactical RPG plays out while still giving you the freedom of full control like all cRPG has, and it has a modern but still classic feel to it's controls. Other than that, I'd say Divinity Original Sin 2 as an alternative, it is the best cRPG overall, for me at least, in terms of quality. I'd strongly suggest not starting with the "true" classics, like the older Torment games or Baldur's, old games are really hard to swallow unless you really really like these type of games already, even then, if I put aside nostalgia, I wouldn't replay those games anyway knowing I have better options today. Tyranny is a bit of an oddball, it's not bad as a cRPG, but it has a lot of inherent flaws that cRPG normally doesn't have (short story, very imbalanced classes/skills/playstyle), feel free to try the game out if you want. It's really quite enjoyable to play.

[@merdaneth]

I found the game to be mediocre. First off, it offers a lot of freedom, but there are still a lot of fixed plotlines. I was a staunch supporter of the Disfavored but kept the Chorus on my friendly side through a few smart plays. My plan was to deceive them: bleed the Chorus by having them lead the charge and then betray them and turn over the spire to the Disfavored. Unforunately, that never appeared as an option, so no both sides hate me and I'm stuck to managing a spire that I didn't want in the first place. Additionally, the combat system is rather flawed as you pointed out. I opted to try out a two-handed weapons character while raising might a lot and getting some good armor. But having a 10 second recovery speed makes all your ultimate abilities rather useless. In fact, your companions will need to carry you through combat. This makes your character feel less than heroic. And better forget using spells altogether for your main character. Normal difficulty is actually kind of hard if you do this.

[@kabkabmcarfarf2653]

Youre awesome!

[@BGstefchoARS]

Should i get this, pillars or divinity original sin?

[@haasgaming]

If you're new to cRPGs, I'd recommend Divinity Original Sin 2 (just skip 1 entirely honestly, 2 is much better and not a continued story).

[@stejn_2918]

This better then Pillars of Eternity or not?

[@Davesknd]

I loved the game but to be honest, Act 3 hit me completely off-guard. The grand choices and decisions I expected were completely absent and suddenly I'm forced into a very distinctive role, even though I spent the whole game trying not to fall into that trap. Spoiler: I so wanted to become Kyros' Archon and enforce his/her peace because I decided that that would fit my character. But suddenly, I had to become the resistance. That's so lame...

[@akai2345]

I just finished Tyranny. I must say that I was too disappointed by how rushed the final act seemed.

[@shatteredknight1129]

This is a good review. Lacks some information, but decent overall.

[@THEmobius77]

33% off on steam this weekend. Tempted.

[@Koush88]

pirate bay free for life

[@xabun]

you can beat this game in under 20h? lol ... too bad. i am currently playing pathfinder:kingmaker and that game is huge (like bg2). i'm about to finish it the second time and was lookin for a similiar game i could pick up. but 20h is just too less for my taste for a crpg ...

[@MrDLJ5]

I hear pathfinder is extremely unbalanced and as a result, punishing. Is this true? Its sitting in my library but deciding on whether i want to play it or not before i try Tyranny. Ps. Im more a Divinity fan but im quite enjoying POE2 at the moment.

[@xabun]

@@MrDLJ5 no its not unbalanced. you can choose between several difficulties and even adjust the difficulty on the fly. pathfinder kingmaker is D&D based game. so if you have basic D&D knowledge you wont have any troubles. there are lots of very good build guides out there. you definately should give it a try. the recent patches also eliminated almost most of the bugs. if you have problems with the kingmaker feature you can set it to auto, too.

[@SamSGLM]

Its been to long friend... to long...

[@Welther47]

Seems a bit to arcade-y for my liking. Especially the combats "fire and forget" tendency. And as I have read its very combat heavy. Like Pillars of Eternity I feel it lacks something to get that Icewind Dale/Baldur's Gate 2 combat right. If combat is "all show no, thinking" than it's doomed to get old quick.

[@Hauler24]

20 to 25 hrs main story... That doesn't sound appealing at all.

[@zennim125]

14:00 complains about magic being to easy shows example of using lightning magic against a bane who is immune to lightning come on pretty obvious you expended the 100 hours in easy mode

[@haasgaming]

Imagine how easy it is that even though I forgot that immunity in that moment, I still wasn't in the slightest punished for it and still prevailed with ease. If you somehow think that one clip invalidates every other clip in the video, that's your prerogative, but even the slightest glance at the rest proves your other point is bull. (And if somehow you still can't grasp that, feel free to hop on over to my Steam account where you can see I got Path of the Damned completion a mere 4 days after launch.)

[@zennim125]

"Imagine how easy it is that even though I forgot that immunity in that moment, I still wasn't in the slightest punished for it and still prevailed with ease." because it was in easy in mode? i played both hard and path of the damn, while i admit tyranny is not as hard as pillars of eternity, it isn't THAT easy neither and i am not invalidating everything, i m being nitpick, the game is easy, but is not as grossly stupid to the point you can play hard and be as sloppy as you were in your example

[@haasgaming]

Considering you were observational enough to check the combat log, you should be able to tell from that it's on POTD as well quite easily looking at numbers and levels. It's definitely not on easy mode and suggesting that I'm a liar is not something I find fun to hear, if you understand.

[@orkz7258]

I haven't played the game in a while but I remember magic is op'd. I used it on all my characters repeatedly, everyone became a hybrid or full mage because you can just keep everyone stunned, knocked down etc and your characters thus not taking any damage.

[@luccasliuti8098]

Sorry, one tear later, but i have been playing Path of Iron and the only thing you have to do is minmax stats to make the game really easy. Simply by how OP Parry and Magic are overhaul. My FB just parry tanks everything while my mages do a shitload of damage.

[@jepsen1977]

I hope I'm not offending you here and it's very possible I missed something but didn't you say that your first playthrough took about 30 hours and the second PT took about 20 hours on the highest difficulty....so doesn't that make it 50 hours?

[@haasgaming]

Just over those two, yeah. I've done a lot of incomplete runs though. When I mentioned those two, those I specifically did completely from start to finish on POTD. In addition, for example, I did a run which took me about 20 hours where I got to a point where I couldn't progress because I was stubbornly trying to make heavy armor spellcasting work (it really doesn't). You can also see some archery footage in this video, for instance, which is another run that I didn't complete (not for any specific reason, just didn't get to it). All in all, I've done A LOT of testing and incomplete runs. In this video for instance, I think you can see 4-5 different characters (most footage is from the 2 full playthroughs though).

[@jepsen1977]

***** Ah okay, cool! Good review as always - keep it up, dude. Always a joy to see a new video from you.

[@ugurbabacan4068]

This game shorter than nfs underground

[@paStLife463]

You spent well over 100 hours on this game. First playthrough 30 hours and second 20..So the rest 50 hours you spent them as......

[@haasgaming]

It's been many, many years now since I played Tyranny but seeing as Steam says I have ~155 hours played, I can only assume I spent a great deal testing different skills, builds, dialogue options as I often do which I don't count as my "playthrough time" since reasonably speaking people won't spend that time when they play the game themselves.

[@Jk-zv6tz]

30 hours is piss poor for a RPG

[@Kopie0830]

Let me warn future players, lots of tragedy in this game. Good guys die, bad guys win. If you want to be a good guy in this game, forget it, it won't give you the option. Good game, I just didn't like how the story progressed I had to stop. I want to join a certain good group, the game didn't let me no matter how I tried to join them and in the end, they get killed. I like the game graphic wise but story wise, it is tragedy. Totally tyranny I say.

[@AverageChild55]

I'd say its realistic. If you committed yourself to a faction then thats your problem. The dialogue options could be more polished, maybe fixed here and there because its not perfect and lacking in some cases, but in general if you're with a faction it becomes your character's identity and your options reflect that. Thats not a gameplay or story problem, even though I can agree with the notion that this game is a diamond in the rough. Btw, it's entirely possible to save the "Good Guys" as you say. Maybe not all, but its possible to play the "Good Guy", it depends entirely on ur choices. Its not a happy game and its not meant to be one.

[@magnenoalex2]

I'm trying to be a grey character not good but not evil. I chose lawbreaker as my origin so im no saint but im also not really for slaughtering every single person if it can be avoided at least thats what im trying to do. Im only a couple hours in.

[@magnenoalex2]

I mean as a lawbreaker the only reason im working for this guy is cause I go to prison otherwise. Not necessarily cause my heart is in it.

[@StrongDaddy]

Good review. I think I'll check this game out.