Are you willing to discuss politics? I'm interested in you being in the middle, why do you think that is the best choice and what do you agree/disagree with on both sides?
As with anything, extremes are dangerous. See, I was a libertarian for a very long time, but when confronted with questions about public schools, hospitals, infrastructure, and so on, the more research I did on the topic, the less libertarianism made sense as an all encompassing solution. I believe that, as is in life, balance should be achieved. You need ideas from all ideologies in order to know which ideas pass or fail the test. In the case of public schools, for instance, I am a proponent of school choice and vouchers. I believe that you should be able to send your child to whatever school you want, so long as you are willing to take them there every morning. The way the system is setup now, you are at the whim of your geography. So you better live in a district where there are a lot of home owners and rich folk, or your child will get a terrible education. The current system is corrupt, a violation of the principals for which it was established, and, through gerrymandering, certain sectors of underserved populations can be kept poor and silenced. True Libertarianism would have you believe that public schools should all be privatized, and sure, that might work for those that can afford it, but I've seen the data prove that a well educated populace can drive down violence and crime and lead to amazing innovations. This is why most Libertarian candidates are also proponents of voucher systems. I think the real bell ringer for me was when I discovered liberal science. It is unbiased, it goes off of proof, and the results must be reproducible no matter who is conducting the experiment. No final say, no special authority. This is why I am in the middle. Both sides try to sell you their particular version of truth, and both versions fall apart with close enough scrutiny. This is the best thing about liberal science. If you follow its tenants, all ideas eventually fall apart as new information becomes available, the trick is to keep your mind open to that new information and staying diligent enough to always put that new info through unbiased testing. My next video (which is taking forever because it is over twenty minutes and fully animated) is about authoritarianism and freedom of speech and you'll get a dose of my political beliefs in that, for better or worse.
I'm a right-leaning libertarian, I haven't studied the issue of education very much but I currently think that vouchers seem to be the most reasonable/effective solution presented towards fixing some of the problems of our education system as well. However, I would like to look at that issue a bit more as well, which I probably will do sometime in the future. I'm in college, so I suppose it seems less pertinent to me when I'm already out of that system of schooling and don't have children of my own yet. I definitely am not throwing out the idea of privatization altogether, because there seem to be many benefits (such as only those parents whose children are in school should be paying for schooling, I believe that your tax money should only be going towards things that provide some sort of benefit to you directly, not just going straight into the pockets of other people), but I think it would be too large of a step to go from government run schooling straight towards privatization. What exactly are you referring to when you say "liberal science"? I attempted to clarify what you meant by looking it up for myself, but all that I could find were fields like gender studies, which according to everything I have seen from those fields, are not based on proof at all. I'm guessing you are speaking about science based on the scientific method, but I can't be for sure. Do you have any examples of major issues where you think that both sides are incorrect? For example, I think that climate change is such an issue- many left-wingers put forth ineffective solutions to the problem, and many right-wingers deny that such a problem exists (though many also just disagree with the solutions presented, and get called a climate change denier anyways, I have personal experience with that).
I tend to find this kind of an attitude very common among other veterans. Glad to see you are able to discuss your views without foaming at the mouth. Also, what a weird comment to find at the bottom of a vid on Tyranny.
I think to be so sure of the beliefs that most people hold and to truly have it figured all out you have to commit at least a life time of studies to those particular beliefs and obviously almost nobody does that. The world is a complex place some things aren't explained with a simple concept and you only have so much information to take in as a single person. So if you are someone who is very sure of your beliefs and especially extreme beliefs, you are someone that I don't think has a clue of what he is talking about. That is why I think he is saying he is in the middle because you realize that everything else, to an honest human, is just more of a lie to yourself rather than a logical construct.
+Ben Ny I agree with some of what you said, but I think that being in the middle and not holding any beliefs that are considered extreme are not defenses against such a problem. I think the only way to deal with it is to attempt to never dismiss an idea without at least considering it (though I do know that this is difficult due to your own biases). That's one of the best arguments in favor of free speech- everyone should talk about their ideas so that we can find which are the best ones, the truthful ones, the most useful ones, etc. Absolute free speech is pretty much the only way I can see to fix the problem.
i love how this representation of evil isn't "i want to hurt people for fun" its "i want my goals and i will ignore the lives and suffering of others for it" which is a MUCH more realistic portrayal
Alot of evil was comitted in the name of the greater good. That doing XYZ atrocity is worth it because in the end, ALL will benefit and it will overall be better. Evil becomes a lot more insidious once you realize that mustache twirling evildoers are a cartoon, and that real people usually do not do things "for the evulz" but because they believe the ends justify the means. And it's interesting how much media doesn't really grapple with that, as I find it to be prime characterisation for any villain. Sure, sometimes the fun, cartoony evil villain you watch the hero smack about for a bit is fun and all, but complex stories need complex villains, and the best villains are the ones with motivations you go "Kinda got a point there, actually...", but you disagree on the specifics on how to archieve that goal...
@Abu Troll al cockroachistan I have yet to find the threat of an ambiguous afterlife to stop people from comitting evil in the name of good, but whatever makes you sleep at night, I guess. What I meant was the habit of evil people rationalizing their deeds by claiming that it will benefit more people later.
You hit on the single greatest accomplishment of Tyranny... playing a role... getting into your character to the point that you start asking yourself, what would my character do? Now that is roleplaying.
I honestly just finished playing the game, finished my first play through, and dear god I started the game thinking "I can't win against the Overlord, I cannot fight against a power like the edicts" but when Eb was there when I got the first Spire and said you should just take over the Tiers, I thought "I can't fight Kyros", but she set in my mind a seed, a seed that time after time I got rid of the Edicts it got nurtured, every time I unlocked a Spire, I broke the Edicts, and my team and I got more and more powerful, I started to think "I am powerful", it ended up blooming into thinking "I am an equal to Kyros", when I did my first Edict of my own at Vendrien's Well, I fully became aware of my powers of the ability to instate my will instead of Kyros's will, and then after having done many horrible things out of fear of the Overlord I stood at a position where I feared nothing not even the Overlord itself, and I felt so liberated, like no one could stop me anymore, that I could make all bend the knee to me and be free to truly choose what I wanted to do, I had been working with the Disfavored as I would much rather have an army of professional soldier besides me than a rabble of conscripts, I made Graven Ashe bend the knee to me and took over the Disfavored, fought Tunon in the battlefield very much his own and made him bend the knee by my knowledge and wisdom rather than by force, I killed the Voices of Nerat in a duel that nearly ended in Defeat. I felt like the most powerful man in the world, a god among men, my battles groomed me into a peerless user of magic capable of killing and aiding my allies with the power of my spells, killing all those who stood in my way, and I unleashed an edict upon Kyros's realm the Northern Empire, an Edict of Malediction, misfortune befalls their cities and people, the great armies of Kyros halted and retreating the great conqueror halted by the words of the very person it sent to end the conquest. I cannot lie the game made me feel like my character, the boldness I displayed in dialogue came to me as my own power grew to rival Kyros's power, I didn't feel the need to hold my tongue lest I surfer for my arrogance, now others hold their tongues before me, I remember back at the start of the game when I captured the Spire, I chose to tie a note to the enemy's commander and throw her off the edge, a very evil action one I took willingly without fear no more than petty revenge on my part, but it felt great to spread the fear of my wrath, evil never felt so right, yet I was not truly just pure evil, I spared many who I felt didn't deserve my punishment, I chose to spare Ashe's Daughter's Daughter the last of the Regent Bloodline, because I knew that I couldn't do such an evil act against one who had done nothing wrong, so I chose the alternative and let her abdicate the throne so both her and her daughter could live. I don't think another RPG in a long while has gotten me this into it, I just found myself binge playing it, enjoying my time with it and even coming up with a custom formation to move around in, I always had Verse and Barik in front while me and usually Eb where at the back providing support, I really wish there was a sequel where I could take the fight back to Kyros.
Either way you're still just choosing what you want. The difference is choosing who you want your character to be instead of merely choosing what they do. If the game doesn't facilitate that then it doesn't matter how much the player asks about the character's preference. When done correctly these choices have consequences, rather than leaving continuity of character up to the player.
@@stupidcomment6571 it's a human based game dude. Think of it as the "end of the bronze age" type of game. Not everything has to be fantasy. But yes its cuz it's a crpg.
Started playing Kotor 2 and chose Jedi Counselor that in mind and put everything into Wisdom, which increases effectiveness of force powers. Was afraid that character would be too weak since game recommended choosing "Warrior". How wrong was I.. Spamming Lighting made game practically super easy mode. Everything just fells down and after getting final/third version of Lighting it did become even more ridiculous with that large AoE-damage. One Lighting spammer is easily enough, but you can also Kreia spam Lighting and she has high Wisdom also so double the fun. Heck you can do same with Visas so TRIPLE THE FUN, but that is already overdoing it way too much..
@@VarjoFilosofi You can also get an ability that adds your wisdom to your AC as well as Dex. That with the defensive skills of the one handed lightsaber, you will have more AC than any other build by far. Your wisdom can be added to your attack bonus as well, making you more powerful than a warrior... In melee. LOL. Only in KOTOR 2 though, and it requires certain story options.
I played Batman: The Telltale Game. I picked they good option, and generally I was in the majority. But when I decided I didn't want to sleep with Selina, because I didn't want to do that to Harvey, I didn't want to let myself make an evil choice just because it was the first evil choice that I actually wanted to do, well, it turned out less than 10% of people made that choice with me. Supposedly it's just a game, but why were the majority of people always making the moral choice before that? When the immoral choice didn't give them anything they personally wanted. If you're gonna play good, what does it say that you'll immediately throw it away the second the evil also happens to be something that you actually want for yourself?
humans are rational actors. we will do what is required to achieve our goals with minimal effort. people have a short memory, and most people are short-term focused, they don't see beyond the choice in front of them. to them, they didn't throw their morality away. they made a choice they wanted that was unconnected with every other choice, because they wanted it. no higher reasoning went into it, and if you asked those people why they did it, the best responses would be ad hoc reasoning, the worst would be "that was the evil option?"
its boring when its not a good game. its boring when devs are lazy. a genre is not boring, its up to the developers to push the genre forward and make a good game. people saying games are the problem are wrong.. devs are the problem.
i never said games are the problem. im saying too many of the same cookie cutter game is wrong. i cant really tell the CoD games appart anymore. youre using your opinion, which is fine, but youre forgetting the glaring FPS killer: its all become the same. you want unique gameplay? play doom 2 or doom: project brutality, or hexen 2. CoD looks like Titanfall and its all just copying itself. hexen 2? does its own thing like heretic and hexen 1. im not saying the genre is boring: im saying the same thing over and over again is getting boring.
In Baldur's Gate, evil characters would leave if you were too good and good characters would leave if you were too evil. Why would someone who is ideologically opposed to you stay with you and why would your character want someone evil following you around if you were good or vice versa? I think the fact that your choices have consequences relating to your party members and that the party members are people all their own, with unique motivations and views and agency makes things way more believable.
In any other game I played up until tyranny I would have agreed. The system in baldurs gate, while annoying, made for believable characters. Tyranny has it's justification in the title. Tyranny. If mr do good has an issue with the way you are handeling things, you remind him that YOU are the messanger of god, that YOU are a judicator. Procecuter, judge and jury to the god himself. You word becomes his will and should you misuse your power you will be judged yourself, but it will be to late for who ever came up on the wrong side of your stick. They stay because you are terryfieing. A little bit more nuanced: 1 of them stays because she is bat shit crazy, thinks of herself as long since dead and just wants to see how much of a riot you can cause. 1 stays because he sees you as very importent, maybe century defining and feels the need to record your actions to the best of his abilitys, so they won't get lost in legends over time. ... each character has a reason like this, but all of them apart from the crazy one oblige the tyranny rule: No matter what they tell you to justify it, they stay because they fear you or they stay because you are the save habor within the coming storm. The game sets it up very well. It works. The first time in my 23 years of gaming that it actually works ... that said: They cop out in the end when it comes to your descisions. There are different outcomes and consequences, but the overall result remains the same.
XenomorphsWrath Yeah I'm not saying it doesn't work in Tyranny. I understand that you're in a different position. But the author of the video is saying that it was a negative thing in Baldur's Gate that NPCs had agency of their own like a real person would. That is what I am disagreeing with. He is basically saying that he would have preferred it if say a paladin stays in the company of someone he should hate just because it's convenient for the player.
Yes and no. You need to know the game, but you don't have to be particulary good at it. You need to know where to go for cheap gold equipment and xp and you have to understand the limitations of your class (which in this case will certainly be a mix of rogue mage and fighter, or just rogue and mage) The Actual gameplay skills required to do it are .. at medium difficulty I would say.
Beating bg 2 solo is not actually that hard if you already beat the game once. I even found it easier becouse you get all the exp and get very powerfull character. Ive reached more than 30 lvls in every od mage, fighter and priest classes as a multiclass character so i had aroumd 100 lvls.
I don't believe Lawful Neutral is Sun Tzu. Lawful Neutral is a Judge. Sun Tzu and/or other strategists like him would be more like True Neutral, since they'd be more than willing to bend the rules to win, maybe even chaotic. IMHO
Strat-Edgy Productions I know this question has nothing to do with the comment, but what is the classical song used in the video. Btw nice videos keep it up!
Yog Sothoth The Prince of Machiavelli was a satire, not the thing in which he believed but just mocking some ruler he observed in his time. But if you want to follow Machiavellian rules, better to be feared than love but ideally be both... lawful evil probably
I disagree with that interpretation, the purpose of the prince was to give a guide to a future ruler on the harsh methods necessary to unite Italy. If you look at Italy during the period it was filled with incompetent rulers, constantly under threat from foreign invaders, ravaged by infighting and filled wit mercenaries. He believed the only way to save it was to unite it under a strong ruler so a stable united republic could be created.
I think the biggest problem with morality in games is just the lack of nuance. Its always abundantly clear which choice is the good one and which is the evil one. If you do the good path everyone likes you and if you do the evil path the game slaps you on the wrist and gives you the "bad ending". That is why The Witcher 3 was such a breath of fresh air. The choices in that game were not always easy, sometimes the right thing to do isn't pleasant, and being good can still result in harm. Most importantly in TW3 it is not always clear when you make a significant choice, the game doesnt ring all the bells and whistles to let you know that this choice might have a big effect on the game, and therefore the choices you make in that game are often more honest, as opposed to something like fallout where I just find myself thinking like hmmmm.. what does the game want me to do? How will the game punish me if i do the "wrong" thing here?
This is part of why morality in games mostly suck. There is no nuance. There was a quest that I don't think mattered in the grand scheme of saving the world in that game that nailed it for me. It was in one of the poor districts in the large city in that game, some woman of minority was being harassed by two thugs, and it played out wonderfully. Another thing is that good actions are rewarded in some way in most games. This is something that, in order for it to be a choice, needs to be addressed.
Agreed. Strategic aspects to choices or that you eventually have to do some cracking down to not get screwed over is always glossed over in "moral choices" in games. It's all "be the nice guy and forgive everything" or "killkillkill". Not only that it lacks all political and cultural nuance, it often also prevents the most interesting *and actual evil* acts from being presented, such as lowkey black mailing someone, fostering an interpersonal relationship that includes a bit of coercion or social power being wielded, etc.
Tyranny is good because it's morally grey. The 'villain' never believes he's the bad guy. The villain believes he's doing the best thing. He may be delusional, or just has a different set of values, but he's not doing shit because he's like, "I'm gonna be a piece of shit."
Just like Putin. He thinks he's a hero for eradicating the Ukrainian people. To me there's good people and bad people, morally grey might get dangerous when horrible people doing horrible things think they are in the right.
Another good video. Tyranny sounds interesting. You have some solid content, and you are definitely correct in your assessment of how evil choice is treated in most games. I usually find the malevolent options leave me feeling dirty. Roguish or sarcastic are as far as I can get.
Yeah, Tyranny makes playing the bad guy seem much more justifiable. Of course, being me, that almost makes me want to play a good guy MORE, to defy the conventions of the world I'm in. Damn hard to do, but if you DO want to do a good playthrough, it's all the more rewarding.
Hahaha. Yeah. It's really difficult, but I really want to make it work one of these times. Thing is, the game also won't just tell you what the reactions will be like, so you have to reason it out based on the people and the world. Rather refreshing, honestly.
Nice video, good points. I mostly agree with one, the one thing that irritates me the most with playing renegades/villains. The lack of content. So many games let you be evil and just kill someone to save yourself the trouble of doing their petty tasks. That would be cool but by doing that you don't get to do the quest and all the content in it. Most modern RPGs let you kill NPCs and expect you to reload to do it the propper way. Ugh.
wow i didnt even know tyranny existed. this video convinced me to purchase the game! i've been looking for a good rpg for awhile. but the newer one always played it safe and give me all this fetch quest shit and it was sooooo BORING.
This game is severely underrated and underappreciated. I love how you can just end up being the bad guy without even realizing it sometimes. You wait for that perfect moment to rebel and it never comes, and all of the sudden you've been responsible for the conquest of the Tiers. Even rebelling has its moral drawbacks. The rebels are more than imperfect themselves, and even eventually defeating Kyroz will inevitably kill tons of innocents along the way. This game gets into the morality of war more than any other I've played. No matter what path you take there is still some guilt about something.
I'd say that Crusader Kings 2 is more an illusion of choice since you never really have moral choices... Just hierarchies to appease. I talked about my own version of evil which is in reply to Stat Edgy and a user by the name of rzchzrd gznzzlzs its just below your comment i believe.
I don't know... Plenty of evil to commit in CK2, and it certainly does bring rewards. Like having your father's firstborn die of "mysterious circumstances" to grant yourself power in the future.
Hm, good point. Still, it's the idea that counts. CK2 feels a bit more personal than other Paradox games. But, you know, I'm insanely bad at CK2, so it may be different.
And at some point it will became the same empire/country you play in EU or Vicky and this is always personal, if i play France in eu3, that is me, if i play Prussia in vicky 2, that is also me, just as any random dynasty in CK2.Always game mechanics and numbers with a reason to paint the map into your color.
I hated the system in Bioshock, why would i ever choose to be evil when all it does is basically nerf my character in the end? They should have given you bigger reward for being evil and gave it a consequence, like harder last boss or something since you would be a lot more powerful by then i guess.
I chose evil majority of the time in Bioshock, in fact it's the ending I usually get. Idk I just dont like the little sisters, I just never felt all that bad about harvesting them except the first time when you make the choice in front of Tenenbaum, and if other people watch me play then I will save them. I also have a more impulsive mindset so I guess I think more about the reward upfront instead of possibly getting more in the long run, plus I just always kill the required or recommended amount of big daddies, and in general I like the evil ending more than the good ending.
Sigh, I wish more games would go the _"Don't have to be nice to your followers"_ route. Hell, there even were games where I would have loved to be able to simply shoot them in the head and move on. The last game of this kind was "State of Decay", which suffered from a severe "annoying followers" syndrome. I mean, you are in the middle of a bloody zombie apocalypse, it is hard enough to stay alive, collect rare resources and to create a halfway safe living place and one of the things you do _most_ in this game is wasting precious time and resources to calm down people who are pissed about vanities. _"I know were are about to get eaten alive, but this guy looked at me the wrong way! Now flatter me, or I make us all die!"_ In the end I wished so hard I could just shoot the next nagging fucker in the head and then proclaim _"Get your shit straight, leave this place of fucking die right now!"_ And while I am at it... what I also utterly hate is when games have NPCs that are apparently too stupid, lazy or coward to do anything themselfes, let you take care of _everything_ and then treat you with despise, ridicule you or even lecture you on how to do things better. _"Okay, you've just walked straight into that bandit-infested radioactive hell, fought 1.000 killer robots; armed with nothing more than a rusty knife, almost got your testicles ripped off by mutants from space, only to get this medicine that saved the life of my daughter. But since you accidentally shot that innocent dog while desperately trying to stay alive, I now think you are a jerk and I will tell everyone abou..."_ *BLAMM!* *BLAMM!BLAMM!BLAMM!* *BLAMM!BLAMM!* *BLAMM!* Sorry, what were you saying? Can't hear you over the sound of you bleeding out, jerk...
I felt the same way when I was playing Tell Tale's The Walking Dead - almost every potentional "bad" choice is somehow justified just as any "good" choice still have vague negative consequences. And the game also have a voiced main character who expresses emotions without your control, so that helps to feel like role-playing instead of simply having him as your avatar. Unfortunately most games just have everything black and white to make it easier for every player. They usually just allow the player to be a super-hero and save all the "good" guys, while killing all the "bad" guys (or you can even capture, or sneak around the bad guys, to be even more GOOD, wow D: ). I don't think you need a particularly good writing to make choices feel like choices. Obviosly, some clever and unexpected decisions will always make it even better, but just having more grey tones and "would you rather..." situations is enough to encaurage actual role-playing.
Oh yeah, I remember playing this game, tons of fun. See the trick to killing self doubt is to set up a moral code structure even before you start a play though. Once you have that solid foundation it doesn't matter what choices the game gives you, you don't think in impulses, sure it might give you good shock moments and times of dilemma but if you methodically weigh each option against the pre defined moral code that you NEVER break from the beginning till the end, the choices become easy. In this game as in reality, there is but only a relative frame to all things, choosing and sticking to one is all we can do. Of course, this saps the fun out of the game because you need to know all the options the game will throw at you before hand so can't possibly connect all the dots in prior so that's a shame... But, if someone hasn't played the game yet, here's a few choices you can chose from even before you've played the game to have the best of both worlds ! 1) Are you pro Kyros (the one who is attacking) pro Tier( the ones getting invaded) ? 2) Do you believe in racial and societal authority and traditionalism, orthodoxy and strict conduct ? Go with the purple guys. 3) Do you believe in impulsive violence, ruthlessness, chaos and Darwinism? Go with the red. 4) How ambitious are you? Do you put yourself above all else? Now these four questions will have answers that tally into a hierarchy, lets say you are pro Kyros so by definition you must either 2 or 3 above 4 ... or maybe not, maybe you prefer your own position above the 2 armies while at the same time doing Kyros' will, so that's 1(Kyros) > 4 > 3 or 2 > 3 or 2 or it will be 1(Kyros) > 2 > 3 > 4 > if you favor the Disfavoured over the Scarlet Chorus and then put your own preconceived profit at bottom. Let's say you are there for personal gain but you still follow Kyros but on a lower degree, then you will have 4 > 1(Kyros) > 3 or 2 > 2 or 3 These are just examples but what I'm trying to say is that once you put each ideology in a spectrum of preference, all choice down to its very last and most worst option among two kinds of problem vanish. This also means choices like 1(Tiers) > rest is impossible because the game forces you into some roles... Okay..I'll stop yapping now...
Interesting video. Tyranny is an excellent game, and its ambiguity is awesome. Some things I feel the need to point out (which add to the awesomeness): - You CAN actually rebel against Kyros and join the resistance. The game doesn't tell you, and it's very easy to mess up (even in the prologue stage!) as you'll have to consistently go against your orders. But it can be done. It has an entire campaign track that a lot of players wouldn't even see because of a prologue choice. I love it. - The histories actually give you a minor stat buff. I went with lawbreaker which gave me a bonus to subterfuge and unarmed combat IIRC. - You can lose party members by not interacting with them enough to raise their loyalty or fear significantly. Even then, it's not so much them leaving as them not being able to shrug off the effects of a choice you made. Vague I know, but I'd rather not spoil things for people who still wanna play this game. Also, the playing a character based on a history is usually my MO in rpg's in general (especially making choices based on what the character would do), but I agree it's nice that this game definitely makes that easier to do.
Tyranny got me scary. My first play trought my caracter was the most perverse possible, a enemy to the people and army alike. Its was scary to see this, I never tought i had that in me.
To be fair, its just fun to roleplay - I've played thousands of games and just being the hero all the time gets stale, It's natural to enjoy the fresh air of being an absolute monster
I was lucky, the same week I discovered and purchased both “Tyranny” and “Shadowrun: Dragonfall” I also discovered your awesome channel!!! (While I have played mostly JRPG’s before this, and a few WRPG’s, I had only played one CRPG before I bought those two games, “Torment: Tides of Numenera” which I absolutely loved and introduced me to CRPG’s and isometric gameplay)
This review really got to the heart of it. At first, I thought I was fighting against Tyranny and made a character in my own image then when I realized my character’s goals and position, I had to start the game over to create the new character I expected to serve this role and motivations. It definitely becomes a forced genuine role-play vs self actualization of the role like most RPGs.
Stratedgy, I have watched this video like 40 times and I keep coming back like monthly. I feel like you have made an enthralling masterpiece with this vid. The constantly rising tension of the music comes to a climax at the moment when you reveal your “theory”(more like idea) about the players relationship to kyros is awesome. Keep it up, ur epic.
I really liked the conversation tooltip Obsidian done in Tyranny and I'd love to see it picked up in another rpg and expanded upon to include knowledges, either based on books that have been read, lore that has been garnered and quest details that are relevant to the conversation your in.
I've watched this review of Tyranny 3 different times now. every time your review of the establishment of the character and the motive behind evil always gives me goosebumps with it's spot on strike of the fucking analysis of that form of game design and narative driven stories that so many game devs miss out. I hate that bad guys seemingly do evil for no reason when you're playing them. it's like you'll meet someone and they're all "Hey stranger you look awesome help me do this and I'll help you out" but if you're evil you'll say something like "No you look dumb loser." and the quest will either decline or the person fights you/dismisses you.
Litmus tests are for acidity, so it's a metaphor often used to test for a particular characteristic of people and ideas. The litmus test for evil is, if you have another viable alternative to take that produces less suffering than another, but still take the path that produces more suffering, you're evil. Evil relies on alternatives existing to be valid. Killing someone is evil under certain conditions, but in law, killing someone is totally valid if the self-defence defence can be used. But even that doesn't always work, because sometimes the self-defence is excessive compared to the threat.
Evil choices should feel evil. Most games I play seem to forcefully justify them. I don't want justification; I want to burn down a village because some asshole said my armor looked stupid
and congratulations you have started a world war between basically two gods. Millions wll die because you created a competition as proclaiming yourself equal with Kyros. Is that really a good thing? You can proclaim edicts but you cannot end edicts. That vasalized country you saved will be burned to the ashes and only thing you can do is burn Kyros' empire to ashes. You see that is what video was about by doing the moral choice you have brought a new suffering. Kyros' peace is a lot favorable over an war between two gods.
W4hammer, The Fatebinder can both PROCLAIM AND END EDICTS. You can end Kyros Edicts, and yours have a limited span since you are not yet at full potential with your newly discovered power Just looking at it from a neutral viewpoint, I choose to stay loyal to the Overlord, and got "SPOILERS" rewarded with commanding the Tiers and The Court of Tunon
I am sorry you had to go through your youth. I'm happy you found something that makes you happy. You're video's are really outstanding ( I love your choice of music) ! Take Care !
I always prefer evil playthroughs. If you think they put less writing into evil, play Neverwinter Nights 2: Mask of the Betrayer. The evil ending is vastly superior, and you can get it by remaining true neutral throughout the game, and sticking to atheist ideas. One persons evil is anothers justified. Morality is subjective, not universal. Even Neverwinter Nights 1 showed how easily the lines become blurred, though the game is a bit of a joke as a pure dwarf warrior. You can even kill the ancient red dragon without poisoning it at level 18, solo. That being said, Dark Sun: Shattered Lands and Wake of the Ravager were fun as a renegade, that world is so harsh white knighting seems unrealistic. KotOR 2 had better storylines as evil, and better gear. The new Battletech expansion added pirates as an actual faction, they are fun to do jobs for but have not seen any pirate flashpoints, yet you can side with criminals in a few to get lostech, etc.
"That being said, Dark Sun: Shattered Lands and Wake of the Ravager were fun as a renegade, that world is so harsh white knighting seems unrealistic." Dark Sun is my favorite setting that I hardly got to play in. I really wish they would bring it back. "If you think they put less writing into evil, play Neverwinter Nights 2: Mask of the Betrayer." One of my favorite RPGS, but, not really a good example of modern design since it came out over 11 years ago. "Neverwinter Nights 1" Only played this game online, used it for making my own modules and hosting online GM sessions. It is my favorite RPG probably ever released.
Man I wish. Those videos take a long time to make, and I don't think I could afford it, with the views something like that will get. Maybe when I have a little cushion. I would love an excuse to play Tyranny again.
I like Villains and Antiheros more than the Heros. Villains and Antiheros are the driving force of a story whereas the Hero only reacts and is restricted by his morality. I like it when you have either: a) right way, or an easy way (with consequences that might not be obvious) b) having to choose the lesser evil The Witcher franchise is a good example for it.
I'm seeing a trend where you'd rather play RPG's were you play a character, rather than be a character. Good and insightful vid. I do want to point out though that after act 1, you have very little actual choice, you get railroaded hard on what faction you choose and most actions will be done to please them, regardless on how you try to derail yourself
One of the most entertaining game reviews I have had the pleasure of watching. Because of it I am now going to restart my game of Tyranny and this time make my character not some sort of copy of "me", but rather some other guy that I don't even know yet.
Tyranny is litteraly what happens if the Protagonist had the making and potential of been a great Hero, but took a dark turn and became a Fantastic Antagonist. Plus while you do work under what is the equivalant of Sauron, you are more like Judge dredd, you uphold the LAW and Order, even if those laws where cruel and the Order only pragmatical. So even tho you are a "Villain", there is still some moral grey areas and fluctuations about how you percieve things and how you apply your own morality. Will you be a Cunning and coniving Theocrate? Or a Brutal and unforgiving Brute that upholds the Orders and the Chain of command above all. Or will you be an Arbiter of Justice, but the Justice that is the Same for everyone, not the kind of Justice the weak expect to get with no willingness to sacrifice something to achieve it.
I was blown away when I saw how few subs you have compared to the grand quality of your videos. I love these type of videos (like videos hbomberguy makes) and you are great at making them.
Sorry I am late to the party but below here is my thoughts about what you said in this video.Also Keep going your content is quite good man =) I have to say I prefer the pillars of eternity stat way since might is just your physical and spiritual strength over baldurs gates strength= useless for mage since it get around the failed character with the wrong useless stats but I see what you mean about might in tyranny. It may work in tyranny but pillars solved SOOO many problems that existed in the older top down rpgs that used a pure pen and paper system at the base. Since they had worked on games with those systems and had issues balancing it all they designed their own system from the botttom up. It also eliminated several min max steriotypes such as the dumb raging barbarian. In pillars you could not take the rage stalent at all and instead go for an intelligent barbarian who used battlecries.....the horror^^ I also like how grey pillars world is, I mean the knights is the good guys but at the same time they delve in capturing souls in armours to create an army to take controll ovber an area. The dussen is the same thing, they want to save the town and their country but they don't mind looting dungeons or getting together in mobs to overwhelm people at the same time. The mob family is dark and cruel but at the same time they are calculating and discreet. Tyranny with the whole good lost, all that exist are grades of evil rolled well with me as well. Don't get me started on masseffect or fallout 4 and the mountain of issues those titles hold. Like you said in another video more is less.
Speaking of which... You should definitely do a collab with Hbomgerguy Really awesome stuff you make, although I do hold the opinion that if an all powerful deity like in the game were to exist (which this game should've addressed the idea that the god could've possibly been made up but even if he wasn't made up) it would be necessary to abolish him. There's a Mikhail Bakunin quote that sums this up really well ''A Boss in Heaven is the best excuse for a boss on earth, therefore If God did exist, he would have to be abolished.'' I think they need to do this kind of kind of evil, but for something far more believable and practical, Like a strategy game OR even grand strategy Hell possibly Mount and Blade OR a Mount and blade mixed with insurgency style of gameplay be it 3rd person or 1st person where you're a dictator and you need to fight off against imperialism and bigger states that want to replace you with a puppet that will cause untold amount of misery to the population of not just your region but many other states that are considering the downfall of this evil empire an empire that if successful in overthrowing your regime results in the suffering of billions elsewhere and the perpetuation of a power that is close to collapse (I.E you're trying to bankrupt an imperialist empire and if you're not successful, could result in extinction levels of resource waste, I.E end of the world type of scenario, but instead of a hypothetical deity, you're presented with a plausible and all too realistic possibility that is grounded in reality) I hope to see some response to this cause it's something I've yet to find.
Fucking what? 1 video that you dislike and you lose your shit and unsubscribe from him for his very personal opinion??? If that's the case, then goodbye? You shall not be missed? Cause that kinda attitude is a subscriber that you'd never want to have in the first place EVER!
Another thing that was fun about Tyranny is yes they got super fleshed out villains routes.. but it is also possible to go full good and side with the natives if you play your cards right.
My childhood was very similar to yours, but I was the bi-polar opposite in how I played games. I would massacre villages and laugh the entire time then go into the real world and act like a decent kid. Some people just deal with things differently. You wanted to be the hero, I wanted to be the villain.
You don't scream. You don't yell. You give some really good insight into the decisions needed for each game you discuss. I appreciate that approach. Subscribed.
And Pillars of Eternity, also by Obsidian. That one seems a lot like Tyranny, altho its a bit harder to be evil. Same as in New Vegas, they dont really give you much reason to perform evil deeds. If you kill an npc or let them die youre probably just missing a quest, and all you would get in return is the opportunity to loot the mediocre items they carry
I am playing Tyranny at the moment, im in the first "World" Vandriens Well...And man...the Scarlet Chor, and the Disfavoured are really...really..reaaally both annoying. The always just argue with each other like little children, the 2 leaders act like woman on their special day of the month. Especially Graven Ashe.... The game is really good, but I just want to kill both factions... + Kyros is pretty stupid to create 2 different armys, one united army would be more effective, lol.
That's kind of the point, though, and I think it works on multiple levels. 1. That's the reason you are there. To intervene on the behalf of the god they serve to bring them into the fold. If they weren't constantly bickering, the story wouldn't even need to be told. 2. It covers the whole, good bad neutral thing, and you'll find out why as you go further in. 3. It gives you the sense that this is the best of a bad situation and that the only reason that you fight is out of fear of the same thing these two powerful archons are afraid of too. The place it fails is that they still, after everything that has been done, stay turned against each other after you succeed at Vendrien, and for no other reason than that they hurt each other's feelings, but you could say the same thing about George Bush Jr. and Iraq. How dare you talk about my father like that. I'll bomb you! Also, Kyros is dumb. So dumb that she can't see people plotting behind her back. Makes you wonder if she is even a legit god... FYI... I still haven't beat the game because I took too long a break :(
Just finished the game, and it was really good, a lot of fun, bether than those tripple A Games. (A stands for Bullshit) The ending is just too abrupt, and you will feel like the story isnt really finished.
Strat-Edgy Productions It is been hinted at that Kyros instigated more or less all the important events of the game. She wants a legitimate threat for her people so she has an enemy to unify them under her.
With the right choices, you can actually subvert the influence of BOTH factions, betray them all, and take the Vendrien Guard as your vassals. The best part is this course of action isn't necessarily "good," because you can justify it as a power play to take down Ashe and the Voices.
indie games are saving the gaming industry. AAA might make much more money, but lately, i fell that every year than the other . I thought Andromeda could make my year, but it made it worst. And guess what, xcom 2 is the game that will save this awfull year.
i remember the first rpg i played was kotor, i was so young i had no idea what an rpg even was but it was really fascinating. but something i hated was that as i played i realized i had to pick the light or dark side in order to play the game properly. i didn't get why i couldn't be an asshole or harsh sometimes and forgiving or nice other times. i also remember playing fallout 3 and getting pissed off at everyone in megaton, so i said fuck it ill blow this damn place up. that was the only time in that game where i felt all satisfied with the rpg elements, not because it was a brilliantly crafted quest (it wasn't at all), because it let me do the first thing i thought of when i saw that bomb "can i blow this up?" i think so far the best experience i've had was playing on rpg servers in half-life/counterstrike where people "live" in a town. me and my friend ended up getting banned from pretty much all the servers because we would become massive criminals. i hated how no one was up for actual role playing it almost made it more fun. it felt like i was really pissing people off when i killed or robbed them. and when we broke each other out of jail there was this sense of fear that we were going to be banned any minute. so we had blend it, talk the part of "normal" people. sometimes we started underground gangs or cults. we did all sorts of things to break the natural order of the servers. i think it's sad that second-life is really just a simulator and not like a suped up gta because i would love to cause mayhem in that game or play it how ever i wanted. the closest thing to that is minecraft but you're banned so fast that's it's just pointless. maybe i'm an asshole but i like to think of games like the norse thought of asgard, an eternal playground where you can eat, fuck, kill, and do whatever you damn well please.
i tend to stick to online games now to get an organic "story." for a while i played dayz, then the bugs never got fixed so i stopped. and now i just play things like gta online and pubg because online games are organic since you interact with real people. i still play regular rpg's new vegas is great, same with mass effect 1&2, dragon age origins, kotor 1&2, TES 3,4,5, and etc.
I think any game with Jedis in it HAS to force the player to commit to either Light or Dark side. The struggle between light and dark is an integral part of the universe and the concept of the force. If I remember correctly you can pretty much saty gray until the end if you balance out your choices, just in the finale your choices push you towards light or dark depending on what you do.
This game is so underrated. Thanks for the review. Just one thing: the History of your charakter does give stats. Soldier for example gives +2 One-Handed, +2 Athletics and +4 Parry.
Brilliant, I am an Indie developer Level designer and 3D artist and I am so glad that you address so clearly problems of RPG games together, while I work I listen to your rants as podcasts, it pumps me up to make a good game outta of it.
Antisemitism was very much present in europe before Hitler. It is present in art history and literature and many governments and the people of many european occupied and non occupied countries gladly contributed in the conquest of Hitler. Otherwise great video love your content.
Not without reason, though. The suffragettes and early Feminists were mostly backed by, you guessed who. The degeneracy of the Weimar Republic was a result of, you guessed who's influence through the media. (sounds oddly familiar too, doesn't it?) The idea that Jews were hunted for anti-semitic reasons is absolute non-sense. Jews have tried to undermine Ethnic European societies since the 19th century. And modern America is what it looks like when they are successful. Congratulations "Nazi" haters, you played yourself. Enjoy the decline and being a minority in your own country in the upcoming decades. Don't expect the peace to last, though. Rather look at Zimbabwe and South Africa to get a taste of how Ethnic Europeans will be treated, despite their achievements for their own nation for simply existing. THAT is real hatred.
Evil is done wrong in RPG's. In reality, evil is when you exploit others to get more for yourself, while being "good" is being altruistic, sacrificing yourself for the good of others. In reality, EVIL IS REWARDED, AND GOOD IS PUNISHED. First Fallout did it right. It didn't incentivize either approach. You didn't kill children only because you were wrapped in the world of that game and you felt that it's wrong, not because not killing them would give you angel points and some extra powers, and devil points for killing them would be less appealing.
I disagree, The idea that only evil can give benefits is wrong. In reality being evil is Selfishness. And it can lead to terrible consequences, whether it be the losing of your power, or the people that follow you, may betray you. After all you never showed a reason to be trustworthy either. Plenty of Dictators have been stabbed in the back by their own power hungry allies. Evil can be rewarded, but it is also often punished. While being Good is self sacrifice, it doesn't mean you can't ever get anything from it either. Plenty of Sociopaths act like charming individuals just for this reason. That said I do agree that most video games fuck it up. Without any nuance the idea of good and evil loses all interesting aspects.
Great videos man, understanding videogames has always been a thing with me, When I play a game I always look at it from the technical side, I see thru the fakeness, and it is disapointing, makes the experience watered down, finding a game that can make you so inmersed and see past those things is very scarse or non existent, once you take the red pill there is no looking back, and the vids about RPGs are spot on.
I dont play evil because in modern games evil paths are unrewarding. You can either A) Finish this quest, have a cool boss battle, get a new item and save the town OR B) Sell them out to a shady guy who conveniently appears right after you get the mission for some gold..... No adventure, No experience points, no items. Just some gold. The writers love to tout "choice" but in reality they bullshit on the evil path because you're really "not suppose to go that way"
I started playing Tyranny this week and I really like it so far ... but ultimately I decided to go back to the game I know is made purely out of player decisions and plays out differently and beautifully every time; and that game is Crusader Kings 2 ... I think that CK2 doesn't get nearly as much praise as an RPG as it should because people probably see it as a Grand Strategy game ,which is kinda is, but is an RPG above all and is one of the most complex RPGs I've seen lately, I've played it over 200+ hours since I got it and every single time the play-through was very different and I do MEAN VERY DIFFERENT because the entire time the game is being shaped by the decisions and events that the characters make (you & the AI) and at every step you can see the result of your actions and if play well (and know how to play) every ... hour or so you can look at the game and see the results of your efforts (and accomplishments) ... I think CK2 is looked over in the RPG talk and I don't think that it should because is one of the greatest representations of what you can achieve with excellent rpg mechanics and an actually good AI
Ahh, that might be a while to be honest. I am trying to decide if I want to wait until it releases a final build or not, as they have already changed so much from the .3 to now that the beginning doesn't feel close to the same. No idea what the final build will look like.
Noam Chomsky...a Democrat!? O.o Also, sounds more "Bismark" than "Sun Tzu". Also also, there were elements of German identity following unification that harbored anti-semetic ideals. Hitler did not happen in a vacuum. Even though the UK, US, and Germany itself desperately wanted to convince the world that was the case during the Cold War.
Steven Dorsey Overlord 2 was way better at being evil than 1. In 1 you were saving the world no matter what, and could in fact be pretty much just a paladin. In the second you could really feel as an evil lord because it was a true evil vs evil thing, and instead of morality used Control and Destruction for your choices.
He's talking about games that make you choose between being good or evil. Overlord only makes you feel evil, and it's done in a goofy, lighthearted manner. Also the Overlord's enemies sort of deserved what's coming to them anyway.
Just watched a stream of Tyranny's Character Gen system, and... oh wow. The conquest segment is basically the very old skool method of character generation where you answer a bunch of questions, but how they've updated that to make it an integral part of the entire narrative instead of a bunch of throwaway questions... that is the gold-standard of modernising gameplay. Awesome!
people do this over and over. just peg him as country and that's it. hes MUCH more. and when people start calling him country, i get mad because all i know about your version of country is mountain dew and muddin' with pick up trucks and drinking out of a red solo cup.
I almost died when he said weyland jennings and johnny cash are country. Throw in charlie daniels and jerry reed in there and you've got a bunch of very good musicians. I wouldn't call it country though. Today's country music is all about nascar and drinking beer down by the river. getting some chick pargnet. It's basically just hip-hop with a twangy guitar. Pop-Rock isn't much better....... Bunch of whiney teenagers complaining about how they'll never get a date. God damn i fucking hate popular music.
Sigma You realise Cash is a pillar of the County Genre right? He's been in the country music hall of fame for 36 years now, what do you not understand about that?
dude, i feel like, ... .. Dude, i have been here 2 mins and you have been more honest then any other youtuber ever, and this is about a game i kinda wanted to play. holy shit. I also wear black, find radio county from the 90s hilariously fun and i will always wear black in florida. Strat4lyfe.
You spoke exactly the words that I felt when playing through Tyranny. What's more, I really bought into Kyros, and the need to end the war quickly. I ended up usurping Kyros, but the leadup was masterful, the politicking was complex and left a lot of choice up to the player. You literally play as the evil force that is fought in every other game and i've never been more bought into a character. Only Caesar and House have had better self-justifications that made you at least consider their angle. Obsidian is very good at what they do.
Found this a year after I played Tyranny... Loved this game, I played in a way that I only did things in the moment that would benefit my character the most with little regard to those who wouldn't obey my whims. I befriended the disfavored after setting them up several times and set up the chorus in ruins while stealing and pillaging any non combatant I could.
Are you willing to discuss politics? I'm interested in you being in the middle, why do you think that is the best choice and what do you agree/disagree with on both sides?
As with anything, extremes are dangerous. See, I was a libertarian for a very long time, but when confronted with questions about public schools, hospitals, infrastructure, and so on, the more research I did on the topic, the less libertarianism made sense as an all encompassing solution. I believe that, as is in life, balance should be achieved. You need ideas from all ideologies in order to know which ideas pass or fail the test.
In the case of public schools, for instance, I am a proponent of school choice and vouchers. I believe that you should be able to send your child to whatever school you want, so long as you are willing to take them there every morning. The way the system is setup now, you are at the whim of your geography. So you better live in a district where there are a lot of home owners and rich folk, or your child will get a terrible education. The current system is corrupt, a violation of the principals for which it was established, and, through gerrymandering, certain sectors of underserved populations can be kept poor and silenced.
True Libertarianism would have you believe that public schools should all be privatized, and sure, that might work for those that can afford it, but I've seen the data prove that a well educated populace can drive down violence and crime and lead to amazing innovations. This is why most Libertarian candidates are also proponents of voucher systems.
I think the real bell ringer for me was when I discovered liberal science. It is unbiased, it goes off of proof, and the results must be reproducible no matter who is conducting the experiment. No final say, no special authority. This is why I am in the middle. Both sides try to sell you their particular version of truth, and both versions fall apart with close enough scrutiny. This is the best thing about liberal science. If you follow its tenants, all ideas eventually fall apart as new information becomes available, the trick is to keep your mind open to that new information and staying diligent enough to always put that new info through unbiased testing.
My next video (which is taking forever because it is over twenty minutes and fully animated) is about authoritarianism and freedom of speech and you'll get a dose of my political beliefs in that, for better or worse.
I'm a right-leaning libertarian, I haven't studied the issue of education very much but I currently think that vouchers seem to be the most reasonable/effective solution presented towards fixing some of the problems of our education system as well. However, I would like to look at that issue a bit more as well, which I probably will do sometime in the future. I'm in college, so I suppose it seems less pertinent to me when I'm already out of that system of schooling and don't have children of my own yet. I definitely am not throwing out the idea of privatization altogether, because there seem to be many benefits (such as only those parents whose children are in school should be paying for schooling, I believe that your tax money should only be going towards things that provide some sort of benefit to you directly, not just going straight into the pockets of other people), but I think it would be too large of a step to go from government run schooling straight towards privatization.
What exactly are you referring to when you say "liberal science"? I attempted to clarify what you meant by looking it up for myself, but all that I could find were fields like gender studies, which according to everything I have seen from those fields, are not based on proof at all. I'm guessing you are speaking about science based on the scientific method, but I can't be for sure.
Do you have any examples of major issues where you think that both sides are incorrect? For example, I think that climate change is such an issue- many left-wingers put forth ineffective solutions to the problem, and many right-wingers deny that such a problem exists (though many also just disagree with the solutions presented, and get called a climate change denier anyways, I have personal experience with that).
I tend to find this kind of an attitude very common among other veterans. Glad to see you are able to discuss your views without foaming at the mouth. Also, what a weird comment to find at the bottom of a vid on Tyranny.
I think to be so sure of the beliefs that most people hold and to truly have it figured all out you have to commit at least a life time of studies to those particular beliefs and obviously almost nobody does that. The world is a complex place some things aren't explained with a simple concept and you only have so much information to take in as a single person.
So if you are someone who is very sure of your beliefs and especially extreme beliefs, you are someone that I don't think has a clue of what he is talking about.
That is why I think he is saying he is in the middle because you realize that everything else, to an honest human, is just more of a lie to yourself rather than a logical construct.
+Ben Ny
I agree with some of what you said, but I think that being in the middle and not holding any beliefs that are considered extreme are not defenses against such a problem. I think the only way to deal with it is to attempt to never dismiss an idea without at least considering it (though I do know that this is difficult due to your own biases). That's one of the best arguments in favor of free speech- everyone should talk about their ideas so that we can find which are the best ones, the truthful ones, the most useful ones, etc. Absolute free speech is pretty much the only way I can see to fix the problem.
i love how this representation of evil isn't "i want to hurt people for fun" its "i want my goals and i will ignore the lives and suffering of others for it" which is a MUCH more realistic portrayal
Alot of evil was comitted in the name of the greater good. That doing XYZ atrocity is worth it because in the end, ALL will benefit and it will overall be better.
Evil becomes a lot more insidious once you realize that mustache twirling evildoers are a cartoon, and that real people usually do not do things "for the evulz" but because they believe the ends justify the means.
And it's interesting how much media doesn't really grapple with that, as I find it to be prime characterisation for any villain.
Sure, sometimes the fun, cartoony evil villain you watch the hero smack about for a bit is fun and all, but complex stories need complex villains, and the best villains are the ones with motivations you go "Kinda got a point there, actually...", but you disagree on the specifics on how to archieve that goal...
@Abu Troll al cockroachistan I have yet to find the threat of an ambiguous afterlife to stop people from comitting evil in the name of good, but whatever makes you sleep at night, I guess.
What I meant was the habit of evil people rationalizing their deeds by claiming that it will benefit more people later.
@Abu Troll al cockroachistan Well that I can agree with.
FULLY AGREE
Selfishness is the foundation of all Evil
You hit on the single greatest accomplishment of Tyranny... playing a role... getting into your character to the point that you start asking yourself, what would my character do? Now that is roleplaying.
I would ask my character what are his orders but I'm sure i would be killed because i wasn't loyal enough.
I honestly just finished playing the game, finished my first play through, and dear god I started the game thinking "I can't win against the Overlord, I cannot fight against a power like the edicts" but when Eb was there when I got the first Spire and said you should just take over the Tiers, I thought "I can't fight Kyros", but she set in my mind a seed, a seed that time after time I got rid of the Edicts it got nurtured, every time I unlocked a Spire, I broke the Edicts, and my team and I got more and more powerful, I started to think "I am powerful", it ended up blooming into thinking "I am an equal to Kyros", when I did my first Edict of my own at Vendrien's Well, I fully became aware of my powers of the ability to instate my will instead of Kyros's will, and then after having done many horrible things out of fear of the Overlord I stood at a position where I feared nothing not even the Overlord itself, and I felt so liberated, like no one could stop me anymore, that I could make all bend the knee to me and be free to truly choose what I wanted to do, I had been working with the Disfavored as I would much rather have an army of professional soldier besides me than a rabble of conscripts, I made Graven Ashe bend the knee to me and took over the Disfavored, fought Tunon in the battlefield very much his own and made him bend the knee by my knowledge and wisdom rather than by force, I killed the Voices of Nerat in a duel that nearly ended in Defeat.
I felt like the most powerful man in the world, a god among men, my battles groomed me into a peerless user of magic capable of killing and aiding my allies with the power of my spells, killing all those who stood in my way, and I unleashed an edict upon Kyros's realm the Northern Empire, an Edict of Malediction, misfortune befalls their cities and people, the great armies of Kyros halted and retreating the great conqueror halted by the words of the very person it sent to end the conquest.
I cannot lie the game made me feel like my character, the boldness I displayed in dialogue came to me as my own power grew to rival Kyros's power, I didn't feel the need to hold my tongue lest I surfer for my arrogance, now others hold their tongues before me, I remember back at the start of the game when I captured the Spire, I chose to tie a note to the enemy's commander and throw her off the edge, a very evil action one I took willingly without fear no more than petty revenge on my part, but it felt great to spread the fear of my wrath, evil never felt so right, yet I was not truly just pure evil, I spared many who I felt didn't deserve my punishment, I chose to spare Ashe's Daughter's Daughter the last of the Regent Bloodline, because I knew that I couldn't do such an evil act against one who had done nothing wrong, so I chose the alternative and let her abdicate the throne so both her and her daughter could live.
I don't think another RPG in a long while has gotten me this into it, I just found myself binge playing it, enjoying my time with it and even coming up with a custom formation to move around in, I always had Verse and Barik in front while me and usually Eb where at the back providing support, I really wish there was a sequel where I could take the fight back to Kyros.
@@julioc.3158
Yeah
Either way you're still just choosing what you want. The difference is choosing who you want your character to be instead of merely choosing what they do. If the game doesn't facilitate that then it doesn't matter how much the player asks about the character's preference. When done correctly these choices have consequences, rather than leaving continuity of character up to the player.
Is it on sale somewhere?!
It's hard to understand how this game didn't sell better. It's some of Obsidian's best work IMO.
Crpg is a very nichy genre... not everyone is into it
@@luisphelipecarvalho5990 Imho its really great but truely lacking in enemy variety and interesting encounters in general.
probably lack of marketing, because I only heard of this now.
Limited and tepid advertising worsened by a lack of console ports
@@stupidcomment6571 it's a human based game dude. Think of it as the "end of the bronze age" type of game. Not everything has to be fantasy. But yes its cuz it's a crpg.
Kotor heal? I just spam force lightning and yell unlimited powah
Yes! I do that too!
Started playing Kotor 2 and chose Jedi Counselor that in mind and put everything into Wisdom, which increases effectiveness of force powers. Was afraid that character would be too weak since game recommended choosing "Warrior". How wrong was I.. Spamming Lighting made game practically super easy mode. Everything just fells down and after getting final/third version of Lighting it did become even more ridiculous with that large AoE-damage.
One Lighting spammer is easily enough, but you can also Kreia spam Lighting and she has high Wisdom also so double the fun. Heck you can do same with Visas so TRIPLE THE FUN, but that is already overdoing it way too much..
yeeeeah hahahha
Don't forget Drain/Death Field get those and Force Heal becomes obsolete
@@VarjoFilosofi You can also get an ability that adds your wisdom to your AC as well as Dex. That with the defensive skills of the one handed lightsaber, you will have more AC than any other build by far. Your wisdom can be added to your attack bonus as well, making you more powerful than a warrior... In melee. LOL. Only in KOTOR 2 though, and it requires certain story options.
I was 23 minutes older at the end of this video, and now i like you.
Subbed.
I played Batman: The Telltale Game. I picked they good option, and generally I was in the majority. But when I decided I didn't want to sleep with Selina, because I didn't want to do that to Harvey, I didn't want to let myself make an evil choice just because it was the first evil choice that I actually wanted to do, well, it turned out less than 10% of people made that choice with me. Supposedly it's just a game, but why were the majority of people always making the moral choice before that? When the immoral choice didn't give them anything they personally wanted. If you're gonna play good, what does it say that you'll immediately throw it away the second the evil also happens to be something that you actually want for yourself?
LukeOfTroy people wanna fuck ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Probably because Batman fans have wanted to fuck catwoman since the moment the first laid eyes on her. ( ah definitely not me cough cough)
Most Batman fans ship Bruce & Selina.
Character is what you are in the dark. Do you stick to your values when it is easier not to?
humans are rational actors. we will do what is required to achieve our goals with minimal effort. people have a short memory, and most people are short-term focused, they don't see beyond the choice in front of them.
to them, they didn't throw their morality away. they made a choice they wanted that was unconnected with every other choice, because they wanted it. no higher reasoning went into it, and if you asked those people why they did it, the best responses would be ad hoc reasoning, the worst would be "that was the evil option?"
BioShock games are all about the illusion of choice in games...A man chooses, a slave obeys.
Jamie McGuire Except there's not really any moments where you, the player, choose anything. Just as far as the story goes that holds true
yes because god forbid someone enjoy a game that centers around story and combat.
well, space alligator, theres so many games like that, and quite frankly its now boring.
its boring when its not a good game. its boring when devs are lazy.
a genre is not boring, its up to the developers to push the genre forward and make a good game.
people saying games are the problem are wrong.. devs are the problem.
i never said games are the problem. im saying too many of the same cookie cutter game is wrong. i cant really tell the CoD games appart anymore. youre using your opinion, which is fine, but youre forgetting the glaring FPS killer: its all become the same. you want unique gameplay? play doom 2 or doom: project brutality, or hexen 2. CoD looks like Titanfall and its all just copying itself. hexen 2? does its own thing like heretic and hexen 1. im not saying the genre is boring: im saying the same thing over and over again is getting boring.
In Baldur's Gate, evil characters would leave if you were too good and good characters would leave if you were too evil.
Why would someone who is ideologically opposed to you stay with you and why would your character want someone evil following you around if you were good or vice versa?
I think the fact that your choices have consequences relating to your party members and that the party members are people all their own, with unique motivations and views and agency makes things way more believable.
In any other game I played up until tyranny I would have agreed. The system in baldurs gate, while annoying, made for believable characters.
Tyranny has it's justification in the title.
Tyranny. If mr do good has an issue with the way you are handeling things, you remind him that YOU are the messanger of god, that YOU are a judicator. Procecuter, judge and jury to the god himself. You word becomes his will and should you misuse your power you will be judged yourself, but it will be to late for who ever came up on the wrong side of your stick. They stay because you are terryfieing.
A little bit more nuanced: 1 of them stays because she is bat shit crazy, thinks of herself as long since dead and just wants to see how much of a riot you can cause.
1 stays because he sees you as very importent, maybe century defining and feels the need to record your actions to the best of his abilitys, so they won't get lost in legends over time.
... each character has a reason like this, but all of them apart from the crazy one oblige the tyranny rule:
No matter what they tell you to justify it, they stay because they fear you or they stay because you are the save habor within the coming storm.
The game sets it up very well. It works. The first time in my 23 years of gaming that it actually works ...
that said: They cop out in the end when it comes to your descisions. There are different outcomes and consequences, but the overall result remains the same.
XenomorphsWrath Yeah I'm not saying it doesn't work in Tyranny. I understand that you're in a different position. But the author of the video is saying that it was a negative thing in Baldur's Gate that NPCs had agency of their own like a real person would. That is what I am disagreeing with. He is basically saying that he would have preferred it if say a paladin stays in the company of someone he should hate just because it's convenient for the player.
Galahandhi It's almost impossible to beat Baldur's Gate solo. You would need to be very good at the game.
Yes and no. You need to know the game, but you don't have to be particulary good at it.
You need to know where to go for cheap gold equipment and xp and you have to understand the limitations of your class (which in this case will certainly be a mix of rogue mage and fighter, or just rogue and mage)
The Actual gameplay skills required to do it are .. at medium difficulty I would say.
Beating bg 2 solo is not actually that hard if you already beat the game once. I even found it easier becouse you get all the exp and get very powerfull character. Ive reached more than 30 lvls in every od mage, fighter and priest classes as a multiclass character so i had aroumd 100 lvls.
I don't believe Lawful Neutral is Sun Tzu. Lawful Neutral is a Judge. Sun Tzu and/or other strategists like him would be more like True Neutral, since they'd be more than willing to bend the rules to win, maybe even chaotic. IMHO
Strat-Edgy Productions I know this question has nothing to do with the comment, but what is the classical song used in the video. Btw nice videos keep it up!
Beethoven's 7th symphony, 1st and 2nd movement. The 2nd movement is the one that people use to death in their videos because it is quite good.
What alignment would you consider Machiavelli?
Yog Sothoth The Prince of Machiavelli was a satire, not the thing in which he believed but just mocking some ruler he observed in his time. But if you want to follow Machiavellian rules, better to be feared than love but ideally be both... lawful evil probably
I disagree with that interpretation, the purpose of the prince was to give a guide to a future ruler on the harsh methods necessary to unite Italy. If you look at Italy during the period it was filled with incompetent rulers, constantly under threat from foreign invaders, ravaged by infighting and filled wit mercenaries. He believed the only way to save it was to unite it under a strong ruler so a stable united republic could be created.
I think the biggest problem with morality in games is just the lack of nuance. Its always abundantly clear which choice is the good one and which is the evil one. If you do the good path everyone likes you and if you do the evil path the game slaps you on the wrist and gives you the "bad ending". That is why The Witcher 3 was such a breath of fresh air. The choices in that game were not always easy, sometimes the right thing to do isn't pleasant, and being good can still result in harm. Most importantly in TW3 it is not always clear when you make a significant choice, the game doesnt ring all the bells and whistles to let you know that this choice might have a big effect on the game, and therefore the choices you make in that game are often more honest, as opposed to something like fallout where I just find myself thinking like hmmmm.. what does the game want me to do? How will the game punish me if i do the "wrong" thing here?
This is part of why morality in games mostly suck. There is no nuance. There was a quest that I don't think mattered in the grand scheme of saving the world in that game that nailed it for me. It was in one of the poor districts in the large city in that game, some woman of minority was being harassed by two thugs, and it played out wonderfully.
Another thing is that good actions are rewarded in some way in most games. This is something that, in order for it to be a choice, needs to be addressed.
Agreed. Strategic aspects to choices or that you eventually have to do some cracking down to not get screwed over is always glossed over in "moral choices" in games.
It's all "be the nice guy and forgive everything" or "killkillkill". Not only that it lacks all political and cultural nuance, it often also prevents the most interesting *and actual evil* acts from being presented, such as lowkey black mailing someone, fostering an interpersonal relationship that includes a bit of coercion or social power being wielded, etc.
Tyranny is good because it's morally grey. The 'villain' never believes he's the bad guy. The villain believes he's doing the best thing. He may be delusional, or just has a different set of values, but he's not doing shit because he's like, "I'm gonna be a piece of shit."
Just like Putin. He thinks he's a hero for eradicating the Ukrainian people. To me there's good people and bad people, morally grey might get dangerous when horrible people doing horrible things think they are in the right.
Another good video. Tyranny sounds interesting. You have some solid content, and you are definitely correct in your assessment of how evil choice is treated in most games. I usually find the malevolent options leave me feeling dirty. Roguish or sarcastic are as far as I can get.
Thanks! I've been bored the last few weekends since I don't have a car anymore so I've had plenty of time to make and write these videos :)
So don't buy another car :D good job ;)
Yeah, Tyranny makes playing the bad guy seem much more justifiable. Of course, being me, that almost makes me want to play a good guy MORE, to defy the conventions of the world I'm in. Damn hard to do, but if you DO want to do a good playthrough, it's all the more rewarding.
That'll be next ;)
Hahaha. Yeah. It's really difficult, but I really want to make it work one of these times. Thing is, the game also won't just tell you what the reactions will be like, so you have to reason it out based on the people and the world. Rather refreshing, honestly.
Nice video, good points. I mostly agree with one, the one thing that irritates me the most with playing renegades/villains. The lack of content. So many games let you be evil and just kill someone to save yourself the trouble of doing their petty tasks. That would be cool but by doing that you don't get to do the quest and all the content in it. Most modern RPGs let you kill NPCs and expect you to reload to do it the propper way. Ugh.
It's because they forcing out dreaded "replayability". This shouldn't be why I replay the game you know. It's cheap
wow i didnt even know tyranny existed. this video convinced me to purchase the game! i've been looking for a good rpg for awhile. but the newer one always played it safe and give me all this fetch quest shit and it was sooooo BORING.
I'm late as fuck but check out Divinity Original Sin 2, that's a game I fell in love with
Tyranny IS a relatively new game fyi.
This game is severely underrated and underappreciated. I love how you can just end up being the bad guy without even realizing it sometimes. You wait for that perfect moment to rebel and it never comes, and all of the sudden you've been responsible for the conquest of the Tiers. Even rebelling has its moral drawbacks. The rebels are more than imperfect themselves, and even eventually defeating Kyroz will inevitably kill tons of innocents along the way. This game gets into the morality of war more than any other I've played. No matter what path you take there is still some guilt about something.
So Tyranny is pretty much an average game of Crusader Kings 2?
I'd say that Crusader Kings 2 is more an illusion of choice since you never really have moral choices... Just hierarchies to appease.
I talked about my own version of evil which is in reply to Stat Edgy and a user by the name of rzchzrd gznzzlzs
its just below your comment i believe.
I don't know... Plenty of evil to commit in CK2, and it certainly does bring rewards. Like having your father's firstborn die of "mysterious circumstances" to grant yourself power in the future.
But in ck2, like in any other paradox game, these things are just game mechanics, numbers to you.
You don't feel sad about numbers.
Hm, good point. Still, it's the idea that counts. CK2 feels a bit more personal than other Paradox games. But, you know, I'm insanely bad at CK2, so it may be different.
And at some point it will became the same empire/country you play in EU or Vicky and this is always personal, if i play France in eu3, that is me, if i play Prussia in vicky 2, that is also me, just as any random dynasty in CK2.Always game mechanics and numbers with a reason to paint the map into your color.
Saying an Obsidian game is amazing is like saying the sun shines.
KOTOR 2. Fallout: New Vegas. Both better than the games they spawned from.
@@bigboss3051 This was posted before it came out, to be fair.
@@bigboss3051 it really is peculiar too, considering the time they had to make each
@@gabrielkerne9175 They lost a lot of their good writing staff pre outer worlds. I'm thinking Chris Avallone in particular.
Dungeon Siege 3 would like to argue.
I hated the system in Bioshock, why would i ever choose to be evil when all it does is basically nerf my character in the end? They should have given you bigger reward for being evil and gave it a consequence, like harder last boss or something since you would be a lot more powerful by then i guess.
I chose evil majority of the time in Bioshock, in fact it's the ending I usually get. Idk I just dont like the little sisters, I just never felt all that bad about harvesting them except the first time when you make the choice in front of Tenenbaum, and if other people watch me play then I will save them. I also have a more impulsive mindset so I guess I think more about the reward upfront instead of possibly getting more in the long run, plus I just always kill the required or recommended amount of big daddies, and in general I like the evil ending more than the good ending.
Sigh, I wish more games would go the _"Don't have to be nice to your followers"_ route.
Hell, there even were games where I would have loved to be able to simply shoot them in the head and move on. The last game of this kind was "State of Decay", which suffered from a severe "annoying followers" syndrome.
I mean, you are in the middle of a bloody zombie apocalypse, it is hard enough to stay alive, collect rare resources and to create a halfway safe living place and one of the things you do _most_ in this game is wasting precious time and resources to calm down people who are pissed about vanities. _"I know were are about to get eaten alive, but this guy looked at me the wrong way! Now flatter me, or I make us all die!"_
In the end I wished so hard I could just shoot the next nagging fucker in the head and then proclaim _"Get your shit straight, leave this place of fucking die right now!"_
And while I am at it... what I also utterly hate is when games have NPCs that are apparently too stupid, lazy or coward to do anything themselfes, let you take care of _everything_ and then treat you with despise, ridicule you or even lecture you on how to do things better.
_"Okay, you've just walked straight into that bandit-infested radioactive hell, fought 1.000 killer robots; armed with nothing more than a rusty knife, almost got your testicles ripped off by mutants from space, only to get this medicine that saved the life of my daughter. But since you accidentally shot that innocent dog while desperately trying to stay alive, I now think you are a jerk and I will tell everyone abou..."_ *BLAMM!* *BLAMM!BLAMM!BLAMM!* *BLAMM!BLAMM!*
*BLAMM!*
Sorry, what were you saying? Can't hear you over the sound of you bleeding out, jerk...
I felt the same way when I was playing Tell Tale's The Walking Dead - almost every potentional "bad" choice is somehow justified just as any "good" choice still have vague negative consequences. And the game also have a voiced main character who expresses emotions without your control, so that helps to feel like role-playing instead of simply having him as your avatar.
Unfortunately most games just have everything black and white to make it easier for every player. They usually just allow the player to be a super-hero and save all the "good" guys, while killing all the "bad" guys (or you can even capture, or sneak around the bad guys, to be even more GOOD, wow D: ).
I don't think you need a particularly good writing to make choices feel like choices. Obviosly, some clever and unexpected decisions will always make it even better, but just having more grey tones and "would you rather..." situations is enough to encaurage actual role-playing.
Oh yeah, I remember playing this game, tons of fun.
See the trick to killing self doubt is to set up a moral code structure even before you start a play though.
Once you have that solid foundation it doesn't matter what choices the game gives you, you don't think in impulses, sure it might give you good shock moments and times of dilemma but if you methodically weigh each option against the pre defined moral code that you NEVER break from the beginning till the end, the choices become easy.
In this game as in reality, there is but only a relative frame to all things, choosing and sticking to one is all we can do.
Of course, this saps the fun out of the game because you need to know all the options the game will throw at you before hand so can't possibly connect all the dots in prior so that's a shame...
But, if someone hasn't played the game yet, here's a few choices you can chose from even before you've played the game to have the best of both worlds !
1) Are you pro Kyros (the one who is attacking) pro Tier( the ones getting invaded) ?
2) Do you believe in racial and societal authority and traditionalism, orthodoxy and strict conduct ? Go with the purple guys.
3) Do you believe in impulsive violence, ruthlessness, chaos and Darwinism? Go with the red.
4) How ambitious are you? Do you put yourself above all else?
Now these four questions will have answers that tally into a hierarchy, lets say you are pro Kyros so by definition you must either 2 or 3 above 4 ... or maybe not, maybe you prefer your own position above the 2 armies while at the same time doing Kyros' will, so that's 1(Kyros) > 4 > 3 or 2 > 3 or 2 or it will be 1(Kyros) > 2 > 3 > 4 > if you favor the Disfavoured over the Scarlet Chorus and then put your own preconceived profit at bottom.
Let's say you are there for personal gain but you still follow Kyros but on a lower degree, then you will have 4 > 1(Kyros) > 3 or 2 > 2 or 3
These are just examples but what I'm trying to say is that once you put each ideology in a spectrum of preference, all choice down to its very last and most worst option among two kinds of problem vanish.
This also means choices like 1(Tiers) > rest is impossible because the game forces you into some roles...
Okay..I'll stop yapping now...
Interesting comment, I'll take note of it on my next playthrough. Thanks!
This video is not only good advice for game writing, but writing in general. I definitely learned a thing or two as an artist.
Good shit, good shit.
Interesting video. Tyranny is an excellent game, and its ambiguity is awesome. Some things I feel the need to point out (which add to the awesomeness):
- You CAN actually rebel against Kyros and join the resistance. The game doesn't tell you, and it's very easy to mess up (even in the prologue stage!) as you'll have to consistently go against your orders. But it can be done. It has an entire campaign track that a lot of players wouldn't even see because of a prologue choice. I love it.
- The histories actually give you a minor stat buff. I went with lawbreaker which gave me a bonus to subterfuge and unarmed combat IIRC.
- You can lose party members by not interacting with them enough to raise their loyalty or fear significantly. Even then, it's not so much them leaving as them not being able to shrug off the effects of a choice you made. Vague I know, but I'd rather not spoil things for people who still wanna play this game.
Also, the playing a character based on a history is usually my MO in rpg's in general (especially making choices based on what the character would do), but I agree it's nice that this game definitely makes that easier to do.
Tyranny got me scary. My first play trought my caracter was the most perverse possible, a enemy to the people and army alike. Its was scary to see this, I never tought i had that in me.
Everyone has that in them when they are pushed. Violence is a part of being humsn.
To be fair, its just fun to roleplay - I've played thousands of games and just being the hero all the time gets stale, It's natural to enjoy the fresh air of being an absolute monster
I was lucky, the same week I discovered and purchased both “Tyranny” and “Shadowrun: Dragonfall” I also discovered your awesome channel!!! (While I have played mostly JRPG’s before this, and a few WRPG’s, I had only played one CRPG before I bought those two games, “Torment: Tides of Numenera” which I absolutely loved and introduced me to CRPG’s and isometric gameplay)
This review really got to the heart of it. At first, I thought I was fighting against Tyranny and made a character in my own image then when I realized my character’s goals and position, I had to start the game over to create the new character I expected to serve this role and motivations. It definitely becomes a forced genuine role-play vs self actualization of the role like most RPGs.
Stratedgy, I have watched this video like 40 times and I keep coming back like monthly. I feel like you have made an enthralling masterpiece with this vid. The constantly rising tension of the music comes to a climax at the moment when you reveal your “theory”(more like idea) about the players relationship to kyros is awesome. Keep it up, ur epic.
I really liked the conversation tooltip Obsidian done in Tyranny and I'd love to see it picked up in another rpg and expanded upon to include knowledges, either based on books that have been read, lore that has been garnered and quest details that are relevant to the conversation your in.
I've watched this review of Tyranny 3 different times now. every time your review of the establishment of the character and the motive behind evil always gives me goosebumps with it's spot on strike of the fucking analysis of that form of game design and narative driven stories that so many game devs miss out. I hate that bad guys seemingly do evil for no reason when you're playing them. it's like you'll meet someone and they're all "Hey stranger you look awesome help me do this and I'll help you out" but if you're evil you'll say something like "No you look dumb loser." and the quest will either decline or the person fights you/dismisses you.
Litmus tests are for acidity, so it's a metaphor often used to test for a particular characteristic of people and ideas. The litmus test for evil is, if you have another viable alternative to take that produces less suffering than another, but still take the path that produces more suffering, you're evil.
Evil relies on alternatives existing to be valid. Killing someone is evil under certain conditions, but in law, killing someone is totally valid if the self-defence defence can be used. But even that doesn't always work, because sometimes the self-defence is excessive compared to the threat.
Evil choices should feel evil. Most games I play seem to forcefully justify them. I don't want justification; I want to burn down a village because some asshole said my armor looked stupid
Ayy Lmao like in Fallout 3? Nuke a city for the lols.
Skyrim kids
Ayy Lmao my kinda guy, want to travel together?
Mount and Blade: Warband
There is a difference between being Evil and Retarded
You're just a captivating person in general. I genuinely enjoy hearing you talk about your life or anything for that matter.
Eh, I stayed good and in the end - spoiler- not only freed the country and vasallized the archons, I could challenge Kyros herself.
and congratulations you have started a world war between basically two gods. Millions wll die because you created a competition as proclaiming yourself equal with Kyros. Is that really a good thing? You can proclaim edicts but you cannot end edicts. That vasalized country you saved will be burned to the ashes and only thing you can do is burn Kyros' empire to ashes.
You see that is what video was about by doing the moral choice you have brought a new suffering. Kyros' peace is a lot favorable over an war between two gods.
W4hammer, The Fatebinder can both PROCLAIM AND END EDICTS. You can end Kyros Edicts, and yours have a limited span since you are not yet at full potential with your newly discovered power
Just looking at it from a neutral viewpoint, I choose to stay loyal to the Overlord, and got "SPOILERS" rewarded with commanding the Tiers and The Court of Tunon
@@w4hammer Better die a free man and al that tho?
I am sorry you had to go through your youth. I'm happy you found something that makes you happy. You're video's are really outstanding ( I love your choice of music) ! Take Care !
I always prefer evil playthroughs. If you think they put less writing into evil, play Neverwinter Nights 2: Mask of the Betrayer. The evil ending is vastly superior, and you can get it by remaining true neutral throughout the game, and sticking to atheist ideas. One persons evil is anothers justified. Morality is subjective, not universal.
Even Neverwinter Nights 1 showed how easily the lines become blurred, though the game is a bit of a joke as a pure dwarf warrior. You can even kill the ancient red dragon without poisoning it at level 18, solo.
That being said, Dark Sun: Shattered Lands and Wake of the Ravager were fun as a renegade, that world is so harsh white knighting seems unrealistic.
KotOR 2 had better storylines as evil, and better gear. The new Battletech expansion added pirates as an actual faction, they are fun to do jobs for but have not seen any pirate flashpoints, yet you can side with criminals in a few to get lostech, etc.
"That being said, Dark Sun: Shattered Lands and Wake of the Ravager were fun as a renegade, that world is so harsh white knighting seems unrealistic."
Dark Sun is my favorite setting that I hardly got to play in. I really wish they would bring it back.
"If you think they put less writing into evil, play Neverwinter Nights 2: Mask of the Betrayer."
One of my favorite RPGS, but, not really a good example of modern design since it came out over 11 years ago.
"Neverwinter Nights 1"
Only played this game online, used it for making my own modules and hosting online GM sessions. It is my favorite RPG probably ever released.
A great game , i do still have Mask of Betrayer, i admit i didn't make evil path, i perceive the curse as a disease i needed to get rid of .
Ok. So it's 6 years by now. Will there be "How to Tyranny" video ever on the channel?
Man I wish. Those videos take a long time to make, and I don't think I could afford it, with the views something like that will get. Maybe when I have a little cushion. I would love an excuse to play Tyranny again.
Thank You 4 the reply. Wish U free time 2 play!@@StratEdgyProductions
I like Villains and Antiheros more than the Heros. Villains and Antiheros are the driving force of a story whereas the Hero only reacts and is restricted by his morality. I like it when you have either:
a) right way, or an easy way (with consequences that might not be obvious)
b) having to choose the lesser evil
The Witcher franchise is a good example for it.
I'm seeing a trend where you'd rather play RPG's were you play a character, rather than be a character. Good and insightful vid. I do want to point out though that after act 1, you have very little actual choice, you get railroaded hard on what faction you choose and most actions will be done to please them, regardless on how you try to derail yourself
"Good has no worth without victory" -cant remember
Literally every dictator ever
One of the most entertaining game reviews I have had the pleasure of watching. Because of it I am now going to restart my game of Tyranny and this time make my character not some sort of copy of "me", but rather some other guy that I don't even know yet.
18:10 Harvesting the little girls gives you more Adam even in the long run.
It sure does and I did it every time
Tyranny is litteraly what happens if the Protagonist had the making and potential of been a great Hero, but took a dark turn and became a Fantastic Antagonist.
Plus while you do work under what is the equivalant of Sauron, you are more like Judge dredd, you uphold the LAW and Order, even if those laws where cruel and the Order only pragmatical.
So even tho you are a "Villain", there is still some moral grey areas and fluctuations about how you percieve things and how you apply your own morality.
Will you be a Cunning and coniving Theocrate?
Or a Brutal and unforgiving Brute that upholds the Orders and the Chain of command above all.
Or will you be an Arbiter of Justice, but the Justice that is the Same for everyone, not the kind of Justice the weak expect to get with no willingness to sacrifice something to achieve it.
I was blown away when I saw how few subs you have compared to the grand quality of your videos. I love these type of videos (like videos hbomberguy makes) and you are great at making them.
Thanks a lot! Working on the quality everyday and trying to improve.
Sorry I am late to the party but below here is my thoughts about what you said in this video.Also Keep going your content is quite good man =)
I have to say I prefer the pillars of eternity stat way since might is just your physical and spiritual strength over baldurs gates strength= useless for mage since it get around the failed character with the wrong useless stats but I see what you mean about might in tyranny.
It may work in tyranny but pillars solved SOOO many problems that existed in the older top down rpgs that used a pure pen and paper system at the base. Since they had worked on games with those systems and had issues balancing it all they designed their own system from the botttom up. It also eliminated several min max steriotypes such as the dumb raging barbarian. In pillars you could not take the rage stalent at all and instead go for an intelligent barbarian who used battlecries.....the horror^^
I also like how grey pillars world is, I mean the knights is the good guys but at the same time they delve in capturing souls in armours to create an army to take controll ovber an area. The dussen is the same thing, they want to save the town and their country but they don't mind looting dungeons or getting together in mobs to overwhelm people at the same time. The mob family is dark and cruel but at the same time they are calculating and discreet.
Tyranny with the whole good lost, all that exist are grades of evil rolled well with me as well. Don't get me started on masseffect or fallout 4 and the mountain of issues those titles hold. Like you said in another video more is less.
Speaking of which... You should definitely do a collab with Hbomgerguy
Really awesome stuff you make, although I do hold the opinion that if an all powerful deity like in the game were to exist (which this game should've addressed the idea that the god could've possibly been made up but even if he wasn't made up) it would be necessary to abolish him.
There's a Mikhail Bakunin quote that sums this up really well
''A Boss in Heaven is the best excuse for a boss on earth, therefore If God did exist, he would have to be abolished.''
I think they need to do this kind of kind of evil, but for something far more believable and practical, Like a strategy game OR even grand strategy
Hell possibly Mount and Blade OR a Mount and blade mixed with insurgency style of gameplay be it 3rd person or 1st person where you're a dictator and you need to fight off against imperialism and bigger states that want to replace you with a puppet that will cause untold amount of misery to the population of not just your region but many other states that are considering the downfall of this evil empire an empire that if successful in overthrowing your regime results in the suffering of billions elsewhere and the perpetuation of a power that is close to collapse (I.E you're trying to bankrupt an imperialist empire and if you're not successful, could result in extinction levels of resource waste, I.E end of the world type of scenario, but instead of a hypothetical deity, you're presented with a plausible and all too realistic possibility that is grounded in reality)
I hope to see some response to this cause it's something I've yet to find.
rzchzrd gznzzlzs I was subbed to Hbomberguy, until he threw up that Dark Souls 2 "defense" video.
Fucking what? 1 video that you dislike and you lose your shit and unsubscribe from him for his very personal opinion???
If that's the case, then goodbye? You shall not be missed? Cause that kinda attitude is a subscriber that you'd never want to have in the first place EVER!
Another thing that was fun about Tyranny is yes they got super fleshed out villains routes.. but it is also possible to go full good and side with the natives if you play your cards right.
It's also possible to just go your own way. You have a fellow who guides you through that, though, but I guess they needed some kind of quest giver.
My childhood was very similar to yours, but I was the bi-polar opposite in how I played games. I would massacre villages and laugh the entire time then go into the real world and act like a decent kid. Some people just deal with things differently. You wanted to be the hero, I wanted to be the villain.
You don't scream. You don't yell. You give some really good insight into the decisions needed for each game you discuss. I appreciate that approach. Subscribed.
You need to play Fallout new Vegas
social revolution lol 😂😂
Nearly every single game from Obsidian is mind blowing. They all worth a try
And Pillars of Eternity, also by Obsidian. That one seems a lot like Tyranny, altho its a bit harder to be evil. Same as in New Vegas, they dont really give you much reason to perform evil deeds. If you kill an npc or let them die youre probably just missing a quest, and all you would get in return is the opportunity to loot the mediocre items they carry
I'm loving the classic music on the video and over all the variety. Great job! Great content!
I am playing Tyranny at the moment, im in the first "World" Vandriens Well...And man...the Scarlet Chor, and the Disfavoured are really...really..reaaally both annoying. The always just argue with each other like little children, the 2 leaders act like woman on their special day of the month. Especially Graven Ashe....
The game is really good, but I just want to kill both factions...
+ Kyros is pretty stupid to create 2 different armys, one united army would be more effective, lol.
That's kind of the point, though, and I think it works on multiple levels.
1. That's the reason you are there. To intervene on the behalf of the god they serve to bring them into the fold. If they weren't constantly bickering, the story wouldn't even need to be told.
2. It covers the whole, good bad neutral thing, and you'll find out why as you go further in.
3. It gives you the sense that this is the best of a bad situation and that the only reason that you fight is out of fear of the same thing these two powerful archons are afraid of too.
The place it fails is that they still, after everything that has been done, stay turned against each other after you succeed at Vendrien, and for no other reason than that they hurt each other's feelings, but you could say the same thing about George Bush Jr. and Iraq.
How dare you talk about my father like that. I'll bomb you!
Also, Kyros is dumb. So dumb that she can't see people plotting behind her back. Makes you wonder if she is even a legit god...
FYI... I still haven't beat the game because I took too long a break :(
Oh, i played a little bit more :D and I dont wanna spoiler, but my quest too kill them both just began. Its sooo good to be evil.
Just finished the game, and it was really good, a lot of fun, bether than those tripple A Games. (A stands for Bullshit) The ending is just too abrupt, and you will feel like the story isnt really finished.
Strat-Edgy Productions It is been hinted at that Kyros instigated more or less all the important events of the game.
She wants a legitimate threat for her people so she has an enemy to unify them under her.
With the right choices, you can actually subvert the influence of BOTH factions, betray them all, and take the Vendrien Guard as your vassals. The best part is this course of action isn't necessarily "good," because you can justify it as a power play to take down Ashe and the Voices.
"People evolve over time. I don't mean that... they grow extra fingers, I mean we change."
Best. Intro. Ever.
indie games are saving the gaming industry. AAA might make much more money, but lately, i fell that every year than the other . I thought Andromeda could make my year, but it made it worst. And guess what, xcom 2 is the game that will save this awfull year.
And what about persona 5 man, that games awesome.
Get rekt. Heard of Nier Automata?
I expected nothing starting to watch this video but left satisfied after. Great work, dude.
i remember the first rpg i played was kotor, i was so young i had no idea what an rpg even was but it was really fascinating. but something i hated was that as i played i realized i had to pick the light or dark side in order to play the game properly. i didn't get why i couldn't be an asshole or harsh sometimes and forgiving or nice other times.
i also remember playing fallout 3 and getting pissed off at everyone in megaton, so i said fuck it ill blow this damn place up. that was the only time in that game where i felt all satisfied with the rpg elements, not because it was a brilliantly crafted quest (it wasn't at all), because it let me do the first thing i thought of when i saw that bomb "can i blow this up?"
i think so far the best experience i've had was playing on rpg servers in half-life/counterstrike where people "live" in a town. me and my friend ended up getting banned from pretty much all the servers because we would become massive criminals. i hated how no one was up for actual role playing it almost made it more fun. it felt like i was really pissing people off when i killed or robbed them. and when we broke each other out of jail there was this sense of fear that we were going to be banned any minute. so we had blend it, talk the part of "normal" people. sometimes we started underground gangs or cults. we did all sorts of things to break the natural order of the servers. i think it's sad that second-life is really just a simulator and not like a suped up gta because i would love to cause mayhem in that game or play it how ever i wanted. the closest thing to that is minecraft but you're banned so fast that's it's just pointless. maybe i'm an asshole but i like to think of games like the norse thought of asgard, an eternal playground where you can eat, fuck, kill, and do whatever you damn well please.
SPIDERMANBATPIG You should play Fallout New Vegas, ridiculously wide variety of choices and ALL of them matter.
i tend to stick to online games now to get an organic "story." for a while i played dayz, then the bugs never got fixed so i stopped. and now i just play things like gta online and pubg because online games are organic since you interact with real people. i still play regular rpg's new vegas is great, same with mass effect 1&2, dragon age origins, kotor 1&2, TES 3,4,5, and etc.
my bad i should've said thank you for the suggestions
I think any game with Jedis in it HAS to force the player to commit to either Light or Dark side. The struggle between light and dark is an integral part of the universe and the concept of the force. If I remember correctly you can pretty much saty gray until the end if you balance out your choices, just in the finale your choices push you towards light or dark depending on what you do.
no you also have grey areas. for instance anekin didn't just switch to the dark side, it was a slow transition where is was basically in between the 2
This game is so underrated. Thanks for the review.
Just one thing: the History of your charakter does give stats. Soldier for example gives +2 One-Handed, +2 Athletics and +4 Parry.
in the case of kotor, you dont need heal. I always go dark side and have never used heal, you have medkits if I recall.
Drain life.
Brilliant, I am an Indie developer Level designer and 3D artist and I am so glad that you address so clearly problems of RPG games together, while I work I listen to your rants as podcasts, it pumps me up to make a good game outta of it.
Antisemitism was very much present in europe before Hitler. It is present in art history and literature and many governments and the people of many european occupied and non occupied countries gladly contributed in the conquest of Hitler. Otherwise great video love your content.
Not without reason, though. The suffragettes and early Feminists were mostly backed by, you guessed who.
The degeneracy of the Weimar Republic was a result of, you guessed who's influence through the media. (sounds oddly familiar too, doesn't it?)
The idea that Jews were hunted for anti-semitic reasons is absolute non-sense. Jews have tried to undermine Ethnic European societies since the 19th century. And modern America is what it looks like when they are successful.
Congratulations "Nazi" haters, you played yourself. Enjoy the decline and being a minority in your own country in the upcoming decades. Don't expect the peace to last, though. Rather look at Zimbabwe and South Africa to get a taste of how Ethnic Europeans will be treated, despite their achievements for their own nation for simply existing. THAT is real hatred.
I'm glad I found this video and your channel. We lived like the same life and I appreciate this.
I'm sorry that you've experienced some serious shit in your childhood.
The Bastard Playthrough of mass effect and dragonage had the funniest parts. You see a journalist, you punch them!
Evil is done wrong in RPG's. In reality, evil is when you exploit others to get more for yourself, while being "good" is being altruistic, sacrificing yourself for the good of others. In reality, EVIL IS REWARDED, AND GOOD IS PUNISHED. First Fallout did it right. It didn't incentivize either approach. You didn't kill children only because you were wrapped in the world of that game and you felt that it's wrong, not because not killing them would give you angel points and some extra powers, and devil points for killing them would be less appealing.
I disagree, The idea that only evil can give benefits is wrong. In reality being evil is Selfishness. And it can lead to terrible consequences, whether it be the losing of your power, or the people that follow you, may betray you. After all you never showed a reason to be trustworthy either. Plenty of Dictators have been stabbed in the back by their own power hungry allies. Evil can be rewarded, but it is also often punished. While being Good is self sacrifice, it doesn't mean you can't ever get anything from it either. Plenty of Sociopaths act like charming individuals just for this reason.
That said I do agree that most video games fuck it up. Without any nuance the idea of good and evil loses all interesting aspects.
just found your vids this morning and have been binge-watching all day. Great work friend.
In kotor you could be a grey knight i usualy was.
it made it so that all powers where usable
plus theres the charisma attribute and a dark side variant that drains health
Great videos man, understanding videogames has always been a thing with me, When I play a game I always look at it from the technical side, I see thru the fakeness, and it is disapointing, makes the experience watered down, finding a game that can make you so inmersed and see past those things is very scarse or non existent, once you take the red pill there is no looking back, and the vids about RPGs are spot on.
Alternative title: man discovers empathetic villain.
I just realized the reason why the evil writing is so amazingly amusing is because it's the same dude who wrote Alpha Protocol. (Matt MacLean)
Strat, you need to try some dnd trust me this is want you want
I dont play evil because in modern games evil paths are unrewarding. You can either A) Finish this quest, have a cool boss battle, get a new item and save the town OR B) Sell them out to a shady guy who conveniently appears right after you get the mission for some gold..... No adventure, No experience points, no items. Just some gold. The writers love to tout "choice" but in reality they bullshit on the evil path because you're really "not suppose to go that way"
I started playing Tyranny this week and I really like it so far ... but ultimately I decided to go back to the game I know is made purely out of player decisions and plays out differently and beautifully every time; and that game is Crusader Kings 2 ... I think that CK2 doesn't get nearly as much praise as an RPG as it should because people probably see it as a Grand Strategy game ,which is kinda is, but is an RPG above all and is one of the most complex RPGs I've seen lately, I've played it over 200+ hours since I got it and every single time the play-through was very different and I do MEAN VERY DIFFERENT because the entire time the game is being shaped by the decisions and events that the characters make (you & the AI) and at every step you can see the result of your actions and if play well (and know how to play) every ... hour or so you can look at the game and see the results of your efforts (and accomplishments) ... I think CK2 is looked over in the RPG talk and I don't think that it should because is one of the greatest representations of what you can achieve with excellent rpg mechanics and an actually good AI
Gabriel Matusevich That game is super complicated. But I still am gonna try in the future. The amount of choices in that game is insane...
This cranked up the hype meter for the expansion replay I'm about to engage.
Excellent work.
when the video about Torment will come up?
Ahh, that might be a while to be honest. I am trying to decide if I want to wait until it releases a final build or not, as they have already changed so much from the .3 to now that the beginning doesn't feel close to the same. No idea what the final build will look like.
Well I meant Planescape:Torment. I had a feeleing, that you mentioned, you'll make one. Maybe I just misunderstood ;]
Its time for a new playthrough of this.
you clearly haven't played ck2
"Lawful neutral" "Willing to do whatever it takes to win the war"
One of these things is not like the other
You sound a tiny bit like general sam
Your intro really struck a chord with me. Thanks for sharing.
Noam Chomsky...a Democrat!? O.o Also, sounds more "Bismark" than "Sun Tzu". Also also, there were elements of German identity following unification that harbored anti-semetic ideals. Hitler did not happen in a vacuum. Even though the UK, US, and Germany itself desperately wanted to convince the world that was the case during the Cold War.
I love the intro to this video, it hits the nail on the head perfectly.
You sound like General Sam
That was a really great video! I enjoyed your take and the points you used... kind of different than a lot of the videos on UA-cam. Good job
3:03 - Wow, so you've never played Overlord 1 or 2...
Steven Dorsey Overlord 2 was way better at being evil than 1. In 1 you were saving the world no matter what, and could in fact be pretty much just a paladin. In the second you could really feel as an evil lord because it was a true evil vs evil thing, and instead of morality used Control and Destruction for your choices.
He's talking about games that make you choose between being good or evil. Overlord only makes you feel evil, and it's done in a goofy, lighthearted manner. Also the Overlord's enemies sort of deserved what's coming to them anyway.
In Overlord you kinda are the hero. At least in the first game.
This is the first video I saw by you. You’ve convinced me to play the game and subscribe to your channel. Good stuff.
Noam Chomksy is not a democrat. Also, party affiliation isn't the same as political views.
downvote because kings are not dictators
This channel is fucking awesome, I'm so glad I found this.
Going through the entire backlog now!
>Chomsky
>Democrate
Wut
Just watched a stream of Tyranny's Character Gen system, and... oh wow. The conquest segment is basically the very old skool method of character generation where you answer a bunch of questions, but how they've updated that to make it an integral part of the entire narrative instead of a bunch of throwaway questions... that is the gold-standard of modernising gameplay. Awesome!
I'm pretty salty about you using Noam Chomsky as your representation of Democrats.
You speak a lot of truths, this was more than a video about a video game.
Subbed. ;)
since when is johnny cash country?
safer doolie Jesus christ...
He's in the country music hall of fame, stupid
people do this over and over. just peg him as country and that's it. hes MUCH more. and when people start calling him country, i get mad because all i know about your version of country is mountain dew and muddin' with pick up trucks and drinking out of a red solo cup.
I almost died when he said weyland jennings and johnny cash are country. Throw in charlie daniels and jerry reed in there and you've got a bunch of very good musicians. I wouldn't call it country though.
Today's country music is all about nascar and drinking beer down by the river. getting some chick pargnet. It's basically just hip-hop with a twangy guitar. Pop-Rock isn't much better....... Bunch of whiney teenagers complaining about how they'll never get a date.
God damn i fucking hate popular music.
Sigma You realise Cash is a pillar of the County Genre right? He's been in the country music hall of fame for 36 years now, what do you not understand about that?
dude, i feel like, ... .. Dude, i have been here 2 mins and you have been more honest then any other youtuber ever, and this is about a game i kinda wanted to play. holy shit. I also wear black, find radio county from the 90s hilariously fun and i will always wear black in florida. Strat4lyfe.
You spoke exactly the words that I felt when playing through Tyranny. What's more, I really bought into Kyros, and the need to end the war quickly. I ended up usurping Kyros, but the leadup was masterful, the politicking was complex and left a lot of choice up to the player. You literally play as the evil force that is fought in every other game and i've never been more bought into a character. Only Caesar and House have had better self-justifications that made you at least consider their angle. Obsidian is very good at what they do.
This video and alcohol is love. I was throughly engaged till the end. Thank you m8
To be fair it was pointed out in kotor2 it was hard being grey because force pushed you in one direction or the other IIRC
I'm chain-watching your videos dude. Your analysis are so good. I'm glad I subbed.
J_C thanks! Working on a new one today hopefully.
Found this a year after I played Tyranny... Loved this game, I played in a way that I only did things in the moment that would benefit my character the most with little regard to those who wouldn't obey my whims. I befriended the disfavored after setting them up several times and set up the chorus in ruins while stealing and pillaging any non combatant I could.
That was a great video man. Thanks for the heads up on Tyranny.
"Making the mother of all omelettes here Jack, can't fret over every egg."
Goddamn I love your life stories dude. Always include them in your videos.