Literally making him my bitch by offering up Verse to him. But since her mind (& skill at stealing other people's skills) is too strong, he effectively became Voice of Verse. So she rules the Scarlet Chorus for me.
Overall I was disappointed though. In general, I find it difficult to be truly evil. Say a FO1/2 playthrough where you're a real abusive & treachorous bastard? That doesn't come natural to me. In general I have to really focus on an evil playthrough & make sure I don't accidentally start doing helpful stuff. Anyway, for something marketed as "evil" this really felt more like going with the flow. More like you enable evil to follow in your path. Not so much as being the chief instigator of it.
Literally making him my bitch by offering up Verse to him. But since her mind (& skill at stealing other people's skills) is too strong, he effectively became Voice of Verse. So she rules the Scarlet Chorus for me.
Overall I was disappointed though. In general, I find it difficult to be truly evil. Say a FO1/2 playthrough where you're a real abusive & treachorous bastard? That doesn't come natural to me. In general I have to really focus on an evil playthrough & make sure I don't accidentally start doing helpful stuff. Anyway, for something marketed as "evil" this really felt more like going with the flow. More like you enable evil to follow in your path. Not so much as being the chief instigator of it.
While I haven't gotten around to finishing my first playthrough, I feel the same way regarding being truly evil. I got that same "same shit; different day" vibe from the game.
I'm on my 3rd playthrough, this time with the Rebels. I'm enjoying it so far, though I'm not sure how I feel about not being able to recruit everyone in the Tiers at once. I suppose it adds more replay value for a Rebel run which is fine with me, it's interesting getting to see the other side of things after I've spent the other 2 playthroughs slaughtering them all.
I haven't played the Scarlet Chorus yet but I honestly found it easiest to be evil on an Independent Run out of mine so far. Disfavored are a bit too uptight and soldier-like to go with the really chaotic evil options, and I imagine the Scarlet Chorus would dislike the more nuanced evil of the Disfavored (like enslavement VS recruitment). However with an Independent Run you're beholden to no one but yourself so all options become available to you. It helps that you have no allies save for Bleden Mark, and Bleden Mark is definitely a fan of sowing the seeds of chaos everywhere you go. It basically encourages you to be as evil as you want because hey, everyone hates you anyway. I tried to be nice in my first Independent Run, not worth it. After I finish my current Rebel Run and do one as the Scarlet Chorus, I'll probably do Independent again and see just how evil I can be. It helps add freedom to the evil you can commit rather than being chained down to Lawful Neutral-Evil to Chaotic Evil.
I feel like the game has a lot of replayability so far even if it can be a bit railroad-y at times. Conquest definitely helps with that. At the very least I'm curious as to what will change in different areas if I decided to send the Chorus there, or the Disfavored there, or if I killed a powerful Tiersman or let them walk, etc. I mean yeah for the most part it is just dialogue changes but these dialogue changes can help give you a big boost with certain factions, especially Tiersmen. And the choices where it actually affects the landscape and the world as a whole are neat. (if you haven't, try Lethian's Crossing during Conquest, choices there affect a loooot)
I would recommend trying out a Conquest where you're as douchey as possible (such as letting the Voices of Nerat eat all of Eb's friends at the School of Tides, that one makes Eb hate you instantly) and then going Independent during your game. Bonus points if you (Act I spoilers)
be the ultimate betrayer and kick the Fifth Eye AND Tarkis Arri off the Spire, and then knife Eb in the gut for being too sarcastic
Also, does anyone know how the Hell to raise Sirin's Loyalty? I've exhausted all dialogue options with her and she's only to Loyalty 2. I had one cutscene with the Bronze Brotherhood where I could raise her reputation but so far nothing else and I'm about halfway through the run. It says she likes it when you're kind but I'm playing a Rebel Run, I'm literally doing nothing except being kind.
@Ragemage
In my SC run, initially, I was given the choice by Nerat to go to either Lethian's Crossing or somewhere else. I kept chosing somewhere else & by the end I got stuck with the same issue as you were for the Disfavored: no quests in Lethian's Crossing (except the trader sigil/seal thing for Tunon). Just a clear path to the Spire for the rest.
Also, does anyone know how the Hell to raise Sirin's Loyalty? I've exhausted all dialogue options with her and she's only to Loyalty 2. I had one cutscene with the Bronze Brotherhood where I could raise her reputation but so far nothing else and I'm about halfway through the run. It says she likes it when you're kind but I'm playing a Rebel Run, I'm literally doing nothing except being kind.
While I haven't gotten around to finishing my first playthrough, I feel the same way regarding being truly evil. I got that same "same shit; different day" vibe from the game.
Yeah, pretty much. I guess it might be due to the limited choices and also due to the fact everything around you is going to shit anyway. If the Disfavored execute prisonners (or enslave) and the Scarlet Chorus enlists, enslaves and murders its prisonners, what exactly is anything you're going to do make it worse for the common folk?
Don't want to read through 36 pages. Is there any kind of pacifist options? I understand the concept of pacifist evil overlord is a contradiction in terms. But is there a version of that kind of thing in this game? Combat is forced on you I assume like Pillars.
Don't want to read through 36 pages. Is there any kind of pacifist options? I understand the concept of pacifist evil overlord is a contradiction in terms. But is there a version of that kind of thing in this game? Combat is forced on you I assume like Pillars.
No complete pacifist runs, but there are times you can talk your enemy out of fighting you or at the very least get a few to run away before the battle begins. For the most part though, almost all the people you talk to before a fight are hardened killers and won't back down without a lot of subterfuge, lore, or athletics. There are times you can be merciful and spare people but it'll probably piss the faction you're aligned with off (especially in the Chorus, hoo boy they HATE it when you aren't bloodthirsty)
No complete pacifist runs, but there are times you can talk your enemy out of fighting you or at the very least get a few to run away before the battle begins. For the most part though, almost all the people you talk to before a fight are hardened killers and won't back down without a lot of subterfuge, lore, or athletics. There are times you can be merciful and spare people but it'll probably piss the faction you're aligned with off (especially in the Chorus, hoo boy they HATE it when you aren't bloodthirsty)
The game doesn't reward you for scaring people off though. It's ironic really.
Since the game XP works by increasing "used" skills, you are often better off fighting them and gaining XP that way. The guys you can scare off at boss fights are usually pushovers anyway.
The game also causes you to use [Athletics] solutions to real world problems just because it'll give you an xp boost. No matter if you found a steel rod to help you move a bolder, you'll still use the "bare hands" solution since that one raises your athletics skill whereas using the rod as a prybar and lever doesn't. So why fucking bother?
An added problem is that XP is shared with your party, so if you solo a lot (which is hard) you'll hit the level cap super fast. The level cap isn't really fixed in the mechanics, but you stop leveling against enemies which are 3 levels below you. So since there's only enemies to level 18, I believe you're stuck at level 21.
Then there's the trainers... Trainers give you a huge boost in skill and you should save your money for them. The thing is: if you do not return to the trainers at each level, you lose that progress. It cannot be used retroactively. So you need to run back to the camps or spires to get that extra progress (if you want to max your char). At the same time, I believe training your primary skills makes it harder to level them in combat? Though I could be wrong about that.
The way you level is probably my biggest gripe with the game design. It's super fucking irritating and badly thought out.
I did like the story and ending for White March overall. The reveals and implications of the story were pretty thought-provoking and cool (though parts of it were inconsistent when I thought about it).
EDIT: Also this is rather late but a short time after that first pic, a new one came out:
Obsidian is working on a new expansion for the isometric role-playing game Tyranny. Called Bastard’s Wound, it shares its name with the game’s new region. The base game receives a massive free update today, which adds changes to gameplay and combat as well as a New Game Plus mode. https://www.polygon.com/2017/6/13/1...ds-wound-tales-from-the-tiers-release-date-pc
