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i think thats a dialog option later
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Jan 7, 2021 16:32
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I do appreciate that the Archon mentioned but will-not-be-appearing-in-this-game is called Occulted something.
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Jan 7, 2021 16:40
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I think the Disfavoured are based heavily off the mystique of the Spartans, and the big thing about the Spartans is their entire reputation was "never lost a land battle where they had even numbers", which you might notice is a lot of qualifiers. They were renowned for their military proficiency but it's sort of a "if you're fighting a battle where you are evenly matched with your enemy, you have already failed strategically" thing, and raises questions about how many battles they got into where they were heavily outnumbered and lost and just said it "didn't count" (there is the one very famous one but that actually was a deliberate strategic choice that made sense for what they were trying to do), and of course the general discounting of naval combat despite naval supremacy not being optional in the Greek archipelago. A big part of Tyranny is the whole "reputation literally equals power" aspect, so Ashe's ability to cultivate an image of being a master military commander is his talent, regardless of his actual strategic ability. The fact that people still believe it even though we are well aware of several notable military failures on his part is what maintains his power.
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Jan 7, 2021 23:22
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Whether or not the Disfavoured are based off the Spartans, the point about the Spartan's reputation is very much relevant here I feel. We can objectively pick apart the fact that the Spartans qualifiers are very silly, and look at the factors to go 'this isn't as impressive as it sounded'. But.... Spartans still have that reputation that sticks, despite the detractors that say otherwise. Reputation can be very much a momentum based thing.
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Jan 7, 2021 23:52
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The Cheshire Cat posted:A big part of Tyranny is the whole "reputation literally equals power" aspect, so Ashe's ability to cultivate an image of being a master military commander is his talent, regardless of his actual strategic ability. The fact that people still believe it even though we are well aware of several notable military failures on his part is what maintains his power. As someone pointed out earlier, Ashe's healing power is a huge boon for bronze-age style warfare. In a setting where battles are decided by who breaks first and not who gets killed, Ashe's soldiers won't break because attrition doesn't scare them. They just get back up even if you stab them in the gut, and they know that they will so they'll just keep marching forward to avoid Letting The General Down.
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Jan 8, 2021 07:38
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I don't think Eb is a coward per say, she obviously has nerves of steel, is extremely calm even in life and death situations and keeps picking fights with people. She is however a sociopath - she's willing to bus her erstwhile allies at a moments notice, and she will put on whatever face she thinks she needs to survive at that second.
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Jan 8, 2021 12:04
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Seems pretty obvious that Eb loving loves violence and teaming up with you gives her the opportunity to do a whole heck of a lot of it.
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Jan 9, 2021 01:23
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Deadmeat5150 posted:I just can't buy Ashe being competent in this setting when its shown, and stated, that he uses the same tactics over and over and over again. He's as rigid as the iron he girds his legion in. There's no room for improvement in his mind. Thats why I think Kyros wants to get rid of him. Bronze age heavy infantry tactics aren't exactly diverse. In a world with no cavalry heavy infantry is going to be the king of the battlefield, and Ashe appears to have the heaviest around. His "incompetence" seems to mostly come down to his secondary commanders being literally unable to deal with not just unreliable but treacherous allies, and him being unable to outfox Nerat when it comes to loving Around. Which isn't exactly a damning indictment since Nerat is supposed to be the living avatar of loving Around. The Vendrien Guard only do "well" (I don't consider all your leaders being dead and your force totally neutralized after a few months of fighting to be much of a success) because they mostly fight in a way that avoids giving the Disfavored a chance to use any of their strengths and the Scarlet Chorus constantly doing treason. As for Kyros uh, I somehow doubt the Tyrant wants to get rid of his Archon of War because he can't get better at war. Pretty sure it has more to do with A) Kyros doesn't have any more wars to fight and B) Ashe is a living, walking reminder of a time someone stood up to Kyros and lived to tell the tale. Kyros doesn't like Ashe or the Disfavored from the jump! It's kind of in their name!
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Jan 9, 2021 01:35
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Our Bronze Age gave rise to formation warfare, combat maneuvers, tactical as well as strategic espionage. Ashe's troops fight more like late Stone Age tribal stuff, run in beat whoever you see into submission. There's more but it spoils an ending so Im not going to say it.
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Jan 9, 2021 04:59
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wiegieman posted:As someone pointed out earlier, Ashe's healing power is a huge boon for bronze-age style warfare. In a setting where battles are decided by who breaks first and not who gets killed, Ashe's soldiers won't break because attrition doesn't scare them. They just get back up even if you stab them in the gut, and they know that they will so they'll just keep marching forward to avoid Letting The General Down. It's potent not just because of the 'who breaks first' factor, but the healing means they aren't getting infected wounds, which could and would thin out an army even when it's victorious and potentially destroy it through attrition.
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Jan 9, 2021 05:35
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paragon1 posted:Bronze age heavy infantry tactics aren't exactly diverse. In a world with no cavalry heavy infantry is going to be the king of the battlefield, and Ashe appears to have the heaviest around. His "incompetence" seems to mostly come down to his secondary commanders being literally unable to deal with not just unreliable but treacherous allies, and him being unable to outfox Nerat when it comes to loving Around. Which isn't exactly a damning indictment since Nerat is supposed to be the living avatar of loving Around. There's no more war to be had. Having an Archon of War when you rule everywhere is just asking for trouble.
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Jan 9, 2021 06:49
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Veloxyll posted:There's no more war to be had. Having an Archon of War when you rule everywhere is just asking for trouble. Or a really fun party.
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Jan 9, 2021 07:23
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TheGreatEvilKing posted:
This feels like something that could kind of break the power balance pretty significantly in a setting where mages take years or decades to train?
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Jan 12, 2021 03:24
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yeah, almost like they conquered the world w this poo poo and magical nukes! v imba imo
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Jan 12, 2021 03:29
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Deadmeat5150 posted:Our Bronze Age gave rise to formation warfare, combat maneuvers, tactical as well as strategic espionage. Ashe's troops fight more like late Stone Age tribal stuff, run in beat whoever you see into submission. There's more but it spoils an ending so Im not going to say it. That's not how I remember it but then it has been a minute. What I remember of characters describing the Disfavored, including eyewitnesses and in universe texts describe the Disfavored as a competent force. They don't go into detail but I'm pretty sure I remember stuff about rigid unyielding formations, which presumably maneuver at some point. We almost never actually see the disfavored fighting except after a breach in some walls when things have descended into a Hollywood melee. Which is also all we ever see of anyone else as well. At worst I think you can reasonably say "the Disfavored are on par with everyone else in the Tiers despite their much lower numbers". As far as espionage goes, yeah one wonders where Ashe's scout corp and spy network is. Oh wait, it's supposed to be the Scarlet Chorus. Whoops. Guess he's operationally hamstrung by having to rely on another Archon under Kyros for key capabilities. You could almost think someone out there doesn't really want Ashe to be able to act independently, and set things up that way on purpose! But who would do such a thing? 
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Jan 12, 2021 06:29
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Jan 12, 2021 06:33
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Interestingly I don't think we see an active downside of Nerat shoving knowledge into people's heads - like, they don't go crazy or anything. If Nerat can eat someone and then shove that knowledge into multiple people that's a pretty good deal. If Nerat wasn't nuts to the point that their plans-within-plans actively interfered and sabotaged themself then you could be a nice guy just by eating people who are going to die soon anyway and then spreading their knowledge. big think: Ashe immortalises his own legend but Nerat immortalises his own enemies?
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Jan 12, 2021 08:27
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I feel like having to trust Nerat to do...something to your brain is a pretty big downside.
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Jan 12, 2021 15:36
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I'd probably trust Lowfyr before I'd trust Nerat.
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Jan 12, 2021 16:51
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Hypocrisy posted:I feel like having to trust Nerat to do...something to your brain is a pretty big downside. Yeah I think the downside is "eventually Nerat is going to want that knowledge back". Getting too powerful is a good way to have him decide that maybe your brain should be added to the template that he's stamping on all his mages.
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Jan 12, 2021 20:18
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Maybe knowledge acquired that way is difficult to expand upon. Like, the difference between between copy-pasting computer code written by someone else and actually knowing how to code things on your own.
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Jan 12, 2021 20:23
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Evil Fluffy posted:I'd probably trust Lowfyr before I'd trust Nerat. Is lowfyr really all that untrustworthy? I dont think he reneges on deals or backstabs his partners much, it's just that even his allies taste good with ketchup so they only have to pis him off once.
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Jan 13, 2021 00:19
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I don't think there's any indication that Nerat can just reach into people's heads and press the magic button. I read that line as Eb being classist again; "There's no way these illiterate backwater savages can do what I do! They must be cheating somehow."
Zulily Zoetrope fucked around with this message at 04:10 on Jan 13, 2021 |
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Jan 13, 2021 03:55
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Yeah, especially since the various high rank people we've seen among the Chorus are pretty competent and know how to read and write. They just look like poo poo in that classical barbarian garb, which irritates me.
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Jan 13, 2021 04:00
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Zulily Zoetrope posted:I don't think there's any indication that Nerat can just reach into people's heads and press the magic button. I read that line as Eb being classist again; "There's no way these illiterate backwater savages can do what I do! They must be cheating somehow."
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Jan 13, 2021 19:41
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FoolyCharged posted:Is lowfyr really all that untrustworthy? I dont think he reneges on deals or backstabs his partners much, it's just that even his allies taste good with ketchup so they only have to pis him off once. I think you can trust him to make full use of you and be thorough in tying up lose ends, but at least you're only dead and not an imprisoned soul used at the whim of a monster. ...probably.
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Jan 14, 2021 00:36
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Lowfyr doesn't randomly betray his assets, usually. He might, but typically doesn't. The reason working for him is terrifying is because he eats you if you betray him or fail. Furthermore, once you have his attention, you're pretty much working for him permanently, the only likely exit is death. You don't actually know you are working for him until you are in too deep to ever leave. It's pretty clear that getting consumed by Nerat is a fate worse than death. PetraCore posted:If anything, I think it's been implied that having Nerat do anything inside your head is extremely painful and that's an inherent part of the process. Even if he could put information or commands inside your head, I dunno that I'd call it a desired shortcut. At least with Fifth Eye, there is an implication that Nerat's "gift" involving replacing part of the casters mind with Nerat's own.
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Jan 14, 2021 01:24
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Cleopatra Jones and the Unfunny Chorus Comedians Last time on Tyranny, we had a chat with Eb about her questionable world view. Today we are going to make our way into the DLC goons voted to explore.  To recap, we got a message from a Sage Lexeme asking us to check out her work, then she disappeared and we were directed to this hidden manor.  We proceed farther into the manor, and encounter some more tedious bullshit.   : [Remain silent.] : Apologies, stranger! He puts a hand to his brow, as if shading his sight. I can't make you out from this distance, and I hardly know the voice of every child in the Tiers!Typical criticism of dull action description. : The gentle bubble of laughter filters down from above. : Child?! For gently caress's sake, Rholes, let us in already! : [Remain silent.]: Yes, boss, it is I - Warbler, and our faithful crew. We've returned from a successful raid, catch in hand. Is this supposed to be comedic? I get it, the Scarlet Chorus is a dysfunctional collection of backstabbing fuckups. We've been dealing with them all game.  : [Remain silent.]: Awww, Warbler, we were having such good fun with you. Why did you have to make things so serious. There are few things we never joke about in this gang - like sharing.: Are you making GBS threads me? Self-destructive factionalism is going to be a theme through this DLC. : [Keep listening to the argument.]: Everyone down here thinks this is really funny boss but... we'd really like to sit by the fire and have a decent meal. Time to eliminate your raiding crew to solve a problem you created with your lack of leadership!  : [Keep listening to the argument.]: What?! Don't put words in my mouth you shallow sack of cock cheese!: I can talk to you however I desire. And if you can't take it, you aren't tough enough to run with our gang. In fact, I think we're overdue for a display of your worth. : [Keep listening to the argument.]Maybe one of these idiots will say something useful. : I don't recall ordering a raid. No doubt you've been recruiting your own gang and are here to defy me. Well your mutiny ends here.: Mutiny? I've been loyal, my crew's been loyal! How dare you?: Then who are your reinforcements? Rhodes points a finger at you. Or did you let the enemy shadow you back home? Either way, wrong move.: Huh? He looks back at you, eyes widening. Who the-? Where did you come from?" : I was busy watching you mismanage your gang. Please, continue.: Ha. This must be that legendary Fatebinder sense of humor.: Look, I'm more than happy to help you with whatever task the Archon's got you doing, but first I need your help dealing with the idiots down there. He points from the balcony at Warbler and his gang. A legend like you won't even break a sweat culling them.Of course we get called in to solve the problems of the inept. Why would this be any different? : Are you loving kidding me? I've broken no law, just done what my boss told me! : [Leave] Work this out among yourselves.: If you're not going to help, at least stay out of our way. Run along, Fatebinder.TheGreatEvilKing summary posted:
We need to find another way in. If we go right from the truly riveting clown show, we run into a band of people chilling out in hobo tents.   I don't understand why the devs elected to dump an entire text box on us when they knew the modeling department would display this woman.  : Cleopatra Jones, Fatebinder of Tunon. And you are? Just how stupid do you think the player is? : You still haven't told me who you are. : She blinks rapidly. Right. I haven't. The name's Gwyneth. I'm the guide for this little band. : What do you want, exactly? : You live in a cave?: Well, it wasn't our first choice of homes but... we've taken shelter in a nearby cave. While we were out looking for supplies, these Chorus goons somehow buried the cave entrance with rubble. We could excavalate a path, but not with Chorus spears prodding our rears while we dig. Butchering Chorus idiots is absolutely something we can do. : [Leave.] I'll see what I can do.: Thank you. Let us know when the gang is no longer a threat.TheGreatEvilKing summary posted:
It's amusing because while Gwyneth has a Very Sad Tale of how she can't get work as a mercenary, in almost every other context this would be a good thing as there's less war, but we know that Ashe and Nerat are fighting and she wouldn't get paid.  We can climb the rope to confront Rholes the Butcher and his band of morons.   : [Attack Rholes.] Enough talking. Is this guy secretly Beavis in disguise? Anyway, this starts a fight with Rholes and his crew, which is actually super dangerous for our all-mage party as no one can take a hi -  Ahahaha, no, they all get piles of status effects dumped on them and they die.  Sirin takes a wound (debuff until resting) because they hit her kind of hard but we are in no actual danger.  The ending is inevitable. We find a Disfavored prisoner bound in the Chorus camp.  To cut out a lot of unimportant dialogue, we can free him but he refuses until we deal with Warbler and company.  Foreshadowing!  : Take your gang elsewhere. Now.: Thanks, Fatebinder. For... handling the whole. Rholes thing. He and his crew shoulder their gear and begin their march.TheGreatEvilKing summary posted:
 : They're gone. How do you plan on getting into this cave of yours?: There was always the chance we'd get stuck out here, that the mountains would move again, or Kyros-forbid, Cairn would come back to finish what he started. : Give me the Ocean Fire. I'll see to the cave entrance.It's a Greek Fire analogue I'm pretty sure. Now, I don't remember it actually exploding as much as being a napalm-like weapon sprayed from ships, and they probably could have cleared out the Chorus by blowing them up, but... : Her sigh reveals profound relief, and she accompanies it with a nod. Thank you. Be extraordinarily careful with it. You don't want to be within twenty paces when the paste meets the air. Hunker down behind some rubble up top, then lob it at the cave entrance. : Oh. And uh, don't miss.TheGreatEvilKing summary posted:
We can now go free Disfavored guy.  Free the man, and he tells us that he was sent to scout the area because Disfavored patrols went missing, he got ambushed by Rholes, and that Rholes was terrified of the Hobo Cave.  Next time: Factionalism in a Hobo Cave! TheGreatEvilKing fucked around with this message at 02:14 on Jan 20, 2021 |
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Jan 18, 2021 22:15
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: You can't free me until you've dealt with the Chorus!
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I get what they were going for with the Scarlet Chorus infighting, but that was drawn out way too long. At least the player gets to decide to cut it short if they get impatient.
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Jan 18, 2021 22:31
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There is an incorrect image in the post. The first image that introduces Gwyneth has a duplicate Rholes and Warbler discussion.
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Jan 18, 2021 23:41
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Donkringel posted:There is an incorrect image in the post. The first image that introduces Gwyneth has a duplicate Rholes and Warbler discussion. Fixed! Thanks for the catch.
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Jan 19, 2021 01:48
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I think the image you have next to the " Are you making GBS threads me?" line at the start of the update is wrong.
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Jan 19, 2021 19:31
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Xarn posted:I think the image you have next to the " Are you making GBS threads me?" line at the start of the update is wrong. ugh, thanks. Apologies for the lack of quality last update.
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Jan 20, 2021 02:14
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Guessing it was because of the hiatus, so you just wanted to get something out. Understandable, no need to get stressed about it.
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Jan 20, 2021 02:33
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Cleopatra Jones and the Totally Legal Settlement Last time on Tyranny, we watched some idiots bicker over stupid poo poo and killed them all to help the denizens of a hobo cave. Today we're going into said cave.  Sirin hears something. This is a big neon sign that her personal quest is in the walls, but everyone not named Barik or Verse has their own quest in this DLC. We'll be seeing Lantry's shortly.  HEY DID YOU BRING SIRIN?????   : He? He Who? : A message?I like how our options are either to be a stupid anime protagonist or an rear end in a top hat.  : There's some meaning in the music... I think. She shakes her head.: I don't understand it, but maybe there's more deeper in! Let's go.: Sirin pulls a crystal from the formation and slips it among her belongings. It slides free without effort.TheGreatEvilKing summary posted:
Anyway, we continue our trek through the hobo cave and...  Man this is bad.  : I opened your cave for you. It seems to me that some gratitude is in order. : You ate the people who came before? Cute. I really hate when genre authors try to set up analogies of "fantasy monster==minorities" and then have the fantasy monsters eat people. It's not hard to write about actual racism, but people keep coming up with tortured analogues where they use space aliens with laser guns and super strength for undocumented immigrants (Supergirl, hi!). Stop it! You're not clever and your analogies just make things worse. Tyranny isn't that bad about it as the Beastmen don't map 1-1 with any real world group as far as I know, but it's still not great. : [Athletics 51] You will let us through, or we will tear your arms from your sockets and cobble boots of your hides. TheGreatEvilKing summary posted:
  So...yeah, this is the main DLC area! We're back in the Oldwalls again!  This is probably the best place to hide from Kyros, as the Kyrosian laws are literally that Kyros herself has to clear a path for any forces moving through the Oldwalls.    This should be interesting.  : I uh... could ask the very same of you! Taking shelter in the Oldwalls. That takes... nerves of iron or wits of stone. : There's running water! If you don't mind a Bane attack now and again, this isn't the dumbest place to hide.: Well this is unexpected... though I'm glad to see you alive, my young friend. I'm not here to reminsce - I'm with the Fatebinder now, so I'll need to insist that you start explaining... whatever it is you're doing here. : What is this place? : I struggle with a definition myself, truthfully. We call this place the Bastard's Wound, or just 'the Wound' for short. It's a refuge of sorts, a haven for folks displaced by war and poor decision-making. Everyone that's here discovered this place by chance, but remains by choice. The decor is unorthodox, to be sure, but it does come with the benefit of extreme seclusion.: Not... that we object to the Court's presence, or that of the Archons. We simply thought it best to unburden you all of the weight of governance. I know, you have better things to do than check up on us. We're fine, really. Everything is fine. : What's all the commotion about? : You need only fear a Fatebinder if you've done something wrong - like violating the laws regarding the Oldwalls.: Ah of-of course, I can see why things might appear that way. He stammers, running his hands clumsily over the scrolls along his bandolier. He snatches one from its loop and taps at it nervously. If you look at this drawing of the area, we are, by way of several fathoms, below the Oldwalls you see rising up. So who's to say if we're in the walls or really just underground.Mell, you would make a fine Fatebinder if you just had more confidence.  : [Examine the parchment] : I'm not here to condemn this settlement...yet.: Thank you, Fatebinder. I will merely say that this is an unusual place, and its legal standing somewhat unclear. We would never knowingly violate Kyros' law, is what I mean.: We appreciate your generosity, Fatebinder. I hope that you will come to appreciate the Wound in time. No doubt you have many questions of us. I shall do my best to acquaint you with this, ehm, outpost. : I received a missive from a "Sage L" that directed me here. Know where I can find this person? : [Show him the missive.]: The Sage holds the parchment for all of three seconds before nodding slowly. That's her handwriting, no doubt about it... been a while since she penned her own missives...: Master Lexeme is sadly not among us. She vanished into the lower levels some time ago. She wasn't herself... He furrows his brow, visibly distressed. Life here is rather complicated, and the Oldwalls bless us with numerous mysteries. One of those is unending sleeplessness, an affliction that drove her mad. : Friend of yours? : Were you two rivals or friends? : Did you try to contact all the other Sages you thought were alive? : [Remain silent.]: Last I know, she went into the depths of the Oldwalls. To me, that's a death sentence, especially if she's no longer able to work her magic. I'm so sorry, I wish you had stumbled upon us sooner... maybe you could have reconnected with her.: Her mind was dwindling, and I know she was fixated on making sure everything she carried out of the Vellum Citadel was hidden and safe. : What do you do here? : Aren't you a bit young for a Sage?: If I were a tenured Sage, that may well be true, but I'm just an apprentice. Many in the guild scribe for decades before attaining rank. As the School is no more, I suppose I'll never be officially counted among the Sages, but I am making my contributions to knowledge in my own ways. : Where is your master? : Let's speak of other matters. I'm gonna spare you the long info dump about this fictional settlement and ask the important question. : Who is in charge here? Welcome to the central conflict of this DLC - a bunch of idiots fighting over who gets control of the Oldwalls Board Game Club. Sure, there's a merciless, nigh-omnipotent tyrant out there who would eradicate this settlement as a matter of course, but the real fight is over which of these idiots gets to rule over all...thirty or so?...people who live here. : Wait a second... Tidecaster Wagstaff? Is that what you said? If you think the spelling is bad, wait till we hit the quest-breaking bugs.  : [Address Eb.] There's another Tidecaster alive, yet you seem largely disinterested.: Of course, because all of us Tidecasters sleep together in a big clam shell made of solid moonlight. Look, I'm glad Wagstaff is alive and well - I'm just curious why this loving coward didn't join us in our battle against Kyros. (I'll remove the hats next time I record! Promise!)  : What happened to Reef-Talon? Anyway Reef-Talon is our third choice for faction leader. We're going to get more into the curse as we go deeper into the DLC.   : [Lore 51] That's an unusual...power? Can't say I've ever heard of a Beastman mystic that does such things. Huh. I wonder if that will be thematically relevant. Nah.  We should probably figure out who these jerks are. : Tell me about Jaspos.: Look for the broad-shouldered man with the booming voice. He's almost always taking out his frustration on some poor rock or boulder just there, by his Forge. He points northwest, towards a plume of smoke rising above the surrounding walls.: Jaspos and his two apprentices arrived some time after Wagstaff. I think we worried he'd be a true loyalist and demand we surrender to Kyros, but he's taken a shine to this place and is trying to create his own little corner of Terratus. I think he likes the seclusion and being surrounded by a variety of rock types. He built most of the bridges you see here, some cisterns to filter water - he's a one-man work crew... and he knows it, unfortunately. : I'd like to know more about Wagstaff.: He chuckles, his lips pressed together in a slight, knowing smile. Prickly old fellow, Wagstaff. One of the last Tidecasters in the Tiers, I believe. His eyes widen in sudden realization. His kind were enemies to Kyros, true, but I'm certain he has no personal designs against the Overlord, Fatebinder.: Had you told me another 'caster is lurking in the Tiers, Wagstaff wouldn't have been my first guess, but I'm not wholly surprised, either. He insisted the Exodus was a foolish, cowardly plan... at least he's sticking to his convictions on this matter.: He's not one for pleasantries or... charisma of any sort, but he is a master of his craft. He was the first to treat the toxic waters in these Oldwalls, and to date, it's the only cure that works. The Wound would be in bad shape without him.I think he's saying that only Wagstaff can treat ill effects of drinking the water, while Jaspos has a water filter. I'm not wholly sure?  : A Beastwoman was in charge? That is a bit unusual.: Indeed, but Reef-Talon is a most unusual beast. She's a lot more focused, patient, and sensible than all the other beasts I've ever encountered.: Anyway, Reef-Talon was able to organize Beasts and humans into effective patrols against the Bane. With her in charge of defense, casualties dropped, no Bane ever slipped into the common area, and disputes between Beasts all but disappeared. At a certain point, it seemed foolish not to have her in charge. : Let's speak of other matters.Seriously, this turned into massive loving infodumps.  Oh no. This isn't a David Weber novel. I'm escaping. : [Leave] Farewell. Yea, we get to get involved in the power struggle for the Anime Club.  It's still going! Look, I understand this is critical for Lantry's character, but we've gone from arguing over whether the settlement's legal to Lantry's sagacious squeeze to a power struggle between two idiots after the only effective leader disappeared into the wilderness because her well-intentioned actions had horrific consequences and now Lantry's going to wax poetic about his wacky girlfriend. : Guess one of your old friends is here. What should we expect? : An old love interest, I presume? If you chat with an old man about math he's happy to talk about his ex. It's just science. : It was her magic I loved most. She was gifted, truly gifted. She could achieve these little accents on her spells that none of us could replicate. At first, I had nothing but envy and hate for her, but somewhere along the line, it became adoration, and I just hoped to Kyros that if I rubbed up against her enough, maybe some of her talent would rub off onto me... no such luck. Now in defense of the Tyranny writers the player CAN cut this short, but I don't know if Lantry actually answers these questions later. Remember, I'm going through this DLC for the first time - I've wiki'd some of it, but this is all new to me! : If you were so close, why didn't you flee the Citadel together?: There was a time when we were inseparable. I learned much of my magic from her, and her from me - we are each other's mentor and student... it is a very special sort of bond.: But it was a relationship that I fouled through my own convictions. In the years before Kyros' conquest, I urged our School to surrender. And 'urge' is an understatement...'rabidly advocated' would be a more apt description. Lexeme did not share my assessment of Kyros or my opinions on what must be done. I was in the dissenting minority, and most felt I was a traitor - Lexeme included. : What do you make of her condition? : I assure you, whatever struck her, I won't let it happen to you. We know it was Reef-Talon's power from what Mell told us - and if we assume he's lying, then we also have no actual idea what happened to Lexeme. : Deal! Come to think of it, you look a little off... Lantry, quick, fall asleep at once or I'll have to assume it's time to euthanize you.It's amusing how fixated Eb is while Lantry officially doesn't care. Lantry is by far the more dangerous of the two.  : So you two worked on the Chronicle together?: We are but two members of a team spanning generations, but yes, we both contributed to the Chronicles. Long bouts of fieldwork and longer stretches of authoring our findings suited our temperaments. My colleagues insisted original research was the way to make a name for myself, but the accounting of everything is a cause greater than us all.: What do you make of these Chronicle fragments she tasked us to find?: My heart sings every time I can safeguard a text against destruction. Still...there is something bothering me about these writings.: Let's look around a bit more, shall we? Ask me again when I have a few pieces to compare.Jesus Christ, that's a long one. Let's bust out a summary. TheGreatEvilKing summary posted:
Just looking at the summary this goes all over the place. Now, you can just leave Mell (and this is without us asking for a historical infodump) but the important things we're conveying to the player are: -The Fatebinder will be expected to render judgement on whether this settlement should be allowed to exist. This makes everyone nervous. -Sage Lexeme disappeared, but not before leaving pieces of a manuscript lying around, which she wanted us to have -The Wound is in the middle of a power struggle between Jaspos and Wagstaff, two egotistical assholes who assume their engineering prowess makes them natural leaders -The actually good leader Reef-Talon was forced out or left after her healing powers secretly drove people insane. -Eb has a history with Wagstaff and doesn't like him. -Lantry has a romantic history with Lexeme and is somewhat suspicious of her history. The problem is that this is all kind of dumped on us by Mell and Lantry rather than shown. I'm OK with Eb's interjections as they don't take up too much space, but between the naturally overly verbose style of the Tyranny writing staff - they have dialogue written as a stutter, then go and describe the character as "stuttering" - and the fact that all this is stuffed into one meandering conversation of unrelated subjects, it's not great. Compare it to the war council scenes with Ashe and Nerat - sure, a lot was said, but things were revealed by the two Archons trying to outmaneuver each other, and much of the information was only revealed on careful analysis that if you missed didn't detract from the core of the scene. Mell here just serves the purpose that the authors didn't really set up this area at all and didn't really have the time or budget to let these conflicts unfold in front of the player - but the bare minimum of the conversation doesn't convey enough to understand what's going on, so you're stuck with the infodumps. It's also not consistent - either Wagstaff has the only way to treat the water and he's indispensable, or Jaspos' water filters work and you can resolve things in his favor. Lantry's romantic adventures with Lexeme probably could have been brought up in a separate conversation, but as it stands he's a pretty open guy and he's never hinted at any kind of relationship. Lexeme taught him magic, but she never comes up when he's teaching us! You can't even use the excuse that it's just self-contained DLC when Witcher 3 has Gaunter O'Dimm show up in the first five minutes of the game, even at launch. That said, I will gladly confess I am extremely biased against the DLC's writing because I think the new ending that came with it is stupid and shits all over the game. We'll get there.  We can't do much of anything until we speak to one of the two assholes, and this update is very long already, so I need you to vote on which... Nah, I'm kidding. We're talking to Wagstaff first, he has special content with Eb and Jaspos doesn't. Don't worry, we're not missing much. Next time: Talking to Wagstaff but also getting super hardcore sigils.
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Jan 22, 2021 07:23
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: Turn back! Or I'll eat you!
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I like the IDEA of the place, but I really don't like how the DLC is blatantly unfinished in several aspects. I think Barik's part is the only one that felt mostly natural (other than the intro conversation firing at the same time as another of his plot conversations....). Verse's had really weird programming with discovering what's up with the kidnapped girl and this one just feels rushed.
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Jan 22, 2021 07:52
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Thanks for the update! Seems like a lot of interesting plot hooks in this update. Two old acquaintances of party members and a mysterious magical disease. Looking forward to what happens next.
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Jan 22, 2021 10:23
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TheGreatEvilKing posted:(I'll remove the hats next time I record! Promise!) You better  Also you can just condemn the settlement and be done with this part... I won't hold it against you (much  )
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Jan 22, 2021 10:34
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I wonder if the Wound really changes beastmen like Mell supposed or it is just the natural reduction in racism when being exposed to other cultures and having your negative preconceptions smashed. I want to think it is the latter but given the warnings of half baked storylines in this dlc it may become the former.
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Jan 22, 2021 18:31
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I just had a random thought brought on by looking at all of Lantry's/Eb's interjections here. Out of everyone in the Fatebinder's entourage, Barik is literally the only one that isn't of the typically vulnerable groups of 'women, children, and the elderly' (with two party members filling multiple slots of that). And Barik is trapped in misery by his devotions to the powers that be. The Fatebinder's party members are definitely the misfits that suffer under the rule of Tyranny, but it just struck me how atypical the composition is.
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Jan 22, 2021 22:10
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