Hi I played Pillars a number of times and really enjoyed it. I've been looking forward to Tyranny, and had the pleasure of beating it over the weekend. I'd like to talk about the differences I noticed between each game and share my opinions on the changes.
Lore
The first thing I noticed is the change in tone between the two game's lore. While both games feature a low tech fantasy setting with magic, they feel drastically different.
Tyranny is very dark and depressing. Nobody has any hope, and those that do admit to a suicidal cause. There is death everywhere. Rotting corpses strewn across recent battlefields. There is hardly a hint of any society whatsoever due to constant conflict within the region.
Pillars, on the other hand, had a working society. There were multiple towns with women and children and people going about their lives somewhat normally. But it wasn't all green and roses, there were definitely some extreme dark moments and a nasty villain up to some mysterious yet obviously nefarious work. But the evil felt to be lurking in the shadows, hidden enough that most townsfolk had their own lives to worry about yet evil enough that you had to seek it out.
Since I've only played Tyranny once, I'm not as familiar with the scope of the story as I am with Pillars. However, I think Pillars had a superior world and story. There was heavy contrast which made the world feel more real. Tyranny became bland, and I just got numb to the amount of darkness and death.
Combat
Both games have their merits in this category. There were some really awesome spells in Tyranny. I dont know if its a spoiler to describe them, so I wont. But the special effects were great, and I thought the spells were pretty original...though perhaps over powered.
I loved the idea of custom spells. It reminded me of path of exile gems, and that's just great. However, the game ended before I could really create a cool spell. Just as I was able to create spells with lore requirements over 80, the game was done.
Both games have artifact weapons, which i think are pretty cool. Items that gain renown and grow more powerful as you use them is a cool mechanic. However, I think I gotta say Pillars did them slightly better. In pillars you gained extra effects as the item gained renown. In Tyranny, the numbers just go up "more aoe, more damage". I was really excited to level up my artifact in pillars to gain the extra effects, but in Tyranny I didn't even bother to check their progress after equipping them.
Pillars also had dragons to fight. Really strong enemies that were generally optional to fight, but gave really good rewards for beating them. Tyranny didn't have anything like this really.
Pillars also had an endless dungeon to battle in and farm up gear, Tyranny does not.
Home base
Pillars had Caed Nua that you restored to be your keep. Tyranny has 5 spires that you capture and place an upgrade in each. I honestly liked the Tyranny spires better. They served as portals around the world, while also remaining small and convenient to visit/rest. Caed Nua had like 3 loading screens just to get the rest bonus, and I don't think i ever used it.
Characters
This was a huge change. In Tyranny, you get the NPCs and can customize them a bit. But there are NO complete custom characters. In Pillars, you can recruit a brand new character, give it a name, a race, a gender, a class, everything. You could build an entire party of custom characters and play the game a number of different ways. This added a ton of replayability, and is the reason I played through the game 4 or 5 times.
I'm pretty bummed you can't make a custom party in Tyranny. You can build the characters a couple different ways, but it doesn't compare at all. Playing 6 rangers with 6 bears was really fun, or 6 chanters. I know we all hold balance and diversity as an ideal, but sometimes cheese is a lot of fun.
Game Length
I feel like if Pillars ended after Act 2, that is where Tyranny is. Imagine Pillars if you never get to meet or fight Thaos. Its like they just said "ship it, we'll put Act 3 in text and they'll read about what happens next for 10 minutes, then roll credits"
Beyond not giving a satisfying end to the story, it was a complete blue balls experience for my party. I had just unlocked Edicts, I finally got some powerful equipment, my party was about ready to take on some hefty challenges...and then just nothing. Game over. Credits.
Overall Tyranny is a very good game, but it feels incomplete. If they wanted to wait on shipping the third act, they should have released this for $20. It does feel like a bit of a rip off for $40 to just basically say "to be continued...probably"
Lore
The first thing I noticed is the change in tone between the two game's lore. While both games feature a low tech fantasy setting with magic, they feel drastically different.
Tyranny is very dark and depressing. Nobody has any hope, and those that do admit to a suicidal cause. There is death everywhere. Rotting corpses strewn across recent battlefields. There is hardly a hint of any society whatsoever due to constant conflict within the region.
Pillars, on the other hand, had a working society. There were multiple towns with women and children and people going about their lives somewhat normally. But it wasn't all green and roses, there were definitely some extreme dark moments and a nasty villain up to some mysterious yet obviously nefarious work. But the evil felt to be lurking in the shadows, hidden enough that most townsfolk had their own lives to worry about yet evil enough that you had to seek it out.
Since I've only played Tyranny once, I'm not as familiar with the scope of the story as I am with Pillars. However, I think Pillars had a superior world and story. There was heavy contrast which made the world feel more real. Tyranny became bland, and I just got numb to the amount of darkness and death.
Combat
Both games have their merits in this category. There were some really awesome spells in Tyranny. I dont know if its a spoiler to describe them, so I wont. But the special effects were great, and I thought the spells were pretty original...though perhaps over powered.
I loved the idea of custom spells. It reminded me of path of exile gems, and that's just great. However, the game ended before I could really create a cool spell. Just as I was able to create spells with lore requirements over 80, the game was done.
Both games have artifact weapons, which i think are pretty cool. Items that gain renown and grow more powerful as you use them is a cool mechanic. However, I think I gotta say Pillars did them slightly better. In pillars you gained extra effects as the item gained renown. In Tyranny, the numbers just go up "more aoe, more damage". I was really excited to level up my artifact in pillars to gain the extra effects, but in Tyranny I didn't even bother to check their progress after equipping them.
Pillars also had dragons to fight. Really strong enemies that were generally optional to fight, but gave really good rewards for beating them. Tyranny didn't have anything like this really.
Pillars also had an endless dungeon to battle in and farm up gear, Tyranny does not.
Home base
Pillars had Caed Nua that you restored to be your keep. Tyranny has 5 spires that you capture and place an upgrade in each. I honestly liked the Tyranny spires better. They served as portals around the world, while also remaining small and convenient to visit/rest. Caed Nua had like 3 loading screens just to get the rest bonus, and I don't think i ever used it.
Characters
This was a huge change. In Tyranny, you get the NPCs and can customize them a bit. But there are NO complete custom characters. In Pillars, you can recruit a brand new character, give it a name, a race, a gender, a class, everything. You could build an entire party of custom characters and play the game a number of different ways. This added a ton of replayability, and is the reason I played through the game 4 or 5 times.
I'm pretty bummed you can't make a custom party in Tyranny. You can build the characters a couple different ways, but it doesn't compare at all. Playing 6 rangers with 6 bears was really fun, or 6 chanters. I know we all hold balance and diversity as an ideal, but sometimes cheese is a lot of fun.
Game Length
I feel like if Pillars ended after Act 2, that is where Tyranny is. Imagine Pillars if you never get to meet or fight Thaos. Its like they just said "ship it, we'll put Act 3 in text and they'll read about what happens next for 10 minutes, then roll credits"
Beyond not giving a satisfying end to the story, it was a complete blue balls experience for my party. I had just unlocked Edicts, I finally got some powerful equipment, my party was about ready to take on some hefty challenges...and then just nothing. Game over. Credits.
Overall Tyranny is a very good game, but it feels incomplete. If they wanted to wait on shipping the third act, they should have released this for $20. It does feel like a bit of a rip off for $40 to just basically say "to be continued...probably"
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