Bastard’s Wound opens up a new region of the Tiers, containing a hidden settlement nestled in the forbidden Old Walls. There’s a dungeon beneath it, civilians needing help, and three companion quests for Lantry, Barik and Verse.
While Tyranny proved to be one of Obsidian’s most subversive and unusual RPGs, I’d recommend waiting for reviews for this one. I’ve got to keep my impressions to myself until after 2PM BST today, but let’s just say that my return to the Tiers didn’t lack for issues.
Alright, I've played Bastard's Wound and I have thoughts, but no real conclusions.
The big problem with Bastard's Wound is that it's part of Tyranny and Tyranny is a fairly small, focused experience. It's not a game where you put the plot on hold for hours on end to go sidequesting or dungeon crawling or crafting or whatever else you feel like doing. You're always working towards unifying the Tiers in whatever way you want to unify them.
Bastard's Wound kind of... puts that whole thing on hold while you deal with the troubles of an ultimately irrelevant little settlement.
There's no iron there, no food, no troops, and the forbidden knowledge that is there isn't particularly important at the moment.
There's some good writing, and interesting situations, and nice quests, but there's no actual reason for your character to be there.
In most other games, this would be fine, but for Tyranny it's kind of jarring.
The character quests fare a lot better. You get to hang out some more with the racist stormtrooper, the serial killer, and the collaborator! Who wouldn't enjoy that? The quests are nothing spectacular, but they're pretty nice all the same. I think I liked Lantry's best - writing-wise. It's an interesting look at his character.
In the end, it's just more Tyranny. And I'm not gonna object to just more Tyranny.
On an unrelated note, I also have some thoughts about the whole "Stay Loyal to Kyros" thing introduced in the patch that coincided with Bastard's Wound's release.
I thought it was just going to be strictly an Act 3 thing, where way at the end you declare that actually you don't want to betray the Overlord. But no.
I went Rebel for my playthrough, and all throughout Act 2, almost every time I went to recruit another group I had the opportunity to point out that I was doing all this to make sure the integration of the Tiers into Kyros' Empire would be as smooth and bloodless as I could possibly make it, because I sure wouldn't trust the Disfavored or the Chorus to make the transition painless.
I never actually took any of those options, though. But it's nice to see they were there.
Wonder what they'll look like when I do a Scarlet Chorus playthrough.
Late to the party, but finally started this and up to
Stopping the Edict of Storms
and Barik
is still trapped in his armor! It seems like that would have been taking care of by now unless this game is massively long. All this bronze/iron armor going to waste! I'm going to end up spending enough money on upgrading his rust bucket armor I won't want to not use it anymore!
His armor doesn't come off. He's quite stuck in it. So if you feel like using him, definitely upgrade his armor, 'cuz it's all he's got and will ever have.
Unless you have the Bastard's Wound DLC because that's also got some personal quests for some party members.
took him to the secluded smith and she says to come back later when she figures something out. It kind of stalled out after that. Hopefully I didn't bungle it so he stays in it.
Oh, no, that's fine. It'll pick up again (much) later on.
You weren't kidding:
At the damn end of the game practically. I think I did like 2 areas with him out his armor, maybe 5 fights or something. 1 while he still had is ragged portrait, 1 not.
So this desperately needs a sequel it won't be getting, damn.
Just did another play through of this, it’s amazing how much of the stuff I didnt like was just because I did a Disfavored play through the first time...
Also the Disfavored are much bigger dicks than really they come across as when working for them.
Turns out (Stone edict spoiler)
the earthshakers didn’t even really have to ruin the land to do the cairn ritual, that was just something the disfavored threw in because they are racists who hate the South
Just did another play through of this, it’s amazing how much of the stuff I didnt like was just because I did a Disfavored play through the first time...
Also the Disfavored are much bigger dicks than really they come across as when working for them.
Turns out (Stone edict spoiler)
the earthshakers didn’t even really have to ruin the land to do the cairn ritual, that was just something the disfavored threw in because they are racists who hate the South
I actually really liked my final outcome in Tyranny.
I played as a secret good guy, started my own kingdom, and convinced the evil judge to become a sane and just jurist. It was actually really refreshing that the game allowed me to decide to not choose one flavor of asshole.
Just did another play through of this, it’s amazing how much of the stuff I didnt like was just because I did a Disfavored play through the first time...
Also the Disfavored are much bigger dicks than really they come across as when working for them.
Turns out (Stone edict spoiler)
the earthshakers didn’t even really have to ruin the land to do the cairn ritual, that was just something the disfavored threw in because they are racists who hate the South
The Chorus is the more obvious evil, but there's a whole lot of nasty lurking just below the Disfavored surface. Mostly because of how racist they are.
(Edict of Stone)
The Disfavored didn't want to wreck the land forever just to screw over the South. The Scarlet Chorus are there as well and that massive army needs feeding. So if Azure ever recovers, lots of Scarlet Chorus troops will be able to eat again and the Disfavored can't let that happen.
Sure, it'll ruin the country for generations and probably condemn lots of people to a slow death by starvation, but they're Southerners, so they don't really count.
WotanAnubis on
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-Loki-Don't pee in my mouth and tell me it's raining.Registered Userregular
Funny to see this thread pop up. I just bought this, waiting to grab Bastards Wound and Tales from the Teirs before I play it.
Funny to see this thread pop up. I just bought this, waiting to grab Bastards Wound and Tales from the Teirs before I play it.
It's a good idea. I bounced off Tyranny when it first came out, bought the DLCs when they went on deep sale, and really liked it with all the extra content. The OG version felt like a rough draft, while the expansions really flesh out the game into a full experience.
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-Loki-Don't pee in my mouth and tell me it's raining.Registered Userregular
Yeah, I read through what they added and thought they finished the game with them rather than add extra content.
Just did another play through of this, it’s amazing how much of the stuff I didnt like was just because I did a Disfavored play through the first time...
Also the Disfavored are much bigger dicks than really they come across as when working for them.
Turns out (Stone edict spoiler)
the earthshakers didn’t even really have to ruin the land to do the cairn ritual, that was just something the disfavored threw in because they are racists who hate the South
I actually really liked my final outcome in Tyranny.
I played as a secret good guy, started my own kingdom, and convinced the evil judge to become a sane and just jurist. It was actually really refreshing that the game allowed me to decide to not choose one flavor of asshole.
I was pretty happy with my ending as the rebels.
United pretty much everyone, Turon did the same for me as you, but I stayed loyal to kyros so no final war, just me as the ruler of a relatively peaceful chunk of Kyros’ empire.
+1
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-Loki-Don't pee in my mouth and tell me it's raining.Registered Userregular
Oh look, Bastards Wound and Tales from the Tiers are both over 50% off on Fanatical. Nice timing.
The mouseover/alt-text for the promotional banner over on the Paradox forums amuses me:
(Oh, right! It's on discount on Steam and the Paradox store. DLC too.
Never got very far into this game, so I didn't pick up any DLC, but I've been meaning to start/finish another playthrough. Hrmm.)
So replaying third playthrough as scarlet chorus, on the one hand the scarlet chorus parts are pretty cool, and I have been switching companions a bit to mix things up so I get some different dialogue, but on the other hand most of the act 2 quests are very similar other than some mild dialogue differences so I am fast forwarding through text a lot...
Debating whether to do a last anarchist playthrough or retire the game for a while.
Posts
I own it, but I haven't unlocked it in game yet. Apparently, it doesn't open up the moment Act 2 does.
I don't know how much my impressions are going to be worth, though. I happen to like Tyranny quite a lot.
Bastard's Wound kind of... puts that whole thing on hold while you deal with the troubles of an ultimately irrelevant little settlement.
There's no iron there, no food, no troops, and the forbidden knowledge that is there isn't particularly important at the moment.
There's some good writing, and interesting situations, and nice quests, but there's no actual reason for your character to be there.
In most other games, this would be fine, but for Tyranny it's kind of jarring.
The character quests fare a lot better. You get to hang out some more with the racist stormtrooper, the serial killer, and the collaborator! Who wouldn't enjoy that? The quests are nothing spectacular, but they're pretty nice all the same. I think I liked Lantry's best - writing-wise. It's an interesting look at his character.
In the end, it's just more Tyranny. And I'm not gonna object to just more Tyranny.
On an unrelated note, I also have some thoughts about the whole "Stay Loyal to Kyros" thing introduced in the patch that coincided with Bastard's Wound's release.
I went Rebel for my playthrough, and all throughout Act 2, almost every time I went to recruit another group I had the opportunity to point out that I was doing all this to make sure the integration of the Tiers into Kyros' Empire would be as smooth and bloodless as I could possibly make it, because I sure wouldn't trust the Disfavored or the Chorus to make the transition painless.
I never actually took any of those options, though. But it's nice to see they were there.
Wonder what they'll look like when I do a Scarlet Chorus playthrough.
Unless you have the Bastard's Wound DLC because that's also got some personal quests for some party members.
Yes.
You weren't kidding:
So this desperately needs a sequel it won't be getting, damn.
Also the Disfavored are much bigger dicks than really they come across as when working for them.
Turns out (Stone edict spoiler)
I actually really liked my final outcome in Tyranny.
The Chorus is the more obvious evil, but there's a whole lot of nasty lurking just below the Disfavored surface. Mostly because of how racist they are.
(Edict of Stone)
Sure, it'll ruin the country for generations and probably condemn lots of people to a slow death by starvation, but they're Southerners, so they don't really count.
It's a good idea. I bounced off Tyranny when it first came out, bought the DLCs when they went on deep sale, and really liked it with all the extra content. The OG version felt like a rough draft, while the expansions really flesh out the game into a full experience.
I was pretty happy with my ending as the rebels.
OK, so it's only a couple of portraits and a bit of gear, but it's still pretty nice.
(Oh, right! It's on discount on Steam and the Paradox store. DLC too.
Never got very far into this game, so I didn't pick up any DLC, but I've been meaning to start/finish another playthrough. Hrmm.)
We can only hope Kyros will be so benevolent.
And we all know how benevolent Kyros can be, right?
There was some talk for a bit about doing a tyranny grand strategy game which would be crazy.
Apparently Paradox actually owns the property.
Though to be honest, I never had that much hope for sequels anyway.
Debating whether to do a last anarchist playthrough or retire the game for a while.