New Tyranny Combat Details
Jun. 29, 2016New Tyranny Combat Details
On theirofficial developer diary, Tyranny director Brian Heins had some insights into whatcombatwill look like in the game, in the ways it differs and is similar to Pillars of Eternity. In a general overview, combat is real-time, with the ability to pause at any time to issue commands to a party of up to 4characters. In addition to the spells andabilitieseach character can use, there are companion combos which allow your character and a companion to work together in create a powerful effect. Abilities use a cooldown system, allowing you to use most of your abilities multiple times per encounter. Combat is based on your character’sskills, and the more you use those skills, the more experience you’ll gain. With that overview, what follows are some specific elements to the combat system in Tyranny.
With this list, combat now has a more defined quality and should begin to take shape in players’ minds. Check out ourE3 previewfor a hands on look on the game and keep with us as we continue to bring updates on this dark sequel’s development!
Visit theTyranny Wiki
MoreNews
Emergence
Editor at Fextralife. I look for the substantial in gaming and I try to connect video games to the emotions and stories they elicit. I love all things culture and history and have an odd fondness for the planet Jupiter. I think my dogs are pretty awesome too.
I like strategy games but hate micromanaging, If I can issue Vague Orders to the AI and don’t have to keep the game in perpetual pause to defeat a foe and The Companions don’t just cluster, then I’m happy.
As for the More Characters and Formations being Streamlined, I thought that Last Remnant was a step in the direction I like, but still needed more refinement.
But getting back on topic of the gameplay of Tyranny, I’m interested to see how the gameplay Is with the Dragon Age Mechanics in Mind. I’m hoping that Tyranny Improves on the DAO mechanics if it is like it and make it the way the sequels should have been.
Kinda in the wrong genre to hate positioning. It being still there but simplistic and boring (like the vast majority of DAO) is actually worse than it just not being there. If it’s just not there then they can do other interesting things in it’s place (think Grandia or Final Fantasy 10 or Bravely Defualt) without overcomplicating things.
Well so do I, but my point remains. They didn’t stick with DAO/KOTOR combat because it satisfied neither cRPG fans nor action game fans by being too simplistic and cumbersome for the former and too slow/micro management heavy for the latter.
…More characters would make positioning more important. Unless they wanted the game to be hilariously easy, they’d have to compensate with more enemies and/or enemies that hit harder, which means it’s more important that you have a decent formation to protect your healers/ranged dps, because if you get flanked and they go down then you’re basically screwed.
Played plenty of these games, loved Baldur’s Gate, Icewind Dale, Neverwinter NIghts and Planescape.
I usually lure enemies into traps when I can and then just spam abilities.
I actually hated the gameplay of DA inquisition.
I’m just lazy with positioning and focus more on using abilities.
As I stated I’m interested in the gameplay, I just wish we could have more characters in the party and they brought back custom party members.
Why are you not just playing action games or JRPGs if you don’t like positioning? Don’t get me wrong, I love DAO, but god the combat is incredibly boring on all but the highest difficulties (and even then it’s quickly trivialised if you happen to know how to build.) If I don’t have to micro manage the whole party to succeed, then having access to them is basically pointless. Bioware may have gone exactly the wrong way by stealing mmo combat and becoming an action game, but even they realized that and that’s why they didn’t stick to the KOTOR pattern.
Have you played this type of game with a mouse where positioning is actually simple to do?
Even DAO had a Friendly Fire Option.
I actually am intrigued on how the gameplay is described. I personally hate positioning and rarely use mages because of Friendly Fire.
Sounds suspiciously like Dragon Age Orgins, which was overly simple for my taste. And at least that had the courtesy to turn friendly fire on at high difficulties. Having actual formations and maintaining them throughout the encounter (and other things like that) is far less necessary when friendly fire isn’t a factor, it becomes a simplistic mages go in back situation, just for example:
Setting up a diagonal line or a ^ shape to meet enemies and catch most with the first 3 members so that you give the casters at the ends of said shape free reign to use cone spells without worrying about catching team mates in them would be a big deal in many fights. That same formation also creates a big area free from teammates, or with only 1 teammate in it, that allowed the use of AOE spells to fence in the enemies. If they tried to walk through a freezing fog to get to the mage who was casting it or to get to the cleric who was keeping the melee alive, they’d be suffering a speed debuff and be blinded while having to walk past your best melee damage dealers (who go on either side and just behind the tank, who is the point of the ^ shape) to do it, meaning they’d almost certainly die in the attempt and your mages were free to keep causing problems.
That’s how you win fights in Pillars of Eternity. You have a formation and an overall strategy (including party members and a set of weapons and spells) chosen specifically to work with that formation, and then the real challenge is when you have to adjust it and make it work or come up with new ones on the fly as the game tries to throw curveballs at you (like an enemy mage forcing you to break ranks with giant cloud debuff spells or fatal swarms of bees.) That isn’t anywhere near as necessary if you aren’t worried about cooking your own allies with your spells and it’s less important still with a simple 4 person group. All that positioning changes from complex strategies that dictate the entire party setup to “melee up front, ranged in back.” You’re not worried about breaking ranks and getting immediately overwhelmed by superior numbers because there are no ranks. The answer to almost every problem just boils down to not standing in AoEs and killing faster. Not a mentally stimulating or terribly satisfying way to resolve combat problems.
