The same basic rules of combat (Engagement, Damage Reduction etc.) but most spells/abilities are on cooldowns instead of per-encounter/per-rest. Only four people in your party including yourself. Anyone can cast spells, but the magnitude of spells has a ceiling dictated by characters' Lore skill.
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TYRANNY |OT| Sometimes, Evil Wins [Tiers For Fears]
- Thread starter Nzyme32
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The same basic rules of combat (Engagement, Damage Reduction etc.) but most spells/abilities are on cooldowns instead of per-encounter/per-rest. Only four people in your party including yourself. Anyone can cast spells, but the magnitude of spells has a ceiling dictated by characters' Lore skill.
LurkerPrime
Member
The Disfavored: Submit and die.
The Scarlet Chorus: Submit or die.
The devil's in the details.
Disfavored are so much worse to fight though, because of (mechanical spoiler)
Very similarly, same base mechanics. Though the smaller party size, spell creation, and Skyrim-style levelling change things up in some good ways.
The Scarlet Chorus: Submit or die.
The devil's in the details.
Disfavored are so much worse to fight though, because of (mechanical spoiler)
that stupid heal from Graven Ashe.
Very similarly, same base mechanics. Though the smaller party size, spell creation, and Skyrim-style levelling change things up in some good ways.
LurkerPrime
Member
It's blocked, like a mobile phone signal in a Faraday cage. Also means he can't put a bluetooth headset on under there.
Pretty much.
I think it may actually be a failing of the game that it takes a bit more thought to realize why the Disfavored are also really shitty.
They are essentially Nazis.
Theirs is a war of extermination. They are perfectly willing to string up every tiersmen they run across.
Ordinaryundone
Member
I actually preferred the Chorus on my first run through. Voices is a shithead but I liked their forward thinking philosophy of absorbing willing opponents into the Chorus rather than just killing everyone and their whole "survival of the fittest breeds the best" worldview when it comes to leadership and interfactional stuff. Plus I just like violent, barbarian horde-type factions.
I was playing a total toadie for Kyros though so them being so willing to actually get shit done appealed to me as well. In their dialogues Ashe always seemed to be the one dragging his heels and complaining about everything.
LurkerPrime
Member
In terms of Archons, it's all about Bleden Mark anyways.
Yeah. It didn't actually occur to me until someone mentioned here how utterly elitist the Disfavored are. The game mentions it but I think the shock-horror of everything the Scarlet Chorus does, alongside its.... leader... kind of overwhelms reason and makes people instinctively want to side with the Disfavored.
Yeah. It didn't actually occur to me until someone mentioned here how utterly elitist the Disfavored are. The game mentions it but I think the shock-horror of everything the Scarlet Chorus does, alongside its.... leader... kind of overwhelms reason and makes people instinctively want to side with the Disfavored.
A failing of the game or the player? The game isn't subtle about the Disfavored killing their prisoners. If anything, it shows what we as humans may sometimes be willing to accept in exchange for order.
Dishonored = Death and Fascism but SC = Death and war crimes or slavery where you repeat war crimes for me. Maybe it's just me, but it didn't seem a hard choice.
I just expected the Dishonored to be dirtied up more, I kinda hoped that the Stone Sea quest where
I just expected the Dishonored to be dirtied up more, I kinda hoped that the Stone Sea quest where
you hear Dishonored troops are killing people and weak to lead to more but it was just the SC.
Ordinaryundone
Member
That awkward moment when
Barik feels sick at the idea of his father sleeping with Verse's mother. It has nothing to do with sex, or Verse, or the Disfavored vs. Scarlet Chorus. He's just disgusted that his Northman dad would ever lower himself to sleeping with a Tierswoman.
There is also that whole thing about them fighting to reclaim honor they felt they lost in a previous war, their obsession over military regulation and minutiae (like Barik's commander scolding him for not wearing regulation uniform. Like, no duh). And their strong belief, to the point of fetishism, in the superiority of military technology (in this case iron). If they could make jackboots out of iron you know they would.
Except when you're important, then it's Submit and
Nerat eats your soul and drives several spikes through your body.
Eh I don't agree. The Disfavored have a lot of war atrocities of their own, too. For instance, the Disfavored are all for ethnical cleansing and destroying everyone and everything that's not on their good side, while the Scarlet Chorus is more about classical warfare. For instance, (Act 1 spoiler)
the Disfavored want you to burn down Echocall and kill everyone living there, while the Scarlet Chorus are for letting the locals and the town live, but taking over control of the town/enslaving the inhabitants.
I'm only probably halfway through the game, if that, but the Disfavored and Chorus basically come down to lawful evil and chaotic evil. Surprising revelation I know.
They're both beyond abhorrent, but in very different ways. If you are not Disfavored you're pretty much not worth mentioning, let alone caring about, unless you put up a good, honorable, fight. Then they'll honor you with a quick death. But if you are one of them that's everything and they honor and respect each other above all else.
While the Chorus will take on anyone willing to join, or not. They don't care what you did, who you were. You fight for the Chorus and can go as high and far as your skill will allow. But they don't at all care if you live or die. They'll gladly send waves of barely armed members against superior forces without thought. And among their own there is no love, no honor or real respect. At least on the large scale. Individuals might respect people like Verse does some people for their fighting spirit, but that's about it.
The Disfavored might be supremacists who look down on anyone not them, but you know where you stand at least. Even if that doesn't really help you often. They might shit on everyone else but at least they are good to their own. While with the Chorus you may have free will and the chance to become something more, the odds are wholly stacked against you and you'll probably just end up another body for the meat grinder or get killed by one of your own along the way as you try to make something of yourself. It's the illusion of freedom, which I find worse.
So for me roleplaying as a dutiful soldier I sided with the Disfavored without a second though.
They're both beyond abhorrent, but in very different ways. If you are not Disfavored you're pretty much not worth mentioning, let alone caring about, unless you put up a good, honorable, fight. Then they'll honor you with a quick death. But if you are one of them that's everything and they honor and respect each other above all else.
While the Chorus will take on anyone willing to join, or not. They don't care what you did, who you were. You fight for the Chorus and can go as high and far as your skill will allow. But they don't at all care if you live or die. They'll gladly send waves of barely armed members against superior forces without thought. And among their own there is no love, no honor or real respect. At least on the large scale. Individuals might respect people like Verse does some people for their fighting spirit, but that's about it.
The Disfavored might be supremacists who look down on anyone not them, but you know where you stand at least. Even if that doesn't really help you often. They might shit on everyone else but at least they are good to their own. While with the Chorus you may have free will and the chance to become something more, the odds are wholly stacked against you and you'll probably just end up another body for the meat grinder or get killed by one of your own along the way as you try to make something of yourself. It's the illusion of freedom, which I find worse.
So for me roleplaying as a dutiful soldier I sided with the Disfavored without a second though.
Poodlestrike
Banned
The Disfavored aren't fighting a war of extermination, per se. They'll absolutely kill every prisoner they take, but they're not looking to wipe out the Tiers, just the ones that're fighting. The Chorus "join or die" thing sounds better, except when you read into the details of what exactly "joining" entails.
They're both abhorrent, that's the point. The Chorus and the Voices are on a whole 'nother level, though.
They're both abhorrent, that's the point. The Chorus and the Voices are on a whole 'nother level, though.
This might become my second favorite cRPG of all time and I didn't even realized it existed till it was out. (I may have read about it some time ago, but memory is hazy).
Combat is a bit too slow (as in, recovery is too long for mere auto attacks), but the story and setting are both awesome and way better than PoE, BG, NVM and the rest. Only Torment thrones above it imo.
Combat is a bit too slow (as in, recovery is too long for mere auto attacks), but the story and setting are both awesome and way better than PoE, BG, NVM and the rest. Only Torment thrones above it imo.
I know, but I feel like they didn't emphasize that much. Or perhaps that's just the nature of the armies.
I mean, when the Scarlet Chorus' every line you meet in tense situations is some vulgarity mixed with [Outlandish thing the Scarlet Chorus actually do] it tends to contrast badly.
I'm sure they will come back and go into that in game 2 if it comes though!
LurkerPrime
Member
Graven Ashe's big Santa Claus appearance does a lot to win over people, I think.
I'm inclined to agree, it's really gaining on me. The setting is something I can't get enough of.
It kind of reminds me of Shadowrun: Dragonfall, in terms of how tight the story, worldbuilding, and characters are so far, only with much better underlying mechanics and some cool new innovations tying everything together. I figure I'm about halfway through, and it has been an absolute classic so far.
I'm inclined to agree, it's really gaining on me. The setting is something I can't get enough of.
It kind of reminds me of Shadowrun: Dragonfall, in terms of how tight the story, worldbuilding, and characters are so far, only with much better underlying mechanics and some cool new innovations tying everything together. I figure I'm about halfway through, and it has been an absolute classic so far.
Ordinaryundone
Member
Voices of Nerat>Graven Ashe in that regard, at least
Absolutely.
Just keep in mind that Nerat is like, hardcore evil. Probably the worst dude in the game.
Since we're evil anyway, might as well go evil all the way
Ultimately, I think the contrast is perhaps what has the disfavored coming off as a 'reasonable' or 'not evil' choice.
On their own, the would be pretty monstrous.
CrichtonKicks
Member
I've sided with the Scarlet Chorus for most of Act 1 and into Act 2. I totally plan to betray them because Voices of Nerat is clearly messed up but I found the Disfavored totally ineffectual and, from a roleplaying perspective, their tight membership requirements meant that my Fatebinder wouldn't have found a place with them anyway,.
I think part of the point of the game is that even evil can has shades.
My Fatebinder for example:
-Does not like to see people suffer
-Will choose to be merciful when presented with that option
-Absolutely despises the Dishonored elitism
-Absolutely hates the chorus and its atrocities
-Wants all the wars to end and for the world to truly enjoy peace
So you may think, good guy right? Nope:
-Firmly believes that the time to fight Kyros is long past. The only possible peace is Kyros
-Will brutally put down rebellions to Kyros' rule
-Pushes for the complete domination of the tiers at all cost.
-Aims to destroy all the minor Archons and continue to ensure no new ones pop up
By all accounts this is a bad chick. Commits all sorts of atrocities.
Still reeling from murdering the Unbroken
Still 'better' than both of the main factions of the game. The Vendrian Guard being perhaps the only exception.
Oh, I thought that too. Then stuff happens over time. And you think it might stop. But it never does.
Then there's one victim where I went "No" and restarted the game.
Sanctuary
Member
It's a war of conquest, so of course they both suck, but
the Disfavored suck a whole lot less on so many levels than the Scarlet Chorus, even though they definitely aren't morally infallible at all.
an impartial judge who only cares about facts
Holy, fucking, no shit. There were so many pieces of heavy armor that dropped that were HUGE upgrades, that all I could do was roll my eyes.
I don't know if his talents make up for the major gear losses, or if he's as good, or better (haven't really looked too much yet) than what the player character can get tanking wise, but he was 100% fine through Hard both times. Dunno about PotD though.
LOL. That's exactly how I wanted to play, and was going to on my third playthrough. I pretty much never do that on a first or second playthrough though. It's mostly an issue of being conditioned by poor outcomes for playing an "evil" or "bad" character initially thanks to the developers expecting everyone to want to be "the hero" every time.
Also, for those of you thinking
the Scarlet Chorus
someone will probably want to eat your brains.
Hahah, I know how you feel. I'm set on my path to become the worst fucking thing this world has ever seen though, or at least.. Very bad. Maybe you'd have to play solo and kill every possible companion to become The Worst Possible Person. That'll have to wait for a later playthrough.
Both of them are horrible people, just in different ways. Disfavoured are not above cutting down just about anyone they perceive to be a problem, and have a thing against people not being northerners, and the Scarlet Chorus, well...
I think I'll go independent on my next run and see what that's like.
I think I'll go independent on my next run and see what that's like.
Different strokes I suppose. The life they offer isn't an alternative to death for my character, and probably me.
If you wanted to use either faction for your purposes Disfavored are easier to use as well.
So how do you go independant? Do you just betray allegiances first chance you get
and when claiming the tower tell your faction to go screw?
Or is Independant just
"I'm taking over" around the time of your ascent to archonhood
Cos I did end up ruling the tiers at the end
I went anarchist for my first play-through. Instead of being saddled with shitty allies that leave you no choice but to do shitty things, you become the instigator for many of the shitty things you will end up having to do.
Has anyone allied with the rebels? How evil is that path?
You can upgrade Barik's armor at a forge in one of your spires. Not sure how it compares to other drops, but I've already upgraded each piece twice and it's still not maxed out.
Poodlestrike
Banned
Considering that my character's master plan is, long term "fix this shit so it's not so horrific," Disfavored makes more sense to side with. The Chorus (especially the Voices) is just fundamentally monstrous, the Disfavored can be... reined in.
I'm enjoying it so far, but damn there's a lot of reading. I'm legitimately amazed at how much dialogue was written for the game. Many characters have 6 or 7 topics for discussion, with follow up branches of 5-6 additional paths for dialogue, that branch into even more follow ups. It's both impressive and maddening for someone like me that just doesn't have the focus to persevere past the 2nd or 3rd layer of dialogue.
In order to keep my interest in the game high, and to keep things moving along at a good pace (for me), I've started role-playing a well-educated Fatebinder that suffered a traumatic head injury during combat. Regrettably the injury makes it hard for him to focus during conversations, so he really only gleans the first few minutes of a discussion. Anything beyond that and it's like the words he hears flicker by too fast, almost like someone is fast forwarding or skipping ahead.
The lore and setting are really well done, especially as seen through the eyes of a heavily concussed Fatebinder with attention and focus issues.
In order to keep my interest in the game high, and to keep things moving along at a good pace (for me), I've started role-playing a well-educated Fatebinder that suffered a traumatic head injury during combat. Regrettably the injury makes it hard for him to focus during conversations, so he really only gleans the first few minutes of a discussion. Anything beyond that and it's like the words he hears flicker by too fast, almost like someone is fast forwarding or skipping ahead.
The lore and setting are really well done, especially as seen through the eyes of a heavily concussed Fatebinder with attention and focus issues.
His Majesty
Banned
my initial plan but their uncompromising nature pissed me off one time too many so fuck them as well
Haven't been able to play for two days, now. Hoping to get some time in tomorrow.
I'm siding with the scarlet chorus on my first run as it fits my psychopath fatebinder.
One thing that annoys me is Barik. After what I have done, he should be trying to kill me in my sleep, yet he's still around, listening to my orders. That's the one thing that doesn't make sense.
I'm siding with the scarlet chorus on my first run as it fits my psychopath fatebinder.
One thing that annoys me is Barik. After what I have done, he should be trying to kill me in my sleep, yet he's still around, listening to my orders. That's the one thing that doesn't make sense.
I sided with the Scarlet Chorus even though I had more favor with the Disfavored. I chose them because I thought their numbers would be of better use during the attack than the Disfavored. Since I'm stuck with them, I'm going to try my best to quell their torturous nature and spy on them until I'm able to turn against them. Both sides are idiots and if there was a way to betray them both without immediately sounding like a psychopath, I would have done it. For now, my character is going to stick with doing her job impartially while trying to stay on Tunon's good side until she can improve her own station with minimal threat to her own life.
How much does he fear you? A healthy amount of fear of me is what keeps him in line.
I even get fear checks.
This is what I did--am still doing?--during my first play-through. It is great.
Sanctuary
Member
Yeah, I know. It's just that on my first playthrough,
the forge
Can you not
upgrade higher tiered gear too though
Barik's gear
Yep. He made perfect sense if you went with the Disfavored, but he makes little sense if you picked the Scarlet Chorus. Although, above all, he's "lawful", and Kyros' will is the law, and you are an extension of that will.
edit: Fear checks or no, his moral compass wouldn't just do a complete 180 within the short span of the game. He could easily just say "fuck you, I'm out of here" and go back to Ashe, but super plot armor prevents a Baldur's Gate scenario. Because tank.
He tanks even plot holes.
Ok I did my first real "quest" and fought a dude on behalf of the Scarlet Chorus on the outskirts of the place we're sieging. Pelox something. Won the fight but damn I got worked over. I have no clue how to prioritize targets (they had an archer hanging out just SAVAGING me but I wanted to hold aggro on the boss) or when it's worthwhile to take a disengagement strike or if I should trust the AI or micromanage or what.
Might just rush headlong into some battles then reroll my character once I understand this combat system a bit better. I don't play very many of these realtime w/ pausing games.
Might just rush headlong into some battles then reroll my character once I understand this combat system a bit better. I don't play very many of these realtime w/ pausing games.
His Majesty
Banned
You get a companion later on that you can specialize in healing magic. I use him for all my buffs and heals.
Yes, they're good in a pinch if you need them and don't have a dedicated healer or said healer is in their cooldown period and can't help. You've got the ability so might as well use it.