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#1
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Freedom is a privilege. Yours has been revoked. Let's Play Pyre
Hey kids! Let's play Pyre! Supergiant Games is already awesome by virtue of their first game release, Bastion. Transistor was also a great game that I adore, but at the same time, people noticed that they were doing a lot of experimenting with the storytelling and the gameplay, and not always in ways that worked for the better. So while I imagine quite a few people were a bit surprised when they announced a game halfway between a sports sim and a visual novel, and a lot of people were disappointed, I just shrugged and said "eh, it'll be weird, but it'll be MY kind of weird." And I was right. I've already beaten the game once, but I will be doing a stream of the game's campaign mode on Friday evenings, 6PM Mountain Time (so for the West Coast that's 5PM, for the East Coast thats 8PM). I may have to adjust this schedule for work, but expect around that time. I'm going to dedicate this first post to explaining the Rites within Pyre. As mentioned, this is halfway between a sports sim and a visual novel, and explaining the sports sim part is easier. Each triumvirate (team) is composed of three exiles, and both sides have a blazing pyre. I'm using the game's built-in couch versus mode to demonstrate this. It has couch versus mode, it's pretty cool. The stats and whatever you see here, I will explain in later posts. The objective of the game is simple: take the Celestial Orb that the other triumvirate's player has just grabbed, and dunk it into the other pyre. The circles around everyone are their auras: if your aura touches an opponent, they are banished for a few seconds and drop the Celestial Orb if they have it. (Also I desperately wanted to have Madden scribbles over these screenshots, but I decided against it because explaining the game takes priority over dumb jokes for this post.) While holding the Celestial Orb, your aura is disabled, so you'll have to evade the enemy team's defenders. In addition to just having it passively up, you can cast it ahead of you as seen here: this removes your personal aura but lets you launch it further and faster, great for breaking past enemy defenders. In addition to this, each player can sprint, jump, and pass the Celestial Orb to one another. You don't interact with auras while jumping, but any opponent that collides with you during a jump makes you drop the Orb, so be careful about it. Most of these actions consume stamina, as well. Once you get to the pyre holding the orb, you can dive in to deal it some damage. The exile that does this is banished until one side or the other scores again, so it's not always in your best interest to dive right in if you're having trouble taking their team on. One thing worth noting is that each side can only control one exile at a time. This is a weird but intentional design choice, to limit the computer having too much of an edge by being able to finetune their AI better than the player. Additionally, whoever you switch to, if you have the Celestial Orb, will be passed it by their teammates, so once you have the Orb, you can't go on the offensive like I am here. That other exile is throwing the Orb to my exile, presumably to disable her aura and reactivate his. The advantage of throwing the Orb is that you don't lose your exile for scoring this way. The disadvantage is that you have to stay still and charge up your shot, and it's very easy to get chumped by the defenders unless you've banished all of them. Really, that about covers it for the Rites. Reduce their Pyre to smoldering ash, and YUO WIN So why are we playing the Rites? Well, Hedwyn here has a bit to say about it, but we'll see more about this once we actually get into the story of the game, y'know? Last edited by Kalir; 08-05-2017 at 11:55 AM. |
#2
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#3
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And done. Had some technical troubles to start, but I will be posting clips of video here from the stream throughout the week.
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#4
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We begin our journey through the downside, and our discovery of the Rites. Character Bio:
Last edited by Kalir; 08-19-2017 at 12:34 PM. |
#5
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We get into how traveling the Downside works, and have our first real Rite against the Accusers. Character Bio:
Last edited by Kalir; 08-19-2017 at 12:34 PM. |
#6
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We encounter and subsequently name a mysterious stowaway, and face off against the Fate, probably my favorite triumvirate. Character Bio:
Last edited by Kalir; 08-19-2017 at 12:34 PM. |
#7
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A lot of the characters we meet in this episode have a history with the Nightwings, and in the case of the Dissidents, it's not a happy one. Character Bio:
Last edited by Kalir; 08-19-2017 at 12:34 PM. |
#8
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The Withdrawn are our opponents here. And they're doom cultists. This is fine, right? Totally fine. We also encounter Sandra of the Beyonders, in her own weird way. Character Bio:
Last edited by Kalir; 08-19-2017 at 12:35 PM. |
#9
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By cashing in a favor Bertrude owes to Sandalwood, we gain the means to sail the Sea of Solis and face off against the Pyrehearts. Character Bio:
Tomorrow, I'll be streaming again, at 6PM Mountain Time. I'd really like to have more people there (or posting here, but I'm gonna guess that most people aren't following the thread because they want to play the game unspoiled for themselves). Last edited by Kalir; 08-19-2017 at 12:35 PM. |
#10
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#11
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I wish I had the kind of internet where I could get in on the streams because someone needs to vote for Tizo.
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#12
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We gather a few more exiles into our group and have our first match against the Essence. Character Bio:
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#13
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It took a while, but we finally meet up with the mysterious Sandalwood character this episode! I bet the character bio will be chock-full of secret info! Character Bio:
Last edited by Kalir; 12-08-2019 at 11:01 PM. |
#14
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Atop Mount Alodiel, we go into our first Liberation Rite. Either one of our own, or one of the Tempers we are facing, will go free to the Commonwealth tonight. Character Bio:
Streaming again tomorrow at 6PM Mountain Time. We'll have more freedom in choice of opponents, but we'll be down an exile. So that'll be neat. |
#15
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How far into the game are you at this point?
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#16
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The first time I played the game, I was a little worried that the first Liberation Rite would be the end, but it's not really even close. We'll have lots of shots at the Liberation Rite, and the ending of the game will telegraph itself from miles off.
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#17
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Quote:
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#18
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#19
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Stream's having technical difficulties, should be back in about half an hour.
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#20
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Our first rematch is against the Fate, where Shae is happy to meet her unrequited friend Almer. We also get a valuable lesson in how the triumvirates each get a little better the more you face them. Character Bio:
I will probably have to change up my stream schedule, though. Long story short: Work is going to eat up all of my Friday evenings straight through September, so I'll have to change it up if I want to stick to a weekly schedule. I might go for Sunday evenings: let me know if that works for you. |
#21
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Back against the Withdrawn. I don't know if you're aware, but the other triumvirates are no joke after your first Liberation Rite! Character Bio:
Yeah, moving to Sunday afternoons. We'll call it 6:30 PM my time (so 5:30PM on West Coast, 8:30 on East). Hope to see you there. |
#22
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So I have been enjoying watching this game of fantasy basketball* but I do have a question - what happens if the reader hides his/her literacy at the start of the game? Does Volfred show up sooner or is this a case of "thou must be the Reader"?
*No, not that kind. |
#23
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We have a rematch with the Chastity and are reminded why we hate their jerk asses. We also see some much more ominous stars than usual. Character Bio:
Also I don't know what would happen if you try to hide your literacy early on. I'd assume that they'd go "well then, it won't hurt you to have a look at this Book of Rites, now, will it?" |
#24
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We have our most intense match yet, with a second Liberation Rite against opponents we are all right with losing to. Character Bio:
Did you remember that I have moved streaming to Sunday evenings instead of Friday? Because I have. You now have that entire block of time free to do whatever you want! Be happy. |
#25
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#26
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Let's try to reason with Tamitha. Surely all that stuff about being an elite tactician and soldier from a country we're at war with is no reason for us to be enemies. Character Bio:
Last edited by Kalir; 09-06-2017 at 12:06 PM. |
#27
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WELCOME TO SPORTS DOT COM. Character Bio:
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#28
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I dunno what to tell ya, chief. This just looks like an ordinary rite to me. Character Bio:
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#29
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Man, Kalir, I think you've lost a good half of the rites since the first liberation. It's getting out of hand!
Do they ever explain why you're the only "triumvirate" wandering around with ten people? |
#30
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Yeah I took some time before work this morning to play a couple of versus AI matches. Played using characters who I felt I was weakest with. If nothing else, I will be far better at putting Shae to good use during the Rites, and I won't be horrid with Ti'zo anymore (but I will still probably not be great).
The other triumvirates can and do go over 3 exiles like us, but they don't really make anything of it. The weird part is that some of them, like the Dissidents, let you view their reserve members no problem (in their case it's pretty much all curs anyway), while the Chastity, despite clearly switching up who they're running, never seem to have more than 3 exiles in their triumvirate at any given moment. I just assume that nobody can stand to be in the same room as Manley for 5 minutes, let alone share a wagon and triumvirate. |