Setting discussion: Pyre

I'd like to bring attention to a setting for a videogame released this year and see Veeky Forums's opinions/take on the setting.

I'll try to cover as many details of the setting as I can remember. Please ask questions and I'll try to answer to the extent of my memory:

>Setting is divided in 2 "worlds": The upper world, with 2 places mentioned in the game. The commonwealth, a country raised over the structure of a previous empire and the Harp nation, a group of harpies that oppose the commonwealth.

>The second world, the Downside, a place where the commonwealth throws their criminals and outcasts. They get to downside through a river and death by drowning is not uncommon for newcomers. It's not possible to go back to the upper world through normal means. People can't swim up the stream and flying machines can't reach/break whatever keeps them trapped in the Downside.

>8 Races

>Humans: Usual stuff. Nothing really noteworthy

>Demons: Humans that have been in exile for a long time and were mutated by the Downside. Generally big, much bigger than the average human. Said transformation can rescind if they leave the Downside

>Imps: Bat like creatures native to the Downside. Usually not all that smart, but can be trained and grow to be smart enough to reach human-level intellect if exposed to enough stimulus

>Curs: Sentient dogs. Exactly like an average dog, but can speak and have human-level intellect. Used to be known as great warriors and hunters, but during the time the game takes place, they lost most of that fame.

>Wyrms: Sea worms. Known for their honor and knight-like tendencies.

>Harps: Harpies. Harps don't have human hands, only wings as the upper limbs.

>Saps: Plant people. Known for their long lives and high social status in the upper world, due to their previously mentioned long lives and resourcefulness.

>Crones: Snake-like people known for their witchcraft and potion making.

Cont.

Other urls found in this thread:

youtube.com/watch?v=0DviyuGNeWc
youtube.com/watch?v=LNCiUwNAgtk
twitter.com/NSFWRedditGif

Posting best girl.
Put my laptop back on to bump this, OP. keep it up

This was a fun game. The Trials themselves were only okay, I'd say, but the mechanics built around the Trials, how you managed who you'd compete against and the consequence for winning or losing? Really cool. And the world and characters were just great.

>The commonwealth was, traditionally, founded on the ideas of mercy and kinship by the eight scribes. Eight heroes, one of each race, that managed to get away from the Downside, defeat the titans that lived there and set a system by which future exiles would be able to also earn their freedom.

>The Commonwealth went on to become more and more corrupt, started to twist the original story of the founding of its nation, started passing laws that excluded other races, like the Harps, etc.

>One of the major rules they passed was the ban on literacy, which kickstarts the game's plot.

>The rise on corruption leads to a rise on exiles, due to several reasons which grew more and more unnecessary. It reached a point where vagrants and people that disagreed with certaing customs would qualify to be exiled for life.

>With that in mind, The Eight Scribes did leave a way for future exiles to escape the Downside and named it The Rites.

>The Rites require: 3 people willing to pass The Rites' Trials, A reader, a book describing the rites and a way to move to each location in the Downside to participate in each Trial.

>The Reader is necessary to read the stars, each one associated to one scribe, that will lead your group, your triumvirate, to your next trial.

>Trials are, by design, non-violent. Nobody dies in the Trials and injuries are very rare.

>Trials consist of 2 teams of 3 players, each one with a lit pyre, fight for the possession of an astral orb. If a player has the possession of the astral orb and plunges into the enemy's pyre, they'll dim it. Enough plunges and the pyre is completely snuff out and the team with its pyre still lit wins.

>The Trials aren't common knowledge and unless you get a hold of one of the books describing the Rites.

>The books describing the rites are indestructable, being made from the skin of one of the dead titans, tought to be immortal due to its impervious skin.

cont.

>The Rites' Trials follow a sports league system, with triumvirates being allowed to lose and still be able to go to the final trial if other triumvirates also lose some of their trials.

>At the end of each Cycle, 2 triumvirates get the right to go to the top of a local mountain, sacred to the locals where they play their last match under the watch of 2 guardians that explain the rites to the teams and judge if they are qualified to ascend back to freedom.

>Each Triumvirate chooses one person from their group. If the team wins, only the chosen person gets to ascend to freedom.

>Under normal circunstances, after the ascension of the chosen member, the stars dim out and after a certain period of time, usually around a few weeks-months, the stars light up again and the cycle restarts.

>Only the person chosen to ascend has the right to ascend the white stream that leader the worthy to their freedom. If someone else tries to take the ride that is not theirs, they die as soon as they touch the stream.

>Exiles that come back through the Rites are granted full pardon for their crimes and usually offered new jobs, riches, etc.

>Magic exists, but it's not a common practice. Despite the legends about the Eight Scribes, only the Bog-witch Crones still have enough knowledge about actual, practical magic use and even then mostly through potions.

>The Eight Scribes died long ago, but they are still around for the believers. They don't appear or actually act during the games, but characters can get boons and buffs in sacred places tied to said scribes.

>The Downside, after the death of the titans, is far from being a hellish place. It has harsh weather changes, tough to soil to plant food, some dangerous fauna here and there, but several tribes and groups manage to live decent lives.

>During the rites, the players wear traditional garbs and cerimonial masks. Each race gets one mask and they represent the original scribe that originally created the rites.

>The reasons why the Rites don't involve violence and only one person per cycle being able to leave was because the Eight Scribes wanted the Rites to be a chance for previous criminals to redeem themselves and to learn about trusting other people.

I guess that's all that comes to mind right now. If you guys want to make any questions or discuss more about it, fell free to do so.

I really enjoyed the world building in this game. The devs did an excellent job of "showing, not telling", giving most of the lore out through hints and implications without any big lore dumps. The races in particular were great... when you summarize them in simple terms like the OP did, they sound pretty ordinary and ho-hum, but their depiction in the game showed a lot of small details that made them seem quite unique and interesting.

Would love to see this setting fleshed out for a TTRPG.

Also, posting best boy. Who am I kidding, they're all great. Except Pamitha.

One of the major issues with supergiant games. They always feel like they could have used a bit more in-depth content. Maybe a few more hours here, maybe a bit more dialogue there.

The problems with mid-sized developers, I suppose.

>demons are race
>humans +1

DROPPED

>Pamitha
>not great
user, it's like you said, they're ALL great

The only time I lost in the final trial was because Pamitha asked me to.

That didn't give her any forgiveness from her sister, but she got some peace of mind in the end.

Huh, I actually had the exact same thing

I manipulated the matchups so that the Harp team would never wind up at the finals, just so that scenario would never happen. Though by sheer luck, I only had to knock them out of the race once, that was nice.

>
>At the end of each Cycle, 2 triumvirates get the right to go to the top of a local mountain, sacred to the locals where they play their last match under the watch of 2 guardians that explain the rites to the teams and judge if they are qualified to ascend back to freedom.
Don't forget that it's heavily implied that the guardians are heavily implied to be stars, incarnated in human form. They're named "Tariq", an Arabic name for the morning star, and "Celeste", Portugese for "heavenly". They've also got intimate knowledge of the movement of the stars, Tariq's eyes are said by the narration to be the exact same color as the bindings on the Book of Rites, and in the ending song they say that they'll return to the sky now that their duties are done. Also, as a pretty bad pun, you could say that how their duties keep them apart mean they're star-crossed lovers.

>star-crossed lovers
oh my god

>It reached a point where vagrants and people that disagreed with certaing customs would qualify to be exiled for life
Not to mention hitting a wealthy person like Ignarius did, or just peeing on a statue like Barker.

Or quite literally being exiled for turning traitor to the Highwings and having the gall to expect the Commonwealth to hold their end of the bargain.

I loved the setting so much. It had everything I love, high magic, crystals and weird environments, giant monster corpses, ancient civilizations. I would read the shit out of a book based on the setting (same applies to all Supergiant games)

I think I realized how fucking amazing SuperGiant's lore people were when I realized that Zia's theme was an Ura war march she likely heard from her older siblings and family.

I had a moment of disassociation where I realized they had incidentally served the backstory of the Cael - Ura war in a single song.

I think it's just one guy that does the writing. Greg Kasavin.

I've posted about it before but this is my favorite BBEG, love ripping off the character.
youtube.com/watch?v=0DviyuGNeWc

>So, who of us should go first?
>How about... me?

I have used his voice and mannerisms many times in my campaigns, always to great reception.

I've also stolen the way he talks to the player through proxies to deliver his monologues as a method to successfully do my own speeches without my players interrupting. Really, everything about Royce is fantastic.

I'm proud to admit I was dunked.

What a finale.

I plan on using a similar aesthetic for some mini-tournament plotline that may be coming up in my game. I dig the religious ceremonial garb and language related to the rites.

If you don't do "The Voice", I'm going to be disappoint-

Sorry.

user! It is not REQUIRED that you perform your plot in the manner of the ARCHJUSTICE... But it would be unwise...

Bastion 2 when?

Eh, I'd rather they keep trying weird new shit than retread old ground desu. Sequels may be safer from a sales perspective but in terms of quality it can be hard to hit that sweet spot where the original is improved without becoming bloated, at least when the original is good (as Bastion is).

Bastion left off woth a pretty sweet sequel hook. Sailing the skys, going on adventures with the crew, maybe even seeing the motherland. After all the calamiity wasnt world wide

It wasn't a sequel hook, it was an open ending. It should stay open.

>Not liking pamitha
Boy I will fight you

Also apparently demons got hooves and claws, with getting much more buff. And if they leave the downside it'll all go away.

It really is an excellent game stories, one of the few that made me kinda depressed when I was done.

WHEN THE STARS ALIGN

So Jodariel will no longer be T H I C C? Man, I made the right choice in not getting her freedom.

>So Jodariel will no longer be T H I C C?
She never was, retarded memespewer.

Nah she's not chub, she's RRRIIPT as hell.
But yeah that shit goes away.

>Posting best girl.
You mean second-best, right?

>ywn spend your days roaming the downside with Sandra
why are we here, just to suffer?
...
oh right

Saw this game on steam, thinking of getting this or shovel Knight, thougts?

You forgot their brooches. I don't have the sprites right now though.

They're both good games, but very different.

Pyre is very dialogue-driven with great characters and an interesting story. The actual gameplay is really fun IMO, but also pretty limited. Shovel Knight is an extremely competently made side-scroller with quite a lot of content and some great (free) DLC.

If you don't have any real preference towards one or the other, I'd go with Shovel Knight, simply because it'll probably keep you busy longer.

Giant HO SHIT moment. Of the Supergiant games, Bastion is still my favorite though. It's just the right measure of fun, bleak and comfy. Second fave game of all time.

Never mind.

...

All of Supergiant's games have pretty interesting settings but yeah Pyre's backstory seemed prime for a campaign.

Royce's voicework is incredible.

What is it with Supergiant and never touching their IPs again. I get that they don't want to make sequels, since they wrapped up the stories satisfactorily by the end of Bastion and Transistor, but that doesn't mean that there can't be spin offs or DLC

>Except Pamitha
How can you have any exceptions?
Literally every character was fantastic
youtube.com/watch?v=LNCiUwNAgtk

>Don't forget that it's heavily implied that the guardians are heavily implied to be stars, incarnated in human form
They are actually the Sun(Celeste) and the Moon(Tariq).

Why makes sequels when they can make new IP's?

Really depends on what you like. One is a word heavy sports game and the other is an attempt to retake the design of the old 2d platforming classics.

Also SK has chiptunes which everyone says are great but honestly they're kinda bland and forgettable.

And fora VN like game, pyre doesnt let you have a lot of input. I mean truly your greatest avtual influence on story and game is shaving a dogs mustache, thats how little you can actually infuence the conversations.

It really depends. Dialogues also give buffs and debuffs for each incoming rite.

Also, there's at least one endgame decision that relies on you speaking to a certain character as often as possible, conversations that aren't prompted by the UI.


But all the big consequences in the story happen due to the results of the rites matches, yes.

Alright, im playing hollow knight rn, 70 hours playing, fuckin love the game, gotta git gudder though

Demon isn't a race as much as it's a mutation. And the mutation seems to be really just great horns and turning xbox hueg
Eh, spin offs, in the same universe but no related to the old story, sure, but I agree with no sequels. Sequels 99% of the time just aren't as good as the previous thing.

>Sequels 99% of the time just aren't as good as the previous thing.
Personally I greatly prefer the way SG does things, but I think you're wrong here. For video games at least, the 2nd game is where they refine the formula of the 1st, and is typically the best game in any given series (see: Baldur's Gate, Fallout, Thief, Street Fighter - actually 3rd strike is the best but whatever -, Sonic, Tony Hawk... I can go on, but all these have better sequels than the first game.)
When it comes to most other forms of media sure, but video games are the exception. The gameplay of all their games would probably benefit from a sequel to fine-tune them, even if the story and settings would suffer. That said, I feel like the story and setting in SG games is half the reason to play them, so a sequel to most of them could very well be just a weaker experience that better gameplay won't be able to make up for (I really don't see a Transistor sequel working at all based on the information we have, for example; that world is ded).

While it's for the best that SG games are one-and-done titles, it would be wrong to say that sequels, at least in the context of video games, are almost never as good.

>Not talking about the Forever War in the Sea with hundreds of Sea knights fighting forever

>And the mutation seems to be really just great horns and turning xbox hueg
They also have hooves, apparently. Jodariel looks like she skipped leg day.

I wonder if they're still skin

The setting of the game is fantastic. I just wish that if you got the bad ending there were more consequences than just people not getting back downside and a few more people getting killed by harpies

>Trusting that image
>Or any of the credit art
While cute, the credit artist miscoulored pamithas hair and big berta isnt even big.

The art is made by the same person who did the rest of the game, and the demon model during the Rites has skinny goat legs as well anyway.

I still don't trust the credit art.
Best girl isn't big!

But Bertrude isn't particularly large during the Rites either.

She's at least taller than the humans and almost as wide as demons.

Yeah.

Transistor was better.

Lol transistor was the worst game they put out. Not saying its bad, but not as good as the others

Fuck off Pyre had way worse gameplay than Transistor, a worse story and a worse soundtrack.

No.

Yes. I bet you were one of those faggots who kept losing functions because you cant play for shit.

>Losing anything when Mask completely breaks the game

Transistor was a cool idea but the gameplay was just really poorly designed. The real time/turn based mix was more frustrating than fun, and there were so many ways to completely break it that it would take effort not to stumble on one of them by accident.

Pyre's gameplay is kind of the opposite, in that the idea sounds fucking lame but the execution is very well-done. Not particularly deep and it can still be broken relatively easily, but it's way better than Transistor's both in design and execution.

I still love both though.

I disagree, I loved the mix in transistor and the depth of function customization made it more lovely.

Can we talk about how the real campaign to be played in this setting is about the Scribes? Pyre reminds me of the original Dark Souls in that regard: the setting takes place in the far future of an absolutely fucking awesome tabletop campaign about dudes ascending to demigodhood and smacking down giant monsters that take months to kill.

All of the arenas where the Rites take place are centuries-old boss fight arenas, and there's a cosmic horror from beyond the stars slowly regenerating until it can take its vengeance, and if you don't think any of this is the coolest shit then get out of my face.

The customization was great, but its poor design also made it broken as fuck. Some combos are almost completely useless while others can beat anything without even trying.

The turn-based elements were a nice idea but again, the implementation was awkward and really didn't live up to its potential.

No, i was one of the faggots who didn't lose any functions because some combos were broken as fuck, esp. with the backstab bonus. I bet you don't even plat with all idols/limiters/stars. Pfft, get on my level, you casual as fuck scrub

>Pfft, get on my level
Its a bit hard to drill down that far without proper equipment

This, this kind of mythos is the absolute best. Pyre reminded me of Glorantha in that regard, and it just made me want that demigod/world-chiseling campaign even more. I've been thinking what system would fit that best, Exalted?

Before the salt and roiling sea, the moon began to cry
The valley ran with sorrowful tears, and filled the waters high.
The misty morning over the brine, belies a leaden sky.
The stars all hide away from the chill, until the evening rise.

The place where Plurnes scuttled her foe, the doomed ship still resides.
The titan met her end on it's prow, forsaken by the tides.
In death she leaves her stain on the place, the tempest never dies.
Her final throes in shivers and shakes, a thousand years gone by.

Yup.

Since there's no thread for this elsewhere I kinda want to ask here.

Does the liberation rite song play differently depending on who you fight?
Because while I wasn't exactly listening I swear to god I hear team specific phrases here and there.

yes

Neat.

Also from the ending it sounds as if the commonwealth might be a bit more technologically advanced than given, sounds of cars and what looks like vapor trails.

So there's that.

Yes, and the music changes to reflect each team's theme as well. Accusers have the harp motif, Dissidents have the electric guitar, Essence have the flamenco hand clapping, and so forth.

Hmmmmm.