Tyrann is the first French RPG and it’s not just the language barrier that makes it a time-consuming experience. Each of the dungeon levels are comprised of a 24 x 24 grid and populated with fixed encounters which are both deadly and difficult.
Tyrann provides a rather unique take on the dungeon crawling experience. In my experience with dungeon crawlers thus far, you map and explore each dungeon level, gaining experience as you do so, and you descend deeper into the dungeon, or ascend a tower as in the case of Shadowkeep, by finding a stairway or entrance. Each level then usually unveils secrets and presents a fresh set of challenges. In Tyrann, there are thus far no secrets to uncover. The challenge of each level exists in the combat experience. The monsters are difficult, and they can paralyze and poison your characters. The difficulty quotient in staying alive here is about on par with the Wizardry I experience. There are, like previous dungeon crawlers, stairways to find which will lead you deeper into the labyrinth. Where this game becomes unique is in its save feature. When you save your party and then load for another foray into the dungeon the game scans your party’s average experience points total and then determines which dungeon level you’re going to begin the game on. For example, once you have been grinding for a while and gaining levels, the next time you load the game, it will inform you that when you descend the stairs from the village you will begin on level 3.
There is nothing in the manual or in the game itself that explains your reason for venturing into the dungeon other than that there is a mystery to be solved there. I can’t help but feel that each dungeon level thus far is merely a “training mission” setting you up for something much larger. The third dungeon level introduced traps. They can cause a lot of damage and even death. Once you dispose of a trap you don’t have to worry about it again unless you save your party and then load again. When you load a saved party, it resets all of the fixed encounters on each level. This is somewhat necessary in order to help you gain the experience needed for the next level.
The magic system is quite different from anything that I’ve experience from these early games as well. In Wizardry and other similar dungeon crawlers, as your spell casters gain in levels, they acquire spell slots which are specific in number. When spell casters gain a new level in Tyrann, they acquire new spells as well which is nothing unique. What IS unique is that the number of spells your able to cast randomly changes from day to day. Once a spell caster’s spells are depleted, he or she must rest and then after waking up they have to read their spell book. Once you read your spell book the game then tells you how many spells you are allotted. This number is different each time. For example, currently I find myself mapping out the fifth dungeon level. My magic user currently has a sleep spell, a location spell, a fireball spell, and lastly a fear spell. Each time my spell caster sleeps and then reads his spell book my allocation for each respective spell might be: 6, 2, 2, 2. Or it could be: 1, 5, 3, 2, 3. The randomness is all over the place.
The fourth dungeon level was a bit of a conundrum. I never did find the stairway going down to the fifth level nor did I find any secret doors. Each of the levels thus far have fit to a 24 x 24 grid whereas the fourth level is much smaller. I feel like I’ve missed something, but I was able to finally gain enough experience where the game merely started me on the fifth level, but for a time I was trapped on the fourth dungeon level.
I am currently mapping out the fifth dungeon level. Each level has taken me roughly 2 to 3 hours to completely map out. There are many more traps on the fifth dungeon level which has made exploration extremely difficult and tedious. I’ll hopefully have more to report to you in my next update. Wish me luck.
Until next time…