Divinity: Dragon Commander Review

WMDogma

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Divinity: Dragon Commander Review

Political intrigue and character-based narrative meets average RTS action.

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Stabby Joe

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The political side is actually the key feature that has made me interested in this game. From the previews so far it was a no brainer the strategy side would be light but with that, the choices and the arcade dragon flying, I doubted each part would have the depth as a whole game of a single genre.

I wouldn't mind if they release a demo but I can see myself picking this one up eventually either way.
 

Kotep

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Apr 3, 2011
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I'm pretty sure they plan to put out a demo, though since they've been patching the game for beta players up until release, I can understand why they haven't put together a demo code yet.

It's interesting the way that people weigh the parts of the game as separate things. I suppose it's difficult to weigh a game that's a mashup of three genres holistically, but a lot of the reviews of the game so far have picked it into its constituent parts and weighed each of them on their own.

One point I'd disagree with in the review, though, is that tactical use of your dragon form is fun as hell. Sure, you can't spend a whole battle in dragon form, but it's a lot of fun to drop in, blast some units, take out an advancing force with Eye of the Patriarch, then stop a factory from working with Sabotage and slip away before the anti-air guns start attacking.
 

shrekfan246

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May 26, 2011
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It kinda seems to be standard fare for Larian games that the actual gameplay tends to be functional (if sometimes only barely) and passable with some exciting, fun bits but overall nothing really pulling, but some other feature of the game tries really hard to make up for it.

Luckily, I'm terrible at RTS games so I'm not really looking for anything really in-depth anyway, and the great political intrigue in between combat missions is actually something I had no idea was part of the game until I saw TotalBiscuit's video on it, and that really made me even more interested in the game that I had initially been.

Hopefully they'll be able to support the game further down the line with more interesting gameplay somehow, but the narrative strength definitely seems like it would keep me interested.
 

masticina

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Jan 19, 2011
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I seen total biscuits video about this and eh you know if it is cheap enough it might be worth yes. It isn't on my "I must own it" list. more on my "If the price is right" list.

So you guys are saying this game is perfect for Zerg Rushes? Awesome!
 

Abomination

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I had this pre-ordered and every time there was an update I jumped into the game to see if the single player campaign had been released with the beta.

Looks like I'll have to wait for that when it releases tomorrow.

From what I've done with the beta playing battles I find them quite... easy. At first you have to micromanage your units to ensure rock-paper-scissors is used against the enemy for early advantage and play tug-o-war with the building nodes on the map. When you hold about 75% of the map's buildings just mass an army and squash the computer.

Even battles where I had next to no troops I was able to smash an enemy who threw 20 units at me just by paying attention to the rock-paper-scissors aspect of the RTS battles.

I employ my dragon form for the final pushes after I tell all my units to "attack this location" smack dab in the enemy base.

It's functional, somewhat fun... but ultimately just a vessel to contain what I have seen to be a great story campaign.
 

Thomas Barnsley

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Might get this actually (if I had a good PC it would be downloading now). I actually don't like/am not good at strategy games, and it sounds quite easy to operate overall. The diplomacy sounds like the really cool part.
 

Agayek

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Oct 23, 2008
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Huh. I got this for free from backing Divinity: Original Sin on Kickstarter and didn't think much of it at the time. It just didn't interest me at all, but if the single player campaign is anything like this review describes, I'm probably going to love this game. Good to know.
 

GabeZhul

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Wow, this actually sounds really interesting. I am not really a fan of the RTS genre anyway (I am more of a TBS person myself), so I don't really care about how the system might be lacking by whoever else's standards, the political and diplomatic system of this game alone sounds like it would be fun to try it. I think I will get to in in a few weeks or so, by that time hopefully there will be a few patches/troubleshoots/guides out as well.
 

Mausthemighty

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Agayek said:
Huh. I got this for free from backing Divinity: Original Sin on Kickstarter and didn't think much of it at the time. It just didn't interest me at all, but if the single player campaign is anything like this review describes, I'm probably going to love this game. Good to know.
I had that option too, but the game wasn't really attractive to me. I like RTS's but I found the whole Dragon with rockets thing a bit weird. So I didn't pledge for that package.

Maybe I'll buy it when the next Steamsale arrives to steal my wallets contents...
 

Fdzzaigl

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The political aspect of this game sounds very interesting. However, I feel like Larian should start to venture out more beyond their Divinity franchise. You clearly see how it's getting difficult for them to add anything fresh to it imo.

I mean: Divine Divinity, Beyond Divinity, Divinity II (Ego Draconis, Flames of Vengeance, Saga), Divinity: Dragon Commander and the upcoming Divinity: Original Sin.
 

Sangnz

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Fdzzaigl said:
The political aspect of this game sounds very interesting. However, I feel like Larian should start to venture out more beyond their Divinity franchise. You clearly see how it's getting difficult for them to add anything fresh to it imo.

I mean: Divine Divinity, Beyond Divinity, Divinity II (Ego Draconis, Flames of Vengeance, Saga), Divinity: Dragon Commander and the upcoming Divinity: Original Sin.
I actually kind of like how they stay in the same universe but mix it up, especially with Dragon Commander going outside the RPG zone.

Would be nice if other Devs/Pubs would do the same thing to their established IPs I think the Dead Space universe would be rocking as a turn based tactical RPG, how about a space based RTS/TBS in the Mass Effect universe?
 

Nikolaz72

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Apr 23, 2009
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Really Offensive Name said:
Damn... This game looks like allot of fun... I don't care, I'm still going to buy it. Just one of those games you gotta gamble with I guess.
Games friggin awesome. Glad you weren't discouraged by a threestar review :p
 

Kahani

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WMDogma said:
Dragon Commander has all the makings of a great game... Unfortunately, despite having robust characters and some light-hearted political intrigue in the narrative to hold your attention, Dragon Commander's gameplay is more boring and generic than anything else.
So, a perfect continuation of the Divinity series then, which could mostly be described as "TES, but less fun". Except this is instead "Total War/Dawn of War, but less fun".
 

Aedes

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Sep 11, 2009
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I suck at RTS. Always had, but the Dragon with Jetpacks thing got me at first sight.
Seems you can't stay long on it though. Shame.

Either way, I'm getting it as soon as Steam goes with a crazy discount price on it.
 

Abomination

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Been playing for two hours now, has a pretty generic setup but the characters really make it a fun setup.

Special note on the musical score of this game - it's actually brilliant. An incredibly impressive variety of classical, techno, and jazz - sometimes all combined.