Incline Larian's Dragon Commander - Released

[Heresiarch]

.40 patch for GOG was out and .55 is in beta. Both aim at improving the AI.

For people who thinks that the game is poorly designed, I think it's not the case at all. On the contrary, the game is very well designed in a ton of details. Every single political/waifu/general decisions along with the research of most of the technologies and dragon skills have their own headlines in the daily newspaper and they all crack me up. I know Larian is very good at writing humorous stuff but this still amaze me. Also, the game do have C&C which have heavy impact. Although they don't have game-changing impact, like blocking out units/skills to use or killing off NPCs or even change the ending, the story and characters do have very apparent changes with your decisions. For example, AFAIK all the waifus have two different personalities and new clothings to unlock depending on your interactions with her, with the undead waifu can have 5 different outcomes. Also, all four generals have 3 different ending personalities too. Some people complain that the ending doesn't change, I think that's not true, because the game do have different ending-slides of some sort. By the time you finish the game you can talk to all your NPCs and they all have 3 different ending dialogues with you depending on the final outcomes, which is set by how you interacted with them throughout the game. That's almost the same as seeing how people and places turn out in Fallout's end-slides.

I hope the game can see a DLC or expansion pack, especially including an imp princess. I can imagine she'll be an Japanese h-game loli-style princess to bang interact with.

I'm replaying Divinity 2: DKS now and the Larian style is simply beautiful. Larian put so much effort in fleshing out details (especially in dialogues) that's simply a rarity in these days.

 

[VonVentrue]

I agree for the most part Heresiarch, the game does feel like a coherent whole rather than a patchwork of contradictory gameplay styles and all the little touches here and there further amplify the positive feelings generated by the entire experience - with that said, there are certain aspects of its design which I'm not particularly fond of, or should I say - I wish they were expanded upon a bit.
For instance, the "turn-based world map" layer (arguably the best and the most interesting part of the game alongside the interactions taking place aboard the Raven) is begging for more depth and a wider array of strategic options. Maybe it's just me, but I found it simplistic to a fault - sure, things flow at a brisk pace, but the toys to play around with simply aren't there.

DC's more than the sum of its parts, but an expansion would certainly go a long way towards ironing out such problems.

 

[Name]

Finished the game, wondrous production value, if Original Sin can live up to this, it will be glorious.
The main storyline is really confusing, like the Architect

Spoiler

seems to be set up to be the main antagonist but then the Demon takes his place making him totally irrelevant.

Also I don't quite understand the map design of those three chapters,

Spoiler

especially the third one Raven's Domain seems to be a variation of the first one Orcha but there is no explanation how the new countries and their populace of various races pop up from thin air.

Also the game seems to tie in to the Divinity lore rather loosely. The World Map from second chapter has no obvious connection to those in the RPG series (which are connected by Aleroth), and the only cameo character seems to be Maxos?
The C&C seems to be rather uneven, some consequenses like gold penalty is serious, while that of luck and population is tame. Actually the only seirous one I encounter seems to a bug,

Spoiler

after 10% of my army are hanged by Catherine, all my single unit garrison disappear from my map. Luckily I already surround the enemy capital at that time.

Also all the characters have no part in the actual main storyline, especially the princesses, which is a pity.
And why only one general out of four can participate in combat in one turn? Also there is the bug that if you save on the pre-battle overview panel, after reloading all options (commander, generals, imperial army) are available again.
Still this is the best TBS/RTS/action hybrid I have ever seen. The auto-resolve is not only useful but mandatory due to participation limit, and RTS battle is meaningful as player can turned drastic odds against AI using dragon, unit abilities and cards. I never feel tired of battles unlike I did in XCOM reboot or King Arthur RPG wargames.
So much brillant design that makes this game a coherent whole. Kudos to Larian for trying something this original and actually succeed.
Now when will Original Sin be released?

 

[Malakal]

Strategic map is ok, the rts part sucks but I really enjoyed obliterating stuff as a dragon so I guess its passable. But C&C were rather lackluster and I didnt get to do much shit with my undead wife. Not to mention she was naked half the time for some reason. Do vampires not need clothes now?

 

[Gord]

The C&C seems to be rather uneven, some consequenses like gold penalty is serious, while that of luck and population is tame.

It adds up, though, if you consistently go against the undead councelor. In chapter 3 it fucked up some autoresolves for me.
That might be the reason why most decisions have a relatively small impact on their own. Depending on which ones you get and how you decide, it can still end up being a pretty large effect.

 

[Shannow]

Hate the RTS part (probably because I suck at it). Don't find the rest interesting.
So: meh.

 

[Stabbey]

Finished the game, wondrous production value, if Original Sin can live up to this, it will be glorious.
The main storyline is really confusing, like the Architect

Spoiler

seems to be set up to be the main antagonist but then the Demon takes his place making him totally irrelevant.

Also I don't quite understand the map design of those three chapters,

Spoiler

especially the third one Raven's Domain seems to be a variation of the first one Orcha but there is no explanation how the new countries and their populace of various races pop up from thin air.

Also the game seems to tie in to the Divinity lore rather loosely. The World Map from second chapter has no obvious connection to those in the RPG series (which are connected by Aleroth), and the only cameo character seems to be Maxos?
The C&C seems to be rather uneven, some consequenses like gold penalty is serious, while that of luck and population is tame. Actually the only seirous one I encounter seems to a bug,

Spoiler

after 10% of my army are hanged by Catherine, all my single unit garrison disappear from my map. Luckily I already surround the enemy capital at that time.

Also all the characters have no part in the actual main storyline, especially the princesses, which is a pity.
And why only one general out of four can participate in combat in one turn? Also there is the bug that if you save on the pre-battle overview panel, after reloading all options (commander, generals, imperial army) are available again.
Still this is the best TBS/RTS/action hybrid I have ever seen. The auto-resolve is not only useful but mandatory due to participation limit, and RTS battle is meaningful as player can turned drastic odds against AI using dragon, unit abilities and cards. I never feel tired of battles unlike I did in XCOM reboot or King Arthur RPG wargames.
So much brillant design that makes this game a coherent whole. Kudos to Larian for trying something this original and actually succeed.
Now when will Original Sin be released?

Spoiler #1:

The backstory in the manual explains this more clearly than the game does, but

Spoiler

the Architect made a deal with Corvus. Corvus would provide him with a poison to kill Aurora, but in exchange for possessing his body. The Corvus that we see is what is left of the Architect.

Spoiler #2:

Spoiler

Yeah, I don't get the new land appearing thing either, AND I think that it was a poor design decision from gameplay as well as story. I think that the population changing can be explained away as an influx of war refugees fleeing the rule of the insane siblings.

There is one map Yuthul Gor which has the same name, but that doesn't seem to match anything from the Divinity series. Then again, this is set about 10,000 years before the main Divinity series. How many countries on Earth have the same names as they did 2000 years ago?

Spoiler #3: That's a known bug and I've heard that it will be fixed "soon". Whether that means the next patch or one later, I don't know.

 

[Gord]

Spoiler

Yeah, I don't get the new land appearing thing either, AND I think that it was a poor design decision from gameplay as well as story. I think that the population changing can be explained away as an influx of war refugees fleeing the rule of the insane siblings.

There is one map Yuthul Gor which has the same name, but that doesn't seem to match anything from the Divinity series. Then again, this is set about 10,000 years before the main Divinity series. How many countries on Earth have the same names as they did 2000 years ago?

I always assumed that each chapter took place on another "continent" or group of islands. Of course, if that is the case, Larian might have shown us a map of the entirety of Rivellon...

That the maps don't seem to have connections to the earlier games isn't so new, btw.
In Divine Divinity, Aleroth is a small village in the woods, in Divinity 2: Ego Draconis, it's suddenly a rather large city in a more mountainous area (at least judging from the fjords you had to go through to get there). I think it's explained by MAGIC! somewhere.

 

[Raze]

In Divine Divinity, Aleroth is a small village in the woods, in Divinity 2: Ego Draconis, it's suddenly a rather large city in a more mountainous area (at least judging from the fjords you had to go through to get there). I think it's explained by MAGIC! somewhere.

Yes, the war with Damian and the Black Ring involved magic that reshaped the landscape. Aleroth was built up during the war due to its role in providing healing potions (kind of like a gold rush).
Of course, moving from a 2D isometric game to a 3D third person game where you can fly, it would have been strange to not invoke the 'because magic' argument and keep the essentially flat landscape of the first game.

 

[Heresiarch]

I think the game originally planned the Architect as the main antagonist, but due to budget constraint it got changed or cut. I know the Imp Princess was cut because of so.

I don't know why people think the RTS part to be sucky, I actually find it to be very well done. It serves pretty good as a Supreme Commander lite. The troops can be very confusing to look at because their strange design, I must admit at the beginning I can't even tell the difference between a Trooper and a Hunter, they all just look like steampunk spiderbots to me. But after a few battles they'll grow natural to look at. The camera is also quite bad, you can't zoom in much to look at the troops and scrolling over mountains may screw over the angle. Map variety is too few and the map size is very small, but I guess it's necessary as the game aims at limiting each RTS within 5 min it seems.

I guess the game could have even more potential, like seeing your NPC actually participate in battles or something. But then I think the current scope of the game is already quite good.

 

[Grunker]

lite.

And that's basically every gameplay element in the game for you, right there.

 

[Marquess Cornwallis]

Finished the game. It was pretty fun, and I admire Larian's courage for coming up with a completely wacky concept like this, but in retrospect I don't think it worked out all that well. I didn't really mind that none of the individual aspects had too much depth, eventually learned to like the action/RTS part (in reasonable doses), and I was looking forward to how certain storylines on the Raven would ultimately play out.

In chapter 3, it turned out that: the (undead) wife storyline wouldn't go anywhere, she'd just keep on repeating the same set of lines for the rest of the game; the plot of the race I favoured (imps) that appeared to promise something later on didn't go absolutely anywhere either (not even when the relations meter hit 100%); there would be no more things to research; the gold and especially cards carried over from chapter 2 made chapter 3 more or less a cakewalk (no need for RTS mode); and the Corvus story itself wasn't very compelling to say the least. All in all, it took me 21 hours to complete (with RTS speed slowed down to the minimum, too) which isn't much and certainly doesn't compare very favourably to either Divinity or Divinity 2, but, ironically, I think I would have preferred the game to be even shorter and focus more on replayability (end at chapter 2, not let you have all units, cards and dragon powers in one playthrough, give special race units/powers at 100%, etc.). Choosing a different wife and making a couple more different political decisions (and see a few that didn't turn up earlier) doesn't feel like enough of an incentive to play through the whole thing again.

 

[80Maxwell08]

So I finally got the box and I find out the disc version is locked to Steam. Making the box pointless since I was trying to get away from Steam. Thankfully the free digital version was a GOG key which was immediately used. Also apparently pre-ordering off their website gives you jack in comparison to pre-ordering elsewhere you get the DLC free. I guess that's one way to make the box's money back. Either way I don't think I'll be getting another box from Larian again.

 

[MicoSelva]

Weird, I thought the boxed version was DRM-free? That would make pirating the game as trivial as copying a DVD, though. But it still is as trivial as downloading it. Not much difference.

 

[80Maxwell08]

Weird, I thought the boxed version was DRM-free? That would make pirating the game as trivial as copying a DVD, though. But it still is as trivial as downloading it. Not much difference.

I can guarantee it isn't. Here's a couple of pictures.

Spoiler

 

[MicoSelva]

I am convinced.

 

[The Vanished One]

So I finally got the box and I find out the disc version is locked to Steam. Making the box pointless since I was trying to get away from Steam. Thankfully the free digital version was a GOG key which was immediately used. Also apparently pre-ordering off their website gives you jack in comparison to pre-ordering elsewhere you get the DLC free. I guess that's one way to make the box's money back. Either way I don't think I'll be getting another box from Larian again.

I too was a bit disappointed that the box is a Steam version, for the same reasons. Had trouble installing it from disc too. I guess they didn't want to set up a fourth version of the game. I miss the Old Days™, when you got the box and one serial key, and did not have to wrestle with third party DRMware to install your original game with your original discs.

As for the DLC, you should get it if you pre-ordered. I was missing it too, so I e-mailed support with my receipt and they quickly sorted it out.

Now, if only that DLC had the whole soundtrack in it... the music in the game is quite nice.

 

[Metro]

Boxes are so 90's.

 

[80Maxwell08]

So I finally got the box and I find out the disc version is locked to Steam. Making the box pointless since I was trying to get away from Steam. Thankfully the free digital version was a GOG key which was immediately used. Also apparently pre-ordering off their website gives you jack in comparison to pre-ordering elsewhere you get the DLC free. I guess that's one way to make the box's money back. Either way I don't think I'll be getting another box from Larian again.

I too was a bit disappointed that the box is a Steam version, for the same reasons. Had trouble installing it from disc too. I guess they didn't want to set up a fourth version of the game. I miss the Old Days™, when you got the box and one serial key, and did not have to wrestle with third party DRMware to install your original game with your original discs.

As for the DLC, you should get it if you pre-ordered. I was missing it too, so I e-mailed support with my receipt and they quickly sorted it out.

Now, if only that DLC had the whole soundtrack in it... the music in the game is quite nice.

Well I'm contacting support now. Thanks for the tip.

 

[Raze]

Also apparently pre-ordering off their website gives you jack in comparison to pre-ordering elsewhere you get the DLC free.

I think the Steam version should include the Imperial Edition, but the GOG key is for the standard version (one of the GOG moderators said the key was for the standard edition, anyway). I assume support can make sure you get the DLC, though.

Now, if only that DLC had the whole soundtrack in it... the music in the game is quite nice.

It is possible to get the missing tracks from the game files (see the larian forum topic Any chance for a complete soundtrack?).

 

[MicoSelva]

I started playing this for real, as Steam finally ceased downloading new patches every other day. I'm currently busy pissing off dwarves and undead.

But you know what, bros, this was the last time I have been following a game so closely during pre-release. I have seen and read so many previews, hand-offs and hand-ons on this, that I have spoiled half of the game for myself.

Spoiler

For example, I've had four council issues so far (conscription, deportation of criminals, health care and one other) and none of them were any surprise. And what's even worse, I know of at least three more that might appear, which I've already seen either (free press, gay marriage and 'herbal' medicine). I've also already known both non-council issues that have appeared so far (Edmund being sent to imps as a diplomatic envoy, and Catherine demanding equal payment for women).

Damn you, Internet!

I am rather enjoying the RTS part so far, even if it boils down to invading enemy country with armors and hunters, and using them to stall enemy forces until I amass a huge blob of troopers and destroy/take over everything. We'll see if the AI is able to counter this brilliant strategy at some point and force me to think of some other approach.

 

[pakoito]

Everything you're mentioning is Act 1 stuff. Act 2 is where the stuff gets funky.

 

[Malakal]

Personally I had way more problems with winning during the first act since my options were so limited then. Act II and III are easy in comparison.

 

[Jaedar]

I think the first 2 choices are always healthcare and conscription, and then it starts doing stuff randomly.

I think the difficulity of act 2 and 3 depend very much on how much resources and research you bring into them.

 

[Admiral jimbob]

Wow I am terrible at this game. I suck at RTSs generally, but this is the first one I've played in a while with no pause time option. My brain cannot handle this