Dragon Commander

[Lucas]

It will be out later today on Steam and GOG It's out now (plus the official Larian store (https://www.larianvault.com/ ).

Official Site: http://www.divinitydragoncommander.com/

Launch Trailer (which is more akin to a quick overview of all the game features): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LvnLAimI9PQ

Total Biscuit's lenghty video preview: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bQqs0Vr0eUs

From the guys who created the Dvinity CRPG series; it's a blend of real-time strategy, RPG, kingdom management...And you COMMAND A JETPACK DRAGON   . You can also play it multiplayer.

I got the Imperial Edition for free (I chose to obtain a GOG code) because I backed the KS for "Divinity: Original Sin" (although, at the moment, the code only gave me the normal edition, but I think it will get sorted out eventually). Still downloading, size it's 9.6GB

[Sky]

Isn't this basically the dragon form gameplay from Divinity 2?

[Pennilenko]

Isn't this basically the dragon form gameplay from Divinity 2?

Looks like it.

[Ard]

It's really not.  It's actually somewhere between the strategy level map gameplay of rise of legends or Warhammer 40k Dark Crusade and the tactical gameplay of Supreme Commander.   The dragon form is really kinda fragile, and is mostly used for buffing your own units, tactical strikes, or harassing the other player's dragon if he's out in it.  It's a lot closer to the commander unit in Supreme Commander than the dragon form in Divinity 2.

edit:  or really similar to the leaders in the brutal legend rts battles also, if that helps.

[Lucas]

Here's the foreword in the game manual, just to give you an idea on how the developer conceived this project:

Dear player

First of all, let me heartily thank you for buying this game! By doing so you are supporting the designs of an independent developer, and that makes all of us at Larian Studios very happy indeed! I’d even go so far as to say that without the support of players like you, Dragon Commander would never have seen the light of day because this game is very much the type of game a traditional publisher would shy away from. Actually, we’ve had to self-publish this one because otherwise it wouldn’t get made, and it’s the support of gamers like you that makes it possible for developers like us to make these one-of-a-kind games. Somebody recently wrote that Dragon Commander is like a boy’s childhood dream come true: you get to become a dragon with a jetpack, you get to conquer the world and you get to charm a princess. Pretty much everything a young boy dreams of :)

To be fair, the writer of that phrase actually managed to capture a large part of the vision behind Dragon Commander. We set out to create an experience in which you are put in the shoes of an emperor. Our grand idea was to let you make important military, political and personal choices, to devise great strategies, lead your troops into battle and supportthem with formidable powers. In other words: for YOU to feel like you are truly becominga dragon commander. The method behind creating that experience was to mix several gameplay elements from our personal favourite genres. Dragon Commander takes its cue from strategy board games, real time strategy classics and of course: role playing games, including our own.

It’s funny that this type of medley is rather unique nowadays because in a sense it is the kind of game a lot of us grew up with. Back then, video games didn’t have to fit within the confines of one specific, well-defined genre, and developers everywhere were experimenting with all kinds of new forms of gameplay. For a variety of reasons it’s a trendthat didn’t continue, but it’s one we have fond memories of, and Dragon Commander is ourgo at trying to re-introduce this style of game. We really had a blast making Dragon Commander, and we’re very excited to finally be able to place the game in your hands! We’re convinced there are many features and possibilitiesin Dragon Commander that nobody expects, and we hope some of them will make you truly think about how you would organize your world were you to be the one in charge.

We furthermore hope you’ll enjoy and remember your game sessions; hope you’ll be surprised each time you play the game again and that above all, that it brings you great gaming pleasure! See you online on the battlefield!

Sincerely,
Swen ‘Lar’ Vincke

[Sky]

It's really the RTS part that kills it for me, I think. I just really dislike that genre.

[Lucas]

It's really the RTS part that kills it for me, I think. I just really dislike that genre.

Yeah, I'm not really a big fan of it either (one notable exception is the first Company of Heroes game...Still have to purchase n.2), but from what I understand every portion of the game is pretty accessible. Just like they wrote in the foreword, their approach seems to be similar to the old Cinemaware titles (Defender of the Crown, Rocket Ranger, etc....Damn, I'm old). At the same time, it's somewhat risky because, just like in Spore, your game might lack depth in every single "mini-portion" of it. For what is worth, though, the vast majority of the reviews seem to like the game.

[Tebonas]

Same here, anybody know how viable it is to let your Generals do the fighting for you if you want to bypass the RTS part?