Divinity: Dragon Commander

[billyro]

Hi everyone.

 

I want to buy a strategy game, but can't find many that I like the look of. I recently came across Divinity: Dragon Commander and I think it looks ok. I watched The Angry Joe Show review it and he gave 7/10.

 

Basically, has anyone here played it and can any of you recommend it? I don't really want to spend $40 on a game I don't know much about and I'm unsure when it will next be on sale.

 

Also please no spoilers. :)

 

Thanks. Also, you may discuss the game in general if you please. :P

[Vindekarr]

Never played it, but a 7.5 isn't amazing on the Joe'ometre. My recommendations for a strategy game(one of my favourite genres) are Supreme Commander Forged Alliance, XCOM: Enemy Unknown and Galactic Civilisations II for Sci-FI and Civilisations, any Total War game and Mount N Blade for medieval/fantasy.

 

Supreme Commander is a game that's aged gracefully. I've never seen an RTS achieve such an amazing sense of scale, let alone maintain 60 FPS while doing it. Almost free now, no reason not to try,

 

XCOM is not the prettiest game you'll ever see, and a little quirky, but it's darn near perfect. It's just brilliant; it's turn based, yet actually manages to have a greater sense of flow than most real-time strategy games. Sure, the graphics are a bit dated, but it's extremely cinematic, the core strategy gameplay is finessed down to a fine art, and you get very drawn into the story. Your soldiers start to really matter, each one is a precious resource, and each loss is permanent-and devestating.

 

Galactic Civilisations II may be old, but it's still bloody good. It's complex enough to give you a headache at times, but once you learn the basics(takes about 3 hours) it's highly intuitive, and as polished as can be. The customisation in this game is just out of this world. It's highly moddable, you can design your own species, and every single ship you use can be designed by you from the ground up, including, if you're really crazy about it, designing it in Blender then patching it into the game via the SDK.

Edited August 13, 2013 by Vindekarr

[billyro]

But have you played it? I like the look of it but I just want to be sure. :)

[Zewp]

It's not a bad game, just incredibly shallow. The campaign map is like a basic version of Risk. You can buy structures for your provinces, then you can recruit units in your provinces and then send those units to enemy provinces which initiates the RTS segment of the game. In the RTS segment you build units, then rush to capture expansion points and try to clear the enemy off the map, which wins you the province. The dragon isn't all that great either. You fly around, basically commanding your units while you get to destroy a few enemy units. It feels a bit like a gimmick, to be honest.

 

It's a very simplistic and, in my opinion, not worth the $40. It feels like it has a lot of potential, but is ultimately let down by a lack of depth.

[billyro]

I haven't played Risk or any strategy game for years, so I guess I probably won't notice. Also, I tend to enjoy the story/dialogue aspect of games more than the actual gameplay these days. The choices and stuff look difficult to make and I like that - is the impact on the story great?

 

And is it in any way similar to Age of Empires is the RTS gameplay? That's what it looks like but I can't really tell. As I said I haven't played a strategy game in years so I'm not sure how I'll go, but anything like Age of Empires or Starcraft should be fine for me.

 

But, you're basically saying that the game is passable, right? Anyway, I'll probably wait until it goes on sale or I get tremendously bored and can't resist.

[lonewolfkai]

It's not a bad game, just incredibly shallow. The campaign map is like a basic version of Risk. You can buy structures for your provinces, then you can recruit units in your provinces and then send those units to enemy provinces which initiates the RTS segment of the game. In the RTS segment you build units, then rush to capture expansion points and try to clear the enemy off the map, which wins you the province. The dragon isn't all that great either. You fly around, basically commanding your units while you get to destroy a few enemy units. It feels a bit like a gimmick, to be honest.

 

It's a very simplistic and, in my opinion, not worth the $40. It feels like it has a lot of potential, but is ultimately let down by a lack of depth.

Sounds like a game you wait for the price to drop down on.... hmmm, maybe like a $10 discount game.

[Zewp]

I haven't played Risk or any strategy game for years, so I guess I probably won't notice. Also, I tend to enjoy the story/dialogue aspect of games more than the actual gameplay these days. The choices and stuff look difficult to make and I like that - is the impact on the story great?

 

And is it in any way similar to Age of Empires is the RTS gameplay? That's what it looks like but I can't really tell. As I said I haven't played a strategy game in years so I'm not sure how I'll go, but anything like Age of Empires or Starcraft should be fine for me.

 

But, you're basically saying that the game is passable, right? Anyway, I'll probably wait until it goes on sale or I get tremendously bored and can't resist.

 

Not even close. There's no base-building or resource gather in the traditional sense. You've got expansion points on the map which you need to rush to get, and each expansion point allows you to build two unit construction buildings and one citadel, which gives you recruits, which is a resource used for constructing more units. Every RTS game is basically just you churning out units while capturing new expansion points and steadily destroying the enemy who is trying to do the same thing.

 

It's not a bad game, but it's very shallow. At least that's my experience from the 2 hours I've played. There's some 4X elements in the forum of diplomacy and unit/dragon upgrades, but the gameplay is ultimately very shallow.

[billyro]

Ah true? Very well, waiting for sale it is.

 

The shallow gameplay somehow appeals to my laziness though. :P

[billyro]

Never played it, but a 7.5 isn't amazing on the Joe'ometre. My recommendations for a strategy game(one of my favourite genres) are Supreme Commander Forged Alliance, XCOM: Enemy Unknown and Galactic Civilisations II for Sci-FI and Civilisations, any Total War game and Mount N Blade for medieval/fantasy.

 

Supreme Commander is a game that's aged gracefully. I've never seen an RTS achieve such an amazing sense of scale, let alone maintain 60 FPS while doing it. Almost free now, no reason not to try,

 

XCOM is not the prettiest game you'll ever see, and a little quirky, but it's darn near perfect. It's just brilliant; it's turn based, yet actually manages to have a greater sense of flow than most real-time strategy games. Sure, the graphics are a bit dated, but it's extremely cinematic, the core strategy gameplay is finessed down to a fine art, and you get very drawn into the story. Your soldiers start to really matter, each one is a precious resource, and each loss is permanent-and devestating.

 

Galactic Civilisations II may be old, but it's still bloody good. It's complex enough to give you a headache at times, but once you learn the basics(takes about 3 hours) it's highly intuitive, and as polished as can be. The customisation in this game is just out of this world. It's highly moddable, you can design your own species, and every single ship you use can be designed by you from the ground up, including, if you're really crazy about it, designing it in Blender then patching it into the game via the SDK.

 

Oh, you updated your post!

 

Joe also gave the game a bad-ass seal of approval, so that must speak for it a little bit. :tongue:

 

Yeah, with those strategy games you've suggested: I'm not really into sci-fi much. It's just not my thing, really. Granted, XCOM: Enemy Unknown looks good and I was thinking of getting that too, but yeah I didn't.

 

Total War games look pretty good, but I haven't bought one yet. I'm still thinking about getting Total War: ROME 2 when it comes out/goes on sale.

 

I also tried a demo for Mount and Blade, and I didn't like the controls. Perhaps I'm too fussy.

 

 

EDIT: Whoops, forgot I already had a post at the end.

Edited August 16, 2013 by billyro

[bearhiderug]

Would like to see this game supported