All RPG fans know the series Divinity, has been blooming for many years under the supervision of craftsmen from Larian Studios. Recently, for some unknown reason, they decided to change the vector of development – after poetically composed stories about the adventures of lone heroes in a world full of non-linearity and humor Larian set her sights on a much larger project. Divinity: Dragon Commander is a full-fledged strategy interspersed with elements of RPG and board card games.
About dragons and people
Fortunately, the developers did not abandon the universe they invented. The events take place in the beloved Rivellon, which appears before us in its infancy, many centuries before the events of all the games in the series. In these ancient times, the world was saturated with a healthy steampunk atmosphere: magic here coexists with high technology. In the political arena, Rivellon is torn apart by feudal contradictions – the children of the wise emperor, who managed to unite the kingdom under his heel, are fighting for autocracy.
We turn out to be one of these kids vying for power. A half-breed dragon, a bastard by birth, our hero, controlling a small plot of land from the Raven ship soaring in the skies, must destroy all rivals and expand his domain to the whole of Rivellon. Actually, this is exactly what we will be doing throughout the game, step by step taking away pieces of land from our opponents. No plot intrigue – an ordinary feudal war game.
Scandals, investigations
More intriguing is the everyday life of the dragon inside the ship, which is secondary to the main storyline. Our ship is populated by assistants and advisers to the future emperor, with whom you can enter into dialogues. All the characters are very colorful and represent collective images of various political and social positions of our time. Conservatives, feminists, Greenpeace members – each of them will burden you with some kind of request almost every day, and any decision will affect the attitude towards the dragon not only of the crew, but of the whole world.
At almost every step we will have to make difficult choices. For example, the introduction of general conscription will be approved by pragmatic gnomes, but liberal lizards will condemn. It is impossible to please everyone – you have to act in accordance with personal moral principles and the situation at the front.
In general, diplomatic games in Dragon Commander are of paramount nature. The global map here is divided into countries, each of which is characterized by the number of citizens, income generated and dominant race. The attitude of a particular race towards us determines the level of population in the country where it dominates, which directly affects the conduct of battles on its territory. Also, the level of loyalty of generals who can be entrusted with command of the army during a battle depends on our diplomatic decisions.
However, besides dirty politics, there is something to do on the Raven. Conduct scientific research, discovering new types of “units”, learning dragon abilities, gossiping with the crew – all this adds variety to our military everyday life.
Rivellon Society Nonukcasinosites.co.uk/review/xtraspin-casino/ Cell
At the beginning of the second chapter, our subordinates will oblige the dragon to link his own destiny with the daughter of one of the ambassadors from different races. Each of the brides has her own problem – the representative of the undead dreams of a beautiful body, the elf has grown up under tight control and wants to drink fully from the cup of life, and so on. Your courtship of girls will also have a diplomatic effect – not every race will like the fact that their emperor, for example, gets his wife drunk. All stories are non-linear, original and captivating in the best traditions Larian Studios. At first you even regret that they only allow you to get married once..
But not for long. At a certain stage, the main character is introduced to Corvus – a cute demon who feeds on the suffering of people. For permission to wander in the heads of our subordinates, he promises us all sorts of bonuses. Yes, it’s unethical, sinful and not Christian at all, but what to do if Ophelia has become a human and the relationship with her has become obsolete? However, frequent appeals to Corvus will affect the popularity of the main character, so it is better not to stain your honor by communicating with the demon.
There are still some disadvantages in all the household appliances described above. Firstly, here you can weave diplomatic intrigues exclusively with your subjects. Conclude peace or some kind of non-aggression pact with the enemy, as in the same Total War, it is forbidden. We are in a state of permanent war with our opponents – there can be no victories achieved by diplomatic tricks here.
The moral dilemmas that the ambassadors pose are fascinating at first, but by the second half of the single-player campaign they become boring and turn into a professional burden. I no longer want to delve into the mountains of text that our subordinates throw at us. The empire is crumbling on all fronts, major battles are on the agenda, and these scoundrels are forcing us to solve some minor educational problems! You often make choices without delving into the essence, guided solely by strategic plans. At the moment, we need the support of the gnomes – we find out their opinion on a controversial issue and lobby for their interests.
Doesn’t set you up for active everyday activities and the monotony of what’s happening on the ship. Dragon Commander shows all his cards in the first hour and a half of the game. The ship’s routine follows a strict algorithm: we chat with ambassadors in the council hall, have a drink with the generals in the bar, have fun with the little wife and go on to fight. This procedure is repeated every turn and, due to the absence of any changes, quickly becomes boring.
Rivellon: Total War
But the strategic component of the game is seriously addictive and for a long time. Overall concept Divinity looks a lot like the one in the series Total War. In step-by-step mode, we move warrior figures along a map divided into countries and build buildings. There is no particular variety in the list of the latter – gold mines, increasing revenues from the country; barracks, allowing you to buy “units”; and all sorts of laboratories producing various types of cards that give us certain bonuses.
The cards in the game are illegal weapons, a trick that can radically change the balance of power. The only thing that distinguishes them from cheating is that the enemy also has this weapon in his arsenal. Cards come in various types – strategic ones will allow you to build a building for free or undermine the enemy’s economy, mercenary cards will give you a couple of extra units on the battlefield, and so on. This system brings a bit of unpredictable chaos to the strategic component Dragon Commander.
Military affairs
As for what’s happening on the tactical map, it looks quite original. Before us is a full-fledged RTS with its own “units” and mechanics. Each country where hostilities are taking place has a unique landscape and area. At the beginning of the battle, the conflicting parties have those troops that ended up in a specific territory during the turn-based stage. Their number determines our potential and chances of success. However, even with an army twice the size of the enemy, it is possible to lose. The fact is that the battles in Dragon Commander require clear knowledge of the abilities and skills of various types of “units”. For example, grenadiers are good against vehicles, but weak in battle with “hunters” who can easily deal with foot troops. There are more than a dozen types of soldiers here, and you need to spend a lot of time to understand their potential.
All troops are divided into three types: sea, land and air. Each of them is produced in a special type of building. The latter are built exclusively on special platforms, presented on the map in limited quantities. The strategic advantage will be given to the player who is able to capture more of these construction sites faster. Therefore, the battles in Dragon Commander represent continuous collisions of streams of “units” at key points.
There is only one resource in battles – recruits. Their initial number depends on the population of the country, which, in turn, is determined by the attitude of the dominant race in it towards you. This is how diplomacy is intertwined with the military part of the game. If you look like a worthless bastard in the eyes of some imps, you will get a low score, which is why your opponent will develop much more intensively. In addition, recruits are required in order to take on dragon form.
Thus, the chances of winning are determined by many factors, in particular the attitude of the dominant race towards you, the initial number of troops, battle cards, and player skill. All this creates a rather interesting and flexible system, thanks to which you can rely on your strengths. Even if you made a bunch of diplomatic blunders and have almost no armed forces in the conflict territory, you can get away with the help of magic cards that can throw you four tanks, or your own strategic genius. All these points need to be taken into account during the single player campaign.
Machines vs dragons
However, the same cannot be said about multiplayer. The diplomatic part has been completely cut out of it: there are no negotiations with advisers on the Raven. Accordingly, there are no single-player campaign features such as the attitude of races and generals in online battles. And yet, playing together becomes very exciting entertainment. Synchronization of player actions here is achieved as follows: everyone is given about ten minutes per turn to maneuver on the strategic map. After this, if an attack occurs during the turn, battles start. When four people take part in a party, and one player’s troops are not in the conflict territory, he begins the battle with zero starting “units”.
One way or another, competing with people is much more pleasant than competing with local artificial intelligence. Yes, sometimes the computer enemy pleasantly surprises by landing troops in unprotected areas, preparing powerful attacks, or unexpectedly using strong cards. But in other situations he makes the most ridiculous mistakes. For example, he attacks a huge army with a small group of soldiers, as a result of which he senselessly loses his own “units”. On the tactical battle map, the AI is completely helpless. He seems to be a dangerous rival only in cases of large numerical superiority of troops; if the forces are equal, then even at the highest level of difficulty the computer enemy seems to be lost in control, incorrectly dispersing fighters around the map.
Unfortunately, weak AI is not the only technical flaw Larian. There are bugs, and sometimes they create amazing combinations. You purchase three transports in order to send your “units” into the enemy’s camp during the next turn… and discover that these transports are not there! They just disappeared from the map! Trying to figure out the situation, you load the previously saved game, but you are thrown back to the desktop… It’s also not always possible to save. Of course, you can wait for patches, but, as they say, the sediment remains.
Despite some flaws, Divinity: Dragon Commander it turned out exactly the way we imagined it. You can feel the author’s style in it: great humor, lovingly written dialogues and non-linear stories. At the same time, a bold experiment Larian Studios can be considered successful – the “raisins” of our own projects have successfully taken root on the basis of a strategic game with simple but very flexible mechanics and rich tactical potential. And dragons have nothing to do with it.
Pros: original concept; strong strategic potential; fascinating dialogues; bright characters; nice visual style.
Cons: monotonous diplomacy; stupid AI; bugs.