Alright, so try this
one on for size: you are a dragon knight, born of the union of human and dragon
(no idea where you’d even start with that conception, but OK). You are the unlikely, illegitimate heir to an
empire that has been torn asunder by your brothers and sisters. The only way to restore peace to the kingdom
is to defeat them in battle. However,
you must also contend with the task of ruling the regions you already control,
and the need to make decisions can sway the allegiances of the races that
follow you, and can have a major impact on how well your campaign goes.
Your generals always keep things lively on the ship, and provide characters that you will both love and hate. |
Story:
There really isn’t a
whole heap to say beyond what I’ve mentioned already, but the details are
important. As the commander, you must
embark on a conquest of the world, to end the constant wars between your
siblings. You will have a cabinet
comprised of all the races, including Elves, Undead, Imps, Dwarves, and
Lizards. They all have particular
goals/biases that impact their policies, and which way they’ll expect you to
lean on decisions. Decisions can range
from allowing industrial development to gay marriage, and while all of us have
our own opinions, adhering to them doesn’t always pay off when your own followers
stop supporting you.
Characters:
The commander’s
advisors are all interesting characters that embody different philosophies and
beliefs, ranging from religious conservative to industrial entrepreneur. However, the standouts of often your
generals, who add to the political discussions with their own views, and
simultaneously add a great deal of personality to the game as a whole. Interacting with them can draw out a full
range of emotions, with their various (and sometimes difficult)
personalities. They also have personal
stories, which make your more invested in them.
You can also marry in
the game. Although the motivation is
political, you can choose between any of the races (Except human, that’s too
boring) and take a wife. Like the political
and military staff, each potential wife has a unique personality, which helps
hook the player and really add some life to these characters. The very question of the morality of
arranging a marriage does come up in the game, but you still have to make a
choice. Each wife has her own storylines
that keep the player engaged and interested in what their wives are doing.
Gameplay:
One thing I haven’t
really discussed is the actual battles.
One of the reasons is that you spend a lot of time on the Raven, your
personal airship that runs on magic of some sort, and allows you to research
upgrades for your units, and your own dragon powers. From the bridge, when you aren’t interacting
with your staff/wife, you run the campaign and move your armies. When opposing forces meet, you get to choose
whether you command the battle yourself, pay one of your generals to fight it
on auto, or let the army fight it on auto.
Be careful, now, you can only personally fight one battle per turn, so
if you plan on attacking on multiple fronts, be ready to either pay a general’s
wage or have enough units to fight it on their own, you can’t be everywhere,
which does limit your ability to push forward.
There is a generally typical dynamic where one unit beats another, but obviously there is value in just massive a lot of pawns and just overrunning a position. |
Each wife will undergo changes based on how you influence them during the story. The Elf princess here is just one example. |
Conclusions:
This game is really
fun. It blends a lot of concepts from
other games into a new, fresh package.
However, the lack of polish, and the relatively short feeling to the
story do hold it back. And the gameplay
can feel rather clunky and difficult until you figure out most of it, but even
then, it never feels very fluid. I would
love to see more games like this, that let the general actually take direct
action on the battlefield, making it not just an indirect fight through units
alone. The upgrades and interesting
characters definitely give this game a lot of value, but I wasn’t in a rush to
go back. Overall, a solid attempt, and
plenty of RPG elements and interesting characters, but the gameplay is rather
lackluster and unrefined. The biggest disappoint for me, however, is that more wasn't done with the characters, in particular your generals and advisers. Their stories are interesting, but if you separate each one individually, they don't amount to very much on their own.
Good:
-Interesting blend of
Action RPG with Strategy and empire building.
-Interesting, original
characters.
-Choices that capture
the difficulty of leading, and impart the wisdom that you can never make
everyone happy.
Bad:
-Clunky, ineffective
controls that are often limited while in dragon form.
-Rather short, and
underplays some of its' greatest assets, such as the character development and side-stories.
Scully Rating: 8 out of 10
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