Larian Studios Forums Dragon Commander Dragon Commander - General Campaign seemed a little unfulfilling

I just finished the campaign and well I felt it was a bit too short. Don't get me wrong here I liked it but the end was a bit anticlimactic.

I really hope they make some more story content for the game.

What does everyone else think about the campaign?

I also have one question after all that...Who the heck was the architect? This person does appear in the intro movie to the campaign but you never actually see him.

I have a feeling that the Architect and the Engineer of previous games are linked.

The thing is since your goal is to wipe out the enemy capital, and since the enemy AI is so defensive the game never reaches a natural crescendo. At the start of each map you have a ton of options and challenging battles as you try and turn back several fronts. But as the campaign goes you hit a tipping point, and your victory becomes inevitable. You can just keep on piling more and more units on until you can completely overrun the enemies capital. My campaign ended with an autobattle at 90%

Maybe it should have ended with a special scripted battle, totally outside the campaign, maybe the goal should have been something other than destroy the enemy capital, or perhaps there should have been some kind of time limit or other mechanic to end the campaign on a satisfying gameplay note. Or maybe there should have been a final 4th campaign with a much smaller map.

In general though I liked it, and I'm happy the campaign is systems driven enough to enable replay. I might wait for some mods or fixes or DLC before I actually do and it's a real shame the ending isn't more systems driven. Endings for the different factions based on their favour and different endings for hour generals would have enhanced this further.

I think that

That does hold some merit due to what Maxos says about the architect. A part of me just wanted Corvus to break out so you would have to fight him. That is one thing I feel it needs something that rivals your power just for an awesome boss duel.

I totaly agree with Kezza, some big guns flying duels

I can kinda see why there was no boss fight or forced Dragon fight. It's hard to just drop new mechanics in on a player unprepared for them at the last minute. They specifically wanted the game to not force you to use the Dragon.

For all their quality writing, Larian can never seem to get the ending just right in their games. The endings in their games aren't horrible but they just leave you feeling indifferent.

Not having any interaction with the commanders siblings, the raven not showing up in battles and the shortness of most of the characters arcs were all disappointments for me.

Also not meeting anyone besides the crew of the raven in general made me feel like that's all my empire consisted of, I also missed all the little touches to the over-world map in the total war series ie having generals that grow and develop based on there performance in battle and agents to use the kind of thing that lends itself really well to an evolving story entirely driven by the players actions.

The games strength, the conversations aboard the raven peter out to nothing after around the 40th turn too which makes the actual gameplay's flaws all the more obvious without the ability even to lead each battle personally.

The lack of any diplomacy...I could go on, functional but disappointing describes great swaths of the game for me. Pretty close to my exp so far with the divinity series really, hopefully OS will redeem it.

@Demonic
I highly agree with you the games are great, the endings not so much.

@Acharenus
I don't think you were ever meant to chat with your siblings since they are all quite mad. They may bring out some sort of sequel that would hold more diplomacy. Besides the real diplomacy would come after the game since its a war its kinda hard to stop and chat with anyone when they are busy trying to shoot you.

Well the raven is technically all you have for commanding. You don't have any large cities that aren't a war zone.

I completely agree I loved the game but once it ended I felt so let down. "This is the end?..." I said out loud... Way too abrupt of an ending and you don't even really meet your enemies or see any scenes of your decisions play out. Just numbers changin on a board is all that results from your decisions. I really hope they add way way way more to this. I loved what the game has but it feels so incomplete.

That's kind of my point though, we have a one sentence description and a vague outline of our enemy.

I don't care a fig when i beat them or vice versa, if they're so mad the idea of allying with one of there siblings briefly to further there own goals doesn't occur to them then how are they able to command there armys at all and why do there army's obey. These are missed opportunity's.

There's no personality, depth or meaning given to anyone or thing outside the raven, your armys and people may as well be the wooden toys shown on the risk map for all you know or care about them.

I think what everyone is getting at is that it doesn't feel like you are even fighting anyone. You don't even see a real enemy like in Dragon Knight. In DC, you just hear about who you are fighting. It's almost like starting a war based of gossip and learning of your actions through the media. It just feels very disconnected. To actually meet your siblings and then maybe a final battle with you know who, where you must fight as a dragon (really I think all capital building fights should have to be fought by you and not auto resolved) would give you a sense of purpose and connection to the game world/story and characters.

All said, I loved what the game is right now. But I feel it just needs what I mentioned above. I'm going to replay on hard mode next but still I think until some updates happen it will be tough. I just felt like my actions weren't serious or impactfull and I WANT TO SEE MY ENEMIES (siblings) and have mandatory Dragon Battles for capital fights and the final fight. I want to see some scenes of my liberated countries. I want to see weddings when I sanction gay marriage lol. Please add to this game. Start another Kick-starter to get more to this fantastic game or do like with Dragon Knight Saga and release a huge addition with all this stuff. People will pay for more content in this game. Not DLC stuff but fleshing out what is already there. I just love this series and wish this game was longer like the last installment and had that epic feel. I will donate seriously!