Day of the Dragon Review
It's that time of year again, OutsiderXe has remade his campaign from a difficult head scratcher into an immersive adventure, intros aside let's get into the review. Like all my other reviews, SPOILERS AHEAD!!!!
YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!!!!
Story/Quests: 4/5
Day of the Dragon is based of a book set in the Second War. Revolving around a band of three individuals, Veressa, Rhonin, and Veressa. Krasus playing a minor role until the end of the campaign. Their quest being to free the Dragonqueen Alexastrasa in hopes of ending the Second War once and for all.
Compare to stories like Lord of the Clans and the Last Guardian, Day of the Dragon's story looks pretty weak and uninteresting, regardless Day of the Dragon is a pretty cool adventure story with twists and turns that will make the campaign more entertaining for the player. OutsiderXe aware of how painfully straight forward the original plot was decided to add a Morality system to the game in order to add additional depth to the player's decisions. Every side quest you do in the game involves you either making a good or bad decision, the rewards of said side quest also depend on the choices you make and can either make your campaign experience more easy or difficult depending on your choice, but not radically enough to ruin the experience for you. Though Day of the Dragon isn't as complex as say many Bioware RPGs, the side quests choices are interesting enough to make them feel worthwhile, and are usually very well implemented in the games main story, with a few side quests require you to go out of your way to complete. The murder mystery quest on Goblin island in the older versions, was renown for being glitchy and annoying, check out Azothan's walkthrough of the game to learn more. Still, thankfully most of the campaign's side quests including the murder mystery were fixed in this version of the game. However there are three big downsides to this morality system. Once you choose what path your taking, good or evil, you will have to stay on your path if you intend to get the evil ending, while the good ending can be unlocked regardless of your side quest choices. My second big gripe is how you can't unlock an extended good ending for completing all the good side quests, which I felt would have been appropriate if I went through all the hard work to complete all the good side quests. My third and probably my biggest gripe with this campaign, is the fact that yes the alternate bad ending is pretty cool, but I felt it would have been perfect if you got to play as Deathwing in the final battle against the aspects. That would have been HUGE, really how satisfying would it have been to play as Deathwing in his prime, killing the aspects one by one.
All these criticisms aside, the side quest are still worth while for the useful items and bonuses for your campaign and do ultimately make the missions easier to complete.
It's still a cool adventure story that has you explore what the World of Warcraft has to offer, it just didn't grab me as much emotionally as the other campaigns Outsider has made. I can't blame Outsider since this campaign was based on a book and he did a good job with the material he had, also both the good and evil endings are very satisfying and appropriate conclusions to the campaign.
Models and Terrain: 4/5
Though models of the main characters have changed over the course of this campaign, I have to say many of the new models for this game look pretty. My favorites being Deathwing and Ysera. Granted I think some of the Dragon Aspects models were ripped from WoW, I also have to give props to Tauer and Kwaliti, their models really helped the characters come to life despite the game engine limitations. Granted not all the models are perfect, the goblins from the gobin island mission specifically look pretty ugly. Also I wish Nozdormu got a different model to distinguish him from the Bronze Dragons in the game, and that Malygos would have a model that would come with wings to make him look just as awesome as the other aspects. Ok maybe I am a little too knit picking, but for the most part, most of the models used in this game look great and fit the lore of the story. The environments also look very detailed and diversified. Overall, great use of custom models and terraining, and a round of applause for Custom Model creators like Tauer,Kwaliti, and Rondo who work so hard to make the characters from Warcraft lore come to life.
Side note: Will Rhonin eventually get a new model, I guess its just weird for me to play as a character who has the same model as Khadgar, I don't know how many red head wizard models are on the site but a new model would be a much needed change.
Difficulty: 4.5/5
I have to say, the older version of Day of the Dragon was a real pain, there were many missions in the game that utilized overly difficult puzzles or swarming with enemies. However this game has significantly reduced the difficulty, making the game not easy, but fair. The campaign getting more difficult as you complete mission after mission. Like a good campaign should be. My advice, don't try to beat the campaign too quickly, take your time, otherwise you might miss a good item or a side quest objective. I had it happen to me a few times in the game. The only frustrations I had with the campaign originated from some of the glitchy triggers, which is pretty rare but are still there. Still, this campaign is fair and any casual Warcraft player should be able to beat it in a reasonable amount of time, just be sure to keep saving your progress occassionally.
Triggers: 4.5/5
As I said earlier some of the games triggers can be glitchy. Just a few knit picks but nothing game breaking, for instance, in the goblin island mission you can't move forward unless you go into the magical field, then Kryll will appear and take you to the next objective, which I was hesitant doing at first because the game tells you that the magical field is deadly. Also there is an item in that mission called the Orc ID badge, when I pick it up I can't drop it even after I completed the mission, essentially I lost an inventory slot. These criticisms are as much complaints as warnings for those who want to play the campaign themselves, don't make the same mistakes I made. Again like many of Outsiders campaigns, the triggers are solid.
Music: 3/5
This is a new category that I often that include in my reviews but I feel that I must discuss this. Like many Warcraft campaigns, this one uses music that has been built in the original game. However outsider has used soundtracks from WoW as well, the big issue I have is the lack of WoW music in the game. Especially during the Belly of the Beast mission when the cave is collapsing, I was hoping to listen to some epic escape music, or something of that nature. The WoW soundtracks already included in the game are very good and help capture the mood evoked by the cutscenes, my favorite being the song used during the Battle of the Dragon Aspects at the end which I think was from Warlords of Draenor, still miss that Gladiator theme used in the older versions but oh well. Good songs, just wish there were more in the game.
Final Verdict: 20/25
Though not the greatest of OutsiderXe's campaigns, it still fulfills the standard set by his other works, it's not perfect. When it's over it does make you want a little more from the campaign. But I feel that these issues can be resolve over the course of time, but in its current form, its still a must play campaign for any Warcraft fan. The unique battles and morality side quests help distinguish this campaign from the others that OutsiderXE has made. I give this campaign two claws up and I hope all you guys had just as much fun playing it as I had.
Thus another chapter comes to a close, Outsider I am still a passionate fan of your work, your campaigns are up there with the likes of Tomoraider and Turnro. I hope you continue making these awesome campaigns whether it's Warcraft, Starcraft, Diablo, or whatever other franchise you set your mind to.
Best of luck with our future endeavors, and I will be sure to review whatever campaign you make, it's the least you deserve for all the hard work you have done making this campaigns based on such beloved stories, for the many years you have been a hiveworkshop member.
Take care OutsiderXe,
LOK'TAR OGAR!!!