Do you think dragons are overdone and boring?

[Amnestic]

That only works if your DM is a fucking retard. You would never find that many dragons, never get the gem, never be able to buff your bluff and diplomacy to the required levels. All of the technical niggling is moot. Just because you could, in THEORY, doesn't mean you would ever be able to.

OT: Dragons are awesome, unless you're fucking up their image like in Dark Souls or JRPGs. They should be enigmatic, alien, awesome, and nerve wracking.

Technically you don't need that many, since dragons can fly and the Tarrasque can't reach them.
You don't require ANY tricks to buff bluff to ridiculous levels by level 10. 13 skill points, +5 CHA bonus, +5 Skill (Bluff) item costs 2500gp - easily within a 10th level character's allowance, +30 from Glibness [http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/glibness.htm] (Bard 3). That comes to a +53 on your roll. At an average of 10 on a roll (well, 10.5) you're looking at 63-64 on your average Bluff check, which is pretty damn unbeatable.

None of this is book dipping, it's not cheating. At most you could question the price on the +5 Skill item (Magic Item Compendium), but I highly doubt it.

I wouldn't normally seek to break the game, but if a DM decides "How'd you like a visit from your local Tarrasque?" then I'll pull out whatever tricks are necessary.

But hell, I could just roll a Wizard, cast Fly (Wiz/Sorc 3, Travel 3) and leave. There's nothing Big T. can do to catch a flying character out of his reach, and certainly nothing before he gets distracted by easier prey.

If I wanted to be really really cheesy I'd just make a Boom Box. It wouldn't kill it, but it'd disable it long enough for me to run away.

 

[Sjakie]

Im with you on this one. All those dragons are starting to feel way to generic. There is nothing really special about dragons (or wolves, spiders, etc) anymore. It's been all done and tried before.
If you can make up an entire world, what about some strange new creatures for it?
Some new, weird and creative creatures would be way more interesting for me atm. Like in The Witcher 2 for example (which also had a dragon but depicted it much more interesting then most games, im looking at you Dragon Age)

 

[geK0]

It's not about the dragons.

The big thing Oblivion and Morrowind lacked were major boss fights. Sure we had the occasional extra-tough npc, but none of them really felt all that challenging.

Now we have something big to kill and feel all tough-like after doing so.

 

[JMeganSnow]

I think the primary "selling point" of dragons in games is that they're hard to implement (large bosses in general are harder to implement) so you don't see them as much as, say, goblins. Or whatever.

I don't think they're overdone per se, because they tend to get used differently each time they put in an appearance. Contrast this with, say, zombie defense, and it's the same every single time.

 

[geK0]

It seems like Dragons are a pretty flexible creature in terms of style anyway. Dragon is pretty much just an umbrella term for large lizard (usually with wings).... there's a lot you can do with something so broad

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Dragons are just something that's familiar to people, but they can be interpreted in so many different ways. We could just as easily say no more Dwarves, Elves, Orcs, Soldiers, Aliens, Vampires, Werewolves, Humans. All of these are over-used, yet if we try too hard to avoid cliches, we end up with something that isn't appealing and doesn't make much sense.

 

[Aprilgold]

But Skyrim had fucking awesome dragons that you kill with swords and that do things dynamically.

Like in the demo to where it picks up that giant guy and then he drops in the same look as when he was standing erect. Sorry, had to point that out, if the dynamics MADE SENSE, then I would be OK with it, but why shouldn't the dragon just say EFF THAT GUY and burn him alive with all of his brethren that were LITERALLY 10 FEET AWAY AND DIDN'T REACT!

...That's because it was a relatively old version of the engine that probably didn't have their ragdoll physics yet. You can't judge a game on the details like that when it's months from release.

Tell me how awesome it is because I'm still on the fence like a un-educated whore.

But oh well, seriously, tell me how awesome it is, once your hands are on it.

 

[Ixal]

Not there yet, but in danger of becoming overused.

Time to spice things up. Either make a game where you play as a dragon (and not some "Rider of a dragon fighting other dragonriders, but be a full dragon fighting for survival against more and more technologically advanced humans) or make something like the Temeraire series where you transplant the setting into the renaissance and make dragons into a form of air force who carry two dozens of gunners on their back and drop grenades on infantry while also fighting against their exlusion from society. Great books. Everyone who loves dragons should read them.

 

[Kotep]

It's a shame, because although they could be used in so many different ways, they are always depicted as big stupid lizards with wings.

Come on, give us talking, intelligent dragons like in folklore. Let us PLAY as a dragon. Give us dragon teammates. You know how much cooler Dragon Age would have been if you could have had a talking Drake as a teammate? A LOT.

Try playing Divinity 2 or check out Dragon Commander whenever it comes out.

OT: I think maybe dragons as enemies take a lot more effort to make interesting than other things. Dragons as allies or the player character as a dragon is remarkably untapped though.

 

[Ixal]

OT: I think maybe dragons as enemies take a lot more effort to make interesting than other things. Dragons as allies or the player character as a dragon is remarkably untapped though.

I agree. But gamers these day want "awesome action" and "paht loot". Fragons you can't kill are boring for those twitch gamers.

 

[Veylon]

Dragons get to be boring when they're overused. Currently, they have three basic roles in games:
1) Wise advice-dispensing mentor
2) High-level attack fodder
3) Treasure Guardian

None of them give the dragon much scope to be interesting as it denies them an active role. Even a dragon that merely hunts around it's lair to feed it's offspring has more character and shows more purpose than most video game dragons. Intelligent dragons seem to want treasure hoards but little thought has been given as to how exactly they get them or why they want them.

 

[predatorpulse7]

Nope, still loving dragons:

 

[CryoSynth]

Dragons are awesome in skyrim because they are unscripted, free roaming and unpredictable creatures. And they look incredible and seem to move extremely fluidly and realistically, and they just look awesome.

Yes dragons are a fantasy trope, but they're new to TES, at least the past few iterations, and they look to be a really great addition to the game.

That's exactly my feeling. The dragons in Skyrim behave more like dragons should, and they're a specific kind of threat rather than just a generic super-powerful creature.

You're watching the skies and trying to track its movements, trying to tell when its going to land and when its just gonna blast you from above. And they could strike anywhere, whereas in other games you usually know when its "face the mighty dragon" time.

I don't think there's such a thing as something being too much, unless its done the same ways every time. And this seems to be a very unique and special experience.

 

[michiehoward]

Dragons are awesome in skyrim because they are unscripted, free roaming and unpredictable creatures. And they look incredible and seem to move extremely fluidly and realistically, and they just look awesome.

Yes dragons are a fantasy trope, but they're new to TES, at least the past few iterations, and they look to be a really great addition to the game.

What this guy said.

And its because the little minor thing of Drangonborn and all that boring stuff. Hint- sarcasm

 

[Evill_Bob]

The Elder Scrolls does things differently with over used tropes. Just because Final Fantasy or Dungion Siege has dragons doesn't mean they're on par with Elder Scrolls' scally badasses. You actually have to think in battle against these guys. And no, "fire dragons are weak against water!" doesn't qualify as thinking.

 

[IKSA]

Zombies are overdone and boring dragons arent and they are amaizing.

 

[vxicepickxv]

I don't think Dragons are there yet. Zombies are more on the level of, 'done so often I simply don't care anymore'. Dragons are just coming back into a mainstream vogue. Remember though, that these sort of trends are cyclical. Steampunk has also been a thorn up my ass for a while now and I know it's only a matter of time before Cyberpunk makes its triumphant return (and may have already done with Deus Ex Human Revolution). It's only a matter of time before we see Dragons within Cyberpunk land either in the form of test-tube wyrms or, cybernetic Androi-gans. Either of which would be fucking brutal as all hell. Which reminds me, I need to get my ass to Hollywood and convince them to get King Ghidra and Mecha King Kong in the upcoming Godzilla remake...

On a final note: A Kraken is an awesome, AWESOME monster. Love those bastards and, I do mean all kinds from humanoid (Clash of the Titans classic) to modern (Cthulhu wannabes). No reasons why they can't co-exist with Dragons.

Dragons in a cyberpunk setting? You're 22 years late for that one.

You might want to look at Shadowrun.

 

[Scarim Coral]

Meh they are not as overdone and boring compare to zombies. I'm pretty sure there are still some medievil fantasy that haven't use dragon yet.

 

[Ixal]

Meh they are not as overdone and boring compare to zombies. I'm pretty sure there are still some medievil fantasy that haven't use dragon yet.

Why limit it to medieval fantasy? Read the Temeraire series. Dragon work quite well in other settings, too.

 

[Lerasai]

It would be interesting to see what would happen if we laid off of the dragon stuff for a while, focusing on some equally awesome mythical creatures instead, and then came back to them. Because at this point you have to admit we're a bit too over-exposed to dragons to be really wowed by them. At least in games, anyway.

 

[Ixal]

I am tired of dragons being the "bad guy". In fact when I 1st get Skyrim, I may break my 1st playthrough or my character because I will try my damnedest NOT TO KILL ANY DRAGONS. Perhaps even kill other NPC's that are very anti-dragon. THis is mainly to see if it is actually possible, not because I could never bring myself to kill a virtual entity on a video game.

Me too. I really hope that there is more to the dragons in Skyrim than "big things you have to kill".

Sadly most people simply want an "epic" fight when they see a dragon and thats what the publishers give them.