Skyrim: Dragonborn Review

[immortalfrieza]

Soooo...
Anyone want to place bets on how long after PC release, before we get a Bloodmoon total conversion in skyrim?

A week, and fixing dragon riding would done even quicker.

I didn't even know about the dragon riding until I read this review, but I'm disappointed that it isn't basically like riding a horse like it should be.

However, I would prefer it if it wasn't taming a dragon so much as raising one, I'd have a lot more emotional investment in it that way. For instance, there's this mod for New Vegas called Baby Deathclaw Commander that lets you take a Deathclaw egg, hatch it, and then feed the animal (it could use features like petting and playing and such, but I suppose it's good enough) and as you fed it it's strength, armor, and health gradually increases, and I'd like to see something like that with dragons in Skyrim, hell, with anything in Skyrim.

 

[SajuukKhar]

However, I would prefer it if it wasn't taming a dragon so much as raising one, I'd have a lot more emotional investment in it that way. For instance, there's this mod for New Vegas called Baby Deathclaw Commander that lets you take a Deathclaw egg, hatch it, and then feed the animal (it could use features like petting and playing and such, but I suppose it's good enough) and as you fed it it's strength, armor, and health gradually increases, and I'd like to see something like that with dragons in Skyrim, hell, with anything in Skyrim.

Dragons dont reproduce, or even technically age.

They are as they have been since they were created by Akatosh in the dawn time.

there is no such thing as baby dragons.

 

[immortalfrieza]

However, I would prefer it if it wasn't taming a dragon so much as raising one, I'd have a lot more emotional investment in it that way. For instance, there's this mod for New Vegas called Baby Deathclaw Commander that lets you take a Deathclaw egg, hatch it, and then feed the animal (it could use features like petting and playing and such, but I suppose it's good enough) and as you fed it it's strength, armor, and health gradually increases, and I'd like to see something like that with dragons in Skyrim, hell, with anything in Skyrim.

Dragons dont reproduce, or even technically age.

They are as they have been since they were created by Akatosh in the dawn time.

there is no such thing as baby dragons.

Maybe so, but there are probably ways around that to get baby dragons anyway, like have a mage create a magic that makes dragon eggs. It doesn't make sense that dragons wouldn't reproduce either, especially since they can be permanently killed (only by Dragonborn, but still.) Besides, they don't necessarily need to be genuine dragons anyway, just dragonlike beings.

 

[Nasrin]

Interesting, have you ever reviewed a game previously because up to this point I have not heard your voice?

I also did this one, Hearthfire, and a couple others.

Dat Avatar <3

Thanks! It's my kitty.

 

[Jynthor]

I'm glad you actually have to force dragons to let you mount them with a shout since I find the idea of creatures wiser than you giving you piggyback rides rather stupid.
Other than the whole Dragon Mount thing this expansion seems good, recently started playing skyrim again in anticipation of this.(I actually still need to finish Dawnguard...) Can't wait for it to come out on PC.

 

[DayDark]

I'm actually fine with the whole dragon mounting not being that interactive, I mean the dragons isn't a mount as much as a companion. Of course it would be nice to have some control commands or some such.

 

[Moonlight Butterfly]

Interesting, have you ever reviewed a game previously because up to this point I have not heard your voice?

I also did this one, Hearthfire, and a couple others.

Dat Avatar <3

Thanks! It's my kitty.

omg he is gorgeous! I want to snuggle. Is he a Burmese? :3 I enjoyed your spoken review btw you did good

 

[Nasrin]

omg he is gorgeous! I want to snuggle. Is he a Burmese? :3 I enjoyed your spoken review btw you did good

Thank you so much! He's a bengal. The site is littered with images of him, hehe.

 

[Proverbial Jon]

Have you ever gotten on a horse? You don't so much control it as you do aim it and cross your fingers. (depending on the horse, of course)

I have learnt to ride a horse, yes. Whereas I didn't have an awful amount of control (riding school horses are a real stubborn bunch) I understand that there is a complex yet subtle language to master if you ever want to have true "control."

Sadly Skyrim horses are nothing like real ones. Sometimes I wish they would spook at something and throw the Dragonborn off, or at least do something other than be a completely empty-headed, bomb-proof lump of digital flesh.

 

[Kargathia]

Huh. So, in a game known principally for it's multitude of playstyles and free roaming, they add a transportation mechanic that doesn't actually contribute much to the free roaming? I did not see that coming. But I do find it hilarious. I guess it's out so that you don't just breeze through the game, roasting everything in the province atop a dragon?

Judging by how easy it is already to completely break the game, and become an unkillable god of magical destruction... let's just say that line of reasoning would be somewhat weird.

 

[Rainboq]

Have you ever gotten on a horse? You don't so much control it as you do aim it and cross your fingers. (depending on the horse, of course)

I have learnt to ride a horse, yes. Whereas I didn't have an awful amount of control (riding school horses are a real stubborn bunch) I understand that there is a complex yet subtle language to master if you ever want to have true "control."

Sadly Skyrim horses are nothing like real ones. Sometimes I wish they would spook at something and throw the Dragonborn off, or at least do something other than be a completely empty-headed, bomb-proof lump of digital flesh.

To be fair, I rode horses that weren't really broken, but simply put the best game to do horses was Shadow Of the Colossus.

 

[k-ossuburb]

The reason the dragons can't be directly controlled is just because the dragons themselves are so unwieldy. Many modders have tried very hard to get the dragon mount and "become dragon" spells to work, but the dragons cannot land where they like, you can only kind of point them in a general area and hope that's where it chooses to settle down due to how the dragons are animated. It's just something beyond the ability of the engine right now, dragons tend to glitch around a lot when you are in direct control of them and the walk cycle is clumsy at the best of times. It's also impossible to control how the dragon's head moves as it seems to just look at whatever the hell is closest and attacking it at that time, or whatever else it wants to look at.

You can find examples of everything I've talked about on Youtube to get a clearer picture of what I mean.

So, can't say I'm disappointed, considering that even some of the best modders out there haven't figured out a solution to these problems. Dragons are just a mess of bugs and you're lucky if you can control one directly without its head sticking out through the tail end of the model or spazzing out into some strange geometry that spikes out into infinity.

 

[phoenix352]

seriously now... there are mods that let you do every thing these DLC's offer only much more in depth and they were available months ago to boot.
why on earth would any PC player pay for any of this?
besides some extra quests i see no point in this... even at that there are a ton of great mods for quests and new areas aswell.

 

[Baneat]

So, guys, I don't have Skyrim installed at the moment since I upgraded the motherboard of my PC. When you say "You can explore Morrowind" what's really meant by that? Just a bit? All of it? Have those fucking pterodactyl things returned to peck off your face?

 

[Baneat]

omg he is gorgeous! I want to snuggle. Is he a Burmese? :3 I enjoyed your spoken review btw you did good

Thank you so much! He's a bengal. The site is littered with images of him, hehe.

Have you made any more gifs? I'm compelled to save cat/kitten pictures whenever I see them.

 

[Nasrin]

So, guys, I don't have Skyrim installed at the moment since I upgraded the motherboard of my PC. When you say "You can explore Morrowind" what's really meant by that? Just a bit? All of it? Have those fucking pterodactyl things returned to peck off your face?

You can explore an island that is a part of Morrowind, but you don't by any means have access to the whole thing. And no pterodactyls from what I've seen so far.

As to cat stuff... no new gifs, though I am working on a watercolor painting

 

[BiscuitTrouser]

When you ride on a plane do you control where it goes?
When you ride on a train are you setting the stations it stops at?
When you ride on a boat do you control it?
When you are ride in a car, are you driving it?

You should work for Bethesda. Ive never heard DLC about riding dragons sound less attractive than when its feature is analogous to catching the 10:15 to Brumely.

Im actually considering getting the DLC i missed, it does look pretty damn awesome. Other than hearthfire. Why would i want hearthfire... my house is a gigantic flying boat.

 

[Smolderin]

It has been more than a month since Dragonborn has come out. Where is the PC version!? Throw me a bone Bethesda, you are killing me here.