Skyrim made Dragon Slaying boring

Wintermute_

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Sep 20, 2010
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I just killed my first Skyrim dragon... and am astoundingly underwhelmed. I am amazingly unfulfilled about the whole experience. It sucked. It wasn't and epic battle, it wasn't a momentous occasion to sing of down the ages. It wasn't anything worth mention. For a culture where the continued existence of dragons was in question, no one seemed that worried or excited or... well, the NPC's didn't seem like they felt anything. I didn't feel anything! It was a mundane fetch quest style mission! WHAT THE HELL?

Skyrim has made Dragon slaying boring. how in the hell do you make DRAGON SLAYING boring?! SPOILERS AHEAD! not like it matters jack shit in skyrim of course.

Let me describe the experience. After completing the first dungeon in the game at the behest of the Whiterun king, reclaiming some truly unimportant and inconsequential item and returning to town, a dragon randomly shows up. Completely out of the blue. No lead up. No suspense. Just... go slay that dragon. And where do I go to slay this dragon? Atop a high mountain peak? A deep labyrinthian cave? Must I venture far and wide to reach the temple this dragon has occupied or the great castle it has laid siege to?

Nope. I must walk 2 minutes out of town. Into the middle of a field. The same field I walked through earlier to go to the dungeon. I can see the town and cottages. I get to the field, and just wait. Eventually, the dragon makes its entrance by basically just landing and walking around. The battle that followed went like this:
I chose to play as an elf caster. Having flame throwers for hands was so alluring. The astounding fight scene where I slay a dragon? All I had to do was stand slightly to the big guys left blasting him with double freeze spell hands while he sat patiently, roasting an NPC archer. Thank heaven he didn't remember he had wings and a good 2 tons on me or claws or teeth or the instinct to dodge or a sense of self preservation. I would drift slowly further left of him to avoid him turning far enough to flame me, downing mana and health potions where need be. And then he died. Just collapsed. No finishing move, no bloody struggle battle of wills. Just me holding the triggers belching frost. Then I apparently absorbed his soul and learned how to yell dragon words, or so a "startled" npc told me. Then everyone else waltz off like it was no big deal, leaving me standing in a field with my thumb up my ass and a dragon skeleton looking at me. They even bothered to name the dragon btw. I don't remember it though because why should I have?

That was the lamest, most mundane, inconsequential and above all UNCHALLENGING fight possible. I had a tougher time slaying the city guards! Why the hell couldn't they have handled Smokey the Wimpy dragon if the king can blink to firmly in my direction and cut my life in half? How could a staple element of fantasy like dragon slaying have been made a chore rather than a high-romance adventure?

I have played a bit further and I'm just... I'm just so bored. Killed another two dragons along the way. Whatever. I am unmoved. No emotional investment whatsoever. I don't have any reason to give two shits about ANYTHING.
Here's my problem with Skyrim: It focused on populating a massive world where you can truly do almost anything. The problem? there is no reason to do anything. Dragon slaying is just as mundane as killing a wolf pack, and just as difficult, which is to say not very. When making the game, the developer smeared a wafer thin layer of story over the sprawling landscape and sent it off for the players. I wanted to have to WORK for that accomplishment of slaying a dragon, pretend I was a legend ing the making, pretend my character was that exceptional... and they made it piss easy and banal and made most accomplishments meaningless because there is no story related context for anything you do to matter.

Edit: In summary- what a shallow experience this game has been. Not bad, certainly not, just shallow
2nd Edit: I was play on expert difficulty, btw. But it wasn't the difficultly that bothered me, per say... higher difficult would just mean I would have to spend a longer time grinding away at him using the same boring formula of "blast with magic, side set, blast with magic, neck a health/magic potion, blast with magic, side step, dragon dies." I though the dragon would at least move around a bit more at least, even if I was freezing him.
 

I forgot

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Jul 7, 2010
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It's these kind of stories that I wonder how anyone was excited for this game. The problem I have with Elder Scrolls, Fallout 3, Mass Effect, Dragon Age, Fable and other games of similar blood is that they fuck up the action in Action RPG.
For that reason, I was more eager to play Rayman Origins than this game.
 

Roselina

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Mar 5, 2011
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Yes the dragon slaying is easy but that's not its main feature. Your supposed to reinvent yourself as whatever you can, within the limit of the game system. Go join a guild or raid an entire dungeon in just your skibbys. Story is hard to do when you have over a million different character types that can be in the same exact point in time. I never minded the weak dragons because there was so much other stuff i only ever found like 5 total.
 

Wintermute_

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Sep 20, 2010
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I forgot said:
It's these kind of stories that I wonder how anyone was excited for this game. The problem I have with Elder Scrolls, Fallout 3, Mass Effect, Dragon Age, Fable and other games of similar blood is that they fuck up the action in Action RPG.
For that reason, I was more eager to play Rayman Origins than this game.
Hell, you make a good point! While I'm here, let me also reveal how mass effect and fable are equally masters at making the most extraordinary of circumstances and situations woefully uninteresting.
 

ohnoitsabear

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Feb 15, 2011
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I honestly think Bethesda made a mistake by hyping dragons so much, because then one of the first things people do is go out and fight dragons, become disappointed by it, and then proceed to think the entire game is terrible because the "main selling point" of the game doesn't live up to the hype.

Now, if you want to be able to enjoy the game you spent your money on instead of just bashing it on a forum, I would suggest forgetting about dragons and the main quest and just go do what you want, which is the real draw of the game. The main quest in elder scrolls games has always been lackluster compared to doing faction quests and exploring the world, and I'm shocked that anyone would expect that this game would be any different. So, play the game a little more in a style of gameplay that it most suits, and then start complaining.
 

Wintermute_

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Destro160 said:
Yes the dragon slaying is easy but that's not its main feature. Your supposed to reinvent yourself as whatever you can, within the limit of the game system. Go join a guild or raid an entire dungeon in just your skibbys. Story is hard to do when you have over a million different character types that can be in the same exact point in time. I never minded the weak dragons because there was so much other stuff i only ever found like 5 total.
I will agree, dragon slaying is not the only thing you can do in Skyrim. I raid a dungeon or join a guild so that I can... do what exactly?

I like the roleplay aspect of Skyrim a LOT, don't get me wrong. But there is so little meaning, rhyme or reason to anything that is done, and I can do it so often that is becomes a chore. The is nothing exceptional about what my character is doing if it just happens again and again. NPC's aren't characters I should care about, they're vending machines. So I just cleared out an entire temple or dungeon? I can do the exact same thing in Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup, and at least then I know its to get that damn Orb from Zot...
 

Fleetfiend

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Jun 1, 2011
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Okay so...

Blah blah blah, Skyrim is bad, blah blah, I'm upset, blah blah, the fight wasn't as epic as I wanted it, blah blah blah rant rant rant.

Every experience is different; for me, the fight with the first dragon was epic, exciting, and suspenseful. Difficult? Not really, but it shouldn't really be for a first fight. And that first fight, for you, seemed to change your entire outlook on the entire rest of the game. I'm sorry for that, because Skyrim is an honestly good game, no matter if there are some bad experiences. (and the reason the dragon was close to the city was because it was seen in the nearby village and had attacked the guardhouse. It wasn't as random or inconsequential as you made it sound.)

However, I do agree that the dragon slaying action could have been improved, but simply through making them less common. I mean, I get that they are supposed to be invading and all, but I don't want to fight one at every other landmark I go to. The first few fights, for me, were amazing, but they have dwindled down to nothing about now. I have to say, I'm more surprised when I find a bear.
 

McNinja

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Wintermute_ said:
I forgot said:
It's these kind of stories that I wonder how anyone was excited for this game. The problem I have with Elder Scrolls, Fallout 3, Mass Effect, Dragon Age, Fable and other games of similar blood is that they fuck up the action in Action RPG.
For that reason, I was more eager to play Rayman Origins than this game.
Hell, you make a good point! While I'm here, let me also reveal how mass effect and fable are equally masters at making the most extraordinary of circumstances and situations woefully uninteresting.
I'm sorry, what? I would be most inclined to disagree about the ME series and the first Fable game (the other two blow).

On topic, Nothing in Skyrim has much meaning. within the context of the game world, nothing matters. There are no real characters, you don't care about the people of Skyrim, the questlines are far too short, etc. When you can beat the main story of a game in a bit more than 2 hours, something needs to be changed.
 

brmcconnell

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Dec 7, 2011
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Following up on this: The Witcher 2 was also much more difficult, and its bosses sound more up your alley as well. To be honest, tons of expectations going into Skyrim and I feel similarly dissappointed. In my books Witcher 2 was best RPG of 2011, hands down. Throw in CD Project's DRM policy and FREE 2.0 update (free DLC!!!) and I hand everyone here a game of the year that won't win game of the year (the shallow but sprawling Skyrim will win that accolade from most this year, unfortunately..).
 

oplinger

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Sep 2, 2010
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Really, the game is broken as hell. It's fun as hell too, but just about everything is imbalanced. Melee combat? imabalanced. Magic? Imbalanced. Shields? Imbalanced. Crafting? Imbalanced.

The first fight with the dragon for me was rather epic, I had to hide in the tower, or die. So the fight consisted of him strafing me on the tower, me diving down the stairs to avoid getting burned, then him burning everything inside the tower. I got tuck at the bottom door when he landed, every time i'd poke my head out, i'd be met with searing death.

I eventually had to go to the top of the tower, and rain fire down on him, running out of magic, I dove the fuck off the tower and punched him in the face.

So, yeah, that got me hooked.
 

Zing

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Oct 22, 2009
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Turn the difficulty up and be patient. The dragon fights can get way harder. Especially when you encounter one not in a town.

However I do agree they could have gone into more effort with bosses and dragons. They are basically just mobs with bigger health bars. Not exactly the pinnacle of fun.
 

Moonlight Butterfly

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Mar 16, 2011
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I actually find dragons great fun especially if they are in a town. They are attacking me in two's now aswell which makes it a bit more challenging.

I don't think people are really considering the effort that's gone into making them look like and act like what you would expect dragons to be like.

I haven't seen any other game which has managed to do it as well. I still get a sort of protective heroic feeling when one comes near a town. It's like it's my job to take it out and look after everyone :p Maybe I just have an over-active imagination or something.

I'm level 53 and playing on master for the record.
 

Instant K4rma

StormFella
Aug 29, 2008
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I find the dragon fights to be exciting, personally. I don't feel the dragon slaying is boring at all. A lot of the things you are saying are based on personal taste and opinion, which is fine, but to state "Bethesda made killing dragons boring" as a fact seems rather... Short-sighted.
 

thiosk

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Sep 18, 2008
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Luckily, it won't be long for extensive dragon rebalancing mods to hit.

Also, how did you fight the dragon? As an armor-encrusted warrior, sneaky arrow-shooting thief, or no-health and all magicka mage? The experiences will be different for each.

The first dragon fight was a nail biter for me, but it happened very early. Now dragon slaying is more about "are the dragons going to slay people I need in that town"
 

Weentastic

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Dec 9, 2011
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The only thing I feel that was done very well with the dragon fighting is the initial approach. Finding a dragon or having one find you is pretty cool, and the effect of them flying over you was nicely done. But once you start fighting them its just praying that your DPS is high enough and that they don't insta-kill you. People rag on those who don't think Skyrim is that good because of all the content that it offers (which is nothing new about TES), but you'd think that the central elements of the game like bartering, inventory management, quest items, and dragon fighting would have been handled with a bit more care.
 

6_Qubed

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Mar 19, 2009
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WELL THEN. Have fun having your own opinion.

I'll be over there, with mine. Playing Skyrim. And having fun.