Oh man. Witcher 2 is 2011 material too. I completely agree with you. Skyrim has been very enjoyable, but nowhere near the awesomeness that was Witcher 2. Even if the end did suck a bit.brmcconnell said: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..).
To be fair I don't think anybody is enthused by Fable.Wintermute_ said: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 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.
fetch-quest style?Wintermute_ said:It was a mundane fetch quest style mission! WHAT THE HELL?
why would Whiterun care about a dragon if it was miles away on a mountaintop. the dragon is attacking the guard tower protecting whiterun. and what did you expect, a courier to drop by a little note saying 'Dear Player, I am a dragon. I will attack a guard tower today. This note is so you don't think there was no build up. I won't tell you WHEN though! From, Dragony Fuckface'Wintermute_ said: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.
How the hell does he melee you when you walk away from him, and he's preoccupied by a group of guards? How does he dodge? that's like barrel-rolling a car to avoid hitting a pedestrian. and ice spells drain stamina and slow movement. plus, when you get dragons to a certain point of health, they can't take off.Wintermute_ said: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.
so you complain he doesnt fight wou directly enough, but you were actually AVOIDING his attacks on purpose? what do you actually want from dragons? and magic has no finishers, were you expecting you to suddenly do something cool that has never happened because it isnt part of the game?Wintermute_ said: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.
you're supposed to fight them repeatedly. if they were as tough as a fucking building then everyone would ***** and whine about how they can't do any outdoor quests because a dragon always turns up and kills them in five hits. and when they're part of the main storyline, the dev is obviously going to lean towards the side of 'anyone playing the game can kill them' as opposed to 'you need to powerlevel all your combat skills to the max, fuck all the other ones so you can get a decent hit in'.Wintermute_ said:they made it piss easy
i agree with this guy. i find killing dragons fun and intense, because i play as a melee character. it's a lot more intense when missing one potion could mean the dragon can use its nommynommy finisher. and a lot more satisfying when you jump on the fuckers head and carve it like a turkey.6_Qubed said:WELL THEN. Have fun having your own opinion.
I'll be over there, with mine. Playing Skyrim. And having fun.
Sounds like you want one of those ancient dragons that refuses to land. They do happen. Some dragons will land too easily, some (Like my third dragon when I was a pure warrior with as sword and shield only) refuse to land until they are almost dead. Ancient Dragons have a lot of HP, do some reasonable damage with their breath attack (Though, depending on what perks and how you've specialised yourself it may still be negligible by that point), and dependant on where they are may refuse to land. Oh, and did I mention sometimes you fight 3 of them at once?Paladin Anderson said:I eagerly await the inevitable mod that will make dragons something you want to run from rather than towards.
More HP. Wholly mammoth level of HP.
Lands less, more aerial breath attacks.
Breath does more damage.
Not sure what else. Maybe summons monsters to harass you?
Also the difficulty of the game has a LOT to do with what tree you are focusing on. Want to be so over powered that you fall asleep on your keyboard? Focus on conjuration magic and bows.
Witcher combat was hard? Did you have some trouble with Quen->mouse1mouse1mouse1mouse1mouse1->quen->mouse1mouse1mouse1mouse1? I haven't played 2.0 but Witcher combat was tedious as hell and shallower than Skyrim. If it weren't for that fact that you got insta-killed on difficult (exactly the way you do to dragons breath in Skyrim) it would have been downright boring.brmcconnell said:Following up on this: The Witcher 2 was also much more difficult, and its bosses sound more up your alley as well.
I agree a little bit.Wintermute_ said: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?
As everything else in the whole reality - there's no single approach to any event.Wintermute_ said:Edit: In summary- what a shallow experience this game has been. Not bad, certainly not, just shallow
You raise an excellent point. The versatility of Skyrim is truly something to be praised where praise be do. However...Jandau said:One thing that people seem to forget A LOT when talking about Skyrim is that so little of it is scripted. Take dragons, for instance - Look at the various dragon fights you've had in the past. Most of them were either heavily scripted or the dragon had a very limited number of options and had to interact with very few variables (basically, whatever area was designated for the fight and the player).
Skyrim's dragons are designed to be a part of the world. Wherever you are, they will fit into the situation. They will alter their behaviour according to their environment. Yeah, at any given point there is only a limited number of things a dragon can do (Fly Around, Strafe, Hover, Land on Structure, Land on Ground, etc.), but they can do it ANYWHERE.
And that, in general, is Skyrim's strenght, the lack of scripting. There isn't "that one dragon fight" that plays out pretty much the same for everyone. There are numerous fights and numerous locations that can play out vastly differently depending on the circumstances. Yes, you sometimes get a lame fight where you glitch the dragon or it locks onto an immortal NPC or something. But you also get some truly memorable ones, like playing Cat'N'Mouse through the cluttered streets of Windhelm, trying to line up a shot on the beast, or being a part of a battle between two dragons and a tribe of giants.
It's easy to script an epic fight, but it's much harder to create an engine that can make such fights happen in an unscripted fashion in a wide open world. Is Skyrim perfect in that regard? No. But it's the best that anyone has made in that field thus far and I enjoy it as such.