One of the coolest new features of the The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim is the long-awaited introduction of Dragons into the incredibly successful fantasy RPG franchise. Not only is Bethesda introducing the flying mythical creatures, but dragons are the central focus of the story and of the “Dragonborn” protagonist.
Heck, dragons are also a source of one of the new abilities of Skyrim, that of the “Dragon Shouts,” providing 20 new spells/powers to help you in your hunt of the winged beasts. So, just how many dragons are there in Skyrim, how do they differ and how do you fight them?
IGN had the opportunity to chat with Bethesda’s Skyrim game director Todd Howard and in their conversation, they touched on the topic of dragons. Howard explains that he’s unsure of how many dragons there are going to be, but that the number has certainly gone up since their initial planning stages.
“Some are scripted to appear at certain times, and some are completely random. We’re currently messing with that number, and it also depends on how you play the game. I got randomly hunted by three of them at once in the game last week, and I assure you that’s too many at once. I can guess a low number of maybe a dozen, and a high number many multiples beyond that. Theoretically it’s infinite I guess, since we put them in the world like any other creature. We went into the project being very conservative about how we’d use them, but they’ve turned out great, so we want them to get good screen time. When you defeat a dragon, you absorb its soul, and that’s all I should say about that for now.”
How disappointing would it have been if the best part of the game was combating (or maybe flying?) dragons but it only occurred on rare occasions? I’m happy they’ve decided to make them a randomly generated, natural part of the land of Skyrim as well, even if our goal is just to kill them all…
So, when we do meet dragons, how do these action sequences play out? Is it just regular hack-and-slash-and-fireball, Elder Scrolls style, or is it purely based on the Dragon Shout abilities?
“I don’t want to spoil or get into all of that, but there are a few different types, with different powers, and they use the same shout powers the player uses.”
Howard confirms that there are different types of dragons and that they do have unique abilities, presumably unique features and physical characteristics I would expect as well. Absorbing the soul of a fallen dragon likely has to do with growing the player’s Dragon Shout arsenal and strength.
My question is – aside hoping that the RPG elements of Skyrim are not dumbed down - do we have to kill all of the dragons? Or can we side with them and fly them around. Like so:
If you missed it, make time to watch the first Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim gameplay trailer.
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim releases November 11, 2011 for the Xbox 360, PS3 and PC.
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Source: IGN
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What?! The video does not work! Like what?!
Oh, never mind, it worked >.>
Haha. I was worried there, for a sec.
If you read the IGN article, Howard evades a question asked on spell creation… If there is none I will be so incredibly pissed off.
I would also be upset about that because that would be another example of an RPG going stupid, taking away features to “streamline.”
I don’t like the idea of being hunted by dragons. That’s one of those things in fantasy where you know you did something very wrong.
I am hoping we have some dragons on our side at least. It would be pretty awesome to see a good dragon on our side fight with one of the bad ones.
The devs very specifically stated in one interview that you would not be able to ride dragons. Kind of a disappointment but the reasoning is sound; Dragons are very clever and consider themselves vastly superior to us, no way they’d let someone ride them.
What if the Dragon is clever enough to realize you’re his friend and want to help you get somewhere
Or maybe at least genre savvy enough to notice that you’re the chosen one and get out of your way.
Dragon riding is gay.
todd howard should put new heros the Centaur charcters in Elder scrolls 5 skyrim game.
todd howard since this new game Elder Scrolls 5 SkyRim is still single
player how about puting single players joining forces online on pc,ps3 & XBox 360.
Todd put the Balduer’s Gate ELf SONG theme in Elder Scrolls 5 SkyRim cause
Baldur’s Gate Elf song theme is the best peaceful music in baldurs gate it needs to be in a new the elder Scroll series & have players joining forces like in Gaunlet dark Legacy game & Both baldurs gate games and have the Elf Song playing in the game when players are free roaming aroun.
know Elders scrolls games can’t better without the ELF Song theme off the first Baldurs Gate on ps2.
Why is there no centaurs?, as either friends Npc’s and as playable race. And again from what I’ve seen from the videos. They are NOT dragons.
The Classic dragons are : 4 legs and wings on there back. Like from movie
” How train your dragon” or ” Dragonheart” or ” Eragon ” Yeah movie sucked
but she was small but yet still powerful dragon. How can bethsoft get that mixed up? Heck there is even better dragons in world of warcraft..
Skyrim showes are Wyverns. I’m still looking forward to this game, But it is sad that they not including centaurs and there word of ” Dragons” has been miss-leading once again.. I just hope Skyrim is as good as Oblivion was.. and not a waste of $70.
i would like todd to add in elder scrolls 6 is adding new warriors
The Centaurs & other good hero’s joining them to help battling evil elves & minotaurs & lapith & Giants & others to be playable.
if ElderScrolls 6 game gets release next year in 2013 hopefully all our
answers will be rewarded on pc ps3 and xbox 360. i like Elf Song from
the first Buldure’s Gate to return and also agree with dave,Centaurchester and airk idea ad on elderscrolls 6 game.