No matter how many details leak out on the upcoming Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, they won't make the wait until release any easier. But if fighting dragons is your cup of tea, the latest game details from Skyrim's director Todd Howard should make your day. While other games may only give players a handful of dragons to slay, Skyrim will be offering a completely limitless population of the winged creatures to show who's boss.

It's been clear for some time that there wouldn't be any shortages of dragons in Skyrim, but Howard has now confirmed that in practice, the number of instances with dragons will be limited only by a player's willingness to explore.

Whether the average player will have the guts needed to take on more dragons than they have to remains to be seen, as Bethesda's dragon design philosophy will likely have many players doing their best to avoid the flying enemies.

But those who prefer to stare danger in the face will be given the choice of seeking out many dragons to strengthen their own skills, but doing so won't just put a player's life in danger. Howard's clarifications come from an interview with Norwegian magazine Gamer.no, translated by a poster on The Elder Scrolls forums.

While Howard has been somewhat cagey in the past when asked outright how many dragons would be populating the landscapes of Skyrim, this time he put the questions to rest:

"No, there is an unlimited number of dragons. One of our designers actually put in a random event I encountered, where I ended up being chased by three dragons and I thought "who the hell did this?" I felt like Frodo in Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers and was really frightened. So I asked him to remove it. But no, dragons are generated automatically (in addition to that there are a number of specific encounters, of course)."

Howard wasn't ready to let all the mysteries surrounding dragons die, still keeping quiet on the possibility of dragon mounts being available in Skyrim:

"Have we considered it? Yes. Do we allow it right now? No. But we can decide to support it at some point."

Whether that means that Bethesda is doing their best to keep arguably the biggest addition to The Elder Scrolls series under wraps until release, or planning to add the ability in future DLC, it seems unlikely that players will never get to see the massive world of Skyrim from a dragon's-eye view.

When you take a look at everything we know about Skyrim, it's abundantly clear that fans of RPGs and open world action games have something new to look forward to, and an infinite number of powerful enemies will be a large part of that. Giving creatures the ability to show aggression towards a player whenever they choose should go a long way in building a realistic environment, and even the idea of running in terror from fire-breathing dragons sounds like fun to us.

How well do you think having an endless number of dragons will work? Could it be overkill? Would you rather have the choice to pick your own battles, or be thrust into an endless stream of dragon fights? Let us know in the comments.

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim will be released on November 11 for the Xbox 360, PS3 and PC.

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Source: Bethsoft (via VG24/7)