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[.Pennywise]

Change my mind.

No, but seriously. In every fantasy game there MUST be a Dragon. And in almost every fashion, they MUST be depicted as a bad big 'dinosaur roaring' creature that its only objetive it's to utterly destroy everything on its path.

(Just to be fair, I know they are a big part of the ancient Japanese culture, so it's kind of a given. But even then, they do not make a lot of use from their own 'serpent esque' Dragons-like, nor of their infinite wisdom and intelligence)

 

[ParaSeoul]

Yeah theres so many lackluster dragons in games. All you have to do is google "bad dragon".

 

[Zeroing]

I kinda agree, specially since all ancient civilizations had way more awesome mythologic creatures...
Not sure why people are so obsessed by dragons, maybe because they appear in almost civilisation

 

[SlimeGooGoo]

.

 

[BennyBlanco]

 

[rodrigolfp]

Not really. Wyverns are. See Skyrim, Elden Ring...

 

[Magic Carpet]

Elf's would like a word. pointy eared bastards taking all our jobs.

 

[R6Rider]

Depends. Some games do it well and others not so much. Also depends on the dragons themselves.

The Glintstone Dragon and the Lightning dragons in Elden Ring are cool as hell for example.

Generic dragons with just fire breathe are basically the low bar and more games could use variations such as wyrms, drakes, wyverns, etc. Dragon's Dogma did this well.

 

[ÆMNE22A!C]

 

[rofif]

Yes absolutely.
I see YET ANOTHER dragon in Elden Ring and just run around. So bored of these

 

[N1tr0sOx1d3]

Never!

 

[CherryFalls]

You can never have enough dragons

 

[StreetsofBeige]

Change my mind.

No, but seriously. In every fantasy game there MUST be a Dragon. And in almost every fashion, they MUST be depicted as a bad big 'dinosaur roaring' creature that its only objetive it's to utterly destroy everything on its path.

(Just to be fair, I know they are a big part of the ancient Japanese culture, so it's kind of a given. But even then, they do not make a lot of use from their own 'serpent esque' Dragons-like, nor of their infinite wisdom and intelligence)

Yup. In most games they look the same, act the same, can fly despite looking 10 tons, and somehow they all have a similar deadly breath attack.

Would be great for a plot change if an RPG had weak dragons or they are close to extinction. A change of roles. And the big rulers in the game world were goblins or some other weak adversary that rose from being bossed around in every other game.

 

[BbMajor7th]

It was inevitable that the mundanity of popular culture would formalise a genre called 'fantasy'. Now every fantasy novel, TV show and game is drawing from the same limited palette of races, monsters, historical periods, magic systems, terminology and so forth and being truly creative is making a crazy combination of established norms like 'Undead Dragon' or 'Ice Castle'. I suppose people like what they know.

 

[a multicultural team of v]

The main problem is they all generally look the same. Where are the dragons with feathers like dinosaurs? Where are the dragons that are mammal-like with fur? Where are the dragons with unique body proportions, maybe tiny legs huge arms? How bout some fucked up mutated asymmetrical dragons with one of their wings not developing right?

Even with a game like Elden Ring where the artists have absolute freedom to make whatever the hell they want, they exercised that freedom for literally everything BUT the dragons.

 

[YukiOnna]

Dragons are cool. So no.

 

[Zeroing]

You can never have enough dragons

 

[MetalRain]

I think I've never had great dragon experience. I kind of like how Flemeth became Dragon in Dragon Age: Origins, but usually it's just slightly bigger and more difficult enemy.

 

[kingfey]

Dragons are calamity creatures. They are force to be reckon.

Most games use waveryn and lower dragon tier.

Real dragons in games, would destroy the game.

 

[Azelover]

I'm ok with dragons in most games. But I think the design needs to go places, and be more unique.

Panzer Dragoon for example in the 90's. It's not the standard D&D kind of dragon.

 

[Yamisan]

People who post "change my mind" normally don't have minds worth changing.

 

[Danjin44]

Then play games that dont have dragons? I'm playing medieval fantasy like Triangle Strategy with zero dragons.

The main problem is they all generally look the same. Where are the dragons with feathers like dinosaurs? Where are the dragons that are mammal-like with fur?

Then you should play Monster Hunter series, it has vast variety of Dragon types.

 

[Represent.]

generally speaking, combat against them needs to be better

 

[roosnam1980]

need a remake

 

[StreetsofBeige]

Then play games that dont have dragons? I'm playing medieval fantasy like Triangle Strategy with zero dragons.

Then you should play Monster Hunter series, it has vast variety of Dragon types.

Good point. For me, I dont play MH, so I'd never see these kinds of dragons.

But I think the general consensus is most dragons you see in media follow that King Arthur/medieval style of dragon. Even if the media has nothing to do with European knights and castles (let's say its a ninja game or Forgotten Worlds), it'll likely be the same style.

 

[SantaC]

 

[Ceadeus]

Only game that got an interesting dragon (with an AWESOME voice)

Oof what a game. Dragon's Dogma has to be one my all time favorite.

From the same game, one enemy I would like to encounter MORE in games are the Beholder. There are not enough bosses in games where it utilises psychic magic against you and anything that weaken your abilities. In that case, completely paralyzed your party to perma death.

Castlevania bosses are so good too but rarely seen nowaday (to say never)

 

[Banjo64]

What's ya problem OP?

 

[MiguelItUp]

I mean, then you're probably just over fantasy settings. Because if there is a fictional universe of knights, swords, and shields, then there's going to be dragons. Almost always. It's like having a pirate related project with ships and water.

 

[a multicultural team of v]

Then you should play Monster Hunter series, it has vast variety of Dragon types.

This is actually a great point, I forgot how wild the MH monster designs get. World 2 can't come soon enough.

 

[The Fartist]

Elf's would like a word. pointy eared bastards taking all our jobs.

 

[StreetsofBeige]

Oof what a game. Dragon's Dogma has to be one my all time favorite.

From the same game, one enemy I would like to encounter MORE in games are the Beholder. There are not enough bosses in games where it utilises psychic magic against you and anything that weaken your abilities. In that case, completely paralyzed your party to perma death.

Castlevania bosses are so good too but rarely seen nowaday (to say never)

Going back to when I watched my bro play Wizardry 4, the plot of the game is youre the bad guy with monsters and the enemies were mostly adventuring parties of fighters, clerics etc....

A good twist. And the game (reading it) is hard as hell.

Would be a cool twist in a game. You expect to reach a giant boss. You get to the room and it's a band of high level enemy soldiers and magic slingers who did the work. They see you trying to barge in and loot, so that party of 4 charges you with similar kinds of attacks you got.

 

[BigBooper]

Yea, it's a bit overused.

 

[Luipadre]

Tell that to miyazaki. I killed like 20 in elden ring already

 

[DeceptiveAlarm]

 

[RoboFu]

 

[Fbh]

Sure I guess they are overused, but they are pretty cool so I'm fine with it.
To be fair I think at this point they just go hand in hand with medieval(ish) fantasy. So it's more about medieval fantasy being overused rather than just dragons.

 

[anothertech]

On the other hand, most games have nowhere NEAR enough dragons wouldn't you agree?

 

[DonkeyPunchJr]

No way man, dragons are fucking cool and are a part of practically every culture on Earth.

 

[Ceadeus]

Going back to when I watched my bro play Wizardry 4, the plot of the game is youre the bad guy with monsters and the enemies were mostly adventuring parties of fighters, clerics etc....

A good twist. And the game (reading it) is hard as hell.

Would be a cool twist in a game. You expect to reach a giant boss. You get to the room and it's a band of high level enemy soldiers and magic slingers who did the work. They see you trying to barge in and loot, so that party of 4 charges you with similar kinds of attacks you got.

Wow that actually sounds really good. I could see a modern game using this twist, by playing as the ''enemy'' for once. Breaking the habit we're used to.

 

[StreetsofBeige]

Wow that actually sounds really good. I could see a modern game using this twist, by playing as the ''enemy'' for once. Breaking the habit we're used to.

Werdna was the bad guy in the old games. But in #4 you are him.

Wizardry IV: The Return of Werdna - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

The game begins at the bottom of a 10-level dungeon. Most of Werdna's powers are depleted and must be gradually recovered throughout the game. The initial goal is to climb to the top of the dungeon, reclaiming Werdna's full power along the way. Each level has one or more pentagrams at specific points. The pentagrams have three purposes: The first time a pentagram is discovered in a level, Werdna's strength increases, and a portion of his powers are restored. This only happens once per level; finding multiple pentagrams on a single level will not increase his powers multiple times. The second purpose is that monsters may be summoned from the pentagrams. The higher the level, the stronger the monsters available. There is no cost to summoning monsters, but only three parties of monsters may be summoned at a time, and any existing monsters will be replaced by the summoned ones. The third purpose is that pentagrams refresh Werdna's health and spellcasting capacity.

Instead of fighting monsters, the player fights against the heroes from the past three Wizardry games. Players of the first three games who sent their character disks to Sir-Tech might have their characters present in Wizardry IV.

 

[tmlDan]

it's true, i literally rolled my eyes at every random dragon in Elden Ring, it was so repetitive and annoying to see an open field and know a dragon would show up.

I'd like more variety, even something else that flies if thats what they're aiming for.

 

[Alexios]

Need more Panzer Dragoon style dragons.

 

[JerryinSoCal]

They are not overused they just aren't used properly, I'd love a fantasy game where a dragon can be used as a mount and allow you to use them as a weapon. I know some have tried that in the past but nothing that I can think of other than the Shadow of Mordor game that made the dragons feel very slow.

 

[Ceadeus]

Werdna was the bad guy in the old games. But in #4 you are him.

Wizardry IV: The Return of Werdna - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

The game begins at the bottom of a 10-level dungeon. Most of Werdna's powers are depleted and must be gradually recovered throughout the game. The initial goal is to climb to the top of the dungeon, reclaiming Werdna's full power along the way. Each level has one or more pentagrams at specific points. The pentagrams have three purposes: The first time a pentagram is discovered in a level, Werdna's strength increases, and a portion of his powers are restored. This only happens once per level; finding multiple pentagrams on a single level will not increase his powers multiple times. The second purpose is that monsters may be summoned from the pentagrams. The higher the level, the stronger the monsters available. There is no cost to summoning monsters, but only three parties of monsters may be summoned at a time, and any existing monsters will be replaced by the summoned ones. The third purpose is that pentagrams refresh Werdna's health and spellcasting capacity.

Instead of fighting monsters, the player fights against the heroes from the past three Wizardry games. Players of the first three games who sent their character disks to Sir-Tech might have their characters present in Wizardry IV.

That's pretty fucking crazy, I'm really digging this formula. Thanks for sharing this!

There's no way we havn't seen anything quite like this since then. It's the type of idea that would go very popular if done right.

 

[SSfox]

 

[Laptop1991]

No, not overused, they can be annoying at times, there should always be some Dragons! just don't go to Whiterun, come back later.

 

[manfestival]

I voted "give me more dragons" but this thread is starting to convince me that they are overused.

 

[BusierDonkey]

I wish every game had dragons. Any game lacking a dragon immediately becomes a better game with the inclusion of a dragon.

Good recent examples:

- Halo Infinite
This game only got an 87 on Metacritic and I guarantee if it had dragons in it the score would have been closer to 97. Monkey people and Lizard men are neat, but imagine if the Banished had been a race of Dragons! Way cooler.

- Forza Horizon 5
Again, while the game score decently on MC with a 92 lets face it something was missing. Yeah it had shanty towns and literal bags of trash randomly strewn about in an attempt to accurately portray Mexico (but not TOO accurately), but simply putting in a dragon would have raised the score to a solid 100. Don't believe me? Probably not!

- Horizon Forbidden West
Trying to ride the coattails of Forza Horizon by hijacking the name (but for some reason not the cars), this game had a pretty interesting concept, racing robot dinosaurs so that you could face Lex Luthor and his gang of super villains. It worked for Transformers, why not a video game featuring a drunk Irish woman voiced by Tiny Tina? The dinosaurs allowed the game to score an 88 but dragons would have secured a 98.

- Ratchet and Clank
I didn't actually play this one but based on it's paltry 88 MC I'm guessing it didn't have either dragons OR robot dinosaurs. If it did then that doesn't bode well for the game...

Wow all those poorly rated games without dragons. What happens when you have a game with dragons?

- Elden Ring
Look at all those dragons. Despite literally being the exact same game as every other From game ever made, with terrible netcode, a graphical side-grade from earlier games and all the jank (I read it on 4chan) the game got a 96 MC. Thank you Dragons.

- Ocarina of Time
If Volvagia hadn't been in the game it likely would have gotten an 89 MC instead of a 99 MC. Outside that boss there wasn't a lot to this game.

- Mario Galaxy 2
What's that? Another cookie-cutter 3D Mario? How would that merit a 97 MC? Because of the Dragon boss dummy.

- Breath of the Wild
According to many people who either haven't played it or really just want to hate it regardless it's a literally empty, boring game with breakable weapons and nothing to do. Lots of dragons in there though (the long chinese myth variety too!) so the 97 MC was a guarantee.

- Skyrim
This is the single exception to my rule. This game stood solid on it's precise controls, advanced combat gameplay and stellar writing without using dragons as a crutch. Instead of relying on dragons to bolster a high MC this game had you battle Thomas the Tank Engines which was both creative and unexpected. Many people however used mods to put dragons into the game which frankly was a poor fit with the lore.

 

[Aion002]

I understand your point...

And even waifus in anime...

So... You're wrong.