Thoughts on Playable Dragons

lifesbrink

Currently, there is only one game out there with good playable dragons.  Istaria, formerly known as Horizons.  Although the dragon aspect is fun, the game is not, as it is riddled with bugs and has a lack of polish found in today's games.

 

Surprisingly, this is found in an MMO.  Other than that, there are few games with good stories and playable dragons.  The only mainstream game that has succeeded is Spyro, but for those people like myself looking for something more like Elder Scrolls or gameplay similar to the MMO's of now, there is nothing.

 

I have to wonder then, why is this?  Why do game companies make dragons out to be villians so much of the time?  It is a perceived stereotype that is pervasive and I do not understand why it happens to rule so heavily.  Does the idea of playing a dragon go against what most players believe?  I am looking for thoughts on this, not so much as an argument, but rather theories and the like.

Khaeros

I don't know, to be honest.  Even as far back as D&D, there are good and evil dragons - more evil than good, though.  At the very beginning, they were mostly all chaotic too. 

 

Early Warcraft lore was all about the dragonflights protecting Azeroth against the Burning Legion.  Each flight was responsible for their domains - bronze for time, green for nature, etc.   Of course, the Black Dragonflight was all about protecting mountains and stuff but Neltharion went crazy because a bunch of Old Gods whispered to him and took his entire flight (and some others) with him, and now he's Deathwing. Other than that kind of thing, though, the dragonflights are generally allied with the player - definitely much more so than D&D.

 

I think Council of Wyrms (D&D setting) lets you use dragons as player characters.  I don't hear about this one often, though.

 

As for why dragons are the baddies most often?  I'd say it's influences from D&D putting bias towards evil dragons, but there's probably other reasons.  Maybe dragons are just considered an 'epic' challenge for players to face.  Maybe they aren't 'humanoid' enough to be considered solid player characters. 

StonesDK

You would have to make them as weak as the humanoids. It wouldn't make sense that way

ForumPvP

Might and Magic lets you have dragon as playable character and its like playing Chuck Norris.

cant remember was it V VI VII.

edit: Might and Magic VIII : Day of the destroyer.

http://www.gamespot.com/might-and-magic-viii-day-of-the-destroyer/reviews/might-and-magic-viii-day-of-the-destroyer-review-2542600/

In the first major break from previous games, you begin Might and Magic VIII with only one character. You can eventually control a party of five, but you must find and recruit your companions along the way. The other major change in Might and Magic VIII is that you can choose from a variety of races and classes not previously available. In addition to the basic cleric and knight, you can start out as a vampire, dark elf, minotaur, troll, or necromancer. As in previous games, each character type can be promoted via a specific quest for each class. Another significant new feature is the addition of dragons as playable characters, though they can only join your party after the game begins, meaning you can't create a dragon character from scratch.

Dragons are especially useful to have when there's a lot of fighting to do. And since you have the option to recruit a dragon fairly early in the game, you'll almost immediately improve your combat effectiveness by a huge margin, which diminishes the challenge of the game. Between its devastating basic attack and its ability to breathe fire, your dragon will carry you to victory in almost every battle. And since you can quickly boost your dragon's skills to the point where it gains the ability to fly and can carry the entire party with it, you can easily pass areas through which you would have otherwise spent hours hacking and slashing. It's this gross game imbalance that makes dragons in Might and Magic VIII problematic. When you have a dragon in tow, combat becomes repetitive and tedious even when you're up against difficult foes, especially when the rest of your party is handy with ranged weapons.

centkin

Well, first off -- I had a 100/100/100 ancient dragon in horizons.  I thought the flight was done well and I only stopped playing when the light bulb company took over.

As for being able to be on the side of dragons -- you COULD do that in Everquest also.  Not that they balanced it very well though -- It was a major pain to build up my Yelinak faction in Vellious but I was welcome in skyshrine.

There were dragon questors in Everquest 2 as well.  Nagafen etc.

 

ShakyMo

you know what would be ace

 

a game like Magic Carpet, but your a dragon instead of a guy on a carpet, and obviously with modern graphics and all, maybe some building elements too.

Classicstar

Divinity 2 EGO you can play as dragon:)

Ergload

Achaea has playable Dragons. You have to get to level 99 and then you can pick black, red, blue, green, silver or gold Dragon to transform into. Then you get a bunch of Dragon skills like tailsweep to knock people down, stomping on them to break their bones, oh and you can bite people in half http://www.achaea.com/

S37hhh

I like playing with my dragon...

lifesbrink

All good thoughts, people, though I have to ask:  what does anyone feel the benefit to playing a dragon would be, whether an MMO or otherwise?

 

Again, I have a slight bias in this, because I want a game in which playable dragons with all the fun aspects exists, like crashing down on villages and soaring through the air battling other dragons or other monsters.  I want it to be a possible first-person / third-person perspective too, I like that idea of towering over other things in a game.

 

It is not just dragons, either, I would love playing as a lot of the different monsters we commonly kill in games, and it seems that these things get naturally left out.  A shame really.  I remember EQ had an expansion where you could play as a monster, it was a brilliant idea, but it was EQ, and their combat system is ancient and so rigid to my tastes.

ForumPvP

NetHack variants lets you polymorph into pretty much every monster in the game and use their special abilities #lay egg and get pet from it ,xorn walk thru walls and and and.

Konfess

History channel did one of those mocumentaries they are famous for doing.  It covered dragons.  Basically they are an amalgam of predators that humans instinctively fear; venomous reptiles, stalking big cats, and carnivorous birds of prey.  I personally think they are based on alligators, crocodiles, or dinosaur fossils.

Why don’t game companies allow dragon as playable race or class?  Because they are not gamers.  No matter how much they postulate, they are not gamers.  They don’t have the source pool of information that we do, and they don’t share our wants or desires.  Truth is their actions speak louder than their words.

ShakyMo

Do why are dragons seen as helpful / friendly/ to be respected in so much folklore, Chinese, Welsh, ancient English (well wyvern not dragon), mayan (quetzequtal) etc..

Konfess

Originally posted by ShakyMo

Dude why are dragons seen as helpful / friendly/ to be respected in so much folklore, Chinese, Welsh, ancient English (well wyvern not dragon), mayan (quetzequtal) etc..

Those aren’t dragons, those are the jet aircraft of ancient aliens or future earth pilots sent or knocked back in time.  I always suspected that Ganesha was a Jet Pilot in an Oxy Mask.

Modern Oxy Mask Example.

Theutus

http://store.steampowered.com/app/63000/

lifesbrink

I brought this post back, because I was having a case of nostalgia....I miss my dragon in Istaria, yet I detest how crappy the game is.