I hope dragon fights in DA4 aren't all the same, like in DAI.

Dragon fights in DAI were a bore.

All you had to do is get good weapons and armor then just beat them with a stick - as it were.

While DAI was in production the developers made huge noise about how challenging the dragon fights were. Even went so far as saying that we could damage the dragons wings to keep them from flying.

What did we get instead? Recycled movements from each dragon. The only small difference was, some dragons did different breath attacks and a some summoned baby dragons.

A big let down for me was: the dragon fight in the Hinterlands. Kill the dragon. Get the loot. Annnd..the loot was junk. But what was really disappointing was to find out there was a dwarven thaig with a collapsed door. Would have been cool if you killed the dragon and got accessed to a big dungeon. The developers, sort of did this in the Western Approach, but you do not need to kill the dragon to gain access to it.

I felt the dragons in DAO and to some extent the one in DA2 was far more challenging even with good weapons and armor. Or for that matter with healing spells.

Furthermore, I felt the dragons in Skyrim for more fun and interesting to fight.

The dragons in DAI were:

Dragon lands -beat on dragon - dragon breaths fire- beat on dragon - dragon flies then lands - beat on dragon - dragon summons young -beat dragon...

and its dead. Collect the crappy loot and move on.

Good Times.

The dragon fights in Inquisition are what have been widely proclaimed as the best part of the game. Try them on Nightmare if you think they're a bore. I would rather we not nit-pick over things that were actually good about Inquisition.

You are certainly entitled to your opinion (I've never seen anyone proclaim dragon fights are the best part of DAI), but it doesn't matter what difficulty the game is on. The enemy AI, locked environments, and the specific encounters play out the same exact way. My issue is with how generic and cookie cutter the fights are, not the challenge.

I'd appreciate if you not try and invalidate my criticisms of the game, and I'll give the same courtesy to your personal criticisms. I can assure you I'm not the only one that loathed how generic and boring dragon fights are in DAI.

Most of the reviews written for Inquisition praise the Dragon fights... Even the Wishlist by PC Gamer released last month listed them as one of the strengths.  But I guess it goes to prove that no matter what BioWare does, they won't please everyone.  But it's my opinion that when the fans complain about things that were done well, it just makes the developers less likely to listen to fans at all.

I'd rather them have maybe 3 really intricate, unique, big boss dragon fights than 10+ copy and paste. I know it's called Dragon Age, and you don't have to fight them, but the amount of high dragons in DAI was..rather a lot. Of course, they have that issue with demons as well. I know the Inquisitor and crew are good, but seriously, how many Pride Demons did they cut down?

When were reviews objective truth all of the sudden? They are just as much of an opinion as a "layman's" opinion. The only difference is a reviewer is paid money to give their opinion. Again, I'm happy for you that you felt the same ten generic fights with slight deviations were "done well," but you have to realize that is your opinion. Developers are going to do what they want regardless of fan feedback. If BioWare revamps and overhauls dragon fights, it's not going to be because I mentioned how lackluster they were on a fan website...

The sheer amount of them was definitely part of the issue, as DAO and DA2 didn't have anywhere as many. Whenever you have a lot of anything, unless you have a lot of variety in the behavior and the dynamic nature of the encounter, it's going to get boring rather quickly. I still think it could be better resolved if dragons could attack you anywhere and not be gated towards a particular area of the map. Also, dropping quality loot would be nice as well. Half of the dragons didn't drop anything noteworthy.

Yikes. Don't tell Ancient Tevinter your views. They'll crucify you and stone you for comparing dragons to "bears, wolves or spiders." On a more serious note, I don't believe a lore explanation is a good excuse for what ultimately became generic, cookie cutter fights. Dragons don't necessarily have to outsmart the player, but it would be nice if they didn't cycle through the same three behaviors, especially when they know I'll try and go for their legs or head every single time.

The problem with dragons is the loot is static. What drops isn't necessarily going to be something you need. Most of the dragons were worthless for my purposes, as I was a heavy armor warrior. Maybe three dragons, at best, had something I truly needed? I'd just rather the loot drop based on what your class is and your role. Defeating a dragon should not only be an achievement, but a reward for the player. There's not much motivation to even kill them when more than half of them won't drop anything useful.

This is what they did in DAO and DA2 and I didn't like it as much. I prefer having a wide variety of beautiful dragons so I can admire them while I slay them. I also liked hunting them down, like the Sandy Howler in the Hissing Wastes. Find Fairel's tomb and, surprise, dragon. More hidden dragons in the next game would be fun.

Many of your tweaks and corrections would have made dragon fights far more interesting in DAI. I'd love if you could make more use of the environment, and finishers would be a fantastic idea for dragons. DAO had finishing moves. I have no idea why BioWare has abandoned them since that game.

That's true, as the "Great Dragons" are the Old Gods turned Archdemons. It would be very interesting to see a Great Dragon that has not been affected by the taint of the Dark Spawn. Perhaps we might see one as there are still supposedly two Great Dragons left, correct?

This is why in my Grey Warden thread that I believe the Grey Wardens will be pivotal to DA4. Blight or no Blight, I believe Solas, the Old Gods, and the Grey Wardens are all connected.

I digress though. I still want more interesting and varied dragon fights in DA4, even if it's just against High Dragons.

I like to have a dragon grab the main character and drop him/her from the air like the one did in trespasser. Fight a much larger dragon that can step on the main character crushing him/her. Bring back the mouth grab. It was awesome seeing the dragon shake its head back and forth with the main character or companion in its mouth. excellent

A fight where the dragon does it scream, but instead of little ones showing up, another dragon shows up.

The increased proliferation of Dragons is intended. They are returning to Thedas after having been thought extinct. This is the whole reason why this Age eas named "Dragon".

I loved stumbling upon a dragon while exlporing. They were one of the few things that made the open world interesting.

I loved the challenge they provided. All PvE challenges boil down to memorizing the moves and beating the encounter. I don't see the point in complaining about that aspect.

No one has insulted anyone.  Not sure what you're on about.  If you feel attacked when someone doesn't agree with your opinion and offers a counter-argument, it says something about you...

Skyrim dragon fights were terrible in my opinion, and a very bad example of what you're trying to explain.  Sure a dragon might drop in on you unexpectedly, but after that it's all 100% scripted.  They might do a strafing run with fire, they will hover and do a breath attack allowing you time to shoot at them, then at 50% health they always crash to the ground and you fight them on the ground.  If you're at range, they shoot breath attacks.  If you cross a range threshold they start melee attacks...  All 100% predictable. 

The point in disagreeing with you is not to say DAI is perfect.  No one said anything remotely close to that.  Again, you're inferring things no one said or even intended.  The point of the people who have disagreed with you is to say there are much bigger things wrong with DAI that need to be fixed before working on one of the thing that was done relatively well.