Anyone else sick TO DEATH of Vampires and Werewolves?

[Dahveed]

Hmm, kinda forgot about this post for a while and didn't realize it even got any attention.

 

It wasn't supposed to be a giant cry-fest or anything, I just needed to get it off my chest. I don't *terribly* mind vampires and werewolves in the game, especially since they're part of the lore etc. But I always tried to avoid them when I could, I think it's just too old and too easy.

 

But now with the DLC it just seems way too lazy, creatively. Of course I'll hold judgement until I see some videos of it, maybe they'll prove me wrong and it will be awesome. But I just sighed and groaned when I heard it was about vampires.

 

It just strikes me that in a game like this that has so many creative possibilities - the Divines, the Dragonborn, the Thu'um, Thalmor plots, warring Jarls, civil war mayhem and magic and dragons and spiders and caves and Goat Cheese Wedges... that they looked at all that and said, "hey, let's do vampires." Bleh.

 

And for the record, I don't feel "entitled" to anything other than my opinion.

[katling]

I have to say that was more or less my reaction. With everything on offer in the game that they could have expanded on, they chose... vampires. Really? I mean, really? It just seems like a bit of a wasted opportunity to create a first DLC with which to knock our socks off. Everything I've heard about Dawnguard hasn't even loosened my socks in the slightest, let alone come close to knocking them off. I mean, it seems interesting its own way and I'll likely buy it because I'm a completionist to a certain extent but it didn't make my jaw drop and make me go WOW! It just made me go 'Oh. Vampires. Again. Meh.'

 

I know vampires are part of TES lore and certainly they're the kind of vampires I prefer, being all undead and nasty and ugly instead of... you know, mimicking a disco ball with a taste for abusive relationships or brooding and emoing all over the place. And I appreciate being given the opportunity to play the Dovahkin version of Buffy the Vampire Slayer (minus the brooding emo vampires anyway) but I would have much preferred a nice juicy Thalmor related DLC or maybe something related to solving the lack of a High King in Skyrim.

Edited June 30, 2012 by katling

[Psiberzerker]

I would have liked to have seen something done with the Thalmor, or the Forsworn, but they decided vampires were underpowered. And they're so hot lately! Yeah, vampires suck, and they've been done to death. The original legend were burned by the Shadow of a cross, or church, stone dead when the sun was over the horizon, and couldn't cross natural flowing water without packing the earth of their homeland around them. Each iteration of the modern myth takes away weaknesses, and gives them more powers to compensate, the only one that doesn't have some "Daywalker clause" is Buffy the Fikken vampire Slayer for Stoker's sake.. Werewolves, can turn into a werewolf. Just not as sexy. I guess Bethesda's just goin with the flow. Yeah, I'll play it, but I'm already dissapointed. Edited July 1, 2012 by Psiberzerker

[Seeker17281]

 

Taking this into account, my pet peeve with Skyrim's vamps and wolves should be obvious... Beth has reduced the scope of what used to be vibrant, hidden subplots that added a huge new dimension to the game, and cut them down to a few buffs, a power, and a quest to cure yourself. I'm hoping the DLC will address this, but with the way things at Beth seem to be going these days, the OP is probably right... it's probably a blatant appeal to a demographic only too willing to shell out $50 of their parents' money.

 

This sums up my feelings on the topic, though I freely admit I haven't played this DLC yet, I have a friend who has it on the Xbox and spent some time over at his place watching him play (I play Skyrim on the PC and we have this long tradition of debating the pros/cons of each...I usually win of course :whistling: ). I get from a company's pov that development costs have to be contained, but I feel cheated when they do the sort of thing as summarized above.

 

But then, I see what the mod community does with the framework of Beth's game and have to admit, I get a little annoyed with Bethesda. After all this time it takes modders to make your characters look something less than fugly? But I digress (where's that coffee???)

 

I will buy the DLC to run through it, but I think what will wind up happening is a talented and skilled modder with creativity will take the material and inject it with passion for quality gameplay instead of the $$$. I don't begrudge Bethesda their need to make money, I totally respect the need for a business to turn a profit and control expenses, but only up to a point. Sadly, from what I've seen on the Xbox's version, this DLC is very much slapped together. It doesn't matter that its Vampires, if they had done any of the other groups this way, it would've been equally disappointing, maybe even more so since you really don't expect much out of Vampires these days. So while I absolutely love Skyrim, I am disappointed with what they did in Dawnguard.