Dear Bethesda: 10 Things I Want To See In The Elder Scrolls: Online

By Reggie Fells / August 2, 2013

3. Better Bosses

I'll get this out of the way: Alduin was a massive disappointment. The Corrupted Shades I fought while restoring Meridia's temple were difficult. The Draugr Death Overlords I faced and their Dragon Priest masters were also difficult. And the Elder Dragon that one time harassed me at Shor's Stone was BAD. AS. HELL - seventeen deaths later, I finally killed the damn thing, and to this day, it's still mind boggling how something I'd encounter more than once could be such a pain in the.... However, Alduin was nowhere near as formidable. And this is saying a lot, because my character is a thief. True, I wore improved Nightingale armor and brandished a very well upgraded Nightingale blade and a slew of potions to the encounter, but regardless - Alduin, after a few barrages of Shouts, arrows, and sword strikes, combined with the presence of the other Nordic heroes, fell quickly. The final battle, fought in the epic, beautifully rendered realm of Sovngarde.... ended with a whimper rather than a bang.

An explosion of Anti-Climactic underwhelming-ness!

Bosses, besides the obvious challenge factor, provide a standard for a player to judge themselves - minibosses provide a stiffer response than usual sword-fodder, and bigger bosses provide a larger challenge, and usually a reward. In Skyrim, there aren't bosses so much as there are stronger-than-usual variations of enemies at the end of a crypt, cave, or dungeon. And although fairly rewarding, these guys don't provide nearly the same "oomph" as say, a dungeon Master from The Legend of Zelda, or one of the epic boss fights of the God of War series. Much like BioShock, the end boss to Skyrim was just... dull. True, a dragon is always a challenge, but there wasn't much to distinguish Alduin from any of the other Dovah you met in Skyrim. Alduin wasn't bad, if not just... ordinary. And hopefully The Elder Scrolls Online will provide a better challenge.