Alduin, All Disappoint: Skyrim Confuses Non-Linear Questing with Non-Climactic Storytelling

So I finally finished Skyrim's main story quest, where you must find and defeat Alduin, the existence-threatening "World Eater" dragon god -- yes, it took four months -- and here's my reaction encapsulated in a single image (SPOILERS if you haven't finished yet):

After 60-plus hours of world-exploring and questing, throughout which you're informed by multiple characters that Alduin threatens all Skyrim, and you -- only you, Dovahkiin! -- can defeat him, but only if you become as powerful as he, you finally get to confront him and... he rolls over in about five minutes. I defeated him while only level 25 (mid-range, for a player character), and did so on my first attempt. Thinking that might have just been luck, I tried twice more -- and beat him two more times, with even less difficulty. This final battle only deepens an existing disappointment, because it's actually the second time you fight Alduin -- you have a brief skirmish with him several quests before this battle -- when he's also easily defeated. So what the player experiences with Alduin (lightweight opponent) is totally at odds with what the NPCs say about him (World! Eater!) Does Bethesda know how to create a super-villain?

I'm really surprised there's been such a gamer outrage about Mass Effect 3's ending being anti-climatic and disappointing, while I've heard hardly any fuss about Skyrim's utterly meh climax. Thanks to Skyrim's non-linear quest design, I still have maybe twenty random, unfinished quests which now seem pretty pointless. I know Bethseda wants the game to be as non-linear as possible, but the central mission thread should have required a lot more progress on the other quest lines before a player even gets a chance to get into the final conflict. (There's a literal gatekeeper guarding the entrance to the final battle. It would be trivial to add a requirement that a player have to complete X quests or reach Y levels before being allowed to fight it.) The player should feel like he's mastered the world before he can deserve to try mastering the, you know, world eater.

Make no mistake, Skyrim is still a masterpiece, but I'm perplexed why a studio so talented as Bethesda would put so much effort into a storyline with such a major shortcoming. My only guess is they wanted to make it relatively easy for less hardcore players to finish the main story quest. If you check Steam's player stays for Skyrim, only about 30% played long enough to defeat Alduin. So curiously, most players lose interest in the game before the 50-60 hours it may take to reach the end of that quest line. But if defeating Alduin felt more like an absolute accomplishment and a summation of all that you've done through the entire game, and felt so fully epic that you wanted to tell all your friends that you had done so, I bet many more than 30% would make the effort. Or at the very least, the 30% of us who did would feel a lot less disappointed.

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Comments

[epredator]

Spookily enough I finished too this weekend. I did enjoy it, and I see what you mean about the final quest. However I felt I had levelled up enough and had done a stack of side missions that it seemed fitting I was ready to just deal with Aldiun. After all in the plot you see in a vision a few others deal with him in a similar fashion.
I didn't realise it had actually ended though and was expecting to get absolutely pummelled back in the world.
At the same time I now feel happy to run around the world doing the other side quests knowing that I had sorted out the bad guy.
So yes :) I know what you mean but few game endings on things this long feel good. Maybe Red Dead Redemption is the only one I felt a certain wow about about.
Back in the day the FF VII ending was a massive grind against Sepiroth that after 140+ hours almost felt impossible.
I think the psychology of long term stories and series on TV usually is up against it, Lost on TV etc. All that time, followed by is that it?
Probably more an allegory for life if you are feeling pessimistic :)

[Pathfinder]

It's not the kill, it's the thrill of the chase!

But, yeah, I agree. Alduin's a wimp. Along with ALL the dragons in Skyrim. They're all wimps.

I've been killed more times by mud crabs than by dragons.

GODDAMN WHAT'S THAT CLICKING SOUND FRACKING MUD CRABS NOT AGAIN NOOOOO!

[shockwave yareach]

I can has dragon burger?

[Hamlet Au]

Some folks on Reddit (who have a nice thread on this post) pointed out it doesn't necessarily take 50-60 hours to reach the final Alduin fight, so I tweaked that point.

[Ezra]

For me I like the option of getting Alduin and the dragon stuff out of the way first, and then having the whole rest of the game to do. It's fun bringing the more powerful dragon shouts into the civil war quests for example.

I agree that Alduin was too easy, the entire game too easy on default difficult actually, but I wouldn't have it any other way in being able to decide what lines of quests are most important to me. One of the reasons Skyrim is so good is the dragons can be a footnote if you so decide to play that way.

[mobile spy]

I found so many interesting stuff in your blog, especially its discussion. I guess I am not the only one having all the enjoyment here keep up the good work.

[Dizzy Banjo]

I actually think Skyrim is a crap game in a strict sense - but is a great exploratory place for wandering.

I don't really feel compelled to even play the quests that much, but the world itself, the weather, the music and the light of it - are magical.

I doubt ill ever get near to completion..

[Nicole]

Honestly I had a harder time defeating the Draugr leading up to him then I had defeating him! I even went through the trouble of saving all my health potions (I had four) because I figured I'd need them in the final fight. In the end I needed no health potions and all it took to defeat Alduin was to shout Dragonrend now and then and sit back and watch the heros defeat him.

Not hard. At all.

I was a teeny, tiny bit disappointed. I was all tensed up for a big, boss fight and all I got was a stupid little dragon.

Boo.

I am level 36. Own all the houses in Skyrim. Have done all the major quests already. Met far more intimidating bosses on the side quests then I did with Alduin. Pathetic!

[Brian]

If you want an amazing experience in Skyrim play on the hardest setting and promise yourself that if you die, legitimately (not due to some quirk of the game) you have to start over. If you kill your companion, you have to find a new one. And under no circumstance, allow a two-hand welding boss in arms length of you (decapitation!). Dozens of heart-stopping battles - where every mistake could be your last! Where your high level enemies are as tough (or tougher) than you - and you have to use all your skills, shouts, potions, perks to succeed. I just finished - after over 300 hours - and Skyrim was the best game I ever played. (I was decapitated at level 34 and started over!). And the best part about starting over, once you're past the Whiterun dragon encounter, each major city area offers a completely differenct game experience. So, though I started over I think 6 times, I never had the same game experience. What an awesome RPG game - certainly not made to play in a couple days, weeks or even months. Again, try it on hardest setting - and like in real life - game over when you die.... you wont' be dispointed!