#and black dragon kalameet is sorta cool

[doedipus]

generic fantasy concepts are kind of like instant ramen in that if you just kind of drag and drop the most boilerplate version of something into your story it's going to be boring as shit and devoid of nutritional value. and this goes doubly so for big setpiece monsters like dragons.

you gotta like, either come up with a unique thing or make enough additions and substitutions to the stock thing that it meaningfully has its own identity or it's going to suck

#I feel like fromsoft is the best and worst example of this #there's so many unique fantasy creatures and cool spins on things throughout the souls series #but then dark souls and elden ring are full of the most generic boring dragons in fiction #they nailed whatever they were going for with the demon's souls dragon god #and black dragon kalameet is sorta cool #and then they gave up #but then through the same progression we got like irithyll dungeon and bloodborne and sekiro and everything else in eldie #I guess you can't be going full throttle all the time but it always feels like a narrative asset flip