User blog comment:The Milkman/Skyrim's Smorgasbord of Shortcomings/@comment-86.132.160.15-20120815152936

Having played Dragon's Dogma, Alduin feels extremely poor as a boss by comparison. Grigori was a geniunely entertaining opponant which really tied up the otherwise rather lackluster story. Alduin was simply hit him several times anywhere on his body repeatedly. Grigori took time and effort. What really makes the difference however is this. In the start of Skyrim, you're being blown around by Alduin wrecking Helgen and you're just in awe of him. Likewise, Grigori attacks your fishing village and you're forced to fight him with a rusty sword. You can get a few hits in but because you're a minimal level character, one blow knocks you dead and the battle ends after a few minutes of surviving anyway. Then Grigori proceeds to steal your heart and leaves you for dead.

Alduin and Grigori both terrorise the Player at the start of their respective games, both leave you feeling outmatched but the similarities end there. Where Alduin feels like a piece of cake due to typical Bethesda combat mechanics and having no more power than the dragons you've been eviscerating throughout the game, Grigori is masterfully done, using the full extent of Dragon's Dogma's superb combat system and giving an unrivalled challenge for the player (trust me, first playthrough against Grigori was insane because there was no easy mode or hard mode... there was just pain). With Alduin, by the time you get there you have all the tools to kill him easily. With Grigori, you're in for the fight of your life because he didn't get any weaker since the start of the game. You have to be paying attention at all times, watching for him to telegraph his next attack and run like heck or he'll tear your health to bits.

These two games have something the other desperately needs. Dragon's Dogma needs Skyrim's world, it's people and its' quests, the game was very lackluster in those respects. Skyrim truely needs a better combat system and Dragon's Dogma has one of the best combat systems in an action RPG i've seen in ages.