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11 Dragon Riding is the named aerial traversal feature in DragonSword: Awakening. It sits on top of the broader Familiars system: dragons are one of the collectible creature types that function as mounts, and Dragon Riding is the specific flight-focused traversal mode Hound13 has built around them.
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33 Design Philosophy
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66 Hound13 has publicly said that the freedom-of-movement design of Dragon Riding is inspired by The Legend of Zelda series. The reference is a freedom-of-movement design touchstone, not a specific in-game mechanic translation. DragonSword: Awakening applies that idea to dragon flight across the Continent of Orbis.
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88 Where it Fits in Traversal
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1010 Traversal TierHow It WorksOn footThe default way to explore. The entire continent is explorable on foot as the first-tier option.Ground FamiliarsPlants, beasts, and insect-type Familiars act as ground mounts, growing from a mini follow-along form into full-size mounts when ridden.Bird FamiliarsFlying Familiars provide aerial traversal without the scale and maneuver set of a dragon.Dragon RidingThe top-tier aerial traversal option, purpose-built around dragon-type Familiars and the Zelda-inspired freedom-of-movement design.
1111 Gated Regions
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1414 Hound13 has said that some areas of the open world are only reachable once the player has the right mount. That includes aerial-only regions that specifically need a flying Familiar, and by extension the dragon mount for Dragon Riding is the traversal option that opens up the most of the vertical map.
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1616 How You Get a Dragon
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1818 Starter mount. Each of the nineteen Heroes begins the game with a mount. Whether any Heroes start with a dragon specifically has not been individually detailed.Collected through play. Additional Familiars, including dragons, are acquired as the player progresses through the story and explores Orbis.Store-side cosmetic mounts. Under the Buy-to-Play Model, extra Familiars are one of the two cosmetic categories sold alongside character costumes. No dragon-type mount has appeared in the paid catalogue since release; the only dragon on the store is the Deluxe-only Brave Baby Dragon.
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2020 Related Systems
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2222 Familiars - the broader collectible mount system Dragon Riding sits inside.Continent of Orbis - the open-world map Dragon Riding navigates.
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2424 Handling Changes Since Launch
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2627 Mount handling has been adjusted twice since release. Patch 1.0.4 fixed fall damage being applied when remounting or boost-jumping after dismounting the Abyssal Direwolf, which pointed at a shared problem in the dismount-to-remount transition. Patch 1.0.7 went further: Familiars and Heroes now hold their dash state through jumps and falls instead of dropping it, and a new setting lets the attack button double as the dismount input.
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2829 Traversal was already lighter at launch than in the demo. Familiar stamina was raised, running, swimming, and diving all cost less, and a ground Familiar no longer throws its rider off the moment stamina empties.