You can block with 1 sword, but not with 2. It just feels wrong, and it feels wrong because it is.

1. It's overpowered.
No, it's not. The OP argument is pancakes because removing a feature does not balance it. I understand the need for a drawback to dual wielding, but strictly prohibiting a player from taking any sort of blocking action is silly. A combatant holding two swords is just as capable of holding them up defensively as someone using one sword or a shield. There's no physical or physiological reason that blocking should just be "deleted." Obviously it needs to be less effective than a shield, or even a single weapon block. Perhaps it needs to have almost no effect, I can understand that. But a lack of balance on the part of the developer doesn't mean that the ability should just go away. Example, Shield block 100% effective, Single Weapon block 50% effective, Double-Weapon block 15% effective.

That is balance. The "Delete" key is not.

2. The animation doesn't exist.
That's circular. The only reason there's no animation is because they didn't include the ability. I'm asking them to put it in, animation and all. Crossing the weapons comes to mind.

I'm hoping there will be a dual-wield blocking perk/skill that will allow you to do such a thing...

There's no control scheme for it. Blocking is secondary attack. When you dual wield, secondary attack is the left hand attack.

Yeah a sword can block damage.

Now if you said maybe deflect a hit, I could believe you, but BLOCK? You ask for realism but a sword should never ever be used for blocking. Sorry you are so wrong.

i have to agree with this sentiment, no blocking ability with dual wield is just stupidly silly.....

You are joking right? Any object can block an incoming blow. I can try to block with my neck if I wanted to. It's all just a matter of effectiveness.

Parrying?

Hilariously right

Yes, but: Swordfighters do not use the blade to BLOCK (= enemy's weapon is stopped by your weapon, it hits your weapon more or less squarely) as that would sooner or later break or at least mar the blade. They use the blade to deflect blows / parry, which is a difference. Sorry, as a non-native speaker, it's difficult for me to explain. But I agree, we should be able to parry even when dual-wielding.

You are wrong, blocking is not done with swords, its parrying. I would updated your first post.

Duel swords will only parry other melee weapons. Blocking arrows etc will not be realistic and just dumb.

The concept here is that you forgo the ability to block in lieu of increased damage.

Relinquish some possible defense and you obtain more offense.

Granted, in reality, sure you could parry and attack or block an incoming sword strike with your own, but in this game, the logic is as I said above.

Don't worry though. I'm sure very soon there will be mods to let you block while dual wielding.

Again, what button would you use to block with? The block button is an attack button when you dual wield.

Thank you, that is what I am looking for.

You know what to the OP? I think we need to call Myth Busters and see if a Sword (or neck) can block damage from an incoming blow. If they can say it's "Confimered" or at least "Plauable" I will agree with you then.

Shift + L&R?
Middle Mouse?
Spacebar?

Who cares? It's not impossible. I would defer to the game designers to figure this one out.

you can block AND parry with a sword, a parry is redirecting your opponents weapon and should take less strength, but more skill than an actual block, blocking on the other hand tends to take more strenght/effort and is a direct opposition of your opponents weapon, whereas a parry is indirect.

Who said anything about blocking arrows with your sword? You should be able to block other mellee weapons with dual wield, not ranged attacks....

edit:
Replying to the other person saying you cant block with a blade. You can against certain weapons, but there are limitations, ex. blocking a direct blow with the flat of your blade is generally, ill-advised. What the weapons are made of can make a difference as well, a well made steel blade could actually sheer through a blade made with a lesser metal and/or quality.

None of those keys exist on a gamepad, which the game was designed for.

You can defer to the game designers all you like, but they already answered. It won't fit.

Yeah I can see something only a few centimeters or inches wide that will block a War Hammer or arrows or other swords. OOOOOO I see you holding your sword in a block. I think I will move my sword 2 inches to the left and poke you.

Yeah right, blocking will really help you in not getting damamge. I think it's time to go back to play Oblivion and use your sword to block all you want.

Hey could this be the first post to complain about Skyrim why it's not like Oblivion? Is this going to be the same people who told Morrowind players to svck it up and it's not Morrowind 2.0? Well Skyrim is 1.0 not Oblivon 2.0.

It's a Skyrim feature, may as well get use to it. I actually like it, never liked the idea of blocking with a sword at all. You want to block, use a shield and do not dual wield. I never ever seen a game that lets you dual wield and you block with it. Usually when you dual wield you get extra attacks.

So you want multiple perk benefits, multiple weapon enchantments, fastest attack speed, AND the ability to block? And it wouldn't be overpowered?

I like the idea, but not sure how it would be implemented into the controller scheme (I am on XBOX)... mebbe clicking the right anolog stick?
There should be some kind of solution, but I suppose the alternative is to roleplay as a dual-wielding character that relies on NOT being hit as opposed to refuting the incoming blows with some defensive tool... Develop a higher movement speed to lunge in and out of attack range.. Mebbe a perk of some kind that would let you leap backwards (again perhaps the right anolog stick click)...
Just a thought... I'm only 15 minutes into the game, so combat hasn't really come up much yet.

From a martial arts point of view, blocking with two one-handed weapons would actually be more effective than blocking with one one-handed weapon. Bethesda makes stupid decisions in their game design. I guess that will never change.

They'd haveto be some pretty bad ass enchants,
I dunno, is dual wielding a late bloomer? I'm only lvl8 and tried both dw and 2h with the same amount of perks invested(i reloaded a save) and it's not even close to the damage i did with a 2h, they were at the same skill aswell.
The only thing that could possibly justify that is if dw dosen't start to shine untill you have all the dw perks and some really beafy enchants.

As a fencer in RL. I agree a parry would be nice. In my experience the real issue with trying to use two weapons at once is it requires lots of concentration. You divide your foucus between the two weapons instead of just one so each is alittle less effective but you have two.. KOTOR did apretty good job by making it less accurate. Maybe a penalty to weapon speed in dual weild would reflect this. Mostly what happens is one weapon is used mostly for defense in actual pratice but frankly I care more what happens cinematically. Defense should actually be pretty good logically.

whether all this could be gameplay balanced or figured out for the console , I have no clue. On PC I have confidence we'll see at least several successful attempts. For now I'll just accept it as another style of gameplay. Dodging around can be pretty swashbuckling after all.

You obviously are very ignorant when it comes to ancient/old fighting techniques, so stop arguing your point from that perspective (in response to your first, second, and third sentence), that way you wont make a fool of yourself in that regard.

I just thought it would be nice to be able to block, Im not complaining about it, just saying that i think it would be nice. The inability to not be able to do so because they are more concerned with the ability to play the game on a bloody gamepad, well, that just makes me sad, but dont want to get into the whole consol-ification argument here.

In the interest of not starting a flame war with people, this is my last post on this thread. I originally just wanted to add my support that i think being able to block with dual wielded weapons would be nifty.

If you want to block just get a damn shield, Jesus. If your argument is "But then I don't do as much damage", well then that is the freaking point.

It's not about the numbers, Monkerz. Some of us are past the point that we only play spreadsheet-like text-based RPGs. I like the way the dual wielding looks, I don't do it because of the attack bonuses. I like the idea of my character holding two small, light weapons. I do it because the character I'm role playing isn't big enough to use a shield, not because I just want the ability to block.
On that note, I would actually be satisfied if there was also an option for a tiny, strap-on shield.


If it was just about reducing damage then I would enchant my armor or something. It's not. It's a role playing game, not a numbers game.