I know there were major complaints about the clunkiness of combat in Oblivion, how does Skyrim fare? I'll personally be playing 360 when I get off work today and I'm tempted to try a 2hander build like I used to play in old EQ. So many games these days tend not to favor that style but I would love to swing a huge sword as a sneaky assassin style.

So basic question - how's combat?

Combat in Skyrim is fantastic, I play 1h and Shield and it's a lot of fun shield-bashing and doing finishers. It feels a lot more fluid and cinematic compared to Oblivion.

the music makes it 100 times better. it is fantastic though

I personally believe (Xbox 360 user) that the combat is very well executed. The weapons feel like they have more weight (Some people may say clunkiness but I disagree) in comparison to oblivion where you could just button mash with any sword. Feels more realistic. The duel wielding of magic and swords is really really awesome and this is what shined the most. Flawless. And the bow and arrows are abit more refined then oblivion. All in all very good.

The weapons do feel heavier, but I think some of the kill moves are poorly done. There's also no real feedback about the combat at all. You just... keep swinging until the guy dies or you get a kill move. Enemies don't seem to react to being hit, and there's no such health bar or anything to indicate how much damage you have done.

Also, it feels really dumb that I can block if holding 1 sword, but not if I'm holding 2.

I'm playing a dual wielding/bow character and I'm finding it very satisfying.

While I can't block with DW my character is agile enough to dodge and counter attack.

You are absolutely wrong, the enemy's health is displayed at the top of the screen.

I've just started using 2 handers, and it feels like the best move is to just keep attacking, not pausing to block. Maybe I need to get some more experience with combat though.

Oh, and early on it's probably best to get the steel weapon of your liking and then improve it in riverwood. I'm now using a fine steel greatsword, and it's dealing lots of damage, which allows me to get through the barrow at expert difficulty.

I'd say it's a lot better than Oblivion, but not on par with others I've seen.

One Handed and Shield is simply awesome.
Bow is also awesome
Dual wielding not so much

DW is a pain to me, no blocking. Bows are pretty good, don't need so many arrows to kill enemies. Down side it suffers from the same problem as Oblivion, that you lose most of your arrows from enemy corpses.

Oh my gosh! I love being wrong. It's so much nicer than being right about a complaint lol.

Thanks for that. I didn't even see it... holy crap.

I'm enjoying the combination of stealth and combat. After a few levels, I'm able to easily utilize stealth and get a couple bow shots in before engaging to finish with melee (and once I've got the damage multiplier perks, I probably won't need to melee). I like the mix of 1-hander/casting (having to sacrifice something to be able to cast spells I think is a good thing).

The new blocking system I think is an improvement as well, requiring actual timing on the players part (you can't just hold block, you have to block as the attack occurs), adds another element to combat (though it did take me a while to figure out what I was doing wrong).

I haven't advanced far enough to see how some of the combat perks will affect combat though. I wasn't a big fan of the way the power attacks in Oblivion worked overall. I felt they were... cumbersome I guess.

The one gripe I do have though is with the favorites system. It's functional, but far from ideal, primarily because it disrupts the flow of combat. I really don't like having to pause combat to switch from bow to sword. A hotkey system would be a tremendous improvement in that respect. That to me is really one of the biggest ball drops on Bethesda's part with Skyrim, and I AM going to harp on it relentlessly.

the arrows flight and impact feel and look real, and powerful.

Jesus christ, dont believe those people.

The combat is the best you ever had in an elder scrolls game. But compared to almost every other game, its clunky, forced, annoying and unresponsive.
If you can tolerate that, skyrim is for you.

You will thank me for honesty

melle combat is "just ok" at worst - at best you get a shield bash or pommel or a death animation. minusing the parry on having a single blade really takes the immersion out of sword fighting since you cant defend yourself anymore unless your JUST using a single weapon. if you decide to cast or even dual wield your pretty much a pinata. how can you not block with one of two swords?

anyway theres a rumor they are going to put the block back in game in the next dlc.

archery has saisfying sound effects but at lower levels your still going to use 6 arrows on some npcs.

whats missing is location based damage. hitting a leg and causing a limp. or damaging an arm and the guy cant lift his shield so easily. maybe hitting a head and causing more damage. that would be nice - it would make the combat more engaging. i guess thats up for skycaptain or another modder of equal skill.

Have to agree on this. 2 handed weps just dont feel like the massive they look. You swing them like 1 handed versions with no real feedback of hitting things like monsters getting stunned or knocked down without using "skills". I just played a game with very nice feedback on hits but cant quite put the name on my mind right now.

But overall, combat is bit better than Oblivion.

I enjoy using my 2-handed sword and bow, but I hate finishing moves that force 3rd person.
Also, often the combat feels "slow", but perhaps that's good. I don't know.

I quite enjoy the combat, especially the magic. Even with the lowest level fire spell you start out with you feel powerful pumping flames into a dude's face. Later on you'll get some spells to raise your fallen enemies and it's always a kick to see a dude you just killed start attacking his own battle buddy lol.

I like the new combat, though you don't really get any feel of a hit unless they block, the power attacks are infinitely better than before but I can't speak much on styles outside of the one I chose (sword and heal spell)

Combat is awesome. I didn`t enjoy it even nearly this much in Oblivion (or fallouts if you can compare).

I'm impressed, although I kinda get the feeling that Giants are a little OP. They seem stronger than dragons.
(Especially when I get smashed 1000 feet into the air by a 25 pound club)

It feels similar to OB, but it's waaaay different imo. I'm absolutely loving it. I head into combat with my steel sword + ice spike spell/sparks... and dominate (even on Master setting). The killing animations (which happen rarely for me) annoy me slightly.. but only because the clipping is waaay off (the sword isn't even the person, or my character will appear in the middle of the enemy itself). But I always get a kick out of lobbing an ice spike at an enemy, and watching them crumple to the ground with it sticking out of their head.

It's great, but I keep accidently hitting my teammates and they get in the way. Maybe it's because I get a max of 40 fps when fighting, but it still is annoying. ` ressurect

It is the best combat I've ever experienced in an RPG like this. I don't know what its like 1st person but 3rd, its simply awesome.