Z-lock.

The ability to lock on target a-la Zelda/Demon's Souls. Half the jankyness of the melee combat would disappear. Would definitely work better in third person view, but still.. it's a simple fix that would change everything.

Think about it, Bethesda.

Along with swinging the weapon in relation to what the player is doing with the rThumbstick. YES!

To the guy being a troll below me.

Think about the options that open up if it did have that feature.
You know that rThumbstick could easily mimmick all the new sword swinging action that is going to be in that new upcoming Skyward Sword. I think its called.

Few examples of how the rThumbstick could have made melee combat more engaging.

You ever remember playing stuff like Fight Night or Ready to Rumble. How they did the boxing punches with the thumbstick controls?

Now imagine this. If you hold both thumbsticks left your character strafes left and vice versa for all other directions possible.
Other than that. any other movements with the thumbsticks dictate what kind of attack you make with that hand. It can be done. But only if you used a lock on feature for melee combat.
I'd say that even magic could take advantage of unique thumbstick movement patterns to determine what kind of spell is cast from it.

Example.
Simple movement of back to front cast a stream version of the spell.
More elaborate motions of the thumbstick can create a cone version of the spell instead. or and radial effect.

This will only be possible with a "lock-on". so that the rThumbstick controls the Right hand instead of looking up down left right.

From what it's shaping up to be.
When the player depresses the Right trigger. Instead of swinging the sword, it engages lock on. and then transfers control to thumbstick so long as right trigger is held.
The Left Trigger would need to play a role in switching the Lthumbstick between movement/left hand actions. But in the process you need to make sure that while the L-Trigger is held. Players still have options to strafe out of the way.

and make the game even easier? no thanks. pretty soon you'll be able to play the game with your eyes closed if suggestions like this are implemented.

Regardless of whether it would or would not improvement combat, Bethesda won't do it. Nintendo owns the patent on Z-lock mechanics and Bethesda would have to pay them royalties for it.

No.

It's not about making the game easier, it's about fixing the floatiness of combat. Horizontal strafing works well for shooting games, but is detrimental to melee systems.

I like it as is. It captures the feeling of complete insanity that is group melee. Having enemies (or even allies) get between your steel and the target's face is all part of the game.

Well lock-on it's a mechanic that is implemented in a plethora of games, including the recently released Dark Souls. I doubt From Software payed anything to Nintendo.

psstttt...there's more than just melee to this game.....

to me target lock makes things too easy and takes out realism. seriously, think about it. with target lock once battle starts i could get up with my wireless controller and go get a beer while mashing the attack button and come back to a finished battle.

I laugh at this, it doesn't make the game "easier" in any way, espeically if they do the animation and play it out in the direction you go when you press it.

Throw in the ability to dodge well (for both you and enemies).

So you lock on, you go for a power attack, the enenmy could dodge out of the way if they are quick/agile enough and then you're open for a counter (That could do more dmg then normal attacks).


If anyone here has played the PC game Severance, it featred lock on but it's combat was EXTREMELY fun and skill based.

Dragons souls isn't known for having "easy" combat, meanwhile TES? It's known for having un-fun, little depth, EASY combat.

There's no skill involved in aiming your mouse and click click cliking. I'd take lock on with dodging, depth, various moves dependent on your weapon type,e tc over it ANY Day.

Not needed on PC, the mouse offers more control than a controller.

Besides, who fights in third person in a TES game? that's not what they're for.

What are you talking about? Not only is that the predominant skill in pretty much every PC game, but staying on target is a major skill you need in order to be effective with a mouse, something which is taken away with lock-on.

Besides, you're presenting a fallacy; the addition of extra depth and various moves has nothing to do with lock-on. Stop offering them as if they're advantages of the lock-on system.

They've already done this a bit with the "magnetism" concept (Swords slightly seek enemies and slightly shy away from friends), but this isn't enough.

Z-lock is an interesting reform, but I am convinced that the best way to reform combat is by making movement less like ice-skating, and more like actual footsteps, and footing. Leaps forwards, dodges backwards, step in, step back, step around. Actual movements rather than ice-skating.

Consider this!

IMO they should just reduce backward and sideways movement speed considerably, for NPCs and the PC.

It's a blessing that lock on is always optional then .

That wouldn't fix anything and I wouldn't use it if it was added. The "floatiness" is because enemies and your own sword-arm often don't react to attacks. What they could do is at least make it so if you hit the enemy, your character's arm/weapon react to the impact, even if the enemy doesn't flinch. It would mostly be an animation change, although it could affect gameplay slightly because it would probably slow your next attack. They could increase melee damage slightly to compensate.

It'd still just be ice-skating.

The game really needs an actual sense of stepping and footing in combat. As it stands, it's just free-floating hitboxes skating around ramming into each other. The game needs deliberate stepping, leaping, and moving rather than floating.

I play KB+M and never have any trouble keeping my reticle on my opponents. I think it's more of an issue related to anologue stick imprecision compared to mouse precision.

EDIT: Person above me has a great suggestion. Most videogames severely downplay the importance of footwork in swordplay.

That's exactly the point. Lock on doesn't equal auto-aiming (anyone who played Dark Souls or Zelda knows it), but it does allow for combat to be reactive. You can implement a number of factor (including dodging, sidestepping, circular strafing etc), and increase the game's skillcap.

Let's be honest here: in Skyrim all a bandit using a 2h has to do is swing in your general direction. I get damaged by attacks that miss me onscreen by a couple of ingame yards. It's floaty, and nothing close to being skill based.

Lock on is 5% about offence and 95% about defence.

Of course it's auto-aim. In Zelda particularly you can fire arrows and they will auto hit while you're locked on.

Lock-on doesn't raise the skill ceiling, it simply allows worse players to benefit from 'skills' which better players already make use of. In Skyrim already I've been sidestepping and dodging attacks while staying on target simply by timing a sideways jump with the attack. On PC the handholding of lock-on isn't needed.

As for floating, they need better physics when it comes to weapon swings and connections, and a definite maximum range of a weapon which is visible to the player when the weapon is being swung at them. Nobody should see the weapon tip sail past them, and then realise they've been hit, but this has nothing to do with auto-aim.

dodge roll, dodge roll, dodge roll, attack, dodge roll, dodge roll. Sounds exciting. Spamming dodge abilities followed by random attack combos of x,a,b is not even half as immersing ES's floaty combat. :/ Might be more skillful but that doesn't really translate into fun.

Screw that keep my sandbox free and floaty. Don't want any restrictive mechanics in my sandbox games. <_>

Don't assume that just because an ES's has a lock on feature for melee, that it would play out EXACTLY like Zelda. Cause if I remember correctly Zelda was all about hitting solitary weak spots on bosses. And it's arcady, with quick evasive rolls that make you invincible. Nobody even went down that route yet. So hold your horses.

the game is fine...everyone on these forums thinks theyre game developers jesus tap dancing christ dude, i understand the need for input and crticism, but none of us here could have made a better game...

A game plays the game for you feature? No thanks, I can aim perfectly fine on my own.

I fight in 3rd-person in Skyrim... and it's really awesome. The attack magnetism is enough for me. I just wish I could figure out how to block (Unless I am blocking with my greatsword, but my low skill and lack of block-perks just make the reduction unnoticable.

I wish the dodge mechanic had returned from Oblivion. I don't like not being able to quickly fall back or jump off to the side in combat.

You don't need to be a game developer to give input on a feature that you'd like to see, that could possibly improve melee combat. if you people actually took the time to think of the pro's and con's of the idea before you came in to fight against it.

When is it EVER a bad idea to continue giving input on how a game might further be improved.

Ever heard of something called brainstorming.
You're the guy at the meeting that doesn't come up with anything and calls everyone elses ideas stupid.

Shutup and get lost.