I personally think the Melee combat is functionally great. Weapons have Weight, battles are fierce, short and the combat AI of enemies actually isn't all that bad. (Bad, but at least logical, IE Mages Stay at distance, Archers switch weapons, Enemies attempt to encircle the player instead of piling on single-file) My only basic complaint is that Weapons don't differentiate themselves enough. Honestly, I think all weapons should have their base "Specialization" perk effect active regardless of player perk choice. Additional perks should enhance the base effect, eventually to a degree that is on-par with the Armsman-Barbarian perk in terms of potential DPS gain.

The Kill moves are nothing but a "Plus" from a player perspective, but from an Enemy (As in, being used on the player) they're irritating. Since they ignore any Evasion the player might have been able to do, they put undue emphasis on powergrinding your defense as quickly as possible.

Where combat fails for me significantly is Stealth. It's just too easy to accidentally overpower a stealth build in Skyrim. Enemy awareness AI is pathetic (Different than actual combat AI), and sneak attacks against them are brutally overpowered, with no real way for enemies to effectively defend themselves against a string of one-hit kills. Body awareness (Deus Ex: Human Revolution does this) and a faction+Region(IE bandits in the same dungeon) alertness sharing would make the stakes in stealth combat high enough as to fit the extreme (over)power it has.

Niamh does archery too - and yes that is awesome.

I'm making my first melee warrior character today. Well if I can decide one what nose would look good on my Nord.

There's not. I ended up rerolling because I got tired of getting killshots on open air and not bandits.

Well, actually I make new characters all the time because I want to try everything, but thats another topic.

Well you've probably got two choices at best unless you want to look like Jackie Stallone.

Do you ever feel that being a spellsword like that is a hindrance? I made an axe/destruction orc and just ended up whacking everyone with my axe 90% of the time.

A step in the right direction from both Oblivion and Morrowind. Still a little whack-a-mole'ish, but visceral and nasty at times.

I like it.

I'm no good with choices so picking one is going to be a while. And I went on Google and looked up Jackie Stallone haha.

No not at all, Niamh uses both skills in combination and dependant upon the circumstances and/or the opponent will use one preferentially over the other. Thing is she is also quite a proficient archer so she can cover pretty much all bases, should she need to.

As an avid user of 2H weapons, I have to say that their presentation, while reasonable, needs some work. For one, they're too slow (especially the swords) compared to the 'proper' behavior of such weapons, and for another many of them are heavier than they ought to be. Granted there's no RL specs for many of them, since the materials don't actually exist, but weights of 25-30 lbs are a bit excessive as nobody would be able to swing something that heavy more than a few times without passing out from fatigue.

true.

as well, 2-h is gimped (patch fix?) and doesn't actually provide greater damage increases on certain perk and skill levels.

it's great fun to play, however!

For what it's worth, those same perks in One-Handed don't do much either, for the same reasons. In fact, the only target against which most of them are of any use is the character him/her self, as we typically have tons more AR and significantly fewer HP than the opponents who would have said perks.

Sure, if you're using a 1H Sword, you really don't notice an impact when you hit something. When you use a Mace though, you can really see the opponent stagger beneath almost every thunk and whallop. The Mace of Molag Bal also draining their Stamina at the same time might have a bit to do with that though.

With mods that give NPCs/Creatures alot more Armor Skill/AR, you see where Bone Breaker/Skull Crusher really outshines the other "Weapon Specs". With Deadly Dragons mod, i'm encounting Ancient Dragons with 500+ Armor Rating. Swords and Axes don't hurt them worth a damn, and might as well be toothpicks. A specced Mace/Warhammer though, you can actually see they're healthbar budge when you hit them.

the fact is that 1-h and 2-h aren't close. 1-h costs less perks and is just as powerful.

that means poor creativity and aesthetics only.

I hate a lot of things about Skyrim but melee is not one of them. Combat is often wild, fast, and unpredictable—very realistic. Standing in one spot and hacking away was very boring in the previous games. Melee is one thing I love about this one.

And the thing that ruins it is THE EFFING KILLMOVES THAT I CAN'T STOP FROM HAPPENING.

/shootself

you're comparing the very worst of combat with a bit of improvement.

morrowind and character skill had it right vs player skill.

personally, and i'm no programmer (though my gf has been a tester) but advancement is what i care about.

skyrim regressed and got rid of. unacceptable.

Unfortunately (at least IMO), use of such mods just transfers the problem to a different part of the same spectrum -now it's Maces that are superior- while not addressing the reallocated inequities. I've been looking into making the various specialty perks actually worth a damn without making one vastly superior to the rest, but much of what they do is hard-coded and requires developer intervention to fix.

I love the melee combat is skyrim actually. It feels very tight and well done and unlike oblivion and morrowind I actually find myself trading blows with the opponent rather than me mashing the attack button trying to attack as fast as possible. Because of the decreased swing speed since oblivion and the amount of armor + health enemies in skyrim have it actually makes using power attacks have a point which is great. My only complaint is that the animation is really just that, an animation. It doesn't matter anout angle ors sword path or anything, the sword doesn't have real physics its just simplt logging numbers of you atatcking.

A better example of a way it should have been was in fableTLC: When swinging a greatsword you realize that THIS THING HAS WEIGHT, it has a material form, and when you swing it the game actually recognizes the path ways and how enemies should react, or rather thats how it seems and how you feel when you hit an enemy with a massive sideways swing, and see them go sprawling to the ground in the direction they should have been knocked. Its very interesting actually and the seemingly physic based melee system really kept me playing. It felt more about skill than random swinging because you had the ability to dodge a weapon blow and parry accordingly and whikle skyrim does have a better way of simulating this than past installments it still feels somewhat shallow. Honestly I love the melee combat in skyrim, much better then previous installments but I will admit it isn't quite perfect.

you clearly never played the other elder scroll games. don't lie

The combat is still crap but then again that is not the reason I play the games. The combat however is somewhat of a step in the right direction from previous games but for some reason I swear Oblivions melee had more impact when you hit something...maybe I need to replay Oblivion though lol.

The balancing of the combat is just horrendous though...

Why is the combat crap?
I've been involved in countless melees and have found them pretty much to a one to be hectic, breathless affairs where the outcome can be very seriously in doubt.
You can't just flail blindly in the direction of the enemy, you actually have to think on your feet.
And no, this is not my first RPG.

You can flail mindlessly at an opponent though...maybe because I am dual wielding weapons? There is definitely room for LOTS of improvement but crap was probably an exaggeration on my part, what can I say, "It's provocative, it gets the people going!" Would be great if there was legit reasons for one playstyle with certain armors and weapons over another in terms of measurable advantages and disadvantages. Just like more depth to the combat. If you like it then good for you. Glad you are having fun, lol I have not played Skyrim for a few months though so I am looking for a reason to get back into it come summer time. Yes I was over-hyped for it...

The combat is much better than Oblivion. I'm not even comparing it to Morrowind because combat in Morrowind was like trying to kill a dragon (sorry, cliffracer) by swinging a dead fish like a madman. Skyrim is a step in the right direction, but there is still a lot of ways to improve the system (just look at melee combat in Dark Souls or Kingdoms of Amalur... now that's melee combat done right).

It doesn't bother me so much. Combat in the Elder Scrolls series was always a means to an end and not the ultimate focus of the games. It's like... I have this vast, amazingly detailed world to explore, and all of a sudden a dragon interrupts my exploring. I'll just kill the dragon and keep exploring. At least in Skyrim you don't have to worry about Oblivion gates ruining a beautiful scenery

I think people obsess too much about the stats and the mechanics and lose sight of actually playing the game.
Just IMHO...

Combat is fine.