Of course we enjoy playing the game, thats why we're here pointing out the flaws. If there is a possibility of the game being even BETTER for the next game, why not take it? If some of the Beth staff see all these combat threads, they might make ES:VI's combat better, leading to a better experience for all.

My only problem is the lack of difference between the weapons. Why should I use a mace instead of an axe instead of a sword? Very little difference. Why should I use a two-hander? Why should I duel wield? It ends up very similar anyway, and even Master is not hard.

I never said you didn't enjoy the game - (although with some posters you do have to wonder) - I just meant that there seems sometimes to be rather too much obsessing about numbers and not actual RP'ing.

Why should you use a mace? Because your character uses a mace. Does it matter if there is a difference? Not really if you are RP'ing it rather than looking at the game as a series of statistics that you need to go through to find the optimum set up for your character.

I guess it's a question of approach but for us Niamh uses a war axe because she prefers it for melee, not because it's better than a sword. Obviously she's not going to use a less effective one if she can use a more effective one but in the game world she won't necessarily know that until she's tried.

RP'ing is good, and I do RP, but it seems like a waste of dev time to put them in and then make them practicaly the same. And, for a large amount of people who play Skyrim, RP'ing is placing boring limits on their characters and it's much funner not to RP. People have different approaches to video games, and whilst RP'ing can solve some of those problems, some people wont or can't do it, and it really is the place of the developers to make it so you don't have to use only roleplaying for something as large as picking your main weapon - it should be a large choice. Oblivion was probably slightly better at this, with the Blade and Blunt trees - though axes never really fit anywhere, but it did differentiate them effectively. I actually do think Morrowind did this well - the different types of attacks made you play differently depending on the weapon. Good fun!

totally agree. although i love skyrim the melee combat is just pathetic. swing left, swing right, swing left.. *yawn* swing right.. etc

Hmm, I see your point of view, but don't mistake me - I don't RP because I am trying to get round a problem, I RP because that's how I experience the game. It does not matter to me whether the stats are buggered for a weapon because ultimately Niamh chooses the weapons she wants and that's just the way it is, regardless of what those weapons' capabilities are.

As I say, I take your point about different styles - but that said I do still think it's possible to lose sight of the wood for the trees.
Thank you for a balanced response though!

For those of you on PC, there is a mod that might fix some of your complaints.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PcZQrqMK44g&feature=player_embedded

It's called Deadly Combat. Basically normal hits can stagger enemies slightly, well timed blocks will make enemies recoil, getting hit by arrows and magic disorient the camera, etc. Weapon damages are also increased to make it faster paced, and the AI can stagger you or other AI as well. Overall I really love the mod and it greatly improved combat for me. I don't think I would really have any complaints about combat if it was like this out of the box.

That is interesting, mind you...
...although one of the archery perks lets you stagger your opponent, as I recall...
[EDIT: hmmm, I might try this - I still have no problem with the existing melee though ]

Did Mount and Blade radically change between editions or something because I just don't get the love and I'm a long time period fencer..

Anyway I like the melee combat and I only do melee in third person because the clever people at bethesda allow use both to have our way. I wish there was a posibilty for more reaction to the light attacks but otherwise very happy

I'm sure a few people other than me have stated it's overpowered, but let me give you my opinion: IT'S OVERPOWERED.

One-Handed requires no skill. None whatsoever. You hit one button on your mouse/controller, and you keep swinging until the person is dead, whilst also watching your health. There's nothing interesting about it.


The killcams sure as hell don't make up for it either. After like.. 8 killcams, they just loop to the same thing. I admit it's a tad fun to watch, but a killcam is more of an 'instant replay' rather than the actual combat.

That just sounds rude!

An amazing mod. After playing with this mod for over 100 hours i had to remove it for temporary technical reasons and playing without it all of a sudden reminded me how poor the melee combat is in vanilla.

The mod is pretty amazing. U cant just swing away because enemies will stagger u, preventing u from attacking. The new AI features make you take extra effort to time your blocks in order to open up the enemy for long enough to squeeE in a power qttack. Enemies block and bash more, dodge more, shooting arrows while being hit by enemy archers is nearly impossible and all the changes mean that a battle against a single enemy can go pear shape if u fight poorly , even if u r of a higher lvl, and on the flip side, u can defeat tough enemies that can 1 hit kill you if u time your block, flank them and hit them from the back for extra 33% damage.

The deadly combat mod is the reason i enjoy combat so much that i placed mods that spawn bandits and other humanoids in the outdoors and i just walk on foot from one place to another- so i will get to fight and enjoy combat.

I'm using this and along with the fact that Niamh wears no armour it actually makes things quite tricky sometimes - so much so that I had to dial down the difficulty level

its great but it can be MUCH better, although they nailed magic this time but more spells can't hurt XD (more more MORE) also archery is pretty nice

I think all games suffer from "strange" melee combat and I don't think its an easy thing to do without some kind of a new super duper engine

What's not to love about it? (besides the mediocre graphics and lack of polish that's typical of indie games)

It's great fun, and no other action-RPG in existence does realistic-style combat better. Not even close. It sets the standard.

It is okay. Not great, but I find it fun and it works for what it tries to do.

This^. I was watching my kid play Mass Effect 3 yesterday and the movement in that game is far superior. It's quicker and more fluid. The character just moves better. This isn't to say that I don't like the combat in Skyrim, it's okay. But man, it does feel heavy sometimes.

This is one area where Bethesda has made a constant improvement, so I won't complain a lot even thought it still can be improved.
Only thing I have an issue with when it comes to combat is all that forced 3rd person and that you are not able to fight while riding a horse, but those can easily get fixed.

Mace is slow but powerful and ignores part of armor rating, use it against heavily armored opponents. Axe is faster and causes bleeding damage, use it against lightly armored living creatures. Sword is fastest and does biggest critical damage, good against anything, but especially automatons since they don't bleed and have no armor (no, not even Centurions ).

...Or that's the theory. In practice, grab stick and whack people in the head with it, you'll do fine

Most amazing combat ever. Using both hands and adding a favorites menu was pure genius.

The combat (melee) has really ruined this game for me, its just sooo bland.

It really hasnt changed much from morrowwind.

Ive spend years playing Oblivion, and all this game has brought in is a shield-bash/duel weild. There really does need to be some type of impact/stumble effect on your enemy. The worst is when you are duel weilding and so is the enemy, it just looks soooo crap, both of yyou swingings like mad as if you arent hitting eachother, then (hopefully) he/she falls over dead.

Please please please Bethesda, bring out a 'mod' that adds a small improvement to the melee combat, make the enemy stumble/faulter, even if it means you have to slow swings down (maybe you could turn it on/off in the options.)

I would pay for it as a DLC!

this actually only made mages a lot more annoying. i deinstalled it because melee combat became actually a lot EASIER with it.

You buy stolen periods?

It made combat react to the player a lot more, making so if the player plays well than he has a biger chance to win. Yes, combat became a little easier because it allowed the player greater control over combat and,imo, it became incredibly better.
Like fighting agaisnt mages and archers: it was harder on one hand because their attacks could stagger and disorient the player.
On the other hand it was easier since Once a melee warior got close enough he could stagger the enemy. Forcing him to switch to melee.

The latest versions of the mod had improved AI that would bash more and dodge.

But to me combat is never easy because i upgrade my health only once every 5 levels or so. I always die really quickly.

Melee combat = boring. Meh.

For an actual RPG, they still need to go back to Morrowind's system, but they won't because too many people do not understand that an RPG relies on the character's skills, NOT the player's. As soon as you have the game rely on the player, it is no longer an RPG because you are playing yourself, not a role. Boring... for an RPG, that is. Sure, it's okay for an action game... except that there are plenty of action games and that's not what TES is billed as or known for. The result is that you get a poor version hybrid. (sigh)

I saw one person claim that Beth nailed magic. Huh?! Yeah... nailed it into the ground with a railroad spike so that it is deader than it ever was, perhaps. No spellmaking = no unique mage characters. That's not "nailing magic" - it's destroying any ability to roleplay because it removes player choice. Again, TES is not an action game, and there are plenty of action games to play for anyone who wants to do so.

Archery... well, the default is screwed up and you have to tweak the ini file to get it to work as it should (and as it did in prior games, as well as other games, of course). IT still doesn't feel as natural as Morrowind or Oblivion, but at least it works right and simulates actual archery.

Skyrim scores about "B" in combat department.
It still is an improvement from previous TES, it's still a bit klunky.

I don't think you'd be able to nail down the issue by simply adding some impacts or adjusting some animations. Whole interface needs a serious upgrade - even from basic foundation of moving/running.
It may not be as noticable for players who never played anything else than TES.
While I was playing Oblivion, the action felt smooth. Not anymore.

I think Beth needs to have their producer and his team to play some action games from other companies. Once they taste these competetions out there, they can play Skyrim again and feel for themselves why it feels klunky.
Although smooth combat isn't the focal point of TES, I think better combat can really make the game much more enjoyable.