I suppose this has been brought up before but I can't actually find out why this is true - can anyone tell me why fighting underwater was removed from the series for Skyrim? Also, how do we kill slaughterfish and other underwater creatures?

They probably didn't want/could add the extra animations for it. Fighting underwater means your legs move very differently, they can't have you standing underwater as you are on land. And with the better graphics and engine and whatnot, there's less room for these extra animations. That's my guess anyway.

But we've had it in every game prior. I've killed tons of slaughterfish and other fish in Oblivion, and I'm pretty sure I did in Morrowind as well. I fee; like it was purposefully removed from Skyrim and I'm very curious about it. Also, how are we now supposed to kill the slaughterfish?

If I have to kill them I either lure them to the coast (where I shoot them) or cast an Elemental Cloak spell.

Annoying way to deal with them compared to just whacking 'em with my sword. The Fallouts didn't have underwater combat either (even for melee). It seems like it was just a lazy decision on their part. If they went out of their way to remove it then the future of TES is in deep trouble.

It's more just frustrating to me than anything else - I like having fishing and water battles in previous TES games and the absence of that ability in this game really struck me as odd. The game loses a lot of it's fun for me - as water covers much of the world - it would be a bummer to leave that large region of potentially playable area out altogether. hmm.

Its actually quite realistic. Grab a sword, go into deep water, and try to swing. It won't work very well.

And you're over exagerating on the whole large region of area unplayable part. Skyrim doesn't have nearly as many slaughterfish in it.

But bows work underwater (Spear guns are just variation on a crossbow), as do daggers (Diving knives are standard equipment) and spears (Spear fishing has been done for centuries)

I'm not saying it's not realistic. I'm saying that I miss it and I'm confused why it was removed as some of us liked it. As for over-exaggerating, I'm not - there may not be many fish now but -IMO- there should be more to do in the water in general. This is what I meant. And it's the same reason that people made the mod Alive Waters (and others) for Oblivion. There is a large playable area of the world that is now neglected because combat/fishing is apparently not allowed in Skyrim, though it was in Cyrodil and Morrowind. It would have been easier for modders who enjoy developing water-related mods to have just added more fish and water region ambiance to the game than it will be for them to actually have to create the animations and add the ability to game. I just think it was unnecessary to leave it out and I am curious why that was done. And it makes me personally a little grumpy. I tried to kill a slaughterfish and almost got my a** handed to me. It was embarrassing. Why? Because I expected to be able to do what I've always done in TES games and kill stuff in the water. :/

And as Ryuujin_0 pointed out, I'd be pleased if we could use daggers or spears or something to keep it immersive - that would make sense.

You can stand in shallow water and kill slaughterfish with your sword. You just can't swim and do it.

It annoys me greatly because it makes water-breathing useless.

Since there's basically no reason to go underwater, at least not yet, it doesn't bug me at all. Only seen like two Slaughterfish so far anway. o.o

You'd be suprised what you find underwater off the coast. You know the "sea" with the icebergs? - that's not the edge of the map, it's just another environment type... tundra, grassland, glaciers might dominate the land, but out to sea you have icebergs and ice floes you can run across, fighting horkers, polar bears or dive down to many lsot shipwrecks on the seabed being chased by slaughterfish.

Doesn't bother me in the least. So far slaughterfish have been rare and do very little damage. Fighting underwater doesn't really make sense anyway unless you're going to add some game play to it.

It makes sense to my arigonian

Actually, I consider water-breathing useless this game around not because of pithy water fighting; Argonian's don't get much use out of that ability because there isn't much down there. When I had an alteration character with water-breathing I was just itching for Dungeons that were submerged or had long underwater tunnels. Deep dives and dark caves! Or just dead things, crashed ships, and secret underwater cave treasure. I searched high and low for a good application of my water breathing ability, some secret under the waves, and I came up disappointed.

Exactly. I'm sure there are lots of modders who planned to do something about it and add gameplay if Bethesda didn't - note the mod I mentioned "Alive Waters" for Oblivion. But without the basic mechanics of combat underwater, I'm not sure I understand how the modders will be able to add that gameplay content. That is frustrating, since I have greatly enjoyed the enhanced & vibrant water mods that have been playable for past games in the series. This was a real surprise for me. And seriously - what is the point of water breathing now?? And why aren't at least some weapons usable underwater... has been mentioned... spears, daggers, and crossbows (aka spear guns), etc? Meh.


Yes, that is also annoying. But if the basics were there, modders might be able to do something with it. IMO.

nt.

This was one of my favorite aspects of Morrowind. Some amazing finds down in the murky depths. Oblivion and Skyrim it's like Bethesda just gave up. Other than the odd treasure chest, there's just nothing beneath the waves. Heck, most of the water in Skyrim in waist-deep. Who needs waterbreathing?

Fighting underwater is too "Spreadsheety"

I would say they should give you what you want. Not because I would go fishing (you can "harvest" fish underwater, I haven't tried it with Slaughterfish though), but becasue I want spears, that can be used from horseback....

Really. This game made more money than Avatar in 1 day- its getting huge reviews. Most people here love the game and a very, very small fraction have even taken water exploration into account when judging it. Are you Implying you've explored every inch of the map and have run out of dry land?

Personally, I'm comfortable with Bethesda focusing on areas of the game that 99% of us are going to be exploring vs. spending their time on an area 1% of you hardcoes are going to go play in

Rant over

Try to read better next time before you begin ranting.