I'm sure some people can gripe about the combat system, but these same people fail to realize just how much of an improvement skyrim's combat system is over older games such as oblivion.

I myself find the cinematic animations to be quite nice as long as they aren't bugging out, but I have to admit they would look a lot better if they were more fluid in returning to the first person view (or third person view) that you were using before the attacks. Right now it literally just seems like the game plays a video clip and when it ends you're just standing there looking like you really didn't do anything. I still find it cool though, and I wish they had implemented something similar for archery, as right now all the satisfaction you get is when you one shot someone and the force of the arrow causes them to get knocked back when they die.

And as for the deal about hitting enemies and them not acting like it, I've noticed quite a bit when you hit an enemy (especially with a well connected power attack, shield bash, etc.) they frequently stagger. That's about enough realism for me right there or else this game would be far too easy. And let's not forget, when your dragonborn gets hit with a 6 foot tall orc's two handed hammer at full swing, why is it all he gets is an "OUUUUCCCH"? Would you want to play if every time your opponent successfully connected, you were stunned only to become stun locked by your opponents strikes? Look at other RPG's or even MMORPG (WoW comes to mind) where there is literally no player collision and no reaction from being hit unless it's a stun.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that if you aren't grateful for what we have now, then don't play. Just put the game down and maybe pick up the next elder scrolls in "X" number of years, and maybe it will be enough to appease your "high standards."

Got it in one.

How about making it so that your blade occasionally meets that of your opponent? You could, for example, give the player the ability to attempt to parry his opponent's swing, deflecting away all damage.

Zoro style!

Yeah, I was scratching my head about that commment too. Exploration and questing is a major part of all TES games...

I myself don't mind the combat mechanics, it's an improvement on previous TES games, but nothing crazy. I play on PC and will no doubt check out combat mods like Deadly Reflex when I finish my current play through.

I usually find holding 'Block' performs something similar...

only with 2H, and even then it's not the sort of sword-clashing I'm talking about. Remember the scene in Troy where Achilles and Hector fight?

Like that.

Bethesda's strength has never been in it's animations. It's something I was really hoping they would drastically improve on with this updated game engine. There is some improvement. Unfortunately it's just not enough. I appreciate the attempt and it's playable but they still have a lot of work to do in that dept. That's not to detract from how incredible the game is overall. It's just something I would still love to see them make improvements on.

That's said basically about every game, on random threads.
The point here is the ANIMATIONS

Actually, my biggest wish here is on the finishers: why end the animation when the blow ends? it looks [censored] weird to see my character with legs bent, torso twisted, and sword drawn out, get back to "standard fighting position" in ONE FRAME

As much as I like exploration, especially in the TES games. It bothers the [censored] out me that I have a compass telling me that I'm close to 2-5 locations, and if I'm unlucky. Can see 2-4 locations at a single given time. We have all seen this alot in games, including past TES titles. But I want a world that is really massive, and isn't squished up where I can only run for 2 minutes before I come into contact with a dungeon;shack;city;camp;cave;ruins...

It also hurts the illusion that when a NPC tells you to travel to a place, and its like literally 30 seconds away.

Like..bigger map, but same ammount of landmarks? Sounds good actually.

I think we can all agree that would be nice, but we're going a little off topic.

The thread's dead already. Everything important about combat has been said already, we're just repeating ourselves here.

At some point, too many of these translates the game from character skill-based (RPG) to player skill-based (Action game).

Then you have the old-timely tabletop/Arena RPG players up in arms.

Skyrim strikes a relatively good balance between the two opposite ends and covers the middle ground.

but but but the voice acting is incredible....


/sarcasm.


(Drop the voice acting crap and use the space for more meaningful content)

This game already treads deeper in the player skill pond in the player skill vs character skill debate. It's a hybrid, action game mixed with RPG. Only this time they decided to cut the nuts off of spell casters and take away our spellcrafting making it less fun. Melee is an improvement as is archery in most ways ... mages though ... kinda sad. i think i will have to replay Oblivion or buy Morrowind for my junk PC for my mage fix. The deficiencies have jest been standing out more and more over time for my mage. I hate whoever decied we only need 2 hotkeys on console. I will box that person if they want to box because it was a horrible decision. (EDIT: We can use gloves and pads so they don't get hurt, or we can go bareknuckle, their choice.)

Middle-ground? What? I am an old-timey Daggerfall player. This is how the game has always worked. The things I listed out are putting in more active abilities. There are no passive ones really even in Skyrim. You have 1 form of mitigation. Parry/Dodge/Block is active. Damage, is active - there is no auto attack. TES is NOT a good balance between the two. It is an "Arcade action adventure RPG" not a traditional one.

I didn't say exploration is not important. It is indeed a key aspect of the TES series. What i'm saying is that your easy dismissal of the combat, because you don't think it is important, is ridiculous.

Minecraft has the same combat mechanic as Skyrim, or is it just me?

Hear Hear

My only response to this is, play Morrowind or Daggerfall, Play Skyrim then tell me the combat is still crap

i'd like to see combat like Assassins Creed

I neither dismissed it, nor stated it was unimportant. I said it was'nt as important as exploration, which it is'nt. I also said the combat does not need any major change because it suits Skyrims gameplay, and any improvement would take the game away from it's intended bases.

This is where i disagree. I think the combat is a mess compared to the gameworld and exploration. You can feel the effort put into it with all its details and this is why the combat mechanics are so out of place for me. They improve the atmosphere of the series with every new entry, yet the combat is still far behind what it could be. I think this is where the several difficulties could shine. By turning the difficulty up, instead of just getting enemies with increased health pools and damage output, they start using improved tactics, use moves like sidesteps/parry/riposte or whatever, pushing the player to do so himself and come up with a strategy rahter than just hack and slash through everything.
Maybe this way there could be a balance for players who want to just explore the game and the people who enjoy an immersive combat system.

Honestly, you either sound like a troll or someone who's vastly ignorant to Skyrim's combat. I'm not saying Skyrim's combat is the best thing to grace this Earth, however, it's far from a mindless slash fest. If combat for you devolves into a mindless slash fest you're doing it wrong along with most of Youtube.

Oblivion's blocking system is better than Skyrim's blocking system? What? If anything, it's just easier. That's a far cry from better.

Maybe you should stick to archery if all you're doing is mindless click spam and potion chugging.