So today I found out Guards are in this game simply for "The Player". They are there to watch you, and only you. I was heading to Ivarstead, and I got attacked by a thief. I figured I was so close to town, and I wanted to see the guards tear this thief a new one, so i lured the hostile npc into town.

The guards see him, and say, " I'm getting out of here." They all run away. I even managed to get one of the guards between me and the thief, who wailed on the guard. The guard just stood there and took it. The AI is so terrible, that it can't even activate combat unless YOU are the one attacking them.

How could the developers fail to make hostile npcs recognizable by the guards?

ive seen guards kill bandits near there town and dragons, maby it was a one time thing?, has it happend more then once?.

I know..It's like the guards are there ONLY to arrest YOU and that's it..

I've seen guards kill bandits, dragons, mud crabs, etc.

They will attack NPCs marked as hostile if you are not near, or you've come up on it. They will not attack hostile npcs that are after you. If Thugs come into town and attack you they run. If you trail npcs into town, they run. It's like the developers forgot to add in that script. If you use the console to spawn a bandit in the center of town, they'll go after him. If you spawn that bandit outside of town and lure him into town, they run away.

I don't know if they left out that part of the AI on purpose, or if they just didn't think of it, but it's a pretty big immersion killer. If I started attacking npcs in town, you can be sure every Guard would be on you in a second, so if an npc attacks you, they should behave the same way.

That's weird.. I lured a Giant to gates of whiterun and the guards attacked it causing them to die.

The guards in my game kill anythingnthats hostile.

If you think that's bad, the guards in Oblivion were way worse!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bAd0ONojo_s&feature=youtu.be

Well, this is exactly the reason mods exist - to change the player's (subjective) experience for the better. I'll likely be working on a Guard overhaul as soon as the CK comes out.

Freaking psychic guards are still in the game. So angry.

Filthy creatures.

I think it may have had something to do with police brutality in Oblivion. They couldn't program the guards to arrest (instead of kill) so it was cut. They fight bandits and creatures from time to time though.

Solitude Guard: Hey! This generic Wooden Plate was stolen from Riften!

For the record, I dont steal plates. If they had forks in this game, I would.

This game is come out 6 years after oblivion , then why skyrim have the same problem of oblivion? Bethesda lazyness?

I want the Fork of Horripilation

Pretty much, they don't attack hired thugs either.

Its a habit I had in Oblivion. It started when I picked up (or even manipulated) a fork. Innkeeper calls me a madman and a guard comes storming in, calling me "criminal scum." I like to think that they have arrest quotas they need to meet. People put so much value on one measly fork, I'm gonna take all of them.