After playing a mage first time through, I'm a little clumsy with the combat. In first person, I can't follow where the enemy is going, and in third I miss a lot and can't seem to block at the right time. Maybe I just need practice.

play kingdoms of amalur : reckoning then tell me the combat in this is good. there is a demo out if u can't bother buying it.

one of the weakest aspects of TES is combat.

I like the combat as well, I just wish it was a little easier to evade.

Practice makes perfect , if your on console, I find you need to counter the movement of the camera while swing by looking the opposite way.Ex: if your swing to the left you want to slightly look to the right as you swing. Just like in RL your char. ends up looking in the direction of the swing it's up to you to " keep your eyes on the ball" as it where Using two weapons just adds to the issue, try using sword and board, blocking will give you a moment to judge your swing.

Its never been about the combat until now and I think they did a great job. No, I'm not going to go play another game to compare to Skyrim. Why is there always something to compare it too.

I don't find it to be that bad. Someone once put it quite nicely at some point an time here in the forums, think of a V, place your opponent in the bottom of the V and wait for him/her to make a swing at you and you either back up or move to the left or the right. I have found that you are able to dodge 70-80% of the swings made at you using this method.

This! There are plenty of games out there that let you unlock "combo" attacks with the right combination of button presses to unleash a cuissinart of whirling fury, but that type of play is not terribly immersive or realistic. I like that Bethesda tried to mimmic actual combat in Skyrim.

Combat in Skyrim feels real, especially the bow. But the melee weapons feel real too, like they have weight behind them. They swing with realistic speed. Definate improvement over prior games in terms of combat mechanics.

It looks like a cartoonish pile of garbage. I am having too much fun in Skyrim at the moment anyway.

kingdoms of amalur ?????????????????? I'd rather play with my own turd.

The combat is a lot of fun IMO. I usually play mages or spellswords but I might have enjoyed my warrior character and her shield bash the most.

Shouts take some criticism for being overpowered/ not powerful enough, but to me they just add to the options you have for creating your own combat class. Plus I love the idea of a combat skill based on a language.

I thought sword and board would be boring but it actually may be my favorite character so far. I also have a high level mage and a high level thief/assassin. My warrior is in the upper 30's now and is tremendous fun. I'm just a tad overpowered in that I can one shot most low level enemies but I still get a good fight out of the upper end ones. The fighting has been a lot of fun and I love the ability to both block and bash with the shield. There's a good deal of strategy to it especially going up against a more difficult foe. It's also great to get up in the face of the dragons once they land. I couldn't do that with my other two characters. I'm having a lot of fun with this one.

The combat has come a long way and is actually quite enjoyable. However you get out of it what you put in and the system isn't instantly gratifying.

Is not possible to like the combat of a game, of which, is not as good as another game? because you know what, i like the combat in Skyrim and i like the combat of Kingdoms of Amalur. I liked the combat in KOTOR and i liked the combat in Jade Empire.

I like the combat in Mortal Kombat and I also like the combat in Virtua Fighter.

I like the combat in Fable and i like the combat in Mass Effect.

I watched the demo on the KoA website and I have seen Utube videos of people playing the game. It doesn't suit my tastes. Way too cartoony. You got guys swing hammers so big no mortal could lift them. You got guys shooting bows like they were machine guns. Not my cup of tea.

Plenty of games out there with cartoony over the top combat systems like KoA. Way too few that go for the gritty realism you get with Skyrim.

The combat doesn't bother me.

Whaaaaat? O_o I guess i haven't been on these forums long enough. I thought the majority would have LOVED combat this time around.
I personally find it exhilarating. Though a lot of the combat specific moves are just taken from previous games (i.e. disarm moves) I have way more fun with combat in this game than the others (minus some archery/high level destruction, that got a little boring to me after a while)
Sword and shield though is by far VERY fun to me, as well as the dual-wielding sneak character.

Kingdoms Of Amalur is actually pretty enjoyable in my opinon. If Skyrim ever starts to get stale, its a great game to play while taking a Skyrim break.

Oblivion's combat never bothered me, and I actually find Skyrim's to be enjoyable most of the time.

The combat gameplay itself is fine, but several easy features take excitement out of it.

These are:
- Enemy Markers in Compass telling you where enemies are.
- Sneak Indicator telling you if enemies have spotted you, and if they're looking for you.
- Instant healing potions. You can stop time and drink an infinite number of them in the middle of combat.

I started liking the combat only after I removed/tweaked these features with mods.

Agreed. Bethesda should include these as options on all platforms. If you are on a console you can turn the HUD off. You loose all screen text and the status bars, but IMO it is worth the sacrifice because combat without the sneak eye and red dots on the compass, not to mention enemy health bar, is much more satisfying. Also not having compass icons makes exploration more fun.

Combat is very lacking in this game, at least melee combat is.

I get so sick of the idiotic, "It's not about the combat" posts. Really? Of COURSE it's at least PARTIALLY about the combat, at least so much so that combat shouldn't be treated as an afterthought. The majority of quests involve some sort of combat, but it's "not about the combat"? This is moronic.

I'm not looking for a crazy combo, Ninja Gaiden type of combat experience. I like the realism here. But geez, give a FEW options to liven things up.

For starters, provide a lock-on button. Before some of you dopes start screaming "Not realistic!", let me pre-counter by saying that what isn't realistic is running at an opponent with your sword and then running right by them. Or swinging and missing because your character's clumsy movement.

The lock-on feature worked beautifully in Witcher 2. Simply keeps your character focused on who he/she's fighting and makes for a more realistic experience.

Second, make it seem like you're actually connecting with something other than a granite wall when you hit something or someone with a weapon. There's no real sense of "wounding" an opponent. It feels like you're fighting moving statues at times.

Despite what I said above, allow for at least a FEW combos, e.g., a way to thrust instead of just swinging back and forth.

I love this game. Just hit 100 hours recently, which is something I don't do in most games or want to do in most games. I just think it's a shame that they don't reach the full potential of this game by putting more time into arguably it's second most important aspect behind exploration.

Locking on just makes it too easy to me. You have to move around like your in a real fight and that is the realism.

I agree with you that there should be either combos or other ways of attacking but I think the game does fine so far. TES finally pushed into the combat section and I know; compare it to other combat in other games and it svcks. I don't compare it to anything really, I just enjoy what it is for what game I am playing. Maybe TES 6 will push further.

I find the combat in this game satisfying and fun. It is the best in the series. People who say it is boring and shallow clearly haven't played Morrowind or Oblivion. Also, the attention to detail given to each of the weapons is very impressive.

BTW, here's is a compilation of almost all of the finishers in the game. I would watch it, you might learn of some new ones that you didn't know about. I know I did.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_bot8NKz8So

I new about most of the weapon finishers, but the fisty-cuff finishers I didn't know about!!! Guess I'm gonna go pic a couple fist fights with some bandits tonight

But that's just it. Locking on IS how you move around someone in a real fight. You just instinctively follow their movements, you circle each other. To me, constantly having to maneuver your character so you don't run past the guy you're trying to fight might be harder, but it's also far more unrealistic, because that's not how people move when they're "locked in" combat. I love hard combat, but I want it hard because of the realism involved, not because of a poor game mechanic. If you were watching a Skyrim-like fight unfold in real life, you would think the combatants were probably mentally challenged or partially blind.

I am generally not in favor of combo attacks but I could go for a way to thrust. They had that in Oblivion with the master level blade power attack and in Morrowind (for all weapons, not just spears), where your attack would be a thrust or a swing, depending on which direction you were moving your character at the time. I could go for more variety in how you use your weapons, like swing, thrust, riposte, etc. as long as the button presses needed were not overly complex and they kept it real.