The alterative would have been to add a completely different combat system while being under water. It seems very silly that not even an argonian can stab a bandit while they both swim in the water, no matter if they have full heavy armor on each!

But what do I do with the [censored] slaughterfish? make a mudcrab fight for me?

Never played morrowood sadly... might have to do that one day, but yes, i always thought it cheap that you could be an argonian chill under water and slash at you're enemy's.

It's totally possible to fight underwater in real life, just not as effective, so this is one of the most annoying things in Skyrim. You could still choke, or grab someone by the shoulder to brace them, then thrust a dagger in their gut or slice their throat. Most spells should work underwater. You can't even cast water breath underwater so if you get stuck somewhere exploring and can't find the surface your doomed. Pretty lame design choice IMO. They should have just reduced your damage in half but allowed underwater combat.

the slaughterfish don t hit you hard anyway
you can kill them using a bow from the beach
or for safety you park your follower there with a bow

maybe spear will come back with a splash
(normaly underwater it s spear, and maybe daggers)
I noticed a guard with an *holding spear* animation. that looked odd because he held nothing in his hand.
we ll see

other than that ... more realistic dwemers ...
BLACKREACH MADNESS FEAST !!!!
You ll see when you get there

It remind me of a few morrowind mod.
one was a hugue underground connecting all of morrowind dwemer ruins with some sort of subway

love it !

One thing I found amazing, in terms of "realism", would be the fact that a lot of things are territorial!

Giants, while mostly very passive, become aggressive when you loiter too long nearby. Bandits will threaten you sometimes, before attacking too! Many other encounters too, maybe too many to name. I love it.

I've also noted they finally added children, and I've seen a make-shift bathroom somewhere! Not to mention the fact the time outside effects the lighting in buildings now too! Oh, I could make a list!

Low tech spear gun just have a surgical tube that pulls back onto your elbow and fires effectively for a few feet. Can still scraqe choke fish from da reef sista!

Not realistic at all. You're telling me that I can kick my legs and flail my arms ( also known as swimming), but couldn't do so with a weapon in my hand? Then again, I'm in minority with most of my views. I despise voice acting and really, really hate schedules. It's annoying. I don't get how schedules supposedly add realism.

How many in game hours are there in an Earth hour? If I play for several hours, that means my in game character hasn't slept for weeks. How is that realistic"???

On Topic. Nothing personal, but the attempted slam on Morrowind fails in my eyes.

I think there are a lot of things more realistic about Skyrim than Morrowind. Most all things honestly. And its not a slight on Morrowind.

That said, I think I agree with those saying that for a game, itd be better off allowing underwater combat. Being defenseless in specific areas of in game content doesn't sound like a good thing.

You could still jab with a sharp weapon, it's just swinging that encounters to much resistance and is impractical. The power attack that jabs should be okay.

I dont see this post as a slam on Morrowind. At least it shouldn't be. Realistic doesn't always mean better, not in a video game. If it is a slam, then, for shame.

I dont think that flailing and kicking to swim as the same as trying to swing a sword underwater at all. Or land a punch. Too much water resistance. Tho I can see thrusting attacks like stabs being effective.

As far as the realism goes - my characters sleep nearly every night, for 8 hours a night, and no, its not a conscious RP houserule. I typically go out dungeon crawling, complete a quest or 2, then return to town to sell the loot / meet with quest givers. Since shops are closed at night, and quest givers are often asleep, I go to the inn and sleep for 8 hours until its daylight. Sell my stuff. Turn in my quests. Then go back out into the world while "well rested" for that XP bonus.

Same with traveling. I come into town after a long journey to get there, and rest in the inn at night before venturing further.

It also helps that I dont prefer to travel at night, so if it is getting dark and I happen upon an inn, I will usually stay the night there.

And NPC schedules add realism because it gives NPC's a life beyond just standing around waiting for the player character to approach them. It makes it more realistic when NPC's have their own goals and objectives.

That's too bad. So that means the 200 pound warrior has to run out of the water when touched by fish. I do not like that at all.
(Better IMO to have a penalty of some kind when under water).

A dagger, sword, or even an ax would cut the water same (enough) as the air; though a Warhammer might be awkward.

I think a mod is in order (when possible); one that allows fighting underwater if unarmed or using a dagger.

I don't play fantasy games for realism, it's impossible to do so in fact.

Rather then take the time to make realistic underwater combat, like always, Bethesda cut the whole dang thing.
In Skyrim, every character that is underwater automatically becomes handicapped from the waist up. How is that realistic?

Mods will fix it.

I don't care about realism. **** realism, this is a game with magic and dragons. What I care about is suspension of disbelief. If it seems plausible enough, I'll buy it. In real life, I would not go chasing a shark with a machete. In a game where I just took on two dragons alone and slaughtered them, then made armor from their skin? Hell yeah I'll believe that I can kill a shark or slaughterfish or whatever underwater.

Rather than reinvent a new combat system, you could restrict combat to certain weapons only, or simply make a blanket effect that your weapons only do half damage while underwater. Magic you could restrict or not, it's magic so you can pass it off either way. I'd even be ok with fire magic working. After all, explosives still work underwater, so why not? It's not unbelievable that magical flame that is clearly providing its own fuel could provide its own oxygen as well.

Anyway, the point of all of that is that underwater combat is easily doable from a designer standpoint and close enough to not break the verisimilitude from the player perspective. Besides, it just svcks playing this badass hero and then suddenly you wade into the water and become completely helpless.

Get your head out of your ass. I covered all of what you were saying and then some. You said that a bow wouldn't function underwater. It will but the range is very limited. You also believed that melee doesn't work underwater in real life, going off the title and OP, yet melee is the best thing you can use underwater. Spears are narrow and long which is why they are best but being underwater with a sword and a shark would not survive.

wait Morrowind with its encyclopedia stand in one place NPCs, laughable animations, and weapons that faze through enemies is realistic?

I may not be able to cut and slash at full speed but I can certainly stab. Bows also are able to fire underwater even if the arrow only trravels around 20 feet, not to mention magic would most certainly function underwater since it disobeys the laws of nature. Personally the removal of underwater combat seems more unrealistic to me, you're telling me you're helpless underwater? Bull, a kajiit's claws are useless? Ya right. Seems like more laziness on the dev's part than an attempt at realism. This game seems to suffer from that despite its epicness...whoever thought removing underwater combat while keeping aquatic enemies needs his head looked at.

And yes, the woes of using weapons.
*slaughterfish spotted*
*swims to shore*
*SPAM FIREBALL BOOM*
*floating dead fish corpse*

I can see your point(s). It probably just a matter of play style.I don't role play. I play a game as a game. It's all about suspension of disbelief with me. Can be a book,a movie or a game. I do care about my character, and when I'm in an epic fight it does feel like it's my life on the line, but I don't actually role play.

That's why schedules annoy me so much. As far as I'm concerned, every NPC in the game IS there to serve me. It's my game and the entire World does, as a matter of fact, revolve around ME. I don't think either way ( yours or mine) is "wrong". Just different. How we play the game dictates how we feel about certain aspects. Personally, I think Bethesda does an outstanding job finding common ground that still pleases literally millions of fans.

you do realize that you can still use knives and spears underwater effectively in real life. for knives you would use a thrusting motion as its quicker than a slash which is slower underwater but not impossible. but "MODS WILL FIX IT" is my new montra. thank heavens im not on a console.

how is that more realistic? Not being able to wield a weapon underwater is less realistic than being able to wield one at full speed.

I mean I could see how a 2h hammer would be impossible to wield, but a dagger? a sword? hand to hand? I've had to use a blade to defend myself while scuba diving, it's harder to slash but stabbing isn't slowed down as much.

LOL right.... Anyone ever heard of people using a dagger or spear under water!?!?

Its possible to fight underwater just hard and not as effective above the water.

I wish we could fight under water, slaughterfish and mudcrabs drive me crazy in the water n this game.

I also miss my touch spells I used in the water.