Obviously stats would still play a roll in how successful any one of those attacks or defensive maneuvers would be, but that doesn't mean the player shouldn't be able to attempt any given ability whenever they feel like it. I feel Beth has moved too far into player-skill territory to really leave combat as it is. Games that are heavily stat oriented like a turn-based RPG can work without a great deal of specific options because the combat is simply extrapolated from character stats---your character avoids damage solely because you have a high dodge skill, etc. But in Skyrim, Oblivion, and to a lesser extent Morrowind, player skill is a significant determining factor. Even in Daggerfall, manually moving out of the way of an incoming attack was an important tactic. Why pretend we're still playing some sort of Isometric RPG with vague combat graphics when we're clearly not?

I find games that require "skill" to be effective in combat less enjoyable than point and click. I see people's point though. There are fine games out there that aren't point and click. Play one of them and leave us be.

I'm not particularly sure how you can state that. Are you implying that Skyrim is point and click? o.O ...

It's a massive improvement over Morrowind, but a bit of a let down compared to Oblivion's combat.

There really should've been a bigger leap in terms of combat mechanics between Skyrim and it's predecessor.

If they implement more combat features, people will whine because it's too complex or feels like a beat 'em up. If they leave it as is now, people whine that it's not complex enough. What's poor Bethesda to do? Personally, I don't mind the combat system. It's fun for me. However, I also wouldn't complain if they had more features like parry, stab, chop, slash, etc. They'd be really cool to have, but I can live without them. The best thing to do would probably be to find a happy medium. A few more options other than just swing and block, but nothing overly complex.
As much as people gripe about the kill cams, I actually kind of like them. To me, it adds a bit more to the combat. After a session of slash slash slash block slash, you're treated to something a little different to finish off your foe.

Well I think there is a limit to what they can do. Imagine the complexity of adding depth to the one-handed sword play.

Just thining of assassin's creed with the parrying and stuff sort of intricacy.

Now permute that across the various combinations a character can be equipped with in Skyrim and it becomes kind of a staggering task. Not to mention that invariably some will be more or less neglected or throw-ins due to development time and costs.

I'm not sure how you're associating complexity with beat 'em ups. As for kill cams? I would personally preferred it if the animating work done for kill cams was better spent elsewhere for something more consistently prevelant in actual combat.

I'm not. It was mentioned as a concern earlier in the thread.

And yes, if they swapped out the kill cams for something in the combat system itself, then you wouldn't really need them because the combat itself would be more interesting.
But they didn't. And they're probably not gonna.

I like the combat. What I can't stand is the arcade-style combat featured in other "open world" games.

There should be more options for resolving quests, though. I can agree on that.

Um, yes you are. Who cares if it was mentioned earlier in the thread? You're continuing to support that association by stating what you stated.

As for not needing kill cams, I'd say it's a matter of preference. I personally don't care for them. They're repetitive eye candy that gets stale after a while because there's no real player participation. And of course there's the fact that they're also implemented incorrectly for NPCs which ends up making combat look rather awkward and buggy at times, short of when the kill moves also bug out for the player.

In any case, congrats for figuring out what they didn't do. O.o ...

Okay, fine. Then people will just whine because it's too complex and that's it.


Why thank you. I try to point out the obvious whenever I can.

I agree.

Could say the same for "voice acting".

But there must be a market segment that views this stuff as being crucial in a modern video game and who would see a game that didn't include it as being behind the times.

Of course, if and when the technology is there to allow verbal interaction between the player and NPCs, e.g., through a "kinect" or some such device, my view on "voice acting" ... which I thought would be so nifty back in the NES period ... might change.

I think the first PC game I played where something in the game spoke was Ultima IV and it blew me away.

Now I just see it as more in the way of a "be careful what you wish for" gimmick that people have come to expect but, wouldn't really miss if it wasn't there.

At least with the old text based conversation games, you could imagine whatever voice you wanted for the character, rather than actually hearing one you might not like very much.

I think the combat gameplay is fine. It isn't too easy or too hard, and the mix between the player's and his character's skills involved is good. At least I'm not missing headshots and similar player skill in this game.

Anyway this a list of the things I found boring in the game/combat. I fixed all of them with mods.

• Wild animals attack you too often. The aggressive range is simply too long. I think the reason for this is only to add something to do (more combat) for the player when he travels the roads.
  
• Archery includes some auto-aiming and automatic range adjusting to aid the player. In Oblivion there were less aiming aids.
  
• Enemy Markers in Compass tell you where enemies are. This aid takes excitement out of combat.
  
• Sneak Indicator tells you if enemies spotted you or are looking for you. This aid takes excitement out of combat/stealth.
  
• Instant Healing Potions. Player can stop time and drink an infinite number of them in the middle of combat. This is a huge aid for the player.

I personally don't see how animated kill moves/kill cam falls into the same category as voice acting. Especially for an RPG and especially when these animated kill moves/kill cam don't add anything to combat game-play short of repetitive eye candy.

Sword & board is pretty fun to me /shrug

Hi there Satan's Little Helper. You have a peculiar alias.

That's my stance and background too. From the top of my had, the lack of locational damage is rather frustrating. Hit box collision detection is a bit off, though for understandable reasons. I would have liked more varied weaponry, with the inclusion of throwable and piercing weapons. The ability to set raps would have been nice too. Here's hoping they'it all ends up in the next installment.

I don't mind the kill moves, but the only one that hasn't gotten old is the decapitation, but even then it's too long and drawn out for a two handed user. If they had worked on locational damage, then you could have decapitations in the blink of an eye, as well as other types of dismemberment.

I really like the idea of cutting off someone's arm, then as they stand there screaming, i kick them off the side of a mountain.

For some of us voice acting is repetitive ear candy.

Location based damage makes no sense from a melee standpoint when you can't be accurate in where you place your strikes. In a game where you have, say 7 directional attacks, and these said directional attacks can all be aimed (Looking up your character is seen swinging his weapon upward and looking down your character is seen swinging his weapon downward plus anything else in between), it makes far more sense.

These are both unnecessary for me and don't add much to my game.

For others one or both may be in the expected (these days) category and may add something to their game.

But I'm sure you can make the distinction from a marketing stand point which is the basis of which my reply responded to.

Simpsons.

Hi there ActionHitman(FIN)! Hope your day is going your day.

Great post. Please find my comments enclosed and marked in red.

I think it would interesting if they took some more cues from Daggerfall swordplay. Flicking the mouse as you attack to direct the sword, then adding locational damage, having armor affect how well individual body parts are protected, things to that effect.

I'd prefer something more akin to how Jedi Academy handled directional striking.