I personally favor not allowing any kind of block or parry while duel wielding weapons. A person using 2 weapons should and probably will do a lot more damage then someone sword and boarding, so why allow them to also mitigate the same amount of damage, if so it will make shields next to useless. I gusse i wouldn't mind a active parry system but it would have to be pretty active, and blocking arrows while duel wielding should hopefully not even be a 2nd thought. With the new body area damage system they're implementing hopefully blocking will be a lot more exciting as well. :tes:

Dual*

Someone holding 2 weapons would be able to parry just like in Oblivion.
Now its effectiveness wouldn't be particularly good, and thats where balance should come in IMO.

Besides, without any blocking, you just get your typical slash-sword-until-someone-dies fight, which is about as much fun as watching paint dry.

block, no, parry yes because parring involves striking the enemies weapon with your own. blocking should only be for shields and every melee weapon should be able to parry. maybe bows should have a melee attack so you can parry, idk.

Of course. Just because you have a weapon in each hands does not mean you would be happy to take blows to the face? To keep it on the realistic side it only makes sense to me.

I wouldn't mind if there would be some kind of parrying system, but I doubt there's going to be one...

Still, learn how to dodge! You see the enemy cocking back their weapon, that means you have to take a few steps backwards, then attack while he's off balance.

I would like some perks/spells/shouts/items that help you in this though.

Also there's no body area damage as far as I know...

^

Parry is the word you are looking for. Blocking is for shields and two-handed weapons.

yeah i think the parrying is a good idea, not the block. maybe have it so parrying has a chance of disarming your opponent

what are you correcting? it's rude to correct people, and even ruder to correct something that isn't even mistaken.

How on earth can you justify not being able to block with two weapons? Does having a weapon in each hand render you physically incapable of blocking?

And while I accept your argument that blocking could give an unfair advantage over sword+shield users, bear in mind:

1) Shields can now be used as a "shield bash" move, so they are now a partially offensive item as well.
2) In TES, blocking with a weapon is not as effective as blocking with a shield.
3) Weapon blocking *probably* won't protect against arrows.

These two (possibly 3) factors mean it is perfectly fair to be able to block with dual-wielded weapons. I personally won't be dual wielding -- my custom class in Oblivion was a Soulstealer, a mage assassin, so I'll be sneaking around with a dagger in one hand and a fireball in the other. Which does make me worry: will we be able to block with a spell/weapon combo?

Shields will increase your armor where as a second weapon will not. Also shields should block a larger amount of damage. More important than both, shields should have many more available perks.

Theres no reason to exclude duel wield parrying for fear of shields becoming useless as there will still be plenty of advantages to having a shield.

I believe I saw a blocking animation (in the E3 gameplay) literally the split second after the player slashes the guy in the caves throat, the left handed sword is held at about a right angle crossing over the right handed sword. it was a few seconds after the push dragonshout fighting the same guy

Maybe a type of parrying, but not blocking that is as efficient as a shield.

I 'm not correcting, I am concurring. Sorry if I didn't make that clear.

I agree with no blocking your mainly just a beserker, hack and slashing untill someone dies. but scince no ones forcing 2 weapons into your hands and it's a fighting style choice why should the guy holding a shield say "what the hell am i doing with this? that guy over there and black/parry just as well as I can and he gets another thing to hit with.... screw this!" *drops shield, grabs another sword*

All you need is love.

How about a rock-paper-scissors method? Dual-wielders can parry two-handers, two handers can block sword-and-shielders, and shielders can block/parry dual-wielders?

But a shield would stll be able to black a two-hander? It might hurt a but more and knock you back, but it's still very possible.

A more engaging melee system is one thing that TES games have been severely lacking. The combat we have seen has all been mindless whack-a-mole till they drop style. If the people making Skyrim had any sense in them, they would be taking a look at some of the insanely popular mods that were created for Oblivion.

http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=8273 for example, added horse combat, dismemberment, kicking, weapon throwing, http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/images/8273-1-1274306076.png spewing everywhere... and this mod has been downloaded nearly ONE MILLION times!

-Being a mage you have access to tons of different spells and effects which flesh out that area of combat.
-As a dual wielding rogue you can... oh... swing your swords faster...

Herp de derp.

Well, I meant more of a soft-counter than a hard-counter. As in, yeah, absolutely you could block a two hander, but you'd take more damage than a dual-wielder who could use their agility (from not having to heave around a heavy shield) to avoid/parry the blow. Any weapon combination would still be able to best any other, but there would be a moderate advantage along the rock-paper-scissors line.

Parrying/blocking whatever you want to call it I think we should be able to do it will dual wielding weapons, but if we can't oh well then no biggie to me.

Another of these.

No, I dont think blocking should be allowed when dual-ing. Each combat setup should have pros and cons to determine a playstyle.

When we can get a true physics engine in a video game Ill say do whatever is realistic. But right now its a game, not a simulator. Do whats best for the game.

Check out my posts on the previous page.

The problem with Rock-Paper-Scissors is that everyone actually wants to play Rock-Paper-Shotgun, and they all want to pick the Shotgun.

I think you're all crazy.

Rock-paper-scissors is horrible gameplay when your character can only throw one of them effectively, instead of being able to throw all three with equal ability.

Dual-wielding should reduce the damage dealt by individual weapons, but the advantage is overall reaction time: When one blade is recoiling from a parry (or from parrying), the other is free to react. However, parrying with dual-wielding, as opposed to sword-and-board, requires far more time.

Skyrim is not World of Warcraft or Diablo: Its combat has a rhythm. Since combat has hitstun, the inability to block or parry prevents a character from breaking out of an onslaught. And a stunlocked person has 0 DPS. A guy with a Shield and Fork of Horripalation would be able to beat someone dual-wielding Dawnfang and Eltonbrand through control of the rhythm of battle.

Eltonbrand and Goldbrand bounce off the shield, harming the defender with their enchantments, but the attacker recoils from the impact!
The defender uses the opening to poke the attacker.
The attacker tries to counterattack, but keeps getting interrupted by yet another poke!
The Attacker cannot break free of the pointy onslaught!
The Defender is triumphant!

Because the default behavior for a weapon is to strike instead of block, parrying with Two weapons isn't as easy as it is with Sword+Board. And... while the ability to parry in a tight spot is critical, it's more fun to go swinging like crazy with two weapons. Defense is discouraged, but not impossible, with two weapons.