So can I make my guy left handed? : V - Skyrim

» Sat May 14, 2011 7:19 pm

I see games where it seems being left handed is possible, but I get an extreme damage penalty for having it equipped in the off hand. I'd love to see Skyrim be the first rpg that allows me to have a left handed character.

I don't see the point of having it give you a penalty. I just think you aught to be able to have it in either hand. Therefor people can RP a left-handed person or a right-handed person, or even someone that is well practiced in using both.

» Sat May 14, 2011 10:09 am

Yeah unfortunately it's still that way in some places. The Boy Scouts of America tried to tell my nephews left handed people can't be good people and tried to change them.

Umm... never heard of that. As long as I was Boy Scout, not once did I hear ever anything like that. In fact, we were taught to be tolerant and accepting of people of all cultures and faiths, and not to judge people that way. I don't even know where the left handed thing comes from, because one of my best friends who was also in the organization was left handed and never had a problem from them about it.

What you are describing is someone stupid who probably happens to be leading a Scout group near you. That kind of crap needs to be reported, because the organization as a whole doesn't support those views.

thats america though. firstly they be stupid by putting the redundant word "boy" in front of scout despite the fact that the english scout organisation was for boys and not girls. therefore they made the name sound silly because the term "boy" sounds childish and scouts is for early teens...

also athiests arent evil. athiests are ~~logical~~ just not evil and have nothing to do with the thread, you naughty boy

anyways- if you watch the havok tech demo they say it is easy to mirror animations around. so it should be ok

Many other scouting organizations do not restrict girls from joining, in fact most don't. The distinction is made because they did only accept boys.

» Sat May 14, 2011 2:23 pm

While I think there probably should be off-hand penalties to make two-weapon fighting less dominant, I don't really see much of a technical cost in letting you choose to be left-handed at game start and mirroring all your character's animations to cope with that.

» Sat May 14, 2011 6:23 pm

Because you do not have a "Doesn't Matter" option, I voted nay to lefties just to spite you! Muahahaahahahaaha

» Sat May 14, 2011 4:11 pm

There used to be left handed elves....they were executed and banished from summerset isle.... so no

Executed and THEN banished?? Phew, tough deal.

Yeah, I'm a lefty too and I need my tool of destruction in my left hand to make it feel more real. It would be a neat addition in the character creation.

I see ambidexterity being mentioned a lot, but I'd assume the ability to use your 'off-hand' will be included in the Dual-wield perk/ability. Ambidexterity would allow you to attack with both hands, even at the same time, which I don't think will happen. I think one will be the offensive weapon and the other the defensive.

» Sat May 14, 2011 7:45 pm

Even though I'm left handed, it would feel strange for my character to hold a weapon in his left hand. I'm too used to seeing it in his right.

My brother, I weep for you. Behold what the oppressors have done to us!

» Sat May 14, 2011 8:51 pm

From what I've heard about the new combat system, it sounds like you can equip your one handed sword to either hand without a problem. Can't be sure of that though.

» Sat May 14, 2011 7:01 pm

Can't you put any combo is your hands except two handers? Like shield in whatever hand and sword in whatever hand? Just put a sword in your left hand. I think that is what todd was saying.

» Sat May 14, 2011 10:00 pm

Glad to see this post getting so much attention, I knew people liked the idea. And yes, I made the second option sarcastically. I knew it happened and thought it would be funny to see how many anti left handers we had on Bethesda forums:P

But seriously, I do like what I'm hearing. I am not, however, in support of having our characters be ambidextrous all the time. Honestly, if I trained with a sword I would use my dominant hand. Because of this I would obviously have less skill using a sword in my right hand. There's nothing wrong with having the off hand be svcky, I'm just so damn sick of that off hand always being the left hand. But I love the ambidextrous perk idea, improving the skill with your off hand. Obviously dual wielding comes with a few problems to begin with, but with a perk things would improve. I just want to have a shield in my right had and attack with my left. So yes Bethesda, do this please. We left handers are people too.

Since you can use both hands in Skyrim it's a certain that you can put the sword in whichever hand you want and the shield in the other. Like I said, with duel wielding I'm sure you will be ambidextrious all the time. Having a dominate hand I think would add problems with the game play, but I'm just guessing.

» Sat May 14, 2011 4:24 pm

There shouldn't be any penalties for using the left hand, like there's non in real life.

Well, except writing can make your hand pretty dirty. <_<

» Sat May 14, 2011 2:48 pm

You can definitely go left-handed. Just look on page 58 of GI. The character has a mace sheathed on his right side, meaning he pulls it out with his left-hand. Other characters have weapons sheathed on the left side.

» Sun May 15, 2011 3:54 am

i've been told that being left handed in martial arts (or swords) is a disadvantage because you face your left side forward, your heart is toward your enemy so its more likely to get stabbed or something

» Sat May 14, 2011 4:36 pm

I support the notion of left handed fighting. Do any of my fellow left handed brothers actually play southpaw controls in shooters? I know I don't.I cant understand why the option is there. Even if I was to change it id get killed so much getting used to it that it would not even matter.

» Sat May 14, 2011 11:26 pm

That would be cool. My husband and son are left handed (although they're weird, jk) so I wouldn't mind if they did it.

» Sat May 14, 2011 9:40 pm

You can definitely go left-handed. Just look on page 58 of GI. The character has a mace sheathed on his right side, meaning he pulls it out with his left-hand. Other characters have weapons sheathed on the left side.

I think any weapon which has the business end pointing upward while sheeted (maces, axes etc.) will be drawn with the same hand as the side they're sheeted on. With a sword you instantly grab the hilt and when you draw, voila! there's the pointy end pointing in the right direction. Doesn't work like that with an axe. If you're right handed you have the axe hangin on your right so you reach down and grab it under the head and kinda 'throw' it up to where you want to hold it on the shaft.

» Sat May 14, 2011 2:06 pm

I think any weapon which has the business end pointing upward while sheeted (maces, axes etc.) will be drawn with the same hand as the side they're sheeted on. With a sword you instantly grab the hilt and when you draw, voila! there's the pointy end pointing in the right direction. Doesn't work like that with an axe. If you're right handed you have the axe hangin on your right so you reach down and grab it under the head and kinda 'throw' it up to where you want to hold it on the shaft.

I don't see Bethesda doing that with maces and axes. It will probably work the same way with swords, and with the previous ES games.

» Sat May 14, 2011 9:18 pm

I don't see Bethesda doing that with maces and axes. It will probably work the same way with swords, and with the previous ES games.

You're probably right, I was being silly and realistic again =)

» Sat May 14, 2011 10:44 pm

You're probably right, I was being silly and realistic again =)

Not at all. Bethesda is going for ultra high realism this time around so I'm sure they've done their homework to makes the animations as believable as possible. It's far more likely that your right than not.

» Sun May 15, 2011 1:08 am

Stop with these two-option posts, it's not rashional... Be creative.

;)

» Sat May 14, 2011 9:46 pm

I myself am Ambidextrous, and it would be awesome to make my character so. I would also like a option sort of like "Left Handed?/Right handed?".

Also, Bethesda is awesome.

» Sat May 14, 2011 3:22 pm

I will be sincerely surprised if your character isn't automatically ambidextrous.

I don't think the issue of off-hand penalties or having an off-hand at all will come up. I'm fairly confident that you'll be able to wield whatever you want in whatever hand with no penalties.

The reason I think this is because having duel weapons wouldn't constitute an advantage over someone with a single weapon necessarily. This is because it is assumed that your other hand will be used for a shield or spell. Because a character using duel weapons cannot also equip a shield or spell, they're missing out on the extra defense/magic ability someone using one weapon would have. Therefore there is balance, and no need to have an off-hand penalty.

» Sat May 14, 2011 8:36 pm

Not voting.
Not enough choices.

» Sat May 14, 2011 5:16 pm

im a lefty and I hoping my character can be too, but I'm doubtful because the third person cam is always behind the right hand!

Really hoping for it though. I hate always having to play as a righty in FPS games

» Sat May 14, 2011 7:59 pm

Think about NPCs for a moment. Of those who only use one one-handed weapon, do you think there will/should be a ratio of righties to lefties that correspond to real life or not? Should the ratio depend on race?

What about Khajiit? I've heard that studies have indicated that cats have a handedness too (measured as which paw was used to fish for an object just out of reach), and they turn out to be split 50-50 based on gender lines. What if that was reflected?

Me, I'm hoping for true left-handedness, because how many games allow that? It would help Skyrim be something special.

» Sat May 14, 2011 8:19 pm

I hope they do not waste time on such things. I hope it's as simple as assigning a weapon to a hand. Perhaps starting with an overall penalty against damage when dual wielding and then perking-up to allow things to get better. Simple and achieves the exact same effect.