I love combat more than anything else. But being not able to block without a shield, dual wield or two handed weapons? Kinda svcks I have to say.

And really? I love realism, why didn't that guy die?

Opinions?

We can block with two handed weapons.

I don't even think that the "No blocking" stuff has even been confirmed. So this is a bit of a silly poll till the Q&A is out.

i want t be able to block with twohander not with dual wield

Can't block with a weapon and spell has been confirmed but we've heard conflicting accounts of whether this is true for dual-wielding as well.

Overall the combat looks better than Oblivion, which is good enough for me. The magic looks awesome and the perks for special moves (like shield charging) mean that the melee combat will be deeper and more complex than any TES game to date. I just hope they do something about NPC and monster reactions to being struck, and improve the head bob and such.

Ranged combat looks decent though I haven't seen enough yet.
Magic looks good.
Melee combat looks a little boring thus far (for my tastes), hopefully more to come in later videos.

Overall I don't want to jump to too many conclusions since the player character may have been heavily altered to the demo videos.

Skeptical. Magic looks to be much improved, and could be a lot of fun. Melee, stealth, and archery, however...seem to be exactly the same from Oblivion. Which isn't entirely a bad thing, but plenty of games have come out that put Oblivion's combat to shame, and I would like to see it updated. Concerning dual-wielding, thus far, nothing about it seems to be particularly special. Aside from looking cool, what real advantage does it offer? What makes it distinct from the other styles?

One: You can block with 2-handed weapons at least, just less effective than a shield(and I think it should be that way). I don't think that the guy who got slashed across his throath necessarily should have died, but I wish he had a more physical reaction. Overall I'm happy with the combat so far.

He didn't die because he wasn't slashed across the neck. His hit box was slashed in a location that happens to be where his neck is. There's a difference. It's a videogame, not real life.

I have no problems with the combat system so far. It looks rather fun actually. Well to me anyways.

combat looks okay.

It's freakin destroying any possibility of me ever dual wielding that I wont be able to perform a simple parry.

He maybe shouldn't have died but atleast reacted

It looks quite impressive to me, but I want to see more bow&arrow combat.

WHAT?

The problem with combat is they haven't changed attacking speed enough. Taking a look at how the undead enemies attacked with their claymores and battle axes was a perfect example of how melee combat should be. You notice the difference between enemy attacks and PC attacks? Enemys do a nice wind up and the PC does quick unreal slashes that have the most annoying sound when hitting the enemy. This throws off the balance of the engine and doesn't give it time to react at times during the battle thats why you see the enemy sometimes staggers when getting hit and other times the hit ghots right through them and all you get is a splash of blood. Every swing with a melee weapon should consist of a wind up and then a follow through so the engine has time to decide whether the weapons should clash , someone should be struck, someone gets thrown off balance etc. I don't think anyone would complain if the battle slowed down a tad and the weight behind every swing was really felt.. visually and emotionally. I would like to point out when he faught the enemy that came out of the casket that was sitting on the wall that he was able to do a bunch of quick slashes and then run backwards, he was able to do the same thing against the redguard and this seems to against everything he said when he mentioned backwards moving speed has been slowed down. I think there should be sort of an engagemends suction effect when you and an enemy get into melee distance that only lets you tactically scoot backwards at crawling speeds to create seperation, not run backwards and sideways at nearly full speed unless you had stealth perks etc. Seeing how he faught the enemys in melee combat it was less about the engagement and pushing your weight around that he claimed in many interviews and more about running away from attackers and slashing them, this is not impressive because in the end we will be nearly forced to play the game just like oblivion with cheap in game gimicks just to be successful in melee. Did you guys have the same epic spartatcus style battles in your mind as i did? To bad all you're going to be doing is slashing at enemys while there bodys show no sign of just being hit with only a splash of blood, you will be forced to run around slashing and running just to be successful in melee because Todd didn't deliver what he promised. Magic looks amazing by the way.

i understand what youre saying but then i guess the neck should have a separate, and very small hitbox, and a hit to that area should do massive damage . . . dude in the video didnt react to it at all, other than the massive blood spray

The combat looks better than Oblivions... which WAS better than Morrowinds. So I would say yeah, I like the combat I see in Skyrim.

With how the combat mechanics are it all depends on how smart the AI is at using it and how they react to what you are doing.

I want the decapitation mod on day one! Whats it called again?

The combat looks fun to me, especially combining the physical combat with the dragon shouts later on, and of course magic. I do hope two handed weapons and dual wielding has somethin of a blocking component to their systems, either that or a way to parry incoming blows.

Combat looks very polished for an elderscrolls game. Blocking hasn't been confirmed, and this is an rpg not a medieval combat simulator

I really don't like the finisher moves.

That aside, i'd say the combat looks good but not great. Seems like a slight improvement over Oblivion, but not a massive leap.

Then again I don't think TES games really need amazing combat. Morrowind had awful combat, yet it was still an incredible game.

Edit: Poll should have more neutral options. I don't want to say I dislike the combat, but I don't want to say I like it either. I'm kind've on the fence.

i honestly dont see any improvement since oblivion. its the same old boring slash fest. i know howard said the combat is now more tactical and requires more skill but i didnt see none of that in the gameplay video

good thing ill be getting it on pc so the modders will do their work, hopefully

The guy didn't die because this game is an RPG ( never forget that ) and in RPG we have health/hit point. The so-wanted realism has not place in RPGs, you don't die from falling from a tower if you've enough HP that's the rule!

This. I'm all for critical weak points, but it's an rpg. With numbers that determine our strength.

That rule must change.

I am sure that if Bethesda puts its mind to it it'll manage to come up with a new system that accomodates both character stats/HP and locational damage.

Man went to the Moon.

It can be done.