» Sat Aug 18, 2012 11:05 pm Now, onto why I bothered to bring all that up. I barely remember combat from Morrowind, but I saw an old video on Youtube and had to grimace. The chance to hit on each swing was really painful to see again after the switches they made in Oblivion. Not to say it was broken, but the combat in Oblivion felt a lot more natural and it is easy to remember now why I loved combat in that game coming off of Morrowind. Skyrim didn't change the formula up to much, and I found that to be disappointing, and this comes from a guy who hates when they push to far or "innovate" too much. The simple fact about combat in Skyrim is that it is clunky. It works and is fun, but when you compare it to other games out now, it has a lot of problems. I want to outline the things that bother me the most real fast and then offer some suggestions for what I'd like to see.
Problem #1: Either you cream them or they cream you
I think we've all experienced this. The enemies you fight at the beginning of the game seem to be at the perfect difficulty, i.e. the basic bandits. It takes a few hits to bring them down or a few spells and they can reasonably take you down if you aren't dodging, blocking, and/or healing. At some point, you reach a stage where you start encountering leveled enemy types that eat your lunch, such as Bandit Chiefs, while at the same time, you still have lowly Bandits running around. So fights become a boring slaughter until you run into that one enemy who goes Agent Smith on your a$$. You could argue this is a balancing issue, but I think it is indicative of a deeper issue. I'm not saying it is bad to have more difficult boss characters either, however, in end game situations, it seems you only run into guys you kill with one swing of your sword or run into guys that do that to you.
Problem #2: Combat is clunky and mobility options are sparse
This boils down to several points. First off, mobility is a pretty big factor in fighting in any game, especially where you have melee weapons. I love the new movement system they have in the game, because it makes third person fighting much more enjoyable, however, to me it still feels a little "floaty" or not as responsive as it should be. I think a big stride they could make with the game is to have armor or the lack thereof factor more into movement inside of combat, such as light armor allowing for more agile movements. One thing that has always bothered me is the fact that archers get the shaft in this game (yes that was a pun). Unless you are fighting a ranged opponent, you will almost certainly never have any breathing room to use your bow, and there really are no feasible disengagement moves or tricks in the game, unless you take advantage of pathing issues. Finally, switching between weapons isn't anywhere near as good as it should be. Transitioning from firing your bow to drawing your sword shouldn't be the compartmentalized process it currently is.
Problem #3: I think the current combat system is suffering from an identity crisis
Are they pushing for a hyper realistic system or are they pushing for a system that maximizes entertainment value? I thought Oblivion was moving the game towards a very realistic fighting system, but as I said, they didn't really change anything for Skyrim and I find that to be confusing. KoA: Reckoning combat is maximized for entertainment value, and it shows. You get wacky things from it, such as when you fire your bow you have no quiver and you regenerate your arrows, but I find I barely care when I can fire off a hail of arrows or do other crazy things. I understand I am comparing apples and oranges, but I am just trying to illustrate what I define as pure entertainment value.
Basically, I find it odd that Skyrim hasn't made some little steps that would push it towards a more realistic setting, such as showing your weapons stacked upon your body, carrying over the limb damage system from Fallout 3, refining animations for when you were injured in one particular spot, etc. If they weren't going to advance realism, I am perplexed as to why they didn't try to make combat more visceral, fast, or overall just more engaging. To me it seems there was a lot of potential to swing either way, but nothing happened.
Suggestions
I never liked to cherry pick when it came to games. I always much more preferred when a game would find a niche and innovate on its own, but I think it never hurts to look elsewhere for inspiration at the very least. My hope for combat in the next Elder Scrolls game is that they address all the issues I've brought up. I hope they at least balance out the highs and lows or more preferably rethink how they balance their combat. Adding in new mobility options in ES 6 would be extremely welcome as well. I'm thinking possibly remove sprinting from the game and make the Left Bumper into some kind of "mobility" button. Perhaps modifying what it does based upon current armor or possibly playstyle? Also, please improve on weapon switching and make it easier on those of us who play nightblades or battlemages. Show your hybrid classes some love! And again, I would really like it if Bethesda would pick one way or another for their next game. If you want to stick with realism, then please go all out. Make it more visceral, more stragetic, and more demanding. The Elder Scrolls was never about large encounters anyhow, so if those aren't going to be a focus, then make the combat more gratifying and challenging for specific opponents and enemy types (maybe even introduce unique kill cams for each type?) Please allow us to show all of our weapons on our person and PLEASE bring back that awesome body part damage system from Fallout 3, updated and improved of course!
If they don't push for realism, I would be really surprised. I think it is the most natural fit, however, if they aren't going to, then I would like to submit a crazy and possibly heretical idea. If you want to change up combat big time, I think it would be nice if they shifted movement over to a single stick a la Fable, KoA: Reckoning, and many others. The first person shooter controls seem really natural for what they have now, but honestly, it doesn't really do a lot where combat is concerned. I cannot begin to imagine what movement, combat, and other things would look like in this game if they went to a single control stick for movement. I can see where it would open up a lot of doors, but close many as well. It would be a huge design jump for certain, and I honestly don't see it happening, but I would prefer that scheme over whatever else they would have.
I realize I wrote a book. If anyone had the focus to read this, I appreciate it. Also, even though it may be a little belated, I just wanted to give everyone responsible for making KoA: Reckoning a reality a big shout out. Having your company closed down and that whole situation was awful, especially since the game they made is in every way amazing. It stinks we won't ever get to see a 2.0 version, especially since I'm sure they could knock it out of the park. Oh well. Anyway, I always appreciate questions, comments, and feedback. Thanks!
