But arrows are scarce, and what about in dungeons?

What sux about that is fighting a caster who can cast ranged spells instantly.

Lets say theres a pillar you are using for cover. So you pull back ur bow string and prepare to fire, but hes on the other side of the pillar, but u cant side step to take a look around. instead you have to deknock the arrow and side step and then knock it again, but due to it being slow to draw, u get shot 2 times by magic spells before you can let your arrow go.

Bash my friend, bash. But dungeons must be bigger than in Oblivion when it comes to the size of the area where you can move left, right, forward and backwards. It was impossible to arrow shoot in dungeons already in Oblivion. The bash ability should make it easier than it was in Oblivion. And you only need to land a few arrows in Skyrim, not 30 like in Oblivion.

Have they said spells will be instant like in Oblivion? From how I understood the magic combat stuff, they didn't even mention it. They said that holding down the attack button causes the spell to do a different thing, but instant casting wasn't mentioned. Besides, bows are probably stronger than spells

I did find the fact the higher level baddies seemed to lurch at you looking like a pincushion, hopefully not as many arrows will be 'lost' in the flesh after shooting a creature, to balance out the scarcity, excse my skepticism, but how is a long bow meant to be used for bashing? they are heavy, but not designed to bash :shrug:

Maybe more like a kick, not actually swinging the bow per ce. It would probably snap against steel armor anyway. :toughninja:

Erm... no

Yes, it is. By definition ES is high fantasy. Low fantasy would be like Fallout.

I like Beth's decision to remove your ability to run backwards while firing your bow. I also think that if you can do the one-hit shots they've talked about, you'd be ok, until you came to a large group. Fighting 1 vs. 1 or even 1 vs. 2 would still seem manageable...but larger groups than that may prove difficult. They've also said hiding will be different than it was in Oblivion, so perhaps you could take a couple from shadows and a couple more when they detect you. I personally didn't like hiding in shadows and just taking one bandit out, while two others standing next to him stood there and didn't take cover or didn't investigate. I'm hoping the AI proves more challenging this time around. I think to someone's else's point, you wont' be able to rely on the bow as your only means of fighting. I think you'll have to augment it with magic or perhaps a dagger(or two). Sticking with stealth, daggers may make more sense than long swords/axes/hammers.

If you watch the elf from lord of the rings, he himself prefers to stop when drawing his bow if even for a second to get a solid shot in.

I like the perk ideas. Just limit it to moving at walking speed (half-speed if backing up).

As far as fighting multiple opponents, that's fine as well. It's not a machine gun, it's supposed to be difficult to take on multiple opponents with a slowly firing single target weapon. That's why you should have some level of competency with a melee weapon.

Two completely different things.
Horseback = horse moves, you just sit along and shoot, decent accuracy
Running = you concentrate on moving AND shooting, can't shoot accurately as you try to calculate the distance while bouncing around
Walking while shooting would/could still have decent accuracy but running? Never!

i agree shooting from horse back (and im going to include shooting from a shield sliding down stairs) is different than shooting and arrow while running... while doing the first two your body posture is more or less stationary unlike running. while running your upper body is moving side to side quit a bit and naturally your arms are swinging opposite (ones going up while the other is going down) you can run with your arms out in front but try it its to say the least awkward and your balance is thrown way off.... i like that they make you walk slow backwards cuz that was just cheap. having made my case for not being able to run and shoot they should let you sneak and shoot and i think walk and shoot but force you to walk slowly when the bow is drawn.

Try telling me that with a straight face when I can shoot fireballs out of my hand, walk on water, and raise the dead

The problem with those elements is that because they are fantastical in nature, they don't adhere to physical laws or historical precedents. Although, I'm sure some of the first people who got their hands on gunpowder made people think they could shoot fireballs, and for countless centuries dozens of religions have believed in resurrection of the dead.

Anyways...since bows, arrows, swords, armor etc HAVE been used in real, human, life, we know what to expect from those items. For them to act outside of what we know to be true would seem obviously wrong, like if someone walked into the room...on the ceiling.

I think of TES in the low fantasy range, but with Morrowind (and Shivering Isles which I didn't do) near the high end. After all, it's very medeval like and "familiar territory", both for Daggerfall and Oblivion, where Skyrim will go Nords/Viking'ish - still low fantasy. Morrowind and Shivering Isles didn't have much that felt "at home".

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As much as I agree on reduced backtracking speeds, I also hope we get good free look support where you can look over your shoulders while trying to evade an enemy rather than having to turn.

You cant run while shooting a bow? THATS STUPID....its resident evil 5 all over again...

Of course theres should be some penalty from moving while shooting arrows. But you guys talking about realism, sounds like a bunch of guys that skiped history classes. Bowmen on horses, and hunters, and for example danish soldier Anders Lassen(Haha ) is all known to have been good archers, even when shooting while moving!

Movement will probably still be in while aiming a bow, except I think now it'll incure a massive penality on your aim unless you have a good skill or a perk that prevents this from happening. Since arrows are now much more powerful and viceral compaired to Oblivion, Archery is less "machine gun arrows" now while running around everywhere and more "leathal skill, precise shots" - like a sniper class.

We don’t know enough to rule anything out. I'd imagine there may be perks for something like that

Firing arrows on a horse is not the same as firing arrows while running, especially in a game where they don't represent tripping hazards.

Firing a bow at a full run, especially with antiquated weaponry, is next to impossible and shouldn't be successful. You could make the argument that you could move while firing at high enough skill levels, but it would be no more than walking speed, or perhaps a jog with some hefty accuracy penalties.

ES is high fantasy, look up the definition of low fantasy. If this was the LOTR we could argue all day whether its low or high, since it takes place on ancient Earth. ES though, is high fantasy.

I have no idea why everyone's so aphrehesive about this... I hope they practically eliminate the ability to run backward (IRL, it's next to impossible to "Run" backward, as the lack of sensory input behind you just makes you trip). It's not needed, especially if bows are more powerful and can kill in a handful of shots. And does anybody remember the nuisance the NPC archers and mages were with their ridiculous backpedaling and running around?

The reason IRL it's possible to shoot accurately from Horseback or even surfing down a shield like Legolas, but not shoot while running, is due to body mechanics, coordination, and sensory direction. In the shield-surfing and horse-riding, the only thing you really move (aside from maintaining balance) are the neccessary muscles for shooting. You need to devote all your attention to aiming and firing. On a horse or shield, you need only minimal effort to guide your ride with peripheral vision. On foot, you have to place every footstep, and bend every limb to get from point A to point B.

Part of the problem is the games give everyone hyperactive failsafe gyroscopes, and make battlefield control impossible. No ability to trip and send someone sprawling when they try to disengage from melee, or hinder them with a blow when their attention's diverted to exploiting cheese.

Running and being on something are different i hope you know... when you run your eye level changes and its a bit more bumpy...

Good question. Not sure how they are going to handle this. They have also stated that they are making the bow and arrow much more powerful this time around, limiting the available ammo, and increasing the time required to draw and steady your bow. As someone who loves to play stealthy, ranger style characters, this worries me a bit. If I can only find a few arrows here and there, it will have to become merely a secondary skill that I can use on occasion. If I can't move quickly and it takes forever to draw my bow, then I can maybe get off one shot before being forced to charge in with a melee weapon. Seems like they are really removing a major play style option from the game here...