I sure hope your right, if it adds more depth to combat and doesn't make your character WAY to powerful it might work for me.

I like the idea of running into this new language on walls throughout the province, and them saying something you can translate. The whole thing sounds absolutely awesome and I am very excited for this game.

I would be willing to bet that the dragon shouts will enhance combat greatly, but will be limited use only. Some may be more risky to use as a mage or thief, but very powerful when used by a melee character, and vice versa. Since there will be quite a few to choose from I would think that depending on your character build you may be prone to using some more than others.

The trick is they have to make them useful enough for the big fights so you WANT to use the shouts, not necessarily that you HAVE to use them. My main character in Oblivion was a battlemage, using ranged magic alongside the hack and slash, and I found that some of the powerful magic attacks I never used because they drained mana quickly and if I missed my mark it was worthless. It was less tactical to use the more powerful magic in that situation.

But if the shouts are tactical in nature then I can see them having a great effect on large boss battles! Sounds like it should be fun!