I don't know where the idea came from that dismemberment and decapitation in combat is "realistic". In all of the medieval wars in Europe and Asia, I seriously doubt that there was a SINGLE case of decapitation in combat due to a hand-held weapon, or more than a handful of "unusual" cases where a limb was severed by being pinned between a wall or other fixed object and a large axe or two-handed sword. Cutting through that much muscle and bone is next to impossible without something as a "backstop" to keep the body or limb from pushing away from the impact. That's why an executioner uses a "chopping block" or other means of holding the victim in place, otherwise beheadings would NEVER succeed. There were frequent failures, even WITH a chopping block and a bound and helpless victim.

I wouldn't mind "realistic" wounds (persistent marks, blood drops, localized damage), but would HATE to see stupid and exaggerated injuries with flying body parts, like in FO3.

Realistic amounts, but nothing too much.

I find myself wincing when I shoot somebody's head off in Fallout 3 on accident with a 10mm pistol, or blowing off everybody's limbs with a lead pipe.

Even after all this time, it just seems excessive. Bullets don't sever body parts, they make holes. Shotguns, I could understand maybe doing that... but pistols? It was too obvious that it was a game mechanic, for me. If it just made the wound and didn't make the head explode or fall off I'd be fine with it. Unless when the bullet enters the head it speeds up and bounces at the speed of light around in there, I'm not seeing why their heads explode or fall off.

However, in TES, people can train to be strong enough to lift carriages with two fingers and jump insane amounts of distance, so I guess all points of realism are null. But, if I'm a level 2 High Elf Mage I don't want to be severing limbs with a dagger.

If it's in the game like that I'm going to be making a mod to make things more realistic and based on strength for sure.

I agree they overdramatised FO's game mechanics far too much. When I hit someone with a hammer it breaks bones and doesn't make their heads explode.

Mhm, but that aside it was a good game.

For some reason though, I don't imagine them including too much gore in TES:V, so I don't think we really have to worry about excessive amounts of it. We're talking swords, shields, and spells, not shotguns, silencers, and saws.

I also doubt that they will put a similar amount of gore in TES. It seems to be the more civilised and serious RPG, while fallout is a FPS players introduction to RPGs.

Al Gore would've been a great va for the Tranquils in DAO

I can't say I really care, much more interested in other aspects of the game. Gore level won't affect how much I play it

Depends really. If they include gore because it is something they feel will enhance the game and the atmosphere and do it in a serious manner because they have the time and the resources to include it without having to take away from something else? Sure go for it.

All too often though you get gore for the sake of gore and it does nothing to add to either the gameplay or the environment and often at the expense of other more needed mechanics and content. If that were the case I don't think I'd mind or even notice its absence.

I think it would be physically impossible for me to care less about the amount of gore in TESV.

I'm sorry to be the one to burst your bubble of a fairy tale world, but you are completely mistaken. I won't post or pm any links (don't bother asking), but you can find all the proof you could want online with even the most cursory google search. Many of the videos come from WWII, where rogue members of one country's forces regularly beheaded prisoners of war (among other people) for sport. They had competitions for who could behead the most people in a given amount of time, among many other atrocities. I don't mean to single out one country, because rogue members of all militaries do that kind of thing (Always have, and always will). It is just the rogue members of one nation's military happened to use katanas and beheadings in their leisure games, and they were documented well. I emphasize that the people doing suhc things were rogue members of the forces. Blood generally squirts from about 3' to 10'+ (1m to 3m+) vertically from the wound, depending on the health and anxiety levels of the victims. I've never seen one fail to cut cleanly through on the first attempt.

And regarding the chopping blocks... they were to immobilize the victim, and to control where the heads and blood fell. I can't vouch for their accuracy, though, as I have never seen such an execution.

If you want some less disturbing proof, watch Time Warp-- specifically the episode named "Samurai Sword Master." They use a katana against various pieces of raw pork, including thick bones. It cleanly slices through everything easily. Nothing on (or in) the human body would be even that hard to cut through. Therefore, the ways in which the human body can be dismembered with a sword is only limited by the imagination of the swordsman.

So, again, this is one area that is severely lacking with the ES series. All these swords, and yet we have perfect corpses every time. Fighting with swords is brutal and bloody, and I would like to see this reflected in a more realistic manner in future ES games. An option for gore and dismemberments should probably be there, for those who don't like to see how brutal reality really is. But gore and dismemberments should def be there. Or, perhaps we should get a petition started for God to make war pretty?

I was just playing some Fallout: New Vegas the other day. I was out of bullets in a huge 'dungeon' and I was like "Oh well let's try this cleaver I'm carrying". And oh boy was that awesome. I stormed through the place, cutting off body parts of ghouls as I moved along in fast paced combat. It felt extremely cool and I hope they do let us cut off the limbs of our adversaries, in the next ES!

I want to slice of a limb every now and then, but up close it a little brutal, there should be an option to turn it off, I wish I could have done this with fallout, it scarred me

if the statue of akatosh comes back to life and hicinces hounds attack him with guts flying everywhere would be awesome, stupid akatosh ruined dagons plan!

i mean hircine sorry

Bethesda needs to find a balance of quantity and quality of gore. Fallout 3 got ridiculous at times as well as Oblivion. When I shoot someones leg with a BB-gun and it explodes, it is just as immersion breaking as when I hack an opponent for 30 seconds only to see his pristine body hit the floor. A balance needs to be found, Red Dead Redemption had some really good death animations/physics associated. I would love to see locational damage that actually effects gameplay as well as permanent (until repaired or healed) armour/bodily damage during a fight. Permanent blood trails (for tracking/hunting a wounded animal or person) and blood seeping from wounds would be an awesome addition. I'd also like to see dismemberment if it is done well. Daggers should not be cleaving limbs and arrows should not be exploding heads, but if I hit someone in the neck with a 60 pound waraxe I'd expect them to get decapitated. Finding a balance between quantity and quality of gore is key. If there is to much gore, and every fight I'm off lopping limbs it loses it's novelty very fast. If every once in a while I take off a limb via a large weapon it can create a lot of immersion. Another thing to consider is animations and behaviour. If I cleave a limb the victim is not going to die instantly, he is also not going to continue fighting without shock and hesitation. If this situation occurs it would be very immersive if they "realized" their arm was gone and reacted accordingly, that is to say grab their wound, drop their weapon etc. As I mentioned before Red Dead Redemption had very good locational damage and the reactions to it were superb. If a person was shot in the stomach they would drop to the ground and hold their stomach. If they were shot in the arm they would sag that arm and often drop their weapon. This system (Euphoria) allows for very realistic injury behaviour and animations and creats a great atmosphere. If you could create a combination of locational damage/behaviour, reasonable amounts of permanent or semi-permanent blood, and visible and gameplay effecting bodily/armour damage then I think it would create a great deal of atmosphere and immersion.