I noticed dogmeat changes his attack animation when attacking a man laying on the ground after he knocked the opponent down. The dog did the "keep the teeth clamped on the flesh and snap head back and forth ripping" attack instead of the normal "one at a time snap-bite" at your belly attacks.

Hopefully this extends to all creatures and also to NPC/Player actors!

For example instead of punching you only do kicks at an opponent on the ground.

This one little aspect makes a huge difference IF the opponents can still fight back while on the ground.

Even if it is only a visual change (meaning all this is is a way to remove the ugly attacking at the air above a grounded opponent) that would be a great step forward in Fallout and TES game combat. But I am hoping there is more to it than that.

Playing Fallout 3 recently I can see exactly why they did this. Dogmeat in 3 is -terrible- at actually killing people. Ive watched him and a raider battle it out, with the raider emptying 5 mags into him while he slowly chipped away at his health.

Knocking a guy to the ground and tearing him open in a good amount of time is a huge step forward, especially with the commands system. I can yell at him to go kill one of those misslie launcher raiders at the back of the group while I focus on those R91-toting raiders up front. It looks great.

I'm just happy that Beth is trying to improve in areas which needed them, rather than simply cutting them like I've seen them do in the past. Combat (not just the dog) was in dire need of improvement, I look forward to trying it out.

It seems Beth may have taken "finishers" from Skyrim a step further and added "grapple" attacks.

Examples from E3:

1. Deathclaw instantly grabs the player and claws him (not sure if it means death or not).

2. Dog(meat) grapples a mole rat (and a feral ghoul and a raider) pinning them to the ground for a few seconds and inflicting some damage.

3. Player pistol whips a raider inflicting damage but not killing them.

A great improvement is to be able to give dogmeat commands.

"Sic Balls, Dogmeat!"

I think it's great that they have expanded how the dog fights too.

This https://youtu.be/FNfqQ7iJDg0?t=84was really great to see and I believe there will be more to "ground" fighting.

I think it was just for the dog, I'm really not expecting any real unarmed combat innovation in a Bethesda game until TES Elsweyr (yeah right lol).

From 2-caps experience Ground fighting should be left to the experts, as typically when on ones back or wrestling with a foe, his buddies join in, with not so soft friendly kicks to head ,chest, legs and of course your special bits. Same goes for doing those flashy ninja leap attack or stand on one leg poses. Keep yer feet on the ground a lot easier to git when the getting is good that way. And you'll thank me when some fellow fails to sweep your leg out from under ya.

Heh

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4kr24G8jQpM

I don't know, I didn't see anything that separated those moves from the regular killcams in Skyrim. It's possible, but the safe bet is that they're just kill-cams that behave exactly as they do in Skyrim, or only execute for critical kills.

Most likely its simply a dog version of those attack animation we seen, like the deathclaw picking you up and slashing, and the giant mosquito svcking ya blood.

As a side note I do hope skyrim like kill animation are in, imagen the nasty animation you could get bare "handing" while piloting a PA could look like.

Sweep the leg, Johnny.

If combat is well enough that we have ground fighting, perhaps we could have takedown perks to put them to the ground.
For a melee character, I'd dig being able to make a badass street brawler type so much more than basically just having a right hook, as in past games.

How will controls be done here? Not then player is doing melee against someone on the ground, that would be like attacking an low animal.

But if this can happen to the player.

Think its an decent chance this is something who is for npc only.

Killcams in Skyrim were finishing moves that killed the target. When the player uses his pistol as a melee weapon he doesn't kill the raider he was hitting. So melee'ing with guns doesn't look like a finishing move but something we can do on demand.

Dogmeat attacking tha raider on the ground looked like a killcam to me. Same for the Deathclaw.

From tangletail's experience in amateur MMA competitions... you get in in a ground fight, the last place you want to be is on YOUR back. Which... Doge never was. He knocked the mofo on his [censored], and then started to rip his leg a new one. He also tore another's throat out.

The point of a ground fight is to gain leverage over your oponent, and get him in a position where he can't get momentum or power. You can also do it to tire someone out. One body on another, and constantly jamming your elbow into their ribs, jaws, collarbone, and solar plexis will do that. Fancy holds are great and all... but in an marshaled fight... they're easy to break and you're putting WAAAAY to much at risk, not to mention being on your back.

For instance... getting sonmeones head between your thighs. In a marshaled fight, they can't bite. In a life or death... whats to stop them from turning around and biting your crotch, rip the flesh, and cause you to bleed out in two minutes. Or twisting your ankle with their hands and snapping it.

Buut you got a gun. A rifle would be useless in that situation. But I'd imagine a pistol would do wonders when you're on your back. Er... assuming the guy is not made out of... ceramic or something.

I don't want to get too hopeful, but if they actually overhaul unarmed/melee combat that would really make the game much more immersive, as far as combat is concerned.

I think this is just the dog. I highly doubt this is going to effect any other character or companion.