Not an exact quote. If someone have a link to the interview this was stated, please post it.

I find it hard to believe, given how many different enemies we will have to face in this game.
I personally welcome a greater focus on player skill.

Will we have to learn different tactics depending on what we are fighting against?
Will the difficult enemies have a more developed way of fighting?

How far do you think they have gone with this?

I'd love to see slower sword and shield combat, to increase the tactics. I didn't really like the brainless button smashing in Oblivion.

I would like it slower in the run up to battle. In previous games an enemy that was going to attack you ran straight for you no matter what (unless an archer/spellcaster).

I would like a guy with a sword and shield to slowly make his way up to you, perhaps even stop to taunt you. Enemies might take time to surround you and get around you. e.t.c.

I hope the acrobatics roll is still in... but useful this time

I believe that athletics and acrobatics have been kicked out.. not entirely sure though

From what I read, it hasn't been slowed down at all. Everyone that saw the demo talked about how quickly the enemies were dispatched and how brutal the combat felt. The way the described it sounds awesome to me. The only thing that sounded like it was long was the dragon fight and that's because they are bosses. Supposedly it took 3 minutes to down the dragon. Brutal, fast combat is what I would like to see :celebration:

I wish that the arrows would go faster in Skyrim. They went soo slow in Oblivion

My favorite warrior build in Oblivion is a two-handed weapon and little or no armor, just because that means that the only way to win a battle is to take my time, pay attention to my opponent, wait for an opportunity and strike, and all without getting hit. I have absolutely no interest in just standing there mashing the attack button. So if Beth makes this change, I'd welcome it. But I sincerely doubt they will - there are simply too many gamers who don't have the necessary attention span for that and if they can't just stand there and mash the attack button and win, they're going to hate the game.

Keeping my fingers crossed, but not optimistic that combat will be either slower or more complex....

Weren't they talking about making combat more deadly in earlier previews while making more tactical and thus stopping the button mashing that were present in both Oblivion and Morrowind?

Could anyone provide a link?

Not sure that means that combat speed hasn't been slowed down, it was stated that Todd's character for the demo was beefed up in everything, basically on god mode


What I would like to see, and some comments from Todd have given me hope, is that TES takes a page out of M&B. Sure, an awful game in terms of everything outside of combat, but it nailed the basics of what first-person sword and shield combat should feel and look like.

I hope the combat is "slower" than Oblivon in terms of player movement, but health is lowered and or damage is increased to make fights a bit shorter and more realistic. (that bandit took 5 hacks to the face and is still running at me, really?)

I don't know how ;to interpret this other than npc's will be better at blocking or have some other way of repeling a straight forward attack, I doubt they would nerf damage so that it took longer to kill enemies, the got so many people complaining that it was unrealistic that it took so many hits to kill enemies in OB.

I am 100% sure that it was said in one of the interviews, by a Bethesda employee.

One of the previews stated the dragon fight was consequently made easy for the sake of the demo. Apparently Todd didn't want a demo existing out of getting his delicate parts handled to him for half of the time :biggrin: .

I just hope the mindless and repetitive slashing in Oblivion is gone, and from the looks of things it is.

Oh, and yes, Danicore, I like your signature :tongue:.

One of the reviews released earlier this week that the combat was still very much like Oblivion, enemies still slid back from contact, and other than flourishes weapons didnt really seem to connect.


Still searching for that interview.....

Found it, Giant Bombs preview, but the sites down, I'll put the full paragrah when its back, this is all I got so far

i want see both you and your enemy get worn down to the piont where you both sit and chat. ala stanima

I don't think it was all mindless, you had to use block when fighting trolls unless you wanted to be constantly staggered, same with mt. lions, and fighting conjerors and necromancers in tight one way cave tunnels forced me to either do a front or back roll to avoid getting hit by a spell.

I'll be sorely disappointed if I see another NPC with super-speed. Remember the arena combatants in Oblivion that moved so fast that any strategy other than toe-to-toe blocking was out? Yeah, that's exactly what I don't want in this game.

Thanks. :foodndrink:

I hope that the really difficult enemies account for a nearly Street Fighter (game series) like experience.
The dragons should be Bison on steroids. I exagerate a bit of course.

Hmm. I never mashed the attack button in Oblivion (that way led to empty stamina bars. plus they were always blocking and rebounding you). I turtled behind my shield waiting for them to strike, and then getting in a swing or two while they were recoiling. And then back to the behind the shield. Biggest problem was two-handed weapons (lots of damage beating through the block) and Trolls, who constantly staggered you even at high Agility. :shrug:

But yeah... combat was more of a slow chess game, rather than being high-speed action.

How was it mindless in comparison to other games? You block, you dodge (if you were high with acrobatics) and you had to do fancy footwork. Morrowind was mindless slashing, Daggerfall was mindless slashing and Arena was mindless slashing. Mindless slashing was really a limitation in older games like that but in Daggerfall instead you slid your mouse across the screen instead of just pressing a button like in Morrowind. Mindless but still something more than spamming the button at least. From what we have heard of Skyrim's combat system, it seems to be anything but mindless slashing and they have aimed to make it that way such as finishing moves, nice combination system in combat and supposedly making it feel when you hit someone that it actually feels like you hit someone.

I never said previous TES games didn't have the mindless slashing. And IMO, all you had to to in OB was run back and forwards and spam the melee button. Now, it wouldn't have been so bad if it didn't take 100 hits to kill an opponent, although this problem is just as much to blame on the leveling system.

But I can agree with you on Skyrim's combat. It sounds everything but bland and boring. Looking forward to it :wink_smile:

hooray! we agree on something. lol.

but yeah, people when looking at the combat system pre OB don't understand that the systems were based from the D and D pen and paper style of turn based attacks that have skill checks to factor in the possibility of missing a target or critical strikes. pre OB TES games were not really meant to have combat systems based on realistic fighting style but were visually enhanced versions of dungeons and dragons. when they put out OB they realized that the combat did not have to be a visual version of skill checks, you could do your aiming your self and the skill check was based on your actual eye to hand co ordination. they did not need a modifier to compensate for accuracy.

as stated before, there were several enemies where your best choice was not to just run forwards and back (which isn't an opition in a tunnel) but you could survived it but you would take less damage if you fought with a bit of strategy. the only option to what you call mindless slashing would be to have enemies that are only kill able in specific ways that would force you to do specific power attacks or whatever. its nice to use strategy but we have several strategic options in TES combat and people should not be confined to using specific ones to beat regular enemies, maybe bosses, but not things like wolves or bandits.

I'd like to see some skill involved in the shieldwork - not just holding it up and somehow being able to block every attack that comes your way. Real life enemies would just swing around it.
Obviously it might be difficult to make it so you have to block a certain direction (controls-wise) so maybe timing could come into play. Or would that just be over complicating the matter?