Actually in Fallout 3 and New Vegas I found it pretty easy to aim for certain parts of the body to do certain effect. For example, I often aimed for the arms simply so I could disarm my enemies and make the overall fight easier. When their defenses were gone, I would go all out on their heads for max damage. I mainly played melee-oriented characters in Fallout 3 and New Vegas, by the way.

On the other hand, what many people are saying is quite true. For one, there's usually not too big of a point to aim for anything other than the head for maximum damage. Why cripple an enemy when you can kill them with the same hit in a different location? The only way that there would be a point is if an enemy can yield to you to stop fighting if they're too damaged or too crippled, which would be great for getting information out of a certain person. If they run away, shoot them in the legs! But if it was the same "kill or be killed" approach in both Oblivion and Fallout 3, then there would be very little point to the whole system.

Mostly I would want it implemented anyway, since the player would be able to experience the crippling effects as well, which adds another small dimension to dealing with damage other than using restoration, drinking potions, or eating food. Maybe another item like the Doctor's Bag from New Vegas would be one of the only way to heal crippled limbs? Anyway, I think it would be interesting to see what would happen if the PC's arms were crippled when trying to fight. Imagine blocking with a crippled shield arm. The reaction times would end up being way off and even if the block worked you would end up taking a good chunk of damage anyway.

Mount and blade.

Armor Impact: I don't think treating armor like armor in the real world would work, then different styles of armor (namely Nord armor) would be useless. Armor should remain how it's being treated in the game: protection value based on the material and how much armor you have on (helmet, gauntlets, and armor). Now a cool visual affect for armor damage would be to have the armor become dented in the areas it was struck. The more damage done to the armor, the more dents/scratches/pierce marks would show up.

Yep

That's a problem with wearing a strap across your belly and expecting it to do any good. I don't think the game should reward you for failing to properly protect yourself. If you wear armor with inadequate protection, if you refuse to wear a helmet, if you only wear shoes, you should expect to take more damage then if you were wearing full plate.

Now, that's not to say that lighter armor (or no armor) doesn't have it's benefits. Faster attacks, nimbler dodges, these things matter. But a straight number based armor rating that is not based on actual mater/coverage of the armor in question is lame.

You're right. But people like their styles.... Ok then, if location damage was implemented, then the areas not covered with armor (like no Nord cuirass) would receive unarmored damage. So it's a bit of both!

Which was just aiming for the character model itself in the most broad way as possible...

Even if we would have full control over our swings, this would never add any more tactics for the game, because everything would be way too chaotic, there would be no time to assess the situation, to decide where to strike, and this would just end up in pure hack and slash as before.

However, with the finshing moves that sort of "make the combat more deadly", at least feel more like it, I'm not sure we need locational damage.

On the other hand, what many people are saying is quite true. For one, there's usually not too big of a point to aim for anything other than the head for maximum damage. Why cripple an enemy when you can kill them with the same hit in a different location? The only way that there would be a point is if an enemy can yield to you to stop fighting if they're too damaged or too crippled, which would be great for getting information out of a certain person. If they run away, shoot them in the legs! But if it was the same "kill or be killed" approach in both Oblivion and Fallout 3, then there would be very little point to the whole system.

I never got the point of locational damage. Why shoot them in the leg and slow them down when you can shoot them in the head and kill them?

Maybe your have to capture them for a quest , or because legs take up more mass than a head ,your know easier to hit.

or

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S2iRIXOOLu4

for that matter no way nobody will remain standing from taking an arrow to the leg or retain a firm grip on there weapon or shield after they take an arrow to the wrist.

... and I still don't know what's so great about Mount and Blade...

Honestly, the only fix I can think of is to make combat much more deadly. Running in and just spamming attacks on your opponents head should be difficult and leave you wide open for solid strikes. And those strikes against you should hurt. Combat should focus more on parrying and counters, waiting for the enemy to make a mistake and then using that mistake to make a critical blow. In this way, arm and leg strikes are advantages because it makes counters, and therefor kill strikes, easier to pull off. And again, the same would be true for your character, protecting yourself becomes priority one.

A question of philosophy. Traditionally, parrying is best avoided in favour of voiding the attack altogether, and there was a well-known swordsmaster who was very much against waiting for the enemy to make a mistake but rather engage the enemy and force him to react. If you press the initiative, you force him to fight by your rules and if he chiefly reacts, eventually he WILL make a mistake. Parrying is only second best to voiding the attack, i.e. not being where the attack is going to begin with... Especially pure parrying that does not constitute an attack in itself is precisely the reacting and playing by the opponent's rules that he actually wants to avoid.

But again, that's to some degree an issue of philosophy.

Though, BTW, attacks on the head don't necessarily leave you wide open.

I vividly remember the answer to this question during Oblivions development. Unless they've changed their mind, they don't want you to be able to die instantly from a headshot, because "some people think their character looks cooler without a helmet". I don't remember the source.

Ofcourse it would be possible to make an option to turn it on/off, but I don't think it's likely bethesda or any other company for that matter would wait til release to announce such a system. Yes there is something similar in Fallout, but the TES series will never be anything close to turn-based(hopefully).

These features inputted into Skyrim = best RPG of all time!

I doubt that...

From what I've seen, MnB is more of a medieval simulator, more akin to a medieval FPS than an RPG...
This whole one-hit-kill thing in an RPG would be a horrible idea, unless there would be some respawn system or a very quick quickload feature...

Spells: should not have location damage.

I know it might sound a little bit too early, but the question is there.

oblivions combat system wasnt really challenging as for vanilla. but with mods you were able boost the battle system pretty far.
Creature/NPCs using different styles, different weapons/armor/magic and tactics.

considering skyrims improved battle system, we expect something new.
Wearing certain types of armor gives your character different protection, but the protection was more like its based on the armor value in general,
no matter where your char has been hit. where is the appropriate calculation?
What do I mean by calculation? Some example:
if the physical values determined by speed and material of the used weapon, the anckle, and what part of the armor was hit (like iron plate, chain, leather ), are used,
a locational damage system would be the outcome. Not the value of the whole armour (like iron, steel, elven) actually determines the protection,
but the part you hit or were hit, and the material the armour at that part is made of.
I know this would make a good collision system inevitable. But nothing I heard from Skyrim so far.

I guess it would be pretty impressive and the next step in immersive RPG combat/battle systems. :deal: