Oblivion's blocking is timed blocking. There are no better words for it. I wait until the enemy starts his attack, or starts to prepare his attack, and then I block. I lower the shield and make my attack when the enemy is not attacking. If Skyrim blocking is something different, then we really ought to have a better way to say it. "Timed blocking" doesn't cut it.

Actually they can work both no need make completely skill based auto blocks of pure RPG and don't make simple action style blocking of slasher when they can be combined in unity of Action-RPG well, no need create radical decision when both features can work together well.
How about such feature like skill and parameters checks for timed player initiated blocks?
For example in such checks can be involved attributes (speed agility endurance and strength), level of actors, skills (weapon and block skills), perks, current level of fatigue, weight of weapon and shield, durability of weapon and shield.
In such cases will be fixed absurd things like mage successfully parry daedric warhammer of warrior with dagger, shielding self with leather shield from the same warrior, stay in complete shield wall defense, block axe with bow and many others.

So player initiate blocking but success depend not only on reaction but also on RPG statistics of PC and enemy,
complete auto blocking take out adrenaline from battle, complete reaction based blocking add absurd to model since it not involves many parameters in calculations thats make model more detailed and interesting.

Great examples is such mods for Oblivion,
Thats awesome mods by Duke Patrick'
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q-d6eS4159c
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h_M-QH3upEU
[WIP]Duke Patrick's Melee Combat Mod
http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?/topic/1185380-coming-soon-duke-patricks-melee-combat-mod/
And
Doc Block Recoil Stagger by Documn
http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=35933
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-epmBNmbyRU
they are make useless for developers parameters work in game in logical way and tie action and RPG in combat mechanic in really awesome way.

If I remember correctly, it goes like this:

You equip your shield in, let's say, your left hand, which is controled by your left mouse button.

Then, if you tap your left mouse button (press it and release quickly) you will raise your shield to block an incoming attack.
If instead of tapping the button you press it for longer, your character will attempt to perform a bashing move with the shield.

That's why you can't hide behind your shield; press the button for too long and you will atomatically stop blocking.

I think the timed system would work fine in melee combat but what if you have say 2 or 3 archers firing on you, can you still hold up your shield to block or do i have to time it to block each arrow, because that seems a little ridiculous. I think we should be able to hold our shields up but attacks should do far less damage if you time your blocks

Not that ridiculous actually. If your shield is protecting your head and torso and you don't move it a tiny bit, an archer would simply aim at your legs. Having to time-block every arrow makes sense to me and, furthermore, you can also sidestep at the right moment to avoid damage.

They should do it how they do it in mount and blade. You can hold block with a shield but you have to time your blocks with a sword or any other weapon.

deal w/ it. games are lame if you can just hold down the block button for example in demon's souls.
it makes the game more realistic and harder! i'm ALL FOR IT!

so your saying if you were being fired at by archers you would hold up your shield to protect yourself? you would hope that you time it just right so that you block the arrows? im not saying the system sounds bad i really like the idea i just want the option to hold my shield up for certain circumstances but have it be less effective than timed blocking

IMO it is a good way to balance the fact that shields absorb 100% of damage.

i actually prefer a timed block system. and for those of you who are confused by the meaning of timed block and think oblivion had it as well, it didnt. timed block means exactly what it sounds like. you have to time you block to more effectively absorb a blow. in oblivion you could hold the shield up all day long and get the same results.with a timed block the closer to the initial attack you get with the block the more damage it will absorb, the further you get from the initial atack (holding up the shield and waiting for the atack) the less damage it will absorb.

larger weapons will swing a bit slower so they will be easyer to block. the hardest to block imo will be daggers because they will move the fastest.

Well there is need some special remarks,
shields absorb 100% of damage to health (from physical strike), but not to fatigue all blocks done by shield must cost in fatigue usage thats depend on actors (both enemy and character) skills, weight of equipment, damage vs protection factor, maximum fatigue and health level and their current level, durability of shield will be lowered at zero it will be unequipped or dropped in combat, at successful check actor will block strike at fail strike will be to powerful to be blocked, so no blocking without consequences use tactics in combat no always cover under shield.
Certain attack have greater chances to penetrate shield defense, might blows thats force actor to open after each strike and not have shield wall, strikes of giant actors thats if not push or stagger can disarm shield away, certain weapons like axes thats have chance to make actor open and do additional damage to durability of shields, certain arrows and mighty bows in skilled hands, certain magic thats cannot be blocked completely and still do damage but lowered, telekinesis thats will allow with certain skills in alteration school and additional magicka charge versus skills of enemy actor and his fatigue level to strip enemy out of his shield and so on.

I think it is very interesting, and hopefully, adds some challenge to the game, in OB all was pressing RT all the time and the PC blocked even a Falcon Punch....

Complete auto blocking makes me focus on my attacks more. I really like how this mechanic works in Jedi Knight games. There are levels of defense skill in Jedi Knight, so you get better at deflecting attacks and it is an action game. A very good one.

Those mods are very interesting. I haven't installed them yet, I'm considering.

The absurdity of blocking and still taking damage drives me mad. If it is all about staggering, recoil and recover times then it is good for me.

Shields that explode... Awesome. Deformed shields that drop out of our hands, shield bashing finishing moves... Super. But I still don't see the need for a block skill, I hope we get enough perks to justify it as a skill. But I'm still against armor skills. You can throw your shield like a disc or skateboard on it but really what can you do with an armor?

... :huh: ?

Ofcourse stamina should be consumed when blocking, and the amount of it consumed would depend on shield quality and block skill. Durability shouldn't effect how much it blocks, unless it is nearly broken, around 30% durability left.

Hmm. Are you talking about in Oblivion, or Skyrim?


Because in Oblivion, I take plenty of damage through shield blocks. (Hmm, I suppose it could be due to a mod, but I don't recall Francesco's scaling mod including something like that.....)

... in Skyrim

With a 2-h sword, yes. With a 1-h sword, not with the sword itself, you have to equip a shield with it. If you're dual wielding you're trading defense for pure offense.

The reason behind timed blocking is that holding down the block initiates a bash

Wise answer... :rolleyes:

You wear a Morrowind avatar, so let's take a little trip back time: remember the "autoblock" system in Morrowind? Yeah! That's right. There you go.

This is supossed to be a ROLEplay game; block, should be based on you character skill, not yours. Many of the best crpgs used this, and it worked just perfectly.

I don't mind about timed blocks, it's ok to me, while I'd pretty much prefer the Morrowind system, I think that this will work well too; anyway, I'm not going to use shields... I'll better practice my parry skill.

Well yes Jedi Knight was awesome but it dot have shields, did you play Dark Messiah it has active active and passive shield blocks, parry weapon and weapon clench thats sometimes happen in combat without of any special input from player, all such features can be done in Skyrim also.

Well not all strikes can be blocked there must be difference between strike of weak mage and strike of robust warrior as well difference in blocking, before there was only one state successful block, now can be three or more so combat will be more interesting for example:

successful block when parameters of actor are greater then parameters of enemy, strike completely negated in small cost of fatigue 100% damage was blocked, slightly damaged durability (this also help to make block skill less grinding since it can rain from amount damage what was blocked, durability decrease and fatigue usage so to continue train block will need to find more powerful enemies and not train block to 100 from rat strikes.

block with bad consequences when both actor and enemy have equal parameters or enemy moderately stronger then actor then blocking will have consequences more fatigue used, there is chance of stagger from strike, enemy have chance to open block so need draw shield again 100% damage was blocked but more damage to fatigue, durability damaged at normal rate.

and fail at block when strike too powerful to become blocked and absorbed consequences will be push and drop actor to ground, disarm shield, do great amount of damage to fatigue and durability of shield, not all damage to health will be absorbed bu shield, example nord berserker with great axe, giant club strike, dragon strike. 50% damage was blocked great usage of fatigue big damage to durability.

Well block skill can affect more then only shields and train from parry also, in such cases there can be added automatic Clench into combat and need to charge power attack and enough skills to break it, since there is no kick to thats and without shield bash thats also will more depend on various parameters, as well there can be old block perks from Oblivion but also already confirmed magic blocks, about armor well I'd like to see the Battlemage training perks thats decrease spell effectiveness penalty from wearing armor what must initially be large (perk require some levels in magic schools),
decreased movement speed penalty from equipment weight, encumbrance limit increase, decrease of sneak penalty from equipment weight(require some levels in sneak, penalty is large so no sneaking around in fullplate iron armor) decrease fatigue usage from equipment weight, more durable armor (can require some levels in smithing), bonus to protection.


Well best way to decide shield quality its protection to durability ratio (and it weight to decide speed of shield draw), they are represent material of shield so in such cases such ratio can be used versus durability and damage ratio of weapon, so better weapons will not only do more damage to durability of shield but also increase fatigue usage on blocking them, so for example leather shield will not provide much protection versus daedric axe as steel one and chance thats next enemy strike will open blocking protection is increased.

Ive thought about the issue of using timed blocking against multiple enemies as well.
It could definitely be a big problem, but I trust that Bethesda is going to account for this. There will probably be some way that they account for this in gameplay. They could add a special move perk that allows you to take down defense. That would help to some extent

I'm sure Oblivion has an element of times blocking? Or at least it seems then when you block just before they hit, they stumble, which gives you a chance of hitting them. Or is that just my imagination?

Yes, it is actually in the game. The longer you block, the less effective your block is.

Problem is on higher skill levels turtling doesn't have much disadvantages.

The timed blocking thing doesn't sound good to me, though of course I'll have to wait and see.

I just don't see a shield as some sort of standalone parrying device. Because that's not what a shield is, it's also a guard. That is, it creates a barrier between you and them,
it is often held up to prevent openings. It is also used to parry and actively block -- but definitely not all the time.

Well I never chose blocking as one of my skills. so it was never that high. The timing didn't really feel too difficult though, so I think it'll be quite good implementing it more in a game. It's a bit unrealistic if you are just there holding your shield in front of you for 5 seconds for your enemy to then just swing it right at it.