I know the official stance is it will help with companions but I just had an epiphany while taking my usual "once every 30 min or so" break from Photoshop to watch http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jSVMWzysCqo.

It dawned on me while watching the dragon fight. I always play in first person so it's not something that has bothered me since Morrowind(which I played exclusively in 3rd person) because in first person the animations play in whatever direction your looking. For those that do play in 3rd person do the animations look some what off when fighting an enemy that is above or below you?

My epiphany is that the magnetism is necessary for Havok Behavior to play and blend the appropriate animations for upward or downward attacks! Downward strikes are pretty easy to fake because your going in that direction anyway with an overhead swing but not so with an enemy above you. It just doesn't look right or make much sense to be attacking an overhead target by drawing your weapon behind your back. if you watch the trailer when the PC is attacking the dragon over head he is drawing his weapon not from behind him but from the ground up.

Just blew your mind didn't I?

Maybe this http://thewormhole.nfshost.com/Skyrim_logo_date_morph_Lg.gif of my next pack for my http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?/topic/1170026-unofficial-skyrim-fan-site-kit/ will make your head stop hurting.

I don't understand.


No. No more or less than in first-person.

Other than something like that, it also keeps you from swinging off side and hitting someone you don't mean to. I hope magnetism doesn't affect long range combat

Sure they do. I mean, granted, Oblivion's third-person animations were less than great, but at least a person directly in front of you (or an attacking NPC) looked like he/she was actually getting hit. A rat or mudcrab would often be too low to get struck by the attack animation, even though they were clearly taking damage. I think this is what the OP's talking about.

Have a cookie for your breakthrough discovery. :cookie:

Oh! I see what he meant now! I thought he meant the animations of the enemies, not the player.

Yeah, that makes sense then. :thumbsup:

If you look up you will strike upward the same way you look down to strike a mudcrab.

A mechanism to make it harder to do friendly hits in crowded battles on the other hand makes more sense.

Dunno , but i think its more likely it was added to aid thumbsticks aiming.

edit: wow nice trailer , that dragon fight looked great!.

Downward strikes are pretty easy to fake because your going in that direction anyway with an overhead swing but not so with an enemy above you. It just doesn't look right or make much sense to be attacking an overhead target by drawing your weapon behind your back. if you watch the trailer when the PC is attacking the dragon over head he is drawing his weapon not from behind him but from the ground up.

@ OP
I mentioned this in a post straight after the trailer.

Yeah that is definitely one of the benefits of magnetism. The possibility of better animations. I think the main reason for it's inclusion was to stop the combat feeling like two people on ice skates trying to hit each other. It also allows for much better animations. Think Read Dead and Assassins Creed. It stops them having to have the enemies be right in your face all the time and the feeling of just running circles around people because your the better/faster skater.

In time when you look back on the old system you will think the fights look pretty funny.

Yep,had to grab a stick and try but your right. :toughninja:

My post from a few days ago,from the thread "good things".
I'm happy with everything i've seen,apart from the magnetism thing.
But i'm not as bothered about that now,i don't think it will be that bad.
I may be wrong,but another reason i think magnetism is there is because.
1: Finishing moves
2: Friendly fire
3: Air attacks...this is what i mean......in the trailor look at the swing he does when the dragon flies over him.
It allows him to swing in a different manner that couldn't be done in oblivion,like the game knows the target is above him,so he does that.
I think that is another reason why it's there...hope that makes sense.
I also believe aiming with a bow will be all our own,and not magnetised at all.
Just my view.

Side note worm,your trailer made me realize how epic the man from 2:20's sword is,and how the scabbard looks.

Perfectly, that is exactly what i'm talking about.




I believe this too because unlike the melee weapons an arrow flies straight ahead, I mean except in regards to gravity and wind. I can see your aim gravitating towards an enemy but not your arrow.

I'm glad you have turned this into a topic really.
I didn't like the magnetism at first,but changed my mind within a day or so,because i thought that it wouldn't be as bad as i thought.
They have added it for a reason and not to piss us off ( that was my after thought ).
And now like you after seeing the trailer,we have both come up with the reason it may be there....it makes sense really.
So,magnetism doesn't bother me at all now,and like i said,it won't effect archery in my opinion,our aim will be ours ,and ours alone.

To be perfectly honest, i think alot people are thinking that magnetism is just bethseda saying Auto -Aim that you have in FPS on consoles due to the lack of fine aiming. Theres no chance in hell that there will be auro aim in Skyrim. There was none in oblivion and none in morrowind. We are not going to see arrows go to the far left when your aiming to the far right. what i think we can expect to see is this, if you and an ally are fighting 1 mob, you swing your weapon while facing the mob but your ally runs in front at the last moment, your attack will hit the mob, not the dumb friendly ai that ran in front of you.

To sum it up, magnetism is not Auto-Aim