I wonder if it will only trigger against hostile enemies, or NPC's as well?

I'm having a hard time figuring out why anybody would like finishing moves. I don't mean any offense to anyone - I just really can't figure it out. I mean - obviously people do like them, or at least that's what the poll results say, but I can't imagine who would or why. I would tend to think that the roleplayers won't be much impressed by them, and might actively oppose them, just because they're not that focused on combat. I would think that, to them, they'd just be sort of unnecessary and cheesy. At the same time though, I would tend to think that the action/adventurers won't be much impressed by them either, and might actively oppose them too, because they take control out of the player's hands. The idea of the game, from an AA perspective, is to win at combat because of your greater skill - not just to push a button and watch a cutscene. So I'm just having a hard time figuring out who it is that they do appeal to.

For the record - I hold pretty much all of those opinions. I think they're cheesy and unnecessary AND I don't like losing control of my character. Any time a game has any cinematic feature like that, one of the first things I do is turn it off. I just hope I have that option in Skyrim.

From what I understand, finishers will be animations, not cinematics or cutscenes. The animation that you get will depend on which weapon you are using and which enemy you are fighting.

I don't think it's fair to say that finishers take control out of a players hands, because finishers are initiated by a power attack, a power attack that was made by the player. The only time that the player won't have control is during the animation, which will be brief.

When I think of finishers, I think of satisfying endings to hard-fought battles. It will be nice to plant my axe in a Draugr's skull after fighting tooth and nail with him.

Exactly. :whoops:

So a lot of the time I don't really know what's going to happen then? I just click my mouse and see what fancy move my character decides to do? How exactly is that not taking control out of the player's hands...? :confused:

As for satisfying endings to battles, It's satisfying enough for me seeing my enemy drop down dead. I don't want or need to see some gimmicky animation every time I deal the killing blow.

If you're a Mage this won't effect you. I wonder what the trigger rate will be on finishers?

Fear: the game turns into Assassin's Creed: Skyrim, where you have 4 types of quests where you do the same same essential activity, but you get neat stab scenes along the way.

Hope: another great Bethesda game, and this will be a neat add-on to a sweet RPG.

I like to hope

You won't know what will happen the first time you kill a giant with an axe. You will the second time. You will learn what the finishers are. If you don't want to do a finisher, don't perform a power attack when your enemy is near death. You have control.

Enemies just dropping isn't enough for me. No one has said you will see a finisher every time you kill an enemy. Again, if you don't want to do a finisher, don't perform a power attack.

As long as I can kill enemies without finishers happening against my will, i'm happy.

Yes, god forbid the enemies do anything but go limp when we kill them, no matter by what method. It's for looks. It's to make combat a bit more exciting in presentation. They're not cutscenes. It looks like the finishers are really quick, too. No drawn-out affairs, just a quick grab and stab or axe to the face, that's it, not really any longer than a power attack animation. And they don't happen every time, either. I can't think of any reason why I wouldn't want these animations in the game. They're not free instant kills, they're a visual flourish when you bring an enemy down to 0 HP.

My only concern is what happens while you're doing your finisher in a fight with multiple enemies -- are you left vulnerable to counter-attack or are you invulnerable from attack?

They'll probably go the rule of cool route and have the enemies leave you alone for the one and a half seconds you're smashing somebody's face in. Either that or just disable the finishers when you're fighting lots of dudes.

Just like the movies, 'wait, it's not our turn yet, he has to finish that guy off first, then one of us can attack him'.

Personally I'm happy as long as I have control over whether or not I execute a finishing move.