I agree, it looks a huge step up in terms of combat. Considering that I don't play The Elder Scrolls for combat then it is enhancing my roleplaying experience. Magic looks more impactful, archery doesn't seem to be turning enemies into pincussions ( of course I expect that to happen with larger enemies i.e. mammoths) and melee looks less floaty. It hasn't gotten worse and it seems they spent a good amount of time improving on it so yes I believe the overall combat is good.

To put an end to this bickering about blocking once and for all, lets turn to what we know:


This is from one of the very first articles we got--I think from Gameinformer:

Deadly Reflex

Where is this confirmed ? Oblivion you could block with a 1 handed weapon and no shield, the block my not be the best, but is effective for partial blocking.

IMHO, this combat needs an active dodge to make it more interesting. Also, weapons animations look boring and not distinctive enough, for different weapons. I thought the point of having fewer weapons classes was to make them look and handle very differently/better?

pc/pc/pc/pc/blagh/blagh/blagh :flamethrower:

I love the combat and i love the finishing moves. for me it is a leap to the right direction.
I love the fact that as a player combat will be a lot of planing and strategic thinking, being able to decap will be a wonderful enchantment.
Blocking with dual wilding would have been fun but if i will think about it logically blocking can ruin the blade, if i will be able to parry or dodge instead it will be a good alternative.

Combat wasn't what I expected given Todd's previous comments a while back about non button mashing, stratigic timing etc. But that said, he was demoing a very stat enhanced character and may not have been overly concerned about defence during the filming. I'll reserve judgement until more is shown.

True even with location damage it would not equal a kill just a lot of damage.

Combat looks nice in my opinion, and who cares that the dude didn't die when he was slashed in the neck? Think of it a grave laceration.

I could appreciate greater levels of realism like localized damage, and possibly one-hit kills for successful head/neck strikes, but it's not something very important, and I wouldn't begin to require it. The mix of action and RPG elements is what made me like ES in the first place, so as long as controlling my character during combat is fun, I don't mind unrealistic things like neck slashes that don't kill.

Concerning the blocking question that's getting a lot of rage on this forum: For me, the fun of combat isn't in choosing which strengths I want despite weaknesses (in other words, not a balancing question), but mostly rather the responsiveness of my character to my input, as I react to stimuli on the screen. That is, I love Street Fighter (I've had more fun playing SF (with my brothers) than any other video game, ever) and I love fantasy, so naturally I love a timing-mechanism-based combat scheme in a fantasy world, too. Thus, I am in favor of always having some form of block/parry with any weapon, even if its blocking effectiveness is miniscule (think dagger). This is where the RPG elements come in -- blocking with dagger only absorbs, say, 25% of strike, while broadsword absorbs 80% and shield 95%, for example.

So I love the RPG elements; I just want an engaging system that makes me feel part of the combat. If using one sword or duel wielding requires a strategy of: "Spam the triggers and try to sidestep incoming attacks until one of you is dead," then I'll simply use sword and shield.

Combat in Oblivion was fun, I have faith Bethesda will make the combat in Skyrim more fun.

I am not worried, I heard a guy say,.. in a demo they watched a guy who was bleeding, just bleed to death :biggrin:

getting hit in the neck like that should add a substantial bleed effect on the target, regardless of sharp weapon used, but with the big blood spray it looked like it did, also attacks like that should stagger the target

i would rather have a seperate *Dodge* button in addition to block, block may require a shield but dodging doesnt, if u time it right u get *just* out of the way or defelect and take less damage from gettin cut in the arm instead of the neck

Combat seems to have undergone quite a large improvement, nothing to complain about.
We're still not sure if blocking while dual wielding is in. If not that would kind of svck.
The bandit shouldn't have died unless his health was low enough... which it wasn't... so he didn't.

Cross post from the CD: Was anyone else not impressed by the new re-vamped combat system that they have been promising? It looks exactly like OB but with dual-wielding there is now double the button mashing fun!