I'd be ok without blocking if we could attack with the weapons faster. That's the whole point of dual wielding, attacking faster while sacrificing the strength of the blows. The whole waiting for your first attack to be done is just silly. And makes for a terrible Drizz't RP.

That kinda suggests something ominous about blocking.

How does that not address the console controller limitations?

Because that poster was never referring to whether or not you could program the block to a special button. He was referring to the technical limitations of consoles in terms of adding all the extra code for time-sensitive blocking.

You forgot the PC mouse limitations.

1) right-click = hit with right sword
2) left-click = hit with left sword
3) ??? = block?

Not an issue.

Nerevarine actually addressed that question enough.

Remember, they're programming for machines that are at least as old as Oblivion. There's going to be limits in what you can code without running into motherboard issues. Plus, they're trying to get this onto one disc, so space is at a premium.



3) Spacebar = block

I assure you, it would be an issue. Time-sensitive blocking would take a whole ton of new code, and this game is probably at the threshold for what consoles can handle right now. It's fine to pare down the graphics for consoles, but they aren't going to actually change gameplay mechanics from console to PC.

I'm leaning towards the no side of things on the poll... But I voted not sure 'cause I'd like to be surprised into liking it. My biggest problem with dual wielding is that there is very little realism or immersion (whatever you want to call it) to a combat style in which you cannot block. I thought that the ES games had moved past the archaic days of turn-based attacks in RPGs, where the enemy(s) attack you and you let it happen, and then you attack back. (Except in this case, your enemies can still block, even though you cannot.)

Meh. I kinda like how it's being treated like a novelty that it is rather than games like Dragon Age where everyone and their mum is "Dual Wielding DPS ROGUE BUILD".

I agree, we need blocking with dual-wielding so that the combat style is more than whittling down each others health bars to see who has better armor or more health. It seems illogical that our character would have an inability to parry because he has something other than shield/torch in his other hand. Or, we need some info on some really great dodging/evasion mechanics we've previously heard nothing about.

The balance argument seems like a cop out to me. Really, if dual-wielding allowed you to block rather than stand there and exchange hits, would it be the only combat style worth using? As if all the other awesome combat styles would remain unused if dual-wielding allowed blocking. I thought this was an RPG, where you play different roles for the fun of it, not an action game where all that matters is optimal playstyles and metagaming to fully min-max a character. In Oblivion, there was little-to-no benefits to using just a single sword without a shield, but that didn't stop me from playing that way even if it wasn't optimal.

Maybe I'm misjudging how people normally play RPGs and/or TES games, and I apologize if I am, but TES has never been about creating perfectly optimal characters to me, but about testing different build ideas, playing out different characters and building different stories for those characters.

Not really a whole ton of code...

If block button is holded for 1 sec, any damage taken is reduced by 80%.
Else if block button is holded for 2 sec, damage taken is reduced by 50%.
Else if block button is holded for 3 sec, damage taken is reduced by 30%.
Else no damage reduction.

Also, spacebar = jump.

Personally, the dual wielding system does seem like it will grate on my nerves at some points, esp. when I'm facing multiple enemies and being unable to block. But the system itself will be plenty overpowered by itself, so I'll be sure to deal as much damage as I can before getting hit. Or I can just backpeddle out of the way (even slower backpeddling can still be a useful tactic).

Plus PC gamers shouldn't worry... they always have mods. And if the system is so horrible as everyone is making it seem, I'm sure BGS will learn from this and make the next TES game even better. :s

Who cares, it's a single player game, if you don't like duel weild then don't use it...

Except they've hinted that blocking doesn't work anything like that, plus you're forgetting to account for the addition of spells, different weapons, etc. that they'd have to animate and program. That's a lot of code, even limiting to just types, and the question remains on if they could do anything complex with it like parrying.

I read somewhere that if your dual wielding weapons,you can attack with both by holding down both triggers at the same time.

There should just be weapon-to-weapon contact and shield-to-weapon contact, that you can parry by hitting your enemies' weapons and you actually have to meet his weapons with your shield. That way holding it down won't be effective either because enemies will aim for non-shielded parts.