Yup, and the weapons even seem to have a hidden accuracy value that works similar to that power value (the longer you "charge", the harder the weapon will hit in its X - Y scale). At least for me it seems that the longer I "charge" the attack (to a certain point; I guess the maximum is when the weapon is fully drawn back and not moving anymore), not only does it hit harder, but more likely as well. Is there truth to this? I remember this being discussed before but I don't think I've seen a clarifying answer to this.

So, is it so that the most powerful attack is also the most accurate one? In my experience, it really seems to be. Not many drawbacks in that case to always use the "fully-charged" attack, especially if there's a big difference in the weapon's minimum and maximum attack power and your skill in that weapon is pretty low. It takes "X->0"-to-2 seconds longer than less charged attacks, that's it about its drawbacks.

I noticed the same accuracy thing and come to think of it that is kinda weird. I really only used quick attacks when I was facing opponents that could kill me in a couple of hits (this way I hoped to stagger them more often).

Yeah, forgot that. The most accurate, most powerful, AND the biggest chance to stagger. Lots of Strenght, Blunt and the biggest Warhammer you can get = invincible character.

I dont get the combat animation complaint, maybe from the perspective of seeing the enemys actions but all you see is your hand and sword swing in front of you, it dont get any more real then that, I mean who plays morrowind in 3rd person? Another plus for Morrowind is when you do tribunal and get those 2 awesome flaming swords (with flame animations), I havent seen swords like that before or since in a tes game.

If you swing a weapon and clearly see it go right through the enemy without causing any damage at all, that′s immersion breaking on the highest level and not what I would consider "real".

I concede to that, its comming back to me now. That only happens when your skills are real low. I remeber stabbing air with my dagger as a noob when fighting a smuggler, at the very least I could of been poking the smuggler doing very minimal damage.

Agreed. As I have said, even a one-year-old baby can cause fatal damage to someone with a kitchen knife. No training whatsoever, but still a possibility.

The difference in skills between the baby and the advlt is enough that the odds of the baby hitting with the knife are low, unless the advlt is distracted or sleeping. Of course, IF it hits, there's going to be damage. I can appreciate the possibility of missing, it just shouldn't LOOK like it's hitting when it happens.

I didn't mind the combat system in Morrowind. To me it was actually an improvement when compared to the mouse directed combat in Daggerfall, which iI thought had its advantages along with its detractions.

I loved the heavy dependence on character stats in Morrowind, coming as I did from a FPS background, it gave a totally unique feel to the game. No longer was I some puppeteer with my avatar responding precisely, mechanically, to my pulling of strings. Instead here was this beautiful, organic creature complete with their own strengths and weaknesses and my role was to be the inner voice of motive, reason and, all too often, folly. Yes, inner voice or consciousness or private angel or demon. Whatever it was, after several hours getting used to the feeling I found my attachment this avatar growing to level that I had never before experienced and have seldom experienced since.

Morrowind combat was just a further expression of this intimate detachment. At its best, a sliver of life left on both sides and with a growing mixture of excitement and concern my mantra became "Just. One. More. Hit. Ah. No. Hit! Hit! Hit! YES!". Sure it could be a bit of a button mash but all Ob and Sk have added to the mix is more buttons and this at the expense of shattering some psychological fourth wall. Twitch combat in Mw would feel at odds with the whole character stats vibe, for me it would break immersion. And if I sometimes need to imagine an artful dodge or block on the part of my opponent then it is a price I willingly pay to maintain this wonderful player/character relationship that the game allows.

Probably, I still view it as be particularly random because even after you hit the game decided randomly where the damage goes (head, chest, ect.) I know in Morrowind despite AR rating the location has a max protection limit % with chest being the highest. I'm entirely certain where the damage goes is random.

I really missed Morrowinds charged attacks in Oblivion directional power attacks messed up the game play on my character.

it is actually one of the reasons I prefer morrowind over oblivion and skyrim. Not the crappy animations (or lack of animations for dodge) obviously, but actually seeing yourself improve made character progression feel, like, well, progression. In oblivion in skyrim, you start of good at everything and get a little better, in morrowind you start off abysmal at everything, and become a god. I know which one sounds more fun to me.

This system is great for DnD and Baldurs gate... i dont like it much.. in morrowind.

Growing up playing d&d I really enjoyed the combat system

That′s Morrowind′s strength regarding combat, the power attacks. I always preferred that you could hold it and release the attack at the right time instead of it being automated like in Oblivion.

It was one of my first gripes about OB, how initiating an attack started the animation and essentially took over your character. In Morrowind and Daggerfall it was far more simple and direct; I felt like I was stabbing at the opponent, not pressing a button and activating the same old attack sequence over and over.