Then you would kill him because scum don't deserve a second chance right?

That's what creatures are for. Most ES creatures are fairly stupid, and know nothing of fear, though at least some of them should. With such a system, there would still be plenty of things to slaughter without having to chase them down when they run or listen to/ignore they're tearful pleading.

There comes a point when realism goes too far in my opinion, and this crosses that point for me. Real life mortal combat is horrifying. Making it realistically horrifying like this would kind of put a damper on the mood of a heroic RPG adventure in my opinion, or at worst give people some seriously disturbing kicks if they kill people begging for their life. It just plain goes way too far for my tastes.

We don't get experience points for killing things in this game, it only counts our successful blows. You sacrifice ONE blow, which is the last one. You can continue to increase your skills like before without that one last blow. And a "knocked out" last blow isn't impossible either.

There are a ton of humanoid npcs in the game, if every one of them begs for their life it'll get old in a really big hurry. This is an AA/RPG game, not The Sims: Tamriel. Enemies exist to be pulverized by the pc so the pc can level and meet greater challenges. I'd prefer Bethesda kept it that way.

Depends upon how it's done. If the voice actor doesn't over-do it, or does over-do it and sounds ridiculous, how bad will you really feel killing them? Besides, if you're being a hero, and the bad guys learn their lesson without having to die, isn't that a good thing?

As for sick people, they're going to get their kicks from committing genocide in Skyrim just like they do in the other games. Can't be helped.



1) Never said all of them would. Obviously some enemies are going to be bigger and badder than your character, and although they may fall, they aren't going to cry about it.

2) A living, breathing world isn't created by filling it with nothing but fodder for a single force moving within it to "level up", it's given a soul by being inhabited by NPCs/creatures that matter, beyond our whims or needs. You know how Morrowind can seem fairly lifeless after playing it awhile? It's because your character is the only one moving around actually doing anything. Skyrim shouldn't be like that, and I doubt it will be.

Yeah I have no problem with that, it is just a game after all and I'd rather people get kicks out of being cruel in a game than in real life. I just don't want to be creeped out by nearly dead people begging for mercy all the time. If you could actually engage in non-mortal combat and let people go I'd love that, but at some point it gets a tad ridiculous as well. I'm imagining a constant cycle of fighting enemies and then allowing them to run off. It sounds kind of ridiculous, granted a single hero doing so much on their own isn't exactly logical either now that I think about it.

If I killed every poodles that attacked me in real life, well I wouldn't go "self defense" about it. Give me options.

Lol, wonder if you could get a reputation for not sparing enemies. Then they fear you more! Or if you spare too many they quit fighting soon as their wounded and beg, knowing that you are too soft to finish them. Then they laugh and plot against you as they wander away...

Like many other things that end up being mods, it wouldn't work for everyone the same way. But I think it's possible, and a good idea.



Variety in enemy behavior helps. For example, you come across one particular group of outlaws roughing up an unarmed, or just simply outmatched, commoner. You step in, being the righteous type, and quite handy with some non-lethal spell-casting, and teach them a lesson. Some of them get angry at you enough to force you to hurt them more than you intended, some of them take the hint and run off, and at least one challenges you to mortal combat, in which case leads you to making the choice of whether slaying them is just.

Later on, you stumble into a ruin filled with some other outlaws, who are way more powerful than you, and you are the one who runs away, while they don't even bother chasing you because they're too busy pilfering artifacts. Or fighting over them.

It wouldn't all be based on level so much as AI, which I'm not sure how difficult that is to work with, but hey, it's just an idea.



Or hate you, because you're such an evil bastard.



Yes, the old Batman-doesn't-kill-let's-take-advantage problem.