Lets say... (depending on your enemy,) if you cut off his right hand, so it (and his dagger within it) falls to the ground... he might beg for mercy... but if you answer: "Your not worth killing...", "Run.", or "Live in shame..." He might pick up his dagger and stab you in the stomach when you turn around and try to walk away... but of course most enemys wouldn't have the guts (even though I personally consider such a backstabbing act even more cowardly than begging for mercy in the first place) and would instead run away... other enemy's (perhaps old war-heroes) might instead beg you to kill him once you've cut off his arms... if you then answer: "Your not worthy of my blade/axe/mace/hammer." He should either yell all sorts of swearwords and insults after you. Or go into a rage and attack you with his remaining limbs... others might fight to the death, and a last kind might simply run as soon as he feels he's dying...
do you want a system like this?
If yes, then should it also work on other scenes?

Like if you meet guy A inside a tavern, then guy A tells you about a ruins called "Sigil Stone Keep" Where the last of a group of mythical artifacts from the Oblivion crises lies hidden... he'll tell you the route but once you reach the part of the road which have cliffs raising high above to each side and large shadowy bushes... here you would be ambushed by archers from above and meele chars from behind the bushes (who turn out to be hidding entrances to a small cave system... once its clear they're lossing they may: Drop their weapons, ask for you to spare them which could lead to a few things A= A quick sweep with your weapon, ending the lives of the few remaining bandits. B= While looking at him a bandit who remained hidden comes from the back and slits your throat. C= Him outright admitting that he is working for guy A and that they cheat adventures out here to ambush 'em, kill 'em, and finally loot 'em. D= other more normal stuff.", "They could also just run for the hills.", "Become desperate and go so much offense that just one failed hit from their side will leave them without anything but death.", or "Run into the small system of ice-caves, ambushing you once more.". Of course they could also just keep fighting 'till they die... now if you found out that they were working for guy A you might want to return to town and pay that tavern another visit... once you get there and talk to him he'll tell his bodyguards to kill you or you could simply stap/shoot an arrow into his stomach (which would make the guards either flee, take up the fight, ask you if you would be interested in taking A's place in the group, or finally beg for mercy)... but if you talk to him (and deal with the guards (or beat them so badly that they'll give up)) he'll beg for mercy leaving you with the final choice in this quest... if you outright sloughter him here, you'll get a boost in infamy (but this would result with guards asking questions and if you keept a diary from the ice-caves you get off without a bounty), if you let him live you'll get nothing but a few gold pieces, him leaving the town and NeverComingBack resulting in the DB being sent after you... but he may also attack you when you look the other way, leaving you with no guards requirring evidence to not lock you up, a loot-able corpse, and a fame point...


what this thread mainly is about is discussion on wether opponents should sense when they're/you're lossing and act aproprietly (like a highway man leaving you with one last chance to pay before he kills you)...

If Bethesda has time to put that in the game then any creature that is wounded enough to not be able to continue to fight should back away or run away, or beg for mercy. I'd like to see that but it probably will not happen.

tl;dr

Except I did read it...

Simple answer - I never lose

Organization, my friend. Typing everything that comes into your head as it comes is not a great way to encourage people to read your literal wall of text.

Sorry fellow forum-goer, but my eyes hurt from just looking at your post, so I couldn't read it.

Sorry to ask but what does this mean exactly?

"Too long; didn't read."

This would be cool but only with certain fights, maybe 1/10 or less even. If every fight ended with someone crying or trying to run away, I'd get annoyed fast.

Of course... I want it 1 out of 100 times with single enemies but for larger groups of enemies like 25 bandits ambush me, they'd mostlikely try to run for it to recover and reambush me or just flee for good once I've killed 8-14 of 'em... but if I'm able to chop all but 1-3 of 25 bandits down and the three ones left are badly damaged they would mostlikely try to surrender, and most times were I've dis-membered my opponents so badly that I leave 'em unable to fight...

I think the guy with the missing hand would be too busy bleeding to death to backstab you or beg for mercy.

It would make sense against certain types of enemies, human-type enemies specifically, but not against animals or most monsters. I've seen this incorporated into a couple of games that come to mind, with varying degrees of success.

1) In the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. series of shooters, many types of enemies will try to retreat - or at least evade combat briefly - as the player gained the upper hand. Unfortunately, it often became realistic when fighting multiple enemies, as severely injuring one in the group would sometimes cause all of them to retreat.

2) In some MMORPGs, enemies turn and run when their health gets below a certain point. It's not as sophisticated as what you're suggesting, but in Lord of the Rings Online for example, beating the snot out of certain enemies (a goblin, for example) causes them to retreat. Special attention would have to be paid to pathing issues though, especially in close quarters like caves or mines.

I'm all for the idea myself, but as with anything, it would need to be properly implemented and rigorously tested.

Rise of the Triad had this... Where wounded enemies would beg for mercy (and then try to shoot you).

NPCs in an RPG could have a dynamic morale that recovers or gets diminished based on PC stats/displayed skill/ current condition/ recent injury/... and lots of other factors.

---

http://www.gog.com/en/gamecard/rise_of_the_triad__dark_war

Rise of the Triad also has the DARK STAFF! That thing was awesome.

I think this is exactly what NPCs in RPGs should have. I guess many do to a degree -- as background AI stuff -- but a more tangible value also subject to spell effects, perks, etc would be nice.

I remember the Bravery attribute on the old Citadel Combat Cards (and Leadership for tabletop units) and wonder why CRPG characters are deprived of such a useful thing.

After getting the initial programming for this into the game it would be very easy to implement. It was done with Oblivion somewhat but only civilians would flee when losing. If they added a beg for mercy and a cowardly attack AI to the flee one it would be sweet.

Should work for wild-life and monsters too.
Only one's unaffected are undead since they basically don't know the meaning of "death" and has nothing to fear.
The rest should act to the players actions.
If you spray an enemy that is very vulnerable to fire with a pyro blast then they should run away in terror, not try to foolishly kill you for principle.

you mean like they already do?
what do you think confidence is for?
why is it when you fight with a guard everyone runs away?

T'is but a flesh wound!

seriously... dude....

http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?/topic/1172708-have-mercy/

I want them to act appropriate but not like they did in Fallout New Vegas.... If i shot someone in FONV, the enemy would usually duck and put away their weapon..... in real life i would keep my weapon out constantly and run.... But i don't want simple battles to end up in a chase though....

If not overdone, this could be a nice feature. I would also like it if baddies would size you up before they attacked you. A single bandit might be less likely to attack you if you are wearing full daedric armor. If you have mismatched light armor, and a iron short sword, he might consider you a better target. Or perhaps, he would take into account that you seem to be bleeding from multiple wounds.

it will only work if you lose the ...'s

Put simply...
They did this in Oblivion. Just most enemies would keep fighting anyway. Citizens will attack you, but will run off when you start owning them. Haven't you ever gone to talk to someone that says "{name} is
fleeing"

^This

Looks realy complicated, but it would be great