According to Todd we wont have spears in a traditional sense. This sounds like he was trying to bypass the topic and not have to talk about something else.

Could he have been saying that we wont have "spears" as in a long stick with a sharp head at the tip but maybe have other type of pole arms? Such as glaives, halberds, poleaxes, yumonji, or naginata?

I dont know but its just something I've been running over and over in my head. I mean why would he choose those words? Todd is a very intelligent person and i think he was making a play on words.

polearms or cavalry lance

in the trailer there is a image of a mounted attack using a lance

most likly polearms, Beth is most likly trying to avoid stabby weapons like the plague, so they can as much as possible, reuse there sets of weapon swing animations.

that or throwing weapons are added and he is referring to the throw-able kind of spear.

Maybe spears are a ranged weapon now. That would be awesome.

A play on words, eh? Well, he said none in the traditional sense. Aha! Well, the traditional senses with which we experience spears most are sight and touch, with a little bit of sound. Maybe this is an olfactoral and gustatorial spear!
There. I've solved the puzzle!

That, my friend, would be a fishy stick. A pointed one ^^,

edit (upon reaching PC): -- Having swords slice through opponents' flesh without leaving a mark looks acceptable -- we're used to it -- but imagine how a idiotic it would look to have spears just slide out sideways from an opponent after thrusting it into him. That's why I think they don't have spears now (it was okay pre-Oblivion, because animations were unconvincing anyway) -- because it's so hard to animate..... I bet it could be overcome, but they're apparently not working on it so.... well-well. :/

My take is that he meant there won't be a seperate skill for them. And they won't be a seperate weapon type, either - they'll be one of the available types of Polearms which is a perk branch under Two-Handed.

Ranged equals very good as long as you can melee withe the same spear. with balances of course.

the thing, I think, bethesda is trying to avoid is having too many different weapon types because of the combat overhaul
since they now have stylized and in depth play styles for each different weapon, it would be a waste of time and resources to include spears, throwing weapons, ect.

Do yourself a favor and don't try to pick every little word apart. You'll end up convincing yourself something is true when it's not.

Reuse of two handed weapon animation, so dagger again will have long sword animation I assume?

But still, if they weren't in, a solid "No" would have done fine. There's no reason to say otherwise. If there is nothing like spears, people will get the game, ask him "In what non-traditional sense are they in?" and he will (in this hypothetical world where Todd answers random questions about the game all the time) have to say "Uh... no sense. They're just not in." Does that sound logical to you? Does that sound like something he would do?

EDIT: Plus there's the concept art with the halberd, which while not definitive is certainly suggestive.

Since the general consensus on the forums now seems to be that spears are not in but other forms of polearms, like halberds and such, are. In that case, I'd take "No spears in the traditional sense" to mean we won't actually see spears, but we'll see weapons of a similar nature. I wouldn't be surprised if Bethesda felt that halberds and such had more room for different types of attacks than spears, but could still perform a similar role, so they decided they'd rather focus on them rather than spears.

Whatever the case, if spears WERE in. I'm sure Todd wouldn't say they weren't, so I think we can assume we won't see any weapon that's obviously, unmistakably a spear.

maybe, maybe not we shall see, I′m sure we will see stabbing at least in the finisher/sneak attack animations.

The reason Todd is wary about answering questions with definite yes/no answers is probably because of the Radiant AI debacle back from oblivion
Since there is still time left for development, there's still time to put spears in. He clearly doesn't want to promise anything that could change last second.

if that were true then he would have said its something we're working on or playing with like he did with vampires. i believe he wants to have this as some sort of surprise.

On several other items where this was the case, he simply said they were thinking of putting it in and trying to work it out, but they weren't sure and didn't want to promise anything. He could have said the same thing about spears, but he intentionally did not.

I think if that was the case he just go "that′s something we are going to think about" as other have said, his comment strongly points towards meaning no spears, but spear like weapons...aka polearms.

:thumbsup: my thoughts exactly

If he had said that the forum would go even more crazy claiming spears are simple... so that's why I'd avoid it...

thats what my op stated.

throwing spears and halberds used like axes. maybe

true, I was mostly pointing to "maybe he is saving it as a surprise" part and basicly saying...no, not with the comment he made. He won′t drop Spears are in.

lol i think we are on the same page :goodjob:

wait...your also reading "the lusty Argonian maid"?