I want to discuss about the close combat movement. After i watched one scene that show the close combat movement ( except the assassination)in the 2nd released trailer, i noticed that it is very different from the movement from OBLIVION. And i am so exciting to see more actually.

Though there are two things i really want from the Sky rim.

1. Close combat skills using fatigue as energy source like magic consumes the mana.
2. Different movement depends on the categories of weapon.
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1.After i played Oblivion for long time, i felt that it is very tiring and boring to slay all the monsters and bandits with sword even after i mastered all the sword skills .

Because there is no special and critical skills to strike down or slay down enemies nicely and furiously. And whenever there were 3 to 4 of enemy units, there is no way to fight back but only to run for your life because there is no mean to hit multiple enemies. ( also with the BOW)

2.And also when i saw the 'BLADE', king's elite and secret group of guard, and the hidden blade's lair on the mountain, i expected something different and special from the sword skills because of their appearance of armors and the house (those are something from eastern culture especially like Chinese and Japanese culture).

And when i saw the categories of the weapons, 'Blade' and 'Blunt', i expected also something very special from each differentiated weapons.

However, i was a little bit disappointed ( though i enjoyed the whole game a lot ^^) about the close combat in Oblivion after playing and mastering all the skills.

What i am saying is that the Blades use the weapon called 'katana' which is japanese blade, (not sword) but they don't use it like katana!!!

In eastern culture, the concept of the 'Blade', 'Sword' and 'Blunt' weapons are very different. Especially for the 'Blade' and ' Sword'.

Blade is a wide and heavy long knife with sharp side edge to chop or cut the enemy. Sword is a long light knife with sharp tip to pierce the enemy.

for instance, you can compare the movement of Fencing and the Chinese blade martial art.

The key movement for the sword is to pierce the enemy with sharp and light sword with fast movement (of course it can be used to cut with double edged sword but to give critical hit, you have to pierce the vital point ) , and for the blade is to cut and chop with the heavy sharp side edge of the knife (because of the weight of the weapon, it is easy to give critical hit by chopping or cutting.)



Sorry for my English TT

I agree pretty much with everything you've stated.

While Katana's are exceptionally sharp and deadly weapons, during duels beheadings and limb dismemeberment wasn't always the focus, just critical strikes that would leave the opponent to bleed out.

while from what I've read there is an Indication fo varietions in damage types "crushing, piercing cutting" these -natural attributes to weapons have to be enabled by perks.

For instance where an axe would inherently cause bleeding or damage over time normally, it wont unless you are using perks for axes specifically same for blunt weapons and blades, contrary to popular belief there was no strategy involved on Oblivions combat, you simply swung until you slew your enemies, weapons didnt damage in different ways beyond their number values, striking joints was pointless because their are no joints or markers to indicate them, essentially you were a square that did damage at a certain range, blocking and doging were fruitless especially in multiple combatant situations.

as you said in oblivion and all games prior, you could not strike multiple enemies at once, which would have been useful since it was usually only you vs them. I don't know what Skyrim entails, the hopes that it gets better really.