Well, this is fantasy, after all, so the limits of realism are a little stretched from reality. I see no reason not to use the movies as a guide for a fantasy game. EDIT: The goes to Sojourner.

But even if you want to be grounded in reality, 3-4 meters is just not that high. I used to jump off the roof of the house and out of the barn hayloft when I was a kid and both were at least that high. I had no problems with the landing and I had no particular skill in acrobatics that is not possessed by any teenage farm boy. I see no reason why someone skilled in making such jumps and skilled in wielding a sword could not land a thrust mid-air from a reasonable height. After all, you are going to be swinging/thrusting at their head/torso, which you will encounter before you encounter the ground.

Damn straight, plus you can use them to break your fall.

Much akin to you, as a child (raised in Iceland) I used to climb on top of this factory in town that was quite a large building and my friends would dare me to jump off because I was the only one of them that had the stones for it

Anyways the building was legitimately large, probably 20-15 meters high, of course the part about being raised in Iceland becomes really relevant now, because I would only jump off the building during wintertime when there was a 2-3 meter layer of snow, the jump was still very daunting but the feeling of free falling is incredible at that height and directing a dagger at someone from that height would be very doable but of course you would take damage from such a jump.

At a completely level-headed 4-5 meters you could easily jump onto a person and use the momentum to precisely stab someone in the neck with a dagger (or pierce armor), maybe even cut an unarmored target in half with a claymore, not that I'm expecting that to be implemented.

Combat in Skyrim is pretty well done in my opinion. There are only a few things I would personally like to see changed:

1) Hit boxes or whatever they're called with archery. An arrow in the throat should do more damage than an arrow to the knee.

2) You should be able to enchant gloves with damage enchantments for unarmed melee types. And their should be Destruction spells that do damage on touch again as well, not just ranged attacks.

3) Don't know if this counts as part of the combat system or not, but axes and maces should be their own skill types again. Not just lumped into one or two handed like it has been.

4) I'd like to see spears/lances added to the game for mounted combat.

you can enchant gloves with fortify unarmed.

Adequate? More or less. Propably less. Though it's best not to think about how much better it could be

Unless you can use mods

1. Yeah, I think what you're referring to is commonly known as locational damage; I believe there is a mod for this for PC but I would like to see bethesda factoring this into the game themselves in a way they see suitable. I'd like to see characters being hampered by their wounds, I want to hear the bones of my enemies crack as I wail on their bodies with my warhammer. I want to see them limp away from combat defeated and not come running back for more.

2. I believe there is already an enchantment like this, go to the riften sewer, there is an orc there holding a pair of unique gloves (not a part of any quest, at least not to my knowledge, so I don't count it as a spoiler)

3. I wouldn't be against seperating onehanded into two or even three categories, as long as it is reasonably backed up in unique gameplay.

4. I've wanted spears to return to TES ever since Morrowind. I want spears of all sizes, ones for mounted combat, and ones for close quarters too. When you think about it, throughout history the spear has been the most commonly used weapon, it is easily the most versatile melee weapon. I'd also love to see a phalanx of empire spearmen face off against an angry horde of nordic axemen.

The graphics, interface, and general feel is great... but I feel like it got a bit too streamlined. Magic always seems flat, lacking variety and spell creation (would have helped SO much).

I'd also like more weapons.

Adequate. Yes, that's the word I'd use for it. Melee combat feels much better than it did but the mechanics I would still improve. I think combat should still drain stamina, for example, and not just power attacks. Blocking should be more important and I don't like the gimped magic system with all its removed spells and lack of option to cast while wielding equipment in both hands.

I'd say for the most part. It could use a few tweaks here and there. Like someone else stated, I too prefer not to have to sacrifice my weapons for spells. The favorites menu could've utilized tabs and sub folders in a way that everything you favorite - from Weapons to Miscellany - isn't one big jumbled alphabetical mess. Something needs to be done about the backwards power attack. By the time I've swung my weapon, I've taken 5 steps backwards and am now out of melee range as well as in an extremely vulnerable position.

Aside from those few items, I've been relatively pleased with the combat progression of TES III, IV, and V.

I would like to point out that Archery in Skyrim is a million times better than Oblivion's.