I struggle to understand how the SHOUTS can possibly feel normal when used during combat

Is it actually possible to implement the SHOUTS in such a way that it is popular with people during gameplay?

I imagine myself swinging away in the heat of battle, perhaps casting a spell with one hand and then blocking and slashing with the other.

How would one suddenly switch gears and cue a shout when the enemy is already in melee range.

How is Bethesda going to implement the SHOUTS??

I really want to know what the differences between certain shouts and magic are.

hold down R3 on console hold down one of your programmable mouse buttons on PC
they are shouts i presume you can do them while performing other actions but they have fat cool downs depending on how long you focus the shout.
i see it as a forgotten school of magic because only certain people can do it making it not the same as normal magic. in regard to effect as the only one we know off is force push i would guess they are focused around physic's like time matter ect. but i could be way off...

They better have fat cool downs... I wouldn't want to slow time or summon a dragon every battle

I think shouts will be awesome

The shouting is like regular shouts i think, but in Dragonic. Each shout consist of 3 words.

The shouts are a form of magic, aren't they?

These are questions we don't have an answer to yet. Will it fit smoothly into gameplay? Maybe. We can only hope.

Here's hoping they function like Greater Powers and can't be used for every fight. .

I would imagine that screaming ancient words of power in the face of a walking skeleton would be weird.

This, but I also hope they aren't restricted to MQ battles, because that would piss me off to no end

Yeah I think so too. This most likely.

Its totally natural. I shout all the time.

Shouts = meh <_<

Definitely not the thing that excites me most about Skyrim, that's for sure.

I find the use of Thu'um in battles really easy to visualise, myself. Consider: your character is unlikely to use Shouts in short battles against rank-and-file enemies. Consider further: if Shouts are typically reserved for challenging, longer battles against larger and fiercer enemies, the battles involving Shouts are unlikely to be limited to sword-clashing melee-fests; they'll involve brief lulls as a dragon flies out for another pass, moments of respite as you knock your foe sprawling with your shield (or as you are knocked sprawling), and so on.

Picture these moments of being separated from your enemy, and then picture your favourite character bellowing (Nords?), hissing (Argonians?), screeching (Khajiit?) or screaming hauntingly (female Dunmer!) Dragon-words in desperation, fury, defiance or triumph.

How cool can they make it look in game? I dunno. But hopefully the new combat system allows for more dynamic events than just hack-hack-clang-hack-clang.

I hope I get to use Thu'um on anything. I can't wait to record a video of my character shouting at a mudcrab.

I agree, I don't want to just be going through some badass chain of attacks, then all of a sudden press the assigned button for the shout and my character's animation totally derails into some type of shout stance and then proceeds to "shout",and then right back to regular stance...hope it's fluid in terms of gameplay and aesthetics.

Anyone know if the shouts operate as attacks that exist outside the dual wield system--like a third attack option on top of whatever you already have equipped.

Well I hope they have, at least, a little bit of epicness to them.

That goes without saying.

I hope the short distance teleport type shout can be used more than once per day, especially since i'll be playing a rouge.
It would be kinda lame if i could only use that once a day, i mean i understand not being able to summon dragons every battle but...

It'll be a challenge to keep Thu'um from sounding goofy. If it was me, I'd bury the actual words in a burst of other sounds as your eardrum get a severe shock, ringing for thirty seconds or so.

I think it will probably be handled like spells, but with really big cool downs. Maybe you can only use it once per day.

I think they will not be in english so that they don't have to come up with silly english phrases for people to criticize.

The whole point of the shouts is that they are in dragon language (draconic or something) which is why said shouts actually do anything.

Yep. And everything in the draconic language (spoken, shouted, sung, written) is going to be translatable and mean something in English. It will be interesting to translate what the game throws at us.

i'm guessing that the shouts are just another form of magic you'll cast