i started a 2h warrior and am allready getting sick of the animation where you ram your sword through another guy...(just 1 animation bethesda really?).... what annoys me a bit is why didnt they make all the combats more interesting by giving active perks rather then passive ones...like possibilities to counter attack / riposte, etc., throw an item at the enemy to distract em, disarm em, or different combo-hits just stuff you can learn that makes combat more versataile and doesnt only give a +damage but leaves you with the same exact combat.... same goes for magic and archery which you could certainly also improve through more active abilities (archery - shoot an enemy in the foot and he cant run properly or something like that...magic could also be enriched through spells that need more timing and take your surrounding into account...)

tes was always very simplistic regarding combat and it is fun...but i think you could make so much more out of it when i think of other games such as mount & blade, the witcher 2, assassins creed etc...

You could try this mod.

http://www.skyrimnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=33

There are aspects of the combat that are lacking, but I don't play it for deep, complex combat.

You're in the first person, and it needs to be user-friendly, so ultimately you're limited as to what you can actually achieve. Considering this I think TES combat is pretty good.

Because it is elder scrolls. Instead of a 6 hour game with roflstomping combat. You get a Ginormous vertically challenged world with kitties and lizards and hairy people! Lets not forgot the Blacks (and grey skins)

You aren't trying very hard if you can't fight tactically in this game. How you move, what weapon you use, where you position yourself, blocking, bashing, all of them make for a lot of tactical depth in this game. If you expect tactics and depth from simply picking up a big sword and charging in head first you have failed at tactics from the start.

you can switch to thirg person secondly if you would be in a real fit youre in first person as well, they should AT least include options to counter attack after blocking and some kind of escape roll...

im just thinking through some active perks to use you could improve combat immensly without making development much more expensive...there is no WHETER immersive environment OR cool combat - i am 100% sure you can have both - look at the witcher 2...altough you dont have a lot of options there really but the combat allready feels much more dynamic

tactics was maybe the wrong wording - lets say additional options / versatility within one weapon/combat style and dynamic

I would argue that it would be better if you HAD to fight tactically. Why should I have to try hard to make the game more challenging?

Actually you can counter with timing. If you have a fast weapon and you are fighting someone with a slow weapon you can dodge their attack and counter hit them before they fully recover. Also if you power attack and move in a certain direction you will perform different power attacks, and of course you can perk them for more options, improve your blocking and gain perks.. in other words if you experiment a bit more you will find you can make more of combat than just standing there trading blows.

you guys misunderstood OP, the guy is saying to make perk more intetesting, more active instead of boring +damage there, -magicka cost there, which i agree completely.

yeah...like you start out with simple block and attack and power attack but can learn move a, b, c etc. through perks - this way you would also look much more forward to leveling up to get the ability even with the levelscaling cause it opens new tactics...

Combat is pretty boring and plain with no real tactics, granted. I do still love the finishing moves though, particularly when you're dealing with an annoying bandit who keep shouting how they're gonna kill you, and next he sees is himself hanging from your greatsword, or his decapitated body from an odd angle. That gives me some sort of weird satisfaction :hubbahubba:

I do wish it had a bit more flavor. More special moves, disarming, dismemberment, locational damage would've made this the greatest game ever.

and if you include finishing moves you need to have several to not repeat the same over and over again - look at age of conan - lots of finishing moves even for mages or archers