I always thought a more comparative witness system in ES would be awesome. Of course everyone hates that when you kill someone in the wilderness but still get a bounty for it, I think that, especially if you have killed someone, there should have to be witness(es) that run or call the guards in, or you could even have the opportunity to bribe or intimidate them to keep tight lipped. Reality at the time is that the law is only based on this witness evidence or possible clues left at the scene of the crime. I mean, if you are seen walking around with your sword out in the middle of the night in a city and there is a murder that night, even if it hasn't been seen by civilians/guards, anyone who has seen you walking around suspiciously like that may still suspect you of the crime, which is also where witness posters should be brought in, and the guards could arrest you on a murder charge that you may or may not be found guilty for. Search party's are another idea, so if you say killing a guard patrolling roads between two cities then a group of guards will be sent looking for him, and it depends on how well you have hidden the body to see if they find him.

cha?

way to indepth if you ask me.

Pretty good idea but a bit much if you ask me. :shrug:

I agree with not getting a bounty when you kill someone with no witnesses around, like in a forest.

But the rest is much too complicated.

Too in-depth? It wouldn't be hard to change the witness thing, but maybe the whole "hide the body" thing is a little too expecting. But a better witness system than Oblivion's would be easy.

I wouldn't go with the idea that if you're seen with your sword out you are automatically a suspect - seeing as I'd imagine most NPCs to be armed in some way (just the impression I have from Nords and Skyrim lol). I'm sure I've heard somewhere that they're implementing the kind of sneak/detection element from Fallout; so there's a chance people will be alerted to your nefarious deeds even if they didn't directly see you (maybe if they are within hearing distance or something?). Not sure if I heard that right though, it could've just been speculation.

Only guards both city and imperial gave you the undetected bounty.
It was at best a glitch, at worst a design flaw.
If you auto kill while undetected in sneak anyone but a guard you don't get a bounty.

However yes the whole bounty issue is a major thorn.
One that has been posted about many times in many forums.
My guess / hope is that this is already being dealt with or has been so already.
After all if after years of complaint on this, they then release a game with the same fault it'll be bad for them.
Especially since there is a lot ridding on the new features.

it would take alot of extra time and effort, it should be do able, but why spend as much as a day or two on something that is based on realism in a fantasy game. although I do agree about the part of not getting a bounty if no one sees you.

EDIT: unless the dark mother is a legion informant.

Maybe not a huge city, buy say if you stay a night at an inn in a smaller, rural village and someone is killed in the town, surely you would be the main suspect? or say if a guard see you walk towards a house and then walk past them 10 minutes later covered in blood they may suspect something, even if its not instantaneous reaction to arrest you.