Did you ever see finishing moves or cut scene kills in Fallout 3 for shots fired outside of VATS?

I don't know about a finisher per say, but I would like to see the spell effect last on the corpse just a little longer. I think it would feel much more satisfying after a long battle to look around and see a dozen corpses still burning.

There are for hand to hand but you dont get the camera effect, so they dont look as good and are kinda hard to see. But yeah, magic and bow finishers needed.

Yeah I mean its not like it never been done before, wait what?

Fallout 3 already has ranged finishers. Not having them in Skyrim is illogical.

As for magic, who wouldnt want to see a small vid of an enemy turning in to a pile of dust from getting roasted alive with a dual cast fireball, or exploding in to a fine dust cloud from chain lightning or freezing and shattering from frost storm.

The above comment is beyond stupid. "% chance to hit" somehow makes finishing moves possible in programming? Really does any thinking person reason like this? "% chance to hit" does not have some magical property that somehow only a "% chance to hit" can now allow new code to include a cut scene, get real.

Finishing scene for arrows and magic are easy, the fact that those hits are collision based in no way impairs the ability to have a finishing move, to believe otherwise is to show how completely fuggen ignorant you are about programming.

One solution would be to call upon the RNG in the game with a simple subroutine against a set of defined percentages and selected casting parameters like type of spell for magic, or distance verses amount of damage for an arrow shot, then when the random percentage is meet and the other parameters achieved viola routine switches to predetermined video cut-scene just like in melee.

That is just a high level functional description but it gets the point across. The real issue was probably how much more effort was Bethesda willing to put into making the varied cut-scenes, that was more likely a bigger project than the code to allow it. There would have had to been a great deal more custom animation / artwork to support cut-scenes for arrows and magic.

Again what does that have to do with programming a simple subroutine to call upon the RNG, for pete's sake that is one of the most common things done for any game. programming the code to allow cut scenes is NOT dependent on having a "% chance to hit" and typically the greater effort is the artwork and animation as opposed to the actual lines of code, VAT or not.

/s on
OMG by your logic and some others it is amazing anything else exists in the game, I mean obviously unless you have a "% chance to hit" routine how can any other code possibly work? SERIOUSLY?
/s off

The second issue would be in making sure that the game still uses hit locations, since right now there is no difference in damage based on a head shot or a leg shot. Using a fatality camera on a shot to the leg would be pretty lame.

Because with a VATS system the game knew if you hit the target before your shot was even fired, based on percentage calculations. The only way we would get something similar here is if it was a replay camera showing the shot after it already made contact with the model, because the game doesn't know if the arrow you are about to fire will hit your target or not*. Whether or not the game knows that a projectile will hit a target before it actually makes contact is the biggest issue with having a finishing move tied to a ranged attack before the attack is even fired.

* One caveat, there are times when a projective (be it arrow or spell) would normally hit a target, but at the last second the target slides 5 feet in a random direction to magically dodge said projectile. It could be argued that the game may know that a projectile will hit an enemy as shortly before making contact, giving enough time to trigger a finishing move cut scene.

The second issue would be in making sure that the game still uses hit locations, since right now there is no difference in damage based on a head shot or a leg shot. Using a fatality camera on a shot to the leg would be pretty lame.

What more are you suppose to do with magic or a bow? You hit them with the arrow/spell... and? you're going to do what? it's not practical to give finisher moves to bows or magic, given that both can miss at the final second it is also not practical to use VAT styled cut-scenes either. VATs worked because the accuracy was decided by a % change to hit rather then a collision based hit like skyrim uses.

Because with a VATS system the game knew if you hit the target before your shot was even fired, based on percentage calculations. The only way we would get something similar here is if it was a replay camera showing the shot after it already made contact with the model, because the game doesn't know if the arrow you are about to fire will hit your target or not*. Whether or not the game knows that a projectile will hit a target before it actually makes contact is the biggest issue with having a finishing move tied to a ranged attack before the attack is even fired.

* One caveat, there are times when a projective (be it arrow or spell) would normally hit a target, but at the last second the target slides 5 feet in a random direction to magically dodge said projectile. It could be argued that the game may know that a projectile will hit an enemy as shortly before making contact, giving enough time to trigger a finishing move cut scene.

The second issue would be in making sure that the game still uses hit locations, since right now there is no difference in damage based on a head shot or a leg shot. Using a fatality camera on a shot to the leg would be pretty lame.

I'm glad I'm not forced into sloppy, bad camera angled, cut scene finishing moves when I'm in combat. (as an archer)

the little bit I leveled up 1 handed, I was lolling, the getting mad. Slicing a mobs throat with the wrong edge of a dagger...Having the camera go wonky and not even seeing the forced animations. Disgusting. I would be ashamed of them to be honest.

Because with a VATS system the game knew if you hit the target before your killing blow was even swung, based on percentage calculations. The only way we would get something similar here is if it was a replay camera showing the killing swing after it already made contact with the model, because the game doesn't know if the killing blow you are about to strike with will kill your target or not. blah blah blah

As you see total B.S. A killing event is a killing event. The game knows a killing event at the time of kill not somehow prescient before the actual kill, it doesn't matter if it is collision based or not. The game still needs to check against how much damage character has left to what the attack (a random value until completed) will achieve. This in no way impacts a programmer's ability to subroutine a video sequence for a finishing move, it only requires a different subroutine. Timing is not an issue, even for melee you get a cut-scene, not a seamless action, this is because AFTER a death determination it switches to a cut scene. Same can occur for a collision based event.

Now if finishing moves were seamless actions that occurred as part of combat, things would be a bit more difficult. Still the coding would be possible and hardly herculean in nature.

What more are you suppose to do with magic or a bow? You hit them with the arrow/spell... and? you're going to do what? it's not practical to give finisher moves to bows or magic, given that both can miss at the final second it is also not practical to use VAT styled cut-scenes either. VATs worked because the accuracy was decided by a % change to hit rather then a collision based hit like skyrim uses.

Not more difficult. Seriously all that needs to be done is:

1. can your arrow hit its target?
2. is maximum damage enough to kill the enemy?
3. randomize finisher -> execute video.

This has nothing to do with the fact if a randomizer would allow you to actually hit the target so you can execute the finisher before the actual arrow leaves the bow. If the enemy is in your cross hair and you have line of sight when you release the button the game has enough info to trigger an event.

Oh, please! Of course it's practical, especially for magic! Fallout 3 energy weapons had the same type of effects, especially with the EVE mod. The exact same effects or ones very similar could be used for magic. It's just another form of energy, after all, just as Farengar states in the game.

Maybe they'll add it with DLC... they sure should, at least.

I think you missed my point. I totally agree with you that it is not difficult. Heck I don't even care if the game had cut scenes. I just get annoyed that so many people seem to think it would be this huge amazing feat of intellectual jujitsu programming or some "Gordian Knot" thing to unravel. They are just spewing nonsense.

You wouldn't be forced into odd camera angles IN combat... but at the END of combat.

Finisher moves are ONLY on the last enemy.

There is beheading which is another type of finisher... but like the mage finishers (which actually never do it), it doesn't do the whole slo-mo special camera work mid combat like it does when it's the last enemy.

Yeah I mean its not like it never been done before, wait what?

Fallout 3 already has ranged finishers. Not having them in Skyrim is illogical.

As for magic, who wouldnt want to see a small vid of an enemy turning in to a pile of dust from getting roasted alive with a dual cast fireball, or exploding in to a fine dust cloud from chain lightning or freezing and shattering from frost storm.