Do You Like Skyrim's Combat

[JesterKing]

So I have fun with with the combat sometimes. But it feels barebones too. Only functional. It's hack and slash. The combat is the biggest oversight in the entire game imho.

 

Melee isn't very good at all. Click to hit. an axe feels similar to a sword which feels similar to a mace. And a warhammer feels similar to a great sword and war axe.

 

Then for ranged combat there's bows and... and... wait just bows. You could say that bows have different draw speeds but in reality who here hasn't just used their most powerful bow regardless.

 

Destruction spells play very similarly too with things like frost rune shock rune and fire rune. I actually like conjuration! :biggrin: You can summon atronachs which fight differently or undead which is not only cool for combat but for roleplaying purposes and bound weapons. All Wrapped up in one skill. Well made Bethesda.

 

I think, unfortunately, that the combat needs a big improvement. Not just click to hit. How about longbows that have better range. Short bows with a quick draw for Close Quarters combat. Cross bows with more damage but long reload and bolts that don't arc. and a fantasy bow that shoots, say, three arrows in quick succession but at reduced accuracy.

 

So my question posed to you is simple. Do you like Skyrim's combat. Let's hear it! :biggrin:

[Thoreai]

Well i said that already in another thread...i dont like it...to me without the kill moves, its basicaly oblivion paper slashing and throwing spells here and there...bethesdas gameplay is still somewhere in the 90's, thats how i feel about it.

[BeastlyBeast]

Well, I think it's pretty good. It could be more vast, but just a little more. With the vanilla killmoves, 1.5 killmoves, and the extra killmoves added through the countless killmove mods on the nexus, it adds those. We have been shown possible mounted combat, and possible crossbows. That'll add more. And, then for the people talking about combat difficulty being too easy, we got Deadly Dragons, PISE, and many others. All in all, combat is SLIGHTLY stale with vanilla skyrim, and all the mods and patches released fix that slight staleness.

 

Also, when it comes to people saying it looks like you're not hitting people, and it's just hack and slash; turn to third person, and use a spell or two. I have a feeling that the people who say the combat isn't as good as it 'should' be are the guys who play solely melee characters in first-person only. It's seems stale because you're doing the same repetitive swinging of the sword all day, and you're not shooting a fireball or healing your follower. Skyrim's combat is only vast and lively if you make it vast and lively. It's not going to make your mouth drop every time. No game's combat will.

Edited May 8, 2012 by BeastlyBeast

[JesterKing]

Well, I think it's pretty good. It could be more vast, but just a little more. With the vanilla killmoves, 1.5 killmoves, and the extra killmoves added through the countless killmove mods on the nexus, it adds those. We have been shown possible mounted combat, and possible crossbows. That'll add more. And, then for the people talking about combat difficulty being too easy, we got Deadly Dragons, PISE, and many others. All in all, combat is SLIGHTLY stale with vanilla skyrim, and all the mods and patches released fix that slight staleness.

 

Also, when it comes to people saying it looks like you're not hitting people, and it's just hack and slash; turn to third person, and use a spell or two. I have a feeling that the people who say the combat isn't as good as it 'should' be are the guys who play solely melee characters in first-person only. It's seems stale because you're doing the same repetitive swinging of the sword all day, and you're not shooting a fireball or healing your follower. Skyrim's combat is only vast and lively if you make it vast and lively. It's not going to make your mouth drop every time. No game's combat will.

 

 

Ya know I was going to mention the fact that "you make it vast and lively" is a fault of Bethesda. The player has to have to try something different every once in a while. That can alleviate the mundane somewhat. Switching between different play styles might be some thing worth trying. I sometimes play a spell sword, or a dual wielder. But don't switch it up on the same character because I'm roleplaying. I almost never switch weapons mid battle. Might be worth a try. Hmm...

[Grimoa]

I'm still a little taken aback at how much I enjoy the killmoves. Even more so with the 1.5 patch.

 

Sure, the way the weapons work get repetitiv. But fighting is not only about the direction of a sword slashing or the way the character hacks with an axe. The fun part is fighting groups of enemys.

My archer will hide and try to pick them off one by one untill they realise something is amiss. Then send in Lydia. (Thanks AFT for teaching her patience!)

My mage has the most fun casting frenzy on the bandit leader and sitting back enjoying the show.

The fighter will charge in no matter what and needs to manouver so he won't get circled. Attracting all those draugr at once, then trying to get them stuck in a doorway so I can fight them one by one is what I enjoy with this character. Oh right, and the killmoves. Did I mention those? I love watching his green muscular shoulders when... Ah wait, that's the wrong thread.

[BeastlyBeast]

Ya know I was going to mention the fact that "you make it vast and lively" is a fault of Bethesda. The player has to have to try something different every once in a while. That can alleviate the mundane somewhat. Switching between different play styles might be some thing worth trying. I sometimes play a spell sword, or a dual wielder. But don't switch it up on the same character because I'm roleplaying. I almost never switch weapons mid battle. Might be worth a try. Hmm...

Go for it! My first char was a spellsword. Scimitar in one hand, destruction spell in the other. My next char was a barbarian Orc. Batleaxe only. My third character was a Ranger of some sorts. He was experienced with sneaking and dual daggers, but he had a bow with him too. Great for hunting. You have to mix it up a bit, or the combat will get repetitive. And, my proof that that statement is true is: I'm still not bored, and I've beaten the Thieves Guild questline, the Main questine, the war questline twice, and the DB questine. I probably WOULD'VE been bored had I done ALL that with solely one character doing only one thing. But, I mixed it up, and tried pretty much every character type available except for mage, sword-and-shield, Archer, Unarmed and probably many others. Also, I've only tried the game on the first three difficulty levels. I still got expert and master to go. Versatility is what keeps me going, and it's sure to be what keeps everyone else going. Don't fight the urge to change it up, or you'll wind up being one of those guys who thinks every game that lets you 'be who you want' is dull. :P

Edited May 8, 2012 by BeastlyBeast

[balander]

Sword and board is nice and fun most fun i had so far. Dual wielding was kinda boring for my taste and same with bows/archer character. I only tried caster once but felt so weak i just cba leveling one.

 

Overall combat could use a couple more abilities especially some that dont force you to switch from weps to spells etc. We play with like 30-40 binds on MMO's playing with 2-3 on Skyrim is kinda weird.

[Thoreai]

Well, I think it's pretty good. It could be more vast, but just a little more. With the vanilla killmoves, 1.5 killmoves, and the extra killmoves added through the countless killmove mods on the nexus, it adds those. We have been shown possible mounted combat, and possible crossbows. That'll add more. And, then for the people talking about combat difficulty being too easy, we got Deadly Dragons, PISE, and many others. All in all, combat is SLIGHTLY stale with vanilla skyrim, and all the mods and patches released fix that slight staleness.

 

Also, when it comes to people saying it looks like you're not hitting people, and it's just hack and slash; turn to third person, and use a spell or two. I have a feeling that the people who say the combat isn't as good as it 'should' be are the guys who play solely melee characters in first-person only. It's seems stale because you're doing the same repetitive swinging of the sword all day, and you're not shooting a fireball or healing your follower. Skyrim's combat is only vast and lively if you make it vast and lively. It's not going to make your mouth drop every time. No game's combat will.

I just copy/paste what i wrote in the other thread:

 

"This is because the game doesnt have any deeper combat mechanic other then hack&slash or pewpew spells....the combat lacks more interaction and use of special abilities since most of them are just stat changes and everything is only on basic level.

Most of the things you see, like block or shield charge are usually core abilties upon other fantasy games expand further, but in skyrim thats where it ends."

 

I tried out plenty of posibilities, from pure mages, assassins, to pure healers where the only person attacking was my follower, to hybrids...the thing i was talking about is simply depth.

And also as others said, if you want to rp a certain class you will eventually get bored, because the abilities representing it are all on basic lvl, in skyrim they arent expanded further.

 

Another thing is the AI...its really bad, the only thing that makes an assassin enemy different from a warrior enemy is the name...all of them just charge head-on into battle, therefore the combat isnt challenging as the classes basically dont exist for the npcs and therefore its everytime the same combat.

For example putting in a simple ability to dodge would drastically change the combat and if you think about it, the dodge is basicaly another core ability wich is present in most fantasy games, but skyrim doesnt even have that.

So this leads me back to the beginning, where i ask myself a question....is the freeform gameplay really that freeform or just created illusion where you think that being able to cast spells or fire bow at anytime makes you free, because once you start to look for depth in these classes, that illusion will crumble.

This is ofcourse just my opinion.

Edited May 8, 2012 by pavy

[Shugozen]

It's better then point and click hotbar mmo crap... The only game that trumps the combat controls of Skyrim to me is Dark Souls. if Skyrim had a passive target-lock so my power attacks don't make me run straight past some guys and miss them it would be perfect in my eyes.

[JesterKing]

Pavy, I think dodge is a good idea. It would help a lot with the repetitiveness.

 

It's settled then. The problem with combat isn't Entirely Bethesda's fault. It's mine. You all bring up perspectives I didn't have. I will take some of your ideas to heart on my next play through.

 

I think I'll mix up Sword and board, healing and conjuration. My idea is to conjure a sword, still have my shield for defense, if I get to hurt, heal in off hand, finish healing, switch to my shield in off hand , and finish them off with sword and board. maybe soul trap too. Sounds like fun. :biggrin: :thumbsup:

 

Edit-- Do you think I should add more options in the poll? Or is it not worth it since so many people already voted. This is my first poll so i'm not entirely sure I can.

Edited May 8, 2012 by JesterKing