Why is the combat in the TES games so bad?

[AntiChri5]

Clearly, somebody never played Morrowind. You want terrible combat take one look at that flawed masterpiece. Then run away screaming.

Or play Mass Effect 1. Goddamn that game is a mess.

Then you will really know what terrible combat is like.

Skyrim combat is alright. It has it's positives and it has it's negatives.

Melee combat can be floaty and impactless, depending on your weapon and combat style. It's most noticeable with two handed weapons and least with one weapon and a shield.

The most important thing in Skyrim is freedom and options. The problem with that is the more options you provide the less time and development each will get. So Skyrim melee combat isn't going to match Dark Souls' the stealth isn't going to match Thief or Splinter Cell, the magic system isn't going to match Magicka, the followers aren't going to match BioWare companions, the plot isn't going to match Obsidian ect ect.

TES games can't beat purists in any one area, for obvious reasons.

Where it shines is in throwing all those mechanics together in a big blender and seeing what happens. It can lead to a great deal of fun.

 

[Lazy Kitty]

I don't know what you're talking about. All the post Morrowind TES games have awesome combat.

 

[DementedSheep]

The TES games appeal is more relaxation, exploration and modding. The combat is kind of a side thing though it did put me off Morrowind. Skyrims combat isn't that bad...um I think. I barely played vanilla combat and haven't played skyrim in a while.

 

[MHR]

Skyrim's combat is pretty good. It's just shy of high-quality First Person melee combat like Chivalry; medieval warfare and Pirates Vikings and Knights 2. At least with a shield and 1 hander, people above me are saying 2-handed weapons look weird but I never use them.

Oblivion's combat was a little dated granted. The ranged combat was friggin awful. The bowstrings would have to be made of sock fabric to shoot arrows that moved that slow and you can't do anything with spell projectiles that move at the speed of smell. The melee was relatively solid though. It wasn't amazing, but certainly functional in all aspects.

 

[Dandark]

I can enjoy the combat well enough but the main aspect of Elder scrolls that I enjoy comes from other things people have mentioned such as character building, roleplaying, exploring etc...

However I will say that as I play through it now I am currently enjoying the combat greatly as a pure mage/spellthief thanks to mods that add a lot of spells(apocalypse spell package) and one that lets spells sneak attack. I also have mods that change the numbers in magic a lot but it's mostly the same with extra spells.

Taking out a bandit camp by making them all kill each other is so satisfying as is fighting a dragon with triple it's normal stats so that it actually a difficult and engaging fight. Blocking what would be fatal breath attacks with wards or avoiding it with teleportation spells and the fade shout while retaliating by calling down meteors and lightning down upon the dragon. All while my buffs apply automatically, my skin turns to crystal when im hit with a breath attack and iron if he hits me with a physical attack, a regrowth spell that rapidly increases health regen is cast if im below 50% health for more than 5 seconds and have over 25% of my magicka and shields capable of blocking a claw attack but that are disintegrated instantly upon contact with a breath attack apply every 30 seconds.

What im saying is that the game isn't focused on it's combat but mods make it a lot better anyway.

 

[Smooth Operator]

Two words my friend - Gamebyro engine.
That things was made in 1997 and it's only goal was to render wast landscapes and dynamically load resources on really really underpowered hardware, but that part they got down real good.
What they never intended was inch perfect hit-box combat which is why any attempt at that looks real damn wonky, even with Skyrim and their claims of rebuilding the engine combat is so awkward games from 15 years ago have it beat.

That is also why I never played TES for combat, wast landscapes is what they do like no other games and that is what I sign up for.

 

[Jusey1]

I honestly hated Morrowind combat system due to the dice/luck system... Daggerfall and Arena was good enough that it wasn't a problem...

I do love the basic combat systems in both Oblivion and Skyrim though... Skyrim did better with more added stuff, obviously.

 

[beastro]

1: It's way down on the list of priorities in the game, exploration and shit comes first. Just see how bland the gear list is for the game.

2: It was a combat system developed for PC, but the series has been ported from console since Morrowind. I tried playing Oblivion for PS3 at my cousins when I visited for the month and only beat the vanilla game because it was the only game he had that interested me, the rest were FPS'... on console.... *shudders*.

 

[BathorysGraveland2]

My guess would be because The Elder Scrolls, like it or not, is more of a casual RPG so the mechanics have to be simple. If Skyrim had the combat system of, say, Mount & Blade: Warband, it might not be as popular as it is due to the skill level required to actually use it (or everyone would just use magic instead). As it is, the melee combat is rather mindless hack and slash, though certain mods do a good job of trying to address that, the core mechanic will remain the same. Personally, I'd kill for the combat of Gothic II or The Witcher or even Mount & Blade in Skyrim. Any melee system with some slight complexities would be more enjoying than the rather boring shell Elder Scrolls melee combat has been up til now.

And that's coming from someone who enjoyed Skyrim rather immensely.

 

[laggyteabag]

I wouldn't really call it "bad", its just anywhere in the spectrum of "functional" to "overly average". There are a lot of things that I could pick out of The Elder Scrolls and call them "bad" like the AI, but the combat isn't really one of them. Sure, it could be improved a hell of a lot, but compared to the fighting in games like Minecraft, the combat isn't actually all that bad.

 

[Duffeknol]

I think the main problem is how it looks and feels. Parrying, blocking and attacking all work fine from a gameplay perspective... it just looks and feels like shit. Even Skyrim's animations are wooden at best, and every weapon-hit feels completely devoid of impact. Add to that the lame ragdolls (seriously, any game still using ragdolls needs to get with the Europhoria times) and you got yourself some pretty dull freaking combat. You just swing your ghost sword at a thing, watch it get in the vicinity of your target, and after a couple of times your foe ragdolls out and falls over. Anyone else tired?

 

[Qvar]

It's just shy of high-quality First Person melee combat like Chivalry; medieval warfare

I was about to say this. I'm afraid I will never be able to enjoy first person melee combat again after having played Chivalry. It may be the only thing that game has, but boy it does it well.
For instance, I recently purchased Mount & Blade: Warband. The combat could be worse, and in fact it's the closest thing I've played, yet compared to Chivalry I still found it very lacking, I maybe I enjoyed the game a bit less because of it (then I started using bow or lance or unblockable maces all the time).

 

[Qvar]

I kinda like the clunky feel of it, I am an amateur swordsman myself and sparring has the same feeling as Elder Scrolls combat (Oblivion and Skyrim, not the lackluster games before them). I also like the way you have to choose between a weapon or a spell in Skyrim, it adds a lot of depth that is missing in most RPG's. If you want a faster but less realistic experience go for Kingdoms of Amalur or the ever-overrated Dark Souls

How so. I saw a video not long ago of an actual expert swordsman pointing out how slow and amateur the swordmanship of Dark Souls' main character is. He admited that, while amateur, it IS realistic, tho.

 

[Mobax]

I don't feel Skyrim's combat was so bad. Morrowind is still my favorite game of the last three titles. But that had more to do with it being a deeper world. That being said, the hit or miss mechanic was not a detractor in my view. In fact I oppose the always-hit system that's be in since Oblivion, totally broke the immersion of your skills actually impacting your gameplay.

Certainly Skyrim has some issues with it's combat, but Skyrim has other issues/bugs/glitches which bother me much more then the combat. I did like the kill animations, particularly the stealth kills. So if you count that as combat that's an improvement. I do agree with the op, that some changes to the melee would be great. Reflective of the weights and tactics of maces vs swords vs axes etc. Hopefully TES VI will correct and improve many of the shortcomings of Skyrim and Oblivion.

 

[Brian Tams]

Here's the thing about Skyrim; it doesn't do one thing great (or even good); what it does do well is do a lot of things either passably or good enough. It doesn't have refined combat because its not at the core of the experience; exploration is.
Combat is not the only facet of gameplay, you know.

 

[Mikejames]

I think one of the issues is the balance of difficulty. I was having fun with Skyrim's combat changes, but after some leveling up enemies are either easy, or a powerhouse time-sink where you just take turns chipping away at each other before pausing to heal.