halflingbarbarian
Scholar
@attackfighter
Although I agree that Skyrim and the engine's limitations doesn't make for a deeply tactical combat game, you are downplaying the thinking/skill required. Almost all the examples you raised are suspect, or outright wrong in the context of Master difficulty.
1) Backpedaling - You don't backpedal faster than AI forward movement, vastly slower, in fact.
2) Elemental magic/summons - For me that is tactical choice of spells/summons, and is satisfactory enough. Also, higher level mages use an assortment of spells, not just one element. Also, one tidbit in dungeon design: there are pools of oil sometimes (in many dungeons I've went through so far) that you can set aflame by sniping a lantern hanging overhead to drop in it, burning enemies, and if any of you play mages with fire magic, I think you can set it alight too (I don't know, if yes, great).
3) Dodging arrows - Isn't that realistic? To strafe and find cover or sprint unpredictably? If arrows home in on targets, I would be pretty pissed off at how stupid it'll look. Once you get 2 archers on you, let's see how well you dodge their arrows.
Generally, some exploitative methods look good on paper, but are complicated by groups of enemies (with varying roles: archer, mage, melee). Add in Master difficulty, and any mistake you make while exploiting AI is deadly. Also, with Master difficulty you are also tight on resources, which make drawn out fights unfriendly for potion chuggers, so you must think of creative manners of handling combat efficiently. For me, the skill factor is quite apparent in the sword/board playstyle as well. You need to time your bashes, interrupts, and know when to power attack.
Combat in Skyrim isn't fantastic compared to pure action games, but when you play it with a challenge using hp and damage bloat on enemies, little things become significant, and I can say the combat is vastly superior to other installments of the same engine aka Oblivion, FO3, FNV and as Black Cat put it: the satisfaction is surprising.
Although I agree that Skyrim and the engine's limitations doesn't make for a deeply tactical combat game, you are downplaying the thinking/skill required. Almost all the examples you raised are suspect, or outright wrong in the context of Master difficulty.
1) Backpedaling - You don't backpedal faster than AI forward movement, vastly slower, in fact.
2) Elemental magic/summons - For me that is tactical choice of spells/summons, and is satisfactory enough. Also, higher level mages use an assortment of spells, not just one element. Also, one tidbit in dungeon design: there are pools of oil sometimes (in many dungeons I've went through so far) that you can set aflame by sniping a lantern hanging overhead to drop in it, burning enemies, and if any of you play mages with fire magic, I think you can set it alight too (I don't know, if yes, great).
3) Dodging arrows - Isn't that realistic? To strafe and find cover or sprint unpredictably? If arrows home in on targets, I would be pretty pissed off at how stupid it'll look. Once you get 2 archers on you, let's see how well you dodge their arrows.
Generally, some exploitative methods look good on paper, but are complicated by groups of enemies (with varying roles: archer, mage, melee). Add in Master difficulty, and any mistake you make while exploiting AI is deadly. Also, with Master difficulty you are also tight on resources, which make drawn out fights unfriendly for potion chuggers, so you must think of creative manners of handling combat efficiently. For me, the skill factor is quite apparent in the sword/board playstyle as well. You need to time your bashes, interrupts, and know when to power attack.
Combat in Skyrim isn't fantastic compared to pure action games, but when you play it with a challenge using hp and damage bloat on enemies, little things become significant, and I can say the combat is vastly superior to other installments of the same engine aka Oblivion, FO3, FNV and as Black Cat put it: the satisfaction is surprising.
