The new battle system revamp sounds wonderful to me don't get me wrong... but it sorta puts me on edge. What if it gets a little too strategic?, the battle system might be a little over involved... The old system made fighting something you didn't think about too hard.

But I have faith in Bethesda, and their revamps have never done me wrong. I'm probably just worrying over nothing.

I'm not sure I understand what you are worried about... Are you worried about combat becoming too complicated? Is that what you mean?

Well, I do not think it would be too complicated... I mean, I think they're trying to add variety and fun (and tiny bit more challenge) to the combat, is all.

What I'm worried is how difficult the enemies AI will be. I mean, I do not want another "Ninja Gaiden hard" combat game. Also, I'm worried about the whole combining 'short swords' with the 'long sword' skills... Besides that, I'm not too worried...

But, I do not think you should worry too much... Unless you're worried about the magic combat as well? Could you be more specific about your worries?

I love ninja gaiden!

I'm happy Bethesda is making it with RAI, which means no stupid three move monsters.

Well, I don't (love the X-Box game one)! I loved it in terms of plot and characters... But, the difficulty got to me, and even my sister got frustrated, so we traded it in and got Jak 3, instead.

I reallly doubt Oblivion will be that tough... I mean, aren't they aiming for the less hardcore consumers?

EDIT: Oh, you want hard combat? Try Ninja Gaiden for reflexes. But for thinking? Try Phantom Brave. I swear that Strategy RPG makes me dizzy with all of its numbers and calculation and stuff!

i am also a tiny bit worried about the combat but not really...
and you say they're aiming for a less hard-core audience?!? but-but what about us??

I think it´s good with diversity, all gamers don´t like slash, bang , chop they want something more subtle for a change

Yeah, it was quite hard, but that's why I liked it. I get bored of games that I can just beat over and over again with about a half of a thought.

Ninja Gaiden has quite a replay value.

Well, I rarely finish hard and/or long, long games due to short-attention span and lack of hand-eye coordination... especially RPG's (too long) and reflex-reliant games (too hard).

You are aware that Morrowind is an RPG right? Or did you forget?

To Shogun Sniper: I think they meant they dont want to leave less "Hardcore" players in the dust. You know, make it easy to pick up and play, but still make it deep and immersive. Catching on yet?

That's why she didn't finish the main quest

GASP!! Heritic!! You DARE speak in these holy forums with out have compleated the MAIN QUEST! j/k Mergirl, I was just messing with you. You really should though, its awsome. But you will never know huh?

Imagen what Morrowind would be like with the Oblivian battle system though (Gotta get on topic)...


Stargelman: yes, you better get back on track. Else... *click*

I just was thinking about it for awhile, ever since daggerfall Bethesda has made things just the way I like it, I trust them in the new battle system revamp (I was sick of the monotony of the old battle system anyways)

I'm glad it's being redone the way Bethesda so far as said it will be. At least now when you're less than a foot away and swinging a huge axe..you won't miss unless they dodge or block. Unlike Morrowind where they get lucky due to the behind-the-scenes dice roll like feature. Of course the same goes for you as well. My Imperial shall float like a buttahfly and sting like a bee!

I'm glad its being redone, this will make combat more exciting, more aniamted, more real. You'll actually have to block and swing, see your opponent's blood coat your blade after running them through.

And, if one can't handle close-range combat, theres always Bows and magic!

Bows, should be somewhat similar to morrowind, but with the new physics for the arrows.


Magic, i don't know much beyound that you can cast with weapons equiped (will use off-hand if it is free, weapon hand if not), armor will reduce magic power some (*grumble*), and such.

But, in all, i'm pleased with what i know.

Oooh! We can cast with weapons equipped?! *squeals* That's awesome!

Armor will reduce magic? Aw, poor people who often use armor (I never do, so I wouldn't know what it's like)! I can see in a way, that it's balancing in combat... but, kind of restricting, ya know?

Oh! One thing I do not like is that they combined short sword skill and long sword skill into one skill. There would be less skills! Unless they made a new magic school called Necromancy or something cool with more interesting skills, eh? (I've played the Daggerfall demo, and they had a lot more skills! Or at least, more deeper skills...)

Anyway, I'm glad that they are changing the combat system. We need it to be more involved, so I'm hoping for more intensive (and fair!) battles.

I thought necromancy was a skill in morrowind... =S I guess I was wrong..

Hmm, well I'm happy that there doing this, and now that they are revising the magic system too I might just try and make a spell sword

They are combining long and short blades?

Aw. Crap. Thats dumb...

Well, on the bright side, at least i can use any kind of sword then...

Yea, does that mean the same animations for both a long sword and a short sword? Or are the animations limited to skill set?

If there for the latter, I'd hate for them to implement a type of rapier into the game... argh...

Yeah, I don't too much like that idea either

From the new interview:

"All weapon types have their own stealth attack. If you’re a master thief, one of your skill perks is that the stealth attack ignores armor ratings in calculating damage, making your attack much more powerful."

So, long blade and short blade will have the same kind of stealth attack?

I think it'll be a classic neck slit kind of thing or maybe being impaled/stabbed in the back.

My first Oblivion character will be an assassin, I decided long ago, and now there is no doubt. Stealth attacks will be sweet.

Especially if it is a throat cutting...

Yeah, personally I thought the Morag Tong sucked, it'll be nice working for an actually EVIL assassin guild.

Hey! I liked being a 'good' assassin! Not everything has to be stereotypically evil, ya know.

Yeah, but the Morag Tong quests were also REAL boring, "Go and kill him", that's all it was made up of.... the poisoning mission wasn't even fun....

i think it will be good that the fights are more based on your own skill rather than how much time youve played it to build it up. It depends on your reactions.

Well, hopefully the quests won't be as boring, nor the fights as they promised us. Can't wait to see how the factions quests and the Arena Guild/Faction fights work! *squeals*

To Konrad: Exactly why I'm excited about that! It's actual real-time fighting based on the player's skills, not totally dependent on stat-stuff.

The arena seems promising indeed. And since they didn't put as many factions in this as in Morrowind (wich I am both happy and sad about) they can spend more time focusing on the guilds themselves and the quests making an elaborate and enjoyable experience.

I know. When I play a thief I get wrecked and I'm just thinking "I could have blocked that!" over and over again.

Rest assured my worries have been put to rest.

I strongly think that anything could be better then the old system, think about it - you just stood there, and the enemy just stood there and you traded hits, very boring and un-involved. Now you will have to evade block and decide on the fly which attack type and with what intensity to use, I like it a lot better.

i heard that since it will be: if your sword hits, it hits, sort of thing then the enemy would be moving around a lot. this leads me to wonder how they will implement you moving around.

a tap on the jump button and quick jerk on the control stick would work nicely for a small sidestep jump

Haven't posted here but I will now.

Oblivion strides for a combination. Certain dungeons are supposed to be a challenge, as in a CHALLENGE no matter how much time you put into it. Like, honestly it won't be that hard to hit your opponent, and when you do your stats will determine how well you did. The difficulty comes in tactics, and even then, tactics only work as a leveller. By this I mean if you put a lot of time into your character's skills then you won't need to know much more than when to block and when to attack. The combat system does not transform that into a player-skill based game. However, if you do know tactics in battle and can think on your feet, using the environment to your advantage, then you can go farther with a weaker character. In short, it's the best of both worlds.

I can already imagine it, dragging a bulky claymore and trying to lift it high enough to cut someones throat with it