User blog:Madman97/You know what really grinds my Wabbajack's? S3E6: The shortcoming in Combat

Greetings users, Madman97 here, coming to bring you yet another episode of Wabbajack Grinding! Among the most requested of rants, this is surprisingly and unsurprisingly one of them, as for some reason, like other rants that have been requested, such as Character Creation, I've never really had a problem with, and yet, some people do. Can you rant bout something you have no problem with?...Well, were gonna try. So let's dive right into the shortcomings with combat in the game.

While the issue has been brought up before by other Users, most recently Conan's Armpit, I have noticed something a little odd about the combat in the Elder Scrolls, again, mostly in Skyrim. It just seems to be the runt of the litter. I can't knock on Arena or Daggerfall because they are kind of old and are not the top of the line hardcore RPG's we know the Elder Scrolls as today, Morrowind's combat was revolutionary in terms of new gameplay, improved graphics, and all around a fantastic game with story to match, and then Oblivion, which combined magic with your regular weapon, something that I actually kind of appreciated, but like all games, it had its flaws. For one, you couldn't dual wield magic, that was to be implemented later in Skyrim. Then there was the awkward contol scheme that you sort of got used to after a while and played normally, but for first time players, it kind of threw people off. Especially those who have only played Skyrim, like myself before I picked up Oblivion.

But then there is Skyim, the game with a million good things and a million bad things. The only real problem I had for the combat before people brought the rest of it up to me was a lacking in magic based combat. I always kind of hated that there are only three main spells for you to learn in Destruction Magic, Frost, Shock, and Flame, with hardly any variations to spell except just a more powerful version. I didn't expect it to be all InFamous on us, but I already did a rant on lack of magical variation. You just fire your spells an hope it hits something and hopefully it disintigrates it. So there is one problem with the magic combat, but like I said before, they did implement dual wield, but again, this falls short because, like I said before, its the same spell over and over. It hardly looks different or feels different unless you are using spells from the most basic level or using spells on the master level. Plus there is just a lack of spells altogether. If you've kept up with my blogs, you know my stance on this one.

Now let's move on to the melee combat, how does that hold up? As always, starting out fresh and new, this seemed like a great combat system, even if some of the enemies you fought were taking some stupid pills and proved to easy later on, but in the very beginning, it was very important for you to master the basics of swordplay. Even if you were a mage, it was always a good idea to pack around an extra weapon just in case. And then....slash slash stab slash slash stab. I do admit, thie combat does get a little boring. Each attack is the same, even with a different weapon, no variation to it, and the little scenes where the enemy or you is at near death and you do a little finisher on them can be a bit wonky at some unoppurtune moments when you don't even know whats going on because the camera shifts down and you can't see, really screwing me over sometimes. Power attacks are meh. Sprinting attacks are ok, side attacks are a bit clunky, and there is not a whole lot of combo work. Again, I'm not expecting Mortal Kombat, but little shifts in gameplay such as maybe being able to choose wether or not you stab or slice or do a little flourish at the end of each fight. The main culprit for some is the melee combat. But I find myself hesitant to point out anything wrong with it beside just improving techniques you can do with the blade and extra spells are always welcome.

Bottome line, there are a lot bigger problems with the game than its combat, as you will soon see in upcoming blogs. Sure it can be wonky and get boring at times, but it could be worse. Just think, it could have been the combat system of Final Fantasy XIII. There are worse things to come. Were coming into the last few rounds here and I will pay no expense. Remember, if you want any topics put down here, feel free to say, otherwise, just read, have a laugh, and stay Mad.