you do know this is veru subjective? I for example like Skyrims combat system, so the probelm here is maybe yours?

Okay but how do you suppose we improve combat systems?

Shock/Horror! I actually enjoyed Witcher 3's combat.

I guess maybe, just maybe, such things are subjective points of view.

Yeah i agree it may not have overall been THAT bad, the dismemberment animations were nice, but i just think it stood out compared to the rest of the game, which is brilliant

I think the key lies in animations. The more animations, the better

Are animations *really* that important? I've played games that don't have combat animations at all, like the Bard's Tale series, Dragon Wars, and Wasteland, and the games play really well despite the lack of combat animations.

If anything, the problem with animations is that they slow things down.

Sounds like a troll comment. Unless one's the most superficial kind of gamer, animations are interesting for about an hour or so. Underlying gameplay mechanics are much more important.

No. But that is now what the vast majority of games are focused on. There was a wider variety in the mainstream in the "olden days", that was around the time when the hardware started to allow more than just shooting pixels. We have now mostly 'regressed' (in the mainstream, indies have been more flexible) to those 1980 era game designs when all you do is kill and explode pixels. Back then the hardware limited the potential of the medium. These days we don't have that excuse, but if i buy a brand new game title, chances are it will force me to watch incredibly detailed graphical depictions of violence of death (properly physics modeled blood spatters or bullet wounds etc). Very 2D thinking, very limited, very boring (i find).

I love FO3, but not for it's combat. I love Morrowind and Oblivion, but not for their combat. I love X-com (but not the new versions so much) and Civ, but not for their combat (although the tactical battles in X-com ARE awesome). I love King of Dragon Pass and Minecraft, but not for their combat. I love International Karate.....ok that one was for it's combat!

However combat in games IS often boring, as ultimately it is an easy task to put in front of a player and say 'ok press that button now and you WIN!' then move on to the next instance. It's a 'lazy' way to engage a player.

There is so much more to gaming than combat, and the games that explore that i find far more engaging and long-lasting.

Having said all that i do enjoy and play games that have combat in them (obviously going on the few i mention above), and you know what? I prefer the combat system in Morrowind vs Oblivion, and the reason is that as a CRPG series, the STATS are what matters, NOT the twitch combat, which is why i find it easier to enjoy the combat in Morrowind over Oblivion because it follows the internal logic of a stat based crpg rather than how i wave my mouse around.

So a games combat system should enhance that games design process and not subvert it. There are lots of shades of grey around the topic, but i gave a tongue-in-cheek reply as i frankly find it depressing that 90% of the games industry has obsessed itself around combat and graphical depictions of that one tiny slice of what a gaming experience can be. It's very much 'lowest common denominator' stuff.

I hope that clarifies what i was getting at :)

P.S. i don't accept 'friend' requests, not because i don't like people, i just am not interested in online stuff like that. Sure let's chat like we are on forums but i don't do the internet friend thing. I'm a grumpy growing older guy ;)

I would reverse the direction of your argument. It is that stats mattering that makes the game an RPG, not the other way around.

(In fact, one could argue that Morrowind is an RPG but Oblivion is not. However, Morrowind still has some collision dependent mechanics, like when determining whether a ranged spell works, or whether you land on a ledge that you are jumping to.)

By the way, there is one mechanic from an obscure Nintendo DS Fighting Fantasy game that would have made Morrowind much better; in FFDS, if you attack an enemy and the RNG (and stats) decide that your attack does not hit, the enemy will show a blocking animation. If Morrowind did that, it would be a lot more clear what's actually going on.

(Of course, Morrowind still has a lot more or everything, including bugs, though FFDS isn't exactly bug-free.)

Still, it maybe not completely on target to view the world to such a degree but the whole thinking about how you can determine something about someone from the environment he creates or moves in does hold some merit

anyways, i shall not be known as the one that derails discussions so....

Combat systems and boring... mwa ... personally i enjoy systems such as nier automata or kingdoms of amalur, Skyrim was more or less pretty oke too though i noticed myself changing into a ranged environment user pretty soon. Melee combat is a messy bussiness but i guess that it is like this in real life too, outside the construct of a ring perhaps?

I do enjoy the more difficult fighting games such as Nioh or Mortal Shell as can i enjoy a game such as Death or Alive to some degree. Most of the times the harder difficulty levels are pretty much off putting.. or boss fights with seemingly impossible opponents

In the end though nothing will beat fun mechanics and a very decent story such as mass effect which holds enough activity and variation to keep me entertained without ever, past some ancient guardian bosses, gving me the feeling this is a bit redundant what i'm doing....

and yea, i'm more of an archer type then the berserker, i guess that defines my taste too

What is your type if i might ask?

DO you feel more aquinted with the shaolin monk or the knight? super commando?

p.s.

Skyrim, hard difficulty

i will never forget that one time i was roaming the perimeter of some large ruin, my eye caught by some unknown herb and suddenly greeted with a loud roar from the back. Jumped on a rock while pivotting and grabbing an axe, axidently clicked on the strike button which turned out quite allright since i smashed the unprotected skull from the first bastard approaching , then while struggling to regain control of all the buttons i managed to decapitate the second madmen too!

after a little breather from the side of my eye i noticed another one come rushing in at high speed, i remember i had magic too and launched a fireball at this poor person which he managed to block with a mgic shield spell!! after which the bastard showered me in flames of his own, again in panic managed to miss three times with an axe strike from close by , almost fumbled the healthpotion and near death i suddenly triggered my dragon breath

OOOOOSH

This was enough to whittle that crazy mage to the ground so he finally would lay still and present his head in a orderly manner

Really stuff for DnD stories .... so i'll give Skyrim the benefit of the doubt as you might understand

OH FFS Play Chronicles of Riddick games

The most fun i ever had with any combat system was playing a vanguard Shepard in Mass Effect 2 on highest difficulty.
Fast paced high risk, high reward combat.
I also think despite the many, many, many flaws that Mass Effect Andromeda has, the combat is the most fleshed out in the entire franchise. Rest of the game sucks big time though.
I agree that Witcher 3 combat is a bit clunky at times. Lock on a target makes it really clunky and unintuitive so i never used it much. Rest of the game is simply a Masterpiece.
Skyrim has one of the worst combat systems i have ever seen. You can salvage that somewhat with mods, but still.
Not that i ever would play any crap Bethesda spits out in its vanilla state.

Agreed. I started a new playthrough of the first Bloodrayne this morning, and I think it's still one of the most gloriously fun action games I've played. Still, the animation is stiff and crude all around.

Not a troll comment. Dark Souls has very well made animations and thanks to that the combat systme is attractive

Combat system is boring only when the player is too lazy to learn it lol. Once mastered, anything can be enjoyed but some games do have a steep learning curve that not everyone is mentally strong enough to cope with.