You are not alone! I've longed for this mechanic to be functional as I've hated the idea that the "enemy" feels forced to continue combat for their life. I've often just run away to allow their surrender to be functional. Thank you for this video and for sharing your thoughts on it.
I wonder if it's mostly a feature of melee combat? Most players are archers, and in my hundreds of hours of Skyrim, I don't think I hardly ever swung a weapon, I was mostly hurling fireballs/lightning at range. Feels like this is something that would have bothered me, but went unnoticed. When lobbing projectiles, I can see how this interaction would just seem like the enemy was knocked over/injured. That's my theory anyway, but I haven't played it in years. Fascinating video though, very funny and thought provoking.
Great video! You brought up some interesting points, and I really enjoy your perspectives. On the topic of immersion-which I agree is a deeply personal experience-I’ve recently become obsessed with STALKER Anomaly. After feeling let down by the early release STALKER 2, I dove headfirst into the wild world of STALKER Anomaly modding. The wide variety of mods available lets players fully customize their experience. Some of the situations I’ve encountered while playing a heavily modded version have truly reinforced the idea that, for me, immersion often comes from those seemingly random moments where something interesting happens organically that the universe throws at me that was not scripted.
I play video games to give me problems that I can solve by hitting them - so much simpler than the problems I encounter in the physical world. There are several characters you are forced into combat with that I would have loved to be able to accept surrender from. I also remember my first experience with the surrender mechanic. I was very impressed with the idea that I could resolve a battle without murder (even if I did go on to complete the dark brotherhood quest). I even tried to walk away from the combatant. Obviously that didn't last. Empathy is a trait we should be encouraging in our media, not betraying. I honestly don't think it was too much to ask for, if the mods are anything to go by. I'm glad we are not alone in thinking so... I believe even more of us than you think.
Honestly, I think I reacted very similarly to you did when this first happened to me. When a bandit first tried to surrender to me, I stopped attacking them and thought, okay, they'll go away so I can finish my quest. ... And then they attacked me again (obv). So after that I just figured, eh, it's a bug/was never implemented. 🤷♀ And like, there's the chest in Dawnstar that has the Khajiit Caravan shop in it. It's been in the same location since the game came out, AFAIK. All they need to do to fix it is move it further under the map. Or under the mountain, if they couldn't go "down" for some reason. Or basically move it anywhere that you couldn't reach it. But they haven't. (The unofficial Skyrim patch does fix it, so not only is it possible, they could just _use_ that fix.) -- Anyway! That babbling was just to say, I don't think the idea of "they didn't fix it (the surender mechanic)" means it isn't a bug ^^
That's an interesting point. I was a bit baffled by it when I first encountered it. I tried sparing them, but nothing worked. It feels like an unfinished mechanic maybe for ending accidental fights with friendly npcs. (and it might have been too intertwined with other mechanics to safely and easily remove it in later patches) Because I see no benefit in letting the initially hostile mobs go. I want their loot! Or maybe it's a part of the power fantasy the game provides. (the enemies who thought they could kill you now beg for mercy) Or to add some variety into the fights. Or to provide the player the opportunity to deal an epic finishing blow. Who knows!
A tiny handful of quests use this mechanic as a part of the scripting, but I've managed to break every single one that I've encountered, in at least one run. Including vanilla console runs, no less.
You are not alone! I've longed for this mechanic to be functional as I've hated the idea that the "enemy" feels forced to continue combat for their life. I've often just run away to allow their surrender to be functional.
Thank you for this video and for sharing your thoughts on it.
I wonder if it's mostly a feature of melee combat? Most players are archers, and in my hundreds of hours of Skyrim, I don't think I hardly ever swung a weapon, I was mostly hurling fireballs/lightning at range. Feels like this is something that would have bothered me, but went unnoticed.
When lobbing projectiles, I can see how this interaction would just seem like the enemy was knocked over/injured.
That's my theory anyway, but I haven't played it in years. Fascinating video though, very funny and thought provoking.
Great video! You brought up some interesting points, and I really enjoy your perspectives. On the topic of immersion-which I agree is a deeply personal experience-I’ve recently become obsessed with STALKER Anomaly. After feeling let down by the early release STALKER 2, I dove headfirst into the wild world of STALKER Anomaly modding. The wide variety of mods available lets players fully customize their experience. Some of the situations I’ve encountered while playing a heavily modded version have truly reinforced the idea that, for me, immersion often comes from those seemingly random moments where something interesting happens organically that the universe throws at me that was not scripted.
I play video games to give me problems that I can solve by hitting them - so much simpler than the problems I encounter in the physical world.
There are several characters you are forced into combat with that I would have loved to be able to accept surrender from. I also remember my first experience with the surrender mechanic. I was very impressed with the idea that I could resolve a battle without murder (even if I did go on to complete the dark brotherhood quest). I even tried to walk away from the combatant. Obviously that didn't last. Empathy is a trait we should be encouraging in our media, not betraying. I honestly don't think it was too much to ask for, if the mods are anything to go by.
I'm glad we are not alone in thinking so... I believe even more of us than you think.
Honestly, I think I reacted very similarly to you did when this first happened to me. When a bandit first tried to surrender to me, I stopped attacking them and thought, okay, they'll go away so I can finish my quest. ... And then they attacked me again (obv). So after that I just figured, eh, it's a bug/was never implemented. 🤷♀
And like, there's the chest in Dawnstar that has the Khajiit Caravan shop in it. It's been in the same location since the game came out, AFAIK. All they need to do to fix it is move it further under the map. Or under the mountain, if they couldn't go "down" for some reason. Or basically move it anywhere that you couldn't reach it. But they haven't. (The unofficial Skyrim patch does fix it, so not only is it possible, they could just _use_ that fix.) -- Anyway! That babbling was just to say, I don't think the idea of "they didn't fix it (the surender mechanic)" means it isn't a bug ^^
That's an interesting point. I was a bit baffled by it when I first encountered it. I tried sparing them, but nothing worked.
It feels like an unfinished mechanic maybe for ending accidental fights with friendly npcs. (and it might have been too intertwined with other mechanics to safely and easily remove it in later patches)
Because I see no benefit in letting the initially hostile mobs go. I want their loot!
Or maybe it's a part of the power fantasy the game provides. (the enemies who thought they could kill you now beg for mercy)
Or to add some variety into the fights.
Or to provide the player the opportunity to deal an epic finishing blow.
Who knows!
A tiny handful of quests use this mechanic as a part of the scripting, but I've managed to break every single one that I've encountered, in at least one run. Including vanilla console runs, no less.