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Shout Delay.........Why the hell did they do it?

    • 739 posts
    June 29, 2015 7:13 PM EDT

    How annoying is the damn shout delay in Skyrim...

    Shouting should have been a very instinctual part of the whole combat system. It should have been capable of use very seamlessly during melee fights to provide a much more natural and responsive experience...

    We've all been there, those moments when you're going toe to toe with a Deathlord and you're watching both health bars quickly dropping and then during the final moments.... they go with that OP double-slash attack and you realise that you aren't going to win this one...

    ...you quickly hit the shout button to pop 'Become Ethereal' but your weapon is still mid air, so naturally you can't open your stupid mouth...

    DEAD.

    For me, it's the most annoying thing ever!

    Why did we have to stop running and stop fighting and be breathalysed by the cops just to execute a damn shout in Skyrim?

    Surely you can swing your weapon and shout at the same time?! In fact, many cultures have encouraged that code of practice for years! You think Kung Fu fighters make all those stupid noises just for fun? NO! Shouting while fighting is used to intimidate and surprise an opponent in order to break their concentration...

    Now I know what you're going to say, "Shouting in Skyrim is a mystical art Mason it requires stillness and focus in order to execute properly" ......but really!? We all know it would have felt better this way...

    • 145 posts
    June 29, 2015 7:18 PM EDT

    Maybe your Dovahkiin gets a sore throat and loses his voice for a minute so he can't shout... 

    • 130 posts
    June 29, 2015 8:04 PM EDT

    He gets a  sore throat from swinging his weapon? And it only lasts for the amount of time it takes for that swing to occur?

    • 145 posts
    June 29, 2015 8:05 PM EDT

    No, I mean from shouting the first time 

    • 113 posts
    June 29, 2015 8:55 PM EDT

    Dude, this Shout Delay sometimes happens outside of combat too! I hate it. I just want to thu'um some people, and all of sudden I find myself unable to do so for a good minute and half. Despite not having shouted at all for the past twenty minutes. 

    • 168 posts
    June 29, 2015 10:54 PM EDT

    I hate it when I try to activate a shout, nothing happens, and then I can't shout or change shouts for a while until the game decides to let me. That bug's really irritating at times, I've even been killed because the shout didn't activate when I really needed it!

    It's also weird why we can't shout while falling or while swinging weapons, channeling magic, or while blocking. Maybe if I have a shield in my face then sure that makes sense, but what about when I'm blocking with weapons? Or wards?

    • 485 posts
    June 30, 2015 12:42 AM EDT

    Im fine with shouts having a cool down. I mean, lets face it some of those shouts would completely break the game without a cool down. What I dislike are how long some cool down times are. Some shouts would be so much more viable with a lower cool down 

    • 485 posts
    June 30, 2015 1:01 AM EDT

    Oh that. I usually dont mind it until my game glitches and refuses to register any shout. I've had more than a few close calls thanks to that. 

    • 149 posts
    June 30, 2015 1:01 AM EDT
    Why shout delay?

    Because gameplay balacing. (And you have to take in a breath.)


    Also, why would you need to shout while swinging a weapon in front of you? Imagine using, say, an ice form shout while slashing with your sword, only to find that your arm got in the way of the thu'um and is now encased in solid ice?
    • 145 posts
    June 30, 2015 1:03 AM EDT

    That would be unfortunate.

    • 179 posts
    June 30, 2015 1:15 AM EDT

    Well, for one example, I'd like to use Elemental Fury while in the midst of combat, rather than having to back off, use Elemental Fury, and go back in.

    • 457 posts
    June 30, 2015 3:10 AM EDT
    Happened to me this morning against a scourge... I was punching away at him and alternating stagger-locking him with Turn Undead and Unrelenting Force. I whittled away at him untouched, and then WAM! Suddenly I've got no shout and a scourge charging in mid swing. I was spamming away on my 'Z' key, but to no avail.

    If this was the only time that's happened, I'd just roll with it, but it's a fairly common occurrence... and I HATE it! xD
    • 739 posts
    June 30, 2015 10:25 AM EDT

    That's more 'Shout-Freeze' than Shout Delay

    Yeah I don't know why it happens, Marked for Death in particular seems rather prone to that bug, but it's a buggy shout in general.

    • 739 posts
    June 30, 2015 10:29 AM EDT

    Yeah, sounds like the same bug as Egbron...

    A quick fix is to go into the shouts menu and unequip the offending shout, I think it resets the cooldown or something.

    You can pre-charge shouts from behind a raised shield which is something I enjoy doing...

    • 739 posts
    June 30, 2015 10:34 AM EDT

    ^ This

    In short, it feels really clunky when they could have easily made it natural and enhanced combat pleasure...

    • 739 posts
    June 30, 2015 10:38 AM EDT

    Yep, it's just annoying...

    It's even worse when you're trying to use all three words of a shout because then it takes you an extra two seconds to realise that the shout isn't coming and your timings then gone all off...

     

    • 739 posts
    June 30, 2015 10:45 AM EDT

    Lol, I'm not saying there isn't ways of coping with it...

    I'm just saying it could have easily been better.

    Its taken me four years to complain so I don't feel strongly about it.

    Just one of my observations/gripes.

    • 739 posts
    June 30, 2015 10:58 AM EDT

    Well I think it's stupid...

    ...and so do the twins.

    • 739 posts
    June 30, 2015 11:03 AM EDT

    Ha! I can't mate, I couldn't live without become ethereal to scoot around the map...

    • 1483 posts
    June 30, 2015 11:08 AM EDT

    That's why you use one word  Fights in Skyrim are not that smooth, you can break combat at any time so this shout delay, especially for one word shouts is not a problem at all. 

    Personally, I prefer to unleash shouts before engaging in close melee, so I can rip their effects right from the start and have them recharged, if I need them again.

    • 168 posts
    June 30, 2015 2:31 PM EDT

    ...you quickly hit the shout button to pop 'Become Ethereal' but your weapon is still mid air, so naturally you can't open your stupid mouth...

    Did you realize your character shouts while he swings his weapon just like the Kung-Fu fighters do? How can he shout a sword slash and say FEIM at the same time? The character already lost his breath when he shout KHIAH to hit the opponent so where he is going to find air to shout FEIM? Frustrating, yes, but this is where videogame meets the real life.

    • 113 posts
    June 30, 2015 2:46 PM EDT

    Well.... I'm pretty sure instead of saying KHIAH, the Dragonborn can be a real Kung-Fu master, and achieve total chi but yelling FEIM instead. Right? 

    An actual word of power, and not just some grunt that sounds like a death cry. 

    • 20 posts
    June 30, 2015 4:56 PM EDT

    I can't imagine the shout delay is an intentional design choice.  It seems to me more akin to how, say, in Morrowind, you can't switch to a spell or to a different weapon if you're still swinging.  

    I mean, I don't know much about coding, but my guess would be that shouting while swinging is in the same category or weirdness as not being able to swing a weapon while jumping/falling, not being able to use a weapon or spell while swimming or riding a horse, etc.  

    • 1483 posts
    June 30, 2015 5:11 PM EDT

    I don't think it's intentional. The game just plays an animation when shouting and it can't play two animations at the same time.

  • Tim
    • 92 posts
    June 30, 2015 11:16 PM EDT

    I would guess that it is too complex. I've had my game nearly freeze from using a single word shout, I can't imagine my poor xbox trying to combine that with swinging a weapon lol.