Lars Andersen's technique is awesome to watch but I'm not sure it would actually make for fun gameplay; at some point it wouldn't be any different form having a gun with your handful of arrows being a limited clip of bullets.

Yep, i think that games like Skyrim don't allow that for balancing purposes. Either you nerf the damage and make it fast, or make it slow and powerful (actually, Todd Hodward himself said that they purposely made archery slower and more powerful than Oblivion).

Lars Andersen's technique is awesome to watch but I'm not sure it would actually make for fun gameplay; at some point it wouldn't be any different form having a gun with your handful of arrows being a limited clip of bullets.

What about running with that? "Bullet time" with a very limited 'clip' is something we've got a lot of examples of, and the aesthetic (setting, sound, etc.) and feel (range, physics, etc.) could be very different. Honestly, current archery models in games are only distinguishable from single-action manual loading rifles in those very ways (aesthetics and physics). So...maybe it's not so bad? :)

There are a good number of fantastic/thematic tricks characters perform with arrows that really don't work with bullets, like pinning enemies to walls, quickly building a step ladder the character can use to climb, and other actions that depend on the fact that an arrow has a meaningful length dimension to it. Think Green Arrow and Hawkeye. Actually, both of those characters also used fancy hi-tech arrows, which would explode into nets or smoke or other things. Arrows are also retrievable and nigh silent...when hitting fleshy targets anyway.

Man, there's a lot you can do here, haha. :)

The Thief series, Elder Scrolls series, Pirates, Vikings & Knights 1&2, Savage 1&2 are some good archery FP games.. These are practically the only games that have decent archery physics in them

Then I guess it's my job to mention Dark Messiah Might and Magic, which pretty much trumps every other archery FPS with the exception of Mount and Blade: Warband.

Deathmatch was a blast:

As much as I loved Thief, Dark Messiah did a better job than most in getting across just what it was like to be pierced by a high-speed shaft of wood. THUNK...

Good examples. I didn't think to mention examples (derp) ...I'll add Chivarly and War of the Roses to the mix; the latter in particular has an interesting presentation on ranged combat (while the other one has reasonable archery and far better melee, imho).

Dark Messiah Might and Magic, which pretty much trumps every other archery FPS

Maybe it's just cause I haven't played the games and I'm only basing this on watching those videos - but that doesn't appear significantly different from how, say Skyrim did archery. Could you explain what is the principal differences between the games you posted and say something like Skyrim? I'm honestly interested in other approaches to archery. Best idea would be to try those games I suppose, when I get a chance.

I know of some semi-realistic aiming games, like America's Army that put a lot of emphasis on things like controlling your breathing when shooting. I don't know how well that goes over with the general gaming crowd, but I wonder if it can be applied to an archery game too.

Dark Messiah Might and Magic, which pretty much trumps every other archery FPS

Maybe it's just cause I haven't played the games and I'm only basing this on watching those videos - but that doesn't appear significantly different from how, say Skyrim did archery. Could you explain what is the principal differences between the games you posted and say something like Skyrim? I'm honestly interested in other approaches to archery. Best idea would be to try those games I suppose, when I get a chance.

I know of some semi-realistic aiming games, like America's Army that put a lot of emphasis on things like controlling your breathing when shooting. I don't know how well that goes over with the general gaming crowd, but I wonder if it can be applied to an archery game too.

When you're playing Skyrim, pull out your bow. Or any weapon for that matter. Now look down. You're a disembodied set of hands. Most of the archery FPS games I prefer have total body awareness; your arms, legs, and body are rendered fully in first person, giving you a much more immediate sense of awareness. Dark Messiah and Mount and Blade both do this (Thief was the innovator here).

Secondly. In Skyrim, arrow/body physics are awful. If a mage is running full-bore at you, you can put an arrow in his eye and he'll just keep coming. He'll just wail on you at full strength until his health drops to zero, when he drops dead as an arrow porcupine. I'm sorry; I don't care if you're a demigod, but if you get an arrow in the eye, or face, or neck, you are going down, dead or not. Dark Messiah and Mount and Blade both do damage in relation to body zones, and headshots actually mean something.

Thirdly. the physics of the flight and the landing of the arrow is more effective in Dark Messiah and Mount and Blade; the actual impact is rendered with a (admittedly sickening) *thunk* as the body recoils from the wound. If you shoot someone in the arm, that will affect the sword swing they were winding back.

Fourthly. Mount and Blade does breathing control when loosing arrows, and the longer you hold it nocked, the less accurate you are due to the strain. Additionally, you take a visible penalty for movement or on horseback, as your aim becomes much harder to control. I don't recall breathing control in Dark Messiah; it doesn't look like it. Thief had terrific breathing control, when you would time your shot to just after your initial intake of breath, or your aim began to swim.

TL;DR: body awareness, body zone physics, real damage modeling, more tangible impacts, and breathing control make for a better archery game. As it has NONE of these things, Skyrim is actually not very good at all as an archery FPS.

Now, that's not to say Skyrim ain't fun. It is, and I'm immersed in it as well. But if what you're looking for is combat physics, Bethesda has never been on the leading edge.

I think it would be cool to have arrows more varied, flaming arrows, poison arrows, nets(posted above), magical properties, etc as some form of upgrade/enhancement by a quiver full (crafted, enchanted, harvested from monsters that use them, etc). I've never seen it in a 3d game and it could be meaningful. Maybe you open with a fire arrow that does fire damage over time.

Darkfall actually had this now that I think about it, but they had transmuted bows(enhancement) that did different types of damage with regular arrows, ice, fire, earth, water, so for farming you'd grab one the monsters were weakest to(kill fire elementals with an ice bow for max dmg).

I think it would be cool to have arrows more varied, flaming arrows, poison arrows, nets(posted above), magical properties, etc as some form of upgrade/enhancement by a quiver full (crafted, enchanted, harvested from monsters that use them, etc). I've never seen it in a 3d game and it could be meaningful. Maybe you open with a fire arrow that does fire damage over time.

Thief had flaming arrows, rope & vine arrows (you could create your own thief highway with them), poison gas arrows, moss arrows (to muffle footsteps), water arrows (to douse torches and light sources), and noisemaker arrows (remote distraction).

If you're into FPS archery and haven't played Thief or Thief 2, you should! The series is a great part of gaming history. You can get them from GOG.com or Steam, and to patch them up:

Thief Gold: http://www.ttlg.com/forums/showthread.php?t=134733

Thief 2: http://kotaku.com/5946462/whoah-system-shock-2-and-thief-2-just-got-surprise-patches