Forums » General Pantheon Discussion

• Xerion

  

  • 79 posts
   

  March 6, 2021 6:50 AM PST

  Hello!  Long time lurker first time supporter!

  Around Spring of last year, we got an introduction into the updated character models for the Archai, Dark Myr and Skar.  And then around Spring of two years ago, we got an introduction into the warrior attack animations, taunt and block animations from the Cohn stream. 

  I know like many people here who are old school Everquest players, animations and graphics may not be the highest priority on the list of concerns, but I have to admit after having played a warrior in Everquest for years, the appeal of being able to block timed attacks and my sword swings looking more natural and not like I am playing whack a mole, is very appealing and as Joppa pointed out in that Cohn stream two years ago, increases the identity of the player and immersion.  

  I was wondering are there any plans this Spring to talk more about character models, character creation options (hair, body, face etc.) as well as character animations?  Watching the stream last night with the dire lord bopping the enemy though nostalgic, I hope to see more unique and updated animations as time goes on (I know pre alpha!) as well as more updates on character models and creation and I am excited to see any and all updates regarding them!

  Godspeed on your work!  Thank you!

• Counterfleche

  

  • 903 posts
   

  March 9, 2021 11:15 AM PST

  I am hoping for fluid animations that make combat look like much more than "stand and swing" attacks. Real combat is constant movement and very dynamic. That's hard to illustrate properly, but adding in feints, bobbing, and weaving into the animation any time a character is within melee range will really help make combat feel like a continuous fight and not a series of individual attacks followed by cool-downs.
  
  Of course, I'm biased because I'm a fencer, but a good animated attack could be a whole series of quick actions where the attacker pushes the defender back while the defender reacts to each action. Real sword fighting is all about second intention--the first action is meant to draw a specific response, creating an opening for the real attack.
  
  "Sand and swing" animatiion along with no real-looking blocking animations are what make most melee combat look bad. It would be hard to create realistic-looking blocking animations, but probably the best way to do it would be to take the different attack lines (google the numbered fencing parries) and have animations between main attacks (and when those miss) as animated attacks along a specific line and the defender animating a parry to that same line. This would make it look fat more realistic than two people standing next to each other taking turns to hit each other.
  
  Note that I half-watched the recent stream, but was mostly listening and glancing over at I researched bike pads so I didn't really pay attention to the current animations, so my critique above is more general and not specific to the current build of Pantheon.
• Ahdrick

  

  • 2 posts
   

  March 9, 2021 4:25 PM PST

  I agree with what your guys are saying. Animations are going to be very important for the game to feel responsive, engaging, and modern. Pantheon feeling modern is going to play a huge role in its success in bringing in new players. Consequently, animations are important for the long-term success of Pantheon. I believe the team and VR will revamp all animations that require revamping before release, but that will be a low priority for their MVP, so it most likely will take place during the actual alpha or even beta since they have much more high priority issues like fully implementing class mechanics. 

• Sunglare

  

  • 90 posts
   

  March 9, 2021 5:45 PM PST

   

  Hoping for better female character models or at least some decent chatacter customiztions but i'm not expecting Pantheon to have extensive customization options. That's why they need to look good from the get go. 

• krzeszowski

  

  • 15 posts
   

  March 10, 2021 1:44 AM PST

  Xerion said:

  Hello!  Long time lurker first time supporter!

  Around Spring of last year, we got an introduction into the updated character models for the Archai, Dark Myr and Skar.  And then around Spring of two years ago, we got an introduction into the warrior attack animations, taunt and block animations from the Cohn stream. 

  I know like many people here who are old school Everquest players, animations and graphics may not be the highest priority on the list of concerns, but I have to admit after having played a warrior in Everquest for years, the appeal of being able to block timed attacks and my sword swings looking more natural and not like I am playing whack a mole, is very appealing and as Joppa pointed out in that Cohn stream two years ago, increases the identity of the player and immersion.  

  I was wondering are there any plans this Spring to talk more about character models, character creation options (hair, body, face etc.) as well as character animations?  Watching the stream last night with the dire lord bopping the enemy though nostalgic, I hope to see more unique and updated animations as time goes on (I know pre alpha!) as well as more updates on character models and creation and I am excited to see any and all updates regarding them!

  Godspeed on your work!  Thank you!

  Great suggestion a stream about the character visuals and animations would be awesome. I totally agree that animations and character models are important since character progression is one of the key focus of RPGs. I would even argue that it's more important then the visuals of the environments.

  I for instance would love to see some work done with the dwarf models from what I have seen in the streams their legs are way to skinny same goes with their arms (that are not only to skinny but also to short).

• Ezrael

  

  • 249 posts
   

  March 10, 2021 2:32 AM PST

  Vanguard Saga of Heroes had this a little.

   

  When you or the NPC dodged or parried an attack it would sometimes animate for it. It looked decent.

• Naliandrah

  

  • 13 posts
   

  March 15, 2021 6:18 AM PDT

  Hmm personally I find animations quite important, more so than character models to be honest, for proper immersion. Especially for an MMO where people invest a lot of time and energy in, often sticking with one particular MMO for years and years, immersion is paramount, and character models and animations are an important part of that.

  As for showing it off, it might be that VR doesn't have the personnel to achieve their end goals in that department just yet, but yes overall I'd love a dedicated stream on that. If not to show tangible progress, at least one that highlights their vision on the subject and where they want to end up approacing release.