To be honest it doesn't really bother me. As long as they don't look totally stupid I'm OK with them. I know some people are very fussy about these things but to me it just seems a bit pointless worrying about them. It doesn't really detract from the gameplay at all in my eyes. Then again I'm prepared to admit that I am probably in the minority here.
As to favourites I really don't notice them when I am playing game. I tend to spend more time looking at the scenery rather than looking at my character.
Cromulent said:To be honest it doesn't really bother me. As long as they don't look totally stupid I'm OK with them. I know some people are very fussy about these things but to me it just seems a bit pointless worrying about them. It doesn't really detract from the gameplay at all in my eyes. Then again I'm prepared to admit that I am probably in the minority here.
As to favourites I really don't notice them when I am playing game. I tend to spend more time looking at the scenery rather than looking at my character.
That is fair enough mate, I personally liked watching my Rogue go through his backstab animation in VG, it looked like he was actually putting effort into his dagger lunge, it all looked so fluid and semi-realistic which I liked a lot :)
Kilsin said:Cromulent said:To be honest it doesn't really bother me. As long as they don't look totally stupid I'm OK with them. I know some people are very fussy about these things but to me it just seems a bit pointless worrying about them. It doesn't really detract from the gameplay at all in my eyes. Then again I'm prepared to admit that I am probably in the minority here.
As to favourites I really don't notice them when I am playing game. I tend to spend more time looking at the scenery rather than looking at my character.
That is fair enough mate, I personally liked watching my Rogue go through his backstab animation in VG, it looked like he was actually putting effort into his dagger lunge, it all looked so fluid and semi-realistic which I liked a lot :)
Yeah I can understand that. I mean understand why people like them so much and I can certainly see the appeal it is just that when I am in the midst of playing the game I almost forget to even look at them. My mind is occupied with other things and I just don't notice them. I guess this is a failing on my part though rather than anything to do with the game.
One of the most important animimations for me is how a model (player, npc, mob etc.) looks as it walks/runs, I don't like when the model is just sliding while moving its legs. I like when it actually looks like the foot is planted to the ground and propelling the model forward. When the movement doesn't match up with the animation it just looks weird.
In terms of melee combat I love when the animation looks like it has an appropriate weight to whatever weapon/motion is being animated.
Rachael
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I don't need overly flashy animations. More important to me are fluid, organic animations that don't make the characters look like robots. This was one of the things that bugged me when EQ got the graphical overhaul in SoL. The textures were higher resolution but the animations really suffered.
Character animations covers a few areas for me.
1) The physical representation of the player’s avatar
2) The fluidity of the character movement
3) Special ability animations / spell effects
Physical representations – as long as the game has an over-all consistent artistic feeling, I’m pretty non-biased when it comes to the actual physical appearance of the avatar. What I really don’t like is when the character art clashes with the environmental art and the avatar feels like a two-dimensional cutout pasted onto a mural.
Character movement is a big one to me. I like to “feel” my character move. There are two aspects that influence this for me. The first is the actual in-game movement control. Most modern MMOs have a good take on this (WoW, Skyforge, Wildstar). You can move the character easily and intuitively, and the character responds in a way you would expect (I’m not advocating twitch gaming, just smooth character control). The second aspect of movement concerns the animations that go along with every-day activities: walking, running, interacting with the environment, crafting, and even general auto-attacks. Watching my avatar interact with the world is very immersive for me. If the general “stuff” of everyday activities isn’t immersive, I can lose interest pretty quickly – even if the basic core dynamics of the game are intact.
And finally, the “special effects” category: I really appreciate when a game pulls in specialized graphics for individual character classes or enemy monsters. Special attacks that have recognizable in-game graphics and/or sounds are a fantastic touch. Spells that, when cast (or even while casting), can be recognized are also a great touch. I’d even love to see spells morph as they level up (although I haven’t seen this done yet): say the level 1 fireball starts out as a golf-ball sized projectile, and as the character levels, the spell gets a tad bigger each successive level.
OMG very very important. Damn near ruins a game for me if I have to control some stiff un-appealing character thats horribly animated, specially during combat. Well... usually there is at least one race that isnt terrible. Not that it needs to be some crazy mo-capped Asian MMO (but if you can...do it!) or TOO animated like Wildstar ... but something that looks like it was animated by actual animators, not riggers who dont know a keyframe from an inbetween.
..... p.s: LFW :D
I am not going to say it is a make or break issue for me, but I think it speaks to the overall quality of the game. Animations that are based on thought and purpose are visually more appealling and increase immersion. There is a subtle cringe moment when a character doesn't seem to have the right walk/run gait to his size, it just feels off. Also, when there is a jarring break between finishing one skill and starting the next. I find this happenes a lot in WoW when my character seems to reset himself to begin casting a spell.
I found GW2 did a decent job of handling character animations especially in regards to different races. The larger avatars bound forth in long strides while the smaller ones quickly skips along to keep up. Norns (giants) and asura (halflings) wield two handed weapons differently, the larger casually tossing it in hand while the smaller needs to put all his weight into performing a spin attack. As the combat in Pantheon is going to be slowed and more deliberate, I would like to see a lot of thought put into how a character transitions between skills in combat. Making smooth transitions or even using distinct animations for different skill combos would be interesting.
Social and idle animations should ahere to the same guidelines. A diplomatic race should perform a proper bow while a more radically race puts forth minimal effort. Halflings may be more fidgety and elves more stoic.
I think animations are super important. Vanguard had some of my favorite combat animations in any MMO ever, however the running animations were kind of awkward.
What I will say is that I really enjoy when attacks feel like they have "weight" behind them. Vanguard was kind of floaty, but take a game like Dark Souls where there is a lot of physicality in the way the character(s) move and the way things respond to attacks. There's something very engaging about having those very subtle screen shakes and really good animation transitions that make it feel like an attack you used really should be causing your enemy some pain.
I'd like to point out something I really like about the casting animations in EQ1.
You stand there while the casting time drops and then right when the cast happens the animation happens.
This sells the impact of the spells.
Also I like it when mobs all die in different animations... some faceplant, some fall backwards, some crumple... would be real nice if boss mobs could have custom death animations.
Thanks for reading,
Kiz~
Character animations are quite important to me. It doesn't mean that I need super flashy combat animations like those found in Black Desert Online but that I appreciate it when the art department goes the extra mile in other areas.
So two examples came immediately to mind. The first was when I left my character on some sloped surface in Guild Wars 2 and then turned sideways. I noticed that one foot was higher than the other. Up until that point, I don't recall seeing anything other than both feet level no matter what.
The second was when I applied poison to my weapon in World of Warcraft for the first time and seeing little green droplets continously falling off from the tip of the blade. That was cool.
For me, it depends on the type of animation. I dislike running/walking animations that look unbalanced (flailing limbs, leaning way too far forward, or not leaning in to the run at all, etc), idle animations that are too rapid (like my character's constantly panting, or trying to dislodge debris from her shoulders, etc), and social animations that make my otherwise adult-ish character react like a spastic toddler. For those types, I guess I'd go with "semi-important" so I'm not wondering what's wrong with my character, lol.
As far as combat animations go, if I'm not stabbing with a two-handed axe or making a slashing motion with a bow, I'm honestly not likely to notice. /shrug If the field of view is such that playing in first person feels comfortable (which is how I spent most of the first few years of EQ), I won't see them, and if it feels appropriate to play in third person (everything I've played since then, including EQ when I've gone back to it), I play *really* zoomed out, and can't see them. (To be fair, though, that's more of a tanking thing--which I do a lot of--than for every class. I do sometimes notice combat animations on ranged characters and healers.) I'm more focused on what's going on around my character than I am my character itself, so unless it sticks out as wildly inappropriate for the action, I kind of don't care. :P For other player characters, I'm happy with being able to tell the difference between someone who's just standing there and someone who's in combat or casting. Some sort of arm waving so I don't pull while they're buffing is about all I see, lol. I guess if it's "appropriate enough" then it just slides past my mind's eye, and I only really notice it when it's wildly wrong (like arrows flying out of an immobile ranger.)
NPC animations are a different story, though, especially if there aren't UI-based tells for the NPC's attacks. If that mob is about to pummel me with a gigantic attack, I appreciate seeing it hunch its shoulders menacingly, stand up a bit taller, kind of loom over me more, just generally seem extra-threatening so I can react with an appropriate counter. If the NPC doesn't have a cast bar for that action, or there isn't a puddle of bad to get out of, I could do with a way of knowing it's about to happen. :)
Edit: I wanted to add that the timing of animations is more important to me than the animation itself. If an ability has no cast time but does have an associated animation, the ability's effect should happen early in the animation, and the animation should flow into whatever comes next. In other words, if I use an instant-cast ability but move during the ability's animation, please don't make my character stand there and take a huge hit to the face because the animation wasn't finished yet when I tried to move out of the way. :D
Animations are really important... for Emotes, and walking. for spells/abilities i dont care too much as long as the bards do not play thier Lutes the same way they play Flutes i am happy. but i would like to see diversity in mob animations (what i spend most of my time looking at.)
Animations are a big thing for me, so much as to say they can make or break a game for me as they can distract me if they are bad and i tend to focus on the bad ones instead of the cool ones. in some mmos i can't play races i think may be cool if they have a werid animation quirk.
Drives me insane, animation clipping too if it is notable. for example in WoW some races when casting spells will have their heads clip the entire way through the sheild on their back. it looks daft feels daft and isnt fun to play with.
I'll just re-emphasize the need for animations to be fluid. Each actions naturally needs a start point that is triggered at the initiation of combat (you tapping 'A' or a mob hitting you). But what needs to change is what happens next. Actions should not all have the same starting point. There needs to be degree of circularity to attack animations. If I swing a sword I should not always return to my starting rest point if my next action is to continue attacking.
If my first swing of my sword is a verticle slash downwards, why can't my second attack be an shallow upward slice which would let my 3rd attack be a horizontal swing.
This brings me to my next point. Reactions. I'm not concerned so much with the animations of the reactions but moreso how the reactions interrupt actions and always end up looking jerky. It's not so bad in 1-1 combat. I swing, hit, mob reacts, mob swings, hits, I react. There is just enough time between my action finishing and their action triggering my reaction that the two flow decently. Where it falls apart is when you've got 30 people attacking 1 massive NPC and because of all the incoming attacks the NPC stands there in an epileptic seizure of stuttering reaction animations all while it's own damage notifications continue to scroll past. At some point, especially for NPCs facing off against many players (or vice versa) the reaction animations should be turned off. We know we're hitting the damn thing, let it just continue it's various attack/casting animations continue unimpeded.
I enjoy good animations. As others have said already, fluid movements (and reactions to player input) are most important. I also want realistic animations: In some games you have characters running very stiff for example, that doesn't look too good!
Its also important that animations and sound effects match (for example, when your character does a big swing, the battle scream accompanying it should come in time).
Liav said:I think animations are super important. Vanguard had some of my favorite combat animations in any MMO ever, however the running animations were kind of awkward.
What I will say is that I really enjoy when attacks feel like they have "weight" behind them. Vanguard was kind of floaty, but take a game like Dark Souls where there is a lot of physicality in the way the character(s) move and the way things respond to attacks. There's something very engaging about having those very subtle screen shakes and really good animation transitions that make it feel like an attack you used really should be causing your enemy some pain.
Agreed on this. Vanguard felt like the momentum caused the players to almost slide around.
While I personally am not overly concerned with animations for my own sake, I believe this falls under "polish" which is something a great deal of people find important. Even to this day, I think more than anything else polish is the thing most people say they liked about WoW. Regardless of how inane it may have seemed below the surface, there is something about playing a game where the movements and animations are crisp, and the sounds are well synced with player actions and the environment itself. That along with client optimization will make or break a game.