I think there is a lesson to be learned from Age of Conan in relation to this issue; In AoC animations are motion captured and people really do look like they get hurt when you cut off their arms or have them disembowled.
Problem is that this cost a LOT of money and resources to create and didnt really make the game more popular, in fact people thought that it was irritating that so much effort had been used on the graphics and animations when the rest of the game was in such a poor condition and the content were so shallow.
Good animations and graphics in MMOs is the topping on the cake. Do it if you have the resources and the engine can handle it _after_ you have created a solid foundation to put the graphics into.
MMOs are different from single player games in that they are meant to be played for a much much longer time and not just to be admired graphically for a few weeks. And no matter how good or bad graphics is in a MMO then over the playtimes involved in MMOs they step mentaly into the background because you get used to them and then its the gameplay that takes over as enjoyment or annoyance factors.
"You are the hero our legends have foretold will save our tribe, therefore please go kill 10 pigs."
1. I can't like my character if it looks ugly. Example - Lotro
2. I can't like the combat if it has poor animations. Example - Lotro
3. I don't like to explore a boring looking world. Example - Darkfall
You're looking at the graphics all the time so they damn well better look good. World of Warcraft nailed it because they got better graphics outta their engine than Everquest 2 did outta theirs cause WoW has amazing art and EQ2 is bland and ugly.
Anyways do people remember Star Wars Galaxies Pre CU motion captured animations? They were pretty sweet......
Crazy thing is, is that these are mostly turn based MMO's, that have different animations for eah attack / move / magic spell. www.linkrealms.com/ <-- What good animation looks like.
A bigger question for me, is that why haven't any MMO's used rag doll physics yet? (or am I mistaken?). Mortal Online uses rag dolls and the hit boxes look clean and animations more fluid.. It also might be a game where your own death might frighten you a little..
This is something i've talked to people about for years.
The way my character is animated is immensely important to me and its a major contributing factor as to why I'm not currently playing any MMOs. If you play a game like Fable II and then go and fire up LOTRO... the difference in your character's animation/interaction with their world.... is immense. LOTRO feels like your character is a wooden doll, where Fable II makes your character move around like a fluid creature that bounds across the ground with a realistic weight and feel to their motion. The same can be said for a game like Gears of War... your characters in taht game move about like the MASSIVE tanks that they are, it Feels... perfect.
No MMO has done this. Its as though they believe that poorly animated characters are a part of the necessary key to making an MMORPG.
And I'm sick, to death, of it.
I adore the idea of an MMORPG.. I... loathe, the MMOs that have been made to-date. They're all doing it wrong.
Animations which occur often, like walking are important. Animations which do not occur often like dying are not. Bum cheeks are more important than animations when you have to look at them on your avatar from the moment you switch on the game till the moment its switched of.
I don't think we need an uber-rig for good animations. It's just a question of interest from the Devs. In EQ2 animations were updated a few times in the past years and now look very realistic (especially the running animation). This means that the Devs realized it's an important part in the game and decided to actually do something about it.
I quit Vanguard and Lotro only because of the horrible animations, nothing else. If my character is standing like a scarecrow, runs like a wooden string puppet and drops dead flat like a pancake it is preventing any imersion in the game (and seeing your character moving in 3rd view is part of the "RPG" portion of an MMORPG). So yes, Devs need to understand it's a major part of the game and it needs to be adressed (whether it's done before release or by patching like in EQ2).
"However, a lot more could be done on MMOs than is being done and, honestly, I don't believe that a lot of it would overload an average PC. Most computers can handle rag doll death, for example, but few (or no?) MMOs use it."
You are exactly right in what you say and its nice to meet an MMORPG.com staff that seems to have a fuctional brain and doesn't seem to let the advertisements do the talking for them.
The downright myth that animation or more complex game mechanics being put in an MMO would cause severe lag is a load of garbage, the truth is, no one has even attempted to actually try and put something more complex in an MMO before because the developers have found that they can get far more money both quicker and more effectively by stringing a select few along with promises of shiny items and epic gear and levels.
What they fail to realize is that this will last them only for so long, people lose interest in these sorts of games, the only MMO's to ever try to achieve something different was both AoC and Darkfall and frankly, their efforts were completely half-assed, if they had actually pushed on and tried to fix what they had they wouldn't be as dead as they are today.
If someone bothered to create something like a Mirror's Edge MMO as a sandbox people would be flocking and not just from the MMO industry, remove the grinding, remove the pointless string along tactics and you will attract far more than the measley few millions that we've been getting.
And I don't care that everyone else is going to tell me "But but! We have millions on what we currently have already!" the huge corporations in other industries consider what we consider a success as pocket change and thats the honest truth, we will get nowhere as an industry if developers act nothing more like scam artists and refuse to give people a tangible product.
Quoting people doesn't make you clever, in fact, it makes you all the more stupid for not bothering to read the quotes you post in the first place.
And after watching that it's made in 2004 before they added the ragdoll physics and they all get up the same. Man I can't find a good video showing it.
Agreed, City of Heroes is the perfect example that what the author of the article wrote is true. It's a 5 year old game, and it still looks great (sure, there have been a few updates, but anyway), mostly thanks to the great effects and great Havok ragdoll animations. All hail Crypitc!
A game that has killer death graphics is Mount and Blade. You can set it to rag doll and when a person dies they fall limp to the ground. If they right near the edge of a ledge or on a ladder or stairs, they tumble off or down it as they would in real life and sometimes the get hung up on stuff and hang there. So all most of these games would need to do is just put in rag doll physics and you'd be good to go.
With The Serpent's Spine, they introduced a new race, the drakkin, on a new model base. This would have been a perfect time to give it some jaw-dropping (or at least adequate) animations, right? HA. I'd rather leave my drakkins on horseback permanently than to watch them run (one of the most common animation of all).
I don't mind badly animated. Goodness knows, I grew up watching Saturday morning cartoons in the 70's and 80's. What I hate are animations that are distractingly bad, as with the drakkin mentioned above. My dark elf might make the same motion no matter what kind of sword she's holding, but at least it doesn't annoy me to watch her.
I actually kind of enjoy watching my EQ2 assassin and bruiser fighting. That's not so bad, ya know?
... This is where I draw the line: __________________.
Thinking about it overnight, and only other MMo i can say i enjoyed animations apart from AOC that i mentioned earlier was Matrix Online. Was strange combat system, but animation was wicked when you got locked into combat with your enemy. Shame it was yet again one the games that to me didnt have much end game content to keep me interested.
So you're asking for better animations? Well, why not but is it really so imporant?
I look at the past successful games and the evolution of gaming and I see better sound, nicer graphics and many many poor game play.
Honestly graphics are just a topping in a FUN game even in MMOs.
I'd rather have studios spend more time and $$$ on gameplay and content then and only then if they can afford it, enhance graphics and animations.
But well before that and especially in MMO I wish the studio spent more time on the following key elements that are always poorly done:
GUI
Chat functionnality
Guild mechanics
Friend list features
Inventory management
Auction houses interaction
In fact all that stands between the player and his character.
I'm very surprized such major features are mostly rushed out considering they can make or break the game play.
Don't get me wrong, I'm an explorer type of gamer so I like nice graphics but they always come after the game play. A nice game with poor game play won't last more than a few hours. Honestly when you are engaged in challenging and fast combat you don't really focus on animations you don't have the time to.
What I find odd is that LOTRO has some of the worst combat animations I've ever seen, yet it has dozens of animated emotes.
Oh the deliciousness of reading this on mmoRolePlayingGames.com
QFE!
I always find it funny when people talk about bad animations in LotRo, one of the few game with a storyline and something more to do than killing mobs.
TBH I couldn't care less about decent animation. I am far more interested in current and future MMO's releasing in a complete state rather than the bug laden morass that all of them have been. Seriously... if better animation means that the MMO releases with the same bugs as they currently do, or... worse.... MORE buggy/feature incomplete? I'd rather pass on the 'decent' animation in favor of better bug stomping, better feature completion and better overall gameplay.
When was the last MMO that released in a state that it was REALLY ready for the public? To be honest I can't remember... WAR wasn't.... BAD.... but it really should have waited another 3 months before releasing, imo... AOC? Same story... released too soon... released too buggy.... released too empty of content.... The list goes on.
So while I agree that better animation would be nice? It's not exactly high on my 'god I wish" list. Right up at the top is "God I wish someone, anyone, would release a feature complete MMORPG on Day 1"... To be brutally honest I can't think of a single one that has since DAOC other than WOW, DDO and LotRO. (yes, DDO was feature complete for what Turbine was trying to do with it. We won't go into their failed design with that one...)
"A ship-of-war is the best ambassador." - Oliver Cromwell
The issue with the games industrie these days (from a animators perspective) is that everyone going into animation well the majority all want to be model designers and not actualy animators so there isnt a large enough pool of computer game based "character" animators .
In my opionion graphics and animations are really important, I can't play games with poor animations and out-of-date graphics, unless for nostalgic reasons.
AoC has the best MMO animations I've ever seen so far, when the game was on the pipe I've read they actually hired professional contemporary dancers to capture their moves, so in that sense, they did a good job.
Great article! I must say it has become one of my gripes No1 about MMos now. The combat looks and feels so incredibly dull, and thats mainly because the animations I have seen OVER and OVER and OVER for years now.
When the author says:
"No one really expects anyone to parry attacks in real-time and have full out movie-quality sword fights. But just because it cannot be perfect, doesn’t mean it cannot be better."
I say, why the heck not? Why expect anything LESS than the best? Life is way too brief to be satisfied with mediocre things! Ok, sure, maybe movie quality isnt possible at the moment. But things can be made better, and I am sure game developers are just lazy and they think people wont mind. Or take it as a conventional expectation.
I really, totally can not STAND this EQ type combat anymore. I am so filled and done with "go to one mob, press all combat attacks and watch the pre-defined boring animation X over and over." When any of these EQ2, WOW and whatnot chars attack, it is always so symbolic.. some animation runs and you never have the feeling of combat any time. Sure, when it was new we didnt know better. Thats why I loved the AoC combat. It wasnt perfect for other reasons, but at least with my 2 axes swinging Barbarian I got something to see that at least LOOKED halfway like combat. I want to have the feeling of impact. This new spear wielding class in LOTRO had quite a decend combat animation set. (Forgot the name of the class now.)
Or magic. How terribly boring the magic looks in many games. I recall what a letdown the magic animation in Vanguard was and still is - such a contrast to the lush world. I want to see fireballs raining down and smacking on people, burning them, and they try to make it out or something. Maybe some randomness in reactions, and some way that the NPC responds to my action, and not I perform my stuff, he does his, and we all totally ignore each others last actions.
It is still a large way to go. But personally, I am so done with this EQ style combat, standing in front of one bear/boar/gnoll, hack hack hack 5 min, then move on to next mob, all the same boring combat animations. People stare at the skill bar usually anyway, which also is a matter, since the entire EQ-style combat system is just so outdated now. I really hope future MMOs make more visceral and impact-combat a priority, something that feels more like action and fast paced and not like a pawn plowing his field of crops.
People don't ask questions to get answers - they ask questions to show how smart they are. - Dogbert
Hasn't animation gotten 100% better since Everquest..? Look at EQ2's animation, etc. Even Everquests engine and animation in the last 10 years has been greatly increased. Vanguard has great animation, i just wish it was mor polished.
BTW, "WISH" was a great game, possibly one of the best game worlds I ever played in. It just a shame that it was centered around PnC movement.
___________________________
- Knowledge is power, ive been in school for 28 years!
Sorry, not to troll, but seriously these "why not?" columns have to stop. Just my two cents. It's one thing if there's a couple what if columns but this post is the 4th one now and it's getting a little on my nerves . The historical mmo's was good but then all the other ones... yeah...
It does seem that game makers have gone totally rabid when it comes to graphics but in my opinion current graphics are well above my graphic needs while content and animation are well BELOW my needs.
there are so many things I expect to see and immerse in that simply dont exist or are in the crudest forms possible.
rarely can you climb trees or cliffs, you never swing on a rope and fights with mobs are basicly 2 mobs standing 3 feet apart swaping blows (and a desprit few of those) I would be nice to see a tumble and some punches and kicks and yes Id like to see charactors have several more states ,, if your on fire you dont just stand there like it doesnt exist,,
I also think they shgould make much more use of mobs as objects like walls or pillars or doors that you can smash and "kill"
a precious few games have any siege weapons whatso ever and nearly all games have fortifications with no doors so mobs just run in.
WORLDS ARE STATIC this is a double edged sword as sure new people get the exact same expirence that the guy 2 years ago but also the guy that joind 2 years ago has no reason to go back to lower zones and they become very desolate and making a world too static and predictable is the definition of non-immersion and un-believeable hence terms like TOONS.
make a world, not a game, we dont want another game.
What I find odd is that LOTRO has some of the worst combat animations I've ever seen, yet it has dozens of animated emotes.
Oh the deliciousness of reading this on mmoRolePlayingGames.com
QFE!
I always find it funny when people talk about bad animations in LotRo, one of the few game with a storyline and something more to do than killing mobs.
I also found the animations and models very bland. I always felt that LOTRO had alot of potential but after Moria's launch I was turned right off and canceled my account less then a month in.
More to do then killing mobs? Give me a break bud LOL. LOTRO is no different then any other MMORPG on the market, i played it for almost 2 years....
Comments
I think there is a lesson to be learned from Age of Conan in relation to this issue; In AoC animations are motion captured and people really do look like they get hurt when you cut off their arms or have them disembowled.
Problem is that this cost a LOT of money and resources to create and didnt really make the game more popular, in fact people thought that it was irritating that so much effort had been used on the graphics and animations when the rest of the game was in such a poor condition and the content were so shallow.
Good animations and graphics in MMOs is the topping on the cake. Do it if you have the resources and the engine can handle it _after_ you have created a solid foundation to put the graphics into.
MMOs are different from single player games in that they are meant to be played for a much much longer time and not just to be admired graphically for a few weeks. And no matter how good or bad graphics is in a MMO then over the playtimes involved in MMOs they step mentaly into the background because you get used to them and then its the gameplay that takes over as enjoyment or annoyance factors.
"You are the hero our legends have foretold will save our tribe, therefore please go kill 10 pigs."
Graphics and animation dont make an mmorpg.
C:\Users\FF\Desktop\spin move.gif
To me Graphics and animations do make an mmorpg.
1. I can't like my character if it looks ugly. Example - Lotro
2. I can't like the combat if it has poor animations. Example - Lotro
3. I don't like to explore a boring looking world. Example - Darkfall
You're looking at the graphics all the time so they damn well better look good. World of Warcraft nailed it because they got better graphics outta their engine than Everquest 2 did outta theirs cause WoW has amazing art and EQ2 is bland and ugly.
Anyways do people remember Star Wars Galaxies Pre CU motion captured animations? They were pretty sweet......
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zP5gX09YgZk
www.youtube.com/watch
You lost me at 'toon'.
Yes, I am that anal. It is a tortured existence.
Crazy thing is, is that these are mostly turn based MMO's, that have different animations for eah attack / move / magic spell. www.linkrealms.com/ <-- What good animation looks like.
A bigger question for me, is that why haven't any MMO's used rag doll physics yet? (or am I mistaken?). Mortal Online uses rag dolls and the hit boxes look clean and animations more fluid.. It also might be a game where your own death might frighten you a little..
Dana,
This is something i've talked to people about for years.
The way my character is animated is immensely important to me and its a major contributing factor as to why I'm not currently playing any MMOs. If you play a game like Fable II and then go and fire up LOTRO... the difference in your character's animation/interaction with their world.... is immense. LOTRO feels like your character is a wooden doll, where Fable II makes your character move around like a fluid creature that bounds across the ground with a realistic weight and feel to their motion. The same can be said for a game like Gears of War... your characters in taht game move about like the MASSIVE tanks that they are, it Feels... perfect.
No MMO has done this. Its as though they believe that poorly animated characters are a part of the necessary key to making an MMORPG.
And I'm sick, to death, of it.
I adore the idea of an MMORPG.. I... loathe, the MMOs that have been made to-date. They're all doing it wrong.
Animations which occur often, like walking are important. Animations which do not occur often like dying are not. Bum cheeks are more important than animations when you have to look at them on your avatar from the moment you switch on the game till the moment its switched of.
I don't think we need an uber-rig for good animations. It's just a question of interest from the Devs. In EQ2 animations were updated a few times in the past years and now look very realistic (especially the running animation). This means that the Devs realized it's an important part in the game and decided to actually do something about it.
I quit Vanguard and Lotro only because of the horrible animations, nothing else. If my character is standing like a scarecrow, runs like a wooden string puppet and drops dead flat like a pancake it is preventing any imersion in the game (and seeing your character moving in 3rd view is part of the "RPG" portion of an MMORPG). So yes, Devs need to understand it's a major part of the game and it needs to be adressed (whether it's done before release or by patching like in EQ2).
"However, a lot more could be done on MMOs than is being done and, honestly, I don't believe that a lot of it would overload an average PC. Most computers can handle rag doll death, for example, but few (or no?) MMOs use it."
You are exactly right in what you say and its nice to meet an MMORPG.com staff that seems to have a fuctional brain and doesn't seem to let the advertisements do the talking for them.
The downright myth that animation or more complex game mechanics being put in an MMO would cause severe lag is a load of garbage, the truth is, no one has even attempted to actually try and put something more complex in an MMO before because the developers have found that they can get far more money both quicker and more effectively by stringing a select few along with promises of shiny items and epic gear and levels.
What they fail to realize is that this will last them only for so long, people lose interest in these sorts of games, the only MMO's to ever try to achieve something different was both AoC and Darkfall and frankly, their efforts were completely half-assed, if they had actually pushed on and tried to fix what they had they wouldn't be as dead as they are today.
If someone bothered to create something like a Mirror's Edge MMO as a sandbox people would be flocking and not just from the MMO industry, remove the grinding, remove the pointless string along tactics and you will attract far more than the measley few millions that we've been getting.
And I don't care that everyone else is going to tell me "But but! We have millions on what we currently have already!" the huge corporations in other industries consider what we consider a success as pocket change and thats the honest truth, we will get nowhere as an industry if developers act nothing more like scam artists and refuse to give people a tangible product.
Quoting people doesn't make you clever, in fact, it makes you all the more stupid for not bothering to read the quotes you post in the first place.
Agreed, City of Heroes is the perfect example that what the author of the article wrote is true. It's a 5 year old game, and it still looks great (sure, there have been a few updates, but anyway), mostly thanks to the great effects and great Havok ragdoll animations. All hail Crypitc!
Take the Magic: The Gathering 'What Color Are You?' Quiz.
A game that has killer death graphics is Mount and Blade. You can set it to rag doll and when a person dies they fall limp to the ground. If they right near the edge of a ledge or on a ladder or stairs, they tumble off or down it as they would in real life and sometimes the get hung up on stuff and hang there. So all most of these games would need to do is just put in rag doll physics and you'd be good to go.
re: EQ animations
With The Serpent's Spine, they introduced a new race, the drakkin, on a new model base. This would have been a perfect time to give it some jaw-dropping (or at least adequate) animations, right? HA. I'd rather leave my drakkins on horseback permanently than to watch them run (one of the most common animation of all).
I don't mind badly animated. Goodness knows, I grew up watching Saturday morning cartoons in the 70's and 80's. What I hate are animations that are distractingly bad, as with the drakkin mentioned above. My dark elf might make the same motion no matter what kind of sword she's holding, but at least it doesn't annoy me to watch her.
I actually kind of enjoy watching my EQ2 assassin and bruiser fighting. That's not so bad, ya know?
...
This is where I draw the line: __________________.
Thinking about it overnight, and only other MMo i can say i enjoyed animations apart from AOC that i mentioned earlier was Matrix Online. Was strange combat system, but animation was wicked when you got locked into combat with your enemy. Shame it was yet again one the games that to me didnt have much end game content to keep me interested.
So you're asking for better animations? Well, why not but is it really so imporant?
I look at the past successful games and the evolution of gaming and I see better sound, nicer graphics and many many poor game play.
Honestly graphics are just a topping in a FUN game even in MMOs.
I'd rather have studios spend more time and $$$ on gameplay and content then and only then if they can afford it, enhance graphics and animations.
But well before that and especially in MMO I wish the studio spent more time on the following key elements that are always poorly done:
In fact all that stands between the player and his character.
I'm very surprized such major features are mostly rushed out considering they can make or break the game play.
Don't get me wrong, I'm an explorer type of gamer so I like nice graphics but they always come after the game play. A nice game with poor game play won't last more than a few hours. Honestly when you are engaged in challenging and fast combat you don't really focus on animations you don't have the time to.
[quote]
I mean, seriously. Imagine if the outcry if graphical standards hadn’t been raised!
[/quote]
No one will notice.
Part of the problem of old games, is that as soon you have played a type of game with best graphics, you are spoiled.
I have played Quake1 for six years, with not problem, but after a few months playing something else, it hurts to look back at Quake1.
The thing is that "graphical standards" don't need to "raise". THAT IDEA IS WRONG.
And.. what is a enhancement?
Look to this version of Turret Defense.
www.vectortd.com
You could probabbly have graphics like this on a Atari 2600. Vectorial polygons. But is still cool today 2009.
Oh the deliciousness of reading this on mmoRolePlayingGames.com
Oh the deliciousness of reading this on mmoRolePlayingGames.com
QFE!
I always find it funny when people talk about bad animations in LotRo, one of the few game with a storyline and something more to do than killing mobs.
TBH I couldn't care less about decent animation. I am far more interested in current and future MMO's releasing in a complete state rather than the bug laden morass that all of them have been. Seriously... if better animation means that the MMO releases with the same bugs as they currently do, or... worse.... MORE buggy/feature incomplete? I'd rather pass on the 'decent' animation in favor of better bug stomping, better feature completion and better overall gameplay.
When was the last MMO that released in a state that it was REALLY ready for the public? To be honest I can't remember... WAR wasn't.... BAD.... but it really should have waited another 3 months before releasing, imo... AOC? Same story... released too soon... released too buggy.... released too empty of content.... The list goes on.
So while I agree that better animation would be nice? It's not exactly high on my 'god I wish" list. Right up at the top is "God I wish someone, anyone, would release a feature complete MMORPG on Day 1"... To be brutally honest I can't think of a single one that has since DAOC other than WOW, DDO and LotRO. (yes, DDO was feature complete for what Turbine was trying to do with it. We won't go into their failed design with that one...)
"A ship-of-war is the best ambassador." - Oliver Cromwell
The issue with the games industrie these days (from a animators perspective) is that everyone going into animation well the majority all want to be model designers and not actualy animators so there isnt a large enough pool of computer game based "character" animators .
In my opionion graphics and animations are really important, I can't play games with poor animations and out-of-date graphics, unless for nostalgic reasons.
AoC has the best MMO animations I've ever seen so far, when the game was on the pipe I've read they actually hired professional contemporary dancers to capture their moves, so in that sense, they did a good job.
Whatever
Great article! I must say it has become one of my gripes No1 about MMos now. The combat looks and feels so incredibly dull, and thats mainly because the animations I have seen OVER and OVER and OVER for years now.
When the author says:
"No one really expects anyone to parry attacks in real-time and have full out movie-quality sword fights. But just because it cannot be perfect, doesn’t mean it cannot be better."
I say, why the heck not? Why expect anything LESS than the best? Life is way too brief to be satisfied with mediocre things! Ok, sure, maybe movie quality isnt possible at the moment. But things can be made better, and I am sure game developers are just lazy and they think people wont mind. Or take it as a conventional expectation.
I really, totally can not STAND this EQ type combat anymore. I am so filled and done with "go to one mob, press all combat attacks and watch the pre-defined boring animation X over and over." When any of these EQ2, WOW and whatnot chars attack, it is always so symbolic.. some animation runs and you never have the feeling of combat any time. Sure, when it was new we didnt know better. Thats why I loved the AoC combat. It wasnt perfect for other reasons, but at least with my 2 axes swinging Barbarian I got something to see that at least LOOKED halfway like combat. I want to have the feeling of impact. This new spear wielding class in LOTRO had quite a decend combat animation set. (Forgot the name of the class now.)
Or magic. How terribly boring the magic looks in many games. I recall what a letdown the magic animation in Vanguard was and still is - such a contrast to the lush world. I want to see fireballs raining down and smacking on people, burning them, and they try to make it out or something. Maybe some randomness in reactions, and some way that the NPC responds to my action, and not I perform my stuff, he does his, and we all totally ignore each others last actions.
It is still a large way to go. But personally, I am so done with this EQ style combat, standing in front of one bear/boar/gnoll, hack hack hack 5 min, then move on to next mob, all the same boring combat animations. People stare at the skill bar usually anyway, which also is a matter, since the entire EQ-style combat system is just so outdated now. I really hope future MMOs make more visceral and impact-combat a priority, something that feels more like action and fast paced and not like a pawn plowing his field of crops.
People don't ask questions to get answers - they ask questions to show how smart they are. - Dogbert
Dana,
Hasn't animation gotten 100% better since Everquest..? Look at EQ2's animation, etc. Even Everquests engine and animation in the last 10 years has been greatly increased. Vanguard has great animation, i just wish it was mor polished.
BTW, "WISH" was a great game, possibly one of the best game worlds I ever played in. It just a shame that it was centered around PnC movement.
___________________________
- Knowledge is power, ive been in school for 28 years!
Sorry, not to troll, but seriously these "why not?" columns have to stop. Just my two cents. It's one thing if there's a couple what if columns but this post is the 4th one now and it's getting a little on my nerves . The historical mmo's was good but then all the other ones... yeah...
It does seem that game makers have gone totally rabid when it comes to graphics but in my opinion current graphics are well above my graphic needs while content and animation are well BELOW my needs.
there are so many things I expect to see and immerse in that simply dont exist or are in the crudest forms possible.
rarely can you climb trees or cliffs, you never swing on a rope and fights with mobs are basicly 2 mobs standing 3 feet apart swaping blows (and a desprit few of those) I would be nice to see a tumble and some punches and kicks and yes Id like to see charactors have several more states ,, if your on fire you dont just stand there like it doesnt exist,,
I also think they shgould make much more use of mobs as objects like walls or pillars or doors that you can smash and "kill"
a precious few games have any siege weapons whatso ever and nearly all games have fortifications with no doors so mobs just run in.
WORLDS ARE STATIC this is a double edged sword as sure new people get the exact same expirence that the guy 2 years ago but also the guy that joind 2 years ago has no reason to go back to lower zones and they become very desolate and making a world too static and predictable is the definition of non-immersion and un-believeable hence terms like TOONS.
make a world, not a game, we dont want another game.
Oh the deliciousness of reading this on mmoRolePlayingGames.com
QFE!
I always find it funny when people talk about bad animations in LotRo, one of the few game with a storyline and something more to do than killing mobs.
I also found the animations and models very bland. I always felt that LOTRO had alot of potential but after Moria's launch I was turned right off and canceled my account less then a month in.
More to do then killing mobs? Give me a break bud LOL. LOTRO is no different then any other MMORPG on the market, i played it for almost 2 years....
"I play Tera for the gameplay"