Hmm, sounds and especially animations are important to me in games. Propably the most important thing is fluid and good looking animations. This is kinda strange if they are bad, I was under the impression that TSW has same engine basically as AoC which had pretty great animations and sounds, only the effects (spells etc) were horrible in AoC but the movement, combat, and so on were quite good...
Obviously there is some subjectivity to this, but I feel that both the combat animations and the combat itself is uninspired at best. It is unfortunate because the environments generally look terrific and set a great mood.
But the combat, combat animations and sound really seem to be a step back.
I've heard that animations are placeholders but I'm not sure how this can be 5 weeks prior to launch.
"Loading screens" are not "instances". Your personal efforts to troll any game will not, in fact, impact the success or failure of said game.
After hearing from Erling Ellingsen, the communications director at Funcom, we've added an editor's note to the top of the article. It clears up some of our issues we had with character creation and animations. Pasted below!
--
EDITOR's NOTE: Since publishing this article, we've heard some feedback from Funcom about our concerns with character creation and the animations. Director of Communications, Erling Ellingsen, told us that the character creation is indeed very much limited in this beta build, and will be more fully fleshed out in the future with options and the like. As for animations, Erling explained two things. One is that there are many animations which are not yet final in this build. The second part is that because of the team's decision to allow characters to move while casting skills, they had to untie the upper body from the lower body in the animations. This means there will be times when swinging a sword or using your fist weapons will look odd, but it's the price they've had to pay for allowing players the ability to move while attacking at any time. Basically, it becomes more difficult to structure animations that always look perfect when the characters can't move during the animations.
Try to be excellent to everyone you meet. You never know what someone else has seen or endured.
Okay well to me the beta feels a little alpha and thats not good at all. I mean excuses for crapy betas are never good in my experiences JFi. Almost every game I have played that feels pretty done in beta ends up to be good because thats what beta is is pretty done, on the other hand every beta ive played that says well we have this but r to lazy to load the real builds just generally dont work out right.
After hearing from Erling Ellingsen, the communications director at Funcom, we've added an editor's note to the top of the article. It clears up some of our issues we had with character creation and animations. Pasted below!
So, Funcom sending you kisses and promises to fix all this stuff with the ridiculously rubbish animations clears up your issues? Just like that? You have a lot more faith in developers that I do.
After hearing from Erling Ellingsen, the communications director at Funcom, we've added an editor's note to the top of the article. It clears up some of our issues we had with character creation and animations. Pasted below!
So, Funcom sending you kisses and promises to fix all this stuff with the ridiculously rubbish animations clears up your issues? Just like that? You have a lot more faith in developers that I do.
I think everyone here realizes to take what they say with a grain of salt (well most people =D). We all remember the launches of AoC and AO sadly. I look forward to seeing what they can do with the animations.
So, Funcom sending you kisses and promises to fix all this stuff with the ridiculously rubbish animations clears up your issues? Just like that? You have a lot more faith in developers that I do.
Did you read the info from Funcom? It said two things:
1) Character creation is not final and will see updates by launch.
2) Some of the animations are place holders (the ones that get repeated for several abilities), most probably aren't and will look the same at launch. They look kind of off because there is no connection between upper/lower body since you can move while performing an ability.
Then mmorpg says that this clears up their questions - not that they now suddenly like the animations.
As an animator, that explanation is bullshit. That is an old technique used 10 years ago. They just don't wanna pay animators to make new animations. Guaranteed they are recycling old Conan animations and breaking them apart. Sorry Funcom, your excuse might work on the 13 year olds who don't know any better, but not devs or real gamers.
THE PROBLEM I have with TSW is the almost total lack of information on the 24/7 persistent "battleground".
Do I really have to grind for a few months to achieve sufficiant skills to compete ? OR 6 months OR ?
Is this a kidde game limited to 50 per side ? What are the rewards for being successful ?
Given Funcom's continuous failures with AOC keep battles why should we expect this won't be in the same shape as AOC's(they both use the same engine)
OR...is this just a PVE game with RVR as an after thought.....kind of like SWTOR's Illum fiasco ?
OR if this is a big deal.......WHERE'S THE INFO.It's just 6 weeks till launch.Balancing game play with hundreds of players is not easy.All that going to get done in 6 weeks ?
I'm about 20 hours into this game and I am very very disappointed. I use a pistol (the pop-pop sound is terrible) with a elementalist backup. Firstly, the mouse sensitivity is, in my opinion, the worst part of the game (with no option to adjust). If enemies get behind you, which they always do immediately, it takes far to long to just spin your character around. Basically, to turn my character around, I have to drag my mouse across my desk. Secondly, the "puzzle quests" which are this games supposed bread and butter, are not puzzles at all. They are "alt-tab to google" or "ask in general chat" puzzles. NOBODY on earth would know these "answers". And, no, they aren't found in-game. Believe me, I checked. Extensively. The skill wheel, while a decent idea, cannot be reset. So, if you make a mistake or want to change builds, you can't. Lastly, this game is in desperate need of a more expanded tutorial. Crafting makes no sense and is extremely tedious. I had such high hopes for this game too. With a purchase price, a monthly sub fee, AND a cash shop, this game is doomed
I thought I read something (now I cant find) that all the animations were place holders for other better animations. That may very well be Funcom double speak but I know the articel I read stated that. Wish I could find it now ;P.
Dare I say this but....WHY would you keep placeholders in the game for its first showing with massive numbers of people? That just does NOT make sense to me.
And, yes, animations and sound are my biggest issues but, IMO, those are HUGE issues. Most of us are sensory beings and to -see- crap combat/movement and -hear- sounds that are just off is...disconcerting.
Because it's Funcom. What more do you really expect?
This is their third-strike-and-out.
It's going to make the cries of disappointment and outrage at AO and AoC's releases pale in comparison.
Can't wait.
Edit: Another "genius" move is forcing players to use google to find solutions to puzzles instead of having them solveable ingame. Every time you take someone out of the game, it makes it that more likely they'll stay out.
-Letting Derek Smart work on your game is like letting Osama bin Laden work in the White House. Something will burn.- -And on the 8th day, man created God.-
Sø the only problem u really was the sound ? and animation ?
It was what she did notfeel that was extremely important -
She didn't feel scared.
She didn't feel suspense.
Of course she didn't feel scared. Of course she didn't feel suspense. It's a modern MMORPG after all. These games rarely evoke any sort of real feelings simply because you can't really lose. There is no reason to be scared when everyone wins. The scaryiest most suspenseful MMORPG? Well that would be EVE. For obvious reasons.
Are you a Pavlovian Fish Biscuit Addict? Get Help Now! I will play no more MMORPGs until somethign good comes out!
Edit: Another "genius" move is forcing players to use google to find solutions to puzzles instead of having them solveable ingame. Every time you take someone out of the game, it makes it that more likely they'll stay out.
I have been wanting to say some things about this game for a long time now but during CB was unable to do so. I will freely admit that the game defintly has flaws and i wont waste anyone's time trying to make excuses for them. On the other hand the game does have some rather apealing qualities as well.
First off, yes your charachter itself is the least impressive thing in the game graphicly speaking. The animations for your toon are also the worst of the animations you will encounter and because it is your charachter it will be everpresent on your screen. On the other hand, the environments and monsters you will encounter are very well done. The atmosphere of the game itself is its own subtle narrative and easy to get lost in.
When my gf played it there was a point where she was running down the street and she saw a scooter off the side of the road with a corpse nearby. When she went to investigate the corpse she jumped out of her computer chair with a yelp when she finally noticed the monster on all 4's that had been feeding on the corpse. It looked up at her as she aproached, growled, and scurried away quickly still on all 4's and she didnt even see it till she was almost right at the corpse and it growled at her, despite the monster being bigger than the corpse itself. On a side note, my gf is not squeamish. She actually deals with dead bodies every week and once stabbed a guy who tried to carjack her on her way to my place (she showed up with her hands still covered in blood).
This is the only mmo i have ever played that i found myself making actual attempts to avoid combat when and where i could. The monsters you fight do lovecraft justice. The missions/quests dont hold your hand. Yes they do have quest indicators for many of them to at least get you in the right area but the context of the quests make sense and when you get to those area's you will still have to find what your looking for and its not always an obvious glowing item.
The skill system is actually my favorite part of anything having to do with your charachter. The freedom to make whatever kind of hybrid or pure role build you like is something im a big fan of. It does remind me alot of GW1, but i happened to have enjoyed GW1 and the skill system was a major reason why. I loved coming up with builds. The inclusion of a passive skill deck as well gives it an interesting synergy, especially since unlike the active skills, passive skills arent limited by what weapons you are currently using.
Now before everyone asumes im just a huge fanboy, let me also point out, I absolutely loathe the crafting system in this game. It is one of the worst crafting systems i have ever seen in any game. Its complexity is entirely pointless and not actually fun or redeemable in any way. They would have been better off sticking to just a basic run of the mill crafting system imo.
In total, i did prepurchase the game for myself and my gf, but i decided against the lifetime subscription. I believe that issues aside this game may wind up being one of the best mmo's on the market as of this moment, but unfortunately for funcom and TSW, GW2 is coming out and admittedly TSW suddenly has a much higher bar to be compared to in the near future. I kind of wish this game had come out a year or 2 ago as it would have defintly had more time in the sun.
I used to be really hyped for TSW. Now it's just feels meh to me. My opinion may change, and I hope it does, but Funcom has to make a believer out of me again. If I buy this game, it most likely will be a few months down the road after launch, unless I'm sold again after NDA is lifted. I mean, it's like a little over a month until TSW is supposedly gonna launch, and I'm still struggling to find informations about this game. A lot of the videos seem to be old and crappy, or very scripted demonstrations.
Character creation, animations and sound are all very important to me. These don't make or break a game for me per se, but they come freaking close if I can't stand them or feel they were only done half-a**.
"This means there will be times when swinging a sword or using your fist weapons will look odd, but it's the price they've had to pay for allowing players the ability to move while attacking at any time. Basically, it becomes more difficult to structure animations that always look perfect when the characters can't move during the animations."
Ya know, I'm not sure I completely buy this from Funcom. I mean, take a game like Saints Row the Third. Granted, it's a single player game and I'm not sure what engine it uses, but you can move around freely while attacking and..omg does it look really fluid, natural, and good. Funcom should study that game's animations ;3
After hearing from Erling Ellingsen, the communications director at Funcom, we've added an editor's note to the top of the article. It clears up some of our issues we had with character creation and animations. Pasted below!
--
EDITOR's NOTE: Since publishing this article, we've heard some feedback from Funcom about our concerns with character creation and the animations. Director of Communications, Erling Ellingsen, told us that the character creation is indeed very much limited in this beta build, and will be more fully fleshed out in the future with options and the like. As for animations, Erling explained two things. One is that there are many animations which are not yet final in this build. The second part is that because of the team's decision to allow characters to move while casting skills, they had to untie the upper body from the lower body in the animations. This means there will be times when swinging a sword or using your fist weapons will look odd, but it's the price they've had to pay for allowing players the ability to move while attacking at any time. Basically, it becomes more difficult to structure animations that always look perfect when the characters can't move during the animations.
Well sorry but no one is saying animations are bad for no reason, people are simply saying it is bad. I for one don't actually care why it sucks or the technicality of it but only that it sucks. I don't care about their technical reasoning and it is not my problem as a customer because there are games out there(mmos too) which has good animations and mobile combat. So either make it so that it is possible for your game too or let it be known that your game has bad animations. Simple as that. Frankly, Mr. Ellingsen shouldn't embarass themselves with such meaningless explanations in my opinion.
And by the way, what about the sounds? Which is a huge component in creating atmosphere which this game is so bragging about, are those sound effects placeholders too? Such horsec**p.
I can kind of see what she means about animations and sound, but it really comes with the territory of having been spoiled by a *single* title.
The upper-body working in tandem with lower-body animations is nothing new, and is actually a smart method to use because it prevents what could be even worse singular animations while kiting (etc). What has spoiled that for me is the Euphoria engine used in GTA4; no matter what angle you are running, firing at a target always looked picture-perfect (in terms of pose). It's not enough to make me dead set on every game having that high of a benchmark for this kind of thing, though.
Sound quality could get to me though, because I am one to not play an entire race/class/whatever if I can't stand the noises they make. I can't really see myself being picky over the sounds guns make, but I can say that I was a bit spoiled by Fallen Earth. When you get to actual gunpowder-type guns in that one, it becomes epic. They are authentic and *loud*, as well as able to ring out for quite a distance. You could be out on the range and hear a shot that lets you triangulate the direction and distance to a target based on a lot of factors. It's really well done.
Again, though... just because one group has "done it right" doesn't mean everyone has to. That's how things get "samey" in the first place. I remember a time when "the lack thereof" meant "charm".
Writer / Musician / Game Designer
Now Playing: Skyrim, Wurm Online, Tropico 4 Waiting On: GW2, TSW, Archeage, The Rapture
I can kind of see what she means about animations and sound, but it really comes with the territory of having been spoiled by a *single* title.
The upper-body working in tandem with lower-body animations is nothing new, and is actually a smart method to use because it prevents what could be even worse singular animations while kiting (etc). What has spoiled that for me is the Euphoria engine used in GTA4; no matter what angle you are running, firing at a target always looked picture-perfect (in terms of pose). It's not enough to make me dead set on every game having that high of a benchmark for this kind of thing, though.
Sound quality could get to me though, because I am one to not play an entire race/class/whatever if I can't stand the noises they make. I can't really see myself being picky over the sounds guns make, but I can say that I was a bit spoiled by Fallen Earth. When you get to actual gunpowder-type guns in that one, it becomes epic. They are authentic and *loud*, as well as able to ring out for quite a distance. You could be out on the range and hear a shot that lets you triangulate the direction and distance to a target based on a lot of factors. It's really well done.
Again, though... just because one group has "done it right" doesn't mean everyone has to. That's how things get "samey" in the first place. I remember a time when "the lack thereof" meant "charm".
I see what you mean about the being "spoiled" aspect. I think Saints Row the Third has maybe spoiled me a little with their animations, and maybe FFXIV to an extent when it comes to an MMO. I don't think anyone is expecting Funcom to raise the bar on animations with TSW. I think what a lot of people are saying though is that they're mostly horrid and dated in their current form, and should be improved upon.
Animations look cheap, the hp bar stays almost at full when being attacked, the rooms look "boxy" and plastic like. The ui isnt nice looking. The gameplay videos simply has the effect on me that I dont want to play TWS. A miracle has to happen if this game makes game of the year.
If I want to ignore animations to simply follow the story I buy a sound book instead.
The character build, sound and animation huh? Really? You do realize that this is beta right?
The Tokyo flashback is not the same thing as the intro movie - which is what you discribed.
Tired of zombies? You do know what kind of game this is right?
Nothing about the incredible Lovecraft inspired atmosphere in Kingmouth huh?
Seems like there are somethings that you like in your games that may make this not the game for you.
Dude, they are a mere 5 weeks away from release! Get a grip!
And that Erling Ellingsen guy! You do know who he is right? That guy litterly grew a nose a 1000 times larger than pinochio with all the lies and false promisses and other PR bullshit he spread during his time on Age of Conan.
I don't believe a single word anymore coming from his mouth! Not after Age of Conan.
I have been so looking forward to his game! Following it for years since it was announced! Hoping third time would be the charm with Funcom, with a better director/producer on the helm would make a difference!
This game is absolutely awful! Age of Conan was smooth as silk at launch! With better animations, better combat, better voicing, very smooth gameplay.
The Secret World is the complete opposite of that! It's horribly clunky, with awful controls, terrible animations and combat. And the voice acting is even worse than SW:TOR's!
You won't believe how dissapointed I am with this game in it's current state! I am shocked! Especially since this game is actually longer in development than Age of Conan ever was.
And looking at the Achievements list. 3 tiny hubs (one for each society). 3 zone areas and a handful of dungeons! Is that all the game is going to release with??
I really wonder what they have been spending all that time on?? /shrug
For once I am giving myself a HUGE pat on the back for NOT pre-ordering this time! I won't be buying this game until I actually hear and see more positive feedback after launch.... but with Funcom's reputation, it probably gonna take at least a year (like with AoC) to fix this mess.
It all makes me really sad! As I absolutely love the setting and what this game tries to do. /cry
I will agree there is something a bit off with the character models, lack of ability to customize your size/build. Also movement is not the best. But apart from that the apparent depth of abilities and the ambience of the world is just outstanding.
Ah.. same old funcom.. exactly what they did with AOC. Have a beta with a ton of broken or missing stuff, but promise that it will all be magically fixed right before launch.
If AOC and AO are any indication..what you see now is what you will see at launch. There was never any major improvement made in AOC the last 8 weeks of beta... despite all the promises.
Also again, they are showing very very limited amount of the game. For all your talking about ambiance and ´feel´.. you don´t have to believe, but I almost promise you it will drop off a cliff after the small part of the game they allowed you to play. In AOC, leaving tortage was like starting a new game.. a much much less polished game.
Comments
Hmm, sounds and especially animations are important to me in games. Propably the most important thing is fluid and good looking animations. This is kinda strange if they are bad, I was under the impression that TSW has same engine basically as AoC which had pretty great animations and sounds, only the effects (spells etc) were horrible in AoC but the movement, combat, and so on were quite good...
Obviously there is some subjectivity to this, but I feel that both the combat animations and the combat itself is uninspired at best. It is unfortunate because the environments generally look terrific and set a great mood.
But the combat, combat animations and sound really seem to be a step back.
I've heard that animations are placeholders but I'm not sure how this can be 5 weeks prior to launch.
"Loading screens" are not "instances".
Your personal efforts to troll any game will not, in fact, impact the success or failure of said game.
After hearing from Erling Ellingsen, the communications director at Funcom, we've added an editor's note to the top of the article. It clears up some of our issues we had with character creation and animations. Pasted below!
--
EDITOR's NOTE: Since publishing this article, we've heard some feedback from Funcom about our concerns with character creation and the animations. Director of Communications, Erling Ellingsen, told us that the character creation is indeed very much limited in this beta build, and will be more fully fleshed out in the future with options and the like. As for animations, Erling explained two things. One is that there are many animations which are not yet final in this build. The second part is that because of the team's decision to allow characters to move while casting skills, they had to untie the upper body from the lower body in the animations. This means there will be times when swinging a sword or using your fist weapons will look odd, but it's the price they've had to pay for allowing players the ability to move while attacking at any time. Basically, it becomes more difficult to structure animations that always look perfect when the characters can't move during the animations.
Try to be excellent to everyone you meet. You never know what someone else has seen or endured.
My Review Manifesto
Follow me on Twitter if you dare.
This beta was freaking amazing.
Okay well to me the beta feels a little alpha and thats not good at all. I mean excuses for crapy betas are never good in my experiences JFi. Almost every game I have played that feels pretty done in beta ends up to be good because thats what beta is is pretty done, on the other hand every beta ive played that says well we have this but r to lazy to load the real builds just generally dont work out right.
I think everyone here realizes to take what they say with a grain of salt (well most people =D). We all remember the launches of AoC and AO sadly. I look forward to seeing what they can do with the animations.
Did you read the info from Funcom? It said two things:
1) Character creation is not final and will see updates by launch.
2) Some of the animations are place holders (the ones that get repeated for several abilities), most probably aren't and will look the same at launch. They look kind of off because there is no connection between upper/lower body since you can move while performing an ability.
Then mmorpg says that this clears up their questions - not that they now suddenly like the animations.
THE PROBLEM I have with TSW is the almost total lack of information on the 24/7 persistent "battleground".
Do I really have to grind for a few months to achieve sufficiant skills to compete ? OR 6 months OR ?
Is this a kidde game limited to 50 per side ? What are the rewards for being successful ?
Given Funcom's continuous failures with AOC keep battles why should we expect this won't be in the same shape as AOC's(they both use the same engine)
OR...is this just a PVE game with RVR as an after thought.....kind of like SWTOR's Illum fiasco ?
OR if this is a big deal.......WHERE'S THE INFO.It's just 6 weeks till launch.Balancing game play with hundreds of players is not easy.All that going to get done in 6 weeks ?
I'm about 20 hours into this game and I am very very disappointed. I use a pistol (the pop-pop sound is terrible) with a elementalist backup. Firstly, the mouse sensitivity is, in my opinion, the worst part of the game (with no option to adjust). If enemies get behind you, which they always do immediately, it takes far to long to just spin your character around. Basically, to turn my character around, I have to drag my mouse across my desk. Secondly, the "puzzle quests" which are this games supposed bread and butter, are not puzzles at all. They are "alt-tab to google" or "ask in general chat" puzzles. NOBODY on earth would know these "answers". And, no, they aren't found in-game. Believe me, I checked. Extensively. The skill wheel, while a decent idea, cannot be reset. So, if you make a mistake or want to change builds, you can't. Lastly, this game is in desperate need of a more expanded tutorial. Crafting makes no sense and is extremely tedious. I had such high hopes for this game too. With a purchase price, a monthly sub fee, AND a cash shop, this game is doomed
My $0.02
Because it's Funcom. What more do you really expect?
This is their third-strike-and-out.
It's going to make the cries of disappointment and outrage at AO and AoC's releases pale in comparison.
Can't wait.
Edit: Another "genius" move is forcing players to use google to find solutions to puzzles instead of having them solveable ingame. Every time you take someone out of the game, it makes it that more likely they'll stay out.
-Letting Derek Smart work on your game is like letting Osama bin Laden work in the White House. Something will burn.-
-And on the 8th day, man created God.-
Of course she didn't feel scared. Of course she didn't feel suspense. It's a modern MMORPG after all. These games rarely evoke any sort of real feelings simply because you can't really lose. There is no reason to be scared when everyone wins. The scaryiest most suspenseful MMORPG? Well that would be EVE. For obvious reasons.
Are you a Pavlovian Fish Biscuit Addict? Get Help Now!
I will play no more MMORPGs until somethign good comes out!
I have been wanting to say some things about this game for a long time now but during CB was unable to do so. I will freely admit that the game defintly has flaws and i wont waste anyone's time trying to make excuses for them. On the other hand the game does have some rather apealing qualities as well.
First off, yes your charachter itself is the least impressive thing in the game graphicly speaking. The animations for your toon are also the worst of the animations you will encounter and because it is your charachter it will be everpresent on your screen. On the other hand, the environments and monsters you will encounter are very well done. The atmosphere of the game itself is its own subtle narrative and easy to get lost in.
When my gf played it there was a point where she was running down the street and she saw a scooter off the side of the road with a corpse nearby. When she went to investigate the corpse she jumped out of her computer chair with a yelp when she finally noticed the monster on all 4's that had been feeding on the corpse. It looked up at her as she aproached, growled, and scurried away quickly still on all 4's and she didnt even see it till she was almost right at the corpse and it growled at her, despite the monster being bigger than the corpse itself. On a side note, my gf is not squeamish. She actually deals with dead bodies every week and once stabbed a guy who tried to carjack her on her way to my place (she showed up with her hands still covered in blood).
This is the only mmo i have ever played that i found myself making actual attempts to avoid combat when and where i could. The monsters you fight do lovecraft justice. The missions/quests dont hold your hand. Yes they do have quest indicators for many of them to at least get you in the right area but the context of the quests make sense and when you get to those area's you will still have to find what your looking for and its not always an obvious glowing item.
The skill system is actually my favorite part of anything having to do with your charachter. The freedom to make whatever kind of hybrid or pure role build you like is something im a big fan of. It does remind me alot of GW1, but i happened to have enjoyed GW1 and the skill system was a major reason why. I loved coming up with builds. The inclusion of a passive skill deck as well gives it an interesting synergy, especially since unlike the active skills, passive skills arent limited by what weapons you are currently using.
Now before everyone asumes im just a huge fanboy, let me also point out, I absolutely loathe the crafting system in this game. It is one of the worst crafting systems i have ever seen in any game. Its complexity is entirely pointless and not actually fun or redeemable in any way. They would have been better off sticking to just a basic run of the mill crafting system imo.
In total, i did prepurchase the game for myself and my gf, but i decided against the lifetime subscription. I believe that issues aside this game may wind up being one of the best mmo's on the market as of this moment, but unfortunately for funcom and TSW, GW2 is coming out and admittedly TSW suddenly has a much higher bar to be compared to in the near future. I kind of wish this game had come out a year or 2 ago as it would have defintly had more time in the sun.
I used to be really hyped for TSW. Now it's just feels meh to me. My opinion may change, and I hope it does, but Funcom has to make a believer out of me again. If I buy this game, it most likely will be a few months down the road after launch, unless I'm sold again after NDA is lifted. I mean, it's like a little over a month until TSW is supposedly gonna launch, and I'm still struggling to find informations about this game. A lot of the videos seem to be old and crappy, or very scripted demonstrations.
Character creation, animations and sound are all very important to me. These don't make or break a game for me per se, but they come freaking close if I can't stand them or feel they were only done half-a**.
"This means there will be times when swinging a sword or using your fist weapons will look odd, but it's the price they've had to pay for allowing players the ability to move while attacking at any time. Basically, it becomes more difficult to structure animations that always look perfect when the characters can't move during the animations."
Ya know, I'm not sure I completely buy this from Funcom. I mean, take a game like Saints Row the Third. Granted, it's a single player game and I'm not sure what engine it uses, but you can move around freely while attacking and..omg does it look really fluid, natural, and good. Funcom should study that game's animations ;3
pie.
Well sorry but no one is saying animations are bad for no reason, people are simply saying it is bad. I for one don't actually care why it sucks or the technicality of it but only that it sucks. I don't care about their technical reasoning and it is not my problem as a customer because there are games out there(mmos too) which has good animations and mobile combat. So either make it so that it is possible for your game too or let it be known that your game has bad animations. Simple as that. Frankly, Mr. Ellingsen shouldn't embarass themselves with such meaningless explanations in my opinion.
And by the way, what about the sounds? Which is a huge component in creating atmosphere which this game is so bragging about, are those sound effects placeholders too? Such horsec**p.
I can kind of see what she means about animations and sound, but it really comes with the territory of having been spoiled by a *single* title.
The upper-body working in tandem with lower-body animations is nothing new, and is actually a smart method to use because it prevents what could be even worse singular animations while kiting (etc). What has spoiled that for me is the Euphoria engine used in GTA4; no matter what angle you are running, firing at a target always looked picture-perfect (in terms of pose). It's not enough to make me dead set on every game having that high of a benchmark for this kind of thing, though.
Sound quality could get to me though, because I am one to not play an entire race/class/whatever if I can't stand the noises they make. I can't really see myself being picky over the sounds guns make, but I can say that I was a bit spoiled by Fallen Earth. When you get to actual gunpowder-type guns in that one, it becomes epic. They are authentic and *loud*, as well as able to ring out for quite a distance. You could be out on the range and hear a shot that lets you triangulate the direction and distance to a target based on a lot of factors. It's really well done.
Again, though... just because one group has "done it right" doesn't mean everyone has to. That's how things get "samey" in the first place. I remember a time when "the lack thereof" meant "charm".
Writer / Musician / Game Designer
Now Playing: Skyrim, Wurm Online, Tropico 4
Waiting On: GW2, TSW, Archeage, The Rapture
I see what you mean about the being "spoiled" aspect. I think Saints Row the Third has maybe spoiled me a little with their animations, and maybe FFXIV to an extent when it comes to an MMO. I don't think anyone is expecting Funcom to raise the bar on animations with TSW. I think what a lot of people are saying though is that they're mostly horrid and dated in their current form, and should be improved upon.
pie.
If this game doesnt flop Im gonna eat my hat
Animations look cheap, the hp bar stays almost at full when being attacked, the rooms look "boxy" and plastic like. The ui isnt nice looking. The gameplay videos simply has the effect on me that I dont want to play TWS. A miracle has to happen if this game makes game of the year.
If I want to ignore animations to simply follow the story I buy a sound book instead.
The character build, sound and animation huh? Really? You do realize that this is beta right?
The Tokyo flashback is not the same thing as the intro movie - which is what you discribed.
Tired of zombies? You do know what kind of game this is right?
Nothing about the incredible Lovecraft inspired atmosphere in Kingmouth huh?
Seems like there are somethings that you like in your games that may make this not the game for you.
Dude, they are a mere 5 weeks away from release! Get a grip!
And that Erling Ellingsen guy! You do know who he is right? That guy litterly grew a nose a 1000 times larger than pinochio with all the lies and false promisses and other PR bullshit he spread during his time on Age of Conan.
I don't believe a single word anymore coming from his mouth! Not after Age of Conan.
I have been so looking forward to his game! Following it for years since it was announced! Hoping third time would be the charm with Funcom, with a better director/producer on the helm would make a difference!
This game is absolutely awful! Age of Conan was smooth as silk at launch! With better animations, better combat, better voicing, very smooth gameplay.
The Secret World is the complete opposite of that! It's horribly clunky, with awful controls, terrible animations and combat. And the voice acting is even worse than SW:TOR's!
You won't believe how dissapointed I am with this game in it's current state! I am shocked! Especially since this game is actually longer in development than Age of Conan ever was.
And looking at the Achievements list. 3 tiny hubs (one for each society). 3 zone areas and a handful of dungeons! Is that all the game is going to release with??
I really wonder what they have been spending all that time on?? /shrug
For once I am giving myself a HUGE pat on the back for NOT pre-ordering this time! I won't be buying this game until I actually hear and see more positive feedback after launch.... but with Funcom's reputation, it probably gonna take at least a year (like with AoC) to fix this mess.
It all makes me really sad! As I absolutely love the setting and what this game tries to do. /cry
It is overally pretty amazing looking to me.
I will agree there is something a bit off with the character models, lack of ability to customize your size/build. Also movement is not the best. But apart from that the apparent depth of abilities and the ambience of the world is just outstanding.
Ah.. same old funcom.. exactly what they did with AOC. Have a beta with a ton of broken or missing stuff, but promise that it will all be magically fixed right before launch.
If AOC and AO are any indication..what you see now is what you will see at launch. There was never any major improvement made in AOC the last 8 weeks of beta... despite all the promises.
Also again, they are showing very very limited amount of the game. For all your talking about ambiance and ´feel´.. you don´t have to believe, but I almost promise you it will drop off a cliff after the small part of the game they allowed you to play. In AOC, leaving tortage was like starting a new game.. a much much less polished game.
Funcom strikes again.