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Why is it so hard to improve character animations?
Belgaraath
Member UncommonPosts: 3,205
The graphics in this game with such a huge open world are top notch, especially with everything on high in DX10. Sometimes I catch myself just standing looking at the views or the atmospheric effects. I love this game, but what I don't understand is why they cannot improve the character animations. I think the graphics in the game are far superior to Aion and much in line with my taste, but they really should take a cue from Aion with regard to the animations. Does anyone know of another MMO that drastically improved the animations after it was released? Can it be done in an MMO? I would think so.
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The character animations are easily the worst part of this game, and I really do wish they would improve them. Playing the Aion open beta, I saw how nice character animations could be.
I agree about the animations. They are the worst part of the graphics. Having said that, they are not THAT bad, it's just the rest of the presentation is so well done.
Male characters need a more fluid confident stride and female characters need a more fluid feminine stride (slightly sultry...just a wee bit of hip action). As is, all toons look like they have lower back problems, especially when walking.
Waldo Inkwell
The LOTRO Chronicles
The character models could use some work too. Animations and character models kept me from playing this game. Big beautiful world and fantastic setting but I couldn't look past.
I agree with all this. In my opinion, Turbine just as the worst designers when it comes to character models. I was looking at the Aion avatars and moving my character around carefuly looking at the moving hair. However, in a Turbine game, the hair is essentially a piece of clay that just sits on the character's head.
All in all the avatars are very dissapointing to my taste.
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A reply from a dev states that most MMO's put a big amount of money in one thing, Turbine put there in The world, Aion put there in Animation.
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I have been looking forward to try this game for a while now, though I have to find some time as my game time is somewhat limited atm.
I'm actually playing EvE and AoC, both are games with outstanding graphics so I'm now somehow spoiled. I run these games with fairly high graphic settings, lowering them only when getting into PvP to improve my framerate and avoid lag.
Could any of you with first hand experience in EvE and/oe AoC, tell me how LotRO compare with them graphics wise?
Played: UO, SWG, TR, WoW, AoC, EvE
Playing:
Interested in: JGE, LotR, TSW
There's no way to compare EVE, which is a space sim where you never leave your ship, to a game like LotRO. As far as graphics, AoC is a lot better than LotRO. Character models, animation, landscape, everything.
Yes it would be nice if Turbine could improve character animations and character design.
Most major MMORPGs (Everquest2, AION, AOC, WoW, FFXI, L2 ) have better animations than Lotro today.
They do not work on character animations because the subscriber base is not clammering for it. They are working on the next expansion which is coming out December 1 and I hardly think that they are going to invest man-hours and cash on an aspect of the game that no one playing the game is complaining about. Turbine has been responsive to the LotRO subscribers and if we start complaining about animations long and loud enough they would address it.
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I've played all these titles. I agree with a previous post that it is hard to compare to Eve because it is in space but I would say that if you can play with the graphics all the way up, you will have those same WOW!!! moments you get in Eve when Eve is at its best.
Compared to AoC, I think LOTRO is head and shoulders better because all that you can see is actually exploreable whereas AoC is "a game on rails" (those who have played it know what I mean). Of all MMOs, I find LOTRO to be the most immersive and "believeable".
Waldo Inkwell
The LOTRO Chronicles
Most ppl agree that the animations are bad - and they have been so from day one and ppl have pointeted it out million times. Still Turbine does absolutly nothing about it.
I would love to see Turbine hold a Blizzcon like event and see every person in the hall BOO! the animators.
Now.... to the part that Turbine should be even more ashamed off....
MOUNTS !!
lotro-wiki.com/index.php/Mounts
For God sake.... How on (Middle)Earth can a game based on the best fantasy novels of all times have such HORRIBLE mounts ?
I will NEVER EVER play LOTRO simply because of these mounts. Turbine should be sued for destroying the LOTR lore with such horror. I can never ever read the books again without thinking back to this crappy mounts when I read about horses in the game.
Seriously ....
Animation is one of the biggest factor why ppl dont play LOTRO. Any poll would support that. Subscribers of LOTRO might be listened to. But there are probably millions of ppl that have tried it and left because of the animations. And Im not joking here. It is a huge factor why ppl do not play this game.
I get angry every time I think about it -cause Turbine managed to ruin my vision of Middle-Earth. I have to watch the movies over and over again just to get these horrors out of my head that is called LOTRO animations...
Animation is one of the biggest factor why ppl dont play LOTRO.
Yeah it's a huge factor which kept me from buying the game.
Animation is one of the biggest factor why ppl dont play LOTRO. Any poll would support that. Subscribers of LOTRO might be listened to. But there are probably millions of ppl that have tried it and left because of the animations. And Im not joking here. It is a huge factor why ppl do not play this game.
I get angry every time I think about it -cause Turbine managed to ruin my vision of Middle-Earth. I have to watch the movies over and over again just to get these horrors out of my head that is called LOTRO animations...
Yea I agree. When I tried LoTRO for the first time, the only thing that turned me off was the character animations. Everything else I absolutely LOVE: The lore, NPCs, etc.
But I do wish that Turbine would do something about it. Everytime I play another MMORPG and come back to LoTRO, I am only annoyed by the character's movement lol. It's something I can live with, but it would not hurt if it was improved.
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I would, without a doubt, play lotro in a heartbeat if the animations were improved. The only thing that's holding me back!
animations, mounts...
come on
it is the storyline, landscapes, the whole world which makes this game one of the best mmos
I agree. It is time to rent in a few SCA guys and put them in motions suits.
But I think they should redo the whole character modelling. The characters are the worst looking thing in the game, most other MMOs ave the other way around. You spend a lot of time with your character in mid screen and there is really no excuse for nnot making them as good as the rest of the graphics.
Truly, Bioware and Funcom are using people in motions suits to make their animations now. It both look better and are easier. Why can't turbine do the same?
But I have heard very little of Turbine since they released "the mines of Moria". Are they working on something new or have they fired a lot of people due to the economic crises like EA? The only thing lately was making DDO F2P.
Everything can be improved, cept Guiness stout. It is just how life works.
And I for one thought LOTRO would attract more players than it have, I mean Tolkien is together with Howard the most important and popular fantasy writer ever. And it sure aint the background graphics of the game, it looks great.
Maybe this is actually one of the reasons that the game doesn't have more players?
It's the animations that prevent me from enjoying the storyline, landscapes and the whole world which indeed would have made this THE best mmo for me. I just can't enjoy myself in that game because I get too annoyed over the fact that for a game that looks and feels so freakin awesome, the animations seem to be done by a total newb. The only 3d game I can think of that is as bad as lotro when it comes to character animations is, no surprise, DDO. What makes it even worse is that the npc's do move as they should, yet the player characters don't. So yup, it's the main reason, if not the only one, that drove me away from the game.
Fix the animations and I have a feeling quite a lot of new subscribers would be the result. I know I would be back the moment they implemented it.
The animations and modeling of characters makes me cringe at times. But I agree their landscapes are exceptional. I have some screenshots that rival paintings, and I am playing with direct x 9 not 10. Whenever I take screenshots, I'm usually careful to exclude my character or have a shot from the back.
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I've ridden horses in RL for many years and I think the horses in LOTRO are among the best I've seen in an MMO. What about them do you think is so bad? The things I would change if I could would be:
Add reins to the bridles ( really bugs me)
Change the sounds they make while moving to be more accurate.
Fix the walk animation which isn't really a walk.
The way they are modeled and the detailed skins are great. The idle animations are well done and the saddles and bridles are nicely detailed also.
It's also nice that they made the ponies look like ponies and didn't just shrink the horses.
I've ridden horses in RL for many years and I think the horses in LOTRO are among the best I've seen in an MMO. What about them do you think is so bad? The things I would change if I could would be:
Add reins to the bridles ( really bugs me)
Change the sounds they make while moving to be more accurate.
Fix the walk animation which isn't really a walk.
The way they are modeled and the detailed skins are great. The idle animations are well done and the saddles and bridles are nicely detailed also.
It's also nice that they made the ponies look like ponies and didn't just shrink the horses.
Im watching icelandic horses out of the window now - and to be honest - your picture makes me cry. It looks more of a cow than a horse.
Here is my version of a horse.
Head and "hair" and shape - farm4.static.flickr.com/3076/2608350399_0fb6abaaf0.jpg
www.youtube.com/watch
Movement - Yes these are real - takethereinstoday.com/images/icelandic_horse_u90i.jpg
Reins would be - www.empirefarms.com/Merlin.jpg Its a disgrace to not see rains in a world that is supposed to be none magical. It the best sign that Turbine has crappy ppl working on the game concept and are obviously spending ZERO effort into putting middle earth come to LIFE.
Or maybe it would be best that ppl actually looked at some of the pictures form the horses in LOTR movies and it would help ?
Here is one side with few links - www.brego.net/lotr/horses.php
For me - horses in LOTRO are a gamebreaking factor. Its pretty much the only game so far that I simply can not play because of it. That has probably to do with my imaginary version of horses in Middle - earth. But Im pretty sure my version of the horses is more of what Tolkien was thinking of - rather than the horror that Turbine is offering. I promise you that.
PS.... and if you want to see an awsome pony - then see the Icelandic horse do TÖLT. Enjoy
www.youtube.com/watch
While I agree that the character animations could use improvement, I don't have major issues with the horses. They are much better than WOW but I've never heard anyone say they passed on WOW because of the silly mounts (and they are silly in the extreme in WOW).
Having said that, Turbine is actually readdressing the core mount engine for the Mirkwood release. Check out that dev diary on this at [url]http://www.lotro.com/gameinfo/devdiaries/487-developer-diary-mounts-20[/url].
I know I am going to sound like a fan boy (okay, I am a LOTRO fan boy) but I find it very unusual to see developers going back and fixing things like this after a launch; especially only two years into a title. They've also tweaked the quests for level 1-20 and are working on 20-30 now (game flow issues...and they are greatly improving the leveling experience with the tweaks). This is another sort of change that I am delighted to see but am not used to see happening after launch (not to this degree).
All that to say, in any other title I'd say the character animations are what they are and they will never be changed. With Turbine's track record, you never know what they might put in resources to polish. Seems like they are always going back and polishing one aspect or another of the game.
Waldo Inkwell
The LOTRO Chronicles