The Environment Artists have done an excellent job of portraying the world, I think.
Unfortunately, I can't say the same for the Character Models and their animations and there is a huge disconnect for me when the Character I am controlling doesnt move logically to their porportions.
If we look at games like Tera or GW2, their animations quality is top notch.. You would expect an Amani to move a bit slower or take shorter steps because of their lumbering frames and they have done that beautifully in Tera, and the same goes for the Charr in GW2, They are animalistic yet 'civilized' to an extent, and you can FEEL that in the way they move from being Bi-pedal to running on all-fours when they are out of combat or not holding a weapon/item.
In TSW everything feels disjointed though, and the top half of the body seemingly moves independant of the bottom half at some points (this is understandable for creating attack animations which can be done while moving.) but unless they have completely botched the Rigs (character skeletons) on the models they should at least be able to use animation blending for actions which can be done while moving... Heck I learned how to do that in the first 6 months of studying to become a 3D Artist...
So, until they do a complete overhaul or refinement of the Animations, I'm going to have to give TSW a miss.
It may seem like a shallow reason to some, but if I can't 'connect' with my character then the rest of the game becomes uninteresting to me.
"The problem with quotes from the Internet is that it's almost impossible to validate their authenticity." - Abraham Lincoln
Opinion is just that, and on this site is usually so biased it is worth ignoring.
So, basically, you said we should just ignore you... Think about it. You just gave a strong, clearly biased opinion lacking subtly and nuance... Which is the exact kind of opinion I would automatically discount based on your warning about biased opinions...
It may seem like a shallow reason to some, but if I can't 'connect' with my character then the rest of the game becomes uninteresting to me.
I totally understand. However I place myself on a different side.
That's why I barely can look at Tera and I had an hard time on GW2 bwe; and if Tera, imo is completely ignorable, GW2 has some interesting features; however I have problems coping with elves and asuras and charrs (specially as they look like plush toys), and all the ultra-coloured world setting and fireworks animations for skills...
So even with not so good animations (I am in CBT and don't find them bad also), all the setting, plus the other features of this game, interest me a lot more than GW2 or Tera or the likes...
I've pointed this out before and I'll point it out again.
The animations are shoddy because of how they designed them.
Instead of making seperate walking animations and standing animations while attacking them animate the body and legs seperately, making completely disconnected animations. It looks very unproffessional and unnatural.
This is NOT changing, they did this on purpose, there's a quote floating around saying why they did it.
Hmm maby I'm silly, but the thing I care less about, are the animations and the character models..you look at your character from behind anyway, so whats the problem.
The game mechanics and gameplay is what I care about, the rest is "meh, they'll probably fix it later, and if they don't, big deal"
Just hope they fix all the bugs so the game runs smooth at launch, and from what I've seen so far I thnik the devs are ontop of things.
Hmm maby I'm silly, but the thing I care less about, are the animations and the character models..you look at your character from behind anyway, so whats the problem.
The game mechanics and gameplay is what I care about, the rest is "meh, they'll probably fix it later, and if they don't, big deal"
Just hope they fix all the bugs so the game runs smooth at launch, and from what I've seen so far I thnik the devs are ontop of things.
game is heavy on the cut scenes( not like swtor heavy but still a good amount of them) so you will see your character from every angle plenty of times
I angered the clerk in a clothing shop today. She asked me what size I was and I said actual, because I am not to scale. I like vending machines 'cause snacks are better when they fall. If I buy a candy bar at a store, oftentimes, I will drop it... so that it achieves its maximum flavor potential. --Mitch Hedberg
Should I believe the claims that beta is very limited, and current animations are only placeholders?
It sounds like a lie I can't find any reason for this.
If this is really for testing, then animations should be tested too right? What's the point hiding them if it will turn out at realease that new ones are crashing the game, or are even more hated by players.
If this is only for marketing not testing then it is even more stupid, since it causes a lot of confusion and negative response. People saying they won't play because of lame animations. Bad reviews about the game because of animations. No one even read official claims that they are placeholders. So it kinda messed up marketing.
So, what's the point of limiting beta? Please explain. I think these were supposed to be final, and when they heard in first beta that these animations suck, they started to do all the little changes they can in this short amount of time, that won't make much difference. But it is just my thought.
They could be "placeholders" but they will hold places even after the game is released because the chances of them getting the new animations ready before the release are looking slim.
Almost every time when I was in some last beta or closed beta, what I've seen in that last beta version that's what the live game looked like. Many times things were improved after the release but lately that hasn't been the case.
IF you like the game for everything else but have problem with animations you can just wait a little and see how the game goes in it's first few months after release. If or when they replace the animations you can dig in to the game
I do agree with you that most "open beta" events are just for marketing and to build up some hype, but they gotta use everything they can to make profit even if it means to get a backlash. Just what I think about it. Not saying it doesn't piss me off because it certanly does
"Happiness is not a destination. It is a method of life." -------------------------------
I dont know what you want but when I trigger thors hammer a massive hammer comes down with lightning and nails a target also when I uppercut with my hammer it looks like it will take the head off most things irl.
The animations may seem awkward but I wouldnt call them bad or the worst I have seen.
The character models are fine, nothing "wrong" with them, except that you can't customize the body shape and size at all.
The characters have fairly limited customization for the faces, and most of the female faces are ugly.
The character clothing is very detailed and there's a huge selection of clothing in the game.
Funcom purposefully chose to limit body customization, and the reasons why are on the website. The primary reason for the decision seems to boil down to PVP. Limiting the variety of body shapes allows for much larger numbers of players to fight in warzones without causing bad lag (a problem that AoC has).
Anyone that doubts Funcom's graphic skills in the character customizing and combat animation departments need only create a character in AoC and play an hour or two. They CAN do it, but it has consequences.
Character graphics or world graphics? TSW does have nice world graphics, character graphics and animations are horrible though.
I laugh at this kind of absolute opinion. Some parts of the character animations and creation are rough and not aesthetically pleasing (at least to me), some are quite good (at least to me). Yet there is no space for 'in-between." This constant "all bad" thing when it comes to the character animations and models is tiresome.
So, first of all, the animations are not 'horrible.' Some are good. Some are so-so. If you want to see actual garbage animations, play the ARMA2 Day Z mod. The zombie animations are horrible. They are amateur beyond belief (because they were done by amateurs, it's a mod...). TSWs are not even worst I've seen in an MMO. STO still hasn't gotten their animations down and they've been redoing character animations and away team stuff for years now. And I could pick on some other MMOs, but they're also considered failures as well and it will muddy the point.
But great animations alone do not the MMO make. SWTOR's animations are great looking, and they're routinely praised. But routinely sacrifice 'weapons contact' and 'realism' for style and are, because of that reason, completely silly at times -- example: a lightsaber strike passes all the way through an opponent. Depending on the attack animation, they should be in two pieces or dead with no heart... Not running around with a 3" hole in their heart or with a severed spine (and torso) stuck to their hips... So, yeah, style's not everything. You can have some the prettiest animations in MMOs, but if they make the situation unbelievable, they'll cause the suspension of disbelief to break and your immersion will have just taken a big kick to the buttocks.
In TSW, some of the facial characteristics don't work in a beauty-queen fashion on all faces. But that's real world. You ever seen Jay Leno? Before he became a TV star he had a nightclub act. One of his bits was about how he'd done a Hollywood screen test for a sitcom and he didn't get the part. His face scared small children... Garrison Keillor has talked about his looks and why he's on radio and not TV... The last third of Jack Elam's career was in comedy beause of his looks and walleye. And of course we have Marty Feldman and his eyes... There are actors who make a living by being ugly and funny looking. There are internet websites dedicated to hosting pictures of 'ugly' people. Let's face it, despite the population of beauty queens you see in MMOs, not everyone is a beauty queen. And since this is a nominal 'real world' MMO, this game (appropriately) will let you make an ugly character. And I don't see that as a CC defect. I was able to make three good looking characters (and deleted one). I made one ugly character (and deleted it as well).
I'm not saying the system is perfect or the best ever. My daughter is in the Japanese Open Beta of Phantasy Star Online 2. She showed me the CC in that game. It's amazing. It's one of the best I've ever seen. I'd love to have it in a non-anime way in this game. But this CC does work, you can make interesting, ugly and/or beautiful characters.
But TSW's still good enough to make beauty queens if you'dl ike. In fact, I accidently made Sarah Palin and regardless of how you feel about her politics, she's a fine looking woman and was a beauty queen... I didn't realize I'd made her at first. But, dang, if wasn't her it was her twin sister by the time I got her completed.
So, as far as the CC goes, I would like more hair choices that weren't 'drop-out-from-punk-band.' I'd like more glasses choices than 'hip glasses from 2009.' I'd like some hats!!! I want a Cowboy hat to go with the cowboy boots on my Sarah Palin character... I'd like more preset heads. More mouth selections. Better lips for both genders. More make up selections.
But it does work. It may not be the best character creator in the universe. But you can make the good, the bad and they ugly. Just like the real world. This is definately not a "supermodels only" character creator.
The animations are "bad". NPCs still act like robots/puppets or some third rate actors. The lack of expressions/emotions and the awkward behavior really hurt the gaming experience. Even the new/additional idle animations for your toon and some npcs doesn't help at all. The different stages are not fluent. There is no transition (Starting position/animation > idle animation > starting animation/position.) . Just look at Mei Ling in the "Tutorial".
The majority of conversations are awkward. For example the first dialogue with Jae-Hoon. The laughter during the conversation is weird and i looked like a retard with no expression.
What's wrong with the animations? you can't be serious, these are great animations. Maybe I'm blind, or maybe you are just mentally disturbed and need to turn off your computers?
If you honestly think that those animations are great, you obviously haven't played any video games in the last 5 years.
Just answer my question, what is seriously wrong with the animations? I compare graphics and animations with other MMO's, WOW, Tera, GW2, SWTOR, and I actually find TSW to be the best of them all. I think everyone agrees with that unless they have a special agenda against funcom. Or maybe the next stop for you is a psychiatrist.
Mooooo!
(and by the way, what's the meaning of posting endlessly comments on a game you don't like?)
They don't look natural. Ever heard of uncanny valley? Look it up.
If you honestly compared TSW's graphics to GW2 and TERA and still believe that TSW's are better, you are the one who needs to see a psychiatrist.
BTW, don't make assumptions.
Then we agree on disagreeing. You want human movements to look natural? Take another look at TERA and GW2 then. Not even close to look as natural as TSW-characters
It's unfortunate that the animations aren't gonna be updated further. A lot of them look very boring and stiff, and the disconnect from top and bottom makes a lot of them look a bit awkward.
But you know what I noticed? Getting into the storyline and the atmosphere of the game really took my mind off of that while in the last beta weekend. I think it actually might be easily overlooked considering the quality of their art in other areas and the story and such.
But what they really need to do is up the amount of character customization on start-up. Currently, for a AAA title, it's severely and inexcusably lacking in this department for the type of game it is (aside from MMO; the storyline where your character is shown a lot, so you wanna create one you like.)
It's unfortunate that the animations aren't gonna be updated further. A lot of them look very boring and stiff, and the disconnect from top and bottom makes a lot of them look a bit awkward.
But you know what I noticed? Getting into the storyline and the atmosphere of the game really took my mind off of that while in the last beta weekend. I think it actually might be easily overlooked considering the quality of their art in other areas and the story and such.
But what they really need to do is up the amount of character customization on start-up. Currently, for a AAA title, it's severely and inexcusable lacking in this department for the type of game it is (aside from MMO; the storyline where your character is shown a lot, so you wanna create one you like.)
this is currently the biggest complaint I see right now over in CB.. Unfortunatly the "official" response has been they have plans for post launch but don't expect much more for release.
I angered the clerk in a clothing shop today. She asked me what size I was and I said actual, because I am not to scale. I like vending machines 'cause snacks are better when they fall. If I buy a candy bar at a store, oftentimes, I will drop it... so that it achieves its maximum flavor potential. --Mitch Hedberg
Im pretty sure what is there is what will be live. If they change any animations it will probably after release. They already made changes to them since the last beta.
looks like this "bad animations/face models" group is getting smaller and smaller. You guys are losing the war... Keep trying though. Maybe even pivote to the good old "There's something missing" that one usually works for a week or two.
looks like this "bad animations/face models" group is getting smaller and smaller. You guys are losing the war... Keep trying though. Maybe even pivote to the good old "There's something missing" that one usually works for a week or two.
Back to fusang see ya when I see ya!
face models and CC is still the biggest topic in CB forums so not sure what you are talking about.
I angered the clerk in a clothing shop today. She asked me what size I was and I said actual, because I am not to scale. I like vending machines 'cause snacks are better when they fall. If I buy a candy bar at a store, oftentimes, I will drop it... so that it achieves its maximum flavor potential. --Mitch Hedberg
What's wrong with the animations? you can't be serious, these are great animations. Maybe I'm blind, or maybe you are just mentally disturbed and need to turn off your computers?
If you honestly think that those animations are great, you obviously haven't played any video games in the last 5 years.
Just answer my question, what is seriously wrong with the animations? I compare graphics and animations with other MMO's, WOW, Tera, GW2, SWTOR, and I actually find TSW to be the best of them all. I think everyone agrees with that unless they have a special agenda against funcom. Or maybe the next stop for you is a psychiatrist.
Mooooo!
(and by the way, what's the meaning of posting endlessly comments on a game you don't like?)
They don't look natural. Ever heard of uncanny valley? Look it up.
If you honestly compared TSW's graphics to GW2 and TERA and still believe that TSW's are better, you are the one who needs to see a psychiatrist.
BTW, don't make assumptions.
Then we agree on disagreeing. You want human movements to look natural? Take another look at TERA and GW2 then. Not even close to look as natural as TSW-characters
I'm not sure if you're familiar with the term "uncanny valley" so I'll try to explain it in terms related to video games.
As video game characters begin to look and act more and more like real humans, we begin to like them more. However, once a video game character reaches a point where it looks and acts almost human but not perfectly, it causes a feeling of revulsion in people. That is called "uncanny valley and that's exactly where TSW character models and animations fall. They look human but not exactly and they certainly don't move like humans.
Games with stylized aesthetics like WoW, TERA and GW2 don't really have these issues because our brain can clearly tell that the characters are not really humans. However, the more realistic looking the game gets, the more important it becomes to avoid the uncanny valley issue. It's more noticable for some people than for others. It's obvious that it's more noticable for me than you.
I hope they give more choices for face models in the released game. I'd hope for at least similar choices to what AoC has. Right now unfortunately the female models range from passable to horrible. Which is funny because the stereotype that western developers just can't make pretty female models still holds true in yet this game as well.
I don't really have an issue with the animation, it's a price you have to pay for this kind of sliding gameplay. GW2 has the exact same issue and all games that allow animation sliding will have similar issues.
Edit: Regarding the uncanny valey comment above, AoC character creator could make some god aweful women as well, but you could create some pretty ones as well. Here the choices are extremely limited as I mentioned above. Since it's basically the same engine, there should have been able to port those from one game to the next.
looks like this "bad animations/face models" group is getting smaller and smaller. You guys are losing the war... Keep trying though. Maybe even pivote to the good old "There's something missing" that one usually works for a week or two.
Back to fusang see ya when I see ya!
face models and CC is still the biggest topic in CB forums so not sure what you are talking about.
Right the biggest thing... On a scale of 1-10 it's like a 5, but yes you are right it's the "biggest thing."
It's more like "It would be nice to have more faces" not "I DEMAND MORE FACES OR I QUIT!@!" That's what I'm talking about. The "Face model" club is a small one.
Im pretty sure what is there is what will be live. If they change any animations it will probably after release. They already made changes to them since the last beta.
Have they? I can't see any differences.
i didnt see either. from my previous beta to this one animation/combat seem pretty same (if exist changes i didnt notice them...) except now have a dodge system, that was clear implement on rush.
i like graphics of game, quest and lore, skills costumization, well i like lot of things on TSW but the combat for me was so boring and bad than i couldnt ^really enjoy the game.
looks like this "bad animations/face models" group is getting smaller and smaller. You guys are losing the war... Keep trying though. Maybe even pivote to the good old "There's something missing" that one usually works for a week or two.
Back to fusang see ya when I see ya!
face models and CC is still the biggest topic in CB forums so not sure what you are talking about.
Right the biggest thing... On a scale of 1-10 it's like a 5, but yes you are right it's the "biggest thing."
It's more like "It would be nice to have more faces" not "I DEMAND MORE FACES OR I QUIT!@!" That's what I'm talking about. The "Face model" club is a small one.
it's still a huge concern as CC is once again a persons first view of a game like this and to do it so horribly even if the rest of the game is great is a real downer and can't understand why it hasn't been a higher priority for them. They are trying to create a real life atmosphere a place people can RP. Then they stick you with one of the worst CC's a AAA mmo has ever had, just doesn't make sense to me.
think this "club" as you say is a lot bigger than you think...
I angered the clerk in a clothing shop today. She asked me what size I was and I said actual, because I am not to scale. I like vending machines 'cause snacks are better when they fall. If I buy a candy bar at a store, oftentimes, I will drop it... so that it achieves its maximum flavor potential. --Mitch Hedberg
It's unfortunate that the animations aren't gonna be updated further. A lot of them look very boring and stiff, and the disconnect from top and bottom makes a lot of them look a bit awkward.
But you know what I noticed? Getting into the storyline and the atmosphere of the game really took my mind off of that while in the last beta weekend. I think it actually might be easily overlooked considering the quality of their art in other areas and the story and such.
But what they really need to do is up the amount of character customization on start-up. Currently, for a AAA title, it's severely and inexcusable lacking in this department for the type of game it is (aside from MMO; the storyline where your character is shown a lot, so you wanna create one you like.)
this is currently the biggest complaint I see right now over in CB.. Unfortunatly the "official" response has been they have plans for post launch but don't expect much more for release.
That is disheartening, to say the least.
I did see a video where they were doing a presentation for the game, actually it was a recent presentation where they showed off that "Darkness War" instance, where they said they were gonna have more options at launch, however.
If what you say is true, I will not even bother purchasing this game. Can't help but feel they're holding back on the options just so they can sell them in their Cash Shop if this is the case.
It's unfortunate that the animations aren't gonna be updated further. A lot of them look very boring and stiff, and the disconnect from top and bottom makes a lot of them look a bit awkward.
But you know what I noticed? Getting into the storyline and the atmosphere of the game really took my mind off of that while in the last beta weekend. I think it actually might be easily overlooked considering the quality of their art in other areas and the story and such.
But what they really need to do is up the amount of character customization on start-up. Currently, for a AAA title, it's severely and inexcusable lacking in this department for the type of game it is (aside from MMO; the storyline where your character is shown a lot, so you wanna create one you like.)
this is currently the biggest complaint I see right now over in CB.. Unfortunatly the "official" response has been they have plans for post launch but don't expect much more for release.
That is disheartening, to say the least.
I did see a video where they were doing a presentation for the game, where they said the character creation options would be expanded come launch... but that may have been a video from like 2011 with those options already in.
Hm... I think I've just lost interest in the game, if what you say is true. Can't help but feel they're holding back on the options just so they can sell them in their Cash Shop.
Well the lead dev just had a reddit ask me anything session and confirmed CC is pretty much what is going to be at launch with future updates "planned" but that's about as in depth as he got on the topic.. sad I know
I angered the clerk in a clothing shop today. She asked me what size I was and I said actual, because I am not to scale. I like vending machines 'cause snacks are better when they fall. If I buy a candy bar at a store, oftentimes, I will drop it... so that it achieves its maximum flavor potential. --Mitch Hedberg
Comments
The Environment Artists have done an excellent job of portraying the world, I think.
Unfortunately, I can't say the same for the Character Models and their animations and there is a huge disconnect for me when the Character I am controlling doesnt move logically to their porportions.
If we look at games like Tera or GW2, their animations quality is top notch.. You would expect an Amani to move a bit slower or take shorter steps because of their lumbering frames and they have done that beautifully in Tera, and the same goes for the Charr in GW2, They are animalistic yet 'civilized' to an extent, and you can FEEL that in the way they move from being Bi-pedal to running on all-fours when they are out of combat or not holding a weapon/item.
In TSW everything feels disjointed though, and the top half of the body seemingly moves independant of the bottom half at some points (this is understandable for creating attack animations which can be done while moving.) but unless they have completely botched the Rigs (character skeletons) on the models they should at least be able to use animation blending for actions which can be done while moving... Heck I learned how to do that in the first 6 months of studying to become a 3D Artist...
So, until they do a complete overhaul or refinement of the Animations, I'm going to have to give TSW a miss.
It may seem like a shallow reason to some, but if I can't 'connect' with my character then the rest of the game becomes uninteresting to me.
"The problem with quotes from the Internet is that it's almost impossible to validate their authenticity." - Abraham Lincoln
So, basically, you said we should just ignore you...
Think about it. You just gave a strong, clearly biased opinion lacking subtly and nuance... Which is the exact kind of opinion I would automatically discount based on your warning about biased opinions...
I totally understand. However I place myself on a different side.
That's why I barely can look at Tera and I had an hard time on GW2 bwe; and if Tera, imo is completely ignorable, GW2 has some interesting features; however I have problems coping with elves and asuras and charrs (specially as they look like plush toys), and all the ultra-coloured world setting and fireworks animations for skills...
So even with not so good animations (I am in CBT and don't find them bad also), all the setting, plus the other features of this game, interest me a lot more than GW2 or Tera or the likes...
I've pointed this out before and I'll point it out again.
The animations are shoddy because of how they designed them.
Instead of making seperate walking animations and standing animations while attacking them animate the body and legs seperately, making completely disconnected animations. It looks very unproffessional and unnatural.
This is NOT changing, they did this on purpose, there's a quote floating around saying why they did it.
Hmm maby I'm silly, but the thing I care less about, are the animations and the character models..you look at your character from behind anyway, so whats the problem.
The game mechanics and gameplay is what I care about, the rest is "meh, they'll probably fix it later, and if they don't, big deal"
Just hope they fix all the bugs so the game runs smooth at launch, and from what I've seen so far I thnik the devs are ontop of things.
game is heavy on the cut scenes( not like swtor heavy but still a good amount of them) so you will see your character from every angle plenty of times
I angered the clerk in a clothing shop today. She asked me what size I was and I said actual, because I am not to scale. I like vending machines 'cause snacks are better when they fall. If I buy a candy bar at a store, oftentimes, I will drop it... so that it achieves its maximum flavor potential. --Mitch Hedberg
They could be "placeholders" but they will hold places even after the game is released because the chances of them getting the new animations ready before the release are looking slim.
Almost every time when I was in some last beta or closed beta, what I've seen in that last beta version that's what the live game looked like. Many times things were improved after the release but lately that hasn't been the case.
IF you like the game for everything else but have problem with animations you can just wait a little and see how the game goes in it's first few months after release. If or when they replace the animations you can dig in to the game
I do agree with you that most "open beta" events are just for marketing and to build up some hype, but they gotta use everything they can to make profit even if it means to get a backlash. Just what I think about it. Not saying it doesn't piss me off because it certanly does
"Happiness is not a destination. It is a method of life."
-------------------------------
I dont know what you want but when I trigger thors hammer a massive hammer comes down with lightning and nails a target also when I uppercut with my hammer it looks like it will take the head off most things irl.
The animations may seem awkward but I wouldnt call them bad or the worst I have seen.
bu...but gw2 and so on!
The character models are fine, nothing "wrong" with them, except that you can't customize the body shape and size at all.
The characters have fairly limited customization for the faces, and most of the female faces are ugly.
The character clothing is very detailed and there's a huge selection of clothing in the game.
Funcom purposefully chose to limit body customization, and the reasons why are on the website. The primary reason for the decision seems to boil down to PVP. Limiting the variety of body shapes allows for much larger numbers of players to fight in warzones without causing bad lag (a problem that AoC has).
Anyone that doubts Funcom's graphic skills in the character customizing and combat animation departments need only create a character in AoC and play an hour or two. They CAN do it, but it has consequences.
I laugh at this kind of absolute opinion. Some parts of the character animations and creation are rough and not aesthetically pleasing (at least to me), some are quite good (at least to me). Yet there is no space for 'in-between." This constant "all bad" thing when it comes to the character animations and models is tiresome.
So, first of all, the animations are not 'horrible.' Some are good. Some are so-so. If you want to see actual garbage animations, play the ARMA2 Day Z mod. The zombie animations are horrible. They are amateur beyond belief (because they were done by amateurs, it's a mod...). TSWs are not even worst I've seen in an MMO. STO still hasn't gotten their animations down and they've been redoing character animations and away team stuff for years now. And I could pick on some other MMOs, but they're also considered failures as well and it will muddy the point.
But great animations alone do not the MMO make. SWTOR's animations are great looking, and they're routinely praised. But routinely sacrifice 'weapons contact' and 'realism' for style and are, because of that reason, completely silly at times -- example: a lightsaber strike passes all the way through an opponent. Depending on the attack animation, they should be in two pieces or dead with no heart... Not running around with a 3" hole in their heart or with a severed spine (and torso) stuck to their hips... So, yeah, style's not everything. You can have some the prettiest animations in MMOs, but if they make the situation unbelievable, they'll cause the suspension of disbelief to break and your immersion will have just taken a big kick to the buttocks.
In TSW, some of the facial characteristics don't work in a beauty-queen fashion on all faces. But that's real world. You ever seen Jay Leno? Before he became a TV star he had a nightclub act. One of his bits was about how he'd done a Hollywood screen test for a sitcom and he didn't get the part. His face scared small children... Garrison Keillor has talked about his looks and why he's on radio and not TV... The last third of Jack Elam's career was in comedy beause of his looks and walleye. And of course we have Marty Feldman and his eyes... There are actors who make a living by being ugly and funny looking. There are internet websites dedicated to hosting pictures of 'ugly' people. Let's face it, despite the population of beauty queens you see in MMOs, not everyone is a beauty queen. And since this is a nominal 'real world' MMO, this game (appropriately) will let you make an ugly character. And I don't see that as a CC defect. I was able to make three good looking characters (and deleted one). I made one ugly character (and deleted it as well).
I'm not saying the system is perfect or the best ever. My daughter is in the Japanese Open Beta of Phantasy Star Online 2. She showed me the CC in that game. It's amazing. It's one of the best I've ever seen. I'd love to have it in a non-anime way in this game. But this CC does work, you can make interesting, ugly and/or beautiful characters.
But TSW's still good enough to make beauty queens if you'dl ike. In fact, I accidently made Sarah Palin and regardless of how you feel about her politics, she's a fine looking woman and was a beauty queen... I didn't realize I'd made her at first. But, dang, if wasn't her it was her twin sister by the time I got her completed.
So, as far as the CC goes, I would like more hair choices that weren't 'drop-out-from-punk-band.' I'd like more glasses choices than 'hip glasses from 2009.' I'd like some hats!!! I want a Cowboy hat to go with the cowboy boots on my Sarah Palin character... I'd like more preset heads. More mouth selections. Better lips for both genders. More make up selections.
But it does work. It may not be the best character creator in the universe. But you can make the good, the bad and they ugly. Just like the real world. This is definately not a "supermodels only" character creator.
The animations are "bad". NPCs still act like robots/puppets or some third rate actors. The lack of expressions/emotions and the awkward behavior really hurt the gaming experience. Even the new/additional idle animations for your toon and some npcs doesn't help at all. The different stages are not fluent. There is no transition (Starting position/animation > idle animation > starting animation/position.) . Just look at Mei Ling in the "Tutorial".
The majority of conversations are awkward. For example the first dialogue with Jae-Hoon. The laughter during the conversation is weird and i looked like a retard with no expression.
IMO TSW needs more time for polishing.
BTW.
Did they remove some of the random chatter?
Then we agree on disagreeing. You want human movements to look natural? Take another look at TERA and GW2 then. Not even close to look as natural as TSW-characters
It's unfortunate that the animations aren't gonna be updated further. A lot of them look very boring and stiff, and the disconnect from top and bottom makes a lot of them look a bit awkward.
But you know what I noticed? Getting into the storyline and the atmosphere of the game really took my mind off of that while in the last beta weekend. I think it actually might be easily overlooked considering the quality of their art in other areas and the story and such.
But what they really need to do is up the amount of character customization on start-up. Currently, for a AAA title, it's severely and inexcusably lacking in this department for the type of game it is (aside from MMO; the storyline where your character is shown a lot, so you wanna create one you like.)
this is currently the biggest complaint I see right now over in CB.. Unfortunatly the "official" response has been they have plans for post launch but don't expect much more for release.
I angered the clerk in a clothing shop today. She asked me what size I was and I said actual, because I am not to scale. I like vending machines 'cause snacks are better when they fall. If I buy a candy bar at a store, oftentimes, I will drop it... so that it achieves its maximum flavor potential. --Mitch Hedberg
Have they? I can't see any differences.
looks like this "bad animations/face models" group is getting smaller and smaller. You guys are losing the war... Keep trying though. Maybe even pivote to the good old "There's something missing" that one usually works for a week or two.
Back to fusang see ya when I see ya!
face models and CC is still the biggest topic in CB forums so not sure what you are talking about.
I angered the clerk in a clothing shop today. She asked me what size I was and I said actual, because I am not to scale. I like vending machines 'cause snacks are better when they fall. If I buy a candy bar at a store, oftentimes, I will drop it... so that it achieves its maximum flavor potential. --Mitch Hedberg
I'm not sure if you're familiar with the term "uncanny valley" so I'll try to explain it in terms related to video games.
As video game characters begin to look and act more and more like real humans, we begin to like them more. However, once a video game character reaches a point where it looks and acts almost human but not perfectly, it causes a feeling of revulsion in people. That is called "uncanny valley and that's exactly where TSW character models and animations fall. They look human but not exactly and they certainly don't move like humans.
Games with stylized aesthetics like WoW, TERA and GW2 don't really have these issues because our brain can clearly tell that the characters are not really humans. However, the more realistic looking the game gets, the more important it becomes to avoid the uncanny valley issue. It's more noticable for some people than for others. It's obvious that it's more noticable for me than you.
I hope they give more choices for face models in the released game. I'd hope for at least similar choices to what AoC has. Right now unfortunately the female models range from passable to horrible. Which is funny because the stereotype that western developers just can't make pretty female models still holds true in yet this game as well.
I don't really have an issue with the animation, it's a price you have to pay for this kind of sliding gameplay. GW2 has the exact same issue and all games that allow animation sliding will have similar issues.
Edit: Regarding the uncanny valey comment above, AoC character creator could make some god aweful women as well, but you could create some pretty ones as well. Here the choices are extremely limited as I mentioned above. Since it's basically the same engine, there should have been able to port those from one game to the next.
Right the biggest thing... On a scale of 1-10 it's like a 5, but yes you are right it's the "biggest thing."
It's more like "It would be nice to have more faces" not "I DEMAND MORE FACES OR I QUIT!@!" That's what I'm talking about. The "Face model" club is a small one.
back to Fusang! for real this time
i didnt see either. from my previous beta to this one animation/combat seem pretty same (if exist changes i didnt notice them...) except now have a dodge system, that was clear implement on rush.
i like graphics of game, quest and lore, skills costumization, well i like lot of things on TSW but the combat for me was so boring and bad than i couldnt ^really enjoy the game.
it's still a huge concern as CC is once again a persons first view of a game like this and to do it so horribly even if the rest of the game is great is a real downer and can't understand why it hasn't been a higher priority for them. They are trying to create a real life atmosphere a place people can RP. Then they stick you with one of the worst CC's a AAA mmo has ever had, just doesn't make sense to me.
think this "club" as you say is a lot bigger than you think...
I angered the clerk in a clothing shop today. She asked me what size I was and I said actual, because I am not to scale. I like vending machines 'cause snacks are better when they fall. If I buy a candy bar at a store, oftentimes, I will drop it... so that it achieves its maximum flavor potential. --Mitch Hedberg
That is disheartening, to say the least.
I did see a video where they were doing a presentation for the game, actually it was a recent presentation where they showed off that "Darkness War" instance, where they said they were gonna have more options at launch, however.
If what you say is true, I will not even bother purchasing this game. Can't help but feel they're holding back on the options just so they can sell them in their Cash Shop if this is the case.
Well the lead dev just had a reddit ask me anything session and confirmed CC is pretty much what is going to be at launch with future updates "planned" but that's about as in depth as he got on the topic.. sad I know
I angered the clerk in a clothing shop today. She asked me what size I was and I said actual, because I am not to scale. I like vending machines 'cause snacks are better when they fall. If I buy a candy bar at a store, oftentimes, I will drop it... so that it achieves its maximum flavor potential. --Mitch Hedberg