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AoD combat video

Sarvis

Erudite
Joined
Aug 5, 2004
Messages
5,050
Location
Buffalo, NY
Higher Game said:
Also, what was up with that 2 damage hit causing damage to vital organs? :lol: An appealing part of Fallout was that your character wasn't a demigod, which is what he looks like in AoD, at least in that sample video.

It's pretty safe to assume they made the PC a demi-god so he would live long enough to show what they wanted to of combat.
 

bluecuracao

Novice
Joined
Jun 14, 2007
Messages
42
I love the javelin throwing in the chest and instant death animation. But the other ones definately need more blood plus more "impact" when hitting someone. Maybe it was just the missing sounds and the slow animation, but i felt the attacks lack some punch.
 

DaViLLaN

Augur
Joined
Jan 20, 2005
Messages
148
Location
Dernholm
Loved the video, loved the article. Yea, it might have been too sarcastic for the mainstream, but I respect that VD stayed true to the Codex. Ahhhh, integrity, how I love it when you drop by.

Really looking forward to the game.
 

Higher Game

Arcane
Joined
Apr 14, 2005
Messages
13,662
Location
Female Vagina
Sarvis said:
It's pretty safe to assume they made the PC a demi-god so he would live long enough to show what they wanted to of combat.

I still think the armor is taken too far. If it were like Gearhead armor that gets blasted away over time and requires repairs, then it would make more sense. I don't mean in a Diablo sense of repairs, I mean the armor should lose some of its potency after just a few good hits.
 

Nedrah

Erudite
Joined
Mar 14, 2005
Messages
1,693
Location
Germany
bluecuracao said:
I love the javelin throwing in the chest and instant death animation. But the other ones definately need more blood plus more "impact" when hitting someone. Maybe it was just the missing sounds and the slow animation, but i felt the attacks lack some punch.
y

Definitely mostly the sounds, and some lacking sense of dynamic impact caused by the slow animations. I think the animations themselves (possibly with the expception of the dodge one) are fine. Or, as in the case of the spear one, brilliant.
 

Vault Dweller

Commissar, Red Star Studio
Developer
Joined
Jan 7, 2003
Messages
28,024
@ Higher Game: It's not uber, which is why the PC kept dying in the untweaked armor. It just needs some tweaks.

At least aim for a Baldur's Gate level of intensity and animation quality...
?
 

Sovard

Sovereign of CDS
Joined
Sep 2, 2004
Messages
920
I guess it's a little late in development to say various schools of fighting would have been spiffy.

Altered sorts of murmillones, secutores, retiarii, etc. With primary, secondary, and tertiary emphasis on weapon tactics and unlockable abilities from progression.

A more reactive system all around with combos, flair, and finishers... (in a tactical sense, naturally, as it's obviously not a button mash "FINISH HIM!" kind of game)

Being tossed in a pit to demonstrate the new ability you learned would be neat.

Meh, I should go to school and be a game designing fagor.
 

jeansberg

Liturgist
Joined
Apr 5, 2004
Messages
173
I think some of the attack animations need to be tweaked.

1. Two-handed crossbow.
That huge crossbow could make the shooter flinch a little more due to recoil.

2. Thrown spear.
The thrower needs to pull back a little more before throwing. That coupled with the speed increase will make it look a lot more powerful. I like the way he juggles the spear a bit before throwing.

3. Gladius power attack
For a power attack I think you should have the character put more of his body into the blow. Right now it seems like his arm isn't really supported by the rest of his body. This is more of a nitpick, though.

The rest looked pretty sweet! I like the death animations.
 

Bah

Arcane
Joined
Oct 6, 2006
Messages
2,946
Location
Northwest American Republic
Too many posters here care about stupid crap for this game. Who cares if your main-hand weapon vanishes during some of the animations? The graphics on this game are ALREADY good enough and far far beyond what I was exepcting. As long as combat is enjoyable, questing is non-linear, and non-combat skills actually have a use, this game is going to be a huge win in my book.

I do agree that the combat looked sluggish in that video, but I guess I'm probably older than many of the posters here because rather than speed up the animations, my personal preference would be to just shut them all off so everything happens instentanously. But I personally don't care about graphic details that have almost nothing to do with how enjoyable the game actually is. Plenty of games have amazing graphics and no substance. Please don't bog Age of Decadence down with trivialities.
 

Sarvis

Erudite
Joined
Aug 5, 2004
Messages
5,050
Location
Buffalo, NY
Bah said:
Too many posters here care about stupid crap for this game. Who cares if your main-hand weapon vanishes during some of the animations?

...animations, my personal preference would be to just shut them all off so everything happens instentanously.

That's the thing. If there were no animations it would be fine, but when you have animations the sword just disappearing looks ridiculous.
 

Elhoim

Iron Tower Studio
Developer
Joined
Oct 27, 2006
Messages
2,878
Location
San Isidro, Argentina
Hey guys, remember that this is not the finished game, and many things will be changed and fixed. Heck, I have already changed the textures of all the armors that appeared in that video. :)
 

Higher Game

Arcane
Joined
Apr 14, 2005
Messages
13,662
Location
Female Vagina
Vault Dweller said:
At least aim for a Baldur's Gate level of intensity and animation quality...
?

I was being somewhat tongue in cheek there. The Baldur's Gate combat is actually kind of sterile, but it's better than what you have now. I'd call it a bare minimum. The animations aren't really that bad, just far too slow. Hell, the spear throwing one was actually very good looking.
 

Nedrah

Erudite
Joined
Mar 14, 2005
Messages
1,693
Location
Germany
Bah said:
Too many posters here care about stupid crap for this game. Who cares if your main-hand weapon vanishes during some of the animations? The graphics on this game are ALREADY good enough and far far beyond what I was exepcting. As long as combat is enjoyable, questing is non-linear, and non-combat skills actually have a use, this game is going to be a huge win in my book.

I do agree that the combat looked sluggish in that video, but I guess I'm probably older than many of the posters here because rather than speed up the animations, my personal preference would be to just shut them all off so everything happens instentanously. But I personally don't care about graphic details that have almost nothing to do with how enjoyable the game actually is. Plenty of games have amazing graphics and no substance. Please don't bog Age of Decadence down with trivialities.

The brilliant gameplay related stuff is, as far as I can see, already firmly in place.
Now it's all about us wanting the game the best it can possibly be, and I admit that for me good art direction AND animations do actually add to the experience - yes, Fallout or Torment would have been brilliant games in their own right, but all those little things they did right with the presentation made them legendary.

Still, I like your additude. How old are you, btw?
 

Nick

Iron Tower Studio
Developer
Joined
Apr 21, 2004
Messages
317
Location
Over the hills and far away
Sarvis said:
If there were no animations it would be fine, but when you have animations the sword just disappearing looks ridiculous.

We'll animate the weapon for those animations too. Animator has too much work to do, so it shall happen later.
 

RGE

Liturgist
Joined
Jul 18, 2004
Messages
773
Location
Karlstad, Sweden
Much like everyone else I really liked the javelin kill, but the music felt bland, and sound effects are more important than background music. I can always play my own MP3's while playing a game if I want to set a particular mood.

The animation was too slow, and it looked pretty silly when everyone walked around. In Fallout 2 people run in combat, which looks much better. Which also brings me to thinking about the regular gameplay. Such as walking around in cities. Will it be that slow? Will the PC be able to run or otherwise travel quicker through mundane areas? It does look quite silly when my PC is running through town while everyone else is walking, and I've come up with an idea to remedy that.

Perhaps one could have the PC walk, like a normal human being, and then simply speed up the game after a point-and-click destination has been chosen? And then, in a fluid fashion, slow down the game when the PC reaches the chosen destination? Either that or instant quick travel through a town map interface would work. Might create problems with scripted encounters though.

Or perhaps the player could plot a course through predetermined waypoints? Square A to Street B to NPC House C. That way the game could keep track of the route, and if a scripted encounter is to take place at a waypoint, the game would know if the PC chose to go through that area. I read that Metalheart had a lot of problems, and that slow ass movement through maps was one of them.
 

Claw

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The center of my world.
Project: Eternity Divinity: Original Sin 2
RGE said:
Perhaps one could have the PC walk, like a normal human being, and then simply speed up the game after a point-and-click destination has been chosen?
I cannot put into words how awful that idea sounds. Wait, here they come: Benny Hill. That's how the idea sounds to me. I can hear the music already.
 

Section8

Cipher
Joined
Oct 23, 2002
Messages
4,321
Location
Wardenclyffe
So was my generous offer of voice acting ignored because my link implied gay sex? It's just a recording of me grunting. Seriously. Get a guinea pig and have a listen.
 

RGE

Liturgist
Joined
Jul 18, 2004
Messages
773
Location
Karlstad, Sweden
Claw said:
I cannot put into words how awful that idea sounds. Wait, here they come: Benny Hill. That's how the idea sounds to me. I can hear the music already.
Think... faster. Like... almost instant. Benny Hill is what, double speed? Triple? How much of Yakety Sax would you get to hear if you click to move on a point on the screen and the PC walked there at ten times the normal speed? Or twenty? Or however fast it'd need to be to make up for the fact that the vast majority of walking around in CRPG cities could be skipped in favour of more interesting gameplay. And of course it should be completely optional, much like the difference between running and walking is in Fallout. (Lenny said that the Vault Dweller was always in a hurry, so he was running through Necropolis. Ho ho ho, how perceptive of Lenny. Bashman was sneaking pretty much all the time.)

I want fast forwarding for the sake of storytelling. I don't want to hear about every step you took to get to the store, I want to hear what happened when you got there. In PnP RPGs players can just say "we go there" and if there are no complications, the game master can just say "ok, you're there". At the very least the game master doesn't usually have the players describe their every step, but rather tell them if and when their trip is interrupted.

Might feel a bit too high tech and modern for AoD though? It's not as if they had VCR or DVD in those days. Which is why it'd be nice with a map interface for cities, rather than being forced to manually move around in them. Perhaps the map would only need a few key locations per city, as long as the player knows at which key location a specific place can be found. Though if it takes time to figure that out, one may as well walk normally, especially if the city isn't too big.

And then again, perhaps walking around in AoD will be an adventure every time! :D
 

Claw

Erudite
Patron
Joined
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Messages
3,777
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The center of my world.
Project: Eternity Divinity: Original Sin 2
RGE said:
Think... faster. Like... almost instant. Benny Hill is what, double speed? Triple? How much of Yakety Sax would you get to hear if you click to move on a point on the screen and the PC walked there at ten times the normal speed?
Funny you should mention that. I have thought about the problem of playing the tune for such short intervals, and while I have no solution for that, I can't say it made your proposal seem any less ridiculous to me.


Might feel a bit too high tech and modern for AoD though? It's not as if they had VCR or DVD in those days.
Any game where this feature wouldn't look out of place would be extremely interesting, and by that I mean bizzare. Not that that's a bad thing as such, but I can hardly imagine such a game.


Which is why it'd be nice with a map interface for cities, rather than being forced to manually move around in them.
I remember when reviewers bashed Shadows over Riva for it's outdated graphics and clunky 3D mode that wasn't worth having. Some suggested that you might as well play the game in map mode and that's when I finally decided to stop reading game magazines for good. I mean, I occasionally buy one for the exclusive preview video of a game I'm really excited about, but it's really rare, and I don't care about reviews at all.
Just sayin'
 

Vault Dweller

Commissar, Red Star Studio
Developer
Joined
Jan 7, 2003
Messages
28,024
Section8 said:
So was my generous offer of voice acting ignored because my link implied gay sex? It's just a recording of me grunting. Seriously. Get a guinea pig and have a listen.
No, it was filed under "wouldn't be cool to have it if we time and more voices" label. The offer is greatly appreciated, of course.
 

Jora

Arcane
Joined
Mar 14, 2003
Messages
1,115
Location
Finland
Yeah, the animations do need some exaggeration. Basically, every part of the body should reflect the action in the clearest and most iconic way possible. The reflection should be seen in every phase from the momentum build-up to the strike. I tried to make an example of the general idea:

http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f57/I ... ttack1.jpg
 

jeansberg

Liturgist
Joined
Apr 5, 2004
Messages
173
The last couple of posts really do a great job of explaining what the animations could look like. :thumbsup:
 

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