SoTA Movement and Combat Animations And Transitions - Lets Get This Right!

Hey guys,

I've been pretty vocal about movement and animations for a while now and I'd like to create a thread to discuss the state of combat and movement animations and transitions in hopes that we can get this into the eyes of the developers as something to work toward soon. I will try to be as through as I possibly can be. I am not an animator, but I do have a large amount of experience playing competitively in other games. This is by no means me trying to "trash" the game. I'm simply trying to point out issues so that we can make this game much more appealing to others and help draw and retain a larger mass of players, which will be good for both the developers and other players.

Movement And Movement Transition:
Part of the "clunkyness" that is occurring when moving has to do with transition fluidity.
There seems to be not many if no transitions between different movement animations.

For example, starting to run from a complete stop typically requires some sort of speed differential to make it look like its not snapping from one animation (stopped) to another (running). There should be some sort of transition animation or speed that allows you to go from 0 speed to full speed. The same goes for going from full run to a complete stop.

This is also made apparent when any movement switches from one animation to another. They quickly snap into the next animation, making things feel too snappy. Looting and strafing animations don't seamlessly transition into each other. So after finishing looting, your hands quickly snap back into the standing still combat stance. You can even see these "snaps" happening.

Combat Weight Animations:
Characters are just throwing around heavier weapons like they are daggers. There should be a feel of heaviness to the attack animations themselves.

Jumping:
If I were to jump the way that the characters jumps in real life my knees would wear out and I'd break my kneecaps fast. The character doesn't seem to "absorb" the jump well, and the hand and arm animations between jumps don't seem normal, typically arms move around much more when jumping, especially sideways jumps.

Also, as I mentioned before, jumping on key release is maybe something that should be re-written. All it does in most cases is artificially slow down the response time of jump. I'm not sure how useful a charged jump is, but it doesn't really feel useful at all.

Charging Animations:
There should be some type of extra animation for when players are charging a skill to be more powerful. This can potentially help the pvp scene where you'd like to know what types of abilities your opponent is casting and be able to react to them much easier.


More will be added later.
Please discuss and chime in to figure out the issues there are with animations and movement so we can get to a point where devs can make some progress on this front.

Thanks!

 

Alot of my issues with the animations definately seem to be addressed here, not sure who i should tag but i'd appreciate it if the right channels took a look at this. again most of us are not saying they are bad , more so that they need improvement or having some sort of feedback loop that makes the overall combat seem more satisfying. i also dont like the lack of sound when a sword or weapon is swung. more feedback = Good.

 

Also the sound design is pretty abysmal on some skills. The bludgeon skills feel powerful with a huge punch. Bladed skills on the other hand is like cutting air. there should be a clear hit sound that feels satisfiying to use

 

I can't run around any incline without looking at my "broken" ankles at an awkward angle.

 

All valid points. I was hoping with release we would see an increase in funds to pay for more staff to improve quality. A buddy of mine works for Zenimax that does Elder Scrolls Online their sound department is 8 and they have about a dozen animators. Things still are wonky animation wise in ESO.