23 réponses à ce sujet

[kamilszmid]

I really loved the game in almost all the aspectes, but there is one thing that really kills immersion - cutscenes. Almost all of them are extremely weak and poorly directed. Cuts are made in unproper moments and the camera angle is bad at many points. The worst part is the character animation. Unlike many older titles, Inquistion does not feature any performance capture and motion capture is significantly weaker than in other Bioware games. The entire Mass Effect series, maybe apart from the first part, was much better in this aspect - characters moved in a smoother way and their facial expressions were better. At times I was even feeling awkward staring how badly my Inquisitor and her colleagues look and act. This could have been acceptable maybe 5 years ago, but in an era when we can see wonders of performance capture such as The Last of Us, Uncharted or even the newest GTA, the Inquistion animations seem anachronistic and ridiculous - according to me the cinematic director of this game did an extremely poor job. I could give 1/3 of this gigantic world up  for the sake of a more artistically cinematic experience.

 

I do not see many people complaing about this though. Are you okay with how the game looks?

[Nightdragon8]

I really loved the game in almost all the aspectes, but there is one thing that really kills immersion - cutscenes. Almost all of them are extremely weak and badly made. Cuts are made in unproper moments and the camera angle is bad at many points. The worst part is the character animation. Unlike many older titles, Inquistion does not feature any performance capture and motion capture is significantly weaker than in other Bioware games. The entire Mass Effect series, maybe apart from the first part, was much better in this aspect - characters moved in a smoother way and their facial expressions were better. At times I was even feeling awkward staring how badly my Inquisitor and her colleagues look and act. This could have been acceptable maybe 5 years ago, but in an era when we can see wonders of performance capture such as The Last of Us, Uncharted or even the newest GTA, the Inquistion animations seem anachronic and ridiculous - according to me the cinematic director of this game did an extremely poor job. I could give up 1/3 of this gigantic world for a more artistically cinematic experience.

 

I do not see many people complaing about this though. Are you okay with how the game looks?

yes because EVERY game needs to have motion capture to make them better yes? You do know that rasies the production cost of the game yes? Those motion capture stuidos aren't cheap not to mention the cost of hiring people and actors for a few days in order to do the things they want them to do.

 

Please stop advacating for Motion capture as something 'needed' for games. Because I rather them spend money in what matters and that is gameplay.

 

You also know that its a different game engines yes?

 

And really GTA5?? umm yea right... I wasn't that impressed, and looked kind of janky,

 

And really ME series? ME2 was probably the best in this, very tight movement, ME3 not couting all the buggy parts, and the damn cockpit gravitywell that seemed to get worse as more DLC came out. That and some if not most of the facial movements where either too subtle or very exaggerated. To the point at one time i thought "Did Shep really just make that kind of face??"

[kamilszmid]

yes because EVERY game needs to have motion capture to make them better yes? You do know that rasies the production cost of the game yes? Those motion capture stuidos aren't cheap not to mention the cost of hiring people and actors for a few days in order to do the things they want them to do.

 

Please stop advacating for Motion capture as something 'needed' for games. Because I rather them spend money in what matters and that is gameplay.

 

You also know that its a different game engines yes?

 

And really GTA5?? umm yea right... I wasn't that impressed, and looked kind of janky,

 

And really ME series? ME2 was probably the best in this, very tight movement, ME3 not couting all the buggy parts, and the damn cockpit gravitywell that seemed to get worse as more DLC came out. That and some if not most of the facial movements where either too subtle or very exaggerated. To the point at one time i thought "Did Shep really just make that kind of face??"

 

I am not saying that motion capture is a must, but one has to admit that Inquistion looks horrible in comparison to many contemporary productions and even its predecessors. Or you use cinematics and make them look good or you simply give them up. They had more than 3 years to polish the game, but at times it looks much more awkward than Origins. The only exception would be the 'Here Lies the Abbyss' part.

[wolfhowwl]

The animations were pretty dire, some of them jarringly so.

[Pukey Paul]

I hate the fact that so many conversations aren't cut scenes as un previous games, kills the atmosphere for me

[Kantr]

They couldnt use mocap because A. It's expensive and B. They have so many lines

 

I hate the fact that so many conversations aren't cut scenes as un previous games, kills the atmosphere for me

That was so you could talk to them more

[DaemionMoadrin]

It doesn't have to be L.A. Noire but I am sure they could animate their characters better. Some cutscenes are completely awkward, like the argument between Varric and Cassandra.

At least weapons and objects aren't comically oversized anymore. Mostly.

[In Exile]

I really loved the game in almost all the aspectes, but there is one thing that really kills immersion - cutscenes. Almost all of them are extremely weak and badly made. Cuts are made in unproper moments and the camera angle is bad at many points. The worst part is the character animation. Unlike many older titles, Inquistion does not feature any performance capture and motion capture is significantly weaker than in other Bioware games. The entire Mass Effect series, maybe apart from the first part, was much better in this aspect - characters moved in a smoother way and their facial expressions were better. At times I was even feeling awkward staring how badly my Inquisitor and her colleagues look and act. This could have been acceptable maybe 5 years ago, but in an era when we can see wonders of performance capture such as The Last of Us, Uncharted or even the newest GTA, the Inquistion animations seem anachronic and ridiculous - according to me the cinematic director of this game did an extremely poor job. I could give up 1/3 of this gigantic world for a more artistically cinematic experience.

I do not see many people complaing about this though. Are you okay with how the game looks?

DAI recycled a lot of stock Bioware animations from ME. I'm not sure why you don't like them as much - perhaps the better graphics make it stand out more?

[Nightdragon8]

I am not saying that motion capture is a must, but one has to admit that Inquistion looks horrible in comparison to many contemporary productions and even its predecessors. Or you use cinematics and make them look good or you simply give them up. They had more than 3 years to polish the game, but at times it looks much more awkward than Origins. The only exception would be the 'Here Lies the Abbyss' part.

i seriously don't beleave they took 3 years to 'polish' the game, it took them that long to make the game from what i understand from scratch pretty much, Considering they had to modifiy the frostbite engine to such a degree.

 

And considering they got extended, it wasn't because they needed more polish because sad to say, the whole 'polish' thing is a myth. And used to derail gamers and media is excusing the poor state the game is in. A truly 'polished' game is very rare in this era of gaming.

 

They got extended and what did they do with the time? Its not to polish the game and work out bugs thats for damn sure because of all the bugs in the gameplay.

[wolfhowwl]

They got extended and what did they do with the time? Its not to polish the game and work out bugs thats for damn sure because of all the bugs in the gameplay.

 

Is there any reason to think that the game wasn't in an even worse state before the delay?

[DaemionMoadrin]

Is there any reason to think that the game wasn't in an even worse state before the delay?

 

I think they realized too late that they needed more time to become familiar with the new engine and didn't have an actual game ready at this point.

You can still see many elements in the game that didn't receive the proper attention, probably due to a shortage of time.

[Moirnelithe]

I just wish they'd stop recycling the gorilla animations for female characters in cutscenes. They're really horrible to watch.

[DiscoGhost]

the awful lip syncing kills me. especially lilliana in the opening scene. watch that without saying "wtf"

[Exodus2000]

Hopefully ME4 and DA4 won't have the same movements like now

Was getting tired of the unreal engine im glad they decided to change but I agree with OP its nearly 2015 to see AAA games in this condition....but who can blame them...they are after all a part of EA.

[kamilszmid]

Some cutscenes are very badly directed - for example the one with Varric's game of cards. Those subsequent laughs at the end of the scene - this looks extremely awkward... I understand that they had many cutscenes to make, but  come on, some could be done with minimum notion. Have the people responsible for cinematics stopped watching movies? Maybe they played Skyrim too much?

[Chaos17]

yes because EVERY game needs to have motion capture to make them better yes? You do know that rasies the production cost of the game yes? Those motion capture stuidos aren't cheap not to mention the cost of hiring people and actors for a few days in order to do the things they want them to do.

 

Please stop advacating for Motion capture as something 'needed' for games. Because I rather them spend money in what matters and that is gameplay.

 

You also know that its a different game engines yes?

 

And really GTA5?? umm yea right... I wasn't that impressed, and looked kind of janky,

 

And really ME series? ME2 was probably the best in this, very tight movement, ME3 not couting all the buggy parts, and the damn cockpit gravitywell that seemed to get worse as more DLC came out. That and some if not most of the facial movements where either too subtle or very exaggerated. To the point at one time i thought "Did Shep really just make that kind of face??"

We're in 2014, that's normal to ask a company to try to keep up with other companies.

Also Motion control isn't that necessary, just look at TellTale games.

They put efforts into animations with their little engine. While I still wonder why my female inquisitor is sitting like a male...

Bioware should just get their priorities right, focused on bland open world or on story or gameplay.

[C0uncil0rTev0s]

I'm just wondering about 1 little thing...

 

...how did we come to discuss the price of motion capture in game development if this bug bag named 'DA: I' costs 60 bucks a copy? It is freaking overpriced ALREADY. Without the motion capture.

 

It is simple human greed, not the 'development costs'. Welcome to the capitalism as it is.

[Eivuwan]

Really? There were some issues here and there, but on the whole I didn't notice anything that seriously broke immersion.  I thought all the Solas animations and cinematics were especially well-done. I would rather that they spend more of their resources on flushing out the core story and giving us more core story missions than cinematics.

[_Aine_]

Motion capture is NOT the be-all end all of animation. It is an efficient short cut, but requires a lot of work to make work seamlessly in an environment. Call me a purist but motion capture is NOT animation. It is a tool for animators and sometimes a very useful tool.  For cut scenes or interacting characters? Better question:  Can you trace a Character Design and thus call yourself an artist?  That is TRACING.  Not drawing.  Motion capture is a tool for animation, not animating.   

 

The problem here (in my opinion only) is lack of consistent character continuity, lack of strong key poses in cut scenes (that head back creepy eye stare kills me every.single.time.) and lack of fluidity and subtlety in animation.    It tells the story, but the graphics in the game are such now that the coarseness of the animation degrades the overall performance.  Now, this is NOT across the board. There are a few scenes in this game that are surprisingly subtle and well done.  Whoever did them *does* have skills.  I am guessing that recycled (subpar) assets are a bit part of the issue here.   And what works without tweeks on one body/face does not work without many adjustments on another type. I assume they have a library of facial/body poses that are used on whim here, based on my observation. 

 

I am an animation student/hobbyist for the past 4 years only, no guru here so this is all personal opinion.  I do think though that BioWare has to realize that players are becoming increasingly expectant of a certain level of believably and quality and so many recycled assets would be an absolute EXCELLENT investment to rebuild.   

 

Animation:  MUCH easier to recognize good animation than to actually do it.    Walk cycles on their own are NOT easy when it comes to characterization...let alone animation with any level of subtlety.  Add in MANY animators touching the same character for different scenes?  SOMEONE has to be creating consistency,  assuring the personality, expressions, manner of speech, walk etc are always within that characters style.  Probably exceedingly difficult to do that in a video game setting with $$ and deadline constraints.  

[Nefla]

The game looks good to me.

[Sartoz]

I just wish they'd stop recycling the gorilla animations for female characters in cutscenes. They're really horrible to watch.

Hmm...

I wonder what ME4 animations will be like for the female lead. 

[Sartoz]

Motion capture is NOT the be-all end all of animation. It is an efficient short cut, but requires a lot of work to make work seamlessly in an environment. Call me a purist but motion capture is NOT animation.

 

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Big Snip

Us non purists call anything that moves an animation of a character. The MOCAP way, at least, assures a proper walking or running pattern. Much more believable and acceptable to the eye than a Cinematic (ie: software) generated movement of a human. elf, dwarf or Qunari.  Cost and time aside, the esthetics are desired over poorly generated Cinematics.

 

Your other point about reusing a library of motion assets is more true than I want to believe. Too bad there is a lack  of consistency and the assets are rather "wonky" at best and the modern graphics engine(s) puts the spotlight on them. Some of the cut scenes really look awful.

 

For EA/Bioware Division, rebuilding the animation assets to "modern" standards is an idea long past due,