Anyone else think the combat animation needs help?

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pacwar
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Anyone else think the combat animation needs help?

Post by pacwar »

All,

You may have already beaten this one to death in previous posts but while I think the game is great I am disappointed in the combat graphics...how shall I say this, they are primitive. I know I can turn them off and I do, but I'd like to get the detailed information they include. This is obviously one of the SSG contributions to the game, very similar to their great naval battles graphics, and I didn't like it in that game either.

I don't see why that portion of the game couldn't more sophisticated. Why not use actual film footage as a surogate for the graphics....at least display the hit and damage information under the film. What I have in mind is very similar to the film Gary G. used in his Patton Strikes Back game, which I liked very much despite the negative reviews from game "experts". Anyone else think the animation sequence needs an overhaul or should I worry about more important things?

db
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dtravel
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RE: Anyone else think the combat animation needs help?

Post by dtravel »

I suspect that most of the people here will tell you to worry about other things. At this point a major graphics overhaul & change is not going to happen. As for why it was done this way in the first place, I can't say. But keep in mind that the game is being sold as a digital download and graphics (even more so movies) take a lot of megabytes.
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WiTP_Dude
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RE: Anyone else think the combat animation needs help?

Post by WiTP_Dude »

I think the graphics are a compromise between those who want sophisticated graphics and those who don't need any at all. Of course neither group is happy but what else is new? [:D]
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pacwar
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RE: Anyone else think the combat animation needs help?

Post by pacwar »

I suspect you're right about the impact on the size of the game and ability to transmit it digitally...and I believe film would result in an increase in size, although I'm not sure...but the graphics don't have to be even that complicated. I liked the simple ships displayed at the bottom of the screen in the original PACIFIC WAR game that showed the level of damage as the surface battle or air stike took place. As WiTP Dude suggests, what we've got is a compromise on several levels...I just think it could have been done better without compromising the size of the program.

db
erstad
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RE: Anyone else think the combat animation needs help?

Post by erstad »

What I wish for would be that the combat report would have all the essential information so I don't have to watch the animations (watch, click escape, watch, click escape, rinse, repeat).

I'd rather go off and start a load of laundry or something and come back and just read it.
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kokubokan25
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RE: Anyone else think the combat animation needs help?

Post by kokubokan25 »

May be the graphics are some primitive.
May be is a game with some many little bugs and (of course) many things to improve but...
I'm playing it from july 2004 and this is the only pc game i playing so many time continuously.
Rome Total War, Pacific fighters, Hearts of Iron, and many more spent my atention only some weeks, this not the case of WITP.
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mucky
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RE: Anyone else think the combat animation needs help?

Post by mucky »

I acutally enjoy watching some of the animations: surface combat, dive bombers attacking ships and sub attacks.

the only combat animation i dont like is ground combat, all it is really is numbers lowering and rising. If i had to change anyone of those it would be ground combat.
Mike Scholl
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RE: Anyone else think the combat animation needs help?

Post by Mike Scholl »

Personally, I'd have been just as happy to have had them left out entirely.
They can't compete with the graphics of "shooter" games, and about the
10th repetition I imagine most people turn them off anyway. Better to
have had more detailed combat reports, and would have saved resources
for things that do matter to the play of the game.....
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Mynok
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RE: Anyone else think the combat animation needs help?

Post by Mynok »

Yep, agree there. The only combat animations worth watching are naval strikes and the ground combat (the latter only to get the identity of enemy units involved).
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pacwar
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RE: Anyone else think the combat animation needs help?

Post by pacwar »

Mike,

I must agree with you in the end. If they aren't going to do them well, don't do them at all...they subtract from the overall game and obviously use up valuable bytes that could go towards other things...I gotta believe somebody from the SSG group had too much influence on the final product.

db
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pasternakski
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RE: Anyone else think the combat animation needs help?

Post by pasternakski »

They ain't changin'. Way back in the UV days, there was a clamor to change the surface combat "junior high school dance" depiction (so called because it resembles those dances with the boys lined up against one wall and the girls lined up against the other). The explanation was that the animation already showed more than what was actually going on in the code.

So, here we are. We hear noises that resemble bombs dropping and torpedoes splashing, but we never see them unless they hit or, in the case of bombs, splash in the water.
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Strv103C
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RE: Anyone else think the combat animation needs help?

Post by Strv103C »

I would like to see a port when doing port bombing, not an airfield (or what it is).
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Cap Mandrake
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RE: Anyone else think the combat animation needs help?

Post by Cap Mandrake »

ORIGINAL: pasternakski

They ain't changin'. Way back in the UV days, there was a clamor to change the surface combat "junior high school dance" depiction (so called because it resembles those dances with the boys lined up against one wall and the girls lined up against the other). The explanation was that the animation already showed more than what was actually going on in the code.

So, here we are. We hear noises that resemble bombs dropping and torpedoes splashing, but we never see them unless they hit or, in the case of bombs, splash in the water.

"Junior High School Dance" [:D]

Not to mention that the perspective on the ship art doesnt match the horizon on the water [;)]
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pasternakski
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RE: Anyone else think the combat animation needs help?

Post by pasternakski »

ORIGINAL: Strv103C

I would like to see a port when doing port bombing, not an airfield (or what it is).
I would like to see something that doesn't resemble Grandpa's black vinyl padded toilet seat cushion with vague gray stuff floating around down below.

I would like to see it. I know I ain't getting it.
Put my faith in the people
And the people let me down.
So, I turned the other way,
And I carry on anyhow.
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Strv103C
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RE: Anyone else think the combat animation needs help?

Post by Strv103C »

ORIGINAL: pasternakski
ORIGINAL: Strv103C

I would like to see a port when doing port bombing, not an airfield (or what it is).
I would like to see something that doesn't resemble Grandpa's black vinyl padded toilet seat cushion with vague gray stuff floating around down below.

I would like to see it. I know I ain't getting it.
well, when you say it... [:D]
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mucky
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RE: Anyone else think the combat animation needs help?

Post by mucky »

Speaking of animations has anyone seen the Naval Bombardment and City Attack animations. Id never seen them before i went snoping around the game files! [:'(]
GPitre
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RE: Anyone else think the combat animation needs help?

Post by GPitre »

All agreed here -- the combat animations are nothing special...and that's being charitable.

Even so, I've been willing to give the designers a break considering the massive amount of detail & data they've incorporated into the game. If I want whizz-bang graphical fun I can always pop in Call of Duty for a half hour or so...

On the other hand...my big complaint is with the *strategic* map graphics. I am not an artist, a programmer, or a game producer, but even I could have figured a way to pack a little more information and ease of use into the task force icons without taking up more space.

I bet Nimitz and Yamamoto never had to squint at their wall map with a magnifying glass to figure out if they were looking at a BB or CV...

-G
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BlackVoid
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RE: Anyone else think the combat animation needs help?

Post by BlackVoid »

I like the animations.

3D scenes from Aces of the Pacific would be nice, but what we have is good enough for the game.
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Cap Mandrake
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RE: Anyone else think the combat animation needs help?

Post by Cap Mandrake »

ORIGINAL: pasternakski
ORIGINAL: Strv103C

I would like to see a port when doing port bombing, not an airfield (or what it is).
I would like to see something that doesn't resemble Grandpa's black vinyl padded toilet seat cushion with vague gray stuff floating around down below.

I would like to see it. I know I ain't getting it.

Keep this thread going. I want to see some more of Pasternaki's analogies. [:D]

Balck vinyl toilet seat cushion [:D] That has to be unsanitary
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mlees
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RE: Anyone else think the combat animation needs help?

Post by mlees »

Balck vinyl toilet seat cushion That has to be unsanitary

Not really.

See, the toilet seat is on hinges, and you can raise it up to a vertical position when a male must use the toilet from a standing position...

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