Fluidity

[Xynthes]

Animation is one of the key factors that makes a game appealing the the gaming audience. Upon starting the game, the player is greeted with a Tenno in a kneeing position - presumably meditating. Around ... him/her/it ... are the warm embers flowing around. After the player logs in, it zooms out from the medium shot of the Tenno so that the solar system is entirely visible.

Focusing on just that for now, I really have to praise the artist(s) for both the design of the Tenno and the unique entrance to the game. This is really what sucked me into the game; I saw the cover of the book, it looked VERY nice and i dived right in without hesitation. Moving on...

Upon starting a mission you see a small ship approach a larger ship, and then the scene cuts to the panel hitting the ground, allowing players to assume that the Tenno snuck onto the ship. Lights, Camera, Gameplay.

Time for the "criticism." Looping animation is very much acceptable and understandable with walk/run cycles, meelee, shooting, player death, enemy death, and so on. This leaves me to ask the question, why loop the beginning sequence of every mission? While i may be in no position to suggest an alternate entrance for the missions, I humbly ask that there is a sense of progression. Are the enemies really falling for the same sneak-in time and again? Changing the beginning sequence, say, every half dozen missions, would add depth the not only the enemies you are fighting, but the Tenno as well. Continueing...

As the game is played there are a bunch of ambient animations that add to the over mood of the environment. In an Infection mission there is a bunch of moving and crawling organic matter, which puts the player on edge. In a Corpus mission, there is the presence of turrets and other automated machines, again changing the feel to a more mechanical stand point. The Tenno animations are nice to look at as walking and running feel natural. Even the way the Tenno climb and roll all adds to their sense of character. The ability and meelee animations are accented in a way that adds emphasis to the Tenno's core character when used.

My, my, all that apprasal means that it is time to focus on the things that should be improved. First and foremost; timing. Now, this is more so in the walk cycle than in the run cycle, there is a slight and awkward pause between the walk and the dive roll. This may be intentional, but it doesn't appear that way. Additionally the transition from power slide to the spinning sword slash feels quite clunky and not as nimble as the Tenno appear.

All the best!

-Xynthes

[Arkfall]

Nice post and Ideas mate! Count me in on supporting this.

One possable intro idea: You see a mob from that run walking down a hallway, and here is where you have the different versions..

1 Player: Player walks up behind the mob, Grabs him and crushs, stabs, slams him down, and Off you go, over the dead body of a newly christend ghost ship.

2 or more players: Player 1 grabs him, Player 2 drops down in front of him and depacates the mob. Body falls to a hep, both Tenno nod to each other and Off you go.

Your points on the Dodge roll, I agree with, it feels a little Hump-d-dump-d.

Although I'm not sure I'd agree with you about the Slide-Slash... I might just not have noticed it yet!

[direcyphre]

There definitely could be some additions. I just assume there are a lot of placeholders still. Like if you finish a mission where you ended up sabotaging the ship, it'd be nice if it exploded o something when your little escape ship leaves when you cycle out to see the end results of the mission.

Variety would be nice in entrance as well, although more importantly, it would be nice if there were other ship designs entirely so they were just slight variations of the same ship tiles (plus ice, infestation, etc overlapping). We could really use some variety between Grineer and Corpus ships, which would lead to different entrances depending on the mission type. Even if it was just seeing your character sneak around a corner toward the starting position instead of falling out of the ventilation system.

[Kingdrake]

Nice thread, constructive criticism is always welcome :D

I may add, if you play with the gamepad they added the possibility to walk by tilting slowly the left stick, but the animation doesn't sync with the movement: I find myself airwalking slowly or worse, if I crouch and walk slowly no animation plays. Funny but ruins the immersion. Also if there was this kind of addition I would enjoy more stealth.

Overall I agree with you, OP, hope steve comes and sees this