Skill Animations too soft?

[Rent-an-Ihrno]

One minor adjustment I would do were I to change things about Avadon is that I would give some of the skill animations more punch. It just doesn't feel quite right when you blast a horde of enemies with a powerful cone of lightning and it comes out like a lazy, half dripping, half floating spray.

 

This dawned on me more clearly today when I thought about the diversity of spells in Avadon, after reminiscing about the much more aggressive-feeling target based spells of the old Avernums. The effects seem to be categorized in a few, pretty strict groups. While I absolutely love Avadon (almost missed an apartment viewing today because of it), I do feel like a little more specialization and diversity in skill effects in general and, consequently, in animations would do it much good. Lightning really shouldn't be that much softer than a cone of razordisks.

[ĐªгŦĦ Єяŋϊε]

yes

i have felt the same way. especially when you slam someone with over 200 damage and it looks like it is drizzling.

 

BEHOLD! The Drizzle of DEATH!!!!!

MWAAAHAAAA HAAA HAAA!!!

[Earth]

same thing on steel wind, lookslike papers flying.

 

flame rain (whatever it is) is bit better but fireballs should be bigger.

[Lightning Spammer]

I liked the lightning from Avernum 1-3. That was nice. It made me want to spam it constantly. And I did. Hence my username. >_<

[Earth]

and cone of fire is bit lame too, it should be flamethrower not aerosol from can lighted up by lighter.

[Dantius]

In fairness, it's less discouraging to do 200 damage with a light drizzle of shock than to utterly nuke the enemy with a bajillion massive meteors from space and have them do no damage because the enemy is immune to fire.

[Aoslare]

Exception: if the enemy is Kefka and he wags his finger at you

[Dantius]

Originally Posted By: HOUSE of S

Exception: if the enemy is Kefka and he wags his finger at you

How did you know the last bit was in specific to FF? Because that was exactly what I was thinking about when I wrote it...

[Aoslare]

[ĐªгŦĦ Єяŋϊε]

i actually was thinking of the shooting stars spell

[AethirWeb]

Yeah the animations are very strange, in games today you can feel the power. Like when you cast fireballs you can feel the attack devastating your enemies. I feel moderate power when using the wide space Sorceress Spells. But during all of the cone spells i feel as if i am shooting out disfigured water or highly concentrated winds.

 

Some animations don't make sense anymore, and it seems Jeff's being lazy. When i upgraded my firebolt to cold wind it was kinda like the same animation only a wind sound instead of a burn.

 

The cone attack animations really need to improve, at this point i feel no use for cone attacks because for some reason they always are weaker than other spells. I can just spam the acid rain for sorceress than use the electricity rain that lags behind.

[*i]

AethirWeb - Graphics are not free; they are actually quite pricey. Jeff has to pay real artists for these things. This is not laziness, but good business sense. Flashy graphics have never been the focus on these games for the simple reason is they cost too much to justify the few extra sales that would result. He does the best with his limited resources, and things slowly improve in this department.

[A less presumptuous name.]

Everyone here has a good point. More powerful graphics would be a definite plus, but as stareye mentioned, they're a low priority for Jeff & Co. If we get upgraded graphics in Avadon 2, I'll think of it as a bonus.

[AethirWeb]

Aww, I wish we could make Spiderweb more popular so they can get the money =/ . I know graphics isn't everything but a change is nice.

[Lightning Spammer]

Originally Posted By: AethirWeb

Aww, I wish we could make Spiderweb more popular so they can get the money =/ . I know graphics isn't everything but a change is nice.

Heck, if I knew how to do decent animated computer graphics, I'd do it for Jeff for free. Well, free... plus a copy of the game when it's done. That's more than enough payment to me. Heh.

But also, as I reconsider this, "flashiness" would potentially look very awkward with this game engine. Sometimes I grow tired of the over-the-top flashiness of things lately. Also, I like to use my imagination. It fills in the gaps.

[ĐªгŦĦ Єяŋϊε]

the gaps of your imagination i suppose