Animations

+
For what I see they simply removed variety in dodging animations. Geralt is level 30 in the PAX video with the wyvern, and he only has like 2 dodge animations, in the 35 min demo there were at least 4 minimum.

I really liked those, too bad.

You sure? Looking at the 35min it looks like his backward dodge is always the same. He has variations when he dodges the side or forward but those are still present in the new footage.
 
The 35 min gameplay dodge is gone, replaced with a different animation. In my opinion, a better one. I think trying to explain it by his levels is clinging to straws a bit. In the January footage, against the wraiths at the beginning, Geralt is level 35 and his dodge is the new one (level shown when he fast-travels). Against the ekhidnas, it's the same dodge. In IGN First, during the first 15 minutes, when he's level 1, the dodge is the same. And so on, and so forth.

I remember that when the 35 min first aired, the dodge maneuver received a lot of flak ("sucked into a black hole", "megaman dash", and some others). Circle of life I guess.
 
You sure? Looking at the 35min it looks like his backward dodge is always the same. He has variations when he dodges the side or forward but those are still present in the new footage.

the backward dodge was always the same, but in the new videos, the backwards dodge is also used to the sides many times, thats what I was getting at.

Now the "improved" backward dodge has become more or less the universal dodge move to almost all directions, except for 1 or two slight variations, and I don't like how it looks.

made some gifs, the first 3 show the same animation (or too similar) being used in 3 different directions, a fourth one thats different because geralt turns, and the remaining 4 are 4 entirely different dodge moves.


















@EliHarel I actually never had a problem with the original megaman dash lol. Back then I just attributed it didnt look too good to lack of animation polish and blending, but the move itself was very realistic and effective to me, I thought people were overreacting and judging as if that was going to be final.

Anyway, I was in the minority it seems :p
 
Last edited:
the backward dodge was always the same, but in the new videos, the backwards dodge is also used to the sides many times, thats what I was getting at.

Now the "improved" backward dodge has become more or less the universal dodge move to almost all directions, except for 1 or two slight variations, and I don't like how it looks.

made some gifs, the first 3 show the same animation (or too similar) being used in 3 different directions, a fourth one thats different because geralt turns, and the remaining 4 are 4 entirely different dodge moves.

In addition to the back dodge and the spin dodge (which seems better about pointing Geralt at the enemy),

The side juke is also still there, animation is different (improved imo):



there's a forward dash as well:



So all 4 variations are still there. Its possible the facing/direction tolerance has changed.
 
the backward dodge was always the same, but in the new videos, the backwards dodge is also used to the sides many times, thats what I was getting at.

Now the "improved" backward dodge has become more or less the universal dodge move to almost all directions, except for 1 or two slight variations, and I don't like how it looks.

made some gifs, the first 3 show the same animation (or too similar) being used in 3 different directions, a fourth one thats different because geralt turns, and the remaining 4 are 4 entirely different dodge moves.


















@EliHarel I actually never had a problem with the original megaman dash lol. Back then I just attributed it didnt look too good to lack of animation polish and blending, but the move itself was very realistic and effective to me, I thought people were overreacting and judging as if that was going to be final.

Anyway, I was in the minority it seems :p


I do agree with you in regards to using the same animation for different directions, that seems weir.d

There should definitely be side-stepping (one for left and one for right) as well as a forward lunge for dodging forward or closing a gap.

He shouldn't use the same backwards leap to dodge in other directions, seems strange to me that they'd do that.

Edit - just saw the recent post above mine, seems there ARE side-forward dodge animations, so now I am confused too lol.

Maybe the video with him using the backwards dodge for side-dodging was bugged or something.
 
In addition to the back dodge and the spin dodge (which seems better about pointing Geralt at the enemy),

The side juke is also still there, animation is different (improved imo):



there's a forward dash as well:



So all 4 variations are still there. Its possible the facing/direction tolerance has changed.

Yeah I've seen those too. The forward dash is great, I just didnt include it because I think there was no "old" move that I could compare with, I think Geralt never dodges forward in the 35min demo, or maybe it was that last spinning move I posted? not sure.

Now that side step I can't really tell much if its not one of the other two animations I posted, it seems so extremely similar, it looks like one of them but that gets redirected mid air to the side. I think what they did is put the same animation for all directions, but it can get a bit altered depending in what position geralt starts to dodge. In that fight with the ghouls, there is one dodge that happens when geralt had the sword about to strike and then awkwardly jumps back with it.

Anyway this is all nitpicking, but basically what I think the game lacks now is variety and more clearly distinct animations for moving while in combat, and while animations that are very similar to each other could help with consistency for gameplay purposes, I think if they bothered doing 96 combat moves for Geralt they could've made a better job in this aspect.

That said, Its great that I can complain about this and not how the game looks in terms of playing it, because that most important part looks definitely improved.

@Stiler

Yeah I think there are different moves but either they are extremely similar, or they are the same base animations that simply look a bit different because of how its his body position when starting. In any case, my point more or less stands conceptually, in practice its pretty much like having the same dodging animations for almost all uses/directions.

Another thing that makes them look a bit strange is that the entire body changes form and stance when dodging, as if Geralt is jumping away from danger, rather than side stepping, it also makes the combat less fluid.
In the old animations one thing I really liked was that Geralt maintained things like facing direction and how he held the sword while dodging, it looked like he was moving "just" enough as needed, still looking and facing the enemy and keeping the combat stance.



 
That sidestep looks different to me but that could be a testament to the versatility of the new animation. In either case there are definitely still two other variations in the form of the forward dash and spin move. I completely disagree about it all looking less fluid, that top gif of your shows exactly why the sudden jerk backward when he dodges again is not at all what I would call "fluid".

As you said though, it is all nitpicking. It wouldnt change my opinion of the game in anyway but my eyes do prefer the new style.
 
I like all of them, so did they take the roll out again or no?
What does A do while in combat?
I thought the new build was A fast attack X heavy attack Y roll B dodge I'm so lost now lol.. maybe A is roll in combat now, or it's run away, who knows :)
 
Last edited:
there's no side stepping in combat due to how the body works. it won't be quick enough to dodge anything with good clearance. there's side lunges, which you see in the videos, but they're more like running in a side direction with the torso sightly pointed towards the enemy. might be a dynamic animation.
 
I like all of them, so did they take the roll out again or no?
What does A do while in combat?
I thought the new build was A fast attack X heavy attack Y roll B dodge I'm so lost now lol.. maybe A is roll in combat now, or it's run away, who knows :)

From this preview, it seems like sidestep is separate from roll and B is for sidestep and A is for roll.

"The Witcher 3 introduces a sidestep maneuver, which is performed with the B button. This causes Geralt to evade incoming attacks by bobbing and weaving in a given direction rather than performing a tumbling dodge as he does in The Witcher 2."

"During frantic combat, it is easy to misjudge the distance between yourself and an enemy and take a hit, or miss an attack. Fortunately, you can still roll away during combat with the A button. This puts greater distance between Geralt and the target and keeps him safer as well."
 
Last edited:
That sidestep looks different to me but that could be a testament to the versatility of the new animation. In either case there are definitely still two other variations in the form of the forward dash and spin move. I completely disagree about it all looking less fluid, that top gif of your shows exactly why the sudden jerk backward when he dodges again is not at all what I would call "fluid".

As you said though, it is all nitpicking. It wouldnt change my opinion of the game in anyway but my eyes do prefer the new style.

Yeah the backward dodge from the 35min video is my least favorite move, the gif was meant to show the side step and how incredibly fluid Geralt switched to that from the position he was in after being hurt.

One thing I remember now, is that in the REDkit, there were remains of unused animations for TW2, and even some TW1 animations, they looked amazing !, so now that the modding community will probably be more on to TW3 (hopefully) its possibly we start seeing combat mods with new animations CDPR left "disabled" or unimplemented.
 
Do you guys think there's any chance these alternative dodge moves from our old 35min gameplay might come to reality in the future? Even as a paid DLC, I mean. They look so cool & realistic that it makes me think a real sword master would move like that.

:faith:
 
We need pike weapon animations, like in dark souls. Pike weapons should deal more damage, and maybe stagger the enemies, but the attacks would be slower and landing combos should be more difficult, but it will be a nice change to the gameplay, for fun. Atm, pike weapons are qualified as swords.
 
Pikes are too cumbersome for the type of fighter Geralt is. Those weapons are made for infantry to unsaddle cavalry, not very useful in a cave or a tomb.
 
We should have animations for:
- Drinking potions.
- Drinking and eating consumables.
- Sharpening the swords.
- Applying oil to the swords.
- "Tightening" the armors.

- There should also be a "time fade" animation for meditating, similar to The Witcher 1 and 2.

- There should be a "footsteps in the map" animation for fast traveling, something similar to Dragon Age: Origins, or the magic map from the Harry Potter movies.
 
Last edited:
Ohh I dont want looting animations, or at least maybe have the option to toggle it off or on. I love looting every little things and Ive played games before with Loot Anime and it got really tedious.
 
we should have animations for:
- drinking potions.
- drinking and eating consumables.
- sharpening the swords.
- applying oil to the swords.
- "tightening" the armors.

- there should also be a "time fade" animation for meditating, similar to the witcher 1 and 2.

- there should be a "footsteps in the map" animation for fast traveling, something similar to dragon age: Origins, or the magic map from the harry potter movies.

Yeah, for me drinking potions animation above all! I'd love something like in the souls games...
 
Last edited:
Top Bottom