Jfk003

I think the reason they used Unity was also the tools it had for animations and the whole developement set. When you see the water, it's already a success really. Looks beautiful. But yeah, it would then be wise to have it for a sequel. The delay between now and the release is likely too short.

God, the guys on kickstarter weren't liying when they said the forums were toxic at times. Anyway good luck to the devs with the filtering of things in there.

Did I say that really ? But if you consider I am ordering the devs to do things, when in fact I'm just pointing a potentiel problem, I'm giving up, I can't help you understand english.

I think ultimately we would all like more life in the scenery, but it's true that if they are on a budget, then by all means go full on the gameplay first and foremost. I don't really think movement distracts to be honest, if you look at Divinity it's okay. That shouldn't be the problem, but priorities have to be set and if they didn't implement animations, it's because of that. I can understand. As you say Star Wars, I do hope that with the kickstarter they'll find room for improvement after release. But typically that's not really the type of thing companies improve after release.

Ok, thanks for the feedback. Yeah well I'm pretty sure I'll get over it while playing, but it is really too bad. It's like we are here in 2014, and basically we are going to get a good game but with the same limitations as the old ones. Stiff animations, static backgrounds. I also find it sad that we always have the argument that, because it's an rpg, we should accept that only the story, loot and combat are important. It would have been the occasion to have both eye-candy and standard rpg things. Still, backgrounds are nice but.. .I don't know, we could have just as well taken the old Infinity Engine and inject the story and assets in it then. It's just... I don't want to be ungrateful there, but it's a pity. Won't stop me from playing though. But I can already see the reviews picking that out.

To those who are trying the beta as of december, is there any foliage/tree movement in there, after all? I like what I see so far but definitely get the impression that a lot is static or robotic in an otherwise splendid game. The backgrounds are so enjoyable, like matte painting.

No offense, but it's not your call, and it's not mine either. They will have to see, I'm just putting that out there. But I didn't know they had 300k left. Anyway if I'm the only one to find it disturbing then surely they shouldn't bother. I just thought it is worth mentioning, is all.

I didn't want to derail the conversation, maybe by mentioning Diablo and gamers and stuff, I did redirect the whole topic in an unfortunate direction. My point was and still is that we could enjoy better walking and running animations, that's all. I am certainly not saying this has to be done, just putting a suggestion out there. As for priorities, it is not for me to say. I was expressing an opinion. There is no other pretention for this topic really. If the devs care, good, if not, well I have been expressing a point. I hope they evaluate the need of such an improvement, and wish them luck for the release in any case.

These people don't even care about the games mechanics. Just make easy so easy that they can finish the game, problem solved. This way we could still have interesting systems and mechanics. Like it was stated by Sawyer " people liked the IE games because they were isometric and had cool locations". So, "casuals" could still be enjoying this game same way they enjoyed BG or IWD. I guess in reality all of these choices have more to do with Sawyer's personal opinions about BG or IWD. He didn't like the stuff that many people absolutely loved. I really have a problem with what you say and agree with Endrosz. Community is NOT representative. Also, you do split players into casuals and hardcore. But let me tell you, do you really think a casual would just play this ? We are all hardcore with this, because it implies that you knew Baldur's gates (just the name is making casual go away already), and frankly the look of the game screams "not casual at all". Casual to me is: I play fifa, I play COD. Rest assured, there are not casual in that sense here. But then, there are some people for which every single stat and spell of the wizard count. For instance, I'm not like that. I love BG1, backed this, but I am amused about the wars concerning stats. Which does not mean I'm right or wrong. Just, we focus on different things. I for instance would love the animations to get to 2014 standard - you would say maybe: who cares. Just priorities. Now, enter the dev team: what can they do with such different opinions ? Well they discuss it internally, change priorities. Community is some help, but is not representative. As I said, it's my first day on these boards and most topics just don't speak to me like * at all *. I would have been part of that massive silent 90% of players who back the project but won't dip into the murky forum waters. Only that I finally did because some of the things I read I wanted to answer too. Indeed there are lots of silent but valid opinion. The biggest work is to sort these out, not read the boards. That is the least of their worries I think. We can only try to be constructive.

Frankly, I don't consider PoE to be real time either. It is not Diablo, agreed, and most of us will press space to pause all the time anyway. I don't think it's the point. As for the non-gamer, well I should have mentionned that he plays fifa only - maybe gta. That doesn't make him a gamer to me, and he might not be the target audience, but if I follow your train of thought, basically, we should just forget all bells and whistles because "us infinity engine player know stuff and don't need that crap". The significant thing is that everything is done to appeal to a large base, and animations stick out like a sore thumb. And again, Torment does it with the same engine. When all the geeks and freaks (I include myself in that, it is not negative by any mean) have bought the game, is it not important to broaden your audience ?

Yes, I forgot to mention that they even stop in sync. It's crazy by 2014 standards. But then I agree that many players won't be all to disturbed by that, but to me, it looses a bit of its organic side, we are closer to an Excel sheet with nice backgrounds, in a way. Ok I'm exagerating a bit but you get my point, for me it breaks it somehow. What's more, the Torment team uses the same engine and they show that yes, it *is* possible to do good animations. I think graphically, it's an added value that makes as much sense as water movement and such. It gives life to the game, I think that the key word.

(I am not taking part in the Beta - I should mention it directly) Hi there, I was reading the boards and keeping an eye on a game that, after all, I backed on KS, and was quite surprised to see that nobody really mentioned walking and running animations. Now, granted, gameplay is king and ultimately more important, but looking at various videos of PoE, like this one: ... and then seeing the absolutely amazing Torment one: ...I am under the impression that, in PoE, the walking/running animations are very stiff and robotic. In Torment, for instance, it seems to me that the players adjust their pace at the end of the run, and overall it just looks way smoother. Could be the cloaks that the characters are wearing in the Torment video that give this vibe, who knows. Still, the legs move organically, it just "flows". But here in PoE, while I love the graphics, once I see the game "run" (no pun intended), I am quite annoyed by the animations of the player characters. They suddenly run like chickens, then brutally stop. Then move again. Robots, really. Surely there has to be a way to make them smoother ? It's a detail that, for me at least, seems to break the immersion. At the same time, I might be the only one to have noticed it, but let me put it this way: since the game is a Ferrari in the world of RPGs, why would you let it run with square tires while everything else is brillant ? It gives that "feel" of old things; not old in the sense "yay infinity engine is good more of that", but in the sense "they improved everything but not this, crap". When I play, I play for the gameplay, but I also play for the adventure, the travels and all. The scenery. The guys running through that scenery. There is nothing you wil see more during your gameplay experience than these animations (and UI, granted). Fun fact, showed the video to a non-gamer, he wasn't attracted...because of the animations. He thought it was from the 90s. Which it is, in spirit, but visually it should not. To me that's very much a game of 2014/15, but these animations, man...these are pure 90, sadly. What do you feel about that?

The number of times that seems to happen is what is making me concerned, yes. Hello there, My first post ever here. I'm a BG fan, backed the project almost day one, although lower tier. I don't want to be involved in the Beta, don't want to be spoiler, but feel it is a good way to improve. SInce I don't post or beta test, I'm almost "neutral" if you will. I'm also a developper, professionally speaking. Not of games, but still. My input: reading these forums, not to be rude, but.... I do hope they don't take the backers feedback into account. I have no words for what I read here, it's like 75% childish feedbacks and complaints and in the middle, absolutely valid points. Lost in the other crap, sadly. You know, project management means that basically you have to have the guts to say no 99% of the time, so that you filter out those "I know better" suggestions. But the 1% of the suggestions that goes through, at least, you know will be decent and valid. I don't think the devs or the team don't respect "us" (the backers), but more than programming, I am pretty glad that they filter things. You should be too. I know this ain't going to be popular but there you go. Had to say it.