Starwars Posted December 25, 2014 Posted December 25, 2014 Was thinking about this when playing the other day. They scaled back the Web effect to something that is much better than the original mess. Now you can easily see what happens. One other spell I think is a bit annoying is the Fireball. The moments after it hits (which is often the moment where I really want to re-evaluate what I'm doing) it's impossible to see what's happening. It obscures characters and selection circles alike. Obviously a fireball should feel dangerous but yeah, it'd be nice if we could at least see the circles through it. What are some of the visual effects you feel are over the top? 2 Listen to my home-made recordings (some original songs, some not): http://www.youtube.c...low=grid&view=0
Osvir Posted December 25, 2014 Posted December 25, 2014 If a "light" source could be attached to the middle of a fireball VFX, it could show dynamic shadows cast by the Party or Enemies alike. Or have it tied to the explosion itself.A Fireball is a big ball of fire and light, after all. Could help with clarity?Otherwise, its effect is short and explosive, I don't think it is obtrusive.
Sensuki Posted December 26, 2014 Posted December 26, 2014 Fireball definitely, it does not need a persistent after effect, after the hit frame. There's like a mushroom cloud that rises in the middle, followed by smoke. The new Web FX is strange, it doesn't look like a web and you can barely see it, and now the Hobbled FX is more obtrusive than the actual spell itself. TBH all the Hobbled FX needs to be is some stuff stuck around the units legs or something, not a glowing chain around their body. Chill Fog and Grease are also too much. Every Chanter Invocation needs the screen darkening removed.Will do some more testing some other time and add to the list 3
Starwars Posted December 26, 2014 Author Posted December 26, 2014 Yeah, the Hobbled effect feels really weird to me also. And even aside from its over the top look, it's not really what I would think of when I think "hobbled". Listen to my home-made recordings (some original songs, some not): http://www.youtube.c...low=grid&view=0
Sensuki Posted December 27, 2014 Posted December 27, 2014 The Stuck Affliction FX is too over the top, obscures too much of the unit. Rolling Flame could be toned down a bit as well.
morhilane Posted December 27, 2014 Posted December 27, 2014 Arcane Veil is too opaque, it obscure everything that is behind the wizard along with the wizard. 3 Azarhal, Chanter and Keeper of Truth of the Obsidian Order of Eternity.
Falkon Swiftblade Posted December 27, 2014 Posted December 27, 2014 I suspect the fx guy is working in a vacuum without having a character model to work with. That would be my top priority when designing vfx. I'd have a test chamber for characters standing around and the fx all happening on screen next to each other so I could see how they all work together. I'd try it on single targets and groups, tall players, short ones, naked and fully geared. What's kind of funny is they literally work less than 2 miles away from a place on the same road that teaches you professionally how to do these types of fx. I think it would have been my prerogative to either go in and talk to them, or hire them for a day to teach the workflow. 1
Dark_Ansem Posted December 31, 2014 Posted December 31, 2014 none! I think they're all very low-dose! far are the days of the spell effects of Neverwinter Nights, which caused entire areas to go ablaze :D In-Development: Turn-Based cRPG, late backing OPEN!
Falkon Swiftblade Posted January 1, 2015 Posted January 1, 2015 Speaking of entire area's going ablaze, are there any environmental damage you can do? I love having oil slicks or barrels you can catch on fire to make fights more strategic.
PrimeJunta Posted January 1, 2015 Posted January 1, 2015 Yeh, Stuck is way OTT. So are many of the others. This really is one area that needs revision; it's annoying that they didn't just copy pay homage to IWD2 here; the status FX were clear, looked good, and did not obscure what's going on. 2 I have a project. It's a tabletop RPG. It's free. It's a work in progress. Find it here: www.brikoleur.com
Sensuki Posted January 4, 2015 Posted January 4, 2015 The FX for Blast/Wands needs tuning down Way too over the top, there's also a large amount of procedural blur that obscures selection circles as well. 2
Sensuki Posted January 4, 2015 Posted January 4, 2015 (edited) Here's the blur/selection circle obfuscation. The Blood hit FX needs re-doing as well. It's pretty much black and it's not snappy enough Edited January 4, 2015 by Sensuki 2
AlekzanderZ Posted January 4, 2015 Posted January 4, 2015 (edited) Yes the hobbled effect is really bad. It should be place around their feets or around the green circle. I think it was a bug but I saw it in a video where the hobble effect is at their feet and it look really good and none obtrucive. you can see it by yourself in this video: at 32:11 min, the character on the left got the hobble effect at their feet. Edited January 4, 2015 by AlekzanderZ
GordonHalfman Posted January 4, 2015 Posted January 4, 2015 I think Circle of Protection is too much, it obscures selection circles and the marquee selection:
Sensuki Posted January 4, 2015 Posted January 4, 2015 Wow look at how terrible the Hobbled and Stuck FX are on the Dire Bear and Korgrak hahah.
Sensuki Posted January 4, 2015 Posted January 4, 2015 Adra Beetle Shocking Blast ability doesn't need the smoke after effects
morhilane Posted January 8, 2015 Posted January 8, 2015 The Blizzard is so cold that it turn the humidity into smog... Azarhal, Chanter and Keeper of Truth of the Obsidian Order of Eternity.
DigitalCrack Posted January 9, 2015 Posted January 9, 2015 This is one aspect that I felt IE games were a little lackluster with. So I am kinda glad with Pillars being a little over the top.
Sensuki Posted January 9, 2015 Posted January 9, 2015 (edited) *downvote* It's not practical at all. Edited January 9, 2015 by Sensuki 1
DigitalCrack Posted January 9, 2015 Posted January 9, 2015 *downvote* It's not practical at all. Ha you are right, and I know I am minority on thinking that way. There are some cases where the "feel" is more important to me than how functional it is mechanically. However I would agree that there are at least a handful of effects that are too much.
Hormalakh Posted January 10, 2015 Posted January 10, 2015 One of the things that I think would really help with this whole mess is that there aren't any status effects that are easy to identify shown on enemy units. With my own units, at the very least I can look down at their portrait and get an idea of what buffs and debuffs they have. However, a lot of the animations (hobbled, blinded, etc) are fairly obscure and difficult to understand. I would much rather have a stack of icons atop the unit heads to quickly identify what status effect it is instead of trying to decipher some of these animations. A small blinded icon (eye with cross through it) or a hobbled icon (legs with cross through it) would go much further than some of these new-fangled animations. Yes, they look nice, but they are too glaring and instead of being used to provide information first and then to make things look "cool" second, looking "cool" first seems to take importance and to hell with good visibility. 1 My blog is where I'm keeping a record of all of my suggestions and bug mentions. http://hormalakh.blogspot.com/ UPDATED 9/26/2014 My DXdiag: http://hormalakh.blogspot.com/2014/08/beta-begins-v257.html
Sensuki Posted January 10, 2015 Posted January 10, 2015 Over the unit's head wouldn't be a good idea, but they could do those in the enemy tooltip, sure. Just with smaller icons probably.
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