Just played DA2 and am totally disgusted by the over the top, anime-ish combat animations and effects. Now I'm curious to know which more people prefer.

(Please dont dwell too much on the use of the word "realistic". Im using it here to contrast with anime-ish with its twirls, leaps and super-speed, mini-teleports.)

I really liked the effects of the gameplay trailer. I think that is how it should look like

Todd isn't a JRPG fan so it's a safe bet "Anime-ish" animations aren't going to be in the game.

Believable fighting styles.

I see what you did there! :wink_smile:

Yep

I would prefer more realistic over anime

In the trailer for Skyrim it seems like it is realistic combat animations. This is how I like it and one of the few thing about DA2 which makes me debate if I should buy it. Keep anime-over-the-top combat out of western RPG, please.

For Skyrim, I'd say a "realistic" fighting style would be best.

Realistic. It should be gritty and brutal, without going for over the top gore.

After playing DA2 and seeing how big of a flop it was (My opinion and half of Bioware's forums opinion) those fighting styles better be realistic!

I like the combat animations in DA2, but I do NOT want anything that even resembles that in Skyrim.

Nothing over the top. I want it believable, visceral, and gratifying. I want to bathe in my enemies blood!

Heh. given your nick I'd have thought you'd go for the anime combat. and how is bathing in your enemies blood "nothing over the top"?

first off, if you read the combat improvements for melee combat, they tel about that theyve damped it down compared to oblivion, no more backstepping out of harms way, more tactical, in use of striking and defending, all about timing your defend, strike and bash combo, so i dont see any reason as to fear a "devil may cry" combat style, witch is one of the best released info ive read till now, works great in davil may cry, but personally, im looking forward to a more intence and immersive combat style, defend, strike, defend, bash and powerstrike, and up comes the finishing move, WEEEEEEE...........wtf, how the mother did i die...grrr :brokencomputer:

I feel sick to my stomach when I see anime animations in western RPGs. Mundane > Ultra super-duper-glossy-mega-über realism.

I totally LOVE visceral, deadly combat. I want to feel that I hit hard, not feel that I hit with big numbers. I think that's what I loved in OB over other RPGs, and that's why I'll love skyrim.

I love DMC combat too, but it wouldn't really fit TES if you ask me

I absolutely agree with you about DA2's anims.

I love acrobatic anime style combat animations, when they're done: 1) well, and smoothly, and 2) with a matching setting, characters and art style (ie, JRPG high-magic, high-fantasy) - for example, I really like Final Fantasy XIII's visuals and animations; it's not trying to be anything else, and it's good at what it is. In a supposedly dark, Tolkien-inspired western RPG environment these kinds of animation look mildly ridiculous at best, and pathetic at worst.

The good news, at least from my/our perspective? Skyrim's character anims are certainly not anything like DA2's. I've watched and re-watched the gameplay trailer, and any faults I could find with the anims would be nitpicking in the extreme. Running, striking, being staggered, the stealth kill, even the (traditionally over-the-top) dual wielding looks solid and weighty and quasi-realistic. The hero vs dragon scenes were particularly raw and impactful in how the character moved.

By realistic, are we talking Arena/Daggerfall/Morrowind/Oblivion realistic (which is to say not very realistic at all) or Demon's Souls realistic?

I feel sick to my stomach as soon as I see anime in general. It hurts to see so many anime mods for Oblivion. It's strange though. There are barely any anime mods for Morrowind, but thousands for Oblivion.

I hope there will be very few anime mods for Skyrim. Not that I will ever use them, but just seeing them gives me a bad feeling.

I want buzzword, buzzword, buzzword, buzzword combat, you foolish fool!

Since the game is going for the realistic graphical look, definitly realistic animations. They should always match. Only crazy anime animations for a crazy anime game. (which I will promptly not play)

I want realistic, nothing that reminds of anime/cartoon at all. I know combat will never look like it would in reality, but it should look and feel natural, like it's part of the game world. I don't want to feel like a cartoon character swinging a sword.

Oblivion makes easier to include fancy animations. Surelly there will be more anime mods for Skyrim than for Oblivion.

This. 'Nuff said.