Making the battles epic - blood, death animations, music, dirtier skins etc. [Archive]

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Rodion Romanovich

01-24-2006, 20:02

I really hope they put blood in MTW2. No fun seeing axes cleaving chain-mail or a spiked mace hit the head of a knight without seeing proper blood effects! I know MTW2 will aim for the 12years old ranking limits, but wouldn't it be possible to at least add a blood function and a parental lock for the game? Or at least a possibility to mod in blood? I'd also love it if the "reworked animations" they listed in the new features list would include better death animations with some more variety. I'd like to see mounted units get pierced by an arrow, then ride on and slowly glide off the horse. I'd like to see knights being dismounted in battle and continue fighting on foot (if they would fall off in a quiet place where they can stand up before they get pierced by a spear) while their horses continue running. Finally I'd like to hear the units roaring loudly when they charge (not the warcry feature of RTW which was IMO quite unintuitive to use in the battles, just a better sound effect during the charge), and hear the crusader knights scream "deus vult" as they charge into battle. Also make all units look dirtier, not like they just visited their tailor and got a new outfit, but like hardened veterans, maybe with dried blood stains on their clothes for those who have been campaigning for a long time! Allow multiple skins/models to be in the same unit, i.e. "warband" with a mix of axes and spears, or things like that. Finally bring back the old MTW1 muslim factions battle music and MTW2 would bring back the epic feeling of MTW1 :2thumbsup:

TB666

01-24-2006, 20:13

But there is gonna be blood.
You should have seen the screenshots Legio by now.

Rodion Romanovich

01-24-2006, 20:20

:jumping: I was in a room with too much light fallig on the monitor and in a hurry. *runs back to check the screenies under proper conditions*

TB666

01-24-2006, 20:23

Here is a screenshot of blood.
http://www.totalwar.com/community/images/1knight.jpg

Rodion Romanovich

01-24-2006, 20:24

Nice! Now it's starting to look promising!

Katana

01-25-2006, 04:31

Yeah, that looks promising. I really hope they include blood on weapons (especially after a fatality animation) and blood on the corpses. I always thought looking at a battlefield with a thousand dead men on it and no blood was really weird in R:TW. I'm not saying it's gotta be Doom 3 or Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War or something, but some degree of gore seems necessary for a game featuring thousands of men locked in mortal combat.

sapi

01-25-2006, 08:25

Dutch_guy

01-25-2006, 13:46

Yes I'd like to have blood in the game, and it seems that it's going to be in it which is definitely a good sign.

Also I'd like to see the arrows remain in people if a person get's hit ( the whole getting hit then glide of horse slowly is going to be hard, or impossible I would say. )

If those 2 things are added, I'd be a happy man.

:balloon2:

x-dANGEr

01-25-2006, 13:52

Well, that doesn't seem to look like blood to me.. Just some red paint.. If that's what they call blood, then I'd be disappointed in the GFX section of SA 0_o

Mikeus Caesar

01-25-2006, 19:07

I'm not saying it's gotta be Doom 3 or Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War or something, but some degree of gore seems necessary for a game featuring thousands of men locked in mortal combat.

Shouldn't that be Mortal Kombat? Heheheh....*thinks of some rather cool death animations and combo moves for MTW2*

A.Saturnus

01-25-2006, 19:46

I'm not a fan of gore but I must admit with that much realism we see in the screenshots, leaving blood out would be bad for immersion. That shiny armours are getting covered with blood and mudder as the battle rages surely adds a lot of atmosphere.

Katana

01-26-2006, 00:41

Shouldn't that be Mortal Kombat? Heheheh....*thinks of some rather cool death animations and combo moves for MTW2*

The Scorpion units would totally pwn everyone. Someone should make a Mortal Kombat mod just for the hilarity.

Lochar

01-26-2006, 04:04

It would be nice to see blood and I think it will have some but I am happy that they are adding a dirtiness layer so that troops battling for a period of time will show it. Only game ever saw this done was Madden.

Arrows out of the bodies are nice too but cant wonder if that wont bog down the memory.

Weebeast

01-26-2006, 07:33

I know MTW2 will aim for the 12years old ranking limits, but wouldn't it be possible to at least add a blood function and a parental lock for the game?

I don't mean to turn this forum into Back Room or whatever but playing violent games is playing violent games whether there's blood or not.

I'm glad they're going for it unless that pic shown above is photoshopped.

ajaxfetish

01-26-2006, 07:36

Well, we don't just have a pic. They've also confirmed in the IGN interview that they're including both blood and muddiness over the course of battle.

Ajax

Duke John

01-26-2006, 07:41

I would turn blood off since I don't think it is worth my decrease in performance. But if CA wishes to make the battlefield more gruesome then they could add the groans and moans of the casualities. When the fighting is over the sound of it becomes an effective statement of what happened during battles; ending the lives of men.

Trajanus

01-26-2006, 09:13

More ambient sounds through the battle would be good, plus shouting charges moans and groans, horses getting killed etc.

Is it possible that they can play more than 1 sound at a time. So depending on what part of the battlefield you are near based upon whats going on - already fighting, just about to engage, charging, dead and wounded lying around - the sounds could be utilised.

Just makes for a more engrossing game in my opinion.

Ciaran

01-26-2006, 12:44

HenryLet

01-26-2006, 13:35

Does anyone know the PC requirements to run this game, cos I have a 1.5 Ghz fast PC with only 256 MB of Ram memory!!:dizzy2:

A.Saturnus

01-26-2006, 22:10

I couldn´t care less about graphics, what´s the best graphics worth if the game gets boring after the first week of playing because the AI is as smart as stale bread.
Living in Germany, there´s also the danger of censorship - something those from the whole EU might be looking forward to, because the German system has best chances to make EU reglementation.

It's not only about graphics but immersion. Besides it might even be usefull for gameplay. That way it may be possible to distinguish fresh units from tired ones just by looking at them.

Lochar

01-27-2006, 07:15

It's not only about graphics but immersion. Besides it might even be usefull for gameplay. That way it may be possible to distinguish fresh units from tired ones just by looking at them.

Chances are, if you see a troop of completely bloody/dirty troops, they're tired. I think having visual clues can help gameplay, and like you said seeing a bright shiny unit entering the fray, you know they're going to be fresh.

Ciaran

01-27-2006, 12:02

Now that would be a usefull application of the new graphic system, one issue with RTW is you can´t see the exhaustion status of your units like you can in MTW.

Divinus Arma

01-28-2006, 01:07

CA could, possibly and if they so desire, create a death animation where limbs are properly removed, heads properly decapitated, and intestines properly disemboweled (sic).

Then the remains represented could be in bloody masses of flesh.:2thumbsup:

Taffy_is_a_Taff

01-28-2006, 01:32

DA: you ever read much medieval literature?

your statement reminded me of some of the scenes from Blind Harry's "Wallace" (late medieval epic poem about William Wallace).

I wonder if the messy slaughterhouse look is really what people want though...

Orda Khan

01-28-2006, 03:14

Well I don't. My preference is for improved battles, gore is way down on my wish list

.....Orda