Exactly. It’s sad it had to come to that.
What I believe match the video pretty well. What helps a lot a fighting game in the graphics department isn’t so much how beautiful it renders but rather how well the presentation and animation helps the gameplay by indicating to the player what’s happening on the screen.
One proof to me is Street Fighter IV. When that game launched I HATED the graphics (still do today). All 3d models made me cry and most animations where meh, but from a gameplay standpoint they helped a lot to convey what was happening on the screen. Street Fighter V improved a lot the graphics but they are still not the best (Ken’s face being one example of sloppy modeling), yet the animations help a lot more to convey what’s happening.
This is one area where IG didn’t start well but improved a lot. We started the season with slow and weird animations for manuals, TJ Combo with basically the same animations for linkers and Maya with literally the same animations for auto doubles but by the end of S2 the game’s animations improved a lot by helping us understand what’s happening in a game where predicting and reacting to what’s happening is so key.
Sure Omen is an eye sore but he’s isolated in that regard . He was the only character that didn’t have 2D conceptual art and was directly modeled on the 3d app and as others have said he’s this game’s Mocap. To be honest I’m impressed by how much they where able to make his animations unique given those facts.
Except that his animations aren’t unique, and that’s one of the major problems with him.
Actually, the art direction in KI is all over the place. TJ combo placed next to Jago is very awkward to look at. TJ def doesn’t follow any art style of the game and looks like he belongs in a completely different game. He is very generic to look at without any acessories. Retro TJ on the other hand is perfectly fine.
The characters are all over the place, thats just KI…
The characters may be all over the place but the level of detail is very different. Season one characters, the humans, have a ton of details on them. Every season 1 character looks like a cosplayers delight. Jago with his tiger kneepads and tiger tattoos define his character. Sadira whom if you look at her shoes has hooks on the tips of them to spin and has mysterious golden eyes and a gem embedded mask. Orchid who could have easily been made as generic as TJ has night vision goggles and a single knee pad which she uses for her DP.
Then you move into Season 2 and TJ is just a regular guy with poorly modeled scars on his arm. His acessories save him from being the worst character in the game. Maya shares the same fault. Funnily enough her concept art details a scar on her leg but it’s not very noticeable in game and is never mentioned in the story. She’s supposed to be a monster hunter, they could have added more detail to her like adding supplies that a monster would use. Kan Ra is the only one who has a ton of details, look at his neck and his jewlery, you wonder where it’s from. Look at his waste and the items he carries, all of these things form a back story just by looking at them but TJ has none of that.
Yes KI has a wulf, a skeleton, a ton of diversity, but the way certain characters are presented is clearly not on par to others. TJ just doesn’t have the details that the rest of the cast has and it makes him look bland.
Compare standard TJ to his retro. Retro TJ has a champion ship belt. Red White and Blue arm bands and even star spangled eye patch. All of that paints a picture of a charismatic champion and a colorful persona that can be considered high quality. Why doesn’t standard TJ have any of this?
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I’ve noticed a few things here and there but nothing too upsetting.
I’ve pretty much figured thats its a side effect of the seasonal format. I think they’ll touch up some things at the end of season 3
You all are just telling the history of KI changing hands and having a very rushed start of second season.
Most s1 characters are on par in style, a few problems here and there but you can tell all characters are from the same game.
In S2 the first two characters are the most problematic. From there on characters are well animated and modeled again and feel from the same “season” with Aganos being my favorite. Omen had problems for the reasons we already mentioned but Cinder, Kan-Ra, Aganos, Hisako and ARIA are very well done.
There is nothing wrong with maya she’s leaps ahead of some of the cast. Retro wulf/hyena anyone?
This thread just seems like yet another slap at the Devs.
Maya, kanra rare equally as detailed as sadira and jagos.
I agree just because something hasn’t got the best visuals on the world doesn’t means it’s game play isn’t stellar.
I played mkx looks awesome plays like a dog.
I tried sfv yesterday,it came across all fur coat no knickers. I mean I liked it, I’m gonna get it but it’s just an upgrade from usf4
Don’t get wrong, I still believe to this day that Kan-Ra and Cinder follow a different art direction in terms of their modeling and proportions compared to the male characters, which is why they look so small, while MS/IG tried to follow the established art direction with TJ Combo but ended up with an awkward design.
For being the brashest character, TJ has the stiffest walk in the game. The only things that screams brash and cocky about his default design are his vocals.
Similarly, they tried to give Maya the same art direction as the females but she came out looking gigantic and her poorly-animated moves make her look clumsy.
KI’s art direction lacks consistency, but I still like it better than MKX and SF5’s.
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She’s an Amazon. She’s meant to tall.
Indeed but she is also now one of the tallest female sin the game.
That’s what I like about ki. Not everyone is the same size and shape. Even the men are different sizes. Wonder if tusk will be like thunder?
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Like Cinder, her height is not the issue. Believe it or not, but Maya is about as tall as Aria and Sadira.
She gives the rather bulky guys a run for their money.
How is that any different from any of the other major fighting games? You have different sized characters in those games too.
Your argument changes constantly. Maya is taller than sadira because she’s meant to be. Not because of bad programming. While we’re at it, while she’s not as fluid as some she’s far from being stiff. Maya is my favourite character in the game.
If anything you should be taking point with soulless orchid with the linguini hair.
Mind you its still better than banana hair Ken.
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What argument? That Maya is huge because she’s wide and not necessarily because she’s the tallest female character?
Now she’s wider? She’s in scale just fine. Your just looking at things to have a go at now. It’s been the same since day 1 that ig took over.
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She’s always been wider. She’s about as tall as half of the women in the game but notably wider than any of them.
No idea what you’re talking about.
Everybody being the same size is not an “art direction”.
You think that a female character with a reasonable waist is “wide”? Do you think missing-ribs Orchid and Sadira are normal?
I think you’ll find that, maybe with the exception of a bit of animation work, IG and MS are proud of the work they did with Maya, and maybe a little embarrassed by some aspects of the previous women that pander to teenage boys too much. It is unlikely that any of your threads have had any effect on that.
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