One more plea for the old Shadow animation

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1

Work’s been kinda slow today, so I thought I’d rank each Ultimate for a different thread. In doing so, I came upon this old season 1 match where Max took on the hidden boss, Shadow Jago.

First thing I said, without even thinking about it, was “wow, those shadow moves look SO slick.” With that color and animation on them, it looks as though they’re almost bending space and time itself to pull off these insane moves. It’s a really awesome table setting animation for what’s about to come next.

Now, contrast that with Riptor’s Ultimate video:

Granted, you only see the shadow animation once, but in comparing the two, the difference in visual appeal honestly surprised me.

Now, some people may prefer this new animation and that’s FINE. But if we can’t replace it with the old animation, I’ll ask, as many have before me, if it would be possible to get a toggle (I know, that dreaded word), so that we can choose which one we like more?

Even if there are lighting reasons, or some other issue, it’d be great if they could figure that aspect out and give us the option. I don’t know how much is left in this game, but if 3.9 is one of the last updates and there’s not much coming afterwards, this would be a cool, final “thank you” to people that have stuck around a long time and prefer the old animation. Not saying we deserve it or anything, just that it’d be really cool if this could happen.

Just curious what people think.

TL/DR: I prefer the old shadow animation, how about you?

  • I prefer the new purple shadow animation
  • I prefer the old black shadow animation
  • I’d like the option to toggle between them

0 voters

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5 Likes
2

Old shadow is so much better but I think toggle would be the best.

1 Like
3

Toggle is the best way to go at it. True I like the old shadows better but there are also people who like the new shadows better too. Options are nice.

2 Likes
4

That’s more or less where I come down as well. I don’t want to take anything away from people that like the purple animation, but honestly, after watching a bunch of the ultimate videos and seeing several shadow animations, comparing the two of them, the original animation is just so gorgeous and so perfect for the moves that are about to happen.

I guess I just never noticed how great they were before, how they can capture other colors in them and really give this dark sort of vibe that they’re summoning the powers around them. The purple version simply doesn’t capture that.

Now, I’m not saying this would be easy. I’m not even sure if any of the season 3 characters had the old shadow animation or what would have to be done to give them these animations, but again, I’d absolutely love it if they could do this for the fans, either as part of a future update with paid content or as a final send off for the game.

FWIW, I really hope it’s not the latter! :slight_smile:

Honestly though, if it’s actually easier for them to just have one animation and not give us a choice, then I really hope they’ll consider going back to the old shadow animation. I’m sure there are a myriad of technical reasons why this might be difficult, but I honestly think it’s worth the headache, as I believe that many fans would appreciate it.

4 Likes
5

I would actually prefer to color customize the shadows instead of just toggling between the black and purple. That way players can have a chance to customize their shadows as they see fit. The A.I. can have the regular purple shadows to fit the theme of the season.

Here’s hoping IG takes both of our ideas into consideration.

1 Like
6

Just like the animated lever four enders, there should be an option to select from. Give us more options to play with and all that stuff.

2 Likes
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I wonder how that would work. Would they have to change any stage lighting or anything else? I only mentioned a toggle for the two because a lot of the assets are already there, I’d think.

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I’m not sure if it would affect stage lighting. Then again, it’s IG’s call to test that theory.

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The old shadow animation had their own version of color customization when I think about it. Spinal shadow had bits and prices of his green glowy lights in it that changed how the shadow looked compared to say orchid fire cat which looked really yellow/ orange

1 Like
10

The thing that really sticks out to me that was so great about the original shadow effect is that it mimicked the original 2 games’ shadow effects in that it made a trail of duplicates of your character, and while obviously that’s an effect that is only really seen well on characters with moves that have decent movement across the screen, it still was really neat to see. I really wish they would bring it back.

3 Likes
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Always go for the option to give people more options! I know I prefer the old Shadow FX, but my girlfriend prefers the new since they’re her favorite color. It’d be really awesome to be able to do it on a per player basis, i.e you can have them set to one while your opponent can have them as the other!

2 Likes
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Yeah, that was always cool to me. Like not only was there a physical animation we could see that almost appeared to slow down time for a second and focus in on something cool, but you could actually see those colors blended with the character so as to give the illusion that the new purple animation simply can’t provide.

Agree 100%. It’s not just that I think the original move looks cool because it’s in black instead of purple, but it’s also the duplicates trail and how cool that looks, not just as an animation, but also as a nod to the prior games.

I’m not sure if they changed the color because they thought it was a lighting issue or something along those lines, but I think the original shadow animation simply looks better, flows better, and includes stuff within it that gives it a better style overall that fits with KI’s darker aesthetic more than explosions of bright purple coming off of the characters.

Maybe I’m wrong, but I could’ve sworn that the purple was done to fit more with Gargos and what they decided shadow energy would look like. Am I mistaken? I dunno, but either way, they don’t have to make everything either green or purple and I still think that this move looks better not fitting in to that mold, but again, that’s just me.

2 Likes
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They said initally the reasoning for the shadow moves to be purple was to show a connection to Gargos and how he was feeding off of the shadow energy everyone put out, so it sounded like it was simply a style decision.

14

Why do people still discuss this type of topic. Its just a colour change guys chill. Changing the colour from purple to black again will be as redundant as turning it purple in the first place. If the colour purple still annoys you then I suggest putting a black and white filter on your tv

15

But it isn’t just black. The old shadow had a cool animation effect. It enhances the move way better than the new one. It gives a better sense of power. The new one is just bland purple ink. The old one has character.

2 Likes
16

There’s no harm in asking. Plus no one here is going "OMG IG ruined KI with all the purple! KI’s dead now, thanks to Keits’s purple fetish!!!"
So far everyone here has been rather respectful and are simply asking for the KI team to consider bringing it back.
After all, post S3 Gargos is supposed to be no more, so the reasoning for the Shadow effects to be purple is gone now.

4 Likes
17

Not sure if I can agree with you on that . I honesty never understood why people got all triggered over a colour at launch season 3 . I think with the new graphics overhaul , the black shadow colour probably looked muddy next to the new environments. Purple is here to stay lads sorry about that.

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I agree! I really REALLY liked the old Shadow animations.

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I was mainly commenting on the response the change got at launch when people genuinely got TRIGGERED over a colour change.

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Even still, for this thread my point still stands.