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Games with great animations

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I know Mai had a racy win pose in one of the KF games.

For my vote I'll through out a random one and say Splinter Cell Conviction. I loved the take downs that Sam would do on the guards.
 
Bowser's Inside Story
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The graphics are incredible. It looks like a mix of CG with sprites, and the result is one of the most fluid DS games.

I can't find a good gif though.
 
Ghost Trick was the first one that came to mind after reading the thread title so yeah, also my pick. It's just gorgeous and would be worth playing for the animation alone.
 
Visualante said:
I know everyone's got their own opinions but Skyward sword looks dated, gaudy and tasteless. Unless melodrama is what you want (which is kind of a faux pas in animation) I struggle to see how anyone can appreciate it without having that Zelda fanaticism.
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I tend to agree (And I'm a huge Zelda fan). Cutscenes in video games have come a long way, but SS's seem like just a glorified version of the typical dialogue exchange in a Zelda game which is "Text, followed by canned animation, followed by idling animation, and repeat."
 
Nintaiyo said:
I tend to agree (And I'm a huge Zelda fan). Cutscenes in video games have come a long way, but SS's seem like just a glorified version of the typical dialogue exchange in a Zelda game which is "Text, followed by canned animation, followed by idling animation, and repeat."
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It's been that way for a while, sadly. In Twilight Princess they managed to get away with it if you just skip through the cut scenes (also this was 2006 and I was more forgiving) and in Wind Waker/the DS titles it suited the style absolutely.. it was so cute that you could forgive the playful ignorance in the characters.
 
Threi said:
SF4 surpassed 3s animation...easily.

But since its in 3D it's taken for granted.
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SF4 had some really great animations but it never looked anywhere near as fluid as 3S to me.

Visualante said:
Cool thread. I know everyone's got their own opinions but Skyward sword looks dated, gaudy and tasteless. Unless melodrama is what you want (which is kind of a faux pas in animation) I struggle to see how anyone can appreciate it without having that Zelda fanaticism.

For me Shadow of the Colossus got me into animation. (please don't read the above as if I'm being condescending) Abe's Oddworld and Heart of Darkness were two others that I loved at the time. Naughty Dog's first two series Crash and Jak always used to make me laugh especially the latter.

Last mention, Episode 2 + Team Fortress 2. Really glad they released the TF2 characters so I can animate them. I have everything except facial animation tools. Alyx's performance was so likeable.
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Yeah I don't get the Zelda mentions. That E3 boss fight video was just horrid.
 
Papercuts said:
Assassin's Creed, Uncharted 2, and Ultimate Ninja Storm are all insanely fun to watch animate.
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I had forgotten about that one. Those games are just unbelievable.
 
WoW. At least for MMOs.

Not so much the animation routines themselves, but just the fluidity of the character models when transitioning between animations. For example, the smoothness of going from running diagonally to fullstop into a casting animation looks really good for a game released in 2004.

Every other modern MMO I've tried still has some of that "on ice" jankiness in some of the animations where the player model looks like it's sliding around on a slippery surface.
 
Uncharted 2 probably has the best animation I have played...GoW 3 is pretty slick as well. AC is good, but the climbing upwards is too jerky for my tastes
 
Threi said:
SF4 surpassed 3s animation...easily.

But since its in 3D it's taken for granted.
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The animation in 3S has more charisma, weight and appeal than the animation in SF4. And there is absolutely no reason 3D/CG animation has to be "better" than hand-drawn animation.
 
Visualante said:
Cool thread. I know everyone's got their own opinions but Skyward sword looks dated, gaudy and tasteless. Unless melodrama is what you want (which is kind of a faux pas in animation) I struggle to see how anyone can appreciate it without having that Zelda fanaticism.
Click to expand...

Wait wat? Since when did over expression become a faux pas in a medium known for exaggerated expressions?
 
I think both Ghost Trick and Punch Out have just the right amount of believability, realism and playfulness paired with great fluidity and complexity in their animations. It's really fun to watch things move in those games.
 
Since most games I wanted to list are already listed...

I must say, the most impressive animations IMO are in Naughty Dog games. Crash was awesome for the time, so was Jak&Daxter (2&3 especially and they both still animate waaaay better than most of today's games) and uncharted is pretty impressive too.

If I go back in time a bit, I remember being jaw dropped by:

PoP (and later PoP sands of time)
Out of this world
Flashback
Blackthorn
Golden Eye
Donkey Kong Country
The first 3 Spyro games, the Ratchet & Clank series..
Medal of honor
Aladdin (Genesis even though I did like the SNES game a lot)
The Lion King (SNES/Gen)
Killer Instinct (arcade)
SF3
Tobal 2

.. and so many more actually :P
 
Visualante said:
Cool thread. I know everyone's got their own opinions but Skyward sword looks dated, gaudy and tasteless. Unless melodrama is what you want (which is kind of a faux pas in animation) I struggle to see how anyone can appreciate it without having that Zelda fanaticism.
Click to expand...
I don't see melodrama in an animated work to be tasteless/dated/etc. 3D animated works often have exaggerated animations for the sake of expression. Either way, the GIFs I posted are of a melodramatic character. Other parts of the game have characters that act in a less melodramatic and more realistic way.

What I thought was great about the animation was its fluidity, its attention to detail (like his fingers) and it's believable in the sense that a real person can move like that.


Pein said:
indeed
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I remember these.
That's simply amazing. Makes me want to get the game despite not being a fan of either Naruto or the game's genre.
 
Another one for TF2. If only for the subtle facial animations they show be it anger, pain, joy or frustration they all merge seamlessly in to each other. It's something that need not be animated in a multiplayer FPS but it's a quality touch.
 
Visualante said:
Cool thread. I know everyone's got their own opinions but Skyward sword looks dated, gaudy and tasteless. Unless melodrama is what you want (which is kind of a faux pas in animation) I struggle to see how anyone can appreciate it without having that Zelda fanaticism.
Click to expand...

I don't know how anyone can honestly saw this...
 
The game that always impressed me with it's animations was Ico. Considering none of them were motion captured, all of them done the old fashioned way - by hand.
 
Thread didn't turn out quite like I'd expected. Some interesting choices. And some head-scratchers.
 
I'd like to give a shout out to Naughty Dog, DICE, Team Ico and Ubi Montreal... these folks are consistent.

Also... and file this in the "when pigs fly" category... Bethesda's work on TES:Skyrim is a real eye-opener. Nothing close to industry leaders, but it's a marked improvement. Deserved mention.
 
DidntKnowJack said:
The game that always impressed me with it's animations was Ico. Considering none of them were motion captured, all of them done the old fashioned way - by hand.
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They're still using that method for TLG

Its animation is astonishingly lifelike. So is the flappy-limbed, unselfconscious energy of the boy, Ueda's youngest and most human protagonist to date. Sailing against the wind, Team Ico refuses to use any form of motion-capture, using hand-crafted step-by-step keyframe animation instead. The studio's gifted animators marry the tiny, exquisite observations you might see in a hand-drawn Miyazaki film to complex 3D models and sophisticated AI. It's a mind-blowing achievement.
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http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2011-03-02-the-last-guardian-preview?page=2
 
Frost_Ace said:
Ghost trick is amazing animation-wise! Forgot how the used technique it's called but it gives the sprites realistic movements.
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I'm pretty sure they're actually using 3d models, even though it really does look like sprites, and I believe the technique is called hiring batshit insane animators. Truly a fantastic game

SF3 is another obvious choice. I'd also like to give a nod to DQ4-6 on the DS, the battle animations are fantastic, though there's a lot of "cheating" going on so it's not really proper pixel animation. When it comes to realistic 3d animation, nothing beats Shadow of the Colossus. The horse is so amazing
when he came limping back in the ending I was breathless, both from the beautiful story and the amazing animation.
 
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