Skill based combat animations

[LongClaws]

Put this up on Steam forum, and Hatsune Neko suggested I put it on here.

So, 3 Sand Ninjas come upon a group of hungry bandits, and they all start to fight. Then you wonder, "Wait a minute, are those hungry bandits in ninja outfits?" because all the characters fight the same way, same attacks, same blocks, same everything.
I'd like to see a tiered setup for combat animations, based on weapon skill. The game Gothic did this years ago, and I have yet to see another like it. Each weapon starts out with the basic animation package, ie holding one handed weapons with both hands, flailing about wildly, being staggered from blocks, stuff like that. As your skill improves, lets say lvl 10, you enter a more practiced set, moves appear more refined, some chain attacks, a few flourishes, that sort of thing. Then you hit master stage, 40 or so, where you fight like a pro, elegant moves, almost dancelike, superior combos, getting blocked barely affects combat. Could be a good way of rewarding players for honing that one weapon to such a high degree, or conversely just keeping them alive.
Suddenly , you will want to watch that fight just because it will look awesome (and your characters hopefully won't be in danger...)

[islesofurth]

didnt read your post its to long, but got the idea.

Different animations would be very nice, however Chris has mentioned that Animations seem to be a problem at the moment.
If Chris is able to hire an Animator or someone who has some skill making them, im sure we will get different animations.

[CrazyCon]

I know there's a TON of content to love in this game, but honestly having good combat is one of the most important. If the dev can find a way to make the combat more fluid and animated it would increase the playability of the game tenfold.

Kind of like how some online games are all about strategy, and fights end up being "Get in fight" and then you see the outcome via amount of deaths and whatnot, etc. It's kind of like, "oh, this is lame." There's no payoff, in a sense. With games like Torchlight though, while there may not be a lot of intense strategy there IS a well done combat system that's so fun you don't care. They even make picking up gold seem fun. Kenshi so far has decent combat, but if it were to be made better (adding animations, skill-based abilities like rallying [speech/leadership], etc etc) it would make Kenshi much more satisfying.

[Clawdius Talonious]

With the increase in income from the Steam early access program I imagine Chris is looking into figuring out the best price/performance option for quality animations. I can't say for certain that we'll be seeing new sets of combat animations unlock at high skill tiers for certain weapons, but there will certainly be a lot more variation. The only confirmed style coming thus far AFAIK is hand to hand combat, but that alone will add quite a bit to the game. And, potentially, some moves like kicks could be incorporated at high attack skills into many different weapon animations if Chris wanted to go that route.

[WaldoDude]

Perhaps in addition the speed of your attacks also increases with skill as right now it is same slowish movement for all. So in the beginning chars will have slow and unskilled attacks as you mentioned and increases etc

[luxs3]

I really like the idea.

I always found it quite funny if some hungry bandit started to stagger my 3 meter high giant with maxed out stats, who normally onehits everything (yes, I modded the game).
You could even go as far and say you have different fighting sets for how the character learned fighting (defensive, aggresive, supportive) since no one fights the same way others do.
It would be a terrible amount of work, but the payoff would just be awesome in my opinion.

[lavagninogm]

Have not read all the replies, But I love the idea the OP described with the different tears of animations, I hope Chris can find a way to make this work, It would add a great deal of immersion to the game for me.