Animation Ideas for Fire Emblem Switch

[Hawkwing]

Earlier today, I started the topic about cosmetic ideas I had for the Fire Emblem Switch. Now I'll give the second half of what I have in mind, the animations.

Without wasting time, here are my ideas:

Each Unit Would Have Different Combat Styles

The idea I have for this is for every unit to have a "combat style" set that would fit their character. For example, a unit set to "stylish" would use more exaggerated, if impractical, movements when attacking, while one set to "experienced" would use subtle, yet effective means at countering, disarming, and attacking their opponent. A "pragmatic" character would fight normally, but would occasionally use underhanded tactics to gain the upper hand (such as throwing dust in their opponents eyes), while a "dirty fighter" use use these methods all the time, and an "honorable" character would never use them. A "brutal" fighter would show no mercy and often beat their opponent past the point of submission, while a "sadistic" would often use tactics that cause the most pain to their enemy (such as twisting the blade during a stab, or intentionally striking in non-vital areas). Outside of bosses, these traits would be randomized for enemy units.

If they add more female enemies, I also think that some characters should fight differently when facing them. For some characters, its obvious that they're holding back and not attacking with their full strength. For others, they would switch to using blunt weaponry or hand-to-hand combat and try to disarm or knock out their opponents (with mixed results, depending on which class they are fighting). For some, they simply don't care that their enemy is a women and would attack normally.

Using the Environment

This is one I would like to see the most. I want to see a unit throw their enemy into a wall or tree, throw them over a cliff, try to drown them in a river, smash them into a table, pick up a chair, tree branch, or bucket and use it as a temporary weapon, use decorative armor as a temporary shield, ambush them from a tree, chop down a tree so it lands on their enemy, rip a tree from its socket to use as a weapon, and/or pull down a flag or throw a cloth/blanket to distract their opponent. The possibilities are endless! (I had too much writing these down. Needless to say I really, really want this to be a thing in the next game.)

Permanent Effects on the Map

As in, if an arrow misses, it will stick to the ground or the wall, and stay their for the rest of the battle. Similarly, corpses won't suddenly disappear when they are killed; They will be present in the area that they were killed (maybe even have rag doll animations for defeated opponents) until the end of the map. Magic that misses (or maybe even hits) their opponent might could also cause a tree to fall down, or burn a hole in a wall. It might also be cool if sometimes the horses/pegasi/wyverns from the defeated classes would run around if their rider was killed but they weren't. Not a whole lot to say here, but the idea is in the category of "sounds fine on paper, works wonders in practice."

Different Victory Animations and Transitions

I much as I love SoV's combat animations (as in, they were half of the reason I wanted the game after seeing the reveal trailer), I did find it a little strange that both sides unsheathed their weapons every time combat initiated, as if they put their weapon away after every fight, nevermind that they're in the attack range of every enemy in sight. I know that some people find both Ike and Chrom's victory animations of planting their swords into the ground more annoying than cool for this reason. My solution for this would to have multiple victory animations. The two (possibly three) factors that determine which animation would be played is whether or not they will be attacked again after the immediate fight is over and how much health they have left (they might also have a different animation for if they level-up, I personally don't believe it would be necessary).  For example, a myrmidon at full health who won't be attacked for the rest of the enemy phase would clean their sword and then dramatically sheath it. If they are at full health, but are going to be attacked again, the myrmidon would instead do a short trick with their blade. If they were at half health but there involvement in the enemy phrase was done, they would sheathe their sword, and sit (or fall) to the ground to rest. If at half health and were going to be attacked again, they would bend over and give a heavy sigh, the jump right back into the fray.

Building off of the above, if a unit is going to be attacked several times during the enemy phrase, the battle view would just continue, instead of constantly switching between the map and combat screens. This way, the fights could continue on more quickly, along with being more cinematic. Some unique animations could be made here as well, such as a unit grabbing the lance of his/her now dead foe and chucking it at the upcoming enemy, or downing one opponent and then swinging off a doorframe to get the drop on their next advisory. It could seem at times as if they were trying to continue an imaginary combo, and/or were emulating Batman from the Arkham series.

(Runner-up: More detailed death animations. For example unit who dies with a slit throat would drop to the ground and garble as they choke to death, and wouldn't be able to give their death quote. It didn't take me long to realize how morbid and needlessly horrific these would be, and could get, no matter how effectively they gave a "war is hell" message.)

So what are your thoughts and ideas on the matter?

[Captain Vulgar]

Everything sounds very dynamic and beautiful, but a lot of it too ambitious, especially for IS. Using the environment as you suggest would take a lot of time to do, but I like where you're going with this. There could be unique animations for hiding behind barriers and utilizing ballistae/magic orbs. When units fight in the woods, maybe they could actually act as if they were fighting in dense brush, like cutting bushes and foliage.

The different fighting depending on an opponent would be fantastic, but that's also a lot to do. Maybe just generalized reactions to classes and have the units be more expressive of that. It would tone down dev time, but still give that kick to battles. I know I'd be nervous if a wyvern rider with a large axe came swooping towards me, so it would be neat to see units express emotions in battle.

I adore your idea for multiple victory animations and fighting styles. I really enjoyed those aspects in Echoes, and they should be expanded upon. Giving folks more unique swings, casting, throwing, and dodging would make such a HUGE difference. The situational victories would be interesting, but I don't know about continuous fighting. Cause what if, for some reason, all the enemies have a different strategy than you expect? I like the zoom outs for individual units, buuuuuuuuut as a quality of lore kinda thing. I would like a zoom for level bosses/minibosses for whenever you skip the enemy phase. I'm always sad when I miss that bit of dialogue because their leader took a shot I wasn't expecting yet.

The permanent effects, I completely 200%, 10 outta 10, GOTY, 5 stars aggree with. Like the situation with blood, it'll just make it feel more real. And more immersion can't be a bad thing. (Unless it's too much immersion)

[Hawkwing]

Well, these ARE ideas, so I feel that I'm allowed to be a little ambitious. Besides, I would like to see what they they aspects they can and can't implement in the end, because I'll be a happy camper if they put a more work into

34 minutes ago, Captain Vulgar said:

The situational victories would be interesting, but I don't know about continuous fighting. Cause what if, for some reason, all the enemies have a different strategy than you expect? I like the zoom outs for individual units, buuuuuuuuut as a quality of lore kinda thing. I would like a zoom for level bosses/minibosses for whenever you skip the enemy phase. I'm always sad when I miss that bit of dialogue because their leader took a shot I wasn't expecting yet.

What I mean by continuous fighting is that, if a unit is playing turtle and is going to have a crap-ton of enemies attack them during the enemy phase, instead of the annoying transfer between the map and battle screens and back again, or the boring option of skipping off the animations, the battle camera would remain on. The enemies would constantly attack, one after another, without any pause in the combat. Leveling up would be quicker than usual so the flow isn't broken, and the overall experience is meant to be cinematic. Also, the game itself would predetermine when each enemy moves, so it could be programed in that if X amount of opponents attack a unit, put the battle camera into effect.

Two minor things I forgot to add is to have idle animations for map sprites, and when pressing the L button so the battle only commences on the map, have a simple attacking/defending animation for the fight instead of the sprites just ramming into each other. These aren't too complicated, so I don't have much to say about them, other than that they should be pretty easy to implement.

[Captain Vulgar]

3 minutes ago, Hawkwing said:

Well, these ARE ideas, so I feel that I'm allowed to be a little ambitious. Besides, I would like to see what they they aspects they can and can't implement in the end, because I'll be a happy camper if they put a more work into

What I mean by continuous fighting is that, if a unit is playing turtle and is going to have a crap-ton of enemies attack them during the enemy phase, instead of the annoying transfer between the map and battle screens and back again, or the boring option of skipping off the animations, the battle camera would remain on. The enemies would constantly attack, one after another, without any pause in the combat. Leveling up would be quicker than usual so the flow isn't broken, and the overall experience is meant to be cinematic. Also, the game itself would predetermine when each enemy moves, so it could be programed in that if X amount of opponents attack a unit, put the battle camera into effect.

Two minor things I forgot to add is to have idle animations for map sprites, and when pressing the L button so the battle only commences on the map, have a simple attacking/defending animation for the fight instead of the sprites just ramming into each other. These aren't too complicated, so I don't have much to say about them, other than that they should be pretty easy to implement.

Fair enough, I honestly would be super stoked to see all that kind of stuff implemented into a game.

Oooh alright, that makes more sense. That would be neat to see a bunch of units colliding against a knight/general. Like rain drops on a window.

That would be very nice for those that don't use animations. 

[TheSS]

I agree with this in spirit, but I think you're environmental interactions are too ambitious. 

My hopes are:

• More realistic representations of where characters are on the map. For example, if an archer shoots at an enemy from across a river, have them on opposite sides of the river. Don't have them 12 feet apart on a field of grass next to the river.
• Wider variety of attack animations.
• Have other units in the background during animated segments, and have them in the places they are on the map. Maybe have your units clash swords with enemy units next to them (not actually landing hits, but just kind of looking cool and bouncing off each other).
• What you said about varied victory animations. Hell, maybe just have the character turn to another enemy near them. If it's the enemy phase and another enemy is going to attack you after the battle, have that enemy clash swords with your unit at the end of the battle. Zoom out to the map, sho that enemy attacking, and then zoom in again to show that battle. It would be a better way of doing hat continuous-fight thing you suggested.

[Hawkwing]

7 hours ago, TheSS said:

My hopes are:

• More realistic representations of where characters are on the map. For example, if an archer shoots at an enemy from across a river, have them on opposite sides of the river. Don't have them 12 feet apart on a field of grass next to the river.
• Wider variety of attack animations.
• Have other units in the background during animated segments, and have them in the places they are on the map. Maybe have your units clash swords with enemy units next to them (not actually landing hits, but just kind of looking cool and bouncing off each other).
• What you said about varied victory animations. Hell, maybe just have the character turn to another enemy near them. If it's the enemy phase and another enemy is going to attack you after the battle, have that enemy clash swords with your unit at the end of the battle. Zoom out to the map, sho that enemy attacking, and then zoom in again to show that battle. It would be a better way of doing hat continuous-fight thing you suggested.

Ever had that moment when you think you've presented everything but have a nagging feeling like you've forgot something? Because I've honestly thought of every single one of these at one point of another, but forgot to put them down here. Thanks for the reminder.

7 hours ago, TheSS said:

I agree with this in spirit, but I think you're environmental interactions are too ambitious. 

Yeah, I'll be the first to admit these are over-ambitious. But then again, I like to aim higher than expected when presenting ideas, as even though I know we won't get everything presented here, it would be great if we at least got something along these lines. There are times when it's better to see how far one can run with an idea than to play always play it safe (and vice versa). We may not have units jump out of trees, or swinging from doorframes, or drowning their enemy in a river, but we may get units grabbing random objects to use as temporary weapons, or enemies getting thrown off cliffs or getting smashed into a wall.

Honestly, I remember that half the reason I wanted Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia was because the fight animations impressed me so much, and many ideas I present here I honestly want as natural continuations of what they accomplished in that game. Considering the upgraded hardware and engine that the Switch has, Fire Emblem Switch is just begging to make a strong first impression to show what the switch is capable of.

[Ivy Wife Supremacy]

Now I seriously want the Avatar to have a customizable setting for this different combat styles to the animation!

Edited November 27, 2017 by Blade Lord Lyn