Realistic video game combat animations:

Let's check out some more realistic video game combat animations made by the community!
Be sure to check out Living Anachronism's video on sword move sets: • #medievalcombatreferen...
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[@LivingAnachronism]

Thanks for the shout out Shad, glad you liked the video! The sword you liked is the "Knight Bastard Medieval Sword" from Darksword Armory. They classify it as 14th century, Oakshott type 14. I've got a video on dodge rolls coming out in the next few weeks.

[@Echo_419]

I'm upset that I cannot give you more than one like.

[@SaiTaX_the_Chile_boi]

thanks for the moves fam, but they dont quite fit a game where blocking doesnt make sence, a game with big creatures as enemys need attack that look as going all out, could you try your hand at that? Im looking for: great sword halberd (polearm) spear and shield (though this one is pretty much poke spam) if you are wondering, blocking can only be done with the large shield that goes with the spear and it only works on weaker smaller attacks, like a dragon doing a quick light jab.

[@plick645]

6:40

[@ailediablo79]

Yes but those would make it too odd of how that going to defeat a big monster. Guts style is the only answer for that. You just need super strength and speed/reflexes. Also as a programmer and a designer (not professional) this is means an additional millions of money for something unfortunately only 1% or so is going to appreciate. The rest would see no difference - nowdays people love being dum. Also there alot of elements and bugs in the game that are goofy on purpose. Powerful stabs and powerful cuts are the only way. Focus on improving muscle movement believability. You know for me the first thing they need to do is remove small weapons including short swords and add early guns. So you can have a gun build. Add explosive arows and repet fire crossbows and bows. For the meme add shotguns lol. Maby add magical shilds. Add floud magical abilities to the magic custer class build such as bending elements, vector manipulation and control, vector twister, telekinesis, anti-magic, teleportation/instan transmission of things the player and enemy, special legendary abilities such as for example Gate ( that uses chaines of haven and/or store more weapons in a dimension where you can throw them at the enemy in supersonic speeds from any direction), Gate of hell (a large spell of distraction drop flame from above from a gate that drop powerful flames from hell), shadow cloan (making a massive multiple copies of your self or one of your other saved builds loadout that fights with you operated by AI ) or angle of death (can be given in different varieties) or transformation ect... We need more longer swords, polarms and lances. Perhaps add pets such as a horse - super horses or perhaps flying super horses - or a dragon or a phoenix or a dinosaur or a gaint beast. Perhaps if you kill a monster with angel of death ability you can use their souls by capturing them as weapon summoning them to fight for u as a ghost with 50% strength and perhaps you can summon multiple of them. Or use their souls to bost or heal or use their abilities or gain another life or to be undamageable for some time or to make a shild magic or to have anti-magic ability for this fight or somtime or to be them and if you die as them you return to yourself with full strength to continue + plus haveing a mix of those abilities. Perhaps add more levels and if the player reach there give them ability for real to move fast and quick supersonic fast and hit as hard as a canon ball where you can make opponent get kicked around if it did hit even if the opponent is strong/stronger than you if the opponent is not too big. So even normal movement and the amount they swing is tens of times faster and quicker. Maby add time magic and void dimensional magic. Add more magical weapons and magical weapons specific special attacks. Add spiritual magic: where you can use your soul as an energy generator for healing someone or canceling dark spells or as weapon that can be amplified and sharp focused to do something crazy such as a beam that cuts anything and everything for a hundred meters or a dimensional slash or a lightning superpowerful strike or a destructive plasma flame beam or holy light beam, that anti magic doesn't works on and can't be blocked but just dodged if you could in time. Add ability to use more combos faster, make your own automatic presaved combo(s) button (PC). Add more dynamics by adding spherical control and ability to swich easily from first person, theird person and 4 forth person. Add graping , claiming almost anything and super jumps and ability to jump from the enemy or a wall as a side attached abilities. Maby add hockes for AOT Levi like mode or to grap the enemy or to disarm them or bilnd them in the eye. Use the game Prototype especially Prototype one, control of character movements. Add abilities like in Prototype game Or maybe add a playerable vampire character. Add more hand to hand combat like in the game Prototype. Maby add summoning ability from crstles to a monster you control like a Golem or a powerful undead or undead version of yourself or undead version of one of the boses you killed, with additional undead abilities such as immortality. Those are good eassy to implement changes thst require no thinking to come with a way of how to implement this. Alot of your proposes asking for too much. It might seem simple but it is absolutely the most complicated thing out there and princely why games don't do it.

[@Echo_419]

@@ailediablo79 TLDR: TLDR

[@skjoldgames]

Small developers like me are soaking this in with no practical budget or resources to implement them and large AAA studios are ignoring this. What a paradox.

[@md_vandenberg]

That's because AAA studios so often rest on their laurels and assume everyone will buy their games, no questions asked. I haven't bought a major studio game title in 10 years.

[@Berd-Wasted.]

@@md_vandenberg What about Minecraft?

[@u1849ka]

@@md_vandenberg Probably has more to do with video games costing tens of millions of dollars to create, and so they go the perceived safe route and do what everyone else is doing, and what has worked, before.

[@TheRenegade...]

@@Berd-Wasted. For one thing, Minecraft isn't a AAA game, it's an overgrown indie game

[@Berd-Wasted.]

@@TheRenegade... Does a Publisher make it Valid?

[@dropkickentertainment4770]

I have never heard someone say "that's a sexy sword" so seriously in my life lol

[@Seriously_Unserious]

I guess that sword is a relative of Right Said Fred. I'm too sexy for my hilt, too sexy for my hilt, so sexy how I'm built I'm too sexy for my edge, too sexy for my edge, so sexy I'm on a ledge Yeah I'm a sword, ya know what I mean, when I swing my big blade on the rampart, yeah on the rampart, I shake my big blade on the rampart

[@Crusader1245]

That's what she said.

[@Seriously_Unserious]

@@Crusader1245 Michael Scott, in the house!

[@CreepyMF]

I shoudnt have laughed that hard this late i think i disturbed the neighbours when he said that.

[@Ranstone]

New to the HEMA community?

[@Definitely_Not_Sheev_Palpatine]

21:53 Ah yes, the infamous "pocket cat" maneuver. Quite similar to (yet distinctly different from) the "pocket sand" maneuver.

[@Otto_Von_Beansmarck]

Is that a metal gear rising reference?

[@Inferryu]

@@Otto_Von_Beansmarck I think is a King of the Hill reference

[@Otto_Von_Beansmarck]

@@Inferryu Yeah I know I was just joking as there is no way that could possibly be interpreted as a Metal Gear Rising: Revengence reference

[@shinobi-no-bueno]

Sha-shah!

[@mareczek00713]

23:32 - I love how the guy basically says "I have no idea what I'm doing, I just watched semi-competent people for two minutes" and he already does way better job than video game animation studios that grab serious cash for combat animations...

[@giulyanoviniciussanssilva2947]

It's cool to make the animation, Now implement (⁠⌐⁠■⁠-⁠■⁠)

[@Spiceodog]

I’d love to see a game where the skill shown in the animations improves as you level up, so you start swinging like a drunk clown with a fly swatter at level one, but by level 20 you look like a legitimately badass competent swordsman

[@MrProthall]

Gothic 1 and 2 did that way back when. Level 1 you hold a single handed weapon with both hands and swing like a Marvel character. Later you get faster and have... 'different' technique (it's not good but feels better)

[@ZuZaarr]

They kinda have something like that in Kingdom Come Deliverance

[@BattleBro77]

Kingdom come deliverance

[@legday9398]

Exanima

[@casthedemon]

Dying Light. Though more so with the parkour lol.

[@soloshottie]

this is something I actually want to mention Monster Hunter does really well (specifically in the titles from World and back) and I dont mean the weapon movesets, I actually mean the *monster* movesets. many attacks move rapidly during the actual action, but feature a windup and/or predictable pattern before it happens. they often feature a lot of endlag for the player to take advantage of as well, or follow up with another move rather smoothly. in either case, the monster is exercising the usage of a large action with a lot of momentum, so the combo stopping or continuing feels entirely natural

[@RiskOfBaer]

It's not only monsters. Monster Hunter does a really great job conveying the weight of the weapon and the power of the strikes. Also, considering you're not fighting armed oponents, but instead you're fighting monsters that aren't really familiar with martial arts, a lot of things aren't really as important anymore. When Rathalos swings his huge tail at you, it doesn't really matter what position your sword was in after the strike, you're getting hit regardless. Unless you have a way to shield yourself, the only defence is getting out of the way. Keeping that in mind, I find the weapon animations to be really good, they are a great mix of a dose of realism and just pure cool factor.

[@Uacher]

@@RiskOfBaer So, instead of Martial Arts, would it be Hunting Arts?

[@kostiantyn8724]

I'd like to add my comment from the fighting games' - and so PvP - perspective. Speaking of the attack animation specifically, I personally completely support the need for a clear windup on all attacks: a shorter one on lighter attacks, and a longer one on the heavier attacks. Ideally, the heavier attacks should take longer to finish, so that they are more easily punishable on whiff, and thus carry more risk unless comboed into. In fact, I think the attack speed itself is irrelevant for combo starters, since at that moment what matters is if the opponent manages to confirm a hit on you. The windup argument above was more or less written with the following limiting preconditions: - We are ignoring every other mechanic, and concerning ourselves solely with the attack animation. - We couldn't read the opponent. - We have an adequate reaction time, so we are theoretically able to react to the attack in some useful way, provided there's a clear and distinct windup animation for each attack type.

[@soloshottie]

@@RiskOfBaer yeah I agree. when fighting people or smaller creatures, positioning of your weapon is more important, and actual force/momentum less important. but against massive monsters, that completely flips. maximum momentum is what matters, whereas positioning of the weapon is mostly only important when it comes to access to mobility such as dodging, or further follow ups with greater momentum for more damage.

[@KingExalted]

@@RiskOfBaer and the animations for the Greatsword it show how heavy it is and the force of the swings

[@youraveragebinchicken6807]

Shad: Realistic video game combat animations Skallagrim literally 3 hours later: How much realism is too much in video games?

[@lightningpenguin8937]

I think the elegance is what should be taken from the realistic combat references. Wild haymaker swings look so...unrefined. Elden Ring didn't often go that far, but other games...oh boy.

[@marvelightv]

Idk if there’s any Skyrim Modders that watch this, but These could totally be modded into Skyrim, if anyone with any skill sees this! Please do it!

[@ailediablo79]

Yes but those would make it too odd of how that going to defeat a big monster. Guts style is the only answer for that. You just need super strength and speed/reflexes. Also as a programmer and a designer (not professional) this is means an additional millions of money for something unfortunately only 1% or so is going to appreciate. The rest would see no difference - nowdays people love being dum. Also there alot of elements and bugs in the game that are goofy on purpose. Powerful stabs and powerful cuts are the only way. Focus on improving muscle movement believability. You know for me the first thing they need to do is remove small weapons including short swords and add early guns. So you can have a gun build. Add explosive arows and repet fire crossbows and bows. For the meme add shotguns lol. Maby add magical shilds. Add floud magical abilities to the magic custer class build such as bending elements, vector manipulation and control, vector twister, telekinesis, anti-magic, teleportation/instan transmission of things the player and enemy, special legendary abilities such as for example Gate ( that uses chaines of haven and/or store more weapons in a dimension where you can throw them at the enemy in supersonic speeds from any direction), Gate of hell (a large spell of distraction drop flame from above from a gate that drop powerful flames from hell), shadow cloan (making a massive multiple copies of your self or one of your other saved builds loadout that fights with you operated by AI ) or angle of death (can be given in different varieties) or transformation ect... We need more longer swords, polarms and lances. Perhaps add pets such as a horse - super horses or perhaps flying super horses - or a dragon or a phoenix or a dinosaur or a gaint beast. Perhaps if you kill a monster with angel of death ability you can use their souls by capturing them as weapon summoning them to fight for u as a ghost with 50% strength and perhaps you can summon multiple of them. Or use their souls to bost or heal or use their abilities or gain another life or to be undamageable for some time or to make a shild magic or to have anti-magic ability for this fight or somtime or to be them and if you die as them you return to yourself with full strength to continue + plus haveing a mix of those abilities. Perhaps add more levels and if the player reach there give them ability for real to move fast and quick supersonic fast and hit as hard as a canon ball where you can make opponent get kicked around if it did hit even if the opponent is strong/stronger than you if the opponent is not too big. So even normal movement and the amount they swing is tens of times faster and quicker. Maby add time magic and void dimensional magic. Add more magical weapons and magical weapons specific special attacks. Add spiritual magic: where you can use your soul as an energy generator for healing someone or canceling dark spells or as weapon that can be amplified and sharp focused to do something crazy such as a beam that cuts anything and everything for a hundred meters or a dimensional slash or a lightning superpowerful strike or a destructive plasma flame beam or holy light beam, that anti magic doesn't works on and can't be blocked but just dodged if you could in time. Add ability to use more combos faster, make your own automatic presaved combo(s) button (PC). Add more dynamics by adding spherical control and ability to swich easily from first person, theird person and 4 forth person. Add graping , claiming almost anything and super jumps and ability to jump from the enemy or a wall as a side attached abilities. Maby add hockes for AOT Levi like mode or to grap the enemy or to disarm them or bilnd them in the eye. Use the game Prototype especially Prototype one, control of character movements. Add abilities like in Prototype game Or maybe add a playerable vampire character. Add more hand to hand combat like in the game Prototype. Maby add summoning ability from crstles to a monster you control like a Golem or a powerful undead or undead version of yourself or undead version of one of the boses you killed, with additional undead abilities such as immortality. Those are good eassy to implement changes thst require no thinking to come with a way of how to implement this. Alot of your proposes asking for too much. It might seem simple but it is absolutely the most complicated thing out there and princely why games don't do it.

[@marvelightv]

@@ailediablo79 I stopped reading this half way through because I realized you were just trolling, but you clearly don’t pay attention to modding, because there’s hundreds of animation mods for Skyrim, I was just suggesting someone should try to make a move set focused on these historical combat references. No need to take it up the ass so hard. It’s just a game, modding is for fun. I could tell you’re no fun lol

[@boguslav9502]

Issue is for Skyrim its gonna be very clunky. IT doesnt contains the mechanics to mąkę it worth IT.

[@marvelightv]

@@boguslav9502 I beg to differ, with the right mods you can inject whatever mechanics you want. Just look up “Skyrim dark souls mods” dodger rolls, timed parries, all that stuff can be modded in, people dramatically change the way it plays all the time.

[@WalrusWinking]

@@ailediablo79 It doesn't take millions of dollars for your animations to not suck. They do it with Japanese swords all the time but butcher European swordsmanship.

[@cretudavid8622]

#suggestion Shad, I would like you to make a video about medieval horses and how did the armies trained them to not be scared so easily like todays horses. Love your videos!

[@chastitymarks2185]

Love the Idea but I think "Modern History TV" would be better suited for that task. 😃

[@shadowofhawk55]

Chastity Marks is right. Shad doesn’t really have much experience with Horse training.

[@dark3031]

I think it would be a good idea, only if you could see Shad actually owning a horse in his videos, but no.

[@admirekashiri9879]

Interesting topic idea. Hopefully he covers it.

[@casthedemon]

Lol people just don't train their horses today. Has nothing to do with the horses themselves. We just generally don't get into mounted combat anymore. Go see a mounted police horse or an Amish buggy horse. They're very well trained and almost never spook.

[@crozraven]

I would like to say that the game devs team also need to be mindful with the balance of vertical horizontal strikes, also the balance of the amount combo moves per second. Also, as a layman gamer, you would rarely find an above head horizontal strikes, this make sense as the game model have limited hitbox that mostly in the mid-torso body part. The were also some intentional parts of this animation designs to really characterized the game character. For example, in the case of Witcher 3, it was a deliberete attempt by the devs to make Geralt attack moveset like dances, so the circling attacks did go like a dance move. Interestingly, Witcher 1 did it a more realistic approach for that specific attack moves.

[@bare-footjo35]

Good points. Although with above the head horizontal strikes, you can still aim for the upper-middle of the torso. You just have to angle the tip of the blad down a bit, which isn't hard. I just tested it out with my longsword and if I was fighting somebody my height, I would cut about an inch above their belly button at my lowest swing with a neutral stance. If you wanted to bring it even lower, you could also drop your stance down.

[@ailediablo79]

Yes but those would make it too odd of how that going to defeat a big monster. Guts style is the only answer for that. You just need super strength and speed/reflexes. Also as a programmer and a designer (not professional) this is means an additional millions of money for something unfortunately only 1% or so is going to appreciate. The rest would see no difference - nowdays people love being dum. Also there alot of elements and bugs in the game that are goofy on purpose. Powerful stabs and powerful cuts are the only way. Focus on improving muscle movement believability. You know for me the first thing they need to do is remove small weapons including short swords and add early guns. So you can have a gun build. Add explosive arows and repet fire crossbows and bows. For the meme add shotguns lol. Maby add magical shilds. Add floud magical abilities to the magic custer class build such as bending elements, vector manipulation and control, vector twister, telekinesis, anti-magic, teleportation/instan transmission of things the player and enemy, special legendary abilities such as for example Gate ( that uses chaines of haven and/or store more weapons in a dimension where you can throw them at the enemy in supersonic speeds from any direction), Gate of hell (a large spell of distraction drop flame from above from a gate that drop powerful flames from hell), shadow cloan (making a massive multiple copies of your self or one of your other saved builds loadout that fights with you operated by AI ) or angle of death (can be given in different varieties) or transformation ect... We need more longer swords, polarms and lances. Perhaps add pets such as a horse - super horses or perhaps flying super horses - or a dragon or a phoenix or a dinosaur or a gaint beast. Perhaps if you kill a monster with angel of death ability you can use their souls by capturing them as weapon summoning them to fight for u as a ghost with 50% strength and perhaps you can summon multiple of them. Or use their souls to bost or heal or use their abilities or gain another life or to be undamageable for some time or to make a shild magic or to have anti-magic ability for this fight or somtime or to be them and if you die as them you return to yourself with full strength to continue + plus haveing a mix of those abilities. Perhaps add more levels and if the player reach there give them ability for real to move fast and quick supersonic fast and hit as hard as a canon ball where you can make opponent get kicked around if it did hit even if the opponent is strong/stronger than you if the opponent is not too big. So even normal movement and the amount they swing is tens of times faster and quicker. Maby add time magic and void dimensional magic. Add more magical weapons and magical weapons specific special attacks. Add spiritual magic: where you can use your soul as an energy generator for healing someone or canceling dark spells or as weapon that can be amplified and sharp focused to do something crazy such as a beam that cuts anything and everything for a hundred meters or a dimensional slash or a lightning superpowerful strike or a destructive plasma flame beam or holy light beam, that anti magic doesn't works on and can't be blocked but just dodged if you could in time. Add ability to use more combos faster, make your own automatic presaved combo(s) button (PC). Add more dynamics by adding spherical control and ability to swich easily from first person, theird person and 4 forth person. Add graping , claiming almost anything and super jumps and ability to jump from the enemy or a wall as a side attached abilities. Maby add hockes for AOT Levi like mode or to grap the enemy or to disarm them or bilnd them in the eye. Use the game Prototype especially Prototype one, control of character movements. Add abilities like in Prototype game Or maybe add a playerable vampire character. Add more hand to hand combat like in the game Prototype. Maby add summoning ability from crstles to a monster you control like a Golem or a powerful undead or undead version of yourself or undead version of one of the boses you killed, with additional undead abilities such as immortality. Those are good eassy to implement changes thst require no thinking to come with a way of how to implement this. Alot of your proposes asking for too much. It might seem simple but it is absolutely the most complicated thing out there and princely why games don't do it.

[@jasonalen7459]

@@ailediablo79 So what you're saying is, adding more realistic animations is more difficult than adding _all that_? Even just adding the spherical control and switching from first to third person would be tricky, same with adding just the pet horse, dragon, phoenix, etc. (which all need their own animation sets, which might already be nearly as much work as adding more realistic animations).

[@ailediablo79]

@@jasonalen7459 did you not get it. U can get more realistic animation like with Japanese swords for example. However, most of the moves presented in this video specifically has too many details. Especially when you talk about rest control and not stright angles of attack. That is also not everything. How are you going to merge those moves with others - the transaction design for those with other technics is verrrrry hard.

[@giulyanoviniciussanssilva2947]

For me the most complicated point is working all the weapons with the same care with specific techniques for each one and the point that breaks me whenever I think about it. What is the realism of armor how to make realistic armor that fits the movement ranges I can't think of a definitive gameplay solution that implements it well armor.

[@inspectorjavert8443]

Glad to be early because I have a bone to pick with you Shad! Thanks to you I’m now addicted to the Wheel of Time series and will have to use my audible credits on those books for the foreseeable future. I’m kidding of course, thanks for turning me onto the series

[@morrigankasa570]

Another great series is the Legends of Drizzt by R.A. Salvatore. Also Tamora Pierce's various series are great. Additionally Rick Riordan's series' are great no matter your age.

[@tommytymesaame6624]

Re quarter staff guy: move sets like this would be great for mage classes with staves if caught into melee

[@reienna6410]

hate the troupe that mages are one weak bop then done for their turn...who's to say they didnt come across books depicting martial arts techniques or something like that...or just pick stuff up from watching allies in fights or sparing sessions while they were reading their books? the troupe that magic users have no interest in physical activities...ever...that needs to die off

[@tommytymesaame6624]

@@reienna6410 yeah I mean if your out adventuring then you have to be fairly physically fit and you don't have to be a genius to whack something with a stick. I mean if a barbarian can figure it out then one good afternoon and a mage should be good

[@ailediablo79]

Yes but those would make it too odd of how that going to defeat a big monster. Guts style is the only answer for that. You just need super strength and speed/reflexes. Also as a programmer and a designer (not professional) this is means an additional millions of money for something unfortunately only 1% or so is going to appreciate. The rest would see no difference - nowdays people love being dum. Also there alot of elements and bugs in the game that are goofy on purpose. Powerful stabs and powerful cuts are the only way. Focus on improving muscle movement believability. You know for me the first thing they need to do is remove small weapons including short swords and add early guns. So you can have a gun build. Add explosive arows and repet fire crossbows and bows. For the meme add shotguns lol. Maby add magical shilds. Add floud magical abilities to the magic custer class build such as bending elements, vector manipulation and control, vector twister, telekinesis, anti-magic, teleportation/instan transmission of things the player and enemy, special legendary abilities such as for example Gate ( that uses chaines of haven and/or store more weapons in a dimension where you can throw them at the enemy in supersonic speeds from any direction), Gate of hell (a large spell of distraction drop flame from above from a gate that drop powerful flames from hell), shadow cloan (making a massive multiple copies of your self or one of your other saved builds loadout that fights with you operated by AI ) or angle of death (can be given in different varieties) or transformation ect... We need more longer swords, polarms and lances. Perhaps add pets such as a horse - super horses or perhaps flying super horses - or a dragon or a phoenix or a dinosaur or a gaint beast. Perhaps if you kill a monster with angel of death ability you can use their souls by capturing them as weapon summoning them to fight for u as a ghost with 50% strength and perhaps you can summon multiple of them. Or use their souls to bost or heal or use their abilities or gain another life or to be undamageable for some time or to make a shild magic or to have anti-magic ability for this fight or somtime or to be them and if you die as them you return to yourself with full strength to continue + plus haveing a mix of those abilities. Perhaps add more levels and if the player reach there give them ability for real to move fast and quick supersonic fast and hit as hard as a canon ball where you can make opponent get kicked around if it did hit even if the opponent is strong/stronger than you if the opponent is not too big. So even normal movement and the amount they swing is tens of times faster and quicker. Maby add time magic and void dimensional magic. Add more magical weapons and magical weapons specific special attacks. Add spiritual magic: where you can use your soul as an energy generator for healing someone or canceling dark spells or as weapon that can be amplified and sharp focused to do something crazy such as a beam that cuts anything and everything for a hundred meters or a dimensional slash or a lightning superpowerful strike or a destructive plasma flame beam or holy light beam, that anti magic doesn't works on and can't be blocked but just dodged if you could in time. Add ability to use more combos faster, make your own automatic presaved combo(s) button (PC). Add more dynamics by adding spherical control and ability to swich easily from first person, theird person and 4 forth person. Add graping , claiming almost anything and super jumps and ability to jump from the enemy or a wall as a side attached abilities. Maby add hockes for AOT Levi like mode or to grap the enemy or to disarm them or bilnd them in the eye. Use the game Prototype especially Prototype one, control of character movements. Add abilities like in Prototype game Or maybe add a playerable vampire character. Add more hand to hand combat like in the game Prototype. Maby add summoning ability from crstles to a monster you control like a Golem or a powerful undead or undead version of yourself or undead version of one of the boses you killed, with additional undead abilities such as immortality. Those are good eassy to implement changes thst require no thinking to come with a way of how to implement this. Alot of your proposes asking for too much. It might seem simple but it is absolutely the most complicated thing out there and princely why games don't do it.

[@reienna6410]

@@ailediablo79 tl:dr for the most part...but i am fairly sure shad already addressed some of these things in prior videos...like extreme speed and super strength...not really meaning as much as they should...for a human anyway...without the extreme durability to back it up...super strength is useless without mass...and super speed/reflexes you risk ripping your body apart.

[@turtlegames3893]

Honestly watching this, something that peaked my attention is how the Bosses in Elden Ring actually have that "pause" in-between attacks. So they're already half way to allowing players a similar mechanic. On top of that I can see game devs seeing these moves and thinking they lack *flair*, which is fair! However, I can easily see ways to find a compromise and simply have these attacks come off as Vicious instead of simply Effective. If you add the emotion of anger/determination to the player while these attacks are coming out, they can still be trained and yet have an understandable amount of unsafety layered under anger!

[@turtlegames3893]

Also side bar, but because of video game mechanics and the possibility of fighting very small enemies. The "high-cut" portion of some of these combos would probably have to be tweaked simply for convenience.

[@jonathanpuccetti9258]

Glad you liked it! :D Thanks for the idea to do it, and the feedback. It was a bunch of fun!

[@TheIronicRaven]

Love the video Shad! And I very much agree about how a lot of these animations could be used in video games. There are 3 basic concepts when dealing with animations (and combat animations are the best at showing them off!) 1.) Anticipation 2.) Action 3.) Recoil. If we map this onto something like a basic sword attack: the anticipation is lifting the sword, the action is swinging the sword down, and setting up for your next attack is the recoil. You can fiddle with these 3 aspects of an animation to change how it feels and how it works in game. The most common method is to lengthen either the anticipation or the recoil. These are the two that really "sell" the weight and effect of an attack. Want it to feel like your sword is heavy? Give it a long recoil. Want it to feel like the attack does a lot of damage? Give it a long anticipation. Want the attack to be a spectacle? lengthen the action! I agree with your assessment of the animations and all of these would be great for a game!

[@JustTooDamnHonest]

When Lord Shad made the summons throughout the continent, far and wide, many warriors from distant parts of the world has answered it and it was glorious. Lord Shad is an inspiration to many and as his channel grew from his love of all things medieval and fantasy, his reach grew as well and he is known in this community. All you need to get the Lord of Honorguard and Sentinel of the Shadlands attention is a beautiful sword and swordplay. On a personal note is that it still shocks me that these companies have the means, reach and money to bring these people in and they can make their games all the more better from storylines(better writers), fantasy imagination(fans of the genre) and of course combat gameplay(Shad and the Rest).

[@Likexner]

You forgot Shads most important title. The patron saint of MACHICULATIOOOOOOON-ZAH!!!

[@JustTooDamnHonest]

@@Likexner But what about DRAGONS??!!!!!

[@Likexner]

@@JustTooDamnHonest Im not that into what about dragons, but ill give you a like for responding.

[@JustTooDamnHonest]

@@Likexner Thank you very much.

[@Furiora]

4:46 The whole conversation here about "it changes how it looks" is also extremely important because it CAN effect gameplay in subtle, subconsious ways. To quote the example from a video I watched (it was a tutorial on spriting for Rivals of Aether if anyone is curious) they took a look at a couple of characters from street fighter. Ryu's idle animation is very textbook, he has a strict stance, hops around a little but not too much showing he's ready to move into offence or defence. Everything about how he stands idle re-enforces that he's a well rounded, textbook combatant that has praticed every day for his entire life, and his attacks all follow a similar theme; strict, praticed, textbook. Then compare to Mokoto (i think it was her name) Her stance is stoick with next to no movement beyond her clothes blowing in the wind. At the same time, her entire stance gives a feeling of being held back, her dynamic lines all face backwards towards a clentched back fist, implying she's holding back something huge. Her attack animations are huge and explosive before snapping back to this held back idle, maximum impact for 0 wasted energy. We can apply this same idea to combat with weapons. Give two identical knights identical greatswords but make one stand idle in plow, the other in wrath. Instantly we'd assume just from their posture that the guy in plow is a more well rounded fighter, adopting a stance that's good for both attack and defence, he's going to be tight and efficent with no wasted energy. Meanwhile, a single look at the guy in wrath and we can tell he's an aggro fighter. Even when not an overswinging oaf, this stance exudes a more agressive approch to battle, they're going to want to be the one who engages you and who keeps on the pressure so you don't get a chance to mount an effective counter attack. You can even combine the ideas of different idle stances for different modes. Maybe both of these characters are the same knight who fights more aggro in the first half but tightens up when below half health, or maybe it's based on player health and he'll be more agressive when the player is almost dead. All in all, a really long winded way of agreeing with Shad that "the idle stance is extremely important!"

[@jmell458]

I'd love to see how these could be adapted into First Person. There might have to be some minor changes, since it can be rather problematic to have weapons go off screen mid combo or have arms in front of the face.

[@Cheezmonka]

It would be great to see how some of these ideas would work in bulky armor. Videogame heavy armor can get pretty over the top and the animators often try to take that into account in order to avoid ugly clipping whenever possible.

[@vadenummela9353]

I appreciate the review-highlights+shoutout format. Instead of just him sitting on KZbin-live for hours and hours "reacting" and just absorbing and creating a direct-replacement for all the hard work of the medieval-community on youtube. And yes this is a DarkviperAU refrence.

[@shadowthedragon7151]

Dang im in this video lol, and im not even getting roasted! Thanks for the shoutout shad! (Im just a random guy, i dont really do youtube)

[@ViperChief117]

Always a good day when there’s a new video from Shadiversity in your feed. Even better when it’s about video games. Lol

[@Eckister]

Wanna say - Kramers footwork is BEAU-TY-FUL!!!

[@lidular]

A couple of notes from someone who has little to none experience in swordplay irl: Souls-like combat is a rythm game, so a consistent tempo is important. If you are going to go of beat then make sure it is still in line with the tempo. If you speed up try to still keep the spacing between hits the same. Back steps, while being accurate to armed fighting, feels weird for the player, if not done on purpose. Something like the shamshir goes really well with very fluid moves. While straighter swords looks better when doing quick changes in directions.

[@Dan_Kanerva]

"Souls-like combat is always a rythm game" Malenia : N O

[@CMTechnica]

@@Dan_Kanerva Because rhythm isn’t the word to describe it. Souls born games are pattern based. Every enemy, every attack. Once you recognize the patterns, you remember the timings, and bosses become pushovers. Even Malenia

[@Dan_Kanerva]

@@CMTechnica isn't that how every videogame works tho ? from Tetris to Street Fighter... Only game i can think where characters act random is GTA

[@jimnoel3025]

@@Dan_Kanerva well if we are being super reductive everything we do is pattern recognition and reapplying based on those prior actions.

[@ailediablo79]

Yes but those would make it too odd of how that going to defeat a big monster. Guts style is the only answer for that. You just need super strength and speed/reflexes. Also as a programmer and a designer (not professional) this is means an additional millions of money for something unfortunately only 1% or so is going to appreciate. The rest would see no difference - nowdays people love being dum. Also there alot of elements and bugs in the game that are goofy on purpose. Powerful stabs and powerful cuts are the only way. Focus on improving muscle movement believability. You know for me the first thing they need to do is remove small weapons including short swords and add early guns. So you can have a gun build. Add explosive arows and repet fire crossbows and bows. For the meme add shotguns lol. Maby add magical shilds. Add floud magical abilities to the magic custer class build such as bending elements, vector manipulation and control, vector twister, telekinesis, anti-magic, teleportation/instan transmission of things the player and enemy, special legendary abilities such as for example Gate ( that uses chaines of haven and/or store more weapons in a dimension where you can throw them at the enemy in supersonic speeds from any direction), Gate of hell (a large spell of distraction drop flame from above from a gate that drop powerful flames from hell), shadow cloan (making a massive multiple copies of your self or one of your other saved builds loadout that fights with you operated by AI ) or angle of death (can be given in different varieties) or transformation ect... We need more longer swords, polarms and lances. Perhaps add pets such as a horse - super horses or perhaps flying super horses - or a dragon or a phoenix or a dinosaur or a gaint beast. Perhaps if you kill a monster with angel of death ability you can use their souls by capturing them as weapon summoning them to fight for u as a ghost with 50% strength and perhaps you can summon multiple of them. Or use their souls to bost or heal or use their abilities or gain another life or to be undamageable for some time or to make a shild magic or to have anti-magic ability for this fight or somtime or to be them and if you die as them you return to yourself with full strength to continue + plus haveing a mix of those abilities. Perhaps add more levels and if the player reach there give them ability for real to move fast and quick supersonic fast and hit as hard as a canon ball where you can make opponent get kicked around if it did hit even if the opponent is strong/stronger than you if the opponent is not too big. So even normal movement and the amount they swing is tens of times faster and quicker. Maby add time magic and void dimensional magic. Add more magical weapons and magical weapons specific special attacks. Add spiritual magic: where you can use your soul as an energy generator for healing someone or canceling dark spells or as weapon that can be amplified and sharp focused to do something crazy such as a beam that cuts anything and everything for a hundred meters or a dimensional slash or a lightning superpowerful strike or a destructive plasma flame beam or holy light beam, that anti magic doesn't works on and can't be blocked but just dodged if you could in time. Add ability to use more combos faster, make your own automatic presaved combo(s) button (PC). Add more dynamics by adding spherical control and ability to swich easily from first person, theird person and 4 forth person. Add graping , claiming almost anything and super jumps and ability to jump from the enemy or a wall as a side attached abilities. Maby add hockes for AOT Levi like mode or to grap the enemy or to disarm them or bilnd them in the eye. Use the game Prototype especially Prototype one, control of character movements. Add abilities like in Prototype game Or maybe add a playerable vampire character. Add more hand to hand combat like in the game Prototype. Maby add summoning ability from crstles to a monster you control like a Golem or a powerful undead or undead version of yourself or undead version of one of the boses you killed, with additional undead abilities such as immortality. Those are good eassy to implement changes thst require no thinking to come with a way of how to implement this. Alot of your proposes asking for too much. It might seem simple but it is absolutely the most complicated thing out there and princely why games don't do it.

[@kharekelas4259]

I'm making a souls like combat system, and here are some restrictions we've met in terms of game animation logics vs. real world attack combos. 1. In souls-like system, every weapon actually has two combo sets, one is "light attacks" and the other is "heavy attacks", but if you look into them carefully you'll see that the "light attacks" normally are horizontal strikes or X-cross slashes without stabs or overhead slashes. Then the "heavy attacks" normally are stabs and overhead strikes. (for spears or other thrust based weapons, this rule is inverted). So the combos actually are designed separately, but they should be able to connect to each other fluently. For example: We designed the arming sword light attacks as a 2-strikes combo which basically is a X-cross combo, and the heavy attacks combo is a thrust followed by an overhead slash. Now I use my arming sword to "light" attack once (the animation is a slash from upper-right to lower-left) then if I press light attack again, I should follow the second slash from upper-left to lower-right, but if I press the heavy attack button, I should follow up the second heavy attack which is an overhead slash. Is it possible for you give advices on how to design these separared combos (horizontal and vertical) while keeping them interchangable? 2. Normally medieval martial arts are aimed to fight human, so the strikes usually aim to the height of a human's head or chest. But in games like dark souls or my game, the player often need to fight some very tall or very short enemies. This will require every attack animation has a higher aiming and a lower aiming variation, is it possible for you guys to include these variation moves for the combo moves?

[@MorningDusk7734]

0:55 "I know I'm not the best swordsman in the world" *Shocked Pikachu Face*

[@vahloksekun646]

I'm working on several mods for Skyrim, and I have been considering making a framework for Skyrim. However, I would actually like combat animations to affect gameplay. In particular, the skill level of the character reflecting their combat animations. So, for instance, a novice would use very clunky sword animations, have limited reach and deal less damage, whereas a more experience fighter will have much more accurate animations, deal more damage. So kinda make it feel like the character is progressing, and have this reflected by the animations being used.

[@ink4852]

Would it not be possible with DAR? I used to use FNIS PCEA for a similar effect.

[@vahloksekun646]

@@ink4852 Yes, I am planning on using DAR for this purpose.

[@nexidal9656]

Do you have a way we can keep track? I might like to try that mod when/if it's in a working beta.

[@vahloksekun646]

@@nexidal9656 Follow my channel. I'll post about it and other projects from time to time. Edit: Just made some of my older unlisted videos public.

[@morrigankasa570]

SCREW YOU!!! SKYRIM'S COMBAT AND VARIOUS OTHER SYSTEMS ARE FINE AS IS!!!!!!!!!

[@konrax_tv]

You left out the best melee combat game of all time! Exanima!! Hit me up with a pm and I can tell you all about it and will even send you over a key to play it. Just to give you a taste there are over a million variations of the longsword alone.

[@rafaman7726]

Aight Konrax, time to help you get this comment noticed

[@astrogabba1190]

up

[@periberry7345]

Exanima is an amazing game, definitely worth at least a small try from everyone!

[@geniul555]

The fights are great. Exanima respects the fundamentals of combat.

[@legday9398]

Yes

[@rainesorrow1986]

The one thing I have learned for certain is that Shad LOVES reverse guards and attacks.

[@ironfistovwudang3485]

Always criticise everything, even if you love it. Objectivity allows things to improve, even if you think it is perfect, there are always improvements to be made. Great video and it was you who initially plugged me to Living Anachronism's channel, he makes amazing content. Thanks a lot mate.

[@tbc1880]

Thank you, I'm someone who is looking to make a fighting game with some characters with weapons and such so this is an amazing tool I intend to use.

[@houndofthesea4397]

The intention and what has already been shown is useful is a lot of situations. A down side to how these are filmed though is that they are on a single person. That can make it hard to accurately animate what a skilled opponent would do in response. Like I said, these are awesome and appreciated, It just leaves the realism kind of half answered since it fixes the accuracy of the attacker, not a defender.

[@theodorealenas3171]

I suppose an animator can fill in the gaps. My biggest gripe is not this actually. Imagine an animator. He scrolls, says "let's see if they convince me" Skips chunks of videos, sees things, leaves. I mean the videos are good but will an animator be convinced? They don't look much prettier than modern animations, not out if the box anyway. I do wish Shad invites an animator who doesn't care about HEMA to capture his actual reactions.

[@lightningpenguin8937]

How would you even animate what anyone would do in response? I think it's possible, but making an animation to respond to another animation for every animation sounds like a knightmare. Personally, I've only seen one games do that...on the ps2. I know more have had to tried it. By the way, that game was Urban Reign. Damn great game. Edit: though it really wasn't all animation. It was just dodge animations.

[@DailyCorvid]

There is something oddly wholesome and dare I say, graceful about the way you get such a kick out of watching these moves. They are very good, but what is better? Watching you turn into soup with glee :D

[@GreatGreebo]

Good morning and great video Shad! Also, thank you for giving a shout out to *Living Anachronism*.

[@Nara.Shikamaru]

It is important to mention that Geralt, like many other witchers, have enhanced strength as a result of their mutations. This would at least make at least some of his flourishing moves (which don’t always have the best stances, weight distribution, and force distribution) at least slightly more viable.

[@marcogenovesi8570]

I think the "but superstrenght" argument does not excuse inefficient and coreographed moves. Yes he can do it, but the question becomes why would he do a less efficient move set just for looks. This is valid for any "but super X" argument in general, the point is not if the hero can, but why the hero would.

[@marcogenovesi8570]

@@SknCommonLisper Oh the book author isn't going to win this fight either, if something looks stupid and out of character in the book, it's also wrong. Just because it is "source material" doesn't mean it's immune from fight scene criticism

[@marcogenovesi8570]

@@SknCommonLisper No I disagree. There are lines you can't cross without it becoming campy as heck and changing the tone and feel of the movie. From something where you invest in the characters it becomes a michael bay movie where nothing is really at risk and everything is blowing up, and you are just there for looking at light shows. Mind me I do like that kinds of movies too, remember Battleship? But that just ONE of the types of media you can have. Star wars planets are for the most part believable enough even if they are "monoclimate" which is not realistic, I'm not sure where does SW have the inter-species breeding, but in Star trek (where it is a thing) it's still believable enough as the "aliens" look all very human-like, and it's even explained in one of the episodes in TNG by a recording of a progenitor race that supposedly created all current humanoid races in Star Trek from the same base stock. What doesn't make sense is basic physics stuff or movement. Like the fighting when you have someone that is doing some fancy triple spin while the enemy is patiently waiting to get whacked, or conveniently forgets to shoot his ranged weapons, or does any of those things that anyone in the audience can easily understand and see. That's just garbage fighting coreography, you can have it done flashy to an extent, but you can't immobilize the enemy for 5 seconds like the "self defence" videos of bullshido masters where somehow the guy stops time and can do 10 moves before the armed guy can react. Or you somehow find a way to have your heroes do a cavalry charge against people armed with guns that can shoot full auto for days and not get absolutely shredded by a single dude with an assault rifle, as in one DisneyWars movie. Asian and indian/pakistan media is different, they expect very theatrical moves, emotions and exaggerated expressions. So their stuff is by default somewhat campy, comical and strange to people accustomed to more "serious" or "realistic" western media. This is also true for japanese-made games like Final Fantasy, or Kingdom Hearts, Resident Evil and whatnot where nothing makes any sense at all from the moment you go in to the moment you finish the game. I'm not saying it's bad, I'm saying it changes the mood and the tone of the experience. If I go and see the "Indian Terminator" movie I'm not expecting any of it to make any sense and the enjoyment is mostly about the crazy stuff they do, not about the feelings or the difficult choices of the characters, or the historical period it is set in, nor anything else.

[@slamindorf5478]

One thing about the difficulty of having historically accurate animations is the context of the situaton. Would you swing a greatsword the exact same way at a human versus a giant? I agree some animations are extremely over the top, but context is key. If its a game made to be a medieval sim i expect it to be realistic, when i'm fighting dragons and demigods im not very concerned that my character is putting ALL OF HIS effort into attacking

[@Echo_419]

A major issue with the Souls games is that after each and every attack, your character leaves themselves wide open.

[@K40005]

@@Echo_419 I mean tbf it wouldn't matter if you have your sword in a guard position against a troll/giant or a dragon but it's a fair point

[@darthplagueis13]

Maybe, but the thing is: Most enemies are not actually giants. And as long as you cannot just swap your moveset to be appropriate for whatever you are fighting, it would be better to stick with what is safe against a smaller opponent because otherwise you won't even reach the giant before getting shanked. Besides, it's not like absurdly telegraphing and massively overswinging my attacks is going to make my strikes more powerful, it just makes them less controlled and more predicable.

[@K40005]

@@darthplagueis13 most enemies are humanoids who swing extremely slow with no technique whatsoever (hollows) or are not human and are creatures much larger than you

[@jonnysac77]

If enemies don't oversell there swinging, it might be hard to tell if they even attacked you in the first place which would be a problem in a game where you die in 2 hits so realistic animation in a souls game is probably a horrible idea

[@NERDSAUCE]

i think Doom Eternal needs more historically accurate animations because trying to focus on not getting 1shotted in Ultra Nightmare just doesn't immerse me enough

[@malikfoxen2045]

What I love about this is you dont have to be a sword master to demonstrate where some of the animations in elden rings weapons could be improved, and kudos to those who showed that here. This was a great thing.

[@aramere3650]

I think scholarship is one of the greatest virtues people can have, and videos like this gives me hope for the future

[@GrimMediaProductions]

Hey Shad! Thanks for the small shout-out! You're a huge inspiration. I hope you get around to critiquing my LOTR: Two Towers video I did on the combat and tactical flaws in the film. It'd be a great topic to cover on your channel, and hoping its to mutual benefit. It even included Professor Tosspot as a guest. All the Best! Cheers!

[@nicolaspeigne1429]

The thing is, even from a total novice point of view, those moves look much more precise, skilled, and without losing the cool factor.

[@danielantony1882]

I wouldn't say they look look. Half of them look like very deliberate love-taps with no telegraphing.

[@bencarlson3009]

I love this a lot. This is useful and game changing.

[@erniemiller1953]

It's as if Uncle Rico was a sword fighter instead of a quarterback. Someone get these guys a time machine!

[@boufey5169]

I'd like to note that there is a greatseord moveset in Elden Ring and Dark Souls 3 that always end in a guard after each attack. Now with 100% less ground slamming!

[@tank19768]

I do know several people who love the ground slamming though.

[@ulgrim8966]

Ah, good ol' Hollowslayer Greatsword and Knight's Greatsword. They do have one part of the animation I do not like personally, which is the sword being swung all the way back. However, if you continue the animation, the character will reposition his blade back to a guard. Only little nitpick I do not like, but still leagues better than what say the Zweihander got.

[@boufey5169]

@@ulgrim8966 Yeah I recalled that being a thing, sadly

[@ulgrim8966]

@@boufey5169 Thank God for people like Shad starting stuff up like this to slowly improve animations in games.

[@aridicaexmontaudon1296]

Right, and the farron greatsword also exists

[@Darek_B52]

Don't got time to watch currently but did want to say that in The Witcher 3 the normal npc guards have more realistic combat animations. Something about the devs wanted Witcher combat to look like a dance...or if you max out on potions a killer beyblade

[@LeutnantJoker]

The Witcher 1 animations were also motion captured with sword experts. So yeah Witcher always had some better animations. The pirouettes are a bit unrealistic but that's how he's supposed to fight in the books and he has faster reactions so probably could do that safely. And he can use them to dodge around swinging claws and tentacles, since he's not trained to fight humans with swords but monsters after all. One thing I also very much appreciated in Witcher 3 was that you actually have a ton of gambeson armor. Something most games neglect also.

[@chyverdoesvrc5112]

I am so surprised that my VR reference got on this. I'm the furry from the middle section of the video. I'm having trouble getting into that channel because I left it alone for months, but I had to leave some kind of comment. I don't feel like I came off very well compared to the other people you picked, and I hope Oz doesn't genuinely feel that way. I'm a big fan and longtime viewer. This was awesome to see. Hema is really becoming popular in VR roleplay.

[@vinylwubs6987]

i think with games like the player character needs to swing that wildly in order to actually hit something. especially games with multiple enemies or no lock on camera mechanic. we all know how hard it is to hit something sometimes. we've all missed attacks. but you c o u l d make a duelling game with all the proper animations and just be fighting one opponent.

[@adambielen8996]

Considering that there are historical move sets that have sweeping attacks I have to disagree. It is just that the devs would have to choose the correct movesets for their game.

[@vinylwubs6987]

@@adambielen8996 oh yeah. x3 i forgot all about those.

[@varkesh456]

Fanatastic to see such a range of repsonses to this challange and love that one guy had no swordsmanship training and was still able to add to the experince by watching videos and esstentially adding flash/telegraphs that still looked natural. I hope to see this resource grow and prehaps actually make it in at the mid to high game stuidos and maybe even some of the quicker combos in smaller stuidos. But i have to say they did look good, better than most game animations i see and fanatasy rpg is one of my main types of game and already a strong varitiy of weapons.

[@IndieLambda]

Pretty nice. I'd be curious to see what you'd do for some Star Wars style dancy movesets with all the spins, flurish, jumps and all that kind of stuff, for a realistic moveset. Hoping wording it like that makes sense. PS: I do not support furry hate.

[@RazireKVD]

This whole thing reminds me of some time ago, I was reading a game news article. I think it was actually Playstation's own news source. It was an interview with Sucker Punch Productions about the animations and combat of Ghost of Tsushima. They actually talked about how realistic moves would have been too fast to counter for most players, so they talked about the actual balance of realism vs gameplay. They're first solution was to slow down the first attack, but let the follow up come at a much higher speed. It was a very interesting insight to a developer actually trying to be realistic as opposed to just going pure anime-styled with a game about samurai. There's also a very large number of reaction videos from Japanese swordsmen approving the combat visuals and style in Ghost of Tsushima, so Sucker Punch really did they're research for it. Can I say it's 100% realistic? Probably not, but GoT certainly puts in a lot of effort into showing more realism than other games.

[@Uacher]

This is the sort of mentaility or opinion I've been developing with time. The developers would have to compromise: Put semi-realistic animations that properly convey the skill of the user while satisfying the needs of the gameplay. My guess is that such a thing is not as easy as one may think.

[@giulyanoviniciussanssilva2947]

For me the type of world of GoT is easier to implement realistic combat on the other hand I think Sekiro's armor system is much better than GoT in fact the use of spear and ax in Sekiro complicates you more than in GoT because the spear guys are easy to tank with a low range Sword.

[@MrProthall]

I feel like many choreographers and viewers have started believing the "thick skin" some anime and movie characters have, therefore you need a lot of power to stab through that steellike skin.

[@ExileTwilight]

In fairness, in many games (like Elden Ring) you often fight enemies many times your own size with natural armor, etc. A typical sword slash would probably look a bit weird in that context.. Even if I don't disagree overall (better would be having a stance for human sized enemies, and a "power" stance where you get a built in 'monster armor penetration' to promote using it against those type of enemies.

[@Dan_Kanerva]

@@ExileTwilight but in Sekiro , the wolf is an AMAZING swordsman with the katana and he uses (for the most part) realistic movesets... and it feels delicious even tho sometimes he is figthing giant ogres or armored soldiers.

[@Inferryu]

@@Dan_Kanerva Haven't played or seen Sekiro, does he uses a single primary weapon or does he have a selection of different types of weapons to use? Budget constraints are also a reason for the type of animations. It may be me, but I feel like I've seen in Elden Ring animations from previous Souls games, so if it works, don't break it.

[@dragonmaster3030]

@@Dan_Kanerva when it comes to sekiros animations the only one I hate is the spin reverse grip horizontal slash, I'm pretty sure it's the third in the combo

[@lightningpenguin8937]

@@Inferryu He uses mostly a katana, but the enemies have their own weapons as well. The enemies in elden Ring have decent animations. I'll have to double check for that. Anyway, in terms of complex combat, it far surpasses Elden Ring. Elden Ring far surpasses Sekiro in diverse weapon selection, but they didn't actually sacrifice animation quality for weapon diversity. They sacrificed complexity. They still made really good animations for a few of the weapons. I think the biggest issue is probably with research, and reference. You will not find any reference on scythe, or dual wielding colossal weapons in combat. Having a lack of reference, or not knowing where to look makes it difficult. 23:38 is the perfect example of how much having a reference helps. Guy made a decent looking combo with minimal research. The hardest part might just be getting that research rather then incorporating it itself. Though the people from Elden Ring will never find reference for like a forth of their weapon animations. Dual scythes looks ridiculous as hell, and I mean, how do you even begin to research that?

[@atlaslegionnaire3711]

Shad defending the furries from Oz...What a man of peace.

[@presleyrichard1909]

Love this video shad I was looking for sword moves that were viable in real life as I wanted to animate them your video was very informative and gave me a lot of moves to choose from

[@jude8943]

Bethesda should bring you guys in to work on the Elder Scrolls VI. Not that I think it will ever come out.

[@1SpicyMeataball]

Bethesda can die in a fire. Garbage company.

[@paille-boy]

#suggestion Shad, could you made a video of historically accurate shield gameplay for the enemy? like how to break a shield guard how to make so a buckler can defend but not too much and so on, thx ^^

[@laughingcloud3516]

O mighty ones! Lord Shad has called, and you have answered! You have risen your blades, shown your skills and more will follow. I bow to you, O Mighty Ones! O Brave Ones who will follow, hone your blades, and display your skills. For those who watch, are those who wish to learn. (sorry if this sounds goofy but i thought it was appropriate)

[@boodstain]

The Spear and Shield is so underrated. People generally think that it is only capable of a stab and a slam block but it is capable of so much more. If they used overhead thrusts for attacks would be a great way to get over shields and to fight cavalry. Use an underhand for general fighting, or even dig the spear’s butt into the ground for a cavalry or charge brace and then counter with a large upthrust or move your hand underneath for a huge wind-up throw. And then there is so much the shield can do as well. You can do the classic “shield-parry” of course, but pulling the spear back and placing a large round-shield on the whole arm for a huge brace then bring it forward for a bash. Use it to grapple an opponent’s weapon for a headbutt (or if you have a shortspear a quick smack) And then Kite Shields/Roman Tower Shields you can do a running braced charge. Slam it against the ground to taunt the enemy to slash or stab at the head then bring it up to parry the weapon and stab underneath the shield. I just love the spear and shield combo so much and I hate to see it get the classic “stab only” treatment when stabbing has so many options of how to engage and keep distance.

[@zaqzilla1]

13:07 the best part is he keeps his shield in front of him. In many games when they strike they completely leave themselves open.

[@tobiashagstrom4168]

That's kind of the problem though, isn't the point usually that you aren't supposed to be able to guard and attack at the same time in a game? If you can just block whilst you're attacking, then it kind of seems like you're allowed to just block infinitely, and at that point it's not much of a mechanic any more.

[@vyrenvygolo2429]

@@tobiashagstrom4168 Thats not an issue you can keep it just because it looks better or just give a small defence bonus. No need for the incoming attack to be fully blocked.

[@jonnysac77]

@@vyrenvygolo2429 but if it's not clear they're exposed, you might not get the signal of "oh shit, there in recovery, I should be punishing them now", if it looks like there prepared to block your next hit, the number one priority of game animation is visual clarity and realism like that would fuck with it, you'll normally only see an attack that looks like that in a game if it's something you can do while you're blocking

[@HrothgarTheSaxon]

Something that game developers and film makers can take note of is that the shield (and buckler) is there the shield. It does not disappear behind the body when you swing your sword!

[@bare_bear_hands]

Thank you Shad for starting the movement to get games fixed. This will go beyond Medieval-themed games and media in general, it will spill out to any other genre that can benefit from properly researched sources being centralized in a convenient manner - sort of what Wikipedia was supposed to be, but engaging! If we can get sci-fi games to replace energy guns having recoil (what from??) to overheating mechanics, that will be nice too.

[@BaldorfBreakdowns]

Please fix Soul Calibur, Bayonetta, Ninja Gaiden, God of War and Smash Bros. They all need more realistic fighting. So tired of all this flashy garbage.

[@sharkwaffle1582]

@@BaldorfBreakdowns Ehh, Bayonetta and Smash Bros get a pass. Might not hurt to polish up the other three a bit, tho

[@BaldorfBreakdowns]

@@sharkwaffle1582 Nope. All or nothing. Though, I-m being sarcastic. Please keep realistic combat away from these games... It would ruin them and make them boring.

[@morrigankasa570]

WHY DO YOU ALL WANT TO RUIN VIDEOGAMES WITH EXCESSIVE REALISM & COMPLEXITY??!!!!!!! GAMES ARE ABOUT ESCAPISM & FUN!!!!!

[@BaldorfBreakdowns]

@@morrigankasa570 No. I need every attack to be optimized to the point where you need a soldiers reflex and instinct to react to it. There can't be a wasted frame on sub optimal wind ups, angles and follow-throughs.

[@themjem5700]

I'd really love to see you and the knight's watch play Kingdom Come: Deliverance and give a review on how they do swordplay.

[@abcdef27669]

Suggestion for a future video: How effective are the "needle knives" of Yor, the assassin lady from Spy X Family anime.

[@afelias]

Aren't they just supposed to be concealed stabbing weapons anyway? Not to mention that canonically Yor has superhuman strength. I don't think they were really meant to be effective weapons as so much as just a thematic and convenient (for carrying, not fighting) thing for her.

[@a_wild_Kirillian]

Looking at it... Good for stabbing and nothing else but have no guard so poor hand fixation (at least they have good handle texture). Probably not a big problem when you have super strength because people's bodies can't put enough resistance to break your grip. The rings are redundant and mostly get in the way (maybe they have some utility if you use those daggers as pegs though). Basically, stabby sticks. I don't know what kind of analysis do you want. Look at rondell daggers

[@hermitcard4494]

Detail number 1: It's anime.

[@giulyanoviniciussanssilva2947]

​@@afeliasIt's a medieval skewer used by an assassin in a world without armor, looks functional to me.

[@giulyanoviniciussanssilva2947]

​@@hermitcard4494Detail 2: it doesn't matter.

[@youngimmortal4719]

Great stuff, I hope to see some of these in a game at some point.

[@Seriously_Unserious]

The guy at about 12:00 - love that kettle helm. When I played Kingdom Come Deliverance, I settled on the kettle helm in my run, even endgame, using the highest quality one I could find, and even though I could get a bit more protection from the visored helmets, I found the loss of vision too much, especially since my build of Henry featured opening up with archery or horse archery, then switching to hand to hand once the enemies had managed to close, or I'd done enough charging around on horseback to have softened them up a bit if I was outnumbered, before engaging, usually with a mace or axe. The guy just before 13:00 - I love his use of the buckler, keeping it in a reasonable guard position during all movements, so it's always presented between him and his opponent, or at least close to it and ready to respond to block a counter were one to come. Far better then most shield animations where they show the character moving their shield behind their backs, which when you think about it is stupid, you're just taking your best defense and placing it where it is worse then useless. Not only is the shield not in a position to do anything to help you out in defending yourself or doing a shield strike to create an opening, but it's also now just dead weight on your arm, tiering you out more and slowing your off arm movements down a lot.

[@Narrative_Protocol]

People often forget that combat, whether a battle or a duel, relies heavily on timing. Not just speed and strength.

[@lykosxvi1930]

Cool fact, in Elden ring if you double hand certain great swords they gain a similar light attack move-set demonstrated at around 8:20. Also would love to see implementation of some of these moves in the game, such as the dual wielding shown in the first video. Even though I do enjoy a few of the powerstanced animations in Elden Ring some of them could do with small changes.

[@savagedragonrpgbooks2420]

Thanks for watching my videos shad. Hope they were up to your standards.

[@bigguy7353]

So every single video game is no good if it doesn't have the level of swordfighting accuracy a very small percentage of the population desires?

[@marcogenovesi8570]

They said it was impossible, but the sword community responded

[@bairnonessie]

You could also use the "fast attack, slow reset" to reward skill/punish mashing. If the player just mashes the buttons, they may attack faster, but will have much less force(do highly reduced damage) and wear out faster(most games have some sort of stamina system). If the player times their button presses correctly(each weapon/weapon type's timing being unique) they will do proper damage and minimal stamina usage.

[@Pyrrhus399]

Im of the opinion that a cool mechanic in a game with swords would be to keep the unwieldy untrained bad technique when swinging at early levels but as the player levels up they get crisper and more clean, which would add some real immersion in to a game

[@raebertgrayson5766]

Just a quick note on an unrelated topic. Just wanted to thank you again for your vid on the Kamikoto knives! Now, if I want a hand-forged, high-quality, well-nigh indestructible knife, I'll go to a Medieval or Ren-faire and have a weapon smith make me one. Keep up the good work, mi'laird!

[@dehro]

would be fun to see these forms also adapted against unconventionally shaped opponents.. dragons, large creatures and such... I would reckon they would have to change at least a little bit.

[@geargrinder7714]

One of the best swordfight scenes in cinema history was performed by Danny Kaye in The Court Jester. I think people could learn a lot from studying it

[@morrigankasa570]

Princess Brides Sword fight scene is the best!

[@LotusBoi1989]

Beware the Suspiciously Wealthy Furry™ Edit: There's one point I feel that has been overlooked with many of these moveset suggestions. Not all opponents are human. Namely in Elden Ring, there's rats and dogs to contend with, which have much lower hotboxes. So, while reverse edge cuts look really good, the sword's hotbox would never reach low enough to offend them.

[@Archimedes.5000]

Yeah that's the thing, both movements and and hitboxes need to be quite wide, and even then some enemies can be hard to hit (birds and slimes lol)

[@LotusBoi1989]

@@Archimedes.5000 I don't think they need to be wide and overswung, Shad still has some really valid point. Many of which I still heartily agree with. But there does need to be mind paid to the variations of enemies the player is going to face.

[@Archimedes.5000]

@@LotusBoi1989 well they do need to be, unless you want to make different set of animations for every type of enemy (how would that even work) or make them "aimed" somehow (not easy to do either without making them looks stupid)

[@LotusBoi1989]

@@Archimedes.5000 Then explain why the katanas and curved swords don't need to be overswung in Elden Ring, but everything else does? (( Using that as an example, simply because it's the most recent game that I have the most experience in. ))

[@Archimedes.5000]

@@LotusBoi1989 I was saying they need to be wide, not necessairly owerswung.

[@Alexquints]

I think the idea of extending the time between moves is great. And as a game play perspective just have it speed up as you level up the skill.

[@Ranstone]

"Historical combat would be too fast" is fudd folklore superstition. I do HEMA, film choreography, make games and do film and cinema. If there is one thing I wish people understood more, it's that the modern over-telegraphed style was designed for *24 frames a second (standard) film.* Video games run three to six times the frame-rate. This is _massively_ relevant, and is a fundamental of refining the 12 pillars of animation. Attacks can be much faster and still discernible to the viewer in our modern frame-rate, especially with proper motion blue or even stylized contrails.

[@Ranstone]

Edit: I'm also a furry, so frick you Oz. :P

[@ROLLTHEMBONES]

Saw your recommended videos... BASED.

[@c0ldyloxproductions324]

Honestly most of the assassins creed games do an extremely good job with their sword combat animations

[@adamr.5544]

The one with the cat is showing the appropriate way to fight ancient Egyptians

[@LynSain]

I like that one who brings a cat. Imagine a scenario where you save a baby during an invasion so you have to fight through the enemies while carrying that baby into safety point. We actually have that scenario in 3 Kingdoms where Zhao Yun rescued a baby in the battle of ChangBan.

[@MaaZeus]

And instead of baby it could also be anything that in a heat of battle you had to grab/steal/whatever and you do not have time to put it in your backpack.

[@minhson27]

Theses are some nice combos that in my opinion would work really well for light attack combos, as in many games the opponents you face ussually need to be defeated through shear damage and not so much bloodloss or damaging a vital organ. I would like to see more martially experienced people come up with heavy attacks that focus more on the power of the attack as if you were trying to break the target rather then cut and hard them.

[@kharekelas4259]

This series is a treasure!

[@braveplays1290]

a couple things i would like to say 1 in souls game, its rare to hit the enemy more then 3 times. 2 having different animation is cool an all... but it would need different hitboxes, hurtboxes and other things, which makes a weapon need more time to make and in turn will lower the amount of weapons in the game. Side note: Somewhat reminds me of a game called FOR HONOR. a Fighting game would fit better with more animations then souls game, no?

[@Dan_Kanerva]

as technology progresses and games are taken as a superior form of media... we can demand MORE from developers. If GTA San Andreas could come with excellent concepts in 2004 , why not games today ?

[@adambielen8996]

While your points are true I find them to be a bit overstated. FromSoftware has most of its weapons at 5 moves and many if not all reward you for getting that last hit in the chain. Just because in most situations you won't get to use them doesn't mean they shouldn't exist. And FromSoftware also puts plenty of different animations in, to the point that some weapons have unique or very rare animations, so this point is only a limiter if the devs want it to be.

[@Shadeius]

@@adambielen8996 And money. There's only so much Devs can accomplish with finite time and funds.

[@adambielen8996]

@@Shadeius No, but I'm not asking for every possible combination of attacks. I merely pointed out that FromSoftware already put in the level of work that the OP said wasn't appropriate for a Soulsbourne game, so their argument doesn't hold much water.

[@QwertyBoredom122]

Not only that but having nice animations doesn't necessarily translate to being mechanically superior, there is a reason why everyone uses the Claymore over the Banished knight sword in PvP and its simply that its functionally better (fun fact those "guard" animations on the banished prevent you from doing a storm-stomp combo).

[@Sherudons]

Imagine a dark souls but with actual skilled and trained characters, you though pvp was hard before, now you die in .5 seconds from 5 separate hits with a great sword. Hell a proficiency would even be a crazy step, even bongo the clown learns that throwing your whole body into a one handed attack is stupid. Some of the npc's being able to train you in a style you can equip would be great too, you would never be certain what someone could do until they attacked.

[@pixelqubed]

The funny thing about Portal 1 and Portal 2, is most of the devices like the hard light bridge and the laser beam actually use portals "behind the wall" where you can't see them but in the promos, with the stick figures, it shows that they are used like that. So even if you go into a test chamber without a portal gun or portals, you are still using portals. Just thought that was a fun fact I should tell you lol. Plus you have the projectile speed as a factor too. It's more prominent in Portal 1 and if you're on the edge of a portal it will push you out before closing.

[@raebertgrayson5766]

I once fought a bloke that was using Florintine (I was using a long sword). Not ashamed to admit it, I got mine arse handed me that evening's session!

[@b.delacroix7592]

What about combos that take into account the fact that "the blade is not the only part of a sword"? A simple thing with the pommel maybe. I'd never trust myself to do it without removing my fingers, but a combo ending in a murder blow. Ok, in all my training I've never seen someone use a cat as an offhand.

[@night1952]

Mortal shell has a 3 hit combo that ends with a murder stroke, the animation looks amazing but the combat is extremely sluggish and it feels awful to fight in that game.

[@darkfire1408]

You could also do position-based combat instead of just combo based. So you'd still have the combo, but when you stop button mashing the character holds the sword in its position for a few seconds. This allows the player to time their attacks to parry or break through a guard.

[@namenloserheld6719]

very cool, that you show some of these videos :) i hope that motivates more people to just grab a stick or something and give the developers a few more nice moves, so that we get some great videos games in the future

[@arsov9885]

Good call with this combat animations, Shad. It's great to watch them all.

[@ToaCody1]

After all this talk about improving games Shad, I think now would be a good time for you to discuss how you would ideally imagine a game based on Shadow of the Conqueror (be it a direct adaptation or something new set in the same world).

[@sirdiealott]

Oh my god this is my big pet peeve in many games. I haven't practiced anything in decades, but I know sloppy basics when I see them.

[@CJLloyd]

Very cool! Also, very cool to see an actual game studio put together some preliminary sketches for animations based off these videos already. Let's hope more follow suit soon.

[@zieglerphillip7560]

I think a big part of the overdone animations (especislly in Elden Ring) is, that its a little better to recognize from a third person view. Oke, swing is over now i am able to dodge/block. I can play Elden Ring woth no sound and still get the timing, only by paying attention to the visuals. I could imagine that some thrust from greatswords, with an realistic moveset would be hard to recognize. Furthermore i think, that the damage type (standard/pierce/strike/slash) ties vastly into the moveset. A standard weapon will never have a thrusting attack (except it is stated clearly bay the weapon, with standard/pierce), since thrusts are reserved for weapons with piercing damage or dual damage type weapons.

[@jonnysac77]

That's really the thing with a lot of game animation, it can't be too realistic because you need to be able to react and dodge it, it would be very unfair to have a game with very subtle realistic attacks, they don't try to give themselves and end up dying to it, unless your willing to design your whole game around it like Kingdom Come Deliverance, it's a bad idea to be too realistic

[@trathanstargazer6421]

One thing I find interesting. I got back into Gothic 3, and they managed to put in combat where what side the weapon is matters and changes the attack. Now a lot of it is still wrong. Such as the quick slashes with the sword putting the shield behind you, but I would love to see this kind of thing make a comeback.

[@justtime6736]

11:13 Oh god yes! The 70's one. I watched that maybe 800 times lol

[@jamesorthegreat9070]

There's a game that people should have a look at; it's called Hellish Quart. It's not set in the medieval period but it is set in the 17th century. It's a pretty cool game with unique sword fighting animations.

[@zodayn]

A slight issue I would have with the stab and cut across at 6:34 is that those blows are very high. Usefull when fighting people, but not giant rats or imps or other fantasy creatures that are shorter or crawl. Plenty of games ignore that. But I think you should have most move be at hip height or lower. So you would still hit small enemies at their head height.

[@K40005]

Yeah it seems to be a theme in this video that most cuts would not hit a giant rat in elden ring so the hitboxes would need to be warped which should never be the case