33 replies to this topic

[Bishop Steiner]

General Taskeen, on 04 June 2013 - 08:54 AM, said:

How can you like the awesome when it is a fat freaking toad? Atlas and Victor, fine, they look close enough. Absolutely though the Awesome is the worst Mech and model in this game, wider than a Stalker, Highlander, and Atlas. TT Awesome friggin' trumps it.



Then why are weapons circular... and not squares, hum?

Gotta agree with Vass on this one. TT Awesome looks HORRID (IMO), the 8Q looks OK (not to confuse looks with it's horrible hit boxes).

That said, I think the K2, HBK-4G and 4SP and Victor are the 3 (4) sexiest metal beasts in this game.

The Commando, Cataphract and Jenner are pretty good reworks too. The Atlas would work more for me minus the sagging diaper and trucknuts. The Centy also would almost be there with just a little work (Make it narrower and shorten the ape arms and lose the freddy krueger hand). Dragons and several others fall into the middle ground.

But the BJ, Jager, Flea and Stalker are MEH at best.

[General Taskeen]

Bishop Steiner, on 04 June 2013 - 04:18 PM, said:

Gotta agree with Vass on this one. TT Awesome looks HORRID (IMO), the 8Q looks OK (not to confuse looks with it's horrible hit boxes).

Are you ******* kidding me?

Look how skinny those side torso's and center torso is for ****'s sake. Overall, just look at the UN-toad-like Awesome, that's actually Awesome.

100x Better.

[Bishop Steiner]

General Taskeen, on 04 June 2013 - 04:46 PM, said:

Are you ******* kidding me?

Look how skinny those side torso's and center torso is for ****'s sake. Overall, just look at the UN-toad-like Awesome, that's actually Awesome.

100x Better.

Lets see, ummm.. nO?

Hips that could not possibly work, tiny shapeless feet on the typical generic "5 yr old with a crayon" Mech joints, a hand that is no longer a hand bit a really crappy looking srm launcher, more non functional arm joints and yes, somewhat smaller torsos. So it got one thing semi right, smaller side torsos..... which are done in a style that serves zero purpose.

Basically you got a linebacker in a hula skirt. Yeah. Totally not Awesome.

[Rabid Dutchman]

I think that, overall, PGI is going for a more "stamped metal, factory line, hard angled, military" style for the IS Mechs. This means that, yes, some Mech designs won't be 100% faithful to the originals. To be honest though, almost every single original drawing of Mechs from the TT days look awful IMO. The art team has come in and created Mechs that, from a purely aesthetic standpoint, look like functional combat vehicles.

As for not getting properly designed Clan Mechs, PGI made the decision to stick to the continuity of the timeline and to only use tech from that time period. This tells me that they're involved in the BT lore, which makes me think they know how Clan Mechs are supposed to look. So judging by the art we've seen so far, I think you should all be ready to pick your jaws up off the floor when you see a Timber Wolf for the first time.

[FaelanCaimbeul]

I like it. It's actually better than the original I think.

[aniviron]

I don't fault them for not making the victor curvaceous. You need a consistent visual style in your game, and this game does not do curves. It's beveled metal or bust; I'm impressed how close the design of the Victor is to the old concepts given this constraint, and overall I rather prefer it.

[armyof1]

Frankly I think it's one of the best looking concept arts. And looking at the torso I think it'll have the almost equal 1/3 ratio between CT and side torsos which to me suggest it would do a lot better with a STD Engine like the Cent. Hmm I wonder how it will zombie with JJ...

[armyof1]

General Taskeen, on 04 June 2013 - 04:46 PM, said:

Are you ******* kidding me?

Look how skinny those side torso's and center torso is for ****'s sake. Overall, just look at the UN-toad-like Awesome, that's actually Awesome.

100x Better.

I don't really prefer the looks of this one much over the one we have in MWO. But for sure that looks like a much more usable mech than the current "so Awesome you can't miss it, XL barn door version".

Edited by armyof1, 05 June 2013 - 02:34 AM.

[Bishop Steiner]

aniviron, on 04 June 2013 - 10:03 PM, said:

I don't fault them for not making the victor curvaceous. You need a consistent visual style in your game, and this game does not do curves. It's beveled metal or bust; I'm impressed how close the design of the Victor is to the old concepts given this constraint, and overall I rather prefer it.

gotta disagree with the premise.

This game has mechs built by factories hundreds of light years apart, by totally differing cultures, designed, engineered and built over the span of centuries, with varying levels of technologies and planned uses.

While most US jets today are razor edged, you look at Russia and China and much of their stuff is still swoopy and rounded, just as the last generation fighters in the US were.

Similar scenario here.

The biggest knock I have on the art in this game is not the quality (which is generally quite high, and FAR superior to the source art) but the utter consistency of design elements start to give a generic feel. Wee have PRIMITIVE designs that should be very industrial, but also High tech designs that would likely incorporate newer engineering elements, and even the thinking of the engineers in different cultures could well affect thing.

I wish they would hire a staff of artists to work UNDER Alex so we could have him knock out the "final versions" to tie certain elements together, but also to have enough eyes and imaginations to give different feels to mechs as needed.

[aniviron]

Bishop Steiner, on 05 June 2013 - 06:39 AM, said:

gotta disagree with the premise.

This game has mechs built by factories hundreds of light years apart, by totally differing cultures, designed, engineered and built over the span of centuries, with varying levels of technologies and planned uses.

While most US jets today are razor edged, you look at Russia and China and much of their stuff is still swoopy and rounded, just as the last generation fighters in the US were.

Similar scenario here.

The biggest knock I have on the art in this game is not the quality (which is generally quite high, and FAR superior to the source art) but the utter consistency of design elements start to give a generic feel. Wee have PRIMITIVE designs that should be very industrial, but also High tech designs that would likely incorporate newer engineering elements, and even the thinking of the engineers in different cultures could well affect thing.

I wish they would hire a staff of artists to work UNDER Alex so we could have him knock out the "final versions" to tie certain elements together, but also to have enough eyes and imaginations to give different feels to mechs as needed.

I'm not saying that it doesn't make good logical sense that machines built hundreds of years apart by different manufacturers would look different. That seems fairly straightforward. But we're not dealing with real machines that were made centuries apart by disparate designers, and so even though it would make logical sense, it would be a visual mess if every mech looked different. Imagine a design from gundam wing in this game, next to something from metal gear, and then an atlas beside that. It would look crazy, like a five-year-old designed it. Well, it turns out that because FASA was willing to borrow pretty heavily from other sources before they began coming up with new stuff, this is more or less what Mechwarrior would look like- the only reason tabletop gets away with it is because you have to imagine it in your head, the sad little figurines are too lumpy to really get a good image.

I do think a little more variety would be nice, but it has to fit within the game's established visual language, which means you won't be seeing any radical departures anytime soon.

[Hillslam]

The only comment I have is one that can't be derived from a still shot: the walking and running gait.

IMO the ONLY assault that has gotten the gate of an assault right is the Atlas. Which was the only one done in the CB/founders days.

If you watch an atlas walk/run you'll see its pelvic/hip is rotating. Hence why the atlas has that fantastic loping stride.
Compare that now to the Awesome and Stalker who look like they're taking baby steps, machine gun style. Why? because their hip is locked forward, resulting in a tiny little pathetic looking stride.

The worst offender is the Highlander. Walk behind one of those. Those things look like geisha girls trying to move in long restrictive dresses. Here you have this massive machine and its taking eetsy bitsy steps. Whenver an atlas walks next to a Highlander the HGN just looks absurd.

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CLIFF'S NOTES: I Hope the Victor has pivoting hips and a long stride like the Atlas and not locked hip/pelvis and tiny steps like the Awesome/HGN/Stk.

[Bishop Steiner]

Hillslam, on 06 June 2013 - 09:57 AM, said:

The only comment I have is one that can't be derived from a still shot: the walking and running gait.

IMO the ONLY assault that has gotten the gate of an assault right is the Atlas. Which was the only one done in the CB/founders days.

If you watch an atlas walk/run you'll see its pelvic/hip is rotating. Hence why the atlas has that fantastic loping stride.
Compare that now to the Awesome and Stalker who look like they're taking baby steps, machine gun style. Why? because their hip is locked forward, resulting in a tiny little pathetic looking stride.

The worst offender is the Highlander. Walk behind one of those. Those things look like geisha girls trying to move in long restrictive dresses. Here you have this massive machine and its taking eetsy bitsy steps. Whenver an atlas walks next to a Highlander the HGN just looks absurd.

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CLIFF'S NOTES: I Hope the Victor has pivoting hips and a long stride like the Atlas and not locked hip/pelvis and tiny steps like the Awesome/HGN/Stk.

Awesome was designed in the CB/Founders era too

[Hillslam]

But well after the Atlas.

The early mechs just have better movement animations. Even the hunchback has a pivoting hip. Resulting in a more impressive animation. The jagger, by comparison, with a fixed hip, is once again taking baby steps.

[Waking One]

Pretty sure the mad cat is going to be a bit similar to the catapult, as it's always been and... honestly... that couldn't be a better place to start, as the MWO catapult is amazing.