Weapon Animation Options for Judgment Powers

[megaericzero]

DISCLAIMER: Standard Code Rant applies to every part of this post. My bad if this has been suggested before.

 

tldr: Could we give weapon-wielding characters a Judgment option that uses their weapon in the attack animation? Either as alternate animation options for each of the existing Judgment powers or as its own, new Judgment option. This would primarily be for characters whose concept revolves around a signature/legendary weapon.

 

If memory serves, the live devs said Brawl was a coding nightmare. Adding it as a power customization may alleviate this headache as the game wouldn't have to check if the weapon is drawn - just which animation the player set it to. This also allows people to keep the classic judgment animations even if they have weapons. Since the costume UI is able to show/hide options, this could help prevent non-weapon-wielders from selecting the weapon animations or for weapons from selecting each other's animation (eg: Broad Sword selecting Assault Rifle's option).

 

Or, heck, maybe even let characters select a weapon they don't have the set for. Maybe the real power was the friends this uncharacteristically powerful Crey pyro pistol we found along the way (but for some reason only use for judgment attacks).

 

Admittedly, I'm a weeb who really just wants a Sword Beam option in the game. There is at least a precedence in, of course, Thor with Mjolnir and Stormbreaker. I don't remember if He-Man, She-Ra, or the Thundercats used their weapons to attack from a range but they could also potentially fit the bill. And there is a plethora of examples in videogames of varying genres.

 

This option should apply to:

• Rifles (assault, pulse, beam, Arachnos)
• Bows
• Dual Pistols
• the medieval one-handers (axe, sword, mace, Arachnos mace)
• Katana (and Ninja Blade)
• Claws (and Arachnos claws)
• Dual Blades
• Staves
• Titan Weapons

 

Ones I'm dubious on but could still be applicable:

• Shields
• the Crab Spider backpack
• Spines (? It's more of a power customization but I'm not the weapon police.)

 

As for the animations, it does seem like new animations may have to be made and, lurking the forums, I'm eminently aware that's a gigantic ask. Recycling animations may be more feasible but it wouldn't surprise me if they aren't able to set a section of the weapons' models as FX origin points. Still, assuming we could recycle them, perhaps melee weapons using their PBAOE animations for Void/Mighty, their wide swing for Cryo/Vorpal, and their heavy single-target animations for Ion/Pyronic. For ranged weapons maybe their cone animations for Cryo/Vorpal and their long snipe for Ionic/Pyronic; the PBAOE nature of Void/Mighty seems a bit awkward for them though.

 

These aren't meant to be hard and fast animation suggestions - just tossing out ideas. There's plenty of room for nuance like the Moment of Glory fist-to-the-sky for melee weapons doing Ion or a shield having the Shield Charge animation for using Vorpal.

 

If this was limited to a single new Judgment power exclusively meant for weapons, there is an opening to add lethal damage. Vorpal does it as a secondary effect on its core branch but it doesn't look like there are any that do lethal primarily. That would fit most weapons. It could also have a particle effect like the ones made by Focus (Claws), Shatter (War Mace), and Cleave (Battle Axe) or a light blast-type effect for ranged weapons - for characters that want their bow of light or holy swords. Again, just tossing out ideas.

 

Personally, I would still hope this could be applied to all judgment options. This way, people can have their Infernal axe, their Spark Blade katana, etc.

 

This suggestion is in lieu of something more complex such as being able to designate any set as a weapon set (eg: "Electric Melee but it comes from a staff" or "Water Blast but it's pistols") or a dedicated "custom signature move" system. I did briefly think of those but they seemed like more of a COH2-level undertaking.

 

Thank you for coming to my Ted Talk.

[A.I.D.A.]

Honestly, maybe best done for most melee weapons as an alternate animation for Vorpal Judgment, to give each silhouette a weapon. It probably couldn't detect your powerset or weapon model customization very easily, but there could be alternate animations for Longsword, War Mace, Battle Axe, Katana, Titan Weapon, Claws, Psi-Melee, Arachnos Widow, (and any I am forgetting). Having a 'basic' weapon of the right general type would be in line with the Vorpal Judgment silhouettes being bald green (recolourable) holograms of default (on-selection) body shape for your current costume's body type.

 

But I am right with you there on a blade-beam / vacuum cut judgment option! Make it a melee cone with a wider arc (like 120-degrees) to ensure it's actually usable easily. The Core version should have the standard chance of extra damage, and the Radial version should have a -RES debuff (the idea being that the blade beam damages the enemy's armour). Give it the heavy, momentum-driven spinning cut animation from that one Titan Weapon power, where you step forward into a roundhouse blow with the weapon, and have it fire an appropriate projectile. Use this animation even if the player is using some other melee set, and have an alternate option at the tailor, to have it extend dual psi-blades and use the Psi-Blade Sweep animation instead. Let the power's two colour channels in this alternate animation colour each psi-blade independently, instead of one for the core and the other for the corona.

 

Edited May 26, 2023 by A.I.D.A.

[Chance Jackson]

i strongly support these suggestions