Character movement is aggravating.

GLP323b14_ESO

Moving your character in this game is incredibly frustrating. It's not only irritating to use, but it's annoying to watch in ESO streams and videos. I was wondering why it's so less fluid and gives you so less feel of control over your character's movement than in other mmo's I play and then it dawned on me. My character's movement is behaving as though it's being played on a console with a controller. Is this yet another example of console considerations undermining good game design?

Moving long distances is fine, except when stopping from a run. It's just jarring and nausea inducing. I'm not sure what it is, since in other games when you let go of the run forward key you stop instantly. I think it's the actual motion of your camera and character when you come to a stop that does this. There is some camera movement from forward movement to stopping. You can see this effect easier from walk mode. That might be what creates the nausea. Also his foot and body movement when stopping. Maybe that looks more realistic, but it just feels irritating. Especially if you are moving and stopping frequently. And it happens, even if you move a couple steps. Always like you're stopping from a run.

A bigger issue is movement when you are stopped and trying to move in a small space, approaching an NPC or trying to fine tune the positioning of your character which is hideously bad. You can't step backwards (unless you have a weapon drawn, for some reason you are allowed to walk backwards then, but not outside of that mode). In first person you can walk backwards but if you leave 1st person you see your character is actually facing his direction of travel. The same thing goes for strafing (moving left or right while facing forward).

Also, this is more of a feature suggestion. If you are in walk mode. You can't "walk faster" when you hit Shift for sprint. You go from slowly walking to sprinting. Maybe some people want that, but I'd actually like to be able to walk faster if I hit that modifier, since sometimes you'd like to walk fast, but the standard walk speed is very slow. Of course walking fast should not use stamina. It's more of an RP use issue.

I'd love to at least see options to allow players to use these, what I consider to be preferable, character movements. And if it has to be an option not available for consoles, so be it.

shimm

Only issue I have is jumping is a bit wonky. I’d love to see them implement some kind of grappling (think Dragons Dogma for anyone that’s played that game)... making you able to climb rocks (maybe even ladders?!) but it’d probably have to wait for eso 2...

jrgray93

I have absolutely never had a single complaint about this. In fact, I've felt far more free in ESO than a lot of other games. Even Skyrim comes to mind. My ESO mounts make the Skyrim ones feel like they're made of wood. You can also use combat mechanics to fine tune movement in fights. Blocking and heavy attacking alter movement speed. I use it a lot in fights like vFH last boss.

Sylvermynx

jrgray93 wrote: »

I have absolutely never had a single complaint about this. In fact, I've felt far more free in ESO than a lot of other games. Even Skyrim comes to mind. My ESO mounts make the Skyrim ones feel like they're made of wood. You can also use combat mechanics to fine tune movement in fights. Blocking and heavy attacking alter movement speed. I use it a lot in fights like vFH last boss.

Agree. This game's fine for me, movement-wise (um.... and I'm the one with 2000 ms lag). Others of course have other opinions.

GLP323b14_ESO

"jrgray93 wrote: »

In fact, I've felt far more free in ESO than a lot of other games.

Really?

You can't walk backwards or strafe and you feel far more free in ESO than a lot of other games?

Trying to turn your character to face a specific direction with any sort of precision is non existent.

Curious what games you play.

ArchMikem

On PC you either walk, or you run.

On the Console master race you can move with a varying range of speed between walk and run using the analog stick.

Hippie4927

ArchMikem wrote: »

On PC you either walk, or you run.

On the Console master race you can move with a varying range of speed between walk and run using the analog stick.

On PC master race using a controller, you can also move with a varying range of speed.

WitchyWarrior

Go play Fallout 76 beta for a while and you will be longing for the game play/movement/FOV etc. of ESO more than you ever thought possible.
Take some Dramamine 1st tho

phermitgb

I'm half in agreement with the OP - several of the choices of movement options in ESO are really obnoxious. Jumping and collision in mid-air are nothing short of bizarre in my experience, and the limitations on turning and facing make small, precise dramatic movements for RP purposes ridiculously convoluted.

However, I'm 100% in favor of "I stop hitting the forward key, I stop". Yes, *technically*, there's some truth to the fact that people have to slow down from a full run to a full stop with a short interval, but as much as I love the Witcher 3, the movement in that game is MADDENING. The number of times my character has had to turn around and try again to get up a freakin' flight of stairs is nothing short of ridiculous, because the engine...doesn't account for the level of actual precision people have when slowing down and turning (I feel like the turn radius and slowdown intervals are FIXED in Witcher 3, built for running full tilt, and not adjusting for slower speeds in towns and such, but I don't know for sure)

honestly, jump responsiveness, inertia, and collision are a problem in many games I play, and especially in most MMO's - the only MMO that got running and jumping as close to "right" as any MMO could, IMO, was Guild Wars 2. They did a superb job of making movement fluid and intuitive (at least for me), so much so that they could actually include dungeons with platforming puzzles, and the platforming puzzles were FUN as opposed to infuriatingly frustrating, as they are in most MMOs.

max_only

It’s a bug. Sometimes when you move a few steps the character makes an animation like he just lurched forward ona rocky ship. He does that lurch/lunge motion every time you stop (like he’s stopping from a dead sprint even if it’s only a few steps). When that bug happens to me I sheathe/unsheathe weapons until it goes away and he stops doing that and “comes to a stop” normally.

The rest I disagree with sorry, I don’t have a problem with the movement in this game. Are you more used to click-to-walk games? That’s maybe the issue.

Everstorm

GLP323b14_ESO wrote: »

"jrgray93 wrote: »

In fact, I've felt far more free in ESO than a lot of other games.

Really?

You can't walk backwards or strafe and you feel far more free in ESO than a lot of other games?

Trying to turn your character to face a specific direction with any sort of precision is non existent.

Curious what games you play.

I can strafe just fine. But not being able to walk backwards unless you have your weapon out gets annoying.

NolaArch

You can move around —forwards, backwards, and strafe— just fine. Draw your weapons. It’s not that big of a deal, imho.

Rake

Go settings
Disable shaking of camera
Disable blur when running

Gatviper

It's a bit of an odd movement pattern if you come from other games, agreed. Was for me back then when I started playing the game, but you get used to it after a while, so it becomes natural, and easy to take the right turns and movement precisions.
Jumping in this game is rather bad though, one of the points I still don't like. I don't hate it anymore either, got used to it, but it is bad. You want to jump up some rocky cliff, you've got to spend a while and need some patience.

Sharee

GLP323b14_ESO wrote: »

Is this yet another example of console considerations undermining good game design?

The game came out on PC long before consoles. And there was no change to character movement on the PC when consoles did come out. So no.

jrgray93

GLP323b14_ESO wrote: »

"jrgray93 wrote: »

In fact, I've felt far more free in ESO than a lot of other games.

Really?

You can't walk backwards or strafe and you feel far more free in ESO than a lot of other games?

Trying to turn your character to face a specific direction with any sort of precision is non existent.

Curious what games you play.

Wat. You can strafe and walk backwards? I'm so confused.

RobZha

Was just trying to think of games where the movement is really bad, and I thought of GTA V. The way you fall over and tumble around like a sack of spuds just jogging down a hill or something. How does a game that's otherwise so good to play have such horrible character movement? Even if this is bad for you it's at least not GTA V bad.

ArchMikem

Hippie4927 wrote: »

ArchMikem wrote: »

On PC you either walk, or you run.

On the Console master race you can move with a varying range of speed between walk and run using the analog stick.

On PC master race using a controller, you can also move with a varying range of speed.

The gaming Elite using peasantry equipment.

Hippie4927

ArchMikem wrote: »

Hippie4927 wrote: »

ArchMikem wrote: »

On PC you either walk, or you run.

On the Console master race you can move with a varying range of speed between walk and run using the analog stick.

On PC master race using a controller, you can also move with a varying range of speed.

The gaming Elite using peasantry equipment.

LOL! I am far from "the gaming elite". I am old and have issues with my hands that make the controller more comfortable and less painful than mouse and keyboard.

Ermiq

At least the movement in this game is a way more better than that incredibly annoying, absolutely aweful swaying and running in the circles in Witcher 3.

I'd rather complain about ESO movement animations. THAT's what is really bad in this game.

NoTimeToWait

TES games (and Bethesda games in general) are notorious for their strange movement behavior and animations. I got used to them since Morrowind, so I am fine here

Eremith wrote: »

At least the movement in this game is a way more better than that incredibly annoying, absolutely aweful swaying and running in the circles in Witcher 3.

I'd rather complain about ESO movement animations. THAT's what is really bad in this game.

That swaying is called inertia, you know. Like when the body actually have a mass and a moment that won't disappear anywhere the instant you stop pushing the button.

No movement inertia is for more arcade games, which is fine.