Facial Expressions

phuein

The camera zooms in when talking to an NPC. The voice-over actor, if they're good, is full of emotion! I'm drawn in.

But the face is almost expressionless. A bizarre doll. And at the end of the dialog, if you wait just another second longer... an awkward smirk. A smirk that reminds me of Todd Howard in interviews. Coincidence?

I know this is probably futile to beg, from a technical perspective. Old game and so on. But how many other people agree that characters+NPCs should have better facial expressions throughout dialogues? Please press the Agree button when mousing-over the post, if you agree.

SirAxen

Most MMORPG's don't even have mouth sync. Hell, a lot of AAA titles don't. Personally, I'm impressed ESO has that.

Nestor

Try switching into first person while in combat. A large number of mobs have facial expressions whilst in combat. Usually overlooked as most play in 3rd Person

fullheartcontainer

SirAxen wrote: »

Most MMORPG's don't even have mouth sync. Hell, a lot of AAA titles don't. Personally, I'm impressed ESO has that.

A lot of MMOs don't even have Voice for dialogue

EngineeringElf

Skylike dialogue add-on helps if it bothers you. I use it because I like to see what's going on around me.

UnseenCat

ESO's humanoid character face models are still stuck in the Uncanny Valley -- the concept where your brain sees a human-representative face, but it triggers the "something isn't right" reaction in the primitive, survival-oriented lizard part of the brain. It takes a LOT -- as in exponentially a lot -- of computer imaging technology to overcome that. So games tend to do the best they can and let suspension of disbelief take over.

To their credit, the NPC animations have been polished a little bit over time as the underlying animation code has been upgraded since the game's debut. Newer NPC designs -- probably starting with the Morrowind chapter -- are improved in their base designs and look less like cookie-cutter clones with makeup applied. Some in the original base game are definitely on the scary side -- Laanesti, the High Elf stablemistress in Vulkhel Guard comes to mind. Aack!

zaria

UnseenCat wrote: »

ESO's humanoid character face models are still stuck in the Uncanny Valley -- the concept where your brain sees a human-representative face, but it triggers the "something isn't right" reaction in the primitive, survival-oriented lizard part of the brain. It takes a LOT -- as in exponentially a lot -- of computer imaging technology to overcome that. So games tend to do the best they can and let suspension of disbelief take over.

To their credit, the NPC animations have been polished a little bit over time as the underlying animation code has been upgraded since the game's debut. Newer NPC designs -- probably starting with the Morrowind chapter -- are improved in their base designs and look less like cookie-cutter clones with makeup applied. Some in the original base game are definitely on the scary side -- Laanesti, the High Elf stablemistress in Vulkhel Guard comes to mind. Aack!

Her scary side is that she teleport you outside the stable from time to time.

She was facing the window, then you access her you are outside the stable looking in.