What sort of "cinematic kills" would you like to see?

Erickson9610 · April 4

It's a possibility that we'll get cinematic kills added to this game:

ZOS_Erin wrote: »

Cinematic kills are something we're actively discussing, but there are still some questions about where it makes sense for them to be used. We will provide more updates when we can.

Note that we already have some cinematic kills in the game, like when using the Blade of Woe or during the final boss fight of some storylines (like how you use a spear at the end of the Solstice storyline). However, we don't have cinematic kills in regular combat (like we saw in TES V: Skyrim) so we never see our regular abilities doing any cinematic kills.

What kinds of cinematic kills would you like to see? Feel free to speculate ideas for where it makes sense for these to show up.

Personally, I would love to see killcam animations for the Werewolf form. Seeing animations like this one was one of my favorite parts of playing as a werewolf in Skyrim:

Here are some ideas about what, when, and where a cinematic kill could proc.
What could proc one:

A killing blow with any Ability, including light/heavy and bash attacks.
- I would prefer to see unique animations (like the gif above) rather than a bullet time slowmo showing you using the ability that got the killing blow. If I recall correctly, TES V: Skyrim had both types; your spells wouldn't have unique animations, but your light/heavy attacks (also werewolf) do have unique animations.
A synergy that appears when a non-boss mob is within execute range (maybe around 10% Health).

When/where one could be proc'd:

When you kill the last enemy that ends combat.
In overland zones when killing a large group of enemies or "dangerous foes".
A random chance to proc, so it doesn't constantly proc when farming mobs. Maybe cinematic kills can be disabled in the settings menu to prevent this frustration altogether.
When killing the final boss of story content, dungeons, arenas, and trials.
When killing the last remaining enemy player in ranked Deathmatch battlegrounds.

Zodiarkslayer · April 4

It won't work smoothly, would be very disruptive and most players would opt out, because they don't want to spend time watching yanky animations when they could dash towards the next mob.

My questions:
What happens if the killing blow ability is a ground attack AoE? Will we get an epic close up shot of Blockade of Fire? 😅
What if the engine doesn't recognise the end of combat? #stuckincombat
What if a group kills a Boss? Who gets to deal the killing blow?
What about add waves? Will one player be stuck in an animation while the rest of the trial group is already starting the next add wave/Boss fight?

I don't want to be rude. But, what works in Skyrim, doesn't necessarily work in ESO.

FlameDark · April 4

It would have to be in VERY special circumstances. World boss death, final dungeon boss death, special npc kill animation with various weapons. I do not want to be slowed down in a dungeon because I keep getting stalled everytime Im forced to watch a killing animation. Or die during a boss fight, because I killed an add and am now essentially frozen in place while the kill animation runs its course and I die from a mechanic.

bmnoble · April 4

Only time I liked it in Skyrim was when I would miss a shot with a bow or spell only to somehow manage to hit and kill some random wildlife or enemy in the distance.

If it were to get in the way of visual cues for fight mechanics I could see it getting turned off by most players very quickly, if it gets implemented I would hope it is off by default.

Ishtarknows · April 4

None thanks.

Even the cinematic blade of woe kill can last too long if you're trying to avoid being noticed. For other circumstances I'm usually killing something because I'm on my way to somewhere else and the enemy is in my way (why would I want the fight to last longer?) or it's part of a dungeon, trial or arena where losing a few seconds to a slomo view of a kill could kill my character or endanger others in the group.

Edit: autocorrect

Syldras · April 4

No, thank you. If they feel they need to add that, then I hope it's boss fights only, though even those looked awkward and silly so far.

Dark Brotherhood boss fight with the Imperial standard suddenly spawning in my character's hands out of nowhere (and too late, mid-movement, probably because of server overload at that time) looked extremely comical. It was so random. My character was a mage and doesn't have much physical strength (and doesn't look like he had either), why would he randomly grab some big unhandly object randomly standing nearby to impale that guy? Could have also randomly grabbed a chair and thrown that at the boss, would have made as much sense. At least in that case, the absurdity would be intentional.

The boss fight in Solstice made a little more sense (the animation at the end - as for the whole story, that's a different topic) but still looked awkward.

Carlos93 · April 4

Zodiarkslayer wrote: »

It won't work smoothly, would be very disruptive and most players would opt out, because they don't want to spend time watching yanky animations when they could dash towards the next mob.

My questions:
What happens if the killing blow ability is a ground attack AoE? Will we get an epic close up shot of Blockade of Fire? 😅
What if the engine doesn't recognise the end of combat? #stuckincombat
What if a group kills a Boss? Who gets to deal the killing blow?
What about add waves? Will one player be stuck in an animation while the rest of the trial group is already starting the next add wave/Boss fight?

I don't want to be rude. But, what works in Skyrim, doesn't necessarily work in ESO.

When the final boss's health drops low enough, a group finishing move may randomly appear.

An animation plays showing the players finishing off the boss as a group.

Syldras · April 4

Please enjoy the epic fight against the evil witch:

Those chapter boss fight animations usually left the same impression: A mix of confusion, perplexity and a comedic effect from the jerky animation (though I don't want to say that's anyone's fault - I think it's the limitations of the game engine).

amig186 · 8:43AM

I think one place this could work is the final boss of a solo arena, with the cinematic kill being dependant on whatever weapon you were using, including werewolf or bone golem form. Even if the last hit was from a dot or aoe, as long as you're relatively near it could still play the animation since it's the end of the fight anyway. The trigger radius could be larger for ranged weapons, but it shouldn't teleport you over from the far end of the arena. There'd also need to be an option to turn it off so you don't have to watch the same animation over and over when farming.

tsaescishoeshiner · 9:05AM

This would be fine during solo instances, but likely very buggy if it's too complicated.

I wish they would add more unique death animations like when enemies die with a burning or shock effect. They could implement a unique one for each class (at least certain skills).

ghastley · 9:29AM

We already have one, when the Vestige defeats Molag Bal. I think we met the quota.