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hello and welcome to new frame plus a

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series about video game animation today

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I want to dig into the climbing

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animation in breath of the wild this

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topic was requested by asmar and if you

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would like to make a topic suggestion of

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your own then consider becoming a patron

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of the channel but let's not waste time

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here we go let's begin by breaking down

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this climbing system into its component

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parts link can climb most things in

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breadth of the wild so if you run

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yourself into just about any vertical

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surface link will switch from his

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regular ground locomotion state into his

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climbing state and once you are on that

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wall you can climb in any direction you

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want the foundation of this

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multi-directional climbing is built on a

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set of I'm guessing eight animation

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cycles climb up climb down climb left

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climb right and probably an animation

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for each of the four diagonals in

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between just to fill in the gaps it's

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hard to know exactly how many

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directional cycles they're using under

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the hood but however many there are

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those animation loops blend smoothly

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between each other as the player adjusts

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links climbing direction if you stop

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pressing in any direction link will

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quickly blend to an idle pose and hold

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position there are two mirror versions

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of this idle so the pose can more

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accurately reflect which foot moved last

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and it is an extremely simple idle

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animation just a little breathing to

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keep link looking alive now for the most

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part links body will be oriented

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parallel to the slope of whatever he's

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climbing but as the slope of the wall

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starts to level out you will see a link

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straighten up ever so slightly and his

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climbing will start to feel a bit like

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he's walking on all fours which is a

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really nice touch really helps that

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transition from climbing back to walking

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feel more natural now there's also some

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ikb ngey to keep links hands and feet

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connected to the climbing surface

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without getting too far into the fiddly

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technical stuff I K or inverse

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kinematics is a tool for making your

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characters animation automatically adapt

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to uneven terrain it's also used for a

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ton of other things but that's one of

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the most common applications you know

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how sometimes you run your player

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character up a slope or up some stairs

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and their feet automatically raise up to

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account for the uneven height of the

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ground that is I K and here i ka is

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being used to

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help links feet and hands connect to the

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uneven surface of this wall it's easiest

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to see this in action when you have link

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idle near a corner or an edge of the

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climbing surface you see how different

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that idle pose can look the I K really

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seems to want to keep links hands on one

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side of that corner of course upon very

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close inspection you will notice that

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links hands often aren't contacting the

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surface of the wall exactly right

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sometimes they'll clip through the mesh

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other times they'll hover just over the

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surface but the camera pulls so far back

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when you're climbing that you're rarely

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going to notice it so not really a big

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deal now that covers the basics of how

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the climb itself is structured but there

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are several supplemental pieces

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supporting this foundation for one thing

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you can make link jump while climbing

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sacrificing some stamina to do a quick -

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up the wall you can do these jumps

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upward diagonally and to either side and

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this - will even round tight corners

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which not super realistic obviously but

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appreciated anyway I would much rather

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him do this than jump off the mountain

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but you cannot - downward if you hold

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down on the stick and press jump link

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will leap directly away from the wall

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and enter a freefall and of course if it

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happens to be raining out link can also

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lose his grip and slide down a short

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ways annoying yes but it looks nice but

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most of the climbing systems supporting

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animations are used for transitioning

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link into and out of the climbing state

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in various ways for example when you

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first run the link at a vertical surface

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he will initiate his climb by jumping up

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the wall a little to get you started if

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you manually jump at that same wall link

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will do a little hop from wherever you

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contact getting you just a little more

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starting height at no additional stamina

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cost when you reach the top of a

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climacus link will sort of step up onto

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the ledge and blend into his normal

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standing idle dashing up to that ledge

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will trigger the same step-up animation

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if you run out of stamina while climbing

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link will play a few frames of this odo

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animation before blending into his

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regular falling animation and this one's

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arguably part of links regular ground

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locomotion but if you start moving him

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up a steep slope links Run will get more

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strained and intense showing the

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additional effort required to run up

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that steep surface which leads into this

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climbing state rather nicely even if

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there isn't any

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bespoke transition animation between the

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two and that's basically it for the

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climbing system there are tons of other

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ways to initiate or stop climbing and

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lots of other stuff that can happen

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while climbing but none of it is

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supported with additional animations

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there are no custom transitions into

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climbing from swimming or gliding for

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example if you reach the bottom of a

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climbing wall he'll just pop right from

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his climbing state directly into his

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landing animation if you take damage

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while climbing link will just flash red

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or if you take a really big hit or run

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out of Health while climbing link will

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just instantly react Dolph which never

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stops being funny it's kind of amazing

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how stripped down and simple this

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climbing animation system manages to be

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for a comparison if you look at the

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climbing in most Assassin's Creed games

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or uncharted those characters climb with

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more authentic physicality and their

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movements are tailor-made to navigate

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every kind of complex terrain more

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realistically meanwhile link just hits a

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vertical surface and latches on like a

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housefly when you get right down to it

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breadth of the wilds climbing animation

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is only slightly more robust than

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Ocarina of times vine climbing it's

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really simple but that stripped-down

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simplicity is what allows the game's

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climb anywhere designed to work when you

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build your climbing system around

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navigating specific types of terrain

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with specific animations it looks

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amazing but it often means that the

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player can only traverse these specific

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types of terrain that your character's

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climbing system was built to accommodate

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you can run across any ledge weave

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through any trees branches and scale any

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wall with conspicuously placed hand

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holds but try to traverse a surface that

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wasn't specifically designed for

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climbing and nope and that's fine those

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are still really fun climbing systems

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but if you're only able to traverse the

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terrain that the level artists

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specifically designed for you then it

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does put a cap on that sense of free

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exploration rather than packing the

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world of Hyrule with tiny crevices

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complex footpaths and obvious handholds

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this environment is filled with wide

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smooth surfaces which are perfect for

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links simple climbing animation system

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and sure that does mean you sacrifice

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some of that really cool-looking

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animation detail but this choice is part

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of what makes this world so enticing to

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explore because nothing feels out of

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reach you can climb all of this and the

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only thing you have to worry about is

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managing your stamina and finding your

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route it's simple and it's intuitive but

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despite that simplicity the thing I like

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most about links climbing is that it is

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surprisingly expressive when they

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requested this episode topic as Marv

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pointed out that one of their favorite

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things about climbing and breath of the

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wild is how you feel the effort Linc is

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putting into climbing that wall and I

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agree he is just throwing himself at

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this there's this great rhythmic bounce

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to his climb which I'm pretty sure isn't

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good climbing technique but that

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exaggerated movement sells both the

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effort and just the sheer determination

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in every step even just running up a

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steep slope to get to the climbing part

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he's working so hard I love how he's

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always looking in the direction of that

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next handhold I like how when the

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incline gets really steep you even start

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seeing these little sweat droplets which

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is just I don't know it's cute and when

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the rain causes him to slip it happens

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really fast but he does this panicked

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scramble and you can just feel the poor

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guy's whole body clinch like no no no no

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ok ok frustrating as it is to have this

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happen in the rain I do adore this

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little moment of fear I don't know what

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it is about Zelda game animation but

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somehow it's always better than the sum

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of its parts

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right like if you think about it there's

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very rarely anything that stands out

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about the animation in Zelda games I

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mean it usually isn't particularly

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flashy or stylish nothing compared to

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what you'd see in like a Devil May Cry

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it's not especially detailed or

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realistic certainly not in comparison to

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a Red Dead or an uncharted but the

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animation also doesn't tend to be super

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exaggerated or stylized either even when

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a particular game's art style very much

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is the acting animation usually isn't

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anything special and of course yes there

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are some occasional standout moments of

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expressive character appeal but usually

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the animation in Zelda games is always

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just like good enough it's pretty good

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but it is always good enough and it is

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always visually clear and it always

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functionally

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everything each game needs it to Zelda

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as a series just has this really

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utilitarian approach to character

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animation even when no one aspect of it

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stands out as visually impressive it

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always works and there is still

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something very charming about it I think

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for the climbing here if there's one

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addition that could really improve this

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it would be adding some fidgets to Lynx

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climbing idle idle fidgets are just such

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a great tool for getting a little more

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flavor and characterization on your

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player character like maybe if you leave

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link just hanging on the wall for a few

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seconds he could start looking around a

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little taking in the view or maybe he

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could look down nervously at how high up

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he is or okay say we'd rather keep him

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focused on the task at hand maybe

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instead of looking around he could

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adjust his grip slightly or try to get a

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more solid plant with his foot it would

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all be little stuff but you can get a

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lot of character out of touches like

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that those moments where the player

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isn't making the character do something

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are a perfect opportunity to let the

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character do something to express

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themselves and it kind of surprises me

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that the team didn't take advantage of

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that here but yeah taken as a whole I

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think breadth of the wilds climbing is

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extremely successful it's visually clear

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its expressive it feels good in your

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hands just incredibly solid work all

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around thank you again to asmar for

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requesting this topic if you enjoyed

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this and you're in the mood for a little

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more breadth of the Wild animation talk

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the other Dan who talks about game

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animation on YouTube also has a new

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video about links sword attack

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animations you should check it out I

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will link to that below anyway thank you

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very much for watching be sure to

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subscribe and consider supporting the

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show like all of these good folks here I

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will see you again soon for more new

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frame plus

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you