WEBVTT

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Hello,
and welcome to New Frame Plus.

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Every now and then,
I like to pick just a single animation

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from a game
and really dig into it.

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And, by patron request, today’s subject
is the parry & riposte in Dark Souls.

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But I say why stop at just one!
Dark Souls didn’t, and neither shall we.

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Let’s look at the parry & riposte
in all three Dark Souls games

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and see which
one is animated the best.

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Pop a humanity everybody,
we are going on a JOURNEY.

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Alright, first up: Dark Souls.
Let’s give this thing a look ...

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So, for the initial parry,
the character takes a wide stance

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and swats the enemy weapon away.

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From there, they will either transition
back to their idle animation

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or the player can choose to
follow up with a counterattack,

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which varies by weapon type.

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Now the parry is actually my
favorite part of the whole thing.

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I love how exaggerated
this shield swipe is.

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She’s not just carefully
deflecting the attack,

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she is swatting that sword
away like GET OUTTA HERE.

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There is a real sense of
power behind this parry,

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and a big part of that
is the weight behind it.

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Watch her hips:

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You see how her center of gravity
drops down and to the left

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just before twisting to
help whip the shield around?

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She’s throwing her whole
body into that parry.

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Now, realistically, I would wager that throwing
your shield out to the side like that

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is probably not an ideal
defensive parrying technique,

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but I’m not an expert
in swordsmanship.

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And also, I don’t care!

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In the context of a video game,

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clarity is FAR more important
than realism 99% of the time,

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and the exaggeration on this
shield swipe is very clear.

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And a lot of that clarity is
also thanks to the posing.

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Look at the silhouette on
this succession of poses…

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The anticipation pose brings
the shield way out to her right

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(making sure it’s clear of
her body so we can see it),

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then she whips it all the
way across to her left side

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(again, clear of her body to
maintain a nice silhouette),

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and then the weight of the thing
brings it down for the recovery…

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even in the heat of combat,
all of those poses are super clear.

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Now, the enemy’s reaction to
being parried is interesting…

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Compared to the
ferocity of the parry,

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the enemy’s animation feels
kinda soft and swimmy.

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I mean, Dark Souls animation trends
pretty slow compared to most games anyway,

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but this almost feels
like slow motion.

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Maybe the original
animation played back faster,

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but when they started
fine-tuning the combat,

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they decided that the enemy needed
to be vulnerable for more time,

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so they just slowed the
animation down a little.

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Or maybe this was an
aesthetically intentional choice

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to help the player more quickly
recognize the enemy’s vulnerability.

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See, at first I was kinda
wishing that there was

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a little more sharpness
to the start of this,

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like more of a harsh bounce off of your
shield to match the intensity of your parry,

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but then I remembered that that’s what
happens when you just do a regular block.

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You see how much
sharper that bounce is?

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Maybe the softness here
was designed to feel

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tangibly different than
a regular blocked hit,

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to make the riposte vulnerability
more immediately apparent.

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Weird as it feels,
I do have to admit that -

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especially when combined
with the sound effect -

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it is IMMEDIATELY clear to the
player that that parry was successful.

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Now, if the player
chooses to riposte here,

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you’ll see the enemy’s
position change instantly,

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snapping to a spot right in
front of the player character.

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This warping happens because the
riposte animation in Dark Souls

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is what many of us call
a “synced animation”.

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See, when you need two
different characters in a game

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to physically interact
in some complex way,

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sometimes that interaction
is only going to look right

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if both characters are playing their
respective animations at the exact same time

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and in the correct position and
orientation relative to each other.

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Like, if this ogre is going to
do a grab move on Wolf here,

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then it’s only going to look right if his
arms are actually wrapped around Wolf,

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which means that the two characters need
to be in the correct relative positions.

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And if they AREN’T, well,
then you gotta force it.

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Because for game-play purposes,

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you don’t want to make the player
have to stand in the EXACT

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pixel-perfect correct spot in front of the
enemy for that riposte animation to work.

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That would be super annoying.

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So instead, if the enemy is vulnerable
and the player hits the riposte button

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while standing in GENERALLY the
correct position and orientation,

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both characters will warp and reorient
themselves however is necessary

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for that counterattack
animation to play properly.

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It may look a little janky when you
slow it down, but it’s worth it.

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So anyway: the riposte.

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Once both characters
are position correctly,

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your character will wind up
with their weapon of choice,

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but the enemy fighter does
something kind of... weird.

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They will transition from their
vulnerable parried animation

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into this really neutral idle
pose, which I don’t love.

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It’s as if they’re intentionally
lining themselves up to take the hit,

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like they’re an amateur
stunt person or something.

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And, like, I get wanting to put them in a
position where the deathblow is gonna look good,

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and standing straight up
and unguarded like this

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does certainly makes them look super
vulnerable to what’s about to hit them,

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but this just makes it look like
they’re coordinating with you.

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Like: “Oh,
you intend to riposte?

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Capital! Here, let me get myself
all situated... there we are.

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Alright! OOF.

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Very good, sirrrr….”

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I think this would look way better if
the moment before the riposte hit showed

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the enemy trying to
defend themselves,

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like they see the riposte coming and they are
making a futile attempt to recover in time.

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Or maybe they could
see the attack coming

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and visibly recognize
that they are screwed,

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like a Punch-Out fighter.

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Those guys wiff an attack and you can
see it almost immediately in their eyes:

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the realization that they
are in very big trouble.

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Something like that.

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Or just keep them feeling off balance
until the attack lands, whatever.

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Anything but THIS.

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It is a nitpick, but still.

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Anyway,
on to the deathblow itself.

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The stab connects,
the particle effects fly,

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the camera does this great little zoom
and shake to emphasize the moment,

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and the drawn out finish
where the enemy drops and

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you kick them off of
your sword looks awesome.

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This is what a good synced
animation can get you.

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That said, you may have noticed that there’s a
little bit of jank to that stab animation.

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Watch the sword hand...

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You see that little hitch?

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It’s even more noticeable if
you track the tip of the sword…

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Now I’m not saying that these arcs have
to be perfectly smooth or anything,

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but this little hitch
in the stabbing motion

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really saps the move
of some of its force.

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It’s not as noticeable when played back
at speed, but you definitely FEEL it.

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And when I look at the stab
animation more closely,

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I’m actually not feeling a lot of
impact from the animation itself.

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At least,
not as much as there could be.

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It feels a little bit like the
character's carefully placing the sword

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in the right position and the
camera and the particle effects

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are doing all this work to
make the attack feel powerful.

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You can really see this
when the character is

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holding an extra long
weapon like this one.

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You see how soft that feels?

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It does still work,
but I think it would feel a lot punchier

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if the animation was
contributing more to the impact.

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Speaking of different weapons,
though, like I said before,

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there are a few different
versions of the riposte animation

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for the different categories
of weapons in the game,

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but as you play, you’re quickly going
to notice that the riposte animations

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they use for some of these
weapons seem... a little mismatched.

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At the end of the day,
there are a LOT of weapons in Dark Souls

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and only a handful of
riposte animations.

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So you are occasionally going to
see some very silly-looking stabs.

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But I’m not super
bothered about this one,

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because if your two options are to either
have some silly-looking ripostes in the game

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OR significantly reduce the number of
weapons just to avoid that problem,

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I’ll take the silly ripostes.

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This game kinda needs those
little dashes of levity anyway.

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Last point (and this
one’s pretty small, but)

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look at the player character as
she settles back into her idle.

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You notice that little
last-second twist on her limbs?

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I believe that this is a quick
blend from the male’s idle pose

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to their female version
of that animation.

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As best I can tell, both masculine and
feminine player characters in Dark Souls

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are animated using the same
animation rig and skeleton.

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As you can see here,
the two characters have been designed

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to not have different
skeletal proportions.

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Their limbs and such
are all the same length.

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And this would likely be done
because they didn’t want to have

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to make two versions of every
animation, which is reasonable.

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If everyone’s animated
on the same skeleton,

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then they can all pull from
the same library of animations.

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But the animators did create a slightly
different idle stance for feminine characters,

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just to make them feel just
a little different.

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And the problem appears to be
that all of the animations are

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designed to transition back into
the standard idle animation,

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not the feminine
variant they made.

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And so, as she finishes the riposte, we see
her step back into the default pose first,

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then quickly shift into the fem
one that she is meant to be using.

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It’s another tiny polish thing.
Not that huge a deal.

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Theoretically, this could be fixed by
having that blend start much sooner

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(like maybe here) so that by
the time she hits this pose,

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she’s already in the
correct idle stance.

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But maybe there’s some technical reason that
wasn’t possible for them, I don’t know.

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Alternatively, if they had some more
room in their animation schedule,

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an even better fix would be to
create some custom transitions

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so that fem characters could transition
directly back into their own idle

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instead of going to
the masculine one first.

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But I’m guessing this was considered
a pretty low-priority problem,

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so they just opted to accept that
minor bit of jank and move on.

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I would argue that just not having a different
idle stance for the female characters

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would be the preferable fix in
this case but, alright. Fair enough.

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Overall, though, I would say this
animation is pretty successful.

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Slightly lacking
in polish maybe,

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but that’s pretty par for the
course for Dark Souls 1 animation,

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What matters is that it feels great
in the moment, the clarity is good...

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Solid 4 out of 5 stars.

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But let’s move on to the
sequel: Dark Souls II...

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The entire structure of the
parry and riposte here is very different.

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Parry the enemy’s attack and now
they will fall on their butt.

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And from there, after a slight delay
you can follow up with the riposte.

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First let’s talk
about the good things:

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that weird blend back into the
feminine idle pose at the end?

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That is now fixed.

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It appears that both masculine and feminine
characters use the same idle pose here,

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so problem just kinda
sorted itself out.

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Hooray!

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And that concludes my segment
about the good things.

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I hope you enjoyed it. NOW...

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Let’s start with the parry. It is SIMILAR
to the original, but the posing is weaker.

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She’s not hitting that
wide stance anymore,

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which was a big part of what made
the original parry look so powerful.

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And look at how
the movement ends.

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You see the way she brings the shield
even further around on the swing,

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all the way behind her body?

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Now on the one hand, it DOES make
for a wider arc on that swing,

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which could suggest more
power behind it, right?

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But that’s coming at
the cost of clarity.

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Look at the silhouette
here at the end.

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Now compare that to the
posing in the original.

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See how much more
clear that looks?

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You NEED that clarity
in Souls combat.

00:10:38.835 --> 00:10:41.053
And I would argue that
the enemy’s reaction to

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being parried is a
pretty big downgrade too.

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The original might have felt soft,

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but seeing the enemy’s weapon get slapped
away by that shield felt pretty great

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AND it clearly conveyed that, hey,
you deflected that incoming attack.

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Good for you.

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Here, the parry reaction seems to
ignore the attack deflection entirely.

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Instead, they react like your parry is more
of a shield bash smashing them in the face.

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Which... ok, that’s kinda fun too.

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But in the heat of combat, I would argue it’s
just slightly less clear as a reaction.

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I’m definitely
nitpicking at this point,

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but those tiny clarity
issues can pile up fast.

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Then the guy just sits
there, dazed, which

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is kinda more goofy-
looking than anything.

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It’s like: oof, your parry just gave
this hollow a LOT to think about…

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And you have to wait for his fall animation
to finish before you can do your riposte.

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Hit the button too early
and you’ll just attack,

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completely losing your
riposte opportunity.

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WHICH FEELS REAL FINICKY.

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AND BAD.

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And the riposte itself
is also not great!

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The characters warp into position
for the synced animation.

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Then comes the attack

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which, to their credit, doesn’t have
those noticeable hitches that the original had.

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But the clarity on this
stabbing attack is baaaaaaad.

00:11:51.593 --> 00:11:56.774
Your weapon making contact with the opponent
is completely obscured by your character.

00:11:56.799 --> 00:11:59.250
The camera still does
it’s zoom (which is great)

00:11:59.275 --> 00:12:01.957
but what is there to
zoom and emphasize here?

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you can’t see what happened!

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In terms of both silhouette and
clarity, this riposte is Very Bad.

00:12:09.640 --> 00:12:11.740
Maybe it looks better with an axe…

00:12:13.320 --> 00:12:14.900
...wow, not really!

00:12:14.914 --> 00:12:17.191
I mean, the swing itself
is more clear,

00:12:17.216 --> 00:12:18.990
but something about the
perspective makes it

00:12:19.015 --> 00:12:21.866
feel like it almost
isn't reaching the enemy.

00:12:21.891 --> 00:12:25.736
Why DOES every one of these attacks
seems to be aimed at the crotch, anyway?

00:12:25.761 --> 00:12:28.700
I’m not saying it’s not effective,
it’s just…

00:12:28.700 --> 00:12:30.241
...like, right?

00:12:30.266 --> 00:12:33.436
Listen, I love Dark Souls II,
like, a LOT.

00:12:33.461 --> 00:12:37.801
But yeah, this parry/riposte
combo is a pretty major downgrade.

00:12:37.826 --> 00:12:41.839
And that’s the thing, it’s not like there
aren’t ways to improve upon the original!

00:12:41.864 --> 00:12:45.200
Which makes the Dark Souls III version
of the parry and riposte

00:12:45.200 --> 00:12:46.814
even MORE baffling.

00:12:46.839 --> 00:12:49.462
So Dark Souls III brought a
lot of the player character

00:12:49.487 --> 00:12:52.573
animations back to the way they
looked and felt in the original,

00:12:52.598 --> 00:12:55.860
so this parry and riposte are probably
gonna looking pretty familiar.

00:12:55.885 --> 00:12:58.013
And there are a couple
of improvements here.

00:12:58.038 --> 00:13:01.228
That little masculine-to-feminine
idle blend? Fixed!

00:13:01.253 --> 00:13:04.164
And the posing on this parry is even more clear!

00:13:04.189 --> 00:13:07.680
Just look at the snappy extension on that
arm as the shield comes around.

00:13:07.680 --> 00:13:08.767
WhaBAM.

00:13:08.792 --> 00:13:12.675
But the weird thing to me is that
all of the rest of the polish

00:13:12.700 --> 00:13:16.141
problems that existed in the
original are STILL IN HERE.

00:13:16.166 --> 00:13:18.640
That hitch in the stab animation?

00:13:18.640 --> 00:13:19.529
Still there!

00:13:19.554 --> 00:13:24.084
In fact, now there’s a even NEW hitch in
the upper torso at the start of the parry.

00:13:24.109 --> 00:13:25.671
How did that get in there?

00:13:25.696 --> 00:13:28.327
And not only that,
but the enemy character is back to

00:13:28.352 --> 00:13:31.134
standing straight up in
anticipation of the riposte,

00:13:31.159 --> 00:13:32.950
just waiting for it to land.

00:13:32.975 --> 00:13:36.005
It’s like the enemy just suddenly
forgot you were fighting.

00:13:36.030 --> 00:13:38.366
I don’t know what they’re going for here.

00:13:38.391 --> 00:13:41.263
Especially because they’ve
gotten this right before!

00:13:41.280 --> 00:13:43.960
Look at the riposte
reaction in Demon’s Souls!

00:13:45.320 --> 00:13:49.760
You see how they hang in that parried state
right up until the counterattack lands?

00:13:49.780 --> 00:13:53.109
Sure, they look a little disoriented
from having their attack deflected,

00:13:53.134 --> 00:13:57.355
but they do still feel like they’re
engaged in the fight you’re having.

00:13:57.380 --> 00:13:59.850
And they nailed this
recently with Sekiro too!

00:13:59.875 --> 00:14:04.220
The enemy looks staggered and off balance
right up until the deathblow connects.

00:14:04.245 --> 00:14:07.386
The reason this works for me is
because it feels like the attack

00:14:07.411 --> 00:14:10.081
is catching them before they
even have a chance to react.

00:14:10.106 --> 00:14:14.390
Whereas this looks like the character
IS reacting to your incoming attack,

00:14:14.415 --> 00:14:17.486
just in a really bizarre, passive way.

00:14:17.511 --> 00:14:19.581
Okay, to be a little
more charitable about it,

00:14:19.606 --> 00:14:21.916
I’m guessing the reason they
brought this back is

00:14:21.941 --> 00:14:26.287
either because they really wanted the
animation to feel familiar to long-time fans,

00:14:26.312 --> 00:14:28.051
which ...ok.
Fair enough. I get it.

00:14:28.076 --> 00:14:31.263
OR because they just decided
to re-use the old animation

00:14:31.288 --> 00:14:33.300
and save that time for other things.

00:14:33.300 --> 00:14:36.288
And… fine, I get that too. Dang it.

00:14:36.313 --> 00:14:39.027
Well, at least the axe
riposte looks cool...

00:14:39.052 --> 00:14:41.900
Hang on, is that a crotch shot again?

00:14:41.900 --> 00:14:44.149
DARK SOULS. ARE YOU ALRIGHT?

00:14:44.174 --> 00:14:45.233
You know, going into this,

00:14:45.258 --> 00:14:48.613
I just assumed that Dark Souls III
was going to take an easy win here,

00:14:48.638 --> 00:14:51.827
but looking at all these together?
Yeah, I’m giving it to Dark Souls 1.

00:14:51.872 --> 00:14:54.585
Because that original animation
was good enough for Dark

00:14:54.610 --> 00:14:57.916
Souls III to borrow it without
adding any polish on top.

00:14:57.941 --> 00:15:03.672
And with that, I've just spent fifteen
minutes proving to you once and for all that,

00:15:03.697 --> 00:15:04.380
uh….

00:15:04.380 --> 00:15:06.480
...Dark Souls is good.

00:15:06.880 --> 00:15:07.540
You’re welcome.

00:15:07.566 --> 00:15:09.158
Anyway, I think that’ll do it.

00:15:09.183 --> 00:15:12.220
This animation topic was requested
Dennis Bingham

00:15:12.220 --> 00:15:13.085
(thank you, Dennis!)

00:15:13.110 --> 00:15:16.273
and voted for by New Frame
Plus’s Patreon supporters.

00:15:16.298 --> 00:15:18.769
If you’d like to take
part in future topic votes

00:15:18.794 --> 00:15:20.955
or request an animation
for me to analyze,

00:15:20.980 --> 00:15:25.095
consider supporting the show on Patreon
like all of these top notch individuals.

00:15:25.120 --> 00:15:26.940
Look at ‘em! So great.

00:15:26.965 --> 00:15:30.460
Anyway thanks for watching,
and I will see you next time!

00:15:30.485 --> 00:15:40.619
[music]