Later Alligator! It is a funny and Whimsical hand-drawn game that came out semi quietly in the middle of 2019. All the characters move with their own personality, the dialogue is actually quite good and it's got a couple of interesting twists including how the Mechanics Work. Definitely worth giving a look to!
Pls, analyse the animation in the intro song of "The Familiar of Zero Rondo of Princesses". Every frame is telling so much ! Check it, pls! -> th-cam.com/video/ibXkjB67cyE/w-d-xo.html
100% agree. I like Anthem more than most, but I always thought it was a shame that those fantastic animation was in a multiplayer game. Can't really appreciate them when you are in a group chat goofing around with friends. Can't wait until Rise of the Dread Wolf and see this in a singleplayer game.
They really landed the feel oof landing and taking off (specially the later). I don't know about gameplay since I played it 30 min in a friends house...
Despite how subpar this game is, I think this is the game I want the most to have a FF14 Realm Reborn style redo. Flying and fighting felt soooooo fun.
I wouldn't even say "singleplayer RPG." The animations (and art and world and pretty much everything aside from the loot and lack of activities) would be amazing for any genre of game, even a looty-shooty Destiny-Diablo clone.
It very much shows you what Bioware would rather have created if EA would have let them. But EA being what they are of course they task a former staple of narrative game design with making a looty- shooty Destiny clone.
It's a shame it went under the radar for so many people. I personally missed it when it came out because it was stuck between Link's Awakening and Fire Emblem, so I imagine others had the same issue. I started playing about a week ago and it's got the usual "awesome but totally different than the last game" charm that I love from Platinum Games.
I might be bad in saying this, but how does it compare to Nier: Automata? It's one of my favorite games so I'm wondering if it has that deep story, amazing combat and insane music
@@sanuria1 What he said is pretty on point. I'm a huge fan myself but yeah this quite different from Nier automata. The whole gimmick is that you control 2 characters and use the rope connecting them to move around enemies. It's a ton of fun. That said, Nier wins story no question, although this isn't bad by any means. There's also some little references to automata from what I've played so far which is pretty neat. Music is quite good as well but not god tier like automata. I'd say watch some videos of the combat and if it looks fun give it a shot.
"I'm sure that this wing extension move does something practical, but most of the time I'm just using it to go "NYYEEEHHHH" " You just described the mindset of most geese
It's sad to see Anthem, which has flopped so hard because of poor decisions in its game design, aimed at trying to be a MMORPG with elements of Battle Royale within it, have such good animation which would have been perfect for a single-player RPG.
@@cryptohello7666 Bioware had more years than normal to work on the game. The reason it's rushed is because of staff in high positions quitting partway through development more than once. The design vision was lost. Something tells me their design pillars weren't held up by those who actually 'finished' the game (worked on the game at the time it was 'released').
@@-._____- well, the animator dev put a lot of effort into it, but game dev is a group effort, one part did well but the other just messed up badly making the overall game just a big disappointment, on top of how EA just abandon ship instead of supporting it and making it better Sea of Thieves, No Man Sky was crap at launch but now they are popular again, I dont see why it cant be the same for Anthem but welp, F
@@zeromailss It can't (Or rather probably won't) because the level of resources that would need to be funneled into just fixing the game could provide a budget for another game that, although not to same level of animation quailty, would have a better chance of doing better, and it wouldn't have the already huge negative outlook that Anthem has for it to overcome. Sea of Thieves and No Man's Sky were crap, but I feel they had less of a negative to go through since they weren't as hyped by as big of a company while also not having quite so much work put into it already. I mean just imagine the amount of hours required to model and animate a Javlin as compared to the models and animations of Sea of Thieves. Any content added would require that level of investment even if the content is a new area and they can reuse a lot of assets.
@@Kio_Kurashi fair enough, they prob should just make a new game since the flaw runs too deeply into the core of the game, kinda like F76 with its stupid old ass crappy engine
This! ABSOLUTELY! Gris all the way. I will never not recommend it, being the incredibly solid and impactful piece of art that it is. But it did lose out on all these sorts of "of the year" videos because it came out december 2018 IIRC, and december is like the tail end when those lists have already decided their bests, or just too early to be in the next year's lists ;-;
While I'll agree Bioware's animations are definitely an improvement on Andromeda or Inquisition, every clip of those Anthem conversations just sends me plummeting down the uncanny valley and I'm not completely certain what to pin it on
It's probably the lighting. Everything else seems to be all right (even the eye shaders, for once), but the aggressive Ambient Occlusion and the ambient component makes some characters look like (bad) wax figures. Maybe it is an stylistic choice, but the lack of proper shadowing betrays the photorealistic look.
@@SystemBD Its a shame that just like all photorealistic games, within a few years, this look will be outdated. Should have gone with a visual style with a longer lifespan.
@@-._____- Yeah...because only photorealistic games look outdated. I don't agree anyway though, I don't think many people would find the better looking games from 2012 outdated and those were released near on 10 years ago. Early 3D graphics were so damn shoddy that they became dated very quickly as small incremental improvements in hardware and efficiency allowed for dramatic upgrades to what were extremely rudimentary graphics. Having 10 rather than 5 polygons for the a character's clothing and torso seemed like an insane leap. Leaps in graphical fidelity of games these days are massive. The worlds are so insanely detailed though often with so little rough edges that it becomes increasingly hard to notice. The difference between 500 and 5000 polygons for a chest model don't have the same impact they did when graphics were simplistic and crappy.
@@7dayspking Thing is, an attempt at photorealism has its fidelity break a lot quicker than something more stylized, which even when being outdated in the technical department it can still look charming. There's a reason why, despite coming out later, Twilight Princess's looks aged so much worse than Wind Waker's.
@@Brunosky_Inc Twilight Princess is no attempt at photorealism. I've not played either game but I did a quick search on here, there's a lot of ugly going on in Wind waker and in Twilight princess. I find wind waker harder to look at though. We're not comparing 'photorealism vs stylized here'. We're comparing highly detailed graphics vs completely undetailed graphics both being very stylized. On crappy hardware the more detail you attempt to show the less space on asset you'll have to show it. Hardware is so good now that you can show more detail than the player is able to even discern at an almost flawless to the player's perception graphical fidelity. Which is why Assassin's creed Unity looks a hell of a lot less outdated and prettier than Bandai's latest anime game releases despite how 'stylized' and simplistic they are. Graphics are so good now that it's difficult to build a beautiful looking simplistically graphiced game.
A bit that was pointed out to me by Vaati for Sekiro was also that the animation details still really convey the character at that moment. The example given is the two times you go to fight in that flower field. First at the begining when the character is in a poor condition, mentally and physically. Then later when you go again and you see he's focused, ready, fit. And all that was needed was the hand motions as he draws his blade. I don't usually go all gahgah over animation, but the depth of lore behind that motion alone is something I love. It's the reason for games to exist (Well at least from an animation point in my opinion).
Dmc5 is my favorite because of how much they evolve Nero and Dantes moves while keeping most of the same attacks from before, they feel so alive rather than 3d models, when they swing the sword stays in their hands until they manually put them on their back and even drag behind while running, if you aim with Nero and there´s no enemies to shoot he holds his gun close to his face while looking around cautiously, a lot of amazing little detail
The guy is a professional animator. He probably doesn't get that much time to make videos. Nevertheless, every one he's ever made has always been quality.
A great list to be sure. I wish you spent a little more time on DMC 5 because the thing that stuck out to me wasn't the realism of the character models, though they do look great, but the battle animations. There were just so many and they all spoke to the characters personality, subculture themes, and a sort of crisp loving attention you can really feel.
I thought for Pokemon Sword/Shield you were going to talk about the custom animation each major opponent gets for when they Dynamax and the subtle character traits that can convey. You know, like in your Overwatch video.
@@CC-jg1cp The best thing about Hop's animation is that it's really similar to Lee's, but Hop kinda stumbles. Just that little detail really underscores the brother's relationship in a way.
Luigi's Mansion 3's animation seriously just made me love Luigi that much more. Sometimes people just call Luigi a cowardly loser (probably older brothers pfft), but I don't think being easily scared and anxious automatically makes him a coward. This little champion spends literal hours powering through his fears in order to do what he needs to and fight some ghosts. I remember VERRRY early on, his only option is to drop down a dark laundry chute to avoid danger. He hesitates, probably cause the prospect of falling down a dark tunnel for who knows how deep is preeetty scary, but for a very brief second or two (this is the quick animation touch that I loved so much-->)he takes some quick deep breaths, then just goes for it! He's obviously still not okay after making the decision, but he managed to pump himself up juuuust enough to make that decision and do what he had to do to escape. And I remember thinking "wow he's adorabe and... super admirable???"
Not gonna lie. My favourite animation in Pokemon SwSh is the animation to enter a pokemon center. When I first saw it I probably spent 5 minutes just entering and leaving the Pokemon center.
I’m glad you put Pokemon on this list, it’s been getting a lot of unnecessary backlash about the “lack of animations” online. I’m totally with you I love the added personality that went into every character. I always remember to record each new one I come across just to watch them over again.
I agree that the character expression and the starter animations are beautiful. But it's fair to say most pokemon just stand stock still during battle until they attack. Pokemon battle revolution shows the best of how lively even 'standing still' animations can be. Also the NPCs walking like they're on stilts is a little weird. There's a lot of potential for future games
This was a wonderful list and I liked how you added games that had amazing animations even if the games weren't as amazing as expected! The only ones I really think you're missing are Astral Chain (that game had CRISPY smooth animations in and out of combat for both you and your Legions!) and Gris which just looks gorgeous all around! I'd love to see you talk about these in future videos maybe!!
I really loved the animation of the Pokémon SwSh gym leader fight introductions and defeats. It really gives so much personality and life to them, something that was always really missing from gym leaders in the previous games.
Wattam absolutely has some of the most charming animation I've ever seen, and it is criminally underlooked. That game is so cute, and fun, and exudes big Keita Takahashi energy
Hand drawn animation is almost extinct; Disney had to bring old hands out of retirement for the Mary Poppins reboot (crazy to think *DISNEY* doesn't have the staff to make traditional animations anymore).....and, with Richard Williams' death, 2019 laid to rest one of its patron saints. The Skullgirls team is a tiny flame in a deep fog, and I hope they keep flickering.
2:18 you can see his hands missing the katana handle and search for it while his eyes are locked on his enemy, such a small detail but adds tons to the realistic aspects of the character (simply we feel him as a human not a heartless perfect killing machine for a moment) and it is amazing!.
I’m late to this video. But my favorite animation in Sekiro is actually the jumping animation. The anticipation and follow through just makes jumping so satisfying. Really looks and feels like you’re jumping as high as you can.
The videos the actress Courtney does outside of Control especially get eerie, like her tour of the Remedy offices and Jesse Cox’s Gentlemen Club review, when you realize how spot on Remedy got when those live action skits look like they fit into the game engine.
You should check out Klei's Oxygen Not Included. It had been on early access for some time now, but it officially released last year. It's a charming colony management game drawn in the classic Klei artstyle akin Don't Starve. I especially love the duplicants and their expressiveness.
Watching this made me notice some amazing attention to detail that I didn't before, such as how in sekiro, the protagonist, was focusing on his enemy, he was so focused that he didn't dare to look down at his sword, so he slowly gides his hand into the sword, bumps it, and then re-adjust. Pulling and rotating the sheath because he realizes its too close to him to pull the sword out all the way.
Control is a MASSIVELY underrated game, the setting, the fun combat, the amazing physics engine, the characters, the atmosphere. EVERYBODY should play it and it's new DLC. Thank me later.
Wanna give a shoutout to the animation in Disco Elysium. It’s not that there’s a lot of animation or that it’s the best, but they really put a lot of work into it when it matters. I don’t think I’ve laughed/cheered harder this year as when some how against all odds, my drunk drug fueled overweight superstar cop punched a giant thug in the gut and then roundhouse kicked him in the face. So cudos to the Disco Elysium team on their stellar work and I hope you have another grand year Dan.
Something I never noticed til you mentioned From Soft's slow timing is that it reminds me an awful lot of what tiny little snippets I've seen of Kurosawa films, and now I'm really curious if anyone's done a comparison between that style of cinematic and Japanese cinema.
I don't know if I'd put this in Animation, but artstyle of Amid Evil completely blew my mind, making it seem like the best looking version of a Heretic-style shooter straight from the late 90s.
Have I ever told you how fun it is to watch your videos? I'm not sure if I did, but heck they are fun to watch! I love the work that you and Carrie put into it, it inspires me to be great at the things I do as well, just to try to make people feel as good as I feel when I'm watching a new video of yours. =)
Thanks for mentioning Blasphemous and Pokemon because those two definitely need credit for their animation. When it comes to DLCs in the "x of the year" lists, they are almost always forgotten: that's why I want to bring up The Messenger DLC Picnic Panic and Celeste DLC Farewell. Pixel art done so beautifully (the ending of Picnic Panic is such a great callback) and in the case of the latter, the non-pixel art too. Also 6:44 and 10:59 what games are these?
@Minh Nguyễn Thanks! I saw that DMCV character before but I forgot where she was from and I had a feeling the second was APT:I but just had to ask to be sure.
>Praises SwSh's animations 5:23 Sirfetch'd running while carrying a ball with its chest, followed by Cindrance """eating""" food out of its hand while its hand is still several inches away from it's mouth, I guess.
I'm super late, but I know that some channels allow people to submit subtitles, and I've seen channels using subtitles for that purpose. Good example if Every Frame A Painting, which has a subtitle setting to show the movie title and whatever is relevant, usually being the director, but sometimes variable like Production Designer for the chairs episode or locations in Vancouver for the video about Vancouver as a popular place to film other places. Either Dan could set up subtitles for the games shown, or he could allow subtitles to be submitted and sign off on whatever is correct.
In Darksiders Genesis, there's a bit where you can pet a dog. Both of the playable characters have a different animation for this, and this one small animation communicates pretty much everything you need to know about their personalities. Strife is fun and friendly, so he immediately kneels down and gives the dog all sorts of pets. Whereas War is stoic and grumpy, so he gives the dog a couple tentative pats on the head, before getting annoyed when the dog jumps on him and licks his face. I'm not really the person to judge whether it was one of the "best" animations of the year, but it was unexpected and made me smile.
The part about Pokemon SwSh that impressed me the most was the visual storytelling/characterization with the trainers. I was especially appreciative that the main character wasn't one-tone like in SM.
@@GrandArchPriestOfTheAlgorithm There's many things to say about SM, but for some reason seeing the MC's face stay in one particularly blank expression the whole game... It reminded me of Stepford people.
I could not BELIEVE how many context-specific animations were in Luigi’s Mansion 3. What an enrapturing experience. Try examining the laundry chute before King Boo chases you, and you’ll get a little taste.
Something i love about sekiro's animations is how you can recognise the ashina style across multiple characters. The most obvious example being the enemies wearing blue kimonos use the ashina cross, just like emma and lastly, Ishin who has mastered the technique into one mind.
I love the video. You forgot the Super Smash Bros DLC reveal trailers, capturing the essence of each fighter and their origin game. But i know you already did a few videos on Smash. And I am excited to see more games get highlights. Great stuff Dan.
Don't know if it was one you were considering but River City Girls is very good. Animation is great, but the appeal for me is the gameplay is super easy to pick up. I'm definitely not into this genre, but the combos are easy to learn but have tons of variety. Totally worth the $30 I paid so long as you aren't expecting a very long playtime.
I admit, I was all Scorbunny until I saw that opening cutscene in Pokemon Sword. Sobble being easily startled and starting to cry spoke to my soul in ways no other pokemon has. I love him very much. I eagerly await your KH3 playthrough! Also Untitled Goose Game was GOTY. It was perfect in every way.
Pokemon Sword and Shield have some great little touches in their animation - my personal favorite is the animation for when the player throws a dynamax pokeball. It looks a little plain at first, but that standing overhead throw is the same form a soccer player might use to throw the ball in from the sidelines.
Honestly, thank you for pointing out Anthem's animations. There has been so much (justifiable) bad press surround the mechanics and lack of direction that I never bothered to notice just how stellar the animation is until you pointed it out!
Not animation buy Pathologic 2 has some of the most unique and atmospheric art style ever. The expression of the character face when in a dialog scene is stellar too.
Tangle Tower was quite the gem released on Mobile, Switch, and PC. A charming detective game made by the creators of Snipperclips, similar to the investigation segments of Ace Attorney, with gorgeous, intricate backgrounds and a charming doodle-esque style for the characters and certain interface elements. I really enjoy the wavering lines of the characters.
I'm loving Control and experienced the same phenomena you describe here, though I do feel the need to point out that in in-game dialogue scenes there seems to be a weird gap between the character's teeth and their mouths that I find a little distracting. It's like everyone is hiding something in their gums
Pokémon is a very mixed bag of animation. You got some real great ones, but then you have ones where the model literally stands still while sliding across the ground…
I only got to play it this year on switch, but 13 Sentinels Aegis Rim has some STELLAR animation work for its genre. Every character was puppeted to have incredibly unique animation loops and posing for a variety of interactions, and the presentation of the game enhances that level of detail even more.
i kinda would like to see a compare and contrast of the "Monster Rancher" series with the "Pokemon" series. the monster rancher series has had a very strong focus on raising and training your monsters outside of battle for at least 2 decades i think.
I feel like Iceborne got short shrift. You can watch an army of cats making bread from scratch. It’s charming, whimsical, and that’s just an incidental animation.
Smile For Me was so charming, albeit the animation was minimal. Things like cheering up a character and seeing those blue sparkles appear, and the aesthetic of photorealism vs. cartoony merged together always made me smile.
Dan then: Did I miss anything? I didn't quite play every game that came out this year after all Dan now: I have seen every game that has come out this year. Yes, all of them. Do you doubt me??
5:43 -- Bless you holyskywalkrs for capturing that delightful moment of vaporeon being both a goof and total sweetie all at once~ Seeing that, I can't help but smile. ^_^ Also, the framing is just...perfect.
There are some scenes in KH3 that I've seen people have to blur or change because TH-cam thought they were just scenes from the movie. If nothing else pour one out to those guys for that, cause I can imagine the sleepless nights they had to get that close. That team deserves mad respect for how insanely detailed they are in meeting Disney's (frankly ridiculous at times) demands.
Extremely pleased to see River City Girls on the list! I'm not surprised it's not the talk of the town, it's a niche genre to begin with so it's natural, but it's nice to see it get some recognition, it's so damn charming. And speaking of charm, I would also add Gris somewhere on that list.
Shadowbringers. The stunning animation is a huge part of the excitement and love that people have for FFXIV. It's often cleverly used during phase changes of lengthy boss battles to give players a bit of a rest and something nice to look at. Not only that but the XIV team at Square-Enix keep pushing the boundaries of what animation can do for MMORPGs. They are relying less on artificial looking "red boxes" for avoiding boss attacks, and instead focussing on strongly signposted visual cues on the character models themselves to tell players how to react. And while most cutscenes are still fairly static due to budget constraints, their engine allows them to create dynamic sequences for important story beats, and it's obvious how talented their animators are when given the chance to exhibit their skills.
Too bad you didn't mention my favorite Sword/Shield animation: the leadup to throwing the giant pokeball to catch a dynamax pokemon. The huge grin as your trainer turns around is adorable, and I'm pretty sure there's even some slight smearing happening.
After watching your episode of river city girls. I instantly bought the game and picked the combos and fighting animation apart. I loved it and the OST.
Admittedly I haven’t watched your other “favorite animation” videos, so I don’t know if you’ve mentioned it, but definitely check out Rain World. It handles procedural animation nearly perfectly and it’s objectively beautiful.
![Smoother animation ≠ Better animation [read description]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/_KRb_qV9P4g/mqdefault.jpg)
Later Alligator! It is a funny and Whimsical hand-drawn game that came out semi quietly in the middle of 2019. All the characters move with their own personality, the dialogue is actually quite good and it's got a couple of interesting twists including how the Mechanics Work. Definitely worth giving a look to!
I have now tried this and YES. If I'd seen it earlier, I absolutely would have included it here!
Pls, analyse the animation in the intro song of "The Familiar of Zero Rondo of Princesses". Every frame is telling so much ! Check it, pls! -> th-cam.com/video/ibXkjB67cyE/w-d-xo.html
Please do a video for the animation for dbz tenkaichi 2 and tenkaichi 3.Also do a video for jump force and naruto ps4 games.
@@NewFramePlus will you be doing a video on it?
Playing Anthem was an experience constantly had me going "man this animation works will be sick in a singleplayer RPG".
100% agree. I like Anthem more than most, but I always thought it was a shame that those fantastic animation was in a multiplayer game. Can't really appreciate them when you are in a group chat goofing around with friends. Can't wait until Rise of the Dread Wolf and see this in a singleplayer game.
They really landed the feel oof landing and taking off (specially the later). I don't know about gameplay since I played it 30 min in a friends house...
Despite how subpar this game is, I think this is the game I want the most to have a FF14 Realm Reborn style redo. Flying and fighting felt soooooo fun.
I wouldn't even say "singleplayer RPG." The animations (and art and world and pretty much everything aside from the loot and lack of activities) would be amazing for any genre of game, even a looty-shooty Destiny-Diablo clone.
It very much shows you what Bioware would rather have created if EA would have let them.
But EA being what they are of course they task a former staple of narrative game design with making a looty- shooty Destiny clone.
Astral Chain.
The animation in that game really contributes to the whole experience just feeling rad.
I was looking for this comment. Needs more likes!
It's a shame it went under the radar for so many people. I personally missed it when it came out because it was stuck between Link's Awakening and Fire Emblem, so I imagine others had the same issue. I started playing about a week ago and it's got the usual "awesome but totally different than the last game" charm that I love from Platinum Games.
I might be bad in saying this, but how does it compare to Nier: Automata? It's one of my favorite games so I'm wondering if it has that deep story, amazing combat and insane music
@@sanuria1 Astral Chain's story isn't as good as Nier Automata's. But oh boy, the combat is extremely fun and the music is also really good
@@sanuria1 What he said is pretty on point. I'm a huge fan myself but yeah this quite different from Nier automata. The whole gimmick is that you control 2 characters and use the rope connecting them to move around enemies. It's a ton of fun. That said, Nier wins story no question, although this isn't bad by any means. There's also some little references to automata from what I've played so far which is pretty neat. Music is quite good as well but not god tier like automata. I'd say watch some videos of the combat and if it looks fun give it a shot.
"I'm sure that this wing extension move does something practical, but most of the time I'm just using it to go "NYYEEEHHHH" "
You just described the mindset of most geese
Pretty this is the only time Anthem is getting on a "best" list this year.
Well.... The game prbly will get better, since this is Bioware, who don't like to leave a product... unfinished? underbaked? IDK.
@@loafloaf3759 lmao
@@loafloaf3759 AHAHAHA
@@SovietMarmalade IKR
@@cia4u401 i was so wrong, welp
It's sad to see Anthem, which has flopped so hard because of poor decisions in its game design, aimed at trying to be a MMORPG with elements of Battle Royale within it, have such good animation which would have been perfect for a single-player RPG.
@@zeromailss that was literally a reason of time and ea doesn't give time
@@cryptohello7666 Bioware had more years than normal to work on the game. The reason it's rushed is because of staff in high positions quitting partway through development more than once. The design vision was lost. Something tells me their design pillars weren't held up by those who actually 'finished' the game (worked on the game at the time it was 'released').
"elements of Battle Royale"
The fuck are you on right now?
Grey
surprised to see anthem praise but it's definitely earned
Because the animation is top notch, even if the rest of it isnt.
@@-._____- well, the animator dev put a lot of effort into it, but game dev is a group effort, one part did well but the other just messed up badly making the overall game just a big disappointment, on top of how EA just abandon ship instead of supporting it and making it better
Sea of Thieves, No Man Sky was crap at launch but now they are popular again, I dont see why it cant be the same for Anthem but welp, F
@@zeromailss It can't (Or rather probably won't) because the level of resources that would need to be funneled into just fixing the game could provide a budget for another game that, although not to same level of animation quailty, would have a better chance of doing better, and it wouldn't have the already huge negative outlook that Anthem has for it to overcome. Sea of Thieves and No Man's Sky were crap, but I feel they had less of a negative to go through since they weren't as hyped by as big of a company while also not having quite so much work put into it already. I mean just imagine the amount of hours required to model and animate a Javlin as compared to the models and animations of Sea of Thieves. Any content added would require that level of investment even if the content is a new area and they can reuse a lot of assets.
@@Kio_Kurashi fair enough, they prob should just make a new game since the flaw runs too deeply into the core of the game, kinda like F76 with its stupid old ass crappy engine
GRIS has some of the most gorgeous animated sequences in any game I've ever played.
This! ABSOLUTELY!
Gris all the way. I will never not recommend it, being the incredibly solid and impactful piece of art that it is.
But it did lose out on all these sorts of "of the year" videos because it came out december 2018 IIRC, and december is like the tail end when those lists have already decided their bests, or just too early to be in the next year's lists ;-;
Isn't it nice to just have a quiet recap of things you really like and enjoy from videogames for a change?
“It makes me excited to see future Bioware projects.”
EA: I’m about to end this studio’s entire career
And it would be deserved.
So happy seeing you specifically call out River City Girls, that game's animation brings so much character to the leads.
While I'll agree Bioware's animations are definitely an improvement on Andromeda or Inquisition, every clip of those Anthem conversations just sends me plummeting down the uncanny valley and I'm not completely certain what to pin it on
It's probably the lighting. Everything else seems to be all right (even the eye shaders, for once), but the aggressive Ambient Occlusion and the ambient component makes some characters look like (bad) wax figures. Maybe it is an stylistic choice, but the lack of proper shadowing betrays the photorealistic look.
@@SystemBD Its a shame that just like all photorealistic games, within a few years, this look will be outdated. Should have gone with a visual style with a longer lifespan.
@@-._____- Yeah...because only photorealistic games look outdated. I don't agree anyway though, I don't think many people would find the better looking games from 2012 outdated and those were released near on 10 years ago. Early 3D graphics were so damn shoddy that they became dated very quickly as small incremental improvements in hardware and efficiency allowed for dramatic upgrades to what were extremely rudimentary graphics. Having 10 rather than 5 polygons for the a character's clothing and torso seemed like an insane leap.
Leaps in graphical fidelity of games these days are massive. The worlds are so insanely detailed though often with so little rough edges that it becomes increasingly hard to notice. The difference between 500 and 5000 polygons for a chest model don't have the same impact they did when graphics were simplistic and crappy.
@@7dayspking Thing is, an attempt at photorealism has its fidelity break a lot quicker than something more stylized, which even when being outdated in the technical department it can still look charming. There's a reason why, despite coming out later, Twilight Princess's looks aged so much worse than Wind Waker's.
@@Brunosky_Inc Twilight Princess is no attempt at photorealism. I've not played either game but I did a quick search on here, there's a lot of ugly going on in Wind waker and in Twilight princess. I find wind waker harder to look at though.
We're not comparing 'photorealism vs stylized here'. We're comparing highly detailed graphics vs completely undetailed graphics both being very stylized. On crappy hardware the more detail you attempt to show the less space on asset you'll have to show it.
Hardware is so good now that you can show more detail than the player is able to even discern at an almost flawless to the player's perception graphical fidelity.
Which is why Assassin's creed Unity looks a hell of a lot less outdated and prettier than Bandai's latest anime game releases despite how 'stylized' and simplistic they are. Graphics are so good now that it's difficult to build a beautiful looking simplistically graphiced game.
A bit that was pointed out to me by Vaati for Sekiro was also that the animation details still really convey the character at that moment. The example given is the two times you go to fight in that flower field. First at the begining when the character is in a poor condition, mentally and physically. Then later when you go again and you see he's focused, ready, fit. And all that was needed was the hand motions as he draws his blade.
I don't usually go all gahgah over animation, but the depth of lore behind that motion alone is something I love. It's the reason for games to exist (Well at least from an animation point in my opinion).
Dmc5 is my favorite because of how much they evolve Nero and Dantes moves while keeping most of the same attacks from before, they feel so alive rather than 3d models, when they swing the sword stays in their hands until they manually put them on their back and even drag behind while running, if you aim with Nero and there´s no enemies to shoot he holds his gun close to his face while looking around cautiously, a lot of amazing little detail
Yes
The thing I hate about your videos
is that there aren't enough of them
same
Got me in the first half not gonna lie...
The guy is a professional animator. He probably doesn't get that much time to make videos. Nevertheless, every one he's ever made has always been quality.
@@zach3861 eh animator?
agreed, but well, being a full-time animator, playing games and making a video about them takes a lot of time, sigh
"Coming in 2020"
*Shows Silksong
Me: WHAT
Welp, that aged poorly lmao
@@dragax9666 lol yea
A great list to be sure.
I wish you spent a little more time on DMC 5 because the thing that stuck out to me wasn't the realism of the character models, though they do look great, but the battle animations. There were just so many and they all spoke to the characters personality, subculture themes, and a sort of crisp loving attention you can really feel.
Wayforward are just a great studio for 2D animation. Since DuckTales Remastered it has just been fantastic, and it shows with River City Girls.
The Shantae series, Mighty Switch Force, Double Dragon Neon. They have been quite good in 2D for a while.
Go all the way back to the A Boy And His Blob revamp on the Wii to see how amazing their animation has been.
This channel is a gift.
That Vaporeon photobomb was timed perfectly, and adorable.
I thought for Pokemon Sword/Shield you were going to talk about the custom animation each major opponent gets for when they Dynamax and the subtle character traits that can convey. You know, like in your Overwatch video.
That's what I thought too. Those were some of my favourite bits of the game. Like when Milo lovingly pats the Dynamax ball before throwing it
Raihan taking a Rotom-Selfie with his dynamax ball was my FAVORITE moment in the game. It was a perfect character beat.
Melony cuddling the Max Pokéball where Lapras rests during the Dynamax animation is heart-warming.
Hop stylishly spinning around to smile at the camera before throwing the dynamax ball so hard he almost trips... perfection
@@CC-jg1cp The best thing about Hop's animation is that it's really similar to Lee's, but Hop kinda stumbles. Just that little detail really underscores the brother's relationship in a way.
Luigi's Mansion 3's animation seriously just made me love Luigi that much more. Sometimes people just call Luigi a cowardly loser (probably older brothers pfft), but I don't think being easily scared and anxious automatically makes him a coward. This little champion spends literal hours powering through his fears in order to do what he needs to and fight some ghosts.
I remember VERRRY early on, his only option is to drop down a dark laundry chute to avoid danger. He hesitates, probably cause the prospect of falling down a dark tunnel for who knows how deep is preeetty scary, but for a very brief second or two (this is the quick animation touch that I loved so much-->)he takes some quick deep breaths, then just goes for it! He's obviously still not okay after making the decision, but he managed to pump himself up juuuust enough to make that decision and do what he had to do to escape.
And I remember thinking "wow he's adorabe and... super admirable???"
Not gonna lie. My favourite animation in Pokemon SwSh is the animation to enter a pokemon center. When I first saw it I probably spent 5 minutes just entering and leaving the Pokemon center.
Indivisible was definitely a feat!
Are you looking forward to Cyberpunk, Dan?
I look forward to Cyberpunk. I can't wait for both of your videos on the subject :D
Definitely excited to see how it turns out!
Yikes
This comment did not aged well
I’m glad you put Pokemon on this list, it’s been getting a lot of unnecessary backlash about the “lack of animations” online. I’m totally with you I love the added personality that went into every character. I always remember to record each new one I come across just to watch them over again.
I agree that the character expression and the starter animations are beautiful. But it's fair to say most pokemon just stand stock still during battle until they attack. Pokemon battle revolution shows the best of how lively even 'standing still' animations can be. Also the NPCs walking like they're on stilts is a little weird.
There's a lot of potential for future games
🤨
i always forget about this channel and then a new video come out and my jaw drops! love your stuff dude!
same
This was a wonderful list and I liked how you added games that had amazing animations even if the games weren't as amazing as expected!
The only ones I really think you're missing are Astral Chain (that game had CRISPY smooth animations in and out of combat for both you and your Legions!) and Gris which just looks gorgeous all around! I'd love to see you talk about these in future videos maybe!!
"And here's to all the great game animation coming in 2020"
[Shows Silksong]
Oh you sweet summer child
I really loved the animation of the Pokémon SwSh gym leader fight introductions and defeats. It really gives so much personality and life to them, something that was always really missing from gym leaders in the previous games.
These videos are always so interesting I rejoice when there's a new one.
Wattam absolutely has some of the most charming animation I've ever seen, and it is criminally underlooked. That game is so cute, and fun, and exudes big Keita Takahashi energy
Hand drawn animation is almost extinct; Disney had to bring old hands out of retirement for the Mary Poppins reboot (crazy to think *DISNEY* doesn't have the staff to make traditional animations anymore).....and, with Richard Williams' death, 2019 laid to rest one of its patron saints. The Skullgirls team is a tiny flame in a deep fog, and I hope they keep flickering.
2:18 you can see his hands missing the katana handle and search for it while his eyes are locked on his enemy, such a small detail but adds tons to the realistic aspects of the character (simply we feel him as a human not a heartless perfect killing machine for a moment) and it is amazing!.
I’m late to this video. But my favorite animation in Sekiro is actually the jumping animation. The anticipation and follow through just makes jumping so satisfying. Really looks and feels like you’re jumping as high as you can.
The videos the actress Courtney does outside of Control especially get eerie, like her tour of the Remedy offices and Jesse Cox’s Gentlemen Club review, when you realize how spot on Remedy got when those live action skits look like they fit into the game engine.
You should check out Klei's Oxygen Not Included. It had been on early access for some time now, but it officially released last year. It's a charming colony management game drawn in the classic Klei artstyle akin Don't Starve. I especially love the duplicants and their expressiveness.
Watching this made me notice some amazing attention to detail that I didn't before, such as how in sekiro, the protagonist, was focusing on his enemy, he was so focused that he didn't dare to look down at his sword, so he slowly gides his hand into the sword, bumps it, and then re-adjust. Pulling and rotating the sheath because he realizes its too close to him to pull the sword out all the way.
The Devil May Cry games have legit animations for the cancel mechanics (that DON’T look like glitch moves)
It is always amazing to see Dan be such a ray of positivity
Everything you make is just so darn entertaining to watch!
Thank you!
Control is a MASSIVELY underrated game, the setting, the fun combat, the amazing physics engine, the characters, the atmosphere. EVERYBODY should play it and it's new DLC. Thank me later.
Im glad you mentioned River City Girls, definitely some of the best feeling and looking games to come out last year
Wanna give a shoutout to the animation in Disco Elysium. It’s not that there’s a lot of animation or that it’s the best, but they really put a lot of work into it when it matters. I don’t think I’ve laughed/cheered harder this year as when some how against all odds, my drunk drug fueled overweight superstar cop punched a giant thug in the gut and then roundhouse kicked him in the face. So cudos to the Disco Elysium team on their stellar work and I hope you have another grand year Dan.
For me the female animation in Pokemon Sword when your character is walking down the stairs was mesmerizing in its detail!
It is like the whole world stopped and there was just there, moving in time.
Do you not ZA WARUDO down stairs as well?
Something I never noticed til you mentioned From Soft's slow timing is that it reminds me an awful lot of what tiny little snippets I've seen of Kurosawa films, and now I'm really curious if anyone's done a comparison between that style of cinematic and Japanese cinema.
I don't know if I'd put this in Animation, but artstyle of Amid Evil completely blew my mind, making it seem like the best looking version of a Heretic-style shooter straight from the late 90s.
I love watching this because it makes me more appreciative of this aspect of the art in games I play. I know you put hella work into this, bravo.
Have I ever told you how fun it is to watch your videos?
I'm not sure if I did, but heck they are fun to watch!
I love the work that you and Carrie put into it, it inspires me to be great at the things I do as well, just to try to make people feel as good as I feel when I'm watching a new video of yours.
=)
Aw, thanks for the kind words!
Thanks for mentioning Blasphemous and Pokemon because those two definitely need credit for their animation.
When it comes to DLCs in the "x of the year" lists, they are almost always forgotten: that's why I want to bring up The Messenger DLC Picnic Panic and Celeste DLC Farewell. Pixel art done so beautifully (the ending of Picnic Panic is such a great callback) and in the case of the latter, the non-pixel art too.
Also 6:44 and 10:59 what games are these?
@Minh Nguyễn Thanks! I saw that DMCV character before but I forgot where she was from and I had a feeling the second was APT:I but just had to ask to be sure.
>Praises SwSh's animations
5:23 Sirfetch'd running while carrying a ball with its chest, followed by Cindrance """eating""" food out of its hand while its hand is still several inches away from it's mouth, I guess.
Thank you for continuing to make such great content!
Yes, I second this! Game Maker's Toolkit does this really well.
Too much time trust me just put it in the description
I'm super late, but I know that some channels allow people to submit subtitles, and I've seen channels using subtitles for that purpose.
Good example if Every Frame A Painting, which has a subtitle setting to show the movie title and whatever is relevant, usually being the director, but sometimes variable like Production Designer for the chairs episode or locations in Vancouver for the video about Vancouver as a popular place to film other places.
Either Dan could set up subtitles for the games shown, or he could allow subtitles to be submitted and sign off on whatever is correct.
You more or lesss mentioned, but sayonara wild hearts was my favorite game of 2019 visually, its Just gorgous to see
In Darksiders Genesis, there's a bit where you can pet a dog. Both of the playable characters have a different animation for this, and this one small animation communicates pretty much everything you need to know about their personalities. Strife is fun and friendly, so he immediately kneels down and gives the dog all sorts of pets. Whereas War is stoic and grumpy, so he gives the dog a couple tentative pats on the head, before getting annoyed when the dog jumps on him and licks his face.
I'm not really the person to judge whether it was one of the "best" animations of the year, but it was unexpected and made me smile.
Songbird Symphony though. So much amazing character appeal. It feels like Keke made a game.
heck yeah! the demo I played was pretty good
The part about Pokemon SwSh that impressed me the most was the visual storytelling/characterization with the trainers. I was especially appreciative that the main character wasn't one-tone like in SM.
@@GrandArchPriestOfTheAlgorithm There's many things to say about SM, but for some reason seeing the MC's face stay in one particularly blank expression the whole game... It reminded me of Stepford people.
I just ignored them. Focused on everyone else instead.
Your videos are ones that I wouldn't mind being longer, keep it going!!
I could not BELIEVE how many context-specific animations were in Luigi’s Mansion 3. What an enrapturing experience.
Try examining the laundry chute before King Boo chases you, and you’ll get a little taste.
DUDE LUIGI'S MANSION 3! THE ANIMATION WAS SOOO GOOD
Something i love about sekiro's animations is how you can recognise the ashina style across multiple characters. The most obvious example being the enemies wearing blue kimonos use the ashina cross, just like emma and lastly, Ishin who has mastered the technique into one mind.
"The spinning power dab." You had me at spinning power dab.
I love the video. You forgot the Super Smash Bros DLC reveal trailers, capturing the essence of each fighter and their origin game. But i know you already did a few videos on Smash. And I am excited to see more games get highlights. Great stuff Dan.
Eastward's demo has me absolutely hyped for its release. The townsfolk felt so lively and it just hit that aesthetic spot.
You have just sold me a couple of games kind sir.
Don't know if it was one you were considering but River City Girls is very good. Animation is great, but the appeal for me is the gameplay is super easy to pick up. I'm definitely not into this genre, but the combos are easy to learn but have tons of variety. Totally worth the $30 I paid so long as you aren't expecting a very long playtime.
@@Monafide3305 Actually this was one of them. Also indivisible (which i was already curious about, but felt to be a bit harshly priced).
As soon as you said Pokemon the first thing I thought of was Hop flailing his arms in every conversation.
Don't you ever make me wait that long for a video again! T^T
Your videos help motivate me through my animation school! :D
Definitely agree on Luigi's Mansion and River City Girls.
We're gonna fight you
With all our might to
Get back our boyfriends
I admit, I was all Scorbunny until I saw that opening cutscene in Pokemon Sword. Sobble being easily startled and starting to cry spoke to my soul in ways no other pokemon has. I love him very much.
I eagerly await your KH3 playthrough!
Also Untitled Goose Game was GOTY. It was perfect in every way.
Pokemon Sword and Shield have some great little touches in their animation - my personal favorite is the animation for when the player throws a dynamax pokeball. It looks a little plain at first, but that standing overhead throw is the same form a soccer player might use to throw the ball in from the sidelines.
Honestly, thank you for pointing out Anthem's animations. There has been so much (justifiable) bad press surround the mechanics and lack of direction that I never bothered to notice just how stellar the animation is until you pointed it out!
Can you talk about the Yakuza series? Specifically how the heat actions are animated? I've always loved how powerful the attacks in those games looked
Nothing on how DMC5 was able to achieve fluid animation blending at 60fps?
Everybody gangsta till the goose wins it all
Not animation buy Pathologic 2 has some of the most unique and atmospheric art style ever. The expression of the character face when in a dialog scene is stellar too.
Tangle Tower was quite the gem released on Mobile, Switch, and PC. A charming detective game made by the creators of Snipperclips, similar to the investigation segments of Ace Attorney, with gorgeous, intricate backgrounds and a charming doodle-esque style for the characters and certain interface elements. I really enjoy the wavering lines of the characters.
Senuas sacrifice was the last game for me in recent memory that had those "wait is this a real actor" moments
I'm loving Control and experienced the same phenomena you describe here, though I do feel the need to point out that in in-game dialogue scenes there seems to be a weird gap between the character's teeth and their mouths that I find a little distracting. It's like everyone is hiding something in their gums
When you were talking about indie pixel art, I thought for a second that you were going to talk about MO:Astray.
Pokémon is a very mixed bag of animation. You got some real great ones, but then you have ones where the model literally stands still while sliding across the ground…
I only got to play it this year on switch, but 13 Sentinels Aegis Rim has some STELLAR animation work for its genre. Every character was puppeted to have incredibly unique animation loops and posing for a variety of interactions, and the presentation of the game enhances that level of detail even more.
i kinda would like to see a compare and contrast of the "Monster Rancher" series with the "Pokemon" series. the monster rancher series has had a very strong focus on raising and training your monsters outside of battle for at least 2 decades i think.
"The Spinning Power Dab"
Excuse me? How have I not been alerted to this game before now??
Luigi's Mansion 3. The animation in that is simply awesome! We definitely need a video dedicated to this game alone.
I feel like Iceborne got short shrift. You can watch an army of cats making bread from scratch. It’s charming, whimsical, and that’s just an incidental animation.
Smile For Me was so charming, albeit the animation was minimal. Things like cheering up a character and seeing those blue sparkles appear, and the aesthetic of photorealism vs. cartoony merged together always made me smile.
Dan then: Did I miss anything? I didn't quite play every game that came out this year after all
Dan now: I have seen every game that has come out this year. Yes, all of them. Do you doubt me??
5:43 -- Bless you holyskywalkrs for capturing that delightful moment of vaporeon being both a goof and total sweetie all at once~ Seeing that, I can't help but smile. ^_^
Also, the framing is just...perfect.
There are some scenes in KH3 that I've seen people have to blur or change because TH-cam thought they were just scenes from the movie. If nothing else pour one out to those guys for that, cause I can imagine the sleepless nights they had to get that close. That team deserves mad respect for how insanely detailed they are in meeting Disney's (frankly ridiculous at times) demands.
Dmc 5 all of V taunts are glorious.
Extremely pleased to see River City Girls on the list! I'm not surprised it's not the talk of the town, it's a niche genre to begin with so it's natural, but it's nice to see it get some recognition, it's so damn charming.
And speaking of charm, I would also add Gris somewhere on that list.
Facial animations in the new Borderlands3 dlc cutscenes are fucking charming as hell
6:44 I legit thought that was a normal camera shot for a moment
DAMN FINALLY a youtuber who pronounces pokemon correct
Shadowbringers. The stunning animation is a huge part of the excitement and love that people have for FFXIV. It's often cleverly used during phase changes of lengthy boss battles to give players a bit of a rest and something nice to look at.
Not only that but the XIV team at Square-Enix keep pushing the boundaries of what animation can do for MMORPGs. They are relying less on artificial looking "red boxes" for avoiding boss attacks, and instead focussing on strongly signposted visual cues on the character models themselves to tell players how to react. And while most cutscenes are still fairly static due to budget constraints, their engine allows them to create dynamic sequences for important story beats, and it's obvious how talented their animators are when given the chance to exhibit their skills.
Too bad you didn't mention my favorite Sword/Shield animation: the leadup to throwing the giant pokeball to catch a dynamax pokemon. The huge grin as your trainer turns around is adorable, and I'm pretty sure there's even some slight smearing happening.
I came here to post this! I love the way your character's face lights up just before they throw the giant pokeball:)
After watching your episode of river city girls. I instantly bought the game and picked the combos and fighting animation apart. I loved it and the OST.
it has arrived
So much talent out there. We are truly blessed by this artistic medium. :)
This was a great list! I'd add Wargroove to that great pixel art category. I've never loved the look and feel of a strategy game more.
Now I'm no animation expert, but from what I've played of Astral Chain, I think it looks and feels flat out phenomenal
Admittedly I haven’t watched your other “favorite animation” videos, so I don’t know if you’ve mentioned it, but definitely check out Rain World. It handles procedural animation nearly perfectly and it’s objectively beautiful.