Animation seems choppy

[Opamaister]

Is this some bug or decision by devs?

The game runs just smooth, I checked with MSI afterburner's OSD, constant 60fps but still the animations of units seems just... laggy. Villagers working, everyone moving, fire ships attacking, etc. It just looks like it would run 15-20fps though the game runs smooth 60fps. If you look at the game's trailer at 1:17 you see very smooth and lifelike animations on the units moving and fire ships attacking but you don't have such smooth and fluid animations in-game.

Yes this is more like the original AoE II but why show us smooth and fluid animations if they are not in the game.

Other than that minor complaint it's a great game that brings back some of my best gaming memories.

[SisterFriede]

There is already a thread with the same issue, although it's blamed on low fps (or at least the feeling of low fps): http://steamcommunity.com/app/221380/discussions/2/828935361222761471/

[Opamaister]

"it's blamed on low fps (or at least the feeling of low fps):"
That's exactly my point. I read that thread too but with this separate thread I wanted to make it clear that the the problem is with game's animations and not just framerates.
No idea if that makes any sense, but still.

[Fred DM]

welcome to the world of 2D games.

in case your still wondering: yes, it's normal. 2D sprites tend to be animated at a slower framerate than what you'd perceive as fluid (20-25 fps).

i can only guess that you were not around during the 1990s...

[mrFatD]

Fred please dont tell me that 2D sprites tend to be slower... Run the original game ffs and tell me if the animation there is smoother? The anwser is yes .. Unfortunately.

[andrew_berge]

The animations should be exactly the same as in the original game. So yes, they're choppy. It's because the original art assets were lost, so they wouldn't be able to make smoother animations without starting completely from scratch.

[Reinaldo]

The horse animation is the worst one...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D-FE8j_6jeg

[Fred DM]

Originally posted by Davis:

Fred please dont tell me that 2D sprites tend to be slower... Run the original game ffs and tell me if the animation there is smoother? The anwser is yes .. Unfortunately.

no, i don't think so. i've been playing the original release (with User Patch) until a couple of days ago and i don't see any difference between the two editions.

they were not smoother. and andrew_berge is right: none of the in-game models could be improved because the originals were lost when Ensemble was closed. they are the same as in the original release.

if you go back to other RTS games of the 1990s and the early 2000s, you'll notice the same thing (try Rise of Nations, for example).

live with it.

EDIT: OK, i've checked. there is a problem with the cavalry idle animation. the animation briefly freezes (while the horse is prancing) before the animation is repeated in the loop (you can clearly see this in the video posted above). is that what you mean?

the animation itself has always been somewhat choppy but i don't remember those brief freezes being in the original release, though i've never checked ( i uninstalled it yesterday).

[Opamaister]

Originally posted by Fred DM:

welcome to the world of 2D games.

in case your still wondering: yes, it's normal. 2D sprites tend to be animated at a slower framerate than what you'd perceive as fluid (20-25 fps).

i can only guess that you were not around during the 1990s...

Well, I can tell you that I was around during the 1990's though quite young. And I spent the first years of 2000's playing AoE 2.
And I do have the original Age of Empires Collector's Edition CD sitting right next to me.

And to clarify my original post more, I didn't intend my mood to be whiny. I'm simply wondering as like I said in my OP, if you look at the game's trailer (YouTube or Steam) at the 1 minute and 17 seconds, you can see some smooth/fluid/60fps-like animations rather than the "choppy" animations of the original. So my post was intended to wonder was those trailer's smooth animations a result of video editing or the game itself. And as the game itself lacked those new smoother animations, I thought that there had happened some blooper. But as it seems that it is simply a developement choice, I'm fine with that.

ps. Sorry for grammar mistakes.