Does anyone miss the overthe top-ness?

[Infernoblaze]

(this is not a I hate DoW2 thread, I love it personally just want to see people's opinions)

We're all aware that DoW2 is lacking greatly in the synch kill department and I hope relic are aware too of how disappointing this is to a lot of fans and might patch some things in but does anyone miss the epic things like how the force commander would regularly do knockback attacks on enemies that litterally sent them flying into the air (and the eldar would do an awesome landing animation on their feet).

It seems a lot of that over the top stuff has gone. Now it's purely the main heroes that can properly knock enemies back and they dont' fly far unless dead. I miss having non hero squads send other usnits flying to land in smoke trails like the ground like the necron untis who were covered in skin. I miss walkers throwing the bloody corpses of the units they've picked up and kill half the map away. I miss the silly bits of dark humour that fit so perfectly with the warhammer world like a dead unit getting stuck on the bloodthrister axe so he has to shake it to get it off.

They've added plenty of really awesome stuff like the assault jump landing knockback and I do really enjoy playing DoW2 online but it just feels like they've toned down the really silly over the top ideas from the first game and it's sad to see.

And to be honest, there hasn't been a single thing in DoW2 that has made me think "holy crap that was awesome" so much as seeing this for the first time: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aKHsj5y8UL8

Does anyone else feel the same way?

[Compeador]

I miss the epic sync kills :-\

[deepjay]

I don't miss the over the top knock-down at all. You could effectively tie up an enemy commander until death/retreat with a single shotgun wielding scout squad.

I miss putting ASM's in a pack of infantry and having a 'toss the monkey in the shark pool' type scenario.

[Infernoblaze]

I'm talking about melee here and you can already do that with shotties.

[The Voltr0n]

i wanna see a drednaught knock a unit through a wall... then i would see why this is DOW2...

Or an Assault Spacemarine die in mid air and hit the ground with a crater knocking back other units.

This is the stuff we need, eye candy that makes you go... OH SNAP

[Brenil]

Yes, I miss the overally cinematic moments of the original Dawn of War as well. There was just something about a thunderhammer-wielding Force Commander being in a mob of Slugga Boyz and suddenly you hear a 'whaampow' and a slugga goes sailing through the air and lands fifty feet away.

That was one of the major, "holy shit" moments of the original game to me and one that is sorely missing from the sequel.


I don't miss the over the top knock-down at all. You could effectively tie up an enemy commander until death/retreat with a single shotgun wielding scout squad.

He was talking about the knockback effects that were somewhat mini-sync kills in the original Dawn of War. These didn't have (usually) the gameplay effect that the knockdowns in the sequel have; they were mainly just there for 'wow' factor.

[Tallaaron76]

As much as it pains me to say this, but I feel required too... :ballchain

Kills like that seem to have no place (crying) in this set up. With the smaller groups of troops, these wonderful kills would probably be lost or an impediment. I for one would love to see them and when I am better suited with understanding 3DSmax9... I would love to try a few of these animations we love just for fun. Yet, with the new wave of tactics over visual displays...

Things like this might be lost to us. Please do not hold this against me though if it turns out. I am sad to see this loss as it was a great item that the animators would probably feel proud that there is a group that miss things like this. Only time will tell...

[deepjay]

There are elements of 'over the topness'. For example I saw a fire prism completely gib an assault marine in mid-air. He launched up with his jetpack and rained down bodyparts - it was _awesome_ pwoar inducing coolness. Just need to get that magic physics combination happening.

[Seaka]

The Avatar headdchop and the SM commander duel scene are amazingly cool, also like how the eldar walker got its head torn off +10. Wish there were more like that in DoW II.

[CommodoreKitty]

Some of the things can be kept as ott and not really hinder gameplay. I would think more commander specific kills would greatly add to the enjoyment without causing the problems of having random infantry do it.

But there is no excuse for not having walker v walker or super v super animation. None. At. All. Or commanders, for that matter. I miss them very much.

[deepjay]

The fact many are missing just tells me that to many degrees the game was rushed out the door and/or much shorter development cycle.

[Weazlex]

I think we are better off without them actually. In DoW we had a lot more units so if one of them got stuck doing that tediously long animation for the twentieth time that day, then the others could still fight on.
In DoW2 we have a lot less units so when the Dreadnought gets stuck doing a sync kill, the rest of the army (maybe just 1-3 other units) might be left at a serious disadvantage.
If I were in charge, I'd completely remove sync kills from ranked play... :spartaaa:

[mlai]

If I were in charge, I'd completely remove sync kills from ranked play...
Yes and also remove % accuracy completely from the game, so that every shot or chop always hits.

And also all artillery type shots which do knockback should also be removed, because mass disruption mechanics removes micro skill from the game.

While we're at it, squad system should be removed as well. It takes micro and control away from the skilled player. Every soldier should have to be ordered around individually for maximum control.

You know, I believe there's a certain game in beta soon, that will fulfill your desires.

[Hamsterminator]

Er.. wtf with the last two comments.. ANYWAY yes I agree I think there could be way more over the topness in this game, particularly in singelplayer.

I miss the blood piniatas- dreds spraying blood all over the place and trails of it over the ground as a body is thrown backwards.

I would also like to see Tyranids spraying green and purple ichor as they get gunned down. At the moment shots just *paff* on the ground and make little bits come off units. Yes I know there is blood, but you barely notice it.

[deepjay]

I miss persistent blood period.

[Brenil]

Blood wasn't really ever persistant so much as the corpses were. The blood splat around corpses was apart of the corpse model itself. The buckets of blood that fell during a fight simply disappeared. I wish something akin to how Myth: The Fallen Lords approached brutality was in modern games. Every drop of blood that was shed in that game (and lost limb) stayed on the battlefield and really made battles feel ugly.

The original Dawn of War feels more gritty than Dawn of War II because of things like these 'over-the-top' moments, but it still wasn't as gritty as it should of been and by association the sequel isn't even close to the needed brutality that is Warhammer 40k.

[Dark Angel N00b]

I miss persistent blood period.

Ouch, poor choice of words there.

I have been trying to put my finger on what was missing in DOW2 for a while now, and i think we may be on to something here, i remember the moments from DOW the original that you have all described, the fuckawesome moments that reminded you why you were playing the game, seeing a wraithlord tearing off that defilers head was not only a pretty image, but was sort of rewarding as well, like a 'congratulations on killing that unit, have an awesome little clip as a reward.' In DOW2, sync kills feel like more of a way to break up combat than a reward or an awesome moment.

Its not over the top enough anymore, there was something about fighting amongst fields of persistant corpses that made it feel like true 40k. You can identify DOW2 as 40k, but it lacks that oomph, the scale of the universe, it feels tamed.

[I Pyro I]

The only thing I really miss is the sound effect of the FC's hammer. That thing sounded like it could split the world in half.... and it probably could.

[Exsus]

No, it split Gods in half.

[LandShark]

i guess im the only one that got tired of seeing the exact same animations over and over and over and over.

did i mention over? Cool for the first 3 times maybe, then you just want it to get over with so your men can kill some more.

[Pocktio]

That applies for both DoW1 and 2 Landshark. By the time I got DoW2 I'd seen every sync kill many a time.

[The Voltr0n]

yeah but picktio you saw the animations few and far between, dow2's animations are repetative, we were promised more and bigger... i presumed on release not in the distant future DLC...

BS *angry mumble

[Pocktio]

I saw them every game :/

Generally I don't even notice sync kills in DoW2 I'm too busy paying attention.

DoW1s sync kills were repetetive, how many times did I see a Tac kick a dead enemy off his knees....:/

[MegaDok]

Awesome 45 second sync kill without damage immunity!!!

I can hear the cries already of angry players. It doesn't matter what Relic does in this situation somebody is going to complain. I can pass on overly long sync kills in order to command my troops and play the game.

[Coffee]

The only thing I really miss is the sound effect of the FC's hammer. That thing sounded like it could split the world in half.... and it probably could.
The new FC hammer can knock the world out of its orbit around the sun. In one swing.

[Chaos Von Draco]

I still remember when I was playing against my friend online and his Force Commander nailed one of my guardsmen and the poor guy went flying up and hit the roof of a nearby building. It was awesome. XD

[Servius]

The only thing I've found visually impressive in DOW2, combat-wise, was the Dread's Barrage ability. It was the first (and so far only) thing I've seen in the game that really made my jaw drop. I think it does an excellent job of mymicing the DOW1 intro movie when the Dread starts to assault the orc position on the hill with his autocannon.

Every once in a while I catch an FC sync kill, but I'm just not impressed by it. I also miss the FC cracking fools with his thunderhammer that sent them flying like a home run, and also when the Dread would grind up the heads of enemies and hurl them backwards into a wall where they would go splat and slowly side down in a mess of blood an guts.

I mean, the fluff for a Bolter says that each bolt is a mass-reactive explosive, so the bolt hits you, probably penetrates your chest or something, and a sec after initial impact, while it's still inside you, it explodes. That's just a single bolt. In SP, the Tacs hardly kill anything, they're just there to soak up dmg, so I rarely ever see kills by bolt shell. That job gets left to Avitus. But even then, the bodies should be exploding on the screen when they get hit by a bolt.

I can say that, a few minutes ago, I did see the FC hit an orc so hard that the orc's body was dismembered into medium-sized chunks. That was pretty cool, though I think it's maybe one of 2-3 times I've ever seen it.

[CommissarRezail]

Yeah force commander just don't knock people as far any more and i havent seen anyone get knocked into the water yet..