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I'm not in the AlphaOne, but have generally agreed with the feedback that melee combat looks like you're not really in control of your character. After watching the stream and learning that the original Apocalypse melee combat was criticized for feeling floaty, I think I can identify better what seems off about melee combat to me.
As someone mentioned in the Twitch chat, there doesn't seem to be weight behind the melee weapons (much like WoW). In my opinion, the combat that commits your character to moving forward does look like a loss of control and SIMULTANEOUSLY floaty while the Apoc melee combat only looks floaty to me. So, while Apoc doesn't look great, it is better than melee combat in its current state in AlphaOne.
Understanding that now, I have a few suggestions. One or all of them may help melee feel more impactful.
1. Add better reactions for enemies being hit in melee combat. This could be armor/flesh movement at the place of impact or perhaps a generic animation that makes the enemy appear more like it's being hit without changing the effect of combat.
2. Keep the movement, but tone it way way down. Dark Souls is another game franchise which commits combat to a forward movement, but it is much more subtle and feels great. Ashes substantially moves your character forward with each slash. If this is toned down to be a much shorter distance, that may help give a sense of weight without making you feel like you lost control of your character during the animation.
3. Change the animation of the character to give the appearance that their weapon weighs more. Currently, in both combat modes (Apoc and current), tab targeting and action combat looks like the weapon weighs near nothing. I'm wondering if it's the animation that gives that feeling. Perhaps, without changing the timing of combat, make the animation give the feeling that swinging the weapon requires more effort. Perhaps stalling the beginning of the animation and speeding up the end of the animation. Perhaps a sweat effect or a bulging of muscles (not a fan of that last one, but just throwing it out there).
4. Change the sound cues to make it sound like our character requires a little more effort in swinging their weapon. Not too much, because it could be annoying, but perhaps more grunting. Also not a huge fan of this on paper, but thought it was worth mentioning.
Discuss! Maybe I'm totally wrong about this, or maybe I'm missing a suggestion that may give that weight to melee combat.
As someone mentioned in the Twitch chat, there doesn't seem to be weight behind the melee weapons (much like WoW). In my opinion, the combat that commits your character to moving forward does look like a loss of control and SIMULTANEOUSLY floaty while the Apoc melee combat only looks floaty to me. So, while Apoc doesn't look great, it is better than melee combat in its current state in AlphaOne.
Understanding that now, I have a few suggestions. One or all of them may help melee feel more impactful.
1. Add better reactions for enemies being hit in melee combat. This could be armor/flesh movement at the place of impact or perhaps a generic animation that makes the enemy appear more like it's being hit without changing the effect of combat.
2. Keep the movement, but tone it way way down. Dark Souls is another game franchise which commits combat to a forward movement, but it is much more subtle and feels great. Ashes substantially moves your character forward with each slash. If this is toned down to be a much shorter distance, that may help give a sense of weight without making you feel like you lost control of your character during the animation.
3. Change the animation of the character to give the appearance that their weapon weighs more. Currently, in both combat modes (Apoc and current), tab targeting and action combat looks like the weapon weighs near nothing. I'm wondering if it's the animation that gives that feeling. Perhaps, without changing the timing of combat, make the animation give the feeling that swinging the weapon requires more effort. Perhaps stalling the beginning of the animation and speeding up the end of the animation. Perhaps a sweat effect or a bulging of muscles (not a fan of that last one, but just throwing it out there).
4. Change the sound cues to make it sound like our character requires a little more effort in swinging their weapon. Not too much, because it could be annoying, but perhaps more grunting. Also not a huge fan of this on paper, but thought it was worth mentioning.
Discuss! Maybe I'm totally wrong about this, or maybe I'm missing a suggestion that may give that weight to melee combat.