Avowed developers, Obsidian Entertainment, have admitted that the combat system of their upcoming RPG needs improvements based on feedback from players following January's Xbox Developer Direct. During that presentation, the game's combat system was criticized for feeling lacking in dynamics.
In an interview with TechRadar Gaming, Avowed's senior gameplay engineer, Gabriel Paramo, explained that the Developer Direct presentation was really grea for the team, as it allowed them to understand what exactly needs to be improved in the game.
When players say, 'Oh, this doesn't look good,' you think, 'Okay, we need to immediately prioritize polishing that aspect.' So that's why we took that on," he explained. "We really focused on the creatures' reactions to hits and started focusing on each shot. For example, what's the delay between when the player swings the weapon and when they strike, so that it feels a lot faster. And we really focused on the extreme poses of the initial frame of the hit reaction animation so that the player really notices the effects of the hit.
Paramo also explained that while players have yet to see most of the changes, Obsidian is also working to improve "all aspects of the animation," including visual effects and audio feedback.