Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - Suggestions & Feedback Race-specific animations

Hi everyone.


Today I’d like to adress the race-specific walking and idle animations that have been added for Githyanki and Elves, and might also possibly be added to the coming Dragonborn and Half-orcs.
Before I get started: this topic excludes races that will absolutely need different animations no matter what, because they have different body sizes/shapes, for example Gnomes or Dwarfs.

In general terms, I think the developers are doing a disservice to their game by locking certain animation styles for specific races. At the moment, I might want to create a high Elf Barbarian who I roleplay as a total brute who has no manners whatsoever, yet he walks like he has been taught proper etiquette be the Elven queen herself.
Similarly, I could envision a Githanki Bard or Rogue who, for whatever backstory-related reason, has not enjoyed the regular upbringing of the Githyanki, and is generally less militant in their behaviour. Nonetheless, they will still be locked into using the very strict idle animations that make me think they are some kind of military general.

TLDR; While a great idea in principle, walking and idle animations should be selectable for all races in character creation, rather than being strictly linked to a specific race, since they can be a vital part of how you envision your particular character to behave.

On a side note, a few words about the Elven walking animation, since we are already on topic. While I think it’s a good idea in principle to add a more elegant-style walking animation, I think the animation needs a bit of refinement. Please forgive the statement, but in my opinion the Elves’ walking animation looks like it has been made by someone who has never animated a bipedal creature before; like it’s a placeholder version of a more refined animation, basically. Not trying to be mean, I just wanted to mention it because I think there is much room for improvement here.


So. What do you guys think? Should the walking and idle animations be part of who your specific character is and therefore be selectable in character creation?

Edit: feel free to also leave your general opinion on how the animations look to you; maybe we can compile all the racial animation-specific feedback in one thread.

The same thing caught my eye. The animations enforce narrow racial stereotypes.

I would like to play a Str based High Elf Fighter/EK in full plate, and when I saw that elegant dancer idle pose I thought it doesn't fit.

I might also play a human acrobat Rogue or Bard whom the "dancer" animations would fit.

D&D is trying to get rid of racial stereotypes too. The next edition is expected to not have fixed racial stat modifiers anymore. I wasn't convinced at first but now I think it's a good thing. Same goes for animations that assume certain stereotypes.

Personally I was completely alright with all races having the same neutral walking/idle animations, as I prefer neutrality when it comes to non-voiced main characters with choices. But I am also not against races having unique animations as long as it is done right, looks good and I get a choice to choose my personality.

So far though the animations don't really look that impressive to sacrifice the neutrality of one's personality. But I'm sure they'll be made better eventually.

• Githyanki idle - Not really a fan of this one. It looks too militaristic and doesn't really look like something that suits an interplanar race of mystical warriors gathering knowledge from all realms. It looks more like something that belongs to a Fighter or Barbarian class rather than a whole race.
• Elven animations - Observing my Female Drow animations makes me visualize a fawn elegantly prancing around. The animation definitely captures the elven grace, but does not look fitting for a heavy class. And it still needs improving though as it looks terrible when dual-wielding.

I definitely would like to be able to choose my character's personality/stance, such as Neutral or Racial because it is an important part of one's personality. To an extent this also connects to facial expressions during conversations, which end up conflicting with the way the player imagined their character and breaking immersion. I really dislike the "scared & surprised" facial expression in dialogues. Looks so bad.

I think it would be an improvement if we could choose our animation style in character creation, no matter if you like the current animations or not. I imagine if we could choose beween around 4 animation styles, including the standard one, it would be enough:

1. Standard
2. Elegant / dainty
3. Militaristic / confidant
4. Shy / slouched

These are my suggestions, and I think they would cover most of the characters that people come up with. If none of the special styles suits your character, you can always go with the standard. It is pretty good imo.

+1, this must be optional