Butcherman- proud member of the Iori Yagami school of pants fashion. 

I notice that the 3d models in-game lose a lot of the vibrance of the 2d art.

This isn't always bad - the big earth fellow looks good that way, as it blends him well into the landscape. But that snake is on fire, and his fire really should stand out more.

I'm not sure how best to fix this, or if doing so would even be reasonably possible.

Art is great, but you guys need better animators honestly.

Game's looking great  I can't wait for the beta!

TheProgress: Which animations in that video did you find weak?  There are some technical issue we need to overcome (combat units all idling in synch, no frame blending, etc) but the only two animations I have an issue with in the video are the plaguecat dying and Morian's hand clipping through the ground during his attack.

That's not to say there are a LOT of animations that need redone or polished, but I am curious which ones fell flat on you in the vid.

@ 0:32 - the snake's attack is rather ridged.

@ 0:37 - the soldier's run animation. I understand the need to save time and prevent long waits due to unit movement, but the movement is very abrupt.

@ 1:22 - the earth's movement is very abrupt too.

Nice colour palette. Brown in reddish brown with greenish brown and yellowish brown.

Ok, that may be because its a swamp map, but still.

Imo there is an overabundance of earth tones in Elemental, and it makes the game look kinda bland. Also, you should take a look at lighting in battles. The current light source seems to be a bit too high, so that units always look very dark.

It's very apparent since I've just played some King's bounty. There we have all colours, like, blue, greenish green, yellow yellow, etc.

Ofc part of why Elemental is a bit brownish lies in its art direction.

But can we have some more vibrant colours? (No. bloom isn't vibrant, bloom causes eye cancer. )

On a positive note though, the artwork looks great as usual. You've really nice art direction in that part, very distinct style. It just doesn't copy that well over to the game yet. Especially the landscape. :/

TheProgress: Exact times?!  Nice

There's a bug where the last 5-8 frames of the attack animations randomly cut off, so that may be agrivating any 'rigidness' you're seeing with the snake, but I'll have Akil take another look at it.

The 'abruptness' of those run-to-idle is the frame-blending tech we need to get in. Right now, one animation will cut directly into another, but with frame blending you'll get around 5 frames of overlap, so the transition wont look like crap (ie. what you see in the video).

Vandenburg: Perhaps swamp wasn't the best choice to show that we ARE working towards de-browning the world, but know that it's top on our artistic priority list

I like the brown! It sets an appropriately gritty tone and gives the world a certain earthy appeal. I know... that hurt me too.

Ah yeah, some frame blending would be great and solve a lot of the abruptness going on.

I really like what I see. The monsters on show here all look really good. I shall be interested to see how much everything is changeing as you release more info. Should i read much into the use of the word "prone" in that video. you make it sound like lightly armored characters are more likely to get knocked down, could be an interesting mechanic. Also the comment about the flameing sword suggests you have added elemental resistances, that alone will open up a world of possibilitys keep up the good work guys.

I actually do like the brown. It looks like barren soil, and it transitions nicely to the cloth map, which is what I use anyway. The green-brown of this swamp gives a unified and interesting look. Obviously there should be variation, especially with the new more interesting areas that are being added, but what we see here works very well for what it is.

I like the camera cinematic in the video... It would make things much more interesting at the start of the battle if the computer automatically did this for a few seconds. Maybe limit to large battles. On top of that, use the cards as overlays, instead of the drawings at 0:43.

I wonder if there is a way to manipulate the camera even during attacks so the artistic direction brings a feel of battle when you attack/defend. Like a small camera view in the left corner from the 1st person or above shoulder 3rd person perspective.

Now that i'm thinking about it, what about a tactical battle where you queue all attacks at the beginning of a round and the game determines who attacks first and acts out the entire round in a cinematic fashion.

The artwork is great. The last pic (The sorceror with the demon behind him is fantastic!) especially.

The video just made me feel: "Ok....".

I strongly suggest you further study how snakes move and attack and incorperate that data in for the snake like creatures. Especially that epic fire snake. If you like I can also post some snake movment vids as well. Also they should attack differently as well.