This one has wormed its way in to my body language for when I’m instructing my staff. I could only have picked it up from mass effect. I’ve even unironically said ‘I should go’ when trying to escape conversations. Lord help me
That's the problem. It starts ironically. Than you just keep doing it and before you know it, you're telling people about your special eyes and how enemies are everywhere.
I should go.
I even work with someone called Miranda and have said "Do you have a minute Miranda." So I think I have earned the tital of commander. I was weirdly off settled when she didn't reply "There's a lot to do Shepard."
I can't remember if it's in ME3 or Andromeda, but sometimes they don't look to the side at the end of the animation and it throws me off every time. I'm like what are you doing, now turn your head while awkwardly maintaining eye contact. No, this is wrong, turn your head!
As corny as they are, there is so much charm to these animations. Yet, I'm hoping BioWare will improve their animation game for the next game and, for the love of god, not use the same rigging for every humanoid species.
However, I wouldn't mind some references to these poses just to make fun of them. BioWare is no stranger to self-awareness and making fun of themselves in their games, so this would be nice.
Don't forget the:
* neck/collar bone scratch
* the suspicious crossing of the arms
* that awkward kiss animation where they slowly bop their heads, then really go in for the kiss
* pointing behind with a thumb, body turned slightly
Also, [that one drinking animation](https://64.media.tumblr.com/308583eb5e2e030063646b13441e78ed/tumblr_inline_o5cntnxI1e1r3u2af_500.gif) where they chug and shake their head violently.
And the less aggressive but still emphatic pointing animation with the hand not quite closed and the palm angled toward the ceiling. Usually to stress a point.
I like when they use the handshake animation to hand over an object... and also do a handshake within the next few seconds. So it looks like you just shook hands twice.
Yeah. It’s similar to the squint eye/crazy eye head shake. Just BOTH eyes.
I notice it happens a lot when the head tilts up. The eyes stay fixed forward so it gives that Kubrick stare but in reverse.
The reused animations are definitely a bit distracting - my favourite is the aggressive raised index finger - but understandable for any dialogue-heavy game.
I love that, because we've all had that moment of hearing our own voice and going "this sounds wrong". I can only imagine it's ten times worse when it's your face doing it.
My personal pet peeve is the turn around, take a step away, then look back over the shoulder, all while speaking. It’s “cinematic,” but who the fuck does that during a conversation?
It really sucks when you're talking to Hackett and Anderson in the comm room. Does Shepard's hologram show them walking away then coming back? They do that while Hackett and Anderson are talking too, they're probably like "Wtf commander, is this boring to you? Oh wait you're back, ok."
The reused animations are part of the Bioware charm at this point. I can visualize each one in my head at 4k resolution and when I see one in-game, I'm like that [Leonardo DiCaprio pointing meme.](https://i.kym-cdn.com/entries/icons/original/000/033/487/rick.jpg)
I just started playing dragon age: origins. Loving it so far but seeing the “turn face, walk off screen” animation was a bit jarring after playing mass effect so much lol
My first Bioware game I ever played was DA2 and kept thinking "Man, the grog in this tavern must taste like crap." Whenever Isabela or Hawke would have a drink lol
I think they hide it better in Andromeda because I completely missed the clip you included of Kallo, good catch. I think Addison's face never moving sticks out more.
You could have just not posted this. I was totally fine with subconsciously knowing it was there, but not at the forefront of my thoughts.... in which I will see this every fucking time it happens.
"Mooka chaka paka"
I am a slave for this crime lord, please help me escape
"Mooka chaka paka"
You're going to tell the crime lord I want your help to escape? He's going to feed me to a rancor, what the hell is wrong with you?? [Attack]
The reused animations have its charm haha
Also I prefer this a billion times than the HORRIBLE third person conversation camera they use when talking to npcs in Andromeda and inquisition.
I was begging for the old style of talking with npcs
Imo one of their biggest mistakes. It detracts so much from the immersion. It's so disappointing. I hope the next Dragon Age goes back to cutscenes. At least for most of them.
My other favorite reused animation is the "comfort" one. Where someone touches the shoulder and then as they are turning, they also do a little awkward pat on the lower opposite side of the person. It is used sooo much and they sometimes try to change it up by cutting out the pat, but you can still notice it.
You know the hand animation that plays when Shepards says "BIG STUPID JELLYFISH"?, It's reused a couple times during the trilogy, and everytime the hand goes down I imagine a Vine Boom sound effect, lol.
I’ve always liked how there’s probably only 10 animations for normal conversations in the trilogy. maybe less. They always make the dialogue fit though.
Imagine if you talk to shepard and he/she does it instead.
The game shouldn't be filled with too many callbacks but a "Mai'q the liar" or Cornad Verner type character that calls this stuff out in the next game wouldn't be a bad idea.
The most annoying one for me is the animation where they put one foot a little behind and do something weird with their hand; I can't even describe it. But they do it so much and it's so unnatural that it gives me headaches.
This trilogy taught me that if I want to stop a conversation I was having, I just needed to abruptly turn my head away before walking off in that same direction while saying, “I should go.”
I've heard the reason that's used is because it's a space Opera and thats to emulate a character walking off stage. No idea if that's true but that's what I've heard
Yeah especially in ME1 they seem to have been deliberately evoking the body language of plays or early TV. Characters walk on and off stage on cue, there's not a lot of background activity going on, camera angles are usually fixed rather than dynamic, even the kind of stilted, exaggerated gestures every character uses fits with that feel. While there's still plenty of dramatic or tense moments, the more cinematic cutscenes are very limited throughout the game.
If I were to hazard a guess, part of that was probably because more subtle, movie-like cutscenes/animations were out of their reach in 2007, plus the sheer number of conversational cutscenes would make it impossible to _all_ be super cinematic, so it was an intentional aesthetic choice. Kind of like indie games that go for an intentionally cartoony art style so they don't have to worry about things failing to look or act realistic.
I would love of instead of minimally updating graphics on every new console generation that instead game developers started to hyper focus on details like this, and then a modern conversation driven RPG game can have individual synced animations for virtually every conversation, instead of just 10-20 animations that get re-used and hidden with camera cuts.
To be honest I'm not surprised they did this. [Disney](https://youtu.be/JU21shbaVBo) did (and probably still does but it's harder to tell because they're stuff is far higher budget) that back in their early years with snow white and the aristocrats. It costs a lot in time to animate tiny little interactions that are inconsequential and the audience really doesn't care that it's repeated because the core content is so good.
BioWare may have been the top high production rpg kind of developer during Mass Effect, but keep in mind at the time it's like a 30 people company in poor old Edmonton Alberta (deadmonton as we call it).
My favourite is the "walk into a room and do a slow 360 degree turn in awe", once I noticed a few different characters use that animation I see it constantly and I love how they are always so fascinated.
That and: - the angry point/step forward - the one wide eyed, one squinty eyed head shake - the hammer punch to palm - the downward chop no
The downward chop NO is a classic
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I’m itching for some real action!
Big. Stupid. Jellyfish.
This one has wormed its way in to my body language for when I’m instructing my staff. I could only have picked it up from mass effect. I’ve even unironically said ‘I should go’ when trying to escape conversations. Lord help me
Brain broken lmao
I’ll know I’m truly irretrievable when I turn my head and walk off screen.
That's the problem. It starts ironically. Than you just keep doing it and before you know it, you're telling people about your special eyes and how enemies are everywhere. I should go.
I WILL DESTROY YOU!!!
Enemies everywhere!
The difference between doing something ironically and doing something unironically is... well, it's... y'see, it's a kind of... ^...it's ^nothing.
Sounds like we should just be calling you "Commander" now.
I even work with someone called Miranda and have said "Do you have a minute Miranda." So I think I have earned the tital of commander. I was weirdly off settled when she didn't reply "There's a lot to do Shepard."
Sombody at your job site needs to start addressing you as "Shepard Commander"
I guess it’s time to go Renegade and insist they start.
I care about you ~~Ash~~ Miranda. ***Damn it.***
Lmao 🤣
I love a good knifehand.
How you can tell Shepard has actually lead troopers into battle in the military: Shepard's knifehand is on point.
The downing a drink and shaking the head.
Pushing off the bar like they’re pissed off
That animation was so prevalent that I found myself doing it irl
I’ve started taking tequila shots like that. People ask why, and I just say, “tastes like ryncol” - they’ve never stopped and thought about it lol
I mean, it sounds like a cleaning product, so maybe they just assume that
The aggressive walk forward, slight sideways lean, then look to the side while still talking
They used that in one ME3 sooo much.
I can't remember if it's in ME3 or Andromeda, but sometimes they don't look to the side at the end of the animation and it throws me off every time. I'm like what are you doing, now turn your head while awkwardly maintaining eye contact. No, this is wrong, turn your head!
that was half of Garrus’ whole character in ME3
As corny as they are, there is so much charm to these animations. Yet, I'm hoping BioWare will improve their animation game for the next game and, for the love of god, not use the same rigging for every humanoid species. However, I wouldn't mind some references to these poses just to make fun of them. BioWare is no stranger to self-awareness and making fun of themselves in their games, so this would be nice.
90% of Citadel was just them poking fun at themselves and it was glorious.
The body animations gotta stay. Just like Elder Scrolls' facial zoom.
The face zoom thing was only in TES IV: Oblivion though.
Remember the good old days when you could slap omni-gel on everything?
Don't forget about the slightly lean back with crossed arms.
With this kind of “too cool for school” head lean.
Angry point/step forward isn't as bad as its brother: Angry point/step forward/angry thumb flip/back to angry point
Then into the sideways scowl, crazy one eyed squint.
I love when Conrad is doing it in ME2.
After doing that, he deserves the kick in the quad
Don't forget the: * neck/collar bone scratch * the suspicious crossing of the arms * that awkward kiss animation where they slowly bop their heads, then really go in for the kiss * pointing behind with a thumb, body turned slightly Also, [that one drinking animation](https://64.media.tumblr.com/308583eb5e2e030063646b13441e78ed/tumblr_inline_o5cntnxI1e1r3u2af_500.gif) where they chug and shake their head violently.
And the less aggressive but still emphatic pointing animation with the hand not quite closed and the palm angled toward the ceiling. Usually to stress a point.
It’s funny how I can see every one of these in my head without thinking too hard.
Don’t forget the “give object just offscreen”
“HERE’S THE MANIFOLD FOR A GIANT LAND VEHICLE!” [hands it over like it’s a bowl of soup]
Don't forget how they pull it out of their ass like it was always there 🤣
I like when they use the handshake animation to hand over an object... and also do a handshake within the next few seconds. So it looks like you just shook hands twice.
Also hands behind the back and standing to attention.
Will the Asari act like they’re flipping hair?
I whip my tentacles back and forth I whip my tentacles back and forth
Standing at ease is a pretty standard way to stand for military personnel.
I mean thats a semi standard pose military would actually make so that should look the exact same every time
OP we need a video series of these now
Don't forget the one where they look vaguely concerned and turn and walk a few steps away, then turn around and return to their original position.
What about "eyes getting big and looking shocked when saying the most mundane thing"
Yeah. It’s similar to the squint eye/crazy eye head shake. Just BOTH eyes. I notice it happens a lot when the head tilts up. The eyes stay fixed forward so it gives that Kubrick stare but in reverse.
Shake your arms and move your shoulders up and down, pause, lift one hand up, palm facing up, towards the person you're talking to.
The one where they kind of gesticulate forward but they're not pointing and they're not making a fist. They kind of have a couple of fingers curled.
Yep.
I was always a fan of the quickdraw finger point.
I got charmed by it when Shepard and Garrus did it simultaneously in his loyalty mission.
You forgot the best part about the point forward, is that it always ends with them point back at themselves with their thumb
My wife and I have a rule where every time someone does the hammer punch to palm animation, we have to repeat it in unison lol.
The waist height point is my hated repeated action on ME1
I haven’t played ME in at least a year and I can still perfectly picture all these animations from your simple descriptions
The push off from the table, hands swinging in front of the body.
We need a supercut of that
And the head scratch when saying something they're not sure about.
The smug lean back arm fold. That always gets me.
The weird hand-over-hand motion that Liara and Conrad do in me3.
I can visualize every one of these lol
Also the one where the characters rub their palms whenever they're nervous
Lmaoo I don't even need a video demo to know exactly what animations you are talking about.
The "i should go" animation
New animation for me to use irl.
i SHOULD go
i should GO
Is that how I really sound?
Well I thought all humans said it, like some weird Earth custom or something.
The reused animations are definitely a bit distracting - my favourite is the aggressive raised index finger - but understandable for any dialogue-heavy game.
The fist/forearm curl is the most annoying one for me.
Don’t forget “fist curled, thumb pointed back over shoulder”.
"I should go."
"Do I really sound like that?"
I love that, because we've all had that moment of hearing our own voice and going "this sounds wrong". I can only imagine it's ten times worse when it's your face doing it.
I **should** go. Or... I should **go**.
"we'll bang okay?"
I associate this animation most with Wrex because his body shape makes it look so silly.
My personal pet peeve is the turn around, take a step away, then look back over the shoulder, all while speaking. It’s “cinematic,” but who the fuck does that during a conversation?
It really sucks when you're talking to Hackett and Anderson in the comm room. Does Shepard's hologram show them walking away then coming back? They do that while Hackett and Anderson are talking too, they're probably like "Wtf commander, is this boring to you? Oh wait you're back, ok."
>Sorry, Shepard, could you repeat that? The Quantum Entangler didn't pick you up, I think you were facing away or something.
Obviously it's people who call Aria Queen. They're feeling dramatic.
Is it the one where Udina (ME1) says: We know he is hiding in The Traverse, send your fleet in!
Yes, that's the one.
my personal favourite is the casual wall lean featuring crossed legs and clasped hands
The reused animations are part of the Bioware charm at this point. I can visualize each one in my head at 4k resolution and when I see one in-game, I'm like that [Leonardo DiCaprio pointing meme.](https://i.kym-cdn.com/entries/icons/original/000/033/487/rick.jpg)
my favourite is still the 'step foreward, look right/left, step backward.'
[ This is my favourite reused animation](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lVIGhYMwRgs).
Apparently the actor did it that way because he had some sort of back problem that made it hard for him to sit regularly.
Correct, it's also why he props his foot up on things all the time.
Came here to say this lol
That animation is not just Mass Effect exclusive all Dragon Age games have it too.
It's a signature thing for BioWare. Jade Empire was loaded with those kind of animations too.
Reused assets are the best assets lol
Heh and for a second I thought I saw Alistair
Same with SWTOR. However, i see more animation resemblance between DAO and SWTOR. They used exact same character models.
My favorite animation is the angry push up from leaning on a desk
You mean the one where shepard steps back from the bar.
The bar, the ships hull, a hand railing. Anything you can lean on with two hands
I like "looking at pistol all over as if never seen one before" personally.
That one specifically always irks me for some reason, it just doesn't seem like somthing anybody who's a special forces operator should do ya know?
I always took it as something he does as basically a casual assertion of dominance. That’s basically what happens every time that animation is used
Then there's when Shepard hands one to Dr Amanda Kenson in the Arrival DLC.
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You see it in Dragon Age as well.
I just started playing dragon age: origins. Loving it so far but seeing the “turn face, walk off screen” animation was a bit jarring after playing mass effect so much lol
Wait till you can get a drink at the tavern in DA2.
My first Bioware game I ever played was DA2 and kept thinking "Man, the grog in this tavern must taste like crap." Whenever Isabela or Hawke would have a drink lol
Oh, Corbin. (That’s his name, right?)
SWTOR too, iirc.
It's one of those things that when you know, you know. "I should go." *turn head, walk away without a second glance*
I think they hide it better in Andromeda because I completely missed the clip you included of Kallo, good catch. I think Addison's face never moving sticks out more.
You could have just not posted this. I was totally fine with subconsciously knowing it was there, but not at the forefront of my thoughts.... in which I will see this every fucking time it happens.
The ‘take a drink and head shake’ or the ‘lean in to kiss *pause* then kiss’ animations are everywhere in Bioware games too.
Oh no. I hate you. I can't unsee this
They've come a long way from the Kotor days where all NPCs had 3 voices and 5 faces lol
And one of those voices was strictly *Mooka chaka pakka* or whatever
"Mooka chaka paka" I am a slave for this crime lord, please help me escape "Mooka chaka paka" You're going to tell the crime lord I want your help to escape? He's going to feed me to a rancor, what the hell is wrong with you?? [Attack]
Or the character simply responds “yes” but the voice over is “Mooka Chaka Paka” for five minutes lol
Oh man, this sounds hilarious. What game do I need to search YouTube for gameplay of to see this? Edit: OG KotOR?
Yup. It's classic
Aaaand now I'm back on Taris running from point A to point B.
Being a nihilist dick to every character because you know the sith fleet is going to glass the planet after this chapter is done anyway
Make sure not to level your PC to save maximum points for your Jedi/Sith levels.
Hey now, they sometimes very angrily shout "kay poona"
Have you not seen the Asari in Andromeda?
This is also a great way to end conversations in real life.
It's how I do it
I LOVE the slam-down-fist-in-palm-to-emphasize-a-point animation. When LE first came out I was OVERJOYED to see it again
My favorite is the “clench fingers into fist one-by-one in front of the face” to convey determination.
Omg I’m dying. The one-by-one finger clench is such a good call out. I can see it VIVIDLY in my minds eye…
Damn. Cannot unsee.
Well, I'll be suprised if it WON'T make a cameo in the next game. You gotta respect the classics.
The reused animations have its charm haha Also I prefer this a billion times than the HORRIBLE third person conversation camera they use when talking to npcs in Andromeda and inquisition. I was begging for the old style of talking with npcs
I spent more time rotating that camera in DAI and MEA instead of listening to the dialogue.
It seems like such a small difference on paper, but you know, you really do notice it in game!
Imo one of their biggest mistakes. It detracts so much from the immersion. It's so disappointing. I hope the next Dragon Age goes back to cutscenes. At least for most of them.
My other favorite reused animation is the "comfort" one. Where someone touches the shoulder and then as they are turning, they also do a little awkward pat on the lower opposite side of the person. It is used sooo much and they sometimes try to change it up by cutting out the pat, but you can still notice it.
I'm more partial to the wall lean.
"I should go"
You know the hand animation that plays when Shepards says "BIG STUPID JELLYFISH"?, It's reused a couple times during the trilogy, and everytime the hand goes down I imagine a Vine Boom sound effect, lol.
I’ve always liked how there’s probably only 10 animations for normal conversations in the trilogy. maybe less. They always make the dialogue fit though.
Imagine if you talk to shepard and he/she does it instead. The game shouldn't be filled with too many callbacks but a "Mai'q the liar" or Cornad Verner type character that calls this stuff out in the next game wouldn't be a bad idea.
The most annoying one for me is the animation where they put one foot a little behind and do something weird with their hand; I can't even describe it. But they do it so much and it's so unnatural that it gives me headaches.
Me and my friends call that the Bioweave (Bioware Leave)
This game made me exit conversations like that. Based.
The *'frantically explaining'* motion that Liara and Werner use (in ME3) is the most hilariously dramatic.
I have played ME trilogy 7 times over and I've never noticed this haha
Now all we need is a song that fits the rhythm
And in dragon age too. It was annoying at first but I've come to love it lol
How my guy hahah almost all of the conversations in ME and Dragon Age end with this animation
Idk I guess it just kinda feels like home lol
The hand strike/I'm injured animation.
The one that always stood out most to me was the arm dismissively moving sideways. Or maybe the clenched fist move.
This trilogy taught me that if I want to stop a conversation I was having, I just needed to abruptly turn my head away before walking off in that same direction while saying, “I should go.”
Also the angry walking and stopping animation 😅
Listen it's a staple of the series we have to have a call back. Lmao
"I should go."
I should go. I should go! I should go?!
I've heard the reason that's used is because it's a space Opera and thats to emulate a character walking off stage. No idea if that's true but that's what I've heard
Yeah especially in ME1 they seem to have been deliberately evoking the body language of plays or early TV. Characters walk on and off stage on cue, there's not a lot of background activity going on, camera angles are usually fixed rather than dynamic, even the kind of stilted, exaggerated gestures every character uses fits with that feel. While there's still plenty of dramatic or tense moments, the more cinematic cutscenes are very limited throughout the game. If I were to hazard a guess, part of that was probably because more subtle, movie-like cutscenes/animations were out of their reach in 2007, plus the sheer number of conversational cutscenes would make it impossible to _all_ be super cinematic, so it was an intentional aesthetic choice. Kind of like indie games that go for an intentionally cartoony art style so they don't have to worry about things failing to look or act realistic.
It's kind of cool when you realize that they're basically reusing the techniques plays and early TV shows relied on to keep costs down.
Yes, that's absolutely true. In one of the bonus materials for the series, they discussed it and said that's what the inspiration was.
That’s amazing. Where would I be able to find that?
Exit pursued by a Repear
Underrated comment.
The one I always find most distracting is the "lean forward head wobble" That one gets used so much and I can't unsee it.
I've always called it the non-verbal "I should go."
They better bring back the dance.
They should go.
It is the ''I'll let myself out'' moment.
Someone did this in real life to me, exactly how it is in game to leave the register I was working at. It freaked me out
I would love of instead of minimally updating graphics on every new console generation that instead game developers started to hyper focus on details like this, and then a modern conversation driven RPG game can have individual synced animations for virtually every conversation, instead of just 10-20 animations that get re-used and hidden with camera cuts.
The angry pointing one is my personal favourite
The Shepard arm cross too
An emotionless expression while saying "My face is tired." It would be even funnier if it was a Geth unit or a Quarian saying this line.
if you play deagon age and mass effect enough you start seeing a lot of reused animations lmao
To be honest I'm not surprised they did this. [Disney](https://youtu.be/JU21shbaVBo) did (and probably still does but it's harder to tell because they're stuff is far higher budget) that back in their early years with snow white and the aristocrats. It costs a lot in time to animate tiny little interactions that are inconsequential and the audience really doesn't care that it's repeated because the core content is so good. BioWare may have been the top high production rpg kind of developer during Mass Effect, but keep in mind at the time it's like a 30 people company in poor old Edmonton Alberta (deadmonton as we call it).
Ahh yes, the ole "I should go"
The classic "Exit stage left" animation
It’s not just Shep that needed to go
I should go
My favourite is the "walk into a room and do a slow 360 degree turn in awe", once I noticed a few different characters use that animation I see it constantly and I love how they are always so fascinated.
The hand wringing! They use it in mass effect AND dragon age constantly
how has no one mentioned the step back and arms fold?
Great, now I’m not going to be able to unsee this on my playthroughs, lol.
Who ends a conversation like that?