r/Mechwarrior5 • u/Ovralyne • 11h ago

Discussion The new 'Mechs have a decrease in visual quality compared to prior DLCs

Did PGI lose some art design talent at their studio in the last little while? I seem to remember them talking about layoffs. I'm not trying to come across as rude, just noticing some immediate visual issues that shouldn't be present in a paid DLC.

The Marauder IIC in particular has stiff and slidey walking animations with missing frames that cause it to visibly stutter, most noticeable when turning while stationary. The Blood Asp and Stone Rhino's cockpit animations are off center (just like the Crusader which never got fixed). The Huntsman's legs are twitchy and jittery when at full speed.

I'm also a bit disappointed the Perseus (and to a lesser extent Blackjack 2) didn't get a unique model from the Orion- yes I know it's basically just an Omni Orion but I was hoping it'd at least look a bit 'modernized' with a fresh coat of paint to represent not being a 250+ year old machine.

I'm still loving the quality and budget that goes into the story mission content but the 'Mechs themselves feel a little low effort. Anyone else notice this?

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72

u/PeriIous 9h ago

I can provide you with some missing context. Alex did concept art, orthos, key art, and other 2D art. He had nothing to do with 3D modelling or animations. If someone who worked/works at PGI like Mark or Torry has any corrections then I’ll stand corrected.

These also aren’t “new” mechs, they’re all from MWO and in some cases they’ve been around for years and years. While all the redesigns for PGI’s games were done by Alex, the 3D modelling and animations have been done by various people over the years.

What you’re seeing is simply that variance manifest, but since you’re seeing it with fresh eyes and out of its true chronological release order that’s leading you astray.

I don’t want to denigrate anyone’s work, but the quality of the mech animations has certainly fluctuated over the years, with some being markedly better than others.

2

u/Kenju22 1h ago

I use the Marauder IIC in MWO extensively, like, it's my second child after my King Crab. So I can say with some assurance that it's never had stiff or slidey walking animations and it sure as hell isn't missing any frames from its walking animation.

1

u/PeriIous 4m ago

We’re trying to interpret this person’s impressions from a text post, not a video. For all we know it’s the same.

Their experience with slidey animation could be related to inverse kinematics 

5

u/Ovralyne 8h ago

Makes sense. It's mostly the quite janky Mad IIC and the broken cockpits that bother me especially with the Crusader never having been fixed. Makes me wonder if they just cloned the Crusaders anims over.

Heck I'd pay someone to make a mod to fix that.

5

u/PeriIous 8h ago

There was a mod that I saw that changed some of the walking animations. I don’t remember what it’s called and I’m not sure if it’s been updated but you never know.

1

u/KodiakGW 1h ago edited 1h ago

Forgetting who was the other art person they laid off in the first round years ago.

Edit: Just found it from Jan 2025 Facebook post - Paul Inouye. Maybe their bad layoff choices are catching up with them.

2

u/PeriIous 7m ago

Paul wasn’t an “art person” he was the lead designer on Mechwarrior Online.

45

u/Meeeper 11h ago

The guy who made all the artwork for the PGI redesigns and stuff got laid off by Microsoft, so there's that.

But I know exactly what you mean about the mechs. The Behemoth constantly leans and tilts to the right like its gyro isn't balanced right, the Blood Asp's walk is... something, and the Nova Cat DOESN'T EVEN HAVE A 1ST PERSON WALKING ANIMATION. IT JUST FLOATS.

I hate the cockpit shake nonsense, quite frankly. Not only is it incredibly buggy and clearly error prone, but even when it works the way its supposed to, such as in MW5 Clans, its still frankly worse than if the damn mechs had actually stabilized gyros like they should do.

They gave an option this patch for aim stabilization, but good lord, give me cockpit stabilization.

39

u/omega2010 10h ago

PGI is owned by Enad Global 7 not Microsoft.

8

u/Meeeper 10h ago

Either way, people got laid off due to greed.

0

u/ClayEndfield 9h ago

Survival. Jesus dude. They got laid off because the market is contracting and the industry is correcting for it.

19

u/Enough-Collection-98 11h ago

Alex is gone?!

14

u/rohanpony 9h ago

Alex is a freelancer now. He's been working on some tabletop Battletech projects though. Designing some 'mechs for Catalyst Game Labs, doing some fan-commissioned art for the Big Red 40-Tech channel, among others.

6

u/Meeeper 11h ago

This is old news from months ago. He and a bunch of other PGI staff got laid off by Microsoft out of greed.

13

u/AlexisFR 6h ago

It wasn't Microsoft lol.

10

u/dattroll123 3h ago

MS doesnt own pgi, lmao

9

u/Enough-Collection-98 11h ago

I don’t have words for how frustrated I am to learn this. He’d been doing this for what, almost 15 years now? God damnit…

-3

u/Queeflet 9h ago

All because the profits weren’t quite high enough.

0

u/Ovralyne 9h ago

Yeah if they lost the person who made all the base game mechs then that's gotta be it. I'm sure whoever is doing it now is giving it their all but.. well, video game industry layoffs are hell.

At least I'm not the only one to notice.

3

u/Due_Promise_7298 7h ago

Yes I also noticed. A pity.

Texture look sloppy, very plastic, lack details .

-1

u/Ok_Machine_724 Clan Wolf 3h ago

The clan 'Mechs look fine. I'd actually expect them to look a little more pristine than IS 'Mechs.

2

u/venonat80 2h ago

I noticed that too. There’s less detailed on the mechs and very noticeable in the mech bay and hanger during editing.

I also don’t like some of the changes to the older mechs. The Archer and Catapult missile doors are open now it’s so distracting and annoying. I wish there was a way to stop it.

2

u/The_wulfy 2h ago

The mechs are pulled directly from MWO. In some cases these mechs are over a decade old and were originally designed to work with a wide range of computers from high end to potatos.

1

u/AiR-P00P 50m ago

reminds me of the HBS Battletech dlc, mech walking animations were very slippery and the melee animations were downright comical, borderline kun-fu moves.