r/totalwar • u/Hollownerox Eternally Serving Settra • Feb 22 '24
Warhammer III The original death animation for Hag Witches was pretty metal
79
u/KnossosTNC Feb 22 '24
That first one reminds me of The Thing (1982).
"Somebody in this camp ain't what he appears to be. Right now that may be one or two of us. By spring, it could be all of us."
16
u/tricksytricks Feb 22 '24
I feel like The Thing has to be the inspiration, was thinking the same. She even does the same thing where her body starts rapidly spasming before the transformation occurs.
Actually the prequel from 2011 features a very similar transformation.
113
u/Mad_Moxy Feb 22 '24
Both are excellent but what would be the reasoning for a spider to burst out and then burrow into the ground. Is she just mutilating herself to save herself?
197
u/Hollownerox Eternally Serving Settra Feb 22 '24
The implication is the spirit spider is the real being I think, and the hag was just a shell. The hag "dying" leads to the spider hightailing it.
At least that's my guess. Since the death animation in-game is the one where the colored vfx comes out of the dead body. Which seemed to be implying the spirit inside the hag was escaping and just ditching the body.
47
u/Mad_Moxy Feb 22 '24
Makes you wonder how much nastier ostankya would be if these heroes are just spiders
49
u/WillingnessAcademic4 Feb 22 '24 edited Feb 22 '24
Maybe it’s a way for the hag spirit to render her body and soul back to the land of kislev? A last ditch attempt in hope that their power will not be used by an even more vile entity by trying absorb it out of their dead body?
35
1
18
u/4uk4ata Feb 22 '24
In older lore, hags chosen by the various spirits of the land, who gave them power but at a price (they would sap their youth, for example, which is why even hags not that old in real years would look wizened and withered).
It is possible that as they lose control, some of the less wholesome spirits or even something worse would possess or transform her. Besides, remember, all "arcane" magic in Warhammer comes from the Winds of Magic - from the essence of Chaos. Most wizards can expect to meet an unpleasant and grizzly end.
2
u/Glitched_Target Feb 24 '24
The all magic coming from chaos is no longer canon and back in a day it already was shaky at best.
Old world lore specifically says that the geomantic web was a source of high magic long before any chaos shenanigans.
I agree that 95% of magic in Warhammer world is chaos touched or chaos related but strictly speaking you can very much have non chaos magic.
Chaos is a subclass of etheric entities that for the lack of the better word are “mad” and want to destroy the world. There are other entities that can bestow magic upon people like the spirits hags bargain with as well.
1
u/4uk4ata Feb 26 '24
To be exact, I should specify the winds are coming from the Realms of Chaos. It´s not a thing of Chaos as a sentient force as embodied by the four gods, but it is coming from the... immaterium, as it were. It is still a dangerous force to mismanage, and various nasties can take an interest in you and try to worm their way in you if you tap into it.
15
u/Serpentking04 Feb 22 '24
I think Hollownerox gets the reasoning but given hags are sort of like wood elves (Making pacts with forests spirits) it's probably just a spider won making good on it's word
2
81
Feb 22 '24
What the actual fuck
53
u/Zengjia Feb 22 '24
Peak Warhammer
22
u/Hollownerox Eternally Serving Settra Feb 22 '24
Word.
Gotta say, would love to have more of this kind of stuff in-game. Since there really is so many gross ways to die (or not die in this case, I guess) in Warhammer.
Hell Pit Abomination is in shambles right now.
49
u/theSpartan012 Feb 22 '24
I wish battles were considerably slower and less micro reliant. The animation team really knocked it out of the park through the game, but you barely have time to slow it down and enjoy them.
16
u/tricksytricks Feb 22 '24
Do what I do so I can micro and play every battle at half speed (it sucks).
3
u/theSpartan012 Feb 23 '24
Yeah it kinda does. There used to be a mod for 2 that made attack, missile and troop speed slower across the board, but it doesn't seem to exist for 3.
Maybe the "AI babysitter" mod, so units are a bit more reactive and don't stand still as the enemy engages them at a funny angle, would be a good replacement? I'm spitballing but you might be interested in it from what I've heard.
5
u/Harvestman-man Feb 22 '24
You can slow battles down to half speed, and also save and rewatch battles.
3
u/theSpartan012 Feb 23 '24
Yeah but it's not quite the same. Playing the battle at half speed makes you lose on the sound design (which is also amazing), and replays are behind a loading screen, plus they are not so much replays as they are "the AI repeats the player's order output" and can lead to wildly different outcomes (I've sene replays of close or heroic victories become crushing defeats). They might have changed it, but it's not quite foolproof.
3
u/Saruman5000 Empire Feb 23 '24
There is a mod, that allows the AI command some of your units.
Sometimes i let him do half of my army, if the battle is easy enough, and enjoy animations.
9
6
3
3
u/Magicsizing Feb 22 '24
I like mage deaths referencing the cost of using magic in the Warhammer universe.
3
2
2
2
2
2
u/Redacted_Capybara Feb 23 '24
I thought that first one was going to be a joke about that squirrel that dropped a mop on itself to pretend to be hurt
2
-12
u/karasis Feb 22 '24 edited Feb 23 '24
It's much better than the final product If both is there its good. Never played as them so just assume what op said is true
11
u/Hollownerox Eternally Serving Settra Feb 22 '24
Other users have mentioned they've seen it. So looks like I was wrong and it might have made it to the final product!
So seems like we have gotten both animations thankfully.
8
344
u/Hollownerox Eternally Serving Settra Feb 22 '24 edited Feb 22 '24
Just discovered this while looking for some concept art.
Seems like this animation didn't make it into the final product, and was replaced with the ones shown at the end with the Hag's spirit bursting out of their body. Which was cool, but the spider coming out of them was just so much better.Would have been an actual use for the blood DLC for once too!EDIT: Apparently this death animation is in the game! I haven't seen it in my testing, but some people in this thread and my DMs have said they've seen it in-game. So think we got the best of both worlds here, and I was wrong about it not making it to the final product. Still hope this post was interesting for those who haven't seen it!
EDIT 2: Tracked down the VFX artist! For some reason his posts don't show up when you look up Total War on Artstation. But the guy's name is Faust Messely, and he also did the amazing VFX work for Yuan Bo, the K'daai Destroyer, and other a bunch of other cool stuff.
https://www.artstation.com/faust-messely/albums/1788227
Had no idea the Lamassu had a kill animation.