Let's chat seriously about PC Animals...

Cathulhu, your logic has no place here. It is easily overcome by Leo posting the same frackin' videos over and over and over again, as if to drown out naysayers by dint of sheer overpostingness.

Leo thinks that humans instinctually start trying to scratch opponents when threatened, and that punches, kicks etc. are "learned behavior."

He thinks that dogs wielding 9' swords in their mouths are the epitome of awesome.

He has said he "does not give a crap what [other players] think." Fair enough, because I for one certainly feel free to reject the "awesomeness" of his sword-fighting dogs and evident love for all things furtastic. Meh.

The developers will settle this, one way or another. I have a feeling they're NOT going to come down on the "hey yeah cool, dogs fighting with swords, make it so!!" side of things, but let's don't disturb Leo's fantasy. Its all he has.

Not to mention this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kJzQx_zEGoM

....is quite possibly, the most ridiculous-looking video-game related thing that I have literally ever seen. The more it gets posted the more ridiculous it looks. What the flaming hell would a 10-foot-tall wolf need with a sword?! He would bite one's head off T-Rex style, no weapons needed and game over! Puns intended!

Ridiculousness.

In a comicbook setting, with all the amazing powers and abilities, the "why?" is more important than the "how?" when it comes to the suspension of disbelief - for example, a wolf that can breathe fire isn't a problem - it could be magic, or some kind of mutation - it wouldn't be too wacky for a comicbook universe, so the "how?" doesn't really need much explanation - and the "why?" is answered by it being an animal that uses its mouth as its main weapon, so fiery breath incresaes the power of that weapon, and as a hunting animal it also adds a ranged option to its attacks - but a wolf with a sword in its mouth fails the "why?" question - it's blocking its main weapon with an inferior one that also weighs it down and restricts its mobility while requiring it to use extra effort for a more limited attack.

Superpowers and speical abilities are only plausible when they give the user some kind of advantage, otherwise there's no reason why they'd use them - and a wolf with a sword in its mouth is at a disadvantage compared to a wolf witout a sword in its mouth.

Somebody want epic animals with epic swords? Well if you're looking at that videogame over there, you're looking in the wrong place!

Those are humans with animal parts, not animals

And this Japanese legend gives credence... how? Or did I miss somethbing where legends somehow make animations in this game appear out of nowhere and suddenly not look dumb when played on a wolf model?

Watched the boss fight. Oh man, awesome boss... but why the stupid sword idea? A giant wolf would have been better, but no, some idiot thought a sword would make it better.

Dark Souls 2: Our wolves have flamethrowers!

So, now we're talking about giant wolves with gunblades in their mouths?

Welp, not that it's unfun having posters troll me, I'll just comment on the sentiments of particular posters to save myself the time quoting them and replying to individual statements...

Jayboh: You must have lost track of the actual OP. This was about Player Controlled animal characters and what they'd look like using regular Player powersets, of which was highlighted by the OP with examples like Electric Melee. Yes, that the discussion has reached nearly 15 pages shows it is a topic of debate whether you agree with it or not. It has little to do with animals wielding weapons in their mouth and more to do with animals with powers period.

As for making the giant wolf with a sword fight into just a giant wolf fight? Because it's been done. Not saying that's a bad thing, but there's little worthy of note with the latter. Things that stand out more are what catch interest, especially when we're talking about fiction.

dugfromthearth, that's a really interesting story. Is that an actual legend or did you make that up?

BenRGamer, curious how one would go about enhancing an animal's natural weapons without actually being mutation, tech or magic since, well...how do you make their teeth stronger, their jaw more powerful and their physical strength to cut through the things a sword wielding player can? Attaching impervium claws to their paws is all well and good, but then (if the player had the option to choose a melee set with an animal model) that would be claws melee and only claws melee. Certainly have no problem with the opinion that animal model players being locked out of any weapon based set, but if that were not the case, making any weapon set claws is redundant.

Golden Girl, I've given you a 'why'. I've given you my 'why', other 'why's and random 'why's. Don't regurgitate your opinion at me just because you feel it inadequate for your limited creative concepts and don't bother rationalizing your stance with 'how's when you know damned well practically anything is possible in a comic book...especially when you disregard other 'how's that you feel 'aren't as knuckle-draggingly moronic' when they probably are.

Frankly, none of this is skin off my back. The OP asked what kind of animation work for certain sets with animal models and I expressed my concept for certain weapon sets. I'm not on a crusade to get this stuff in the game (I even say I really doubt it'd ever come to pass), so all the backward, bigotedly comments about furries and crap don't actually bother me (lol that's like crying at the guy down the street since that isn't my angle at all). Even the comments about it being unfit for CoH due to animation complexity doesn't bother me...because to pull of a wolf with a sword in its mouth would take some impressive animations which may or may not be in the studio's capabilities.

However, you, Golden Girl, have literally insulted my creativity by labeling something I invest in as stupid. No, I don't take it as a personal insult, but I do take it as an insult none the less and I'll be damned if I settle for that coming from a obnoxious one-dimensional person with lack of vision like yourself. No, I'm not mad...far from it. I'm determined.

So I probably should thank you, GG. I've been sitting on my hands in regards to personal projects of mine that I really should be pumping out but I'd always thought the works I come up with lack any flavor or uniqueness. But it's become apparent I probably am crazy, and crazy is good when you've got a spark of motivation behind it. I mean, some express how loony One Piece is with dogs barking rockets, eating fruits to give you powers and the like...some even call it crazy because it is. But One Piece isn't stupid...it's been persisting since 1997 and is probably one of the most popular manga in Japan and even so world wide and still going strong. You have to be a little crazy to take the world by storm and while I may not reach there it couldn't hurt to try.

So thanks for being an insulting, obnoxious, narrow minded peon in my path that I have to step on to move forward....or to put it shortly, thank you for being Golden Girl

And do continue. I'll try to keep up with this thread as it persists but I've got work to do