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[Kilroy the Grand]

You got your uncanny valley definition wrong. It's when it's almost exactly but not quite human that freaks people out. The slender men, for instance. Clowns. The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. Some of the more advanced robots that mimic human facial expressions.

The whole "fear factor peters out" thing, when objects start to become very familiar. Be honest, how much does Data from Start Trek: TNG scare you? Things that have very large glaring differences that obvious mark them as inhuman make them the scariest.

I don't think the uncanny valley accounts for things that are monsters in human form though.

To be fair, all that Data had was cheap makeup and bad contacts, A better example would be the borg.

[Darkmere]

Star Trek had rubber foreheads, nothing about any of the aliens was very Uncanny Valley. The thin man concept basically gets UV spot on, it looks human enough that looking closer shows how monstrous it is. I'm sure it will be better/worse to see animated, as the exaggerated frames suggest, it probably moves like most of its limbs are broken, and something about the images suggest speed and superhuman agility.

Personally, I like the art direction. Cartoony camp aliens never really scared me, but these do. Cyberdiscs actually look alien instead of like a prop from Close Encounters. Mutons in green body condoms aren't imposing, especially with form-fitting abs that carry all the emotional weight of nipples on a Batman suit.

Reserving judgement on gameplay until I .. play the game. I'd rather not have a carbon copy of the original; I already own the original. I'll be satisfied if it's a fun turn-based alien invasion-themed strategy game. That's what X-Com is, right?

[Vibhor]

Personally, I like the art direction. Cartoony camp aliens never really scared me, but these do. Cyberdiscs actually look alien instead of like a prop from Close Encounters. Mutons in green body condoms aren't imposing, especially with form-fitting abs that carry all the emotional weight of nipples on a Batman suit.

Uh, those green condoms were not "condoms". That was their very skin. They were so badass that they fought you naked. Anyway, the aliens were always expendable units with no personality. May have to do with the fact that they were biologically modified to be ruthless killing machines(none of the aliens are in their original form and are heavily modified). Basically, the mutons had a skin harder than any armor. Making a species wear armor even though their skin is harder than it makes little sense. That means not only the current design just for cool but also that it makes even less sense than before(IF they plan to use the lore from the first game)

[Muz]

I don't mind a few changes to the lore; comic books do it all the time, and frankly, I never did like X-Com's lore. Even the UFO games were a little more believable. The new mutons are cooler looking, though IMO, I'd have preferred sort of a hobgoblin look to the armored gorilla look (but it still works). I liked them being more human-ish, it gave them sort of an intelligent look. They weren't really that tough either, IIRC.

Though I worry I might just find too many spoilers. I always hated watching "the making of.." for those movies, because they show you the whole thing before the movie. I'd rather have been surprised by the thin men, then read about them.

[zchris13]

Muz, you must have never played on the harder difficulties (Did you use xcom util to make it stop being beginner?)

[LoSboccacc]

To be fair, all that Data had was cheap makeup and bad contacts, A better example would be the borg.

borg aren't uncanny, borg are scary by design. 'uncanny valley' is when you try to make something so lifelike it turns out creepy

it's hy pixar's are stilized even if they can do way better in term of models and animations.

this is the reference image for uncanny:

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

it tries so hard to look human, and it fails just by a little, but it turns out creepy anyway.

this is the literature counter example: enough lifelike that we don't have a negative emotional response:

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

I don't know why they used an average model, however. but this is not uncanny, just a bit ugly. totally different.

[GlyphGryph]

And the borg aren't really Uncanny at all - the human parts are distinctly, normally human, and the non-human parts are clearly so as well. Uncanny requires some part to look almost but not quite human.

The thin men here are actually decent examples if their movement ends up being ever so slightly off.

[kerlc]

A.K.A. they are like G-Men of the universe. seem human, but something's off (although, in G-Man terms, he's not so much in the uncanny valley as he is just weird)

[Sowelu]

Uncanny Valley is triggered most easily by movement.  Someone who looks photorealistic but moves like a robot, or someone who looks just OK but is entirely disjointed and can spin their head backwards, etc.  For G-Man, it was a combination of eyes, movement...and speech patterns.

[kerlc]

but, let us not forget that he was intended to do all those things. okay, not HL1, but all other NPCs did all those things too.

[Domenique]

this is the reference image for uncanny:

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

it tries so hard to look human, and it fails just by a little, but it turns out creepy anyway.

Now that is what I call OMG KILL IT WITH FIRE-esque.

[Strange guy]

Really not sure about the transformer cyberdiscs, I'd prefer they hadn't added that. I hope they still explode. Not a fan of the glowing chest, hunch back, no facial features but eyes sectoids either. The mutons were a bit odd looking, and as elite soldiers this didn't fit them unlike the sectoids. Still making them more bestial doesn't really fit with elite soldier status and I would have liked them to have avoided bulky armour as homage to the original designs. Thin men look very cool though. Definitely my favourite of the bunch, and if they have any other new aliens I hope they are as good.

[kerlc]

every time i think about the thin men, i think about an interstellar lawyer agency, having many branches and agents all around the universe. they go around space with their suitcases and in their suits, looking human, but slightly off (you know, just like real la-BAD KERLC! RESTRAIN YOURSELF!). then they pull out plasma cannons out of those suitcases.

[Darkmere]

Uh, those green condoms were not "condoms". That was their very skin.

Check the autopsy report again. They were big pink guys wearing neon green tights.

[Aqizzar]

every time i think about the thin men, i think about an interstellar lawyer agency, having many branches and agents all around the universe. they go around space with their suitcases and in their suits, looking human, but slightly off (you know, just like real la-BAD KERLC! RESTRAIN YOURSELF!). then they pull out plasma cannons out of those suitcases.

Have you seen the episode of Adventure Time with The Businessmen?  That's how I'm going to imagine them talking.

They're probably the alien design that I like the most so far (out of the four), especially if the animations are all they're cracked up to be.  They'll add an element of visual threat that's a bit missing with the Sectoid redesign.

For me at least, part of what made the Sectoids a bit creepy was how child-like they looked, juxtaposed against their violence.  Of course, they're only scary for a little while and then you consider them an annoyance... Until the Commanders start showing up, and then their puniness isn't so funny anymore.

Then there's the Mutons.  I appreciate the inhuman, gorilla-like design, I'm fine with that.  I really love the idea of them moving and acting like a military unit, which is what they were always supposed to be - I'm hoping "tribal" can extend to mean "wolf pack".

There are two problems the Sectoids and Mutons share that I have concerns about.  One is the lack of mouths - hearing an alien scream when you kill them was one of the most satisfying parts of X-COM, and I'm hoping that's still there, and it would make a lot more sense if the aliens had mouths to make noise with.  The other is the abundance of light-emitting elements, especially when they describe the Sectoid's glowing chest as a feature of its design.  I don't know where they're going with that, but it certainly doesn't make them look stealthy, which is exactly what all of the aliens are supposed to be, looming up on you in the dark.

The cyberdisk I have no opinion on, and won't until I see one animated.