Am I the only one feeling a bit disappointed?

I'll be back later today comparing SotN's Short Sword to Miriam's Short Sword.
And there's nothing concrete to imply that Bloodstained's swords will speed up significantly later in the game. That's just speculation and doesn't take in information we actually have for the game. The animation we have now for this starting sword is sluggish.

I'll be back later today comparing SotN's Short Sword to Miriam's Short Sword.
And there's nothing concrete to imply that Bloodstained's swords will speed up significantly later in the game. That's just speculation and doesn't take in information we actually have for the game. The animation we have now for this starting sword is sluggish.

I didn't think you were trying to claim he was doing so maliciously, but I think making up information couldn't really be anything else but.

But that was the entire point of the Crissaegrim. It didn't function like any other sword in the game. The speed was its gimmick. It was the exception, not the rule.

I'm referencing Symphony of the Night because it's the most popular game in the series and typically the example people go to for tight responsive controls. That and because time and time again that's who everyone else compares Miriam to, saying that Miriam is designed to emulate Alucard's animation speeds and "that's why it feels sluggish." And yet it can be pointed out that no, Alucard wasn't as sluggish as Miriam is.

I don't really think Soma or Johnathan were either, albeit a bit slower than Alucard, but I sadly don't have an easy way to record/prove that right now. I've never played Order of Ecclesia, but only one example out of four to match Miriam wouldn't do her much justice anyway.

Alright. I'll bite. I took the time to dust off my Wii U and record Soma and Johnathan as well.
Before making the comparison, I want to point out that you might be right. While Soma and Johnathan's animations are still faster than Miriam's, they can't move until they move their hand back, while Alucard and Miriam can cancel the animation once the blade is fully extended. This might balance Miriam's slow animation with Soma and Johnathan's total animation lock.

Keep in mind, they're not using rapiers. They're not using end game weapons. They're not using gimmicky speed weapons. They're all using the same thing: your basic Short Sword that you get soon after starting the game.

Result: You are absolutely correct.


Miriam's animation is the longest if you count for its recovery, but since, like Alucard's, you can ignore the recovery and move once the blade is fully extended, it turns out to only be a frame longer than Alucard's and actually three frames faster than other Igavanias.
So when watching the game, Miriam looks like she has sluggish attacks. But in practice, when actually playing as Miriam, she only has a single frame difference with Alucard— certainly not one to worry about.

I concede the sword point to you.

About the whole discussion speed and that guy's tumblr comparision. I must remind everyone of this video:

I suppose it all started back in January of 2016 when backers were given the opportunity to vote on the shader designs for Miriam. We were given the option of a complete 3D design which gave Miriam a more textured and realistic approach, then we were given a much more colorful, yet much more unrealistic cell-shaded version of Miriam complete with thick and heavy outlining. 
I was concerned for two reasons:
First of all,  I was concerned that if the cell-shaded Miriam was chosen that it would actually degrade the visual integrity of the game overall; it would be a gothic setting with 3D monsters and backgrounds, shadowed atmospheres, and a big, thickly outlined cartoon character sticking out from all of it like a sore thumb. 
Second of all, regardless of how I felt about it, from a business standpoint, it didn't seem wise to not trust the game developers to make their own decisions; by putting the fate of the game's aesthetic in the hands of the fans, they essentially insured that if there was any substantial divide, even if it was, say, 70% to 30%, that would mean that 30% of all the backers would ultimately be disappointed in the design choice.

As fate would have it, the cell-shaded Miriam won. I tried very hard to be optimistic about it regardless, but every single game clip I have seen thus far, up to and including the most recent E3 trailer, has confirmed my fears; Miriam and the other monsters stick out like a sore thumb because of their design choice, which does, in fact, deteriorate the visual integrity of the game. They look like the sprites in Smash Bros. for the 3DS. 

Next is the "improvements" that the developers made on the background. Yeah, from a technical standpoint, the backgrounds look a lot more realistic. However, they also happen to make the rooms look a lot more empty and make Miriam's unrealistic design stick out even more than in previous clips of the game. 

...And is it too much to ask that if  Miriam's unnecessary and illogical scarf can be animated to flap around with her movements that they could at least give a little bounce to her hair? I'm pretty sure they didn't have Aquanet in the era that this game is supposed to be taking place in. 

I know that a lot of hard work has been pouring into the production of this game, especially considering that the initial release date of March 2017 has been pushed to some time in 2018, but I can't help but feel like there are too many conflicting creative minds going into this project. As it stands, it feels like this game is a bit of a Frankenstein's Monster. 

I've shown the guy that video as well (sent him a message after figuring out the similar attack speeds.)
To be fair though, that video emphasizes more movement speed than animation speed though.

Also, something he mentioned to me that he didn't in the article was the awkward turning animation in both games. It's really slow and clunky and something he pointed out that I didn't even realize until he mentioned it was that most people just jump when turning to cancel/skip the turning animation. I did that all the time and I never even realized I was doing that. It's kind of not very good even in SotN.

Also if you look closely enough, you can still see the issues with jumping differences between the two games (more noticeably in slowmo.) And the slashes are even more sluggish there than they are in the 2017 demo in comparison to Alucard.

CastleDan : I'm with you. Pad in hand, the last demo felt perfect to me, and honestly even now even if I KINDA understand where the critiques are aimed, I honestly can't see the slowness, the floatiness, the awkward animations... I'm used to that style. I felt at home. And honestly (PERSONAL OPINION) it is not something that "didn't need to be like the old games, those games are old". Clunky NES vanias' controls are a thing of the past that needed a restyle. Heck, even Circle of the Moon's controls felt really clunky. But SOTN and every game post CotM was always killer in terms of controls to me. The formula isn't old, it aged extraordinarily well, and every single IGAvania (plus CotM) holds its own against every other game of the style that has come after. And don't get me wrong, we've had our share of INCREDIBLE metroidvanias during the years, but if I were obliged to choose? I'd pick Order of Ecclesia over any of them. Of course, this is all my personal opinion and I reiterate that I kinda see the point of those wanting an improvement, but I just feel this way. I also don't want to come off as an incredibly biased fanboy that will deem everything IGA throws his way perfect. I have critiques regarding the visuals of the game, mostly, and I hope they improve (and I'm confident they will with time. There is still a lot of time after all), but the game feel, to me, is on point. There is the foundation for a good IGAvania. They will need time, hard work and attention to detail to make this an AWESOME IGAvania, but even now this looks good and promising in my opinion. At worst, I think it will be a transition title that is excusable whenever you work in a completely new context, like Harmony of Dissonance, (to an extent) Dawn of Sorrow and Lament of Innocence were, and they were good games. Even that would be fine by me.

End rant, you guys are great