Do the units in Medieval 2 actually fight like they show in the trailers and promo videos?

[D.B. Cooper]

Like, I just saw one about Russia where a guy smacked his enemy in the head with a halberd, then swept him off his feet. Then he slammed the halberd several times into the fallen enemy's body to finish him.

Or another time I saw a knight trying to get up from the ground, then an enemy knight placed his foot on his head, and plunged his sword into his back.

Or yet another one where a knight slowly pulled his sword out of an enemy knight, who fell to his knees. Then the other knight made a huge slash and cut across his chest. The knight who was hit fell dead.

In the actual gameplay battles do the units do these things? Or are the really cool moves just promotional stuff made by CA? I hope it's the former, because that would be really, really cool to watch.

[I-the-gamer]

Yes, the units sometimes do that, but very rare. Just keep your eyes open.

[Mr. Os]

They actually do those finishing moves, but not very often and not very accurately.

[rainkloud]

Yeah it looks pretty in the trailers but the actual execution leaves something to be desired. The animations are really slooooow and it's unrealistic cuz a guy will do his killing animation and there'll be like 5 enemies around him but instead of attacking him they'll politely let him finish his move. Just watch the Dis English Knights. When they raise their hammers it's so slow it's like they're playing that game at the county fair where you hit the pad and the little thingy raises depending on how hard you hit it.....geez that thing must have a name...

[Ged]

It's fun if they do it right

[The Walrus]

They do it sometimes, but you have to be watching and sometimes the graphics aren't correctly lined up due to pushing from the other men in the fight

[crazyj]

I actually see a lot of well aimed finishing moves. The sweetest thing is when you get a whole row of the battle line (both friendly and enemy troops) or people right next to each other doing finishers on each other...seen that a few times.

[SteelKnight]

I've never seen it. Its a promo move I'm guessing.

[Mountain_Commander]

I rarely see finishing moves. Ive never seen a finishing move by calvary or done to calvary. Anyway to increase the amount of times a unit will do a finishing move. The animations are a major draw to the immersiveness of the huge battles.

[Kalos]

I've never seen it. Its a promo move I'm guessing.

Trust us, the finishing moves are in the game.

[italiano]

Rare? I see them often as well, but like someone said they're often not all that well lined up (usually the one with the enemy on the ground).

The better battles to watch are guys with swords or blunt weapons.

[Willor]

Alot of finishing moves aye, but they usually hit the air in my battkes, doesnt hit anyone

[Spong]

There aren't that many really and there are far fewer than in the promos; the first one the OP mentions of the russian berdicheman doing a leg hook and double chop when the opponent is on the ground is definately not in the game (though I remember it in the trailer and was sorely dissapointed at its removal) - axemen do not have finishers as such they just do lots of heavy blows and sometimes a particular side swipe which knocks the enemy twirling sideways in the air. (There was a post with a vid from when the original demo was realeased of a knight headbutting an enemy lol - plus we've all seen the archer kick to the groin fatality)

The other one missing from game that was in the promos is the two-handed swordsmen - there was footage of a German zweihander killing a french peasant by driving the sword sideways into his stomach then slashing it free, then driving it point first through his chest as he falls to his knees.

Alot of people mention some interesting cavalry deaths (not finishing moves as such) that I have never seen - such as the horse slowing down and the rider going limp before both collapse a few steps later. Also in the into movie (at one time it was promo material) there is a shot of a cavalryman actually riding down a footsoldier - in the sense that he is just crushed under the weight of the horse - never seen this in game either.

The only 'fatality' animations I know of are:

Swordsmen:

1.) right to left slash, left to right slash - opponent spins - step in and stab to back - opponent falls down - foot on back/head and stab to back (very rare that it synchs correctly)

2.) enemy turns side on, sword brought from the right into the belly and then drawn out in a slashing 'arc' - enemy rotates to face as sword is bought in a backhand overhead swing through the collarbone/head - opponent falls to their knees and sword is withdrawn

3.) sword is driven into kneck/face - opponent falls to their knees and sword is withdrawn followed by an upwards finishing slash

Halberdiers/Zweihander:

1.) weapon is hooked behind opponents knee and they are tripped - once on the floor a heavy downward strike is delivered to the chest/head

2.) enemy is 'poked' and retaliates with an awkward one handed overhead swing which is blocked by the 'haft' of the weapon with two-hands, the strike is then parried downwards and to the side exposing the enemy flank, a thrusting cut is delivered to the torso and then withdrawn, the enemy falls to their knees and a heavy sideswipe is delivered to their head

Spear:

1.) enemy is bashed in the face with the shield which knocks them backwards and to spinning to the floor, as they attempt to crawl away a downward strike is delivered to the back (rarely synchs up properly)

Thats all of them.

[Prof]

is there a way to unlock some of the moves used in the promo movies somehow?

I remember there being a 2handed thing like this

2.) enemy turns side on, sword brought from the right into the belly and then drawn out in a slashing 'arc' - enemy rotates to face as sword is bought in a backhand overhead swing through the collarbone/head - opponent falls to their knees and sword is withdrawn

in one trailer...

[Spong]

is there a way to unlock some of the moves used in the promo movies somehow?

I remember there being a 2handed thing like this

in one trailer...

that would be the one i mentioned in my previous post:

"The other one missing from game that was in the promos is the two-handed swordsmen - there was footage of a German zweihander killing a french peasant by driving the sword sideways into his stomach then slashing it free, then driving it point first through his chest as he falls to his knees."

I'm not sure if it is still present in the game files but it might be worth a look, it seems to me that they just classed the polearms and two-hander swords under the same animation group and if they kept the 2 handed sword animation mentioned above they would have to make it work with a halberd somehow - and it would probably have looked pretty weird.

[Aeneas Veneratio]

The rarity in these moves make it a hell to take pictures of it. Look in the Picture of the Week section and see people's pictures, sometimes having finishing moves in them.
Got a few finishing moves in my gallery. Darn hard to capture. MY EYES!

[Serious Spamurai]

You could try searching the animation folder, they took a lot of them out, but maybe the just didn't include them in the animations sets, they might still be lying around in the folders.

[edders]

Some of the ones in the trailer don't look as natural (well, fluid) as the final product, which would explain why they're gone. Though like everyone says, they're rare, quickly become repetitive and hardly ever sync up properly. Don't expect Total Warrior x100 or something...