I'm joining this conversation late, and that is because I've been avoiding this subreddit for a while. Not because of leaks, but the overall toxicity. This was one post that looked relatively untouched.
I for one am excited. When watching the leaks the only thing that bothered me was the screetch noise. That could hopefully be fixed in the audio setting or a patch to be more of a rare occurrence.
I saw nothing of clunky about the animations, but I was only able to watch the second smaller map.
I noticed the zombies talk, but it sent a chill up my spine. However like OP said, 3arc zombies even said words like "Sam" "Monkey" and lets not forget George Romero.
I understand the devs though being upset with leaks, but they can't stop them all. If it builds up hype and sales, its more beneficial.
However, I for one was not expecting a gameplay trailer. No Zombies game has had one. IW was super open about everything, and had livestreams to show off the game to ease zombies fans. Sure, people want to see the gameplay to value their purchase, but I don't get why people NEEDED to see it. They buy 3arc zombies every year without seeing more than a reveal trailer or two. Leaks already told us WW2 Nazi Zombies would have the base mechanics for CODZombies, with added classes and extras. But if people were so concerned of it, they could have just created a one room challenge map as a tech demo.
Speaking of a small map. A lot of people are bitching about the second on disc map. Really? It doesn't have doors, mystery box, or as big as Nacht sure. But that is how it was meant to be. A bare bones experience to jump in and play. At least there are two on launch. Something this sub always bitches about. The only other game to feature two on disc is BO1, and that is only because Kino wasn't released, as a DLC 4 for WAW would run into the MW2 launch.
Next, I don't care how long, tough, or the replay value is of an EE. I do it once, typically for an challenge, unlock, or achievement. I care more about the map than the easter egg. I more so enjoy playing with friends or with randoms, when not going solo, just to relax and kill zombies. If the map is fun, I'll play it. And replay it, thousands of times.
I also don't care about cutscenes. Opening cutscenes were there in BO1, but only in Five and CotD. They came back in the DLC for BO2. Exo zombies had the intro and outro cutscenes to share the story on most maps. BO3 came around they had intro and outro cutscenes for all maps. (Besides no outro on TG and ignorinng ZC) This spoiled the community, and when ZiS had not outro, people hated the shit out of it. I really don't see the point in hating something over a video that is only a minute or so long.
I really wish people would at least give other devs a try, and give constructive criticism instead of hating right away. I'm not saying go buy the game, but at least rent it or borrow a friend's copy. Some people like to act like 3arc is the only dev that can do zombies, and its this ignorant mindset that bothers me the most on this sub. If someone states they disliked Exo zombies because the chaotic nature of the events and zombie types, or the atmosphere and zombie types of IWZ, then that is fine. That is a fair developed opinion and I'll respect it. If they haven't tried the other games or hate it just because "Its not 3arc," then I hold little value in it.
While on that topic, 3arc has had 4 games to develop their story, and didn't really see much of a story till arguably CotD when Richtofen started his grand scheme, and now is a big mess. Other devs seem to be expected of an in-depth and gripping story right out the gate. Which is rather unfair.
People will complain if things are too similar, but usually end up playing it as it feels natural. More people will complain if it is different, and tend to be overlooked. Things like Survival, Spec Ops, and Extinction didn't hold a candle to Zombies. Activision knew this, and by having zombies for each dev meant they managed to bring back in sales that would be otherwise missed out on for the next year or two.
Overall, I'm definitely still excited. I've learned from my experience with games to overhype the game. I've been excited, but not so much that I've built up expectations that it will be like Bo3, or even IWZ. I'm just here to see what is in store for this take on the mode. The DLC 1 announcement has set off a red flag, but I'm going to theorize it was more Activision's doing than SHG themselves.