[dev1032] Spell Casting Animations Needs More Love

the magic effects and casting in dragon age were epic.. i would love to see some of that implemented with FFXIV graphics capabilities after all i'm sticking around BECAUSE of the graphics potential i cant wait to see what things will look like when all the dust settles i'm really hoping for some sweet looking magitek armor at some point with epic casting effects that give your eyes a visual orgasm lol

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Originally Posted by Darrkness

i'm a THM myself and always with any RPG or MMO i always go for the mana/magic thrower classes and i do have to agree with this thread that the effects are ehhhh okay at best being a brand new mmo and seeing the graphics of everything else for the first time i couldn't wait to cast my first fire spell and see what it looks like.......... really? thats it?? hmm, maybe it gets better as i lvl... now i'm 24 rank and nothing has changed except the value of the number that pops up... /sigh

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You mention the fire spells in your example. I've noticed how much better the fire on the Bombards for the summer event looks than the fire produced by the spells. It shows the are capable of so much more. I hope they will redesign the fire spells with this higher quality of flame visual.

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Originally Posted by Aravou

You mention the fire spells in your example. I've noticed how much better the fire on the Bombards for the summer event looks than the fire produced by the spells. It shows the are capable of so much more. I hope they will redesign the fire spells with this higher quality of flame visual.

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i hope so to but my element of choice just because of visual wowness is lightning! I would love to see arcs of thunder exiting my hand with static charges bouncing and flickering off the enemy I know that CON has particular elemental weakness spells which i love using but once again visual effects lack on this one

Lets not forget the total lack of animation for all the Raise spells.

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Originally Posted by Azztaroth

Lets not forget the total lack of animation for all the Raise spells.

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i've only managed to unlock one Raise spell so far unfortunately

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Originally Posted by Darrkness

i've only managed to unlock one Raise spell so far unfortunately

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They all look the same, Raise, Raise II, Rebirth, and Resurrect still have no animation...

Oh definitely, I've been saying it for a while and all. Stuff the spell animations; if you ask me they look (and looked) alright. In fact, I rather liked the understated style, myself. It's the utter lack of variance in the casting animations and effects that need seeing to.

well yes i must agree, i am always playing with mages, and when u compare this spell animations in ffxiv with ffxi or any ofline game its pathetic really, i mean u expected with all this graphics that u will see something amazing, like blizara freezing the enemies with all the frost spikes forming around, ff13 and 12 and 10 had an amazing animation, i mean ultima, or ardor or scorge, in ffxiv its like the creators said to each other screw the spell animation we are bored. i mean one of the reasons i like final fantasy games is because of their Fantastic Amazing Over the edge Beautifull spells, its like u know they'll rock, but here its pathetic, in ff6 spells looked better or on nintendo ds ff4 remake, they are better there too. pls developers i know that this isn't much needed for fixing the game but for me its the thing that marks every ff game.

people need to check out this thread and look at the youtube link in the first post. screw everything else and fix This first and foremost

Though I agree whole-heartedly with the animations (or lack thereof) needing work, I would add to the suggestion that spell sound effects be revised along with any change in this matter.

Currently, magic only very faintly sounds like what is it. An example being when casting fire you can hear only a very faint "whoosh" of flames, which is 90% drowned up by what I can only describe as 'the metallic, laser vvruuunndgg' that comes hand in hand with all spells; it is like a longer, drawn out version of the sound that occurs when you select buttons (which thankfully you can disable).

Same goes with ice spells, you hear a minor 'csshink', but again mostly drowned out by the offensive 'vvruuunndgg' (btw, whoever can best phonetically spell the sound I am referring to will win the internet). Right now, the only spell that can get away with this universal drowning effect is lightening, since it does sound like lightening (although the faint, actual sound is much better)

If spells are designed in two parts, the part that affect the mob, and the purple 'wobble' in front of the player, I assume the sound we all hear the most of is the purple 'wobble'.

Am I alone in this dislike of the sfx, or are there others?

I agree with you Buckles! :D

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Originally Posted by Fensfield

Oh definitely, I've been saying it for a while and all. Stuff the spell animations; if you ask me they look (and looked) alright. In fact, I rather liked the understated style, myself. It's the utter lack of variance in the casting animations and effects that need seeing to.

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I can definitely see your point. As in nearly every Final Fantasy game of the past, the magnitude and visually impressive effect of magic scales with each Tier. I think it's reasonable to assume that the vast majority people don't expect Fire I and II, to be a "huge amazing explosion of supernatural living flame dancing about".. or anything. Although, it would be incredibly cool to see something like that implemented for Fire V or even Flare, maybe. One can only hope.

I'm with you, the beginning tier magic (which is really all we have access too at the moment) should be of a subtle design and nature. However, this doesn't mean they need to be rendered badly, as we both would agree. Currently, I think it's the general consensus that many spells are rendered badly, or are completely uninteresting.

Let's look at Fire I:

In it's present form, Fire seems to be little more than a simple sprite animation that briefly poofs onto an enemy, when cast. There seems to be a few particle effects; in the form of small smoke plumes that waft up from the fire. The flame itself is rather muted. It's not very bright, and this doesn't lend to convincing the player that the flame is actually there, burning the monster. It does scale to the size of the monster you are fighting. This scaling (along with the increase in size of spell effects introduced in a former patch) actually seems to work against the appeal of the spell. It's far to blurry, it's detail stretched and skewed to a point where it looses it's visual appeal.

If you compare the animation for Fire I to the animation for the fire that envelops the Bombard monsters of the summer event; there is a striking difference. The animation size and complexity is relatively the same, but the textures or shaders used on the Bombards is far more convincing, and appealing. It's not an overly dramatic animation, or effect; so, it isn't unreasonable to suggest that the dev. team should strive to reproduce this effect for Fire I, and above. It would be fitting, and far more appealing.

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Originally Posted by Buckles

Though I agree whole-heartedly with the animations (or lack thereof) needing work, I would add to the suggestion that spell sound effects be revised along with any change in this matter.

Currently, magic only very faintly sounds like what is it. An example being when casting fire you can hear only a very faint "whoosh" of flames, which is 90% drowned up by what I can only describe as 'the metallic, laser vvruuunndgg' that comes hand in hand with all spells; it is like a longer, drawn out version of the sound that occurs when you select buttons (which thankfully you can disable).

Same goes with ice spells, you hear a minor 'csshink', but again mostly drowned out by the offensive 'vvruuunndgg' (btw, whoever can best phonetically spell the sound I am referring to will win the internet). Right now, the only spell that can get away with this universal drowning effect is lightening, since it does sound like lightening (although the faint, actual sound is much better)

If spells are designed in two parts, the part that affect the mob, and the purple 'wobble' in front of the player, I assume the sound we all hear the most of is the purple 'wobble'.

Am I alone in this dislike of the sfx, or are there others?

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Great point Buckles. Hopefully if we keep this discussion goin we can get some feedback. Honestly lack of unique animations keeps me from play mages in this game and I think that is a problem.

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Originally Posted by Gidonoidon_Sur

Great point Buckles. Hopefully if we keep this discussion goin we can get some feedback. Honestly lack of unique animations keeps me from play mages in this game and I think that is a problem.

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Most definitely. I have a conj. level 1 that I have made just to ensure the name, but all the factors you and other people have mentioned in this thread have thus far kept me from playing him.

We all want the best possible experience while playing, because when starting any class we are in essence pledging to invest a vast amount of hours and effort into growing them. If, in return, we could see an increase in the amount of hours and effort into the making of the things that keep 'some of us' playing I think, at the end of it, everyone involved will come out feeling much better. Us players, because we have a class we can enjoy the look, sound and feel of, and the developers because they will have us players continuing to support FF14. Everything was rushed, we've felt the consequence of that for a year almost. I think now is a good a time as any to let the developers know where this rush is 'still' evident and what aspects of FF14 continue to let them down.

Balance is good, and everything that is being done to 'fix' the game as well as 'expand' the game is good; but I am a firm believer that cosmetics also play an important role in player retention.

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Originally Posted by Cairdeas

I'd like to see them go back to using the Special Animations per Magic School like they did in XI. White Mage, Black Magic, and Blue Magic all casted with different character animations.

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i hated the casting animations in XI cause your weapon just poofed into nothing why i like FFXIV casting animations

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Originally Posted by Firon

i hated the casting animations in XI cause your weapon just poofed into nothing why i like FFXIV casting animations

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I don't mind my weapon disappearing as long as it looks better than the lackluster animations we have now tbh.

Devs pretty please some feedback!? :(

Area of effect indicator from Final Fantasy XII: 1.

someone pointed out to me on another thread that its the weekend they probably don't work on the weekends....

Yeah I hope we get a reply on this eventually. *crosses fingers*

I'm definitely interested in an answer from the devs about this as well.

As you all have stated in prior posts, the actual spell-caster's animations, the animation of the spells themselves, and the sound effects all need a little more emphasis. Personally, I've noticed that all of the spells form and flow in an inward circular motion, which causes them all to look the same (this is probably enhanced given the fact that it scales to whichever enemy the spell is being cast on). Either way, all of the spells seem to be spheres, which is quite underwhelming considering what spells in other Final Fantasy games have looked like in the past.

Were it up to me, I would have the Spell-caster's animations go hand-in-hand with whichever spell he/she is casting along with new "type-casting" animations as well besides the CON "purple hand" and the THM "red hand". I don't mind the palette swap, but I think the gathering of the magical energies should be a little more grander. Such animation could be, for example, an Astral (white) or Umbral (purple/black) sigil appearing under the feet of the caster and white or purple/black light flowing up from the sigil with white or purple/black particles floating around the caster during the process. Or at least something to that effect.

And being as though there are dozens of different skills for DoW characters, I think the DoM users should at least have different character animations for the type of element they are casting.

For instance: For Fire elemental magic, the caster could stand as normal with staff/wand in hand then pull their right arm back with the weapon in it then thrust their arm forward in which would signify forcing fire upon the opponent. That could be for all Fire class elements. Also the Fire spell's animation could be redone as to have the opponent burst into an explosion of flame that washes over the monster's front and kinda of "splashes" to both sides of their flanks leaving them covered with remnants of flame.

For Wind Elemental Magic, being as though air is everywhere, the caster could start casting with both his hands and the weapon in front of him, then bring his weapon arm out towards his side, arm extended, then swing it forward, horizontally across his/her chest drawing magic from the air all around them as the spell is cast at that moment. As the caster's arm flies across horizontally, the enemy is slammed in a tornado vortex that rotates around them for a brief moment then disperses into random circling shreds of wind (kind of like how Aero looks currently, actually).

For Lightning Elemental Magic, the caster can draw both hands in front of them then lift their weapon up to the sky (for obvious reasons), in which a bolt of lightning streaks down from the sky and crashes into the enemy, surrounding the creature in a small dome of electricity in the process (not quite like the current Thunder spell, but somewhat similar).

And so on and so forth, I won't bore you guys with a wall of text details. But higher level spells should obviously have a little more "oomph" than that of these descriptions. But these are the sort of things, I think, would make magic better all around. Not so keen on the sound effects though, but like Buckles said, I could do without the loud "swa-shiiiiiiiink" sound effect during magic.

Also, ditto for the lack of Raise effects as well. Other magics, not just the offensive ones, should have different animations also. I've just listed a few for the sake of references.

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Originally Posted by Tahldon

I'm definitely interested in an answer from the devs about this as well.

As you all have stated in prior posts, the actual spell-caster's animations, the animation of the spells themselves, and the sound effects all need a little more emphasis. Personally, I've noticed that all of the spells form and flow in an inward circular motion, which causes them all to look the same (this is probably enhanced given the fact that it scales to whichever enemy the spell is being cast on). Either way, all of the spells seem to be spheres, which is quite underwhelming considering what spells in other Final Fantasy games have looked like in the past.

Were it up to me, I would have the Spell-caster's animations go hand-in-hand with whichever spell he/she is casting along with new "type-casting" animations as well besides the CON "purple hand" and the THM "red hand". I don't mind the palette swap, but I think the gathering of the magical energies should be a little more grander. Such animation could be, for example, an Astral (white) or Umbral (purple/black) sigil appearing under the feet of the caster and white or purple/black light flowing up from the sigil with white or purple/black particles floating around the caster during the process. Or at least something to that effect.

And being as though there are dozens of different skills for DoW characters, I think the DoM users should at least have different character animations for the type of element they are casting.

For instance: For Fire elemental magic, the caster could stand as normal with staff/wand in hand then pull their right arm back with the weapon in it then thrust their arm forward in which would signify forcing fire upon the opponent. That could be for all Fire class elements. Also the Fire spell's animation could be redone as to have the opponent burst into an explosion of flame that washes over the monster's front and kinda of "splashes" to both sides of their flanks leaving them covered with remnants of flame.

For Wind Elemental Magic, being as though air is everywhere, the caster could start casting with both his hands and the weapon in front of him, then bring his weapon arm out towards his side, arm extended, then swing it forward, horizontally across his/her chest drawing magic from the air all around them as the spell is cast at that moment. As the caster's arm flies across horizontally, the enemy is slammed in a tornado vortex that rotates around them for a brief moment then disperses into random circling shreds of wind (kind of like how Aero looks currently, actually).

For Lightning Elemental Magic, the caster can draw both hands in front of them then lift their weapon up to the sky (for obvious reasons), in which a bolt of lightning streaks down from the sky and crashes into the enemy, surrounding the creature in a small dome of electricity in the process (not quite like the current Thunder spell, but somewhat similar).

And so on and so forth, I won't bore you guys with a wall of text details. But higher level spells should obviously have a little more "oomph" than that of these descriptions. But these are the sort of things, I think, would make magic better all around. Not so keen on the sound effects though, but like Buckles said, I could do without the loud "swa-shiiiiiiiink" sound effect during magic.

Also, ditto for the lack of Raise effects as well. Other magics, not just the offensive ones, should have different animations also. I've just listed a few for the sake of references.

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Awesome ideas. I hope the developers seriously take this into consideration.

Im just keeping this thread going so a dev can see this and hopefully reply tomorrow or tuesday ^-^

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Originally Posted by PEANUT

Im just keeping this thread going so a dev can see this and hopefully reply tomorrow or tuesday ^-^

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Agreed, I'd like to see a dev response and/or some concept art, ideas, or even a demo of what they have been working on. We know some animations are being redone, would be nice to see some stuff to comment on.

SE needs to do something before pay to play. I dont know many people that would keep playing a pay to play game with the current casting and spell effects.

I just wanted to add that in addition to the "casting animations" the regular spell animations themselves are lack luster -- even compared to FFXI.

Here are some of the more recent spells (in smaller sized icons unfortunately) that the same team(s)/people have been working on.

http://killingifrit.com/forums/uploa...1313769504.jpg
http://killingifrit.com/forums/uploa...1313769516.jpg
http://killingifrit.com/forums/uploa...1313769522.jpg
http://killingifrit.com/forums/uploa...1313769534.jpg
http://killingifrit.com/forums/uploa...1313769541.jpg

While these spells still suffer from the same unfortunate syndrome of "I can only originate on the target instead of from the caster or the environment," they still somehow look far superior to the spells currently available in FFXIV... why?

Agree,Make casting effects more Final Fantasy :)

Here's an example of a good casting animation I liked:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1_C_sJJbgLM

Rotating magic circle under the caster, floating cubes circling the caster. They look like the cubes when white magic is used in FFIV(In some FF's it's orbs/bubbles).

I want to just chime in here and agree. The lackluster effects and animations are honestly one of the main reasons that I don't use a magic class that much. They don't have that final fantasy flare and therefore aren't that much fun to use.

I'm looking for those effects that make you blurt out "Whoa yes! did you see that?" then realize your talking to yourself in your room, but you don't care because it was so awesome!

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Originally Posted by Tibian

I just wanted to add that in addition to the "casting animations" the regular spell animations themselves are lack luster -- even compared to FFXI.

Here are some of the more recent spells (in smaller sized icons unfortunately) that the same team(s)/people have been working on.

http://killingifrit.com/forums/uploa...1313769504.jpg
http://killingifrit.com/forums/uploa...1313769516.jpg
http://killingifrit.com/forums/uploa...1313769522.jpg
http://killingifrit.com/forums/uploa...1313769534.jpg
http://killingifrit.com/forums/uploa...1313769541.jpg

While these spells still suffer from the same unfortunate syndrome of "I can only originate on the target instead of from the caster or the environment," they still somehow look far superior to the spells currently available in FFXIV... why?

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I'm in complete agreement. From a design standpoint, the casting animations and spell animations in FFXI are far superior to what we have in FFXIV. It's a terrible shame to be able to type that, because we should be able to type the exact opposite.

It's painfully obvious that many, if not the majority, of the casting animations and spell animations in FFXIV were designed as place-holders for further revision in the future. This revision was most likely scheduled to occure during the games alpha and beta stages, but never happened due to the game being heinously rushed to its launch.

That being said, it's startling that the dev team hasn't taken the time to directly address this issue with the community. The Final Fantasy franchise is well know for its rich history of amazing magical spell animations. That this lack off quality is so apparent in FFXIV, and that the dev team hasn't specifically taken the time to assure it's players that they are aware of the problem and have plans to resolve it in the future; well, it's startling.

Devs; please take the time to acknowledge this issue. Also, please let us know if it will be fixed, or not.

Wow, Roll. Ha ha. I wasn't quite expecting an excerpt from a Mario game, for a minute I thought I was watching the wrong video. Either way, I understand what you mean.

The things of what I was thinking were along the lines of some of these videos:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zg3rYgaLtZk

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iPbxO...eature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J6jfz9rhZpY

These are just some examples of how Magic could look. Obviously, Magic in Final Fantasy games have always been something of awe and wonder, but obviously, as stated, FFXIV is lacking a lot of that. As someone who plays only mages in any game that allows it, I must say that, compared to DoW comrades, I feel pretty gimped in the "fireworks" department. I'm not sure what the name of that Weapon-skill ARC uses (can you tell I really don't play anything that's not magic, yet?) but it's the one skill where the player somersaults into the air and rains down a torrent of arrows that hit the ground and scatter in every direction. There are a number of other attacks that the Melee users have that are awesome as well, but while I'm standing there, tossing my round little lightning spells, I can't help but feel inadequate.

I really hope to see some progress from the devs on this. Right now, Magic only has the importance of what it does, not what it looks like and a bunch of us could go for some aesthetics on the mystic side of things.

Also, I'm a big fan of particles and sigils on the ground. Lol. If you guys haven't noticed. I feel like magic is supposed to be big, time-stopping, and commanding. Right now, I don't get any of those feelings from what we have. Really, really hoping for some improvements.

Still no reply :"O

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Originally Posted by Tahldon

Wow, Roll. Ha ha. I wasn't quite expecting an excerpt from a Mario game, for a minute I thought I was watching the wrong video. Either way, I understand what you mean.

The things of what I was thinking were along the lines of some of these videos:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zg3rYgaLtZk

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iPbxO...eature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J6jfz9rhZpY

These are just some examples of how Magic could look. Obviously, Magic in Final Fantasy games have always been something of awe and wonder, but obviously, as stated, FFXIV is lacking a lot of that. As someone who plays only mages in any game that allows it, I must say that, compared to DoW comrades, I feel pretty gimped in the "fireworks" department. I'm not sure what the name of that Weapon-skill ARC uses (can you tell I really don't play anything that's not magic, yet?) but it's the one skill where the player somersaults into the air and rains down a torrent of arrows that hit the ground and scatter in every direction. There are a number of other attacks that the Melee users have that are awesome as well, but while I'm standing there, tossing my round little lightning spells, I can't help but feel inadequate.

I really hope to see some progress from the devs on this. Right now, Magic only has the importance of what it does, not what it looks like and a bunch of us could go for some aesthetics on the mystic side of things.

Also, I'm a big fan of particles and sigils on the ground. Lol. If you guys haven't noticed. I feel like magic is supposed to be big, time-stopping, and commanding. Right now, I don't get any of those feelings from what we have. Really, really hoping for some improvements.

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Yeah I wanted to point out that even in a Mario sports game with FF characters on the Wii looks better than the magic casting on XIV haha!

Yeah I LOVE the Tales of games. The spells and casting animations always look impressive. And I love the incantation quotes the characters do lol.

I'd be satisfied seeing a rotating glowing magic circle under the caster at the very least.

Keep the push forward guys!

I concur. The Magic in the Tales games is so fantastic to see and as the game is designed, appears to hit so hard.

The magic there is big on a scale that no other attack can emulate. Obviously, the magic in FFXIV should be as such. Honestly, I was playing yesterday in a 3 man party doing some leves. There was a Pug and 2 Cons (1 being myself), there was so much magic flying around between healing spells and damage spells, but there were many times where I didn't even see an animation. I only heard the brief sound of whatever element was being used. It's all done and over with in a matter of seconds. Either way, it all needs work. The more I think about it as I play my CON, the more I want to see changes, in anything, really.

La la la la la ^^

Still no word?

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Originally Posted by Elros

Still no word?

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Maybe our reps quit or had a vacation day. :(

Lol hope not :'( anything on this post will be greatly appreciated!

Thanks for keeping this topic alive everyone. Hopefully we get some word about it.