Quicksteps & Knockdowns - can/should we add them?
As FFXIV grows. Positioning in the game has become more and more important - to provide a couple examples
- Normal monster and bosses frequently use moves that cause knockback or forced motion upon the player or themselves.
- Many Combos are requiring specific angles or distances in relation to their targets to trigger combo effects.
- Ifrit, and now Garuda Primal battles rely on proper positioning within the battlefield to survive.
As the game develops it could be expected that more and more of these situations will occur. This, with the growing trend of other MMO's to stem towards more action approaches, it begins to display age in other aspects of the game, such as character motion and animation.
While there has been enough of a discussion concerning jumping in the game to give anyone following along a headache, instead I wanted to focus on more useful contributions to animation and motion - as the titles reads, I want to specifically focus on Quickstepping and Knockdowns.
Given the trend to more dynamic fighting and attacks - I'm beginning to notice, especially in videos such the recent successful run for Garuda (Congratulations BG) that there is something lacking in the motions and movements. To put plainly, the characters running back and forth don't feels as if they're reacting to any true impending danger.
Given that all this positioning work is becoming more important, a 'quick step' or lunging step button that allows the player to, on occasion, quickly re-position themselves in combat would, I feel, add depth into the combat.
Granted, a lot of the balancing in the game proper has been done without it, so, in order to trade off I wanted to bring up another visiual issue I've noticed that has occurred since FFXI.
It seems that characters, even many monsters, in Final Fantasy MMOs are pillars of immovable stability - they can get hit with a direct back-kick from a large antelope or even blasted away by the gales of a god-like primal, and yet always keep their footing.
Even when stunned characters and monsters alike just seem to stare off blankly into space rather than appear stunned.
With the inclusion of 'go to bed'. It shows that FFXIV's team is willing to add in new animations for a better feel to the game, so I must ask - could knockdowns be implemented as a form of, or an animation to stun effects?
These of course are minor issues, but I feel they would add a lot to the visual quality of the combat, and ultimately can be used to aid into the depth and development of the game as it moves forward.
But this is only my opinion, what does everyone else think? Are we ok with the current animations as they have developed, or can we risk looking more like newer MMOs on the market by adding these gems to our own dynamic system?