Weapon Skill Animations.. Really?

SE has many cookie cutters and one of them are the amazing skill animations such as summons, ability use, weapon skill usage, and a huge know fact is their amazing spell animation in which they excel at.

Final Fantasy 14 skill animations are horrible and are all the same but with different lighting affects. Even the lancers final weapon skill they get is completely dull and practically the same as every other weapon skill they have as well as in the game (chaos thrust). There is no life in these skills and they are very slow in execution and they all do the same amount of damage no matter the gear and stats.

The point I'm trying to make is that Final Fantasy 11 has a much better animation pool for weapon skills and the higher you advance in skill the better the animations/damage they get. They put so little effort into the 14 animations and as part of their MULLIGAN I feel that they should address this issue as skill appeal is a big part of game play since this game is 100% PvE. They may have a couple good animations like Arrow Helix but all others seem to lack in diversity and animation. I feel that they should have and can do a much better job in this category.

IE.

Final Fantasy 11 Weapon Skill animations:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xjyKgesxEtM (new)

Final Fantasy 14 Weapon Skill animations:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CKbh67FKZjQ&feature=fvwrel

Sorry im not dissagreeing about the fact that the skills and spells in xiv are pretty much garbage.. but in all fairness those new weapon skills are what.. between level 75 and 99?

Our cap hasn't even been raised yet. 90% of the weapon skills available to <50 jobs weren't all that exciting.

Also this thread has been done twenty times already. People need to search just a little bit before posting new threads. Mods should be merging/locking duplicates as well.

Yeah they should re-do the weaponskill and spell animations.

JackDaniels has a point about comparing low rank WS's in FFXIV to the high rank WS's in FFXI but even the lower ranked FFXI animations are better than FFXIV's since there is variety.

Most WSs for most jobs are the exact same animation. Every CNJ, MRD, LNC, THM, PGL WS are all just the exact same motion, SOMETIMES with a slight color change in the little aura that comes out from the swing. The damage is always the same, too. I don't see why you're condemning the original post. It's a legitimate issue.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by JackDaniels

Sorry im not dissagreeing about the fact that the skills and spells in xiv are pretty much garbage.. but in all fairness those new weapon skills are what.. between level 75 and 99?

Our cap hasn't even been raised yet. 90% of the weapon skills available to <50 jobs weren't all that exciting.

Also this thread has been done twenty times already. People need to search just a little bit before posting new threads. Mods should be merging/locking duplicates as well.

---

Exciting, no.. Different, yes.

My Gladiator uses the same animation for every single XIV weapon skill thus far.

The animations for sword weapon skills in XI were at least different from each other, even in the early levels.

if you look at the skills you'll notice that the ones that have special animations are class exclusive.

that being said there needs to be some differentation between the weapon skills that have an aoe and the ones that dont, people think i'm using circle slash when i'm not, and so I get in trouble for pulling extra mobs when i'm not :V

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Luhy

Most WSs for most jobs are the exact same animation. Every CNJ, MRD, LNC, THM, PGL WS are all just the exact same motion, SOMETIMES with a slight color change in the little aura that comes out from the swing. The damage is always the same, too. I don't see why you're condemning the original post. It's a legitimate issue.

---

Thank you for not pushing this issue aside. This games main focus is PvE and when we are PvEing all we will be seeing are the current animations for the next X amount of years? No it's unacceptable. If they were to fix the game but keep these animations I would most definitely still be disappointed and would completely turn me off as far as progressing in levels. No body plays just to see what end game is like... everybody grinds and levels to the cap for the experience and excitement or anticipation of learning a bad ass looking skill or being able to spam a weapon skill with amazing looking animations (and end game content).

Currently as an Archer I would rather spam Arrow Helix over and over again only because it is by far the coolest animation in game considering its devastating AoE affects than spam puncture and feint because its single target...

If I have to spam feint, puncture, wide valley, blood letter and all the other skills that look exactly the same for the rest of the game then they lost a potential full time subscriber.

I think they problem they made is they motion capped all of the animations and didn't take the time to create fantastical looking animations that are physically impossible but work in a game.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Cairdeas

I think they problem they made is they motion capped all of the animations and didn't take the time to create fantastical looking animations that are physically impossible but work in a game.

---

That or they underestimated the amount of time it would take to motion capture a wider variety of animations.

Do you think they are actually going to remake most of the animations in the next couple of patches?

IIRC, they did at one point say in an interview or a dev letter that there was a lackluster feel to combat because of the animations. I wish I could link, but I don't remember which one it was. :/ Either way, I'm pretty sure its on their plate.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by origamikitsune

IIRC, they did at one point say in an interview or a dev letter that there was a lackluster feel to combat because of the animations. I wish I could link, but I don't remember which one it was. :/ Either way, I'm pretty sure its on their plate.

---

Actaully it was one of the question in the last poll. here's the link of the result.

http://lodestone.finalfantasyxiv.com...16083b634f7678

From playing FF11 for 7 years. most all the WS's are at the base a copy paste, just added different animations/color, nothing against the game or the WS's.

I enjoyed FF11 for what it was, a fun game that took my attention. just most all the animations are pretty much the same per job.

FF14 is worse with no class really having their own animations suited for the class (minus class specific WS's)

That being said, I do wish they add more animations for classes to preform, whether it be 5-10 different type/styles per class, with flashy fanfare to catch ones eye to increase the base amount to a larger scale.

Regardless of the animation they will get "dull" after seeing multiple times. Doesn't give them the flexibility to slouch by creating boring animations though.

the character animation are done with motion capture. They are not articically created like in ffxi.

to compair the two is asinine. if you want real epic ws (that never existed in ffxi anyway) an actor much perform it. Obviously there are a few limitations with it.

a lil research can go a long way.

but complaining for sake of is getting annoying.

be constructive or don't post.

Very true Kilta_Firelotus.

They can make a few more motion captures. idk.. lets say give each class 5 of there own (simple actions but different) and do like FF11 did, add fanfare to make them stand apart from each other. taking the 5 (random number) then turning that to 20 +

This is a HUGE flaw in the game and SE must devote some time to fixing it.

The copypasta zones and lackluster animations don't show the amazing potential of the graphics this game could provide.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Spuffin

The point I'm trying to make is that Final Fantasy 11 has a much better animation pool for weapon skills and the higher you advance in skill the better the animations/damage they get.

---

Yess... I remember all those cool looking weapon skills before level 54~... oh wait, they all sucked, two exceptions aside.

Then of course the quantity of weapon skills in XIV as opposed to XI.. Anyway, direct comparisons ftw.

I agree that most of the animations for skills are lacklustre, but there are a few really good ones. I like Luminous Spire from Gladiator and Simian Thrash from Pugilist, among a few others. The Conjurer ancient magic spells are really terrible.

There are a LOT of FFXI WS's that were epic and DIFFERENT...

I play a LNC now, and literally its either "Stab" or "Sweep".. there is absolutely nothing else that my WS's do... that to me is ridiculous and just poorly designed...

In FFXI there was plenty of differences... I could tell the difference between a Retribution or an Earth Crusher... and I won't even get into how intense the WS's were for relics...

This is something that will HAVE to change in FFXIV... it creates lackluster battles with no excitement.... Everyone is just executing similar moves~

Edit:
The big issue with this is the cross class ability to use non-class specific WSs....
I can't do something epic with my LNC if I have a bow equipped... therefore they need to create generic looking animations to match everything else.... pretty short sighted imo...

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by God

This is a HUGE flaw in the game and SE must devote some time to fixing it.

The copypasta zones and lackluster animations don't show the amazing potential of the graphics this game could provide.

---

honestly no it isn't. Its only a huge flaw if you stare and watch the character animation second by second in slow motion. Personally when I play in ffxi and fight I'm looking at the mob and its hp. The only thing that makes the weapon skilss cool are the effects not the animations.

all the weapons skills for each job in ffxi was copy and pasted with a tweek. Like asurin fists was a mix of 2 animations. least for mithra is was on of their multi hit weapon skills (forgot name) plus backhand blow.

maybe they can tweek the effects to make them more eye candy. But all the character animation in ffxi was the same.

I think this is a complaint for sake of complaint and you guys are just over anylizing the game and picking it apeart because you are that "bored"

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Kilta_Firelotus

I think this is a complaint for sake of complaint and you guys are just over anylizing the game and picking it apeart because you are that "bored"

---

You say this every post it's ignorant and beyond old.

The WS/Magic animations in this game are TERRIBAD. I'm not even reading what your going on about in FFXI or whatever because THEY ARE NOT THE CRAPPY WS's THAT FFXIV HAS.

Show me a cool ancient magic spell. Show me a cool Lancer WS or Archer WS (other then the useless flip in the air one)

You can't because even as the poll indicated people think the animations are terrible and they are right.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Kilta_Firelotus

I think this is a complaint for sake of complaint and you guys are just over anylizing the game and picking it apeart because you are that "bored"

---

If they are that bored while playing to come up with things to complain about then that's a whole other problem altogether with the status of the game.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Kilta_Firelotus

all the weapons skills for each job in ffxi was copy and pasted with a tweek.

---

Yeah. And? FFXI is like a 10 year old game. You have no point because holding up a "next gen" MMO (FFXIV) to the standards of a 10 year old game and using that as justification for lackluster/subpar/copypaste animations and WS effects. It looks like you're just arguing for the sake of arguing.

FFXI WS 1-55 kinda sucks. The really nice ws started when they add nyzul ws, king's justice, drakesbane, etc.

If se make an huge animation on lower lvl ws ppl will start to say something like "I preffer ws lvl 1 than lvl 70 one. (when they start to expand the limit 50+

Dancing edge sucked?

There were a few notable exceptions in the early levels of FFXI, but for the most part, low level WSes were all the same or similar animation. The main defining factor between low level WSes were the visual effects. Go look at Fast Blade to Spirits Within. Go look at Ranger. How many low level dagger weapons skills are just a stab or a slash? Most of them. There isn't really much deviation in what your character is doing. It's just that you might do it one or two more times. With a few exceptions all low level weapons skills are like that in FFXI. FFXIV mimics FFXI in this way perfectly. Most are the same animation with a few exceptions that are unique. That's completely clear if you're actually looking.

That being said, it doesn't take away from the fact that people would be a lot happier with more distinct animations for all their weapons skills. I would also have to say that I would expect a bit more from a next gen game, too. But that just isn't feasible with the way the armory system works. Skills need to be able to be used across different classes. If every Gladiator weapon skill is doing crazy slashing twirls with a sword, how is that going to translate to your Pugilist or Archer? The only remedy for this with the current battle system is a different animation for every single weapon skill for every single class in the present and the foreseeable future. That's not going to happen.

Best you can hope for is that the upcoming battle system changes dump a core mechanic of the armory system and remove cross class skills entirely. Otherwise, you're just complaining about something that nothing can be done about. Which seems kinda pointless.

95% of the weaponskills in FFXI were default animations chained together at different speeds with big graphical effects plastered ontop.

Yeah, i remember playing the open beta and thinking "Ah, these same effects on every WS must just be a place holder for actual content"..

Not so much.

Like someone said on the first page, class specific animations are pretty nice.
Like this, for instance: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aOhHrqHdv-8

Move the spell animations/skill animations down a tier.

Tier1 Elemental Spell > Tier2 Elemental Spell
Tier2 Elemental Spell > Tier3 Elemental Spell

Puncture Animation > Puncture II animation
Puncture II Animation > Puncture III animation

Quick fix without all the head ache. Well, assuming these animations are finished completely and are "flashy" enough for the community.

The ability to cross class would be the contributing factor for the lack luster animations. would be nice if SE added more Class specific abilities, allowing them to be unique. Simian Thrash looks beautiful.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by God

Dancing edge sucked?

---

DE is attached at level 60 with an A weapon (at least when the level limit was 75) and 57-58 putting merits on dagger.
I think sidewinder is the first good looking ws on xi and it's a level 55 one.

Thought that was 45. Oh well doesnt change the fact that FFXIV WS's and other animations need to have more umpf.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Cairdeas

95% of the weaponskills in FFXI were default animations chained together at different speeds with big graphical effects plastered ontop.

---

at least it was catchy. FFXIV they didn't even bother, they are all weak and look the same.
All that From a game that took 5+ years, millions of dollars to make and have the capability to have stunning graphics visual effect.
Shame on SE.

We shouldn't even have to compare FFXIV to a 10 year old game and graphic engine.

And let’s not forget, we look at it now and say FFXI low level WS were weak but back then when we all just started. Who's wasn’t amazed of seeing all those WS in Dune, seeing their first Skill chain and Magic burst.
Well I was.

And don’t get me wrong I enjoy playing FFXIV. I’m just saying I wasn’t amazed and still not amaze of any SC, magic visual effect.

But graphic wise the game is beautiful and that’s maybe why I’m so disappointed.