PS1 game that has better battle graphics than FFXIV

[Catapult]

What a load of bull. The spells the OP linked were all 3D animated and could all have been used in real time battle.

Except you can't see your character in a good number of the shots, particularly the more epic ones. Not good in a battle system that has multiple players trying to do things at once that could be relevant to you at less than a moment's notice. In Cross' battle system, or almost any single player game for that matter, the game can control the timing of moves because it only has to worry about a single player, not where everything else is. An MMO leaves much of the battle flow out of the server's control, so it can't afford to suddenly switch to a different camera angle due to the risk of upsetting the battle progression (causes players to rage like nothing else).

Thus, you will very very rarely see effects involving changed angles and camera movements in this game. If you could, our current visuals would stand to beat Cross' with a wide, smug grin.


I'll give you a more recent example. FFXIII's ultimate moves (Army of one, Highwind, etc) looked epic because:
- The time flow slowed down at strategic moments to give nice poses (not viable when other players are participating as well).
- The camera angle changed to frame the strike perfectly (meanwhile in an MMO, that other monster is hitting you at the same time and you can't see it).
- The game controlled monster positioning, obstacle positioning and character movement in line with the streamlined battle system, making these possible (the battle is done in a cutscene, not on the map).

Now imagine what those moves would have looked like if things were not slowed down or framed. "Fang just does a quick dragoon jump."