I love beautiful animations.. but I think they're too slow for this game

[Neptune]

So, FFXIV has some truly great animations. Lush motion capture. Rich animations while crafting, sitting down, gathering, /psyching up to activate abilities, casting spells, doing weaponskills, buffing yourself or others, etc. ad infinitum.

As an artistic accomplishment, these animations are truly great. But I don't like how they slow the gameplay down to a halt, and I really don't think the masses or the critics are going to take too kindly to them. So I'd like to see them changed in 2.0 if SE has any sense at all. I really don't want to ride the burning ship to the bottom of the sea floor, but I have a feeling I might be doing just that.

Animations in battle.

I'd like to see these animations sped up like 1 light year. I suggest making them so fast they seem unnatural, then scaling it back one notch. It's really lame how your character gets animation locked in tough battles, and it doesn't make any sense.

Buffing yourself

The unique spell effects accompanying each buff are truly incredible. If I could just sit outside the town activating these buff effects just for the eye candy it'd be great. The problem is, in the middle of a fight there's no time to enjoy them. Especially because if you use another buff right away, it clips off the animation of the active buff, so you don't get to see it anyway. How about we speed these up as well?

I suggest the dev team open up WoW and click some buffs. When you press a button, your buff instantly activates, but it leaves a lingering animation somewhere on the screen (usually over the characters' heads). This is a much better thing to have happen. You get to see the whole animation.

It's hard to find a video of such a simple feature of WoW, but here you go:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MzJMSvhhiNg&t=15s

Note that you can still move freely while one of these buff animations is playing out.

In another example with super annoying music, here is an example from WoW of spell effects being divorced from animation lock, something SE hasn't quite grasped for whatever reason:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VU5dEgpEbf0&hd=1&t=1m17s

It's a little baffling that after so long since the game's release, these lengthy buff animations are still in the game with no end in sight. Does anyone see what I'm talking about?

How about we have buffs that instant-cast with no animation lock, but with a spell effect that persists and doesn't get overwritten by another spell effect? I'm asking for the spell effects to mix in version 2.0. Like the black smoke of Dark Seal mixed with a flaming axe of Bloodbath, for example. Instead of one cutting the other one off. And no animation lock, leaving you free to move or act. So you can cast 5 buffs subject to some kind of global cooldown, then use your move.

Some of these buffs take so long to play out, that it's really hard to use 3 or 4 before you use a spell because the 20 second timers wear off by the time you chain your buffs. Like if you're a BLM, and you want to use Sanguine Rite, Dark Seal, Excruciate, Necrogenesis, and Parsimony on a spell, guess what? You don't have time to play through that many buff animations before your combo timer expires. I really don't like that.

Crafting

The crafting animations are all incredible, but again, watching so many really slows down the process. The first few levels it's pretty awesome, but before you get to 50 most people have turned on Netflix or the TV. It's just way too long. How about letting us instantly issue commands without having to wait on the animation? Maybe the animations can be sped up like 5x or something and it would still look good? Try it out. I really don't like waiting that long.

Weaponskills

The weapon skill animations are truly something special. These animations are so great, something inside me says design the game around these animation so we can somehow watch this great eye candy and still be able to move nimbly through a battlefield. The combat in FFXI was pretty slow-paced and it allowed for these kinds of animations, but FFXIV is considerably faster-paced. If we are going to have these beautiful animated weaponskills we need to make sure the tough fights leave room for the animation lock plus about 3 seconds of server lag / latency.

You see, the average gamer can be bothered to memorize patterns in a fight and learn an encounter, but not to wrap their minds around the idea of planning out their animation locks. Kudos really have to go out to those of us who had the patience, dedication, or uncontrollable addiction (lol) to win the Ifrit fight and learn how to "schedule" our animation locks but I have news for you dev team, the gaming masses you hope to seduce will not be as tolerant as the loyal few who still subscribe.

Don't take my word for it. I ask one thing. Put the Ifrit fight up at E3 this year and let journalists play it. It's time for a reality check.

Gathering, etc. I could go on but I think you get the idea. Going to a museum is a great experience but playing an action game is totally different. These animations were poorly thought through when they were implemented in the game. It really needs to change for version 2.0 or this game really doesn't stand a chance at great success.

All the best,
Neptune

[Vadavim]

I wholly agree with you! Thankfully, at least one of these problems is being addressed soon-ish. In the letter from the producer: http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/t...803-26-2012%29
You will notice mention of shortening the animations of synthesis (planned for 1.22). I am really hopeful about this, but I guess we'll have to wait and see!

[Firon]

They can leave them as they are just make it like XI can move during any Ws or ja. Ever fire off vorpal blade and run away while doing it, or do a running voke and your char slides forward >.>.

[Jinko]

I believe they said 2.0 will allow for lower and upper body animations, the current game does not and this is whey we can't move during animation.

[Dragonheart]

I believe they said 2.0 will allow for lower and upper body animations, the current game does not and this is whey we can't move during animation.

Body limitation.

[Neptune]

I'd still like to see some dev feedback on the current version of the game and if they see it as a problem like I do.

[Bustercucumbers]

Yeah.... gotta love a game that actually makes you want to play WoW. I gave up on WoW years back, but after I played long enough during the free to play period of ffxiv, I actually wanted to go back to WoW. I told myself I wouldn't play it anymore, but just the thought of pressing a button and my character actually responding in real time was just too enticing.

You really take simple things like that for granted. FFXIV really opened my eyes on how stressful a game can be without adding anything to really stress over. The control scheme is just that poor. The Ifrit fight is the perfect eye opener. People view the primals as a tough fight, but it's for all the wrong reasons. The ifrit fight in theory is probably one of the easiest fights ever. Only thing that makes it unnecessarily difficult is the fact that the game never responds to your actions when you actually need it to. You actually have to predict when ifrit is going to use a move so you don't risk getting your character stuck in a lockout spell animation. REALLY?!?!?!? This game doesn't reward good reactions, but good mind-reading ability?

My only hope in 2.0 is that they "actually" fix the issues, and not just touch them up. Like the OP said, the dev team needs to play WoW. It's 2012 now. Simple actions taking place when you command them should not be a difficult thing to accommodate to anymore.

[AndrewN]

First of all, a light year is a measure of distance, not time. Getting this wrong doesn't invalidate your opinion (unfortunately) but does give a very poor impression of you.

I have to say, I disagree with your post as strongly as possible. Not every game has to be sped up as much as possible, there are lots of games like this out there already, and some of us like a slower pace in their games. Especially for Marauders (Warriors) the slow but heavy attacks feel appropriate but I like the pace of the game.

As for animation locks, use some skill to play the game. All of the enemies attacks are in some way predictable, attack when it is safe and don't just spam attacks.

[Drazzan]

I love Final Fantasy XIVs animations. They are fantastic and look the part.

Having played both WoW and SWTOR. I thoroughly dislike their combat system, there isn't nearly enough emphasis on animations and player's barely give a shit to how their character acts in battle, their eyes are just fixed to the User Interface cool-downs. World of Warcraft's animation style is cartoon, and thus character's can get away with moving their body at ridiculous speeds (reference of your first link), both XI and XIV still have a set of human weight to the animations that make them play out their part. Much like Demon and Dark Souls, weighted animations make the combat stand apart. Having a player-wide particle effect (referencing your second link), while it is "cool-looking" such particle effects on all characters, especially if it can be done in town; will drastically affect the performance of some machines, and once again, it suits WoW due to it's artistic style.

Final Fantasy XI and XIV on the other hand are much more slower combat systems that rely on the building of TP, long cast times, and some truly beautiful effects to follow once a player can disperse that TP or cast that spell. I think what you're asking to happen will change the game quite thoroughly, the animation lock is the only issue present, there is no need to change the current animations.

[Munba]

Disagree with OP and agree with AndrewN and Drazzan. I think it's question of tastes.
I love FF11 and 14 also because the quality of animations and don't mind about 'slowness' after all. That is a part of the immersion too (more realistic than the other mmorpgs). So, don't touch my animations please! :P