Shocker

[Zantetsuken]

So just out of curiosity i looked up some videos of what the original game was like.

HOLY CRAP, the cutscenes were 10 times better and the graphics look 3 times better in the previous game.

BUT... the combat looks HORRIBLE.

Here is just an example of what i refer to:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WWcI0CPaLNE

As someone who played 1.0 from Alpha through the final server shutdown, I'll say this:

The cutscenes in 1.0 had more 'heart' to them. The pacing was slower, they were more carefully crafted, and they were meant to evoke emotion rather than impress with flash and drama.

1.0 was a bit of a dreamy place... things were slower, crafting was tedious and intricate, Mobs had interesting personalities and behaviors, gear was simply and realistically designed, but it had ample room to grow, textures and models were detailed, if somewhat bland..., the world zones where huge, but repetitive. Combat was slower but we had more skills and spells to work with, you couldn't jump. and the engine was pretty bad. But overall the game felt more.. realistic and tangible (especially if you played it in 3D )

ARR gave us a vibrant and far more varied world, faster combat, flashier moves, faster leveling, much more content, wild armor and weapon designs, jumping, running, explosive vfx, Limit Breaks, greater and greater (perceived) power for our characters.

But something is lost and something gained in every change...

You could say that in the transition, we traded realistic for fantastic. The devs didn't have to jump into the deep end of fantastic in ARR, they could have easily retained the realistic approach while fixing the problems of copy-paste world, engine, etc. The realistic/fantastic path is a direction/style thing, not tied directly to game mechanics. Personally, I think the realism is the better way to go. It has a much longer lifespan and is a better foundation to build from - You'll find that fantastic becomes ridiculous the further you push it.

You can always start off slow and realistic and ramp up from there, but if you're baseline is fantastic... well, it will be interesting how the devs handle it.