Casting and spell animations...lackluster?

[Kafeen]

As far as spells go, its not so much the animations I'd like to see changed as the effects of the spells them self.

Rather than having all the elemental spells acting the same with the only difference being the type of elemental damage it deals, I'd like to see each one be more unique.

For example:
Fire: Flame thrower style effect, adds burn effect
Earth: Creates a crevice from the player to the mob, temporarily knocks mobs over.
Ice: Encases the target in ice, slowing their movement.
Water: Jet of water soaking the target, reduces Lightning resistance
Wind: Pushes mobs mobs away from the player.
Lightning: Lightning fired from the play, chains across targets within range of each other, short stun effect.

[Laughlyn]

lol well as you can see im cnj 50 and... where's my BOOM spells?

When i hit 44 & tried "Flare" it was like....?????
...wtf is this bullsh...

Then i tried...Burst..........."Humming Spell"......30~ sec after... zoo0p!
.... -.- ...wtf?

lolburst... anywayz, this is unacceptable, even the outrageous animations,
my bad... what animations?

Even my regular t2 spells do more damage over shorter period of
time it takes to cast Burst / flare etc...

I want BOOM, Violent, Raging Elemental nukes & make it worth while the time it takes to cast them.

And to defend the THM, there dark magic spells... a black sphere?
The sound-effect is kinda cool but a dark-sphere?
Add some lightning to it, some acidity to them.

New Edit:
There's also something gone Horrible wrong with the CNJ ability called "Tranquility" (wich allows you to refill your MP instantly) The "Instantly" part is complete bull---.
In battle thats is almost impossible to do, i dont know if its the server-lag killing the activation of the spell or some major ingame bug preventing it from being instant cast. (it like its being locked up when used in battle)

And hellz no, my PC is a monster so lag is never an major issue.

[AlexiaKidd]

Agree with this some of the animations are great but most are very poor. I recently posted a vid in a thread of how I would like the stamina bar to work like it did from FFXIII and I after watching the vid I also added that they need to make the spell and animations like in that too, they look so much better. Here is the link so you can get a better idea of the spell animations I would like ^^

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S-pzptgE4a4

[Draven]

As a computer animation graduate who specialized in character animation, I can't for the life of me imagine what this team was thinking when they designed (if you can even call it that) XIV battle animations.

I know it isn't the most popular thing on most peoples wish list but, I wish they would replace the majority of these attack animations for something more dynamic and exciting. They could keep the chocobos for another 6 months if only they'd give me a Blade Beam or something.

[AlexiaKidd]

As I said this is what I had envisioned battle animations to look like for FFXIV not the lazy half hearted animations that we have now.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S-pzptgE4a4

Those spell animations would look awesome in FFXIV. Also doesn't FFXIII and FFXIV both use the same graphics engine so surely it wouldn't have been too hard to do something like it?

[Draven]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S-pzptgE4a4

Those spell animations would look awesome in FFXIV.

It hurts to look at that and play XIV at the same time >.<

[napalmninja]

As I said this is what I had envisioned battle animations to look like for FFXIV not the lazy half hearted animations that we have now.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S-pzptgE4a4

Those spell animations would look awesome in FFXIV. Also doesn't FFXIII and FFXIV both use the same graphics engine so surely it wouldn't have been too hard to do something like it?

I approve of this message, +1

[Aravou]

I'm in agreement. The battle animations, weapon skill visual effects, magic casting visual effects, and magic spell visual effects are extremely lackluster in Final Fantasy XIV. The vast majority should be spruced up or redesigned entirely.

Here are some ideas for making things better.

1. Physics. SE touted how FFXIV used physics to help animate characters in the game. Why not take this further? Someone casts a wind spell, and everyone within range has there clothing and hair whipped about. A weapon skill with an explosive ending sends out a shockwave that kicks up debrie and jostles loose items, hair, and clothing. Cause and effect, adding to immersion.

2. Better use of lighting. Fire spells don't seem hot. Add better lighting effects to weapon skill and spell effects so that the plume of flame or spark of electricity feels like it's really there. DirectX 9 is easily capable of this.

3. Variety, variety, variety. One animation for 5 different weapons skills; not worthy of "next-gen" stature. One animation and visual effect for the casting of EVERY spell in the game regardless of magical class, tier, or weapon used; abysmally unworthy of "next-gen" stature. Please, add variety to these things. Every weapon skill animation and resulting visual effect should be unique and of its own. Each class of magic should have a different casting animation and visual effect. Heck, why not get creative and inspiring? How about, each class and tier of spell have it's own unique casting animation and effect. Why not even add some variation between casting animation and visual effect when using a wand, cane, radical, scepter.. and so on. Why not aspire to blow our minds, instead of giving us the same old dog and pony show.

4. Magic should be, well... magical. All magical and weapon skill visual effects and sound effect in the game, so far, seem lackluster. What's worse, they seem lackluster in comparrison to FFXI, an 8 year old aging last-gen MMO. That's a terrible thing for a Final Fantasy fan to have to admit. What could help this? Better visual design, sure. More artistic consideration, you bet. Better partical effects, yes please. More dynamic and advanced lighting of spell effects, absolutely. Eventual upgrade to DirectX 11 for PC players, enabling Next-gen elements such as volumetric objects (clouds, particles), go for it. There is so much that could be done, go all out.

Please, work hard to fix casting, magic, and weapon skill visual effects in Final Fantasy XIV. We know there are core game mechanics that need fixing, and those should come first. But, please, don't put this off too long. Magic is a huge part of what made the Final Fantasy franchise so unique and enjoyable. It must not be left in this state, or anything remotely similar.

[Duuude007]

Theres lackluster, and then there's no animation at all. Perfect examples: Raise & Resurrect. Id wager 70% + people missed the first several res's they received because they were waiting for something like the phoenix down animation, or something to that effect.

[Aravou]

Theres lackluster, and then there's no animation at all. Perfect examples: Raise & Resurrect. Id wager 70% + people missed the first several res's they received because they were waiting for something like the phoenix down animation, or something to that effect.

Excelent example of how unfinished the game truly is. Raise and Resurrect need an actual spell effect, because there is none at all. It's abysmal.