Weapon Skill Animations.. Really?

[Betelgeuzah]

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.

[Rjain]

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.

[Maverick_Hawkeye]

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...

[vax]

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+

[God]

Dancing edge sucked?

[Orophen]

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.

[vax]

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.

[Cairdeas]

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

[Armageddon]

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.

[Blitz0309]

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.