I hate those power ranger like spark effects

[SirOleas]

Its entirely fair because no other MMO currently compares graphically to this one.
Art style also has a lot to do with it. Such as Tauren (Cow Humanoids from WoW) are incredibly ugly creatures no matter how well the graphics are done.
As for your issues with characters doing thumbs up and such...that's a cultural difference. Japanese games/anime/etc tend to have things that seem odd to western audiences. In other words, just because it seems odd to you does not make it cartoony.

If you want a more current comparison we can use GW2: A stunning game visually because of art direction but still less realistic than FFXIV.