Pictomancer's effects need some more work

[StartouchArts]

I'm beyond ecstatic that the new caster is Pictomancer, but the visual FX feels... almost unfinished.

The stone and ice spells have low-resolution and extremely un-detailed textures. Like, for a split second I thought they were placeholder textures. These need more details, and/or perhaps making the textures have actual paintbrush strokes in them would go a long way in making them fit in FFXIV's aesthetic while still being their own thing.

Also, in the trailer, Krile's pictomancy had an extremely high amount of particle effects like sparkles, as well as strands of multicolor ink trailing being her brush strokes. I think adding these effects to the spells will make them look like proper magic using aether as a paint medium instead of what we have now.

[Senn]

Gonna wait before judging the job as a whole but... the stone and ice spell didn't look good to me. Want a better looking stone spell? Play white mage. Want better looking ice spells? Play black mage. I don't know, I think it's kinda redundant.
But I'll wait and see. Seems like pictomancer will also have spells/drawings in the shape of monsters/animals too. I'm interested in seeing that.

[Eisi]

Pictomancer may be unique visually but why does it waste any action space using the same basic spells we already know again? Inkfire, Inkblizzard, Inkstone, Inklightning, boring! The visuals aren't even unique aside from the style! With different textures these would be pretty standard spells.

I would love to draw bat-winged cannonballs to chuck instead or directly paint damage numbers onto my enemies! Cut the lame ass elemental spells and make room for a whole bunch of unqiue Inkspells!

Drawing a hole for the enemy to fall into or a fake door for them to run against (slam in their face). The Moogle is great, more stuff like that! The least you could do for a Lightning spell is paint a cute dark cloud first with a neat outline that a stylized zig-zag bolt shoot out of! Instead we get the supa generic stuff.

[Turtledeluxe]

This is criticism I can agree with. I like the style of the actions but they could use a little polishing. I also am way more interested in the moogle laser than anything else, because the focus on elements is a little underwhelming.

That said, I'm sure there's more to see so it's unclear if this is a failure of the marketing or the job. Viper also looked pretty mid.

[HeyMcFly]

I'd like Pictomancer to appear more like what Krile had going on as well- Krile showing her magical painting skills off vs what we got in the preview made it look like a completely different class

+1 to more polished, sparkly/ whimsical magical effects for Pictomancer, with obvious brush strokes included

[GTK0HLK]

While probably too much effort, agreed.

Though as we know, there are still an undeniable amount who love it as is.

Which is why I say it's probably too much effort, but I'd like it if they gave us options or choices of style/view for our end of the screen.
(Be truly Creative for us.)

But having to make variations would probably be alot of load for them, so I doubt they would.

But I personally would also like a Option of Caligraphy/Black Paint, or Krile's DT Painter Magic Aesthetic.
Or similarly Metallic Paints.

[SchwarzwaelderTorte]

Great, the UwU thread got deleted, and my feedback on the VFX with it. Guess I'll try to retype it again from memory...

The problem I have with the Pictomancer VFX is that they look very out of place compared to the rest of the game's art style. For an MMO like AION where you have cat mechas and a stun spell that turns mobs into dancing penguins, why not, but FFXIV until now had a little bit more coherence in its direction.

The stark contrast between the first reveal in the CGI trailer and the actual gameplay video was also a huge letdown. Wow effect aside, the trailer did more interesting things visually, like multicolor brush strokes, or the painting effect when summoning the Spriggan.

The VFX in the gameplay trailer, on the other hand... The "casting" effect with the brush strokes is alright (although the animation does look a little simple), but the "explosion" effects look like they come from a completely different game. The moogle or its laser don't feel like they're made out of paint, especially compared to the Spriggan.

And what's really strange is that until now, Blue Mage was the quirky, funny job with its weird spells, but it doesn't have that problem at all. If you look at Sea Shanty, Candy Cane, or Choco Meteor and 4-Tonze Weight, they have their own thing going on, it looks a lot more cartoon-y and comical, but they still fit into the overall aesthetic.

I think the original idea was to have the FX look like they were drawn by the spellcaster, which is a good idea in theory, but what we have here is a weird compromise between the two extremes. I'm not sure if I'd rather have something even more stylized, that looks more handdrawn, like actual brush strokes and paint splatters instead of cartoon, (paper) comic looking explosions and Nickelodeon logos, (I'm thinking of the fireand water FX in Okami, but to be clear, I don't want a Sumi-e Pictomancer, I'm only talking about the level of stylization), or something closer to how Blue Mage does its VFX, with more "realistic" effects (like Sea Shanty) while maintaining a quirky, cheerful feeling.

Looking at the CGI trailer, I'm reminded of the VFX on the final boss of Alzadaal's Legacy, and I think those work really well with the game's art style. It's colorful, and visually appealing and unique.

I also find the key art more interesting. If you look at the background, the colors are a little less vivid than in the gameplay trailer, but they feel harmonious with the art style we've gotten used to, and there's a lot of them, which goes hand in hand with what the CGI trailer showed, not to mention how it echoes the splatters on the Artifact gear. The brush strokes look more realistic, but still dynamic and fun.

[Khryseis_Astra]

I'd like Pictomancer to appear more like what Krile had going on as well- Krile showing her magical painting skills off vs what we got in the preview made it look like a completely different class

+1 to more polished, sparkly/ whimsical magical effects for Pictomancer, with obvious brush strokes included

Another +1 here… definitely liked the trailer presentation better than the in-game demo. And usually I hate how things appear in the trailer! But Krile and the sparkly, almost light-painting (which goes well for the concept of painting with aether/magic!) look shown in the trailer is beautiful and so much better than the chalky neon stuff we got in the demo. It did look like two totally different things!

I love Pictomancer and I’ll play it regardless, but I worry the bright neon splashes will give me a headache, and the opacity of the paint has some potential to cover up some battle indicators. I want the sparkly aether paint Krile was using!

[Stormfur]

Drawing a hole for the enemy to fall into or a fake door for them to run against (slam in their face). .

I see you went to the Wile E. Coyote School of Art. I too would like an anvil to drop on my enemy's head.

I think some kind of Sumi-e effects that are then coloreized would be the perfect "best of both worlds" -- starting with ink, then giving color and "life" to them through the aether without the drawings being overbearing or in-your-face.

[Merrigan]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pgdg...nnel=rendermax