Animation Upgrades

[Zadood]

To be fair, a lot of class animation look like an amatuer trying to use their weapon for the first time, especially if you pause frame by frame during GPose

Samurai probably has the worst skill animation ESPECIALLY if you compare SAM's animation to other video game features katana wielding protagonist such as...

MGS Revengeance
Raiden and Jetstream Sam

Nier Automata
2B

Sekiro Shadow Die Twice
Sekiro

Devil May Cry 3/4/5
Vergil

Especially when it come to a more traditional katana/kendo animation design, SAM's animation like an goofy adventure holding a katana for first time and decided to add as many flashy effect as possible to make up the amateurish animation, while Sekiro's animation is less flashy as FFXIV SAM, I will take Sekiro's Mortal Draw over SAM's Ogi-Namikiri any time and day

[Roda]

To be fair, a lot of class animation look like an amatuer trying to use their weapon for the first time, especially if you pause frame by frame during GPose

Samurai probably has the worst skill animation ESPECIALLY if you compare SAM's animation to other video game features katana wielding protagonist such as...

MGS Revengeance
Raiden and Jetstream Sam

Nier Automata
2B

Sekiro Shadow Die Twice
Sekiro

Devil May Cry 3/4/5
Vergil

Especially when it come to a more traditional katana/kendo animation design, SAM's animation like an goofy adventure holding a katana for first time and decided to add as many flashy effect as possible to make up the amateurish animation, while Sekiro's animation is less flashy as FFXIV SAM, I will take Sekiro's Mortal Draw over SAM's Ogi-Namikiri any time and day

Man, I can see what they were going for with SAM's animations. They're that very fantastical ACTION SLASH style choreography with lots of air time to suggest mobility and combat dynamics, but imo those airborne maneuvers really only work well when they are allowed some hang time with hit stop timing and dynamic camera angles and freeze frames to give them a bit of weight. With the speed of xiv's combat/rotations and how hits are received by enemies it just looks like someone LARPing in their yard with a $50 mall katana with all the short hops and oddly placed flourishes.
Personally, I prefer a more grounded SAM fighting style (both figurative and literal. Keep ur feet on the floor and use the entire earth under you to power ur swings pls!!)