Hey Square Enix, that is the level we except in cut scenes!

[Gwenkatsu]

I clicked the link in the OP expecting something really spectacular... like e.g. this one from Diablo 4
It wasn't. At all.

[LoganMccree]

Again, you can't really compare mobile single player gacha game with MMORPG.

Remember a time when MMOs were seen as the genre that all other genres couldn't hope to match?

Ahahahaha, what a sad state of affairs.

[MicahZerrshia]

Again, you can't really compare mobile single player gacha game with MMORPG..

So let's compare with another MMO.

They should try animating their cutscenes over just having the characters standing around emoting. Even when games like WoW have minor cutscenes they use animation over emotes so characters facial expressions and movements are more natural and less stiff. And when they do fully animated cutscenes for big moments, while its not perfect, it still is done leaps and bounds better. Imagine if the final confrontation with Emet was a well animated as the final confrontation with Xal'atath where there are actual facial expressions, normal body movement and wind in their hair, clothing moving more naturally instead of looking like they laudromat used too much starch, instead of emotes... And let's not even begin with the level of voice acting that WoW has in comparison.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zb3VOkD-JS8

It would have been absolutely mind blowing. And even FFXI is better at cutscenes, so SE could do it for FFXIV, they just...don't

https://youtu.be/UjLuM0uffGE?si=o0Oq_6qjxiJ2Y2wQ

Remember when other companies looked to SE to see the future of game graphics and animations? Pepperidge Farm remembers.

[RenkoBernkastel]

Did you watch the video, most of the cut scenes of it are INGAME! Only the last one was a render scene build with the game engine! And you really thing that they blow other games out of the water?

Star Citizen, 24 minutes of one ingame shot! https://youtu.be/nWm_OhIKms8
That is how you blow other games out of the water! Because that is the future of an MMO, not what square enix delivers.

And you open a serious question! A company who want about 60$ per patch! WHY could they do not deliver us such a quality? Money is not the reason, they make more than enough!

Yes, I did watch the cutscenes with the horrendous over the top anime acting that was worse than in actual anime.
Did you read the entirety of my comment where I mention that the FF14 engine is very old and is (thankfully) unable to produce cutscenes like that?
And yes, when it comes to actual cutscenes, SE does blow most other companies out of the water. I'm not talking about FF14 with that statement but SE as a whole, as did you in your original post.

What's the Star Citizen video supposed to tell me? "Look, the camera flies through a game that won't ever be finished!" isn't the argument you seem to think it is. If that is what 774 million USD looks like, I am severely disappointed.
"Company that wants 60 currency per patch" is a patch in this case an expansion? Idk about your income or general situation, but I'm perfectly fine with spending however much a FF14 expansion costs every 2-3 years.
Or are you talking about the sub cost here? Because in that case, cutscenes are the least of my concerns and I'd MUCH rather see my money go towards something that actually matters like better MSQ writing, better job design, better housing, more QoL, better dungeon design, better boss design. Sadly I won't see any of that, which is why I unsubbed, but trust me, cutscene quality wasn't even on the list of reasons, especially because they got slightly better in 7.2.

[Gaddes]

And even FFXI is better at cutscenes, so SE could do it for FFXIV, they just...don't

https://youtu.be/UjLuM0uffGE?si=o0Oq_6qjxiJ2Y2wQ

Remember when other companies looked to SE to see the future of game graphics and animations? Pepperidge Farm remembers.

C'monnnn, don't be that guy. You're being disingenuous with that by showing the tail end of Rhapsodies of Vana'diel that was meant to be the literal end of the game so they pulled out all the stops. The vast majority of cutscenes in FFXI were never much to write home about (and I'm not talking about the story content, I'm talking about visual presentation) and would only have a couple noteworthy moments usually towards the end of an expac.


Could we have better cutscene moments particularly for our WoL in FFXIV though? Absolutely. We've gotten some better ones with the more recent expacs, but there's still a lot further we could go.

[MicahZerrshia]

C'monnnn, don't be that guy. You're being disingenuous with that by showing the tail end of Rhapsodies of Vana'diel that was meant to be the literal end of the game so they pulled out all the stopa.

Ok then, what about this one from WotG, which was still much better animated than most of what we get in XIV currently

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2iRdRICzd_A

or this that came just after...

https://youtu.be/ei1VqqI88Dk?si=Rj2boHmG2NgsoJ8G&t=211

Heck even this one from ToAU

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1UEP4uGI9fQ

I mean this is stuff they were doing before some XIV players were even born, they should be able to deliver a lot higher quality now then they do.

[Gaddes]

Those aren't really all that amazing. Also kind of hilarious that I was even thinking "I wonder if they're going to show the Alexander vs Odin fight because most of that is just Alexander looping his animation again and again" and well here we are.

But I literally said "a couple noteworthy moments usually towards the end of an expac" which is still a lot of what you showed. Soooo many cutscenes in FFXI are often just people talking.
It's an incredibly subjective topic, and I straight up don't agree that FFXI as a whole does cutscenes better than FFXIV, and I'm saying this as someone who played FFXI first and still loves it enough to put it in my character's name and even forum signature.

Regardless, FFXIV can and should keep pushing themselves to put out some more visually interesting cutscenes.

[MicahZerrshia]

To be fair, a lot of the cutscenes I had in mind, were ones I could not find because I just don't remember what quests they were from. And the entire WotG thing was toward the beginning, not the end. The toau was the only end expac cs of those 3. And they just feel more impactful than a bunch of ppl emoting when action is happening around them. Compare the attack on Windurst to the attack on Toliyollal, the attack on Windurst, which was done in 2007, just feels more like an attack. It really feels like there is action happening, it feels like an attack. The Emet scene I said could have been better if done similar to WoW I still think would have been more well done if done by the FFXI team. The devs, and the producer, for that game at the time just had so much more passion and were willing to go the extra mile, as was SE itself with funding. They pushed the limits of the hardware and the animators. Current FFXIV cutscenes really do feel like they were mostly thrown together. Even the train scene from DT, which could have been crazy amazing (but should have been playable and not a cs), wasn't really that impressive, all things considered.

But to each their own. I just don't really care to make excuses for this team anymore. And that is what a lot of these arguements boil down too, making excuses for a team that is either highly inexperienced since SE refuses to hire non Japanese speakers, which severly limits everything they do, or just doesn't care that much.

[Kozh]

So let's compare with another MMO.

They should try animating their cutscenes over just having the characters standing around emoting. Even when games like WoW have minor cutscenes they use animation over emotes so characters facial expressions and movements are more natural and less stiff. And when they do fully animated cutscenes for big moments, while its not perfect, it still is done leaps and bounds better. Imagine if the final confrontation with Emet was a well animated as the final confrontation with Xal'atath where there are actual facial expressions, normal body movement and wind in their hair, clothing moving more naturally instead of looking like they laudromat used too much starch, instead of emotes... And let's not even begin with the level of voice acting that WoW has in comparison.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zb3VOkD-JS8

It would have been absolutely mind blowing. And even FFXI is better at cutscenes, so SE could do it for FFXIV, they just...don't

https://youtu.be/UjLuM0uffGE?si=o0Oq_6qjxiJ2Y2wQ

Remember when other companies looked to SE to see the future of game graphics and animations? Pepperidge Farm remembers.

Watch post emet fight cutscene again. They do have cloth and hair physics, and they don't use any emote at all. Idk what you're talking about voice acting, it's equally good /shrug

I personally is already satisfied with what we got in term of cutscene quality. It's not perfect, would be nice if they keep making more complex cutscene, but I rather they focus on the writing instead. No matter how nice a cinematic cutscene is, it's useless if the writing is bad.

[Kohashi]

Hmm I'm not sure I quite agree with this tbh. For me ff14 cutscene mostly have been good. They do emply the camera movement thing, just not like the examples you provided here.
I think it's a tad unfair to compare them, since WoL is customized character, which means they have to consider race, gender, and jobs when creating cutscene.

Oh come on now... Look at BG3, even if you go way beyond what they offer in-game (yes, mods), the cutscenes involving your character are still flawless. They are not voiced for the sake of roleplaying yourself, but they are very well animated. They do display the full range of emotions based on the context of the dialogue, and they are not standing there with a blank mind and face waiting for everyone to finish.

SE just got comfy with their slop. I will forever die on the hill saying they had 11 years to re-do from the ground up the entire engine and coding behind it. It was a decision to milk it to fund their FOM trends that had long passed by the time they engaged with them.

Also there are highly successful games recently released that were entirely coded by a very small group of people, and some done by only one, Mannor Lords is a prime example of this.

So when it comes to manpower and the systems (game, code, severely outdated ingame systems, and the jazz) that are still stuck in 1990, SE does not have any excuse.