Request for Improved Character Animation Transitions (Movement & Combat)

[jupiker]

Hello,

I’d like to bring attention to character animation quality—specifically the lack of smooth transition animations during movement and skill usage.

Right now, movement can feel a bit “floaty” or disconnected. For example:

There’s little to no visible acceleration when starting to move (instant full speed).
Stopping lacks weight—characters halt abruptly instead of naturally decelerating.
During combat, when moving and using abilities at the same time, characters often appear to “slide” across the ground while performing animations.

This creates a noticeable visual disconnect, especially on high-end displays where fluidity and detail matter more.

I understand that earlier design decisions—especially around A Realm Reborn—likely prioritized responsiveness and gameplay clarity. In fast-paced content like raids and dungeons, removing animation delays (such as acceleration and deceleration frames) makes sense from a gameplay perspective.

However, I believe there’s room for improvement without negatively impacting responsiveness.

A good example is how Diablo IV handles this:

Characters have visible acceleration and stopping animations.
These transitions do NOT affect actual movement speed or responsiveness.
The result is smoother, more grounded motion without sacrificing gameplay precision.

Something similar in FFXIV—where animation transitions are purely visual and not tied to input delay—could significantly improve immersion and modernize the feel of the game.

Additionally, improving blending between movement and skill animations would help eliminate the “sliding while casting/attacking” effect.

To summarize:

Add visual-only acceleration and deceleration animations.
Improve animation blending during movement + skill usage.
Preserve current responsiveness (no gameplay slowdown).

FFXIV has made huge strides visually over the years, and improving animation transitions would be a major step toward making character movement feel as modern and polished as the rest of the game.

Thank you for your time and consideration.

[Valence]

It's funny in a way because that's what 1.0 did, even though yes, it had a real impact on gameplay movement, which is probably why they removed acceleration/deceleration as well as character tilt when turning. If someday we get something less janky visually and it doesn't deteriorates gameplay though, I'm all for it.

[CCheshire]

Wait, hold on, is this a genAI suggestion? Is it too much to write the request in your own words and then translate it using Google Translate?

Then I doubt they SE will want to redo everyone's animations for a slight change for no reason for greater "immersion" as others have mentioned that it was seen in 1.0 FFXIV but it was changed for the better imho in ARR.

Maybe he did write it in his own words and put it through some AI chat to make a better and coherent translation than Google Translate ever would, it's not the end of the world, nor the subject of the thread. Find real things to be mad about.

On topic: I'd like this to be implemented, I've seen videos of old 1.0 and even if it's not a priority, it would be nice, if it doesn't break the game as it is.

Because if he can't explain why his suggestion is good in the first place, then that means he doesn't understand what it's about at all, or that he knew it was bad and he needed GenAI to make excuses to post it here. I mean, the least I can say is that I hope humans will think for themselves before adding, like, a game suggestion.

The forums exist so humans can talk with other humans about their ideas for FFXIV in the first place, and if I wanted to get wrong facts or fake answers from an LLM, then I can get that from everywhere else.

Also, other people have mentioned that they changed the beta animations since it caused a delay and why it's not added back into ARR, so it means that SE is aware it already caused problems over a decade ago so why would they add it back again? They'd have to re-do thousands of animations for what? This is a MMO created over a decade ago, and you can't "modernize" or compare it to a much newer game that was created later and not share the same tech or problems.

[synthwev]

Wait, hold on, is this a genAI suggestion? Is it too much to write the request in your own words and then translate it using Google Translate?

Maybe he did write it in his own words and put it through some AI chat to make a better and coherent translation than Google Translate ever would, it's not the end of the world, nor the subject of the thread. Find real things to be mad about.

On topic: I'd like this to be implemented, I've seen videos of old 1.0 and even if it's not a priority, it would be nice, if it doesn't break the game as it is.

[jupiker]

Even Guild Wars 2 has fluid, weighty character movement animations without affecting movement speed, and it launched only two years after Final Fantasy XIV.

On top of that, FFXIV was literally rebuilt during A Realm Reborn relaunch, yet instead of refining the original animations, they simplified them to the point where characters often feel like they’re sliding during attacks or moving stiffly.

The issue isn’t that it’s “impossible” — it’s that they chose a simpler implementation instead of preserving the sense of weight and momentum. Adjusting animation timing so it doesn’t affect gameplay speed is a solvable problem, not an unsolvable one. And honestly, it’s wild to see people actively defending the fact that the developers basically butchered and stripped down the animations in a rushed, heavy-handed way instead of properly refining them.

[MediArgentum]

I agree with improving blending between moving and attacking. Playing Dark Knight a lot, it's super noticeable when you do your normal 1-2-3 attacks and move at the same time, the character just slides across very unnaturally.

[Vespar]

While Im on board with this idea, I do feel resources are better spent elsewhere. I also am concerned that in their effort to make movement more fluid, they could lose the essence of run styles that many people love about their characters.

[jupiker]

Just a reminder that Final Fantasy XIV operates on a monthly subscription model, plus an online cash shop and paid expansions. They have more than enough revenue to realistically invest in improvements like this — it’s just that players themselves keep defending that it’s “not necessary.”

[jupiker]

What exactly are they supposed to spend that money on, if not improvements like this? Another stylized anime ad on YouTube instead?

[jupiker]

If it weren’t for the game’s extensive modding scene, I probably wouldn’t play it at all — because animation-wise and gameplay-wise, FFXIV really falls short. The feel of character movement and combat is just terrible.