Character animations

[Darshu]

Holy fucking shit, what the hell is going on?

Before reading the responses to this thread I thought FF fans had somewhat similar tastes. Especially Aesthetic tastes, since Squaresoft's games have ALWAYS been incredibly concerned about how their games look, and that isn't something fundamental as in style and identity that every other game needs, it's simply the mindset of "let's make this the most absurdly awesome visual experience that people cannot even imagine atm". And they have almost always delivered. Failing to notice this, as a fan or just someone who plays SE's games would shock me if I was a square employee.

This is undeniable. When XI came out, it had the most fluent animations of all the games out there, even compared to some non MMO RPGs. It remained on top for years. This is how much they were concerned about this specific part of the game. Actually, if you are able to ignore low res textures, you can go back to it right now and still be amazed at how it plays. XIV followed it's footsteps , greatly improving over it and making it, above all, one of the most beautiful visual experiences in RPG gaming. Every FF has done that. You could hate everything the game stood for, but you couldn't (at least I think) not be amazed at how it looked.

People kept playing this (XIV) game for 2 years, even though it's been broken for the most part and slowly recovered, making it at least not too much fun (though some had a blast throughout it's entire life till now). If you're going to tell me most of the players with a subscription active right now are NOT in love with the way this game looks, then I have to think I'm absolutely mad. Yet reading the responses, that's the impression I get. If this is true, Square's been wasting way too much time and effort.

My personal opinion is that Square's greatest accomplishment in gaming's been in the visual department. I have a hard time thinking this is just something that happened. I really think they care for it, that it is a priority. That's not to say sound effects, game play and story aren't priorities as well, but compared to other companies, visuals must stand way above for Square than most companies out there. If not, then they just have absolute geniuses working for them for decades. And the new Engine they showed a month ago only serves to prove this even further.

This recent downgrade in the animations for 2.0 doesn't seem to be on par to square's general level of quality and realism. As some have said here, I got the same impression that I was watching a regular MMO play instead of the improved FFXIV, and jumping (not a concern on this thread), as it is right now, only helped to cement it.

How is it most people are not bothered over this? I personally know a few people who'd log in, despite hating the actual game or how it was, just to move around town, dreaming that what they were playing would some day not be just a pretty sight. I did this myself on the first few months. I can't think of any other game which could've gotten this much attention out of someone by just being beautiful. If this game did, it's because it did something incredibly right, visually. Why destroy it?

The fact that players can't quite see much of a difference from the videos, or care enough about it could make sense, if you consider the world population as a whole not being aesthetically well trained for this kind of subtlety. But to have Square not realize how much their game's losing by removing it is just, strange. If I had helped to develop this, I'd be dying on the inside seeing such an amazingly unique game derail and meld into the crowd of common mmos.

[heit]

I thought that if you entered active mode the sequencing dictated that the animations changed? (i.e. side-stepping, back-stepping, run not walk etc.)

So, having said that (and if I'm correct), wouldn't it be possible that they would have a functional switch not far in comparison to the 'Enhanced Physics' switch we have now, to allow for more fluid motions whilst in passive mode?

I'm curious more than anything, as this has been my understanding thus far.

[NICKYMON]

I am also deeply concerned about this animation change. I don't have much more to contribute other than another person who is agreeing that this is a serious issue that needs tending to in 2.0. Here's hoping the game-play we have seen so far does not have the 1.0 movement patched in, yet. Devs, can you please give us more information on this? Thanks.

[Hitoriki]

Personally, I hate it in a game where you Press S out of Combat and your character walks backwards. It looks stupid. You should be able to turn around and face the camera while moving.

That said, I'm pretty sure Yoshida said in an interview that this was Toggle-able.

This.

I really like FFXIV's animations and dont want to see them degraded so much.

[Valmonte]

when i was watching the trailer i was impressed by the new land scape, very well done. then came the combat and i cried at the pace of animations and there simplistic look. but the real hurt came as i saw what chaos thrust may/may not look like in the finalized game. how they took one of the most beautiful lancer skill's "Chaos thrust" and turned into complete garbage is beyond me.

all in all, this is not the quality i expect coming from Square Enix.

as a side note: i didn't play FFXI for 6 years because of the awesome graphics i played it because of the unique style of animations, the the awesome story, the original jobs, and the community.