Realm Reborn = downgrade?

[Lakhan]

please bring the old animations back. this hacked up version is not looking good. i mean really, this is a final fantasy title. it has to be better than this in the animation department.

[Holland]

^ This man speaks the truth.

[lololink]

Yup Amen Scratches !

[Aion]

but-but....it looks like Korean MMO!

[Darshu]

Like many of you before me, these news from S-E saddens me deeply. I am now incredibly frustrated with the direction 2.0 is taking, and this has cemented all my fears regarding Yoshida's direction. Having said that, I do think every single thing is important.

This thread seems to be followed mainly by those who agree with the OP, and share her values. I identify with many who have posted here, to some almost word by word. Yet, what this reaction seems to be doing is creating a misconception I wouldn't want painted on the players who care about this. Animation is not the most important thing for a FF game, and even though probably no one has clearly stated it is, it's being seen as if it is.

To me, when the community shares its opinion on a subject in a heated manner, and it is shared by a fair amount of people, it means that subject has suddenly stood out as something being off the current standard the game has set for itself. We want it noticed because it is clearly detracting from the overall experience, which is the conjunction of all things that makes a game, a game. The fact that FF fans care so much about these things, such as a few others, while no other game community does show how unique that feature really is. I'm sure other games have their own appeal, and those unique things that aren't present in FF, and therefore not spoken off or cared for by us, are heavily defended by their fans on their respective games when they are threatened to be changed or disappear. Many of those who play this game share not this love for subtlety, immersion through a mixture of mood, realism and character, slow paced combat and exploration, greater sense of depth or accomplishment by doing things without having your hand held at all times, etc. But this is unique to this series. If what you care about the most can be found on another title, then you shouldn't disregard us and our complaints. The EVE community has a million things they'd hate to lose that we haven't even heard of, yet if we were to move to their world and play their game because something about it appeals to us, the moment we start imposing our own personal tastes over the uniqueness of EVE we will be destroying it. Granted, EVE has been building up for years, and XIV didn't truly have chance to solidify it's community, but it has started, and it's aggravating that they are treating 2.0 as a new beginning and seemingly ignoring what the players have cherished and enjoyed in the past 2 years.

While the animations clearly stand out in the current version (something I've argued before as being obviously a priority for the dev team, until I read this last post), the fact that it got noticeably downgraded for 2.0 and attracted our attention doesn't mean it is truly the most important thing. We are not trying to make the team focus all of their effort into fixing JUST the animations, or make the environment more lively, make NPCs move, make jumping smoother, etc. But we do want these things to have attention, as much as it is needed. And I think the urgency is shown by how many people truly get bothered by their current state. As it is right now, 2.0's animation are bothering the hell out of us, specially since it was, as I said, something that stood out in an already visually stunning game. Please don't act as if there's only one thing for the dev team to be focusing on.

If the gameplay was broken, we would be yelling about it too, as we actually have since day 1. There are many things that need to be fixed, but as people have been saying, most who disagree are creating false dilemmas when trying to state "one or the other" when the game is clearly a conjunction of things. We want a story driven experience that looks, sounds and plays amazingly well. You need to work on a lot of different things to achieve that, and gameplay mechanics is just one of those things.

The reason masterpieces in any art form are so sparse is precisely because most people can only see or care about a portion of a whole. What makes a great game, movie, music or painting is the attention to detail on every single aspect of what you are trying to do. The moment you ignore one thing for the sake of another you've already decided you don't want the best, but something that fits a specific limited purpose. If the goal for FFXIV is to be the best PvP experience currently on the market (or whatever else they're making) then they really should change their advertisements, because this isn't the reason why I bought the game.

[Finuve]

Tera had great gameplay, but I already quit that game, its terrible other than the combat

[Starlord]

Well Jynx, if that is indeed the case then the Original FFXIV wouldn't have failed to majority of the population. Personally I think the " Pre-alpha" state animations are okay to me, but not everyone feels in that manner. But I do know that if they had to pick a Priority it would be gameplay, as much as I like pretty eyecandy, I rather see the game succeed then fail again.

Gameplay and Content are the two goals I think to achieve success, they can always add prettier animations down the line, but Gameplay and content at launch is essential to keep the players that try this game out. Animations and graphics only last so long till it gets stale, Gameplay and Content on the other hand focuses on enjoyably for a much longer period of time, and creates longevity in FFXIV for a change.

Animations can be worked on later down the line when there's about a 6 months to a year worth of content. However, if they don't focus on the right things at hand.. then Animations won't have a future for everyone to see in the long haul. Yes certain things like Backpeddling needs to be changed, but the pretty stuff can come when ARR is out for awhile and on its feet. By the looks of it the Maps itself look a lot better and more enjoyable to be in.

[Zaireeka2025]

While many of you here are arguing about whether the animation and gameplay affect each other in any meaningful way, I'm left wondering one simple question:

Why is it that ArenaNet has no problem coding Guild Wars 2 avatars with fluid stop/land animations while still maintaining lag-free gameplay? Here's your example. Also notice that, at about 5 minutes in, even in battle there is still somewhat of a foot positioning animation of about 1-2 seconds. Doesn't affect gameplay at all. Explain that SE.

Basically, if GW2 can do it, why the $%@# can't FFXIV?! SE needs to look at GW2 and stop looking at WoW for this and many other reasons.

For the trolls: Why don't I go play that game, you say? I do. I also play many other games.

[Rokien]

While many of you here are arguing about whether the animation and gameplay affect each other in any meaningful way, I'm left wondering one simple question:

Why is it that ArenaNet has no problem coding Guild Wars 2 avatars with fluid stop/land animations while still maintaining lag-free gameplay? Here's your example.

Basically, if GW2 can do it, why the $%@# can't FFXIV?! SE needs to look at GW2 and stop looking at WoW for this and many other reasons.

For the trolls: Why don't I go play that game, you say? I do. I also play many other games.

I HATE GW2 animation, bugs me soooooooo much, i feel so detached from that world. They have, what I like to call the treadmill effect. The "treadmill effect" is when the ground moves faster than the player, or it moves under the player while the player sits in the same spot. This bugs me soooooo freaking much, good thing it's free to play. I seriously almost quit Dragon age 1 and 2 because of it.

I also hate the dances of gw2, omg, they don't even fit the world. They bug me sooo much.

[Zaireeka2025]

I HATE GW2 animation, bugs me soooooooo much, i feel so detached from that world. They have, what I like to call the treadmill effect. The "treadmill effect" is when the ground moves faster than the player, or it moves under the player while the player sits in the same spot. This bugs me soooooo freaking much, good thing it's free to play. I seriously almost quit Dragon age 1 and 2 because of it.

And isn't that the point of it all? FFXIV animation is sooo much better, while GW2 animation is unattractive, but the main thing is that it doesn't affect gameplay. I feel like SE isn't even trying.

I also hate the dances of gw2, omg, they don't even fit the world. They bug me sooo much.

Don't be dissin on these moves son! <click>