Cartoony style graphics....

[KiriA500]

I said that on occasion there was a TF2 quality to the graphics. I said nothing about the actual art style, let alone anything about it being completely.

Well, TF2 is a high quality game in pretty much every way (graphics, sound, etc.), so I take it that's a compliment?

(I still have no clue what you're talking about. I see no similarities in any way/shape/form)

We know SE is willing downgrading certain aspects, so is it a case of just them no going all out? Or is it the case of them just simply continually dowgrading?

Yoshida touted the "best graphics in the genre", so far this looks just barely early PS3 when FFXI actually had a more polished looked for it at it's time. Is it because it's Alpha? Or is it really because that's the direction they're going with?

Why wouldn't they go all out to show off said 'best graphics'? We know internal builds are usually further than what they'll even let us test, so it shouldn't be a problem.

Removing something isn't a downgrade when it's seen as a problem. When Rukkirii said "the development team's number one focus in A Realm Reborn is on gameplay," that means they saw those animations as something that didn't help gameplay. Bitch and moan all you want, it was their decision to remove them. Same goes for most of the UI crap we've had to deal with. Those aren't downgrades, they're clearly upgrades.