First of all I just wanted to say to those of you who have a problem with this thread.. it's that kind of behavior that'll lead to the games eventual demise if that's the attitude that's going to be taken. Seeing my post as knit-picking or whining just for the sake of whining when it's actually a legitimate complaint is frankly stupid. If you don't have anything constructive to say you should stay out of the conversation.

This is 2012.. not 1999.. spell casting animations should at least be somewhat varied. Taking the same stance to cast a spell over and over again is outdated, but hey.. that's just my opinion. When someone casts Fire, Aero, Blizzard, Thunder.. etc.. do you really find it that appealing for a game in this day and age to go through the same exact animation? I never really dug magic in 1.0 but as someone has already brought up.. it's especially worse if it's the same casting animation across all genders/races.

I don't have on nostalgia goggles. That kind of talk is just annoying because it gives people with nothing to say something to say just because they don't like what another person has to say. I feel as if the spell animations themselves are also a little.. meh. They're awfully fast and you have to pay close attention just to be able to notice them.. imagine what that's going to be like once you're in a group with other people. I'm not saying the spells in FFXI were amazing.. but when I went to cast Stone I was at least able to see that what I cast was Stone without having to take a magnifying glass to the screen.

If I had nothing constructive to say this would be an entirely different story.. but there is some validity to my statements.