Animation Lock: Why don't you like it?

[Firon]

People who are playing games like minecraft are looking for something different than what people who are playing games like Final Fantasy are looking for. People play minecraft because they want to play with blocks. You can build things, and go exploring for more things so you can build more things. It's the game equivalent of legos.

Now, Final Fantasy, for instance, is different. The first things that people who are fans of this series critique are "How pretty does it look" and "What's the story". The gameplay comes in third. Beauty and storytelling are what FF fans are looking for. And if it's good in that regard, excellent, that draws them in and gets them to play the game. Gameplay mechanics are judged later. Come to think of it, there also wasn't much story to the early build of FFXIV 1.0 either, and what story there was you had to level up to get to it, which was hard to do thanks to the lackluster levequest system... One of the big complaints about FFXIV was that there were too many roadblocks in the way or progressing lore-wise.

Everyone plays games for different reasons tho, Like me I play RPG's for this reason in this order. Combat > Story > Graphics. I love number crunching in rpg's and trying to get the most out of it so in that regard sometimes I don't even care if a story is bad in game cause when i grew up games did not really have stories anyway. It's a reason pokemon is my fav RPG cause no game can macth skill and strat of the game, you have so many options in the game and you never know what someone will come at you with.

[Pseudopsia]

And what gameplay improvements do you get from the previous games?

I probably like the previous games better because they game me more reason to use strategy. FFXIII SE took away a lot of the reason to use strategy. You can micro manage your abilities if you want to, why do that when it's done well with the Paradigm system and the battles are easy?

[Firon]

I probably like the previous games better because they game me more reason to use strategy. FFXIII SE took away a lot of the reason to use strategy. You can micro manage your abilities if you want to, why do that when it's done well with the Paradigm system and the battles are easy?

It's a lot of thing you can do in 13's battle system. Just wait till you fight an giant turtle you will realize how wrong you were playing the game.

[Pseudopsia]

It's a lot of thing you can do in 13's battle system. Just wait till you fight an giant turtle you will realize how wrong you were playing the game.

I haven't seen any giant turtles yet. I'm on chapter 6, so far it feels like a long movie. So pretty much I have to wait till the end of the game to get into good game play?

[Alhanelem]

But Final Fantasy is a series built on Aesthetics. It's what draws players into the franchise and keeps them coming back.

I'm sorry but this is a load of crap. Final Fantasy is a series based on good storylines- Not aesthetics. And regardless of what you think the series is "based on", there is no good reason to compromise gameplay for the sake of asthetics. I'm playing the game because it's a fun game, not just because it's pretty to look at.

Did anyone like Final Fantasy 1/2/3 because of good graphics? No. The graphics were pretty lame even for the NES days. It wasn't until the more recent games that good graphics even came into the picture. To argue that the series as a whole was based on that as a principle is ridiculous.

Seriously, you people arguing aesthetics. Do you really play FF games just because they have good graphics?

[Zehira]

FFXIII is the first FF game I was disappointed. They need to make a movie like that because I didn't enjoy the battle system.

[CrystalWeapon]

Everyone plays games for different reasons tho, Like me I play RPG's for this reason in this order. Combat > Story > Graphics. I love number crunching in rpg's and trying to get the most out of it so in that regard sometimes I don't even care if a story is bad in game cause when i grew up games did not really have stories anyway. It's a reason pokemon is my fav RPG cause no game can macth skill and strat of the game, you have so many options in the game and you never know what someone will come at you with.

I completely agree with you in order of importance, but this doesn't mean all 3 can't be improved as much as they possibly can.

If I don't like the mechanics of a game, then I have a hard time getting into the game. Beautiful graphics and an awesome storyline can only distract from so much.

If the storyline makes no sense whatsoever it also distracts me from fully enjoying a game. On the other hand if storyline is really successful at pulling me in I can overlook other flaws.

If a game completely looks like crap it will also distract me from enjoying myself as much, but it's not anywheres near a big deal for me as the above two issues.

If you can get an A+ in all 3 fields... Then why not? It's not like you have to only focus in one or the other. I think some of the graphical issues people have with ARR stem from a lack of development time. They're trying to do the best they can but at the same time they can't develop this game indefinitely. I personally think they did a damn good job in the amount of time they did it in. I also knew the graphics were going to take a slight dip because they wanted to shift things up to allow players with lower end systems to have access to the game. Again even with that, I'm still impressed with what they've done so far.

As far as animations and transitions go. I don't think they will have the game exactly where they want it on release, but it's not like they can't continually upgrade and improve after the game's release. Didn't they say they also wanted to upgrade their graphics to a newer version of DirectX in the future so that the game will look even better?

[SkyeWindbinder]

I'm sorry but this is a load of crap. Final Fantasy is a series based on good storylines- Not aesthetics. And regardless of what you think the series is "based on", there is no good reason to compromise gameplay for the sake of asthetics. I'm playing the game because it's a fun game, not just because it's pretty to look at.

Did anyone like Final Fantasy 1/2/3 because of good graphics? No. The graphics were pretty lame even for the NES days. It wasn't until the more recent games that good graphics even came into the picture. To argue that the series as a whole was based on that as a principle is ridiculous.

Seriously, you people arguing aesthetics. Do you really play FF games just because they have good graphics?

But, as was said before, a good storyline does add to the aesthetics of a Final Fantasy game. And, whether you'd like to believe it or not, or regardless of why "you" play Final Fantasy games, the series puts a huge emphasis on looks and story, you know, the aesthetics of the world. Yes, people have different reasons for playing games, but the Final Fantasy games are primarily build for people who want to be drawn into a detailed world with a deep and meaningful storyline.

Yes, gameplay plays a very important role in how a game does. But really, do you think the majority of people who are anticipating a new Final Fantasy game are saying "Geez, I hope I don't have to use so-and-so buttons to fight, or "I hope I can use so-and-so buttons to summon my monsters"? LOL Come on, let's get real here. Fans hear somehting about the new Final Fantasy, here's th details they're asking for...

"How does it look? Pics, please!"
"What's the story?"
"What summons will be available?"
"Can we see city designs?"
"Can we see character designs?"

You know, questions that revolve around the aesthetics of the game.

[Colino]

I actually liked it for "realism" which 1.0 had loads of...

But let's be honest gameplay comes first.

[Shougun]

I actually liked it for "realism" which 1.0 had loads of...

But let's be honest gameplay comes first.

But having failed previously SE needs to release a 'more then usual' polished mmorpg. SE shouldn't let or at least let obvious there was compromise in the product - "We designed gameplay first, thats why our aesthetics (or other X feature) look like shit now". Specially there should be no literal compromise between 1.0 and 2.0, I say literal because there are many subjective things like "I liked not being able to jump", but literals like "there was more detail in 1.0's animations". With animation blending being added later the animation quality might not be a thing anymore - it was just an example.

While gameplay should be developed first (to ensure fun) our release product shouldn't have this statement "gameplay first", the product should say "quality comes first". Gameplay is important, but so very important is aesthetics. If you give me a 10 score in gameplay and then a 10 in aesthetics I give you a 100, you give me a 5 in aesthetics I give you a 50 - HUGE difference.

I wont defend 1.0 animation lock, because I disagree with true locks (you cant convince me I "cant" modify my spells like stopping a multi-hit combo midway (or being stunned to spot), fail sense of realism lol) but I think influence action and reactive limitations is ok (basically, gtfo FFXIV ani-locks).

Maybe I'll start another thread like Shurrikhan suggested (reactive weighted animation system, which can handle limiting actions intelligently - pure locking isn't an intelligent solution). Though I dont think many people are looking for that much action oriented gameplay - you've got the ATB crowd and then lightning combo smashers.. right now its in the middle(ish).That and I bet a lot of response will be resource polices magically knowing the resource availability for Yoshida