The fluidity of the animation system should only really make a difference visually. However, chaining fluid anims together well is hard, and actually usually makes things feel worse. See: those who complain about Uncharted's platforming. See: Enslaved (which I thought was great, bar waiting for animations to end so that I could carry on platforming). The game the platforming section of 1313 was most like, I think, is Enslaved. It's the airship part of it: bits flying off, jump up, grab a flap, climb a bit, repeat.
In previous gens, the animation blending wasn't possible, true; but if it's done right, it will only look better, not actually play any better.