those were exactly the ones i was talking about that i thought were too much, except mixing poitions. the idea actually made me think of this thread:
http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?/topic/1183870-the-future-of-alchemy/
In OB I was able to make potions rapidly, I would not want to have to take so long to make a potion, It would be grueling. On the other hand in Risen to create a sword, you had to do each step, you would hammer it on an anvil, put in a furnace, dip in a water barrel and then sharpen it using a whet stone, it really felt like I was being a blacksmith. Here is the thing though I only did that once in the game. And even if your focus was that skill you still would only make a few items over the course of the game. If I was contantly making swords,armor,etc then all that stuff would just get in the way and be annoying same with potions.
To me animations for stuff is one of those ideas that sounds cool, until you play the game and relize how much longer it take to do something because of an animation, basically a loadtime. Loadtime are not fun.
It was brutal in Risen, having to see your pc, kneel down and open every chest, pick up every ingredient, use a pick axe and hack(3 times!) for mining, and the digging was the worst of all.
I would love to see this stuff for npcs though.