Approach to animation

I've been looking into what is needed for game animations.
Main points:
- Overall believable, polished and accurate animations
- Cycled animation that can be smoothly looped
- Set pieces

-Fairly simple rig

Other things to consider:
-Using layered animation (shown in Skyrim)

Some of the technical research I've found:

http://www.peachpit.com/articles/article.aspx?p=22801&seqNum=7 - An article that outlines some important areas in game animation by George Maestri.

http://www.gdcvault.com/play/1016323/Animation-methodology-for-Battlefield - a presentation on the animations used in battlefield 3 that shows how DICE approach there animation pipeline.

http://www.polycount.com/forum/showthread.php?t=97447 – people’s opinions on what’s needed in animation. Some people feel that being good at general animation is the most important skill. You can then apply this knowledge to game animation.