Where are people getting the idea that 1.0 had better textures? I'm pretty sure the textures from 1.0 we're brought over to 2.0. Take a look at this video of 1.0, a cutscene featuring many of the existing characters you find in 2.0. Notice that they appear like they do in 2.0.
http://img2.finalfantasyxiv.com/acci...f25579940f.jpg
Does that look like high-res textures to you?
There were places in 1.0 where textures did appear crisp even up close, but the game did not seem to care for flat areas, which always appeared low-res and ugly.
http://img2.finalfantasyxiv.com/acci...2ed61ad3e5.jpg
The rocks look crisp but the ground is flat and ugly.
I think 1.0 did have some better lighting effects. HDR and bloom effects were done nicely.
http://img2.finalfantasyxiv.com/acci...58f0545f5d.jpg
Take a look at the Garuda Story Battle from 1.0.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yamyys0jCYg
The intro cinematic (which is nearly identical to the one in 2.0) I think looks quite a bit better. The fight looks considerably worse IMO. It also demonstrates some of the weather effects.
I don't remember the weather effects being all the better in 1.0. Perhaps they we're more "organic" and more realistic. But I'm not sure that's a good thing. Whenever there was a thunderstorm in The Black Shroud, your visibility went to naught, with everything looking very dark, like a real rain storm a big forest might. The shroud was annoying enough when you could see where you we're going. The weather made it ten times worse!
This is what I mean. It might "look" better in a screenshot, been when you are actually playing, the limited visibility get's very annoying very fast. No one wants to go back to this. Players like to see things not being obstructed by ugly brown dust.
