[Engine related] Glass and transparency

Hoping for a developer response soon!

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Originally Posted by Sinzfeldt

Funny this should crop up as this has crossed my mind a couple of times this week being sat in my inn room and not being able to see out! 14 has all nice high poly count models and everything but is really lacking in the shader/lighting/fx department. It would be nice if they fixed the flat texture water and added some reflections or added some transparent materials here and there but i imagine that is sadly not on the agenda.

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This, along with better shadows for characters/cutscenes, because those look bad even on the highest settings.

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Originally Posted by AkiRouscelia

Now this might seem like a waste of a thread for some people but I was just caught up watching this video from E3 2005 where the first concept video of the next generation MMO was being showcased.

Personally, I feel a lot of macro detail is missing from current stage FFXIV. Now we all know that the zone system will make a return to allow for macro detail and so on, which is fantastic news. Although, something else came to my attention when looking at the video, glass.

Have you ever had a slight irritation when walking through town or say, Gridania's own Carline Canopy and having not been able to see through the windows and wondered why? I do.
I feel when looking at that old tech-demo that having that see-through glass made it so much more attractive, and perhaps some over looked that small detail that certainly, in my eyes, added a lot for so little.

Has there been any mention of whether or not this will be included in 2.0?

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Oh god look at the pretty...I'm sad now =/

Want map/zone redesigns faster x.x

I thought glass was pretty simple to produce, its just transparency with a refraction shader isn't it ?

I wish Limsa had looked like that instead on what we have, saying that you would have to think about draw distance when it comes to transparency on that scale.

I just hope they have the lighting and shadowing done properly this time, every object should cast a shadow IMO, its makes a massive difference in how believably the world looks.

Yeah thanks for putting out that youtube clip. The town looks 1 million times better than our current ones.

As someone who is a designer, attention to detail matters, and with SE, I would expect or hope for nothing less in the zone redesign, new engine capabilities ect.

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Originally Posted by Jinko

I thought glass was pretty simple to produce, its just transparency with a refraction shader isn't it ?

I wish Limsa had looked like that instead on what we have, saying that you would have to think about draw distance when it comes to transparency on that scale.

I just hope they have the lighting and shadowing done properly this time, every object should cast a shadow IMO, its makes a massive difference in how believably the world looks.

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I prefer our Limsa Lominsa to that place from the 2005 tech demo, design wise. And you know what, I don't know how someone can find the nerve to wish Lominsa didn't exist. That's so crazy (but then again, aren't you the same person who thinks Blade and Soul has creative environments? Hahaha, don't make me laugh).

Quality wise, obviously the tech demo is greater though. For example, the water from the Project Rapture video is way better, and also the shadows and plants, and what not. But that area from the tech demo would translate poorly into the game we have now, and it wouldn't look half so great I'm sure.

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Originally Posted by bobbygunz

I prefer our Limsa Lominsa to that place from the 2005 tech demo, design wise. And you know what, I don't know how someone can find the nerve to wish Lominsa didn't exist. That's so crazy (but then again, aren't you the same person who thinks Blade and Soul has creative environments? Hahaha, don't make me laugh).

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Limsa would still exist you ..(bites his tongue), it would just look different.

And yes I do like the art and level design of Blade and Soul.. whats it to you ?

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Originally Posted by bobbygunz

I prefer our Limsa Lominsa to that place from the 2005 tech demo, design wise. And you know what, I don't know how someone can find the nerve to wish Lominsa didn't exist. That's so crazy (but then again, aren't you the same person who thinks Blade and Soul has creative environments? Hahaha, don't make me laugh).

Quality wise, obviously the tech demo is greater though. For example, the water from the Project Rapture video is way better, and also the shadows and plants, and what not. But that area from the tech demo would translate poorly into the game we have now, and it wouldn't look half so great I'm sure.

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Limsa is nice when you're walking between buildings, inside the builds just look like caves. The whole "city build on the sea" is lost entirely the second you go inside a building. Whereas in that video there's glass, different parts intersect with other parts (i.e. that walkway running along top of what looked like a market area). It just looks a lot more visually impressive plus half the cool looking places in limsa you can't even get to.

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Originally Posted by Wevlum

Limsa is nice when you're walking between buildings, inside the builds just look like caves. The whole "city build on the sea" is lost entirely the second you go inside a building. Whereas in that video there's glass, different parts intersect with other parts (i.e. that walkway running along top of what looked like a market area). It just looks a lot more visually impressive plus half the cool looking places in limsa you can't even get to.

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Well it's not really S.E.'s fault that you can't appreciate architecture, no offense. Not everything has to be over-the-top. And in any case, Limsa Lominsa isn't exactly subtle either. I mean, Limsa Lominsa is far from being "just caves". Next time you're there, maybe look around and appreciate what's around you.

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Originally Posted by Jinko

Limsa would still exist you ..(bites his tongue), it would just look different.

And yes I do like the art and level design of Blade and Soul.. whats it to you ?

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Exactly my point. It would be a completely different-looking place and hence wouldn't exist anymore. Unless I'm speaking a foreign language without realising it, I think I made perfect sense. It's kind of funny how in other threads you always get so annoyed when people gloss over your points or purposely misunderstand you, and then you just go and do the same thing to me.

And the reason Blade and Soul is relevant is because anyone who likes it for its "creative" art style (or lack thereof) immediately has their taste called into question.

I like the current style of Limsa Lominsa better too, but taste is not something you can argue about.
Still, real glass would be pretty.
I don't want Limsa to look like a giant greenhouse, but I wouldn't mind seeing a new city in the future which has a lot of transparent glass in their architecture :o