Dawntrail Graphics Update - Feedback on changes to the world's aesthetic and feel

Sadly, don't have many pictures of a waxing moon. This is my only one. On top of that, it has the marker filter on it, so it may not be completely representative.

https://i.imgur.com/DKPVvDR.jpeg

SS taken Late Shadowbringers / November 2021.

Edit: Found this old Reddit post about the moon phases. Looks like a waxing / waning moon has a significantly less visible dark side when it was very close to becoming full.

The Status of the Moon Phase In-Game when Endwalker Arrives (To the Hour.)

Regarding graphical update's effects on cutscenes, I found a post and video about a certain memorable 5.3 cutscene:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=grP8dfCVVPo

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GU3dS92bQAEwZQe.jpg:large
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GU3ePTZb...jpg&name=large
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GU3ecIma...jpg&name=large

Also would like to add another related post from the character thread:

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Originally Posted by lunartears

Found this video today: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zgBEkzT8xhU
Good reference for the way that MSQ has been affected by the graphics update.

https://i.imgur.com/ynNKmVy.png
https://i.imgur.com/k9PLwGh.png
https://i.imgur.com/jcNIT8s.png
https://i.imgur.com/ShHPCBe.png

Lots of scenes are now notably brighter which has resulted in losing the original tone, I feel sorry for anyone playing through the game for the first time.

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Quote:

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Originally Posted by lunartears

snip

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Seeing more comparisons like these is just so sad. So many cutscenes lost a range of tension , grandeur or intimacy that was deliberately put there. Truly a shame for anyone experiencing the game for the first time. :/

If they were planning to completely redo the entire lighting engine, surely they should have known that this would have a big effect on the lighting in the cinematic moments? But they really seemed to put in a whole new system without editing the lighting in any of the cutscenes. Sorry, but that feels really lazy and cheap to me. Where is the care and attention to detail this game once had for stuff like this? Yeah, I'm glad the grass doesn't look like a bunch of blurry squares anymore, but did we really need to alter the lights this dramatically? And yet they STILL flicker and get banding in them and look awful in some lighting conditions and cutscenes, the one thing I was hoping they'd fix with this update.

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Originally Posted by Rueby

https://imgur.com/a/8P7mVyy
Eorzea time : 8:15PM
Location : Upper Limsa

Anyone has screenshots of the old moon...? It feels oddly out of place in this shot....I thought the darker side was kinda less visible before and the light was more...glowy? It looks abit dull to me.

https://i.imgur.com/H5ohItj.png

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It does, but I remember it looking like that in previous expansions too

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Rueby

https://imgur.com/a/8P7mVyy
Eorzea time : 8:15PM
Location : Upper Limsa

Anyone has screenshots of the old moon...? It feels oddly out of place in this shot....I thought the darker side was kinda less visible before and the light was more...glowy? It looks abit dull to me.

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The moon's brightness seems to vary a lot with how high it is in the sky, fading to almost nothing as it sets – nothing like the real moon which stays bright all the way down.

I was really hoping they'd fix it.

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Originally Posted by gllt

Yikes, so they made the game glow so much I can barely look at it but also somehow made the glowy places I actually like look incredibly dead. I love the burning wall.

How.

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If I had to pinpoint my biggest gripe right now, this would be it.

I tried editing my house today for the first time since 7.0. A shiny gold doorknob catches my eye because it alone looks impressively realistic. Then I look at the white marble floor, which has lost all shine and reflective quality and looks like paper.

Taken together, this is an extremely unpleasant and sad experience. Like someone else said here, it seems like individual people worked on individual items but no one put them together to confirm that they work as a whole. Or some have been retouched while others have been forgotten or downgraded. This is especially upsetting to house designers who built their rooms to look cohesive.

I had to stop my editing short in the end. In a brightly lit room the excessive shadows are so bad it felt like I needed to take a break to power wash everything first because it all looks so dirty. The bottom of white stage panels look like they have been collecting dirt for years.

The intolerable part though is that as I move items around in design view these shadows gradually creep in around objects as they move now. It feels like a sickening decay is infecting furniture items as I shift them.

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Originally Posted by Iscah

The moon's brightness seems to vary a lot with how high it is in the sky, fading to almost nothing as it sets – nothing like the real moon which stays bright all the way down.

I was really hoping they'd fix it.

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Ahhh I see...That's unfortunate, I'm actually starting to think twice about 'was this always like this/this bad'

I also just went to gather some collectibles for uhm my custom deliveries and churning mists look strange under this weather...

I thought I actually stepped into Ultima thule from how dark everything felt? I don't recall churning mists being this dark, but I also don't recall a time where this weather stuck out to me. I wish I had a way to compare but it looks really bad because I was straining my eyes to see. In EW I thought Ultima Thule was really bad because it was so dark despite it being a 'cool' area, I honestly haven't visited it since the 7.0 update.... I kinda lament not taking screenshots, I never thought it'd be so bad...

https://i.imgur.com/lKOm7fA.png
https://i.imgur.com/vScYNpW.png

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Rueby

I also just went to gather some collectibles for uhm my custom deliveries and churning mists look strange under this weather...

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I might have screenshots somewhere of that thunderstorm weather – it has always made things look dark and ominous but I don't recall quite how dark it got.

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Originally Posted by Iscah

I might have screenshots somewhere of that thunderstorm weather – it has always made things look dark and ominous but I don't recall quite how dark it got.

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I'm really interested to see! I don't really recall something being this dark but now I'm kinda doubting my memory...The only dark area I had issues with in this game pre-DT is ultima thule because it was just...way too dark.