About Spell Effects' Visual Clarity

I don't know if it's just me, but are some of the spell effects a little bit too BIG and cluttery? If I want to enable my spell effects for just myself, why do they have to take up like 80% of my screen instead of being localized more closer around my character? LBs I guess make sense to be crazy big, but why does Sunsign as astro have to blind me to mechanics and potentially make me miss, or at least have to struggle more to see, a certain mechanic in savage content?

Why can't they just be smaller and around my character, or make them at least not linger so god damn long, or fix the visual clutter? Why does Celestial Opposition put a starry shroud around the area it affected for legit 4 seconds? Same with Star, but at least it goes away faster. Why does collective unconscious feel like it BLURS my screen when it's used???

Horoscope is a perfect example of how the effect should be. Pretty, localized above my character, and the effects don't get in the way visuallly even if they linger a little. Only time I could see it be a problem is with limit cut mechanics, but usually those give you plenty of time to solve it. Divinity is another good one, so is Microcosmos, though Macrocosmos is kinda cluttery, but it goes away fast. The problem is mostly stuff that lasts WAAAY too long and just makes it really hard to see certain types of mechanics.

Yeah, I know I can turn off the effects, but that feels pretty lame to then not have any spell effects at all.

I just wish going forward the team would design new abilities with visual clarity in mind. It'd be kinda cool to be able to play with everyone's spell effects at full, but only psychopaths do that right now lmao

It's been quite bad since EW (I think).

Many visual effects (VFX) that's been designed since EW launch (WHM's Holy I flashbang is a tiny exception) are made to look good from spectator's eyes, but didn't take account of the surrounding players' PoV. All SMN's summon attacks are like this: bright + blurry shockwaves placed above target's location. If you're a tank, well too bad! That SMN's going to blind you every 15s or so with all their summons!

Of course, that's not all. They later doubled down on this by adding more bright pillars VFXs that I really like to refer as "Satellite Beams" such as BRD's Radiant Encore, DNC's Dance of the Dawn, WAR's Primal Ruination, DRG's Starcross(?), oh dear the list goes on lol. Ignoring the conflicting theme (Why they all summon satellite beam lol), these bright pillars all goes out roughly around the same time during 2m reopeners which only clutters the visuals even further. And yes, AST's Sun Sign is also up there. Let's also not forget some cases where things like Asylum, Soil, and Gravity I never was an issue until they receive their radius buff!

Designing VFXs by assuming everyone would just turn them off is low effort, lame. At the very least I'd like them to tone down the use of motion blurs. It's cool once but they tire my eyes really quickly.

It's been a constant one-upmanship expansion after expansion where job trailers and new abilities require to be BIGGER and BETTER every time. Just looking for the first HW gameplay footage I could find, just check the difference with today...

I don't think SE actually hires ergonomists, unfortunately.

There definitely has been an issue of spectacle creep with the ability effects.

I wish they'd add a proper "limited" effects option that isn't almost the same as the "none" option. Right now it's either blinding yourself with a screen full of indiscernible flashing nonsense or... basically nothing.

I hate the new Bahamut. That thing always finds a way to block my vision. Soon as I have to run anything level 100 with a summoner around, BOOM! There it is! Half my screen covered by it.
Does the shrink primal size even work on that thing? I have mine set to small so if that is what the New Bahamut looks like small I'd hate to see it normal sized.

Oh this is why I feel a pang of guilt every time I use Summon Titan; he’s blinding everyone and his ass is taking up their whole screen!

On a more serious note I do agree. The overuse of ‘graphically over-the-top’ visual effects, compounded with the 120-meta causing every ‘big flashy attack’ to be shot out within the same short window, results in player screens constantly being overtaken by ‘visual clutter’. And while limiting effects is an option, as OP says it feels sad and a little weird playing with no effects whatsoever. It’s a shame there’s no middle ground between ‘Blinded By Light’ (lol) and ‘You Ain’t Seeing Nothing’,

But also slightly less seriously like yes it’s ridiculous and weird that every job is dropping satellite beams but can Bard keeps theirs lol? We don’t have anything else that looks very exciting…and I mean we already poison things by pointing angrily, and shoot arrows made of light and darkness, so what’s one more ‘basically a spell’ skill lol? Let us blind everyone else for a change!

The problem with spells is that every time they add a new spell or improve a previous one, they gotta make it more visually impressive so that it appears like you're getting stronger. Unfortunately this has just made it impossible to see anything over the years. I remember back in ARR or even SB and not having to reduce spell effects. In ShB I started having to do so in Alliance Raids and Bozja for those outside of party, but these days I cannot play without turning them off for everyone but myself.

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Originally Posted by TKMXIV

I hate the new Bahamut. That thing always finds a way to block my vision. Soon as I have to run anything level 100 with a summoner around, BOOM! There it is! Half my screen covered by it.
Does the shrink primal size even work on that thing? I have mine set to small so if that is what the New Bahamut looks like small I'd hate to see it normal sized.

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"/petsize all small" should make them smaller for you.

This is a tad unrelated but similar. I've got the same issues with some mounts.
Fenrir per example. I love that mount but the particle effects behind him blinds you so I rarely use it.
I agree that we should have a setting to adjust the effects on spells/mounts/gear/whatever else we can think of.

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Originally Posted by Astronis

"/petsize all small" should make them smaller for you.

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I'll give that a try next time I login. I know I've used petsize once before to shrink the first Bahamut a few years ago. So maybe just need to reapply it.
Though I feel like I remember Phoenix wasn't affected by pet size in Shadowbringers starting out. I'm probably just misremembering things.

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Originally Posted by Thurmnmurmn

This is a tad unrelated but similar. I've got the same issues with some mounts.
Fenrir per example. I love that mount but the particle effects behind him blinds you so I rarely use it.
I agree that we should have a setting to adjust the effects on spells/mounts/gear/whatever else we can think of.

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Oh this I feel so much, a lot of mounts that have particle effects flying directly at the camera feel unusable for me.

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Originally Posted by Connor

But also slightly less seriously like yes it’s ridiculous and weird that every job is dropping satellite beams but can Bard keeps theirs lol? We don’t have anything else that looks very exciting…and I mean we already poison things by pointing angrily, and shoot arrows made of light and darkness, so what’s one more ‘basically a spell’ skill lol? Let us blind everyone else for a change!

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I don't know, I've always been a huge fan of many BRD abilities, notably Pitch Perfect (both visuals and sound, it's bliss), Empyreal Arrow (same), and Refulgent Arrow (likewise).

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Originally Posted by Espon

The problem with spells is that every time they add a new spell or improve a previous one, they gotta make it more visually impressive so that it appears like you're getting stronger. Unfortunately this has just made it impossible to see anything over the years. I remember back in ARR or even SB and not having to reduce spell effects. In ShB I started having to do so in Alliance Raids and Bozja for those outside of party, but these days I cannot play without turning them off for everyone but myself.

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The bigger, more intricate particle effects are also a very lazy way to make skills look like they're being upgraded. Most of the new character animations have no weight and are extremely simple and stiff, so the flashiness is all they have. Even that isn't consistent, because the effects for something like Chaotic Spring versus Chaos Thrust look worse to me on a technical level.

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Originally Posted by Valence

I don't know, I've always been a huge fan of many BRD abilities, notably Pitch Perfect (both visuals and sound, it's bliss), Empyreal Arrow (same), and Refulgent Arrow (likewise).

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I mean those skills do look fine (though frankly I’ll always despise that two out of four of those have separate leg/upper body animations so your legs can be stuck in the Minne twirl while your upper body is stuck in the Burst Shot animation, it’s horrifying and off putting lol).

But compared to other jobs like ‘I am the satellite beam’ DRG, BLM dropping miniature suns, MCH calling in flashy robots, SMN casually manifesting a world-ending primal, etc, outside of using Radiant Encore the aesthetic theme for Bard really seems to be ‘your attacks look as weak as they actually are!’*

Other jobs have similar issues I’d say, like comparing Scholar’s mostly understated animations to WHM flash banging the party every 1.5 seconds, Astrologian drowning everyone in particle effects lol. I refuse to even given Seraphism a pass because of the disgusting glamour overwrite, otherwise it would be pretty cool.
Sage is kinda the same but I’d say Phlegma, Toxicon, Panhaima, have ‘satisfyingly-flashy enough’ animations. Though if it wasn’t for the weird ‘airplane-taking-off’ sound effect I genuinely would not be able to tell when Pneuma goes off, there’s like barely any visual effect lol. The players want parity between each job’s ability to blind its allies! Balance the flashiness!

Obviously there’s the argument to be made that we probably don’t need 24 ‘super flashy blinding everyone’ classes lol. It’s probably a good thing that some jobs have more understated / less over-the-top effects as compared to just making everything the same

* I’m aware Bard is the best of the ranged physical don’t @ me it’s not a literal statement lol

I think this was my first complaint about the ARR beta test, there was that one FATE outside the bar in Thanalan with a big Qiqirn or something, I remember posting a picture of it where he was just completely covered in effects and not visible at all.

I used to have them on full all the time. I didn't really start turning effects off until the 9S tank in the Nier raid, where you have to see which way he's facing for his laser beam and he was always completely obscured by effects.

I originally made macros for turning effects on and off and I would toggle it when I needed to, but now I just have them off all of the time. I just use the macro now for like fireworks or emote effects or something, I think having it off hides those which I hate because I always want to see them.

It's completely absurd that the game is basically unplayable with the default settings on. Maybe somebody will make a mod for smaller effects so maybe Yoshi P will be motivated to give us a more subdued effects option like he was with the new glamour.

I really wish someone made a simplified effects mod, but people are all instead obsessed with taking the flashbangs of the vanilla version and trying to push them into visual nuke territory ala Papachin.