Why are mounts so pretty and egi's so bad?

[Gyson]

Why is the sky blue, but tomatoes red?

Tomatoes turn red upon ripening, once the chlorophyll breaks down and lycopene becomes the dominant pigment. And the blue in the sky is a result of blue light being scattered more than other colors by the molecules in the air.

But what does this have to do with why the FFXIV designers have chosen to make one NPC model extremely detailed and another sub par?

[Lewtskie]

Tomatoes turn red upon ripening, once the chlorophyll breaks down and lycopene becomes the dominant pigment. And the blue in the sky is a result of blue light being scattered more than other colors by the molecules in the air.

But what does this have to do with why the FFXIV designers have chosen to make one NPC model extremely detailed and another sub par?

One is typically larger than a player and another is strategically designed to be third of the player size to avoid further clutter on screen during fights.

Why are minions so plain is design as well. It's all because something so small isn't going to justify excessive detail. Increasing art and detail will make something require more space and have something so small in the end require that much more isn't necessary.

[Gyson]

One is typically larger than a player and another is strategically designed to be third of the player size to avoid further clutter on screen during fights.

Why are minions so plain is design as well. It's all because something so small isn't going to justify excessive detail. Increasing art and detail will make something require more space and have something so small in the end require that much more isn't necessary.

Er.. those egis are nearly Lalafell sized. And I've seen some better looking minions.

More importantly, this is what LODs (level of detail) are for, so something close up (regardless of its physical size) can look nice while not chewing up a wasteful amount of resources when seen at a distance. Due to their nature of appearing smaller at a distance more quickly, smaller objects can LOD more quickly.

So, no, once you factor in LODs there is really no excuse for anything looking crappy simply because it's small. An egi can be larger than a mount on your screen if they are the correct distance from the camera.

[Lewtskie]

Er.. those egis are nearly Lalafell sized. And I've seen some better looking minions.

More importantly, this is what LODs (level of detail) are for, so something close up (regardless of its physical size) can look nice while not chewing up a wasteful amount of resources when seen at a distance. Due to their nature of appearing smaller at a distance more quickly, smaller objects can LOD more quickly.

So, no, once you factor in LODs there is really no excuse for anything looking crappy simply because it's small. An egi can be larger than a mount on your screen if they are the correct distance from the camera.

God help us the idiot who wants to just zoom in on an Egi during a fight, right? Point is, it's there, but relative to how long you're looking at in a fight compared toe everything else going on around you, no, it doesn't need excessive detail. It's wasted effort to make something as detail as Twintania be the size and relevance of a pet.

[Gyson]

God help us the idiot who wants to just zoom in on an Egi during a fight, right? Point is, it's there, but relative to how long you're looking at in a fight compared toe everything else going on around you, no, it doesn't need excessive detail. It's wasted effort to make something as detail as Twintania be the size and relevance of a pet.

And yet we all expect our tiny weapons to look epic, even though nobody is paying attention to them during a battle, and the only time the detail can be appreciated is when we're intentionally making an effort to inspect them up close. And (as we all know) heaven help the artists if those items don't hold up under scrutiny of the players.

As a Paladin player my sword and shield are an important part of my character. I don't want them looking goofy any more than a Summoner wants any important part of their character to look goofy. I have no interest at all in playing a pet class, and yet even I can understand that simple concept.

That the original poster is comparing mount art to egi art doesn't matter, nor is it "apples and oranges". Because the point is that the egis are lacking compared to the standard of art quality we as players expect of this game on all other levels. So why, therefore, do we give the egis a free pass?

Whether it is this:


..or this:


..or these:


..or any of these:


..this:


..should hold up as an art asset in the game, and in the opinion of many it doesn't.

I am really not sure why anyone would be opposed to these pet assets getting an upgrade. Throughout the entire game they are sitting there amongst us, in a crowd, in a party, etc, and they always will be. They might as well look decent like everything else.

[Averax]

Tomatoes turn red upon ripening, once the chlorophyll breaks down and lycopene becomes the dominant pigment. And the blue in the sky is a result of blue light being scattered more than other colors by the molecules in the air.

But what does this have to do with why the FFXIV designers have chosen to make one NPC model extremely detailed and another sub par?

Its an apples to oranges thing. Comparing two objects that are not the same object, and asking why one looks better than the other.

Its an argument that doesn't work, because the objects cannot be compared because they are two different objects.

Had the OP said "Why does Ifrit egi look cool, but garuda egi look like cat vomit" it would have been a good comparison because they're both egis.

But comparing mounts to egis doesn't make sense because they're not the same.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apples_and_oranges

[Gyson]

Its an apples to oranges thing. Comparing two objects that are not the same object, and asking why one looks better than the other.

Its an argument that doesn't work, because the objects cannot be compared because they are two different objects.

Had the OP said "Why does Ifrit egi look cool, but garuda egi look like cat vomit" it would have been a good comparison because they're both egis.

But comparing mounts to egis doesn't make sense because they're not the same.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apples_and_oranges

I'm sorry, but no.

Apples are grown on apple trees.

Oranges are grown on orange trees.

Meanwhile, mounts, characters, NPCs, egis, etc are created by the art team at SE. To compare the quality of one art asset to the quality of another in the same game makes absolutely perfect sense. The expectation to have all art assets within a game meet a certain standard of quality is pretty reasonable.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_sense

[Malevicton]

Tomatoes turn red upon ripening, once the chlorophyll breaks down and lycopene becomes the dominant pigment. And the blue in the sky is a result of blue light being scattered more than other colors by the molecules in the air.

nice.

But what does this have to do with why the FFXIV designers have chosen to make one NPC model extremely detailed and another sub par?

You're obviously clever enough to know what I was going for. Like the other person said, this is apples and oranges. The "I don't like how egi's look" topic has been done to death, then back to life, then to death again. Op was trying for a new angle by comparing them to mounts, but there's nothing to compare.

edit: inb4 titan gets called a chicken nugget

[Solaria_Luna]

Tomatoes turn red upon ripening, once the chlorophyll breaks down and lycopene becomes the dominant pigment. And the blue in the sky is a result of blue light being scattered more than other colors by the molecules in the air.

But what does this have to do with why the FFXIV designers have chosen to make one NPC model extremely detailed and another sub par?

Then there is sunset where the sky does have a hint of red, but yea that's beyond the point here.

I wonder if that person used a bad analogy for the egi situation.

[Teslo]

When I first started playing I saw the Egi's and thought "This can't be right. Those lumps of poo are the Summoner pets? Must be a bug." I immediately reported the appearance of the Egi's as a bug. Now I know it's not a bug. But they still look like poo.

Quoted for truth from the poster below me.

/sigh, I really miss the avatars from FFXI. Loved playing summoner in the final fantasy games until XIV... This egi thing just destroys my soul.