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

[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