@ the OP:

The reason why FFXIV's graphics aren't as good as a single-player game's graphics is because it's an MMO. An MMO requires loading large numbers of character models in addition to scenery in a timely fashion that won't drag down FPS. You would have to have pretty much the best computer on the market to run a game that looked like crysis and had multiple people running around. It just can't be done without lowering some other aspects of the game, whether it be repeating textures or lowering poly-count of player models and scenery.