FFXIV GRAPHICS UPDATE/OVERHAUL - WHEN???

[DaulBan]

Assuming that the main concerns are texture-related (ie, yuck Hien's coat) then theoretically, assuming that there wasn't a huge load on the art department, they could do some things in order to spruce up some of the more obviously glaring texture issues. Right now it's not difficult to implement textures that are of a higher resolution (there are plenty of texture hacks that show that it's very possible), the only questions are really around how much work should be done.

Do you upgrade everything to a 1k minimum texture? Do you only do the new things such that the older gear / zones look worse? Do you upgrade everything and eat the time/fiscal cost right away but take a long time and maintain a similar amount of quality throughout the content?

If I had to guess, most people want everything (they like) from 3.0 onwards to look better in terms of textures, but even if they stuck to that arbitrary number, there's a lot of stuff to upgrade, and that takes a not inconsiderable amount of time. If I were in SE's shoes I'd be a bit leery about changing things from how they are now because of the potential debt you might have to stuff you released in the past. Once someone sees character X in 5.0 for example in a decent texture everyone's going to ask about the stuff that came before, and saying 'no' isn't popular, and saying 'well maybe' is dodging the question.

[Berethos]

In my opinion, they need to completely rebuild the game engine to modern standards. I don't see that happening at all unless they do an FFXIV-2 or something.

I wouldn't expect a rebuild of the game engine for anything less than a sequel. I can't think of an MMO that has gone and rebuilt its game engine while running the game as a live product.

[Raiya]

I think the game generally looks fine overall. What does need to be done though is fixing of SOME of the character costumes though and certain models. They don't necessarily have to do everything at once of course but some items like Hien's costume for example are GLARINGLY bad quality and the pixelation really sticks out. If they could go about they should start by re-texturing some of the worst offenders of course that stick out the most. Those are the one's in serious need of fixing. They don't have to do everything of course the enviroments are still incredibly beautiful and the game definately isn't that bad it just need's fixing in some parts.

The game engine overall is pretty good of course I hope they plan accordingly to be able to do an engine upgrade/overhaul down the line at some point so we don't risk what happened to FFXI where they didn't port the original dev tools and were stuck using outdated hardware to update the game.

[RareItems]

I wouldn't expect a rebuild of the game engine for anything less than a sequel. I can't think of an MMO that has gone and rebuilt its game engine while running the game as a live product.

Black Desert Online did last year xD. Game was launched on 2016. But then again it's easy to remaster a game when its still small.

[Vahlnir]

The game engine overall is pretty good of course I hope they plan accordingly to be able to do an engine upgrade/overhaul down the line at some point so we don't risk what happened to FFXI where they didn't port the original dev tools and were stuck using outdated hardware to update the game.

Graphically the game looks fine imo. It is what lies beneath it all that supposedly limits us. WoW, despite its many failures in recent years, upgrades their engine every expansion. SE could and should do the same. Want more money, SE? Give people what they want. Well, to a point.

[Tatiana]

Lol I saw some textures on Hien's robe earlier in the new quest-line and some of the details were extremely pixelated.

I don't want them to sacrifice content development for the sake of overhauling graphics, I think they hold up extremely well compared to most other MMO's today, but yeah it would be nice for them to work on it if they can without sacrificing other aspects of the game.

[Derio]

They would make a new ff mmo before they rebuild the game on a new engine

[Tatiana]

They would make a new ff mmo before they rebuild the game on a new engine

the real question is....Will there ever be another FF MMO?

[ElazulHP]

the real question is....Will there ever be another FF MMO?

Probably between never and really far away. They're extremely expensive to make and right now the MMO genre is basically dying and down to FFXIV and ESO as the only two decent MMO on the market.

[KageTokage]

While it's not an upgrade, I'd love if they added a middle option for shadow cascading because the Best setting currently makes extremely distant objects get an awful flickering effect on them, while Normal renders shadows within such a limited radius that there's a lot of pop-in while moving.

There needs to be an in-between.