The Graphics update was unnecessary

[Gyson]

this is why ppl aren't taking the forums seriously. "hey devs all that work u did was not needed" the game is old and looked very old and had pixelated graphics it was 100% necessary.

I have serious doubts that anyone who was previously complaining that FFXIV looked visually dated is going to turn around now and say "they did it, they solved all my complaints about the visuals and the game is now the epitome of graphical greatness".

The point is the game still looks visually dated, even with the graphical improvements. Sure, some visuals benefited more than others. The grass, for example, is nicer. But in other cases the benefit was so small one can't help but wonder if it was worth frustrating so many players in the process. Or, worse, the "improvements" actually made things look worse instead (as is the case with some of the character faces).

Just because you invest time and effort into something doesn't mean the result is good. Look, there is no way they're not going to implement these changes. But they should make an effort to fix the issues that are being raised so that all of this work is better appreciated and their customers are happier.

After 10 years of playing the character on the left there is no way I can look at the character on the right and say "Yeah, that's an improvement. Thanks SE!".

[Moshimoshikami]

But they should make an effort to fix the issues that are being raised so that all of this work is better appreciated and their customers are happier.

They stated in the benchmark download page that they are still working on improving the graphics.

On top of that, the Japanese forum is providing a strong, clear, respectful and organized feedback on what must be improved.
It will defenitively help the developpers to know what are the most problematic issues and how to fix them.

[Gyson]

On top of that, the Japanese forum is providing a strong, clear, respectful and organized feedback on what must be improved.

I can only speak on what I'm seeing here, and I do feel like much of the feedback currently being provided on this forum fits that description. However (and I don't know if this is the case for the Japanese forum as well) here we also have the problem of players running defense for the developers and challenging any feedback people are attempting to provide, which in just causing additional frustration and degrading the quality of communication. Nobody wants to try and express their frustrations over how their character has changed while someone else is insisting it's a non-issue.

Additionally, the lack of communication here with the developers compared to the Japanese forums has always been a frustrating reality, and it just becomes more so at times like this. It should not be surprising that the temperature here is different, and to be fair it is something Square Enix could help address by being more present here.

they look the same but one has way darker shadows

Much of the life feels gone from my character's eyes. The older hair seemed much more detailed and the two color tones blended together much better with the original art. The lip shape has changed and become larger (particularly the upper lip), and the painted on eyebrows have moved to a higher location on the forehead. The chin has been shortened. The ridge of the nose has been widened. The skin tone has changed. The quality of the lighting seems to also have taken a hit in the update as that's the same angle/location/time in both captures.

If you told me the one on the right was the low graphic settings and the one on the left was the high graphic settings in a video game, I'd say "Yes, I can clearly see that". That's the exact opposite of how a "graphical improvement" should come across.

[Moshimoshikami]

I do feel like much of the feedback currently being provided on this forum fits that description

There are very well redacted and helpful posts in the english forum as well.
But the chaos is so strong that it is hard to find them.
Too many threads and too many noise in each one of them.

I don't think the developers communicate in the JP forum though?
At least I am not aware of it...
But I agree that some official communication would be nice.

But at the end of the day, the graphics update is the focus of the dev team right now.
And thanks to the benchmark, players are finally able to provide some feedback.
So I am confident that things are going to get better soon.

[CStrife912]

I have serious doubts that anyone who was previously complaining that FFXIV looked visually dated is going to turn around now and say "they did it, they solved all my complaints about the visuals and the game is now the epitome of graphical greatness".

The point is the game still looks visually dated, even with the graphical improvements. Sure, some visuals benefited more than others. The grass, for example, is nicer. But in other cases the benefit was so small one can't help but wonder if it was worth frustrating so many players in the process. Or, worse, the "improvements" actually made things look worse instead (as is the case with some of the character faces).

Just because you invest time and effort into something doesn't mean the result is good. Look, there is no way they're not going to implement these changes. But they should make an effort to fix the issues that are being raised so that all of this work is better appreciated and their customers are happier.

After 10 years of playing the character on the left there is no way I can look at the character on the right and say "Yeah, that's an improvement. Thanks SE!".

I think there are some facets to remember here this is the ‘first’ graphical update and for what seems to be done and shown this was an engine foundation rework so while the changes seem minimal it’s much bigger for behind the scenes. People say it’s ps4 holding back but even they said some things are turned off etc and also the game only runs 30fps on that platform so it’s definitely more lower spec pcs holding the game back. By the time they get towards 8.0 I’d assume they’d jump the specs again drop ps4 and leap again but it takes time to do that prep work, they’re clearly investing in a lot of aspects that seem trivial to some but have much more beneficial and wider implications. Not meaning to cope but there is work being done just have to see where it leads and also the benchmark isn’t final.. so they can go back and tweak if need be.

[seolhyun]

I have serious doubts that anyone who was previously complaining that FFXIV looked visually dated is going to turn around now and say "they did it, they solved all my complaints about the visuals and the game is now the epitome of graphical greatness".

The point is the game still looks visually dated, even with the graphical improvements. Sure, some visuals benefited more than others. The grass, for example, is nicer. But in other cases the benefit was so small one can't help but wonder if it was worth frustrating so many players in the process. Or, worse, the "improvements" actually made things look worse instead (as is the case with some of the character faces).

Just because you invest time and effort into something doesn't mean the result is good. Look, there is no way they're not going to implement these changes. But they should make an effort to fix the issues that are being raised so that all of this work is better appreciated and their customers are happier.

After 10 years of playing the character on the left there is no way I can look at the character on the right and say "Yeah, that's an improvement. Thanks SE!".

they look the same but one has way darker shadows

[Gyson]

Are your settings in the launcher the same as your in-game settings, especially the gamma? It looks like the gamma is way off in the second screenshot (look at the background for obvious differences).

The settings are the same. However, the character illumination setting for Dawntrail's Benchmark can't be altered and (I believe) it has the character lighting maxed at 100. In the real game I leave this at 0 because my character is not radioactive, so why would he need to self-illuminate.

But I raised the character lighting to 100 temporarily to take another photo for a more accurate comparison, and to me the new Dawntrail version (right) does not look the same/better than the old version (left).

Edit: You were correct about the gamma, it was set to 50 in the Dawntrail Benchmark. I lowered it down to the same value I use in Endwalker and updated the image.

Are people actually trying to argue that this looks good?

The image you posted clearly looks bad, but I think the more important question is "how does it look after the update?", because if the answer is "different, but still bad", then I can understand people questioning whether the update was worth it or not.

[CidHeiral]

The image you posted clearly looks bad, but I think the more important question is "how does it look after the update?", because if the answer is "different, but still bad", then I can understand people questioning whether the update was worth it or not.

I think the only way to go from there is up, my friend. lol