The Graphics update was unnecessary

[seolhyun]

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.

[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.

[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]

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.

[Larirawiel]

FF14 was not an ugly game,

Of course ...

Cheers

[Derio]

I think it would of had more of an impact if they updated with more face options and more character customization. Moreso what this update will do is show how old FFXIV is and unlike WOW that uses a cartoonish style can get away with poor graphics for years on end, while FFXIV is leaning more to realism which really hurts when you see how dated some things look.

[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.

[Taliriah]

The work required to create a new lighting and shading solution inside the engine would 100% be the exact same devs that would be working on a movement system. The role is usually called Engine Developer or Engine Programmer but realistically in tech every company changes the titles slightly. But again it's not just about those specific Devs.

Sorry, in AAA games, rendering engine programmer and game engine programmer are usually different roles, because it's very different specializations. And a movement system tends to be more on the gameplay programmers side on things than on the game engine programmers side.

For an MMO in order of importance:
Setting and Art Style
Core Gameplay Loop
Movement and combat
UI design
Story
Community
Graphics quality

That's extremely subjective. For example, in the case of FFXIV I'd put Story at the top, because if the story wasn't good I'd have zero reason to bother with this game in the first place.

I was initially using movement as an example, but if I was going to tier list the high priority issues in the game, the more important barrier for new players is the new player experience being awful, if you were going to play this game and your particular class fantasy is say a Samurai, only to be told O you will have to go through 3 expacs, about 100 hours of play time, as a class you don't want to play before you can play the class you want to play. You would probably just bail on playing. From their you need to look at the server tick rate being crap, and the movement system. Then the overall reduction in mechanics the games gone through in the past couple expacs, what I mean by this is you used to play with your mechanics alongside your standard rotation, now they are merging more and more the mech into your rotation to fit into the 2m burst window which is favoured by people who want to do world firsts, that's the largest gameplay issue they have. At the bottom of that list is HD and graphic overhaul.

You're talking about network programming and game engine programming. Rendering engine programmers aren't going to be doing any of that, not on a AAA game, where you have dozens of programmers on a project and a high degree of specialization. I agree that the netcode is bad, but I don't care because the PvP is also awfully badly designed and micro optimizing a pve dps rotation doesn't interest me, so as far as I'm concerned the game's combat loop is abysmal from a design point of view anyway. It would require a complete change of philosophy before improving the netcode would be meaningful. And none of that has anything to do with upgrading the graphics. None of the same people would be involved in any of this.