Dawntrail Graphics Update - Feedback on changes to the world's aesthetic and feel

[Iscah]

I haven't looked around the old areas much yet, and what I did see was while I was still stuck on the PS4 version while the PS5 version downloaded, but I'm not really happy with what I've seen.

In particular, reflectiveness on floors feels like a "look at me and how realistically shiny I am" thing rather than serving the location as a whole. It stands out when entering the shop building in Idyllshire and at the Drowning Wench; I don't think I've been to other old places yet, but there's a similar thing at the palace in Tuliyollal as well.

Metal textures are feeling overly realistic as well. I liked the stylised vibe before, and never doubted that the metal things were metallic. But the game seems to be going for realism now.

One particular issue I found with reflectiveness was that I finished off the Endwalker tank quests and overall role quest finale after the update, and Kan-E-Senna's necklace is distractingly shiny at some angles.

[lunartears]

I haven't looked around the old areas much yet, and what I did see was while I was still stuck on the PS4 version while the PS5 version downloaded, but I'm not really happy with what I've seen.

In particular, reflectiveness on floors feels like a "look at me and how realistically shiny I am" thing rather than serving the location as a whole. It stands out when entering the shop building in Idyllshire and at the Drowning Wench; I don't think I've been to other old places yet, but there's a similar thing at the palace in Tuliyollal as well.

Metal textures are feeling overly realistic as well. I liked the stylised vibe before, and never doubted that the metal things were metallic. But the game seems to be going for realism now.

One particular issue I found with reflectiveness was that I finished off the Endwalker tank quests and overall role quest finale after the update, and Kan-E-Senna's necklace is distractingly shiny at some angles.

I omitted it from my main post but I feel the same way regarding metals and reflections. It feels weird to have perfect shiny metal and perfectly reflective floors. Some of the metals have actually changed from bronzes to golds.

[azaleai]

In particular, reflectiveness on floors feels like a "look at me and how realistically shiny I am" thing rather than serving the location as a whole. It stands out when entering the shop building in Idyllshire and at the Drowning Wench; I don't think I've been to other old places yet, but there's a similar thing at the palace in Tuliyollal as well.

One thing that's been bothering me a lot is how the wet surface effects when it rains are applied to all floors - I was crafting on my Island Sanctuary yesterday and when it started to rain, all of the floor inside the cabin became super shiny.

On the one hand I can see it being a tad too intensive for the engine to determine which surfaces shouldn't be affected by rain... but on the other, is that not how the auto umbrella or the character wetness functions? There's clearly areas where we are designated to be out of the rain, and if we were going for realism I think it would be nice to see that being applied to environmental surfaces too. Perhaps if they even added the little wet footprint effects as you transition from a wet surface to a dry one, too.

Wetness aside, I think a lot of the issue with lighting in previous areas comes from the new lighting engine being generally a lot darker - instead of having an ambient light acting as a faux skylight, we now have actual sunlight (or a digital imitation, at least). Areas that don't get the sun (caves or inside unlit buildings for instance, but even any area during the night is affected) are very, very dark. While it's realistic, it's... not particularly readable. Much like night scenes in films and TV, there's usually a lighting engineer on hand to find a way to light the scene in a way to make it readable, but while still making it appear to be dark, often with use of different coloured lighting (blues as opposed to yellows and oranges from sunlight) and ample use of rim lighting (lighting from behind a subject that creates an outline on one or more sides).

While rim lighting isn't really an effect that can be employed in a dynamic lighting scenario, I think there are a fair few cutscenes that could benefit from it. And I wouldn't be opposed to the addition of a very low level ambient light to improve visibility in shadowed areas - and perhaps strengthened ambient occlusion to increase the contrast.

I can only hope older areas getting the update will make them more in line with the newer additions. I'm lucky that my house has been mostly unscathed (2 or 3 light setting, middle of the pack and a fair amount of additional lights). The darker areas are a lot dimmer now, and there's very defined shadows cast by some of my furniture. I think I may have to add some more lights, but it doesn't look misty or have any strange material effects that I've noticed yet...