Dawntrail Graphics Update - Eye Strain

[Doseki]

Just doing a bump, and still very disappointed that there's no news or even acknowledgement that this is an issue.

[Keumjo]

Bumping for people affected.

[DariRyusei]

So, lemme lay it all out. I have diabetes, and it's affected my eyesight. On top of that, I've been legally blind my whole life due to astigmatism. Diabetes has also caused nerve damage in my hands. I have persistent brain fog issues.

Dawntrail has been horrible for this. I have always used NPCs, because don't want to inflict my issues on others. Every single DT dungeon left me practically in tears, because I literally could not see mechanics. I restarted over and over, getting more and more frustrated. The final MSQ dungeon did leave me in tears; I had to restart a grand total of ten times. The one post-DT dungeon with the first boss that does the heads? Pure pain. I brought people who were in good health and even they were saying they would never set foot in the dungeon again except to help someone else.

I haven't touched Expert roulettes since DT dropped. Don't plan to touch the Arcadion series (partly because I don't really care for the story). Have unlocked the FFXI raid and the new dungeon, but am hesitant to try them. Because I know my disabilities will make it impossible for me, and I feel like it's unfair for others to have to suffer the presence of a party member that can't keep up.

All of this has started to make me reconsider my subscription. I am a very old fan of the series; been playing since the SNES era. But the visual clutter and the increase in difficulty has made even the act of going through the story a slog. I used to sit down at my computer and happily boot up the FFXIV launcher, and lose myself in the world of Eorzea for a little while. Now I don't think I've booted the game up for a couple days. I sit down at my computer, look at the icon on my desktop and go, "...Not right now." And play something else. Every day I think about logging in, then go, "...Nah." I play SWtOR. Or Palworld. Or Stardew Valley. Something, anything, that isn't FFXIV. When I boot those games up, I don't get the sense of dread that I have to slog through a visual crap-slurry to advance my character and see more of the story.

Don't get me wrong: I am not against having hard content in the game at all. I realize a lot of people find it fun and challenging. But now the hard content is no longer optional. Now it's required to progress the story. And the fact that Square Enix refuses to acknowledge that people like me even exist is both sad and disappointing. But also not surprising in the slightest.

Just remember, you can't "GIT GUD" yourself out of an actual, legitimate physical disability. And it feels crappy when the game you've played for three years has decided you no longer deserve consideration, and/or that your disability means you should "get off our game".

[MayMelon]

This might be a little bit of good news
The intrinsic saturation, which remained too high even if the illuminance within the in-game darkened, has darkened since 7.1.
Not all the comments in this thread, but I think some of them have been reflected.
Finally I can walk around the dawntrail field for more than 20 minutes!

[Ainariel]

The intrinsic saturation, which remained too high even if the illuminance within the in-game darkened, has darkened since 7.1.

If that's true, that's really good news!

But the player and enemies's effects are still too flashy and bright. I've even had to set my own effects to Limited, which makes playing any magic classes really sad. I had no problems whatsoever with most of the effects in the game pre-DT, but the graphical update somehow messed things up.

[MayMelon]

If that's true, that's really good news!

But the player and enemies's effects are still too flashy and bright. I've even had to set my own effects to Limited, which makes playing any magic classes really sad. I had no problems whatsoever with most of the effects in the game pre-DT, but the graphical update somehow messed things up.

Yes, There's a possibility that the light effect of combat skills has become excessive as the glossy texture has been strengthened since the DT..
I feel it all the time, but the glare effect of this game is so stimulating.
Certain users will find it really hard to play...

[Anarnee]

I have noticed a few changes for effects when playing WHM. I have all my effects turned off for everyone and myself on my main and the alts I have taken through DT, because everything was blinding. It's annoying because I couldn't see when people placed stuff like Doton, but I leveled WHM on the alts I got through and it was just possible for me to play with the blinding boss abilities and myself.

But I went to play another alt and she still had partial effects on and it seems like Asyllum, and Temperance are less blinding. I turned full effects on for myself and Holy/Holy III are not as bad either, but I am keeping partial on for now cause it's still causes strain. I could not see through asylum in 7.0. It was awful, I can see through it now.

I have a friend that gets violently ill when walking around the overworld, so it's nice to hear that more has been adjusted. My friend quit subbing because of how bad stuff is, but she has a trial account as well... I'm nervous to ask her to try it out because it was so bad she had a headache in minutes and if she tried to power through it she ended up vomiting. No game is worth that and I think I'd like to see them make some bigger changes before I suggest she try again.

[Ishamaru]

First boss of the 7.1 dungeon left me with massive eye strain and an instant headache because there were so many flashy effects going on. If my friend hadn't been playing the Warrior tank of the party, that run would have not been completed, I think. Luckily, we were able to finish after several wipes. It was really awful, and now I'm kinda afraid to run anything else in the patch knowing that enemy effects are just this bad and there's nothing I can do about them.

[UNDEAD10000]

After patch 7.1, the core problems with the patch 7.0 graphics update still haven't being fixed where lighting in most areas are simply way too bright which still makes my eyes feel uncomfortable.

Jeuno: The First Walk alliance raid last boss is by far worst boss fight in patch 7.1 when the arena it self is quite dim and whole fight is filled with lots of bright visual effects that makes my eyes feel very uncomfortable instantly.

I really wish i had ability to tone down lighting to same level like it was before patch 7.0 and even just having in-game brightness settings would help little.

[Rueby]

I'm sick of this grass blur/sharp flicker? They 'upgraded' old areas and now the trees and anything grassy? flickers when I move/stop. I can't be anywhere grassy without getting a headache when I'm running around and taking a vid of it only to have it butchered by compression is genuinely driving me up a wall.

I tried turning grass quality to off but it happens with bushes and trees too...

I tried it with FSR 100, FSR 50-60-70-80-90-99, anti-aliasing with all options, DLSS and it still happens....