I have the impression that for many weeks now, the approach to convincing each other that one is objectively right to like or dislike the new graphics has been coming up again and again in this thread.

That simply won't work. If you like the update because the lighting looks more realistic, you're probably right - and if you don't like the update because the characters have been changed, you're probably right too.

The only thing I can say about the status of the lighting is that there are good reasons why games and films generally don't work with realistic lighting, but rather with real or virtual softboxes and other artificial lights. The realistic lighting in FFXIV looks a bit like shooting a film today with 80s lighting - doesn't sound like a good idea to me. You could like it, but you don't have to.