This is rather frustrating...

[Felis]

From an old interview

Gamer Escape: 2.0 is going to be a new client, new servers, new engine. Is this still a form of Crystal Tools? Is this the Luminous engine? What can you tell us about that? Is there going to be support for Direct X 11?

Yoshida: First of all.. the current engine like Crystal Tools or the Luminous project, are made more for console games where they’re able to show the greatest level of graphics in a passive environment whereas an MMO is an active environment where, while you still want it to look beautiful, you also have many many people coming together in the same world. You have something like MW3 where the graphics are beautiful but what would happen if you had like 3 or 400 people on the screen at once. Would the engine be able to handle that? So what we wanted was something that could handle more of an active gameplay that we’re aiming for but also be able to provide beautiful graphics and landscapes. We found that Crystal Tools and Luminous would not be the optimal solution for this so that’s why we’re going to develop our own.

One of the reasons we had some trouble with the original launch of FFXIV was because we went through Crystal Tools and it was an engine that wasn’t really optimized for an MMO and so we’re currently working with technologists that are working on Luminous to make us a custom, optimal engine that will work for FFXIV.

As for DX 11, the first thing the dev team feels we have to do after the release of 2.0 is have a graphics engine that can accommodate the high-end computers and let those players have the highest quality graphics, smooth playability and a lot of different characters on screen- not the 40 we have now but having lots of characters displayed without having performance lag. But we’re also looking at the users with lower end computers as well and being able to create a system where you don’t have to have a high end PC to play. It also means having a system that will also handle the PS3 hardware as well that you have and just because it’s on the PS3 doesn’t mean it’s going to have lower quality. Maintaining quality for all three platforms- for high-end, low-end and PS3 and having an engine that will support this is what we’re aiming for with 2.0 and once that’s completed, and we hope to have that completed for 2.0, the next step will be to get the game ready for DX 11. So it’s in our schedule but we decided to make sure we had those three things covered by 2.0 and pushed back DX 11 for now. It’s not off the table thought and definitely the next thing we do after this.

http://ffxiv.gamerescape.com/2011/10...-is-out-there/

[cloverkitty]

I honestly think with the gaming community that there are many who just don't feel complete if they cannot complain about something.
Example:
1. "Ugh the game lags", so we get an update with much better detail but lower quality textures. So people complain OMG my textures ; ;
2. "We want FFXI jobs (BLM,WHM,DRG,WAR,etc)", So we get many of those jobs. So people complain that we don't have THF, Nin, SAM, etc.

I could go on forever on these examples. This is just another example.

My understanding on the complaint with copy and paste was that you would pass and area and run a little ways then pass that same area again but in a different place. That was a reasonable complaint.

However do you actually expect them to make 1000s of individual cacti? seriously?
Just about every game out there reuses land pieces. The trick is that when you go from area to area they are not all placed in the same place but just rotated or something. Also as long as there are variances in the land much of this will not matter.

[Biggs]

I honestly think with the gaming community that there are many who just don't feel complete if they cannot complain about something.
Example:
1. "Ugh the game lags", so we get an update with much better detail but lower quality textures. So people complain OMG my textures ; ;
2. "We want FFXI jobs (BLM,WHM,DRG,WAR,etc)", So we get many of those jobs. So people complain that we don't have THF, Nin, SAM, etc.

I could go on forever on these examples. This is just another example.

My understanding on the complaint with copy and paste was that you would pass and area and run a little ways then pass that same area again but in a different place. That was a reasonable complaint.

However do you actually expect them to make 1000s of individual cacti? seriously?
Just about every game out there reuses land pieces. The trick is that when you go from area to area they are not all placed in the same place but just rotated or something. Also as long as there are variances in the land much of this will not matter.

I was just imagining what that screen would look like if there were a few ants thrown in, and my heart skipped a beat a little lol. The landscape will drastically alter how dynamic the game feels once we see how the mobs look in it. Imagine not seeing a mob because a cactus was in the way, it certainly offers up the chance for more realistic gameplay. If they gotta copy and paste tree's to get this effect, then by all means lol

[Diyne]

I dunno, half the saguaro's I see in the vast landscape of the desert look pretty similar to me in real life. Though you do see those occasional few that stand out and are simply awesome. The new Thanalan kinda looks like Arizona or something to me, which is pretty cool. Maybe some of this will get tweaked and moved around when it's not in an alpha/beta phase, but I'm not going to go crazy either way about a couple of cacti. Still, currently happy to see what we can see so far, the forest looks absolutely beautiful; vast and thick, but pretty open, without just...walled paths/mazes.

I can't wait to explore these places and see them in real time.

[Dragonheart]

guys... this is still a pre-alpha.. prolly running on a laptop... and much more we don't know settings...

Let's see more in motion before complaining ok ?

[Skies]

We're finally given the new screens for 2.0 that we've been asking for...and one of the main things I've been reading is how the graphics have downgraded. Seriously!? Ever since FFXIV originally launched, I've heard a lot of "Graphics don't make a game" (which is my personal belief) But now that, in order to improve the gameplay, the graphics needed to take a MICROSCOPIC hit (I mean TEENY! I didn't even notice anything personally) SOME people are going completely ape!

I mean...we're really complaining about losing a few pixels (that to me, aren't even noticeable)?!

I mean, the game is still gorgeous! How is This:

not gorgeous!?

I think we should stop nitpicking over the graphics and be a little more supportive of all of the improvements that are coming. I'm not saying everyone is unhappy...but...do you guys just like to hate on this game or what!? It reminds me of the constant stupid debate between PS3 graphics vs XBox360 graphics (They look the same to me!)....

I dunno...maybe I'm just a blind fangirl.

I am unkeen to answering or even fully reading threads that follow certain trends because they are aggravating to me. However I do feel the need to point ou that in the thread you refer to, it consisted of exactly one against being obnoxious beyond measurement, which caused dozens upon dozens of responses because nobody can leave a dissenter alone.

[Delmontyb]

I think the game looks better, way better.

[Galliano]

The texture quality is lower *in these screen shots* than the current game, however I think these screens overall look better and seem a lot more organic than the current game. I do also strongly believe that if someone has a high spec system that their game in 2.0 will look much crisper than these screens and will probably have much better AA, hell I can force 32xAA in Nvidia control panel and also higher quality textures so I'm not too worried. But I think these are standard settings on PC and probably what the game will look like on ps3.

[Spy]

I am unkeen to answering or even fully reading threads that follow certain trends because they are aggravating to me. However I do feel the need to point ou that in the thread you refer to, it consisted of exactly one against being obnoxious beyond measurement, which caused dozens upon dozens of responses because nobody can leave a dissenter alone.

You're the second person to say this. I've read more than one thread. And I'm not only on this website. I've seen more than one person complain about the textures/graphics; even in game! Do you honestly think I'd make a new thread because of one person?

That aside, I agree with what the majority of the people have been saying here. People will find something to complain no matter what direction the game goes. So it's best just to ignore them. I had a temporary moment of weakness after knowing all the hard work that YoshiP and his crew have put forth into a game that the majority of gamers consider a "lost cause".

[ThunderTopaz]

could be worse, could be like runescape