Uldah is definitely really bland

heres an honest question to those who might know.
i personally have found every Final Fantasy series to have a very well designed and decorated aesthetic, however, both FFXI and FFXIV have some of the worst looking weapons, gear, environments, and even summons (minus XIV obviously) look absolutely colorless and just..... less than every other FF in the series.
so Q: WHY?
is it just because these particular developers have that type of look in mind and think its literally on par with the look of all their other games? i just never understood it thats why i became the second most advanced .dat modder FFXI ever saw, who else do you know that can modify the hex. of the dat files to make your own spell casting animations?