We'll probably not get the weighted physics and nice animations back to the same extent as 1.2X though. 1.XX was an extremely pretty game, which had graphics that could probably stand for up to a decade after release. It was unfortunate that it was a rushed game, as everything else that affect the play-ability and not the graphics, was not optimized, designed, re-thought or otherwise refined enough to make a good game at release. The graphics were also a bit too much for the main share of user computers at release, and definitely too much for the console of choice, so the game couldn't even boast a large userbase of awed-by-pretty people.

I think I sort of understand why that happened; Final Fantasy as a franchise has always been on the frontier of visuals in gaming, and when you present teasers and such to future customers and investors while the game is in development, it is an advantage to have something they can see and understand, so graphics got a lot of the early development and the engine seemed to be more coded for them than for it being an MMO at times. Then there was a rush to finish and release, and the rest just wasn't given the proper time to be refined and finished.

It's a bit unfortunate, IMO, that ARR went in the opposite direction rather than finding a middle-ground in this case, with toggle-able stuff ("Real Physics on/off" "Low/Medium/High Resolution Textures" "Detailed Animations off/player/party/all" "Depth of Field on/off" "Advanced Lighting Effects on/off"), perhaps with a hover-tip that says "Try to lower or turn off this setting if your FPS is below [30/60]FPS, as displayed in the upper-right corner of this window" and everything is always on medium upon installation. At least with Dx11 we'll be able to force a few things through our graphics cards, hopefully. *crosses fingers and toes*