Did squenix make a mistake by investing too much in graphics and not enough in

[Aldwin]

I've been somewhat negative towards this game since about 2 weeks after launch. I did not play beta, I did play xi for quite a few years. So many things i didn't like about this game, including graphics.

Sure the textures and high-poly characters look nice. But the graphics end there imo. The world is so empty i can't even think of a word to describe it. Everything is so "square". The towns are so simply built from a design view. I've done 3d graphics programming in school, albiet nowhere near on this level of course. But a large portion of the world looks like they just put in 4 polygons and through on a nice texture. The graphics of this game are far from ground breaking imo.

What does annoy me the absolute most, is the relative feel of the game. I don't like that there is so many places i just can't go. I'm going to gain hate to my post now by pointing out that I am currently playing wow, after having left XIV with intent to check up on the games updates from time to time.

I was just flying around through town in wow, and I can go, anywhere. I don't feel like this ledge is stopping me, or this wall is just blank, with who knows what behind it. I can stand on the top of a building if i like, jump onto the mailbox. My point being is, I feel like i'm in control of my character, not being limited to a very small path.

Another point, actions take too long to perform imo also. The delay for animation just feels slugish. Sure it may look nice, but it takes away the feel of "action" for me.

Both of my complaints in this post were in XI as well, and i absolutely loved xi. But to compare it to games nowadays, I wouldn't have the slugish actions with limited freedom. In XI i just took it for an older game that already pushed limits to what the hardware/coding could handle. This is 2011 now, (game was released in 2010 I know). I wouldn't have liked the limits of this game in say 2005 even.

[Gramul]

Should they not have hired one of the artists that worked on the other Final Fantasies?

[Ilean]

Should they not have hired one of the artists that worked on the other Final Fantasies?

What? They used artists?

Sure the textures and high-poly characters look nice. But the graphics end there imo. The world is so empty i can't even think of a word to describe it. Everything is so "square". The towns are so simply built from a design view. I've done 3d graphics programming in school, albiet nowhere near on this level of course. But a large portion of the world looks like they just put in 4 polygons and through on a nice texture. The graphics of this game are far from ground breaking imo.

QFT

[Geesus]

I've been somewhat negative towards this game since about 2 weeks after launch. I did not play beta, I did play xi for quite a few years. So many things i didn't like about this game, including graphics.

Sure the textures and high-poly characters look nice. But the graphics end there imo. The world is so empty i can't even think of a word to describe it. Everything is so "square". The towns are so simply built from a design view. I've done 3d graphics programming in school, albiet nowhere near on this level of course. But a large portion of the world looks like they just put in 4 polygons and through on a nice texture. The graphics of this game are far from ground breaking imo.

What does annoy me the absolute most, is the relative feel of the game. I don't like that there is so many places i just can't go. I'm going to gain hate to my post now by pointing out that I am currently playing wow, after having left XIV with intent to check up on the games updates from time to time.

I was just flying around through town in wow, and I can go, anywhere. I don't feel like this ledge is stopping me, or this wall is just blank, with who knows what behind it. I can stand on the top of a building if i like, jump onto the mailbox. My point being is, I feel like i'm in control of my character, not being limited to a very small path.

Another point, actions take too long to perform imo also. The delay for animation just feels slugish. Sure it may look nice, but it takes away the feel of "action" for me.

Both of my complaints in this post were in XI as well, and i absolutely loved xi. But to compare it to games nowadays, I wouldn't have the slugish actions with limited freedom. In XI i just took it for an older game that already pushed limits to what the hardware/coding could handle. This is 2011 now, (game was released in 2010 I know). I wouldn't have liked the limits of this game in say 2005 even.

First thing first, if you want to jump and climb buildings and all that other stuff, go play WoW as you mentioned or go play a platformer.

Second, as for another MMORPG, please show me where there is another that has graphics as good as these? And the thing is, unless your running a rather expensive GPU, you can't GET the full blown abilities for the graphics from this engine. That has been stated quite a bit in articles I have read. So please enlighten me personally as to other games that are MMORPG... key acronym there MMORPG that have better graphics then what XIV can actually do when equipped in a performance PC.

[Corrderio]

They've been making this mistake since they jumped to 3D.

[Louisville15]

Considering that the environment is made up of rehashed textures and we are playing a 2010 release w/o dx10 or dx11 I'd say that they did not even spend enough time on the graphics.

Exactly! Plus, this game runs much worse than it should. I have a monster PC and can get 60+ FPS at all times in Crysis 2, yet I can't max this game and get 30fps. What visuals we do have are not optimized well at all.

[Kiote]

When you take into consideration that MMO have historically started in horribly bad condition and the fact that every other MMO on the market has essentially the worst possible graphics for this era and the fact that SE want and MMO that will run for ten years, the answer is simply no. You can fix system level problems and you can make new content but you can't go back and redo the all the graphics in an MMO to update it to the present. Look at Cataclysm, Blizzard basically spent enough to make a new game on that and it managed to extend the life of WoWs outer core player base by one year. There has basically never been an MMO that was what we would consider now to be successful in its first year. 9 time out of ten that is because of the problems FFXIV had at launch. By focussing heavily on graphics SE has ensured that the game will remain visually appealing for the life of the MMO and simplly has to deal with the same problems that every MMO from UO to Everquest to WoW had to deal with. Rejected Mechanics and Server Issues. If the game makes it to next year the horrible launch will become the equivalent to a camp fire ghost story. Someone will cringe but mostly will just not give a crap. Thje graphics, however, will be the best graphics of any MMO for the next Decade because no other company even tries.

[PrettyPrincess]

They've been making this mistake since they jumped to 3D.

that's a matter of one's personal opinion don't you think?

[Vivik]

First thing first, if you want to jump and climb buildings and all that other stuff, go play WoW as you mentioned or go play a platformer.

Second, as for another MMORPG, please show me where there is another that has graphics as good as these? And the thing is, unless your running a rather expensive GPU, you can't GET the full blown abilities for the graphics from this engine. That has been stated quite a bit in articles I have read. So please enlighten me personally as to other games that are MMORPG... key acronym there MMORPG that have better graphics then what XIV can actually do when equipped in a performance PC.

The graphics are great, but what is the point if it's unplayable? Why should anyone have to go out and spend 1k on a PC to play a video game? The horrible graphics lag is what keeps me and a large majority of players from playing ffxiv. Every morning I wake up checking the tech support forums hoping for an update for the engine and every morning I am disappointed.

Did you know, since it's inception, the tech support part of the forums has never had a single GM reply? Why is that? People have asked over and over again for information on some kind of engine update so it's playable for them. But nothing is forthcoming by SE.

Ya know what I would like more than a great looking game? One that I didn't spend 140 dollars on (for two CEs) for my wife and I to enjoy together to just have it sit in the closet. If I could I would return it and get my money back.

[Fensfield]

When you take into consideration that MMO have historically started in horribly bad condition and the fact that every other MMO on the market has essentially the worst possible graphics for this era and the fact that SE want and MMO that will run for ten years, the answer is simply no. You can fix system level problems and you can make new content but you can't go back and redo the all the graphics in an MMO to update it to the present. Look at Cataclysm, Blizzard basically spent enough to make a new game on that and it managed to extend the life of WoWs outer core player base by one year. There has basically never been an MMO that was what we would consider now to be successful in its first year. 9 time out of ten that is because of the problems FFXIV had at launch. By focussing heavily on graphics SE has ensured that the game will remain visually appealing for the life of the MMO and simplly has to deal with the same problems that every MMO from UO to Everquest to WoW had to deal with. Rejected Mechanics and Server Issues. If the game makes it to next year the horrible launch will become the equivalent to a camp fire ghost story. Someone will cringe but mostly will just not give a crap. Thje graphics, however, will be the best graphics of any MMO for the next Decade because no other company even tries.

I've liked your post because, for the most part, I do agree.

But it bears pointing out that it is not completely impossible for a game to tear out its entire graphics engine and all of the resources therein because, well, EVE Online did it, and Square-Enix seriously considered doing it to Final Fantasy XI before committing to XIV (and in a way, I still wish they had). I think another game did a similar total rebuild, too, but I can't remember which it was.

Still you're right it's a massive undertaking, and extremely unlikely even when a game would very likely see a significant financial benefit, part-wise because of the problem of predictable lifespans in non-player-driven MMO games that I brought up in my previous post. It certainly isn't something to count on, and that is indeed why most MMO's do try to have the highest possible graphics for their time and budget at the moment of their release. In fact some, like Everquest 2 and to a lesser extent our Final Fantasy XIV (see the General and Background Drawing Quality options under Video Settings) deliberately overstep the capabilities of current graphics technology with the hope of compensating for technological progress over the course of the game's lifespan.