Lackluster Graphics in FFXIV

[Lavinia]

Have anyone even thought about how SE works?

I mean they are greedy sadistic people (from my experiences with a lot of FFs). Now We all can notice that some effects are like below par that is indeed true. But they have repeated over and over they want the game to be future proof, it could be simple for them to make like Crysis and make all PCs cry to run the game so people can go OH! But some PCs could actually run it so after you actually see the game in all its glory and how the system actually is with all the flaws some would no doubt leave. Beside if they give a bit more time to the CTengine they could bring even better effects than what they could do 2-3 years ago!. But what if the game gives people some upgrades to graphics from time to time people would see the game get better looking and expecting how far they can take the engine.

I can almost bet they have their eyes to fix all these stuff later on the game life, have you notice how drawing quality breaks the game when maxed Its because they haven't add some tessellation into the game. With access to the DX-11 that new cards have that could be why the game is so demanding on certain systems since they are running without some of the technology that should/could be working to alleviate the system and the effects themselves

[BelgianRofl]

I highly doubt SE will upgrade its engine and graphics throughout the years. On the original FFXI box it said that the game's minimum requirements are subject to change due to upgrading the technology and graphics - essentially making the game future proof. Nearly 10 years later Alt+Tab still does not work. I do not have high hopes, nor do I expect that SE will do anything about the graphical and performance issues with ffxiv. If they do, it'll be a pleasant and welcomed surprise.

[gifthorse]

The graphics suck primarily due to the fact that the engine SE used does not accommodate realtime streaming of data. Everything is zoned and is not seamless. So in order to give FFXIV the illusion of "good graphics", SE just increased the polygon count of everything and then copy-pasted it into zones with obvious seams and partitions. Basically FFXIV is a few high quality items copy-and-pasted over and over.

Meanwhile other games don't have to compromise on graphical integrity as much purely because the engines they built their games with have gameworld straming technology.

[DAOWAce]

Still waiting on the patch that adds things like environmental shadows and sliders to adjust object/grass fade out and Level of Detail..

[Roaran]

Comparing an MMO to Single player games is well.... dumb? I believe SE's Engine has a LOT of graphical effects that are just simply turned off for FFXIV. Maybe they plan on giving options down the road to turn them on, or simply turn them on a few years from now once the game is optimized? I have no idea.

[Verecund]

I'm pretty sure that if the graphics were anything like the tech demo then the retainer wards would self-implode into a black hole.

[Anty]

I'm pretty sure that if the graphics were anything like the tech demo then the retainer wards would self-implode into a black hole.

then i want this graphic option nao

[Reika]

It can all be blamed on the fact that they are coding the game towards PS3 graphics. Which aren't bad graphics, but they just have a different way of doing things than PC's do, especially because PS3's all use the same GPU, while PC's have a wide variety. That is one of the problems when people 'Port' games from one system to another. They tend to forget that difference, and don't build from the ground up based on the particular graphic system.

I have to agree tho, even tho the characters themselves look pretty good, the rest of the games graphics: world, shadows, water, etc, are pretty low level. We have shadows that are not dependent on light sources, shadows that go through the ground to appear elsewhere, water that doesn't reflect, or move like water, Textures that don't blend well in many areas...

If they actually worked the graphics around Direct X 10/11, there probably wouldn't be very many visual problems. PC's would probably even be able to run it more smoothly. I really hope they fix that mistake soon and stop focusing on making the game for PS3.

[Anty]

It can all be blamed on the fact that they are coding the game towards PS3 graphics. Which aren't bad graphics, but they just have a different way of doing things than PC's do, especially because PS3's all use the same GPU, while PC's have a wide variety. That is one of the problems when people 'Port' games from one system to another. They tend to forget that difference, and don't build from the ground up based on the particular graphic system.

I have to agree tho, even tho the characters themselves look pretty good, the rest of the games graphics: world, shadows, water, etc, are pretty low level. We have shadows that are not dependent on light sources, shadows that go through the ground to appear elsewhere, water that doesn't reflect, or move like water, Textures that don't blend well in many areas...

If they actually worked the graphics around Direct X 10/11, there probably wouldn't be very many visual problems. PC's would probably even be able to run it more smoothly. I really hope they fix that mistake soon and stop focusing on making the game for PS3.

i would welcome the dx11 version but the fact that the dx 9 version looks the way it does it just bad programming.
Dx9 depending on what you do with it, can look amazing. The limitations we see are not due to dx9.
DX11 however would make it easier and if done right, less recource hungry as it is now.

I hope they implement the features like, shadows, better more realistic water and lighting better sooner then later, since these features play a major roll in a game. Thats why a lot of other titles out there, even though they might have less detailed textures, feel more alive and having a much better atmosphere.

[Linkurrra]

Glad somebody realizes to that that SE does have the option of building separate clients for PC and PS3!

They are different systems, and things like GUI and graphics need to be optimized and built individually. The PC graphics need Level Of Detail slider like no other! OMG the framerates would go up so high in cities if you could crank this down a little. Like render only 10feet around a player O.o.

My problem i Know is my 2Ghz CPU which is minimum spec. But with my budget I'm lucky I can even play at all!