Lackluster Graphics in FFXIV

[Ilean]

No offense, but I checked out mortal online and found it very very ugly.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kiD3WXf-b0E&hd=1

I have no issue with the graphics in the game , yet I feel an emptiness within the environment especially while running from one place to the next, I can run for 5-8 mins with nothing but empty landscape. I'm not complaining I'm new to the whole Final Fantasy experience so I would have nothing to compare it with, but I can say that (through personal experience) good graphics don't always equal good game play. This is just my point of view I'm not aiming this at anyone. Some posts claim they have not yet seen a MMORPG with graphics equal to or better than FF14, might I suggest you take a quick look at Mortal Online. http://www.mortalonline.com/videos (I am by no means advertising or claiming that this is a far better game) Just check it out graphics wise.

[DedeKorkut]

Hey Ilean just watched the video you posted and honestly that game looks wonderfully colourful with amazing graphics somewhat similiar to FF14, but it doesn't have the feel of realism that some players look for. I like FF14 so far with it's somewhat more realistic graphics be it with the weapons and armour, I've seen some posts where ppl are advocating the indroduction of glowing wepons and other items, you see I personaly would not really like that. It won't deter me from playing the game since I've only recently started and have not yet realy got the full grasp of FF14. I enjoyed playing Demon souls and Oblivion for example they had a realistic (yet fantasy based) feel to them. I honeslty don't know too much about Mortal online I was at one stage following the forums during it's beta but my PC back then wasn't capable of playing such a game. So far there are mixed reactions from the community on the forums, I guess wherever you go whatever you play there is always the lovers and the haters.

[Akumu]

Yoshida and Co. are not leaving the graphics the way they are if I recall. It would make sense considering so much was rushed. You can even compare LL water to other water in game and notice a difference.

[Ilean]

Yup, people bring up realism a lot. I honestly don't mind either way. DSouls and Oblivion are part of my collection too! ^^

I think the worst part of FFXIV design is the monotonous environments.

Hey Ilean just watched the video you posted and honestly that game looks wonderfully colourful with amazing graphics somewhat similiar to FF14, but it doesn't have the feel of realism that some players look for. I like FF14 so far with it's somewhat more realistic graphics be it with the weapons and armour, I've seen some posts where ppl are advocating the indroduction of glowing wepons and other items, you see I personaly would not really like that. It won't deter me from playing the game since I've only recently started and have not yet realy got the full grasp of FF14. I enjoyed playing Demon souls and Oblivion for example they had a realistic (yet fantasy based) feel to them. I honeslty don't know too much about Mortal online I was at one stage following the forums during it's beta but my PC back then wasn't capable of playing such a game. So far there are mixed reactions from the community on the forums, I guess wherever you go whatever you play there is always the lovers and the haters.

[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..

[Anty]

LOL @ comparing single player FPS games (whose engine needs to display a LOT less characters and models on screen than a MMORPG) with a MMORPG. Or even more the graphics of a MMORPG with that of a prerendered tech demo.

Ever wondered why every single MMORPG has graphics engines that seem to be behind the times of several years?

The graphics are so lackluster that they're the best in the MMORPG market, currently and foreseeable.

the engine cant display a lot of characters at a time and still needs one of the best rigs available... its just lazyness, bad optimization (another example is all the ugly alpha textures - bushes etc.). They could make awesome water animations...

Limsa cries for nice wateranimations, the cliffs... etc... but don't look at the waterfalls in gridania... its jelly. It doesnt look like water at all.

[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.