How good is the game engine of FFXIV?

[TheVigilant]

You simply can't compare two different games together like that. First they are form two different county so the art style is different, then you have the fact that they use completely different game engines. Also WoW has two different cutscenes, one is using ingame mechanics and one is animated, WoW Kul Tiras Most of FFXIV cutscene are made using in game mechanics.

No one compared the art style and the countries has nothing to do with it
Are you trying to say Blizz are more capable of creating smooth textures in their 14 year old MMORPG because they're American and there are texture issues with things like the hair etc in FFXIV cause the company is Japanese? But yes, the 2 different types of cinematic were discussed already, I hoped to get an answer to the question itself
If you wanted to say they're just incapable cause of the engine being inferior then I'll understand that

[Shurrikhan]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nVLGwudbZTk

Sorry for my ignorance but is WoW running on the same engine it was running on back when it was released?
How do they create these in-game cinematic trailers in the recent expansions? The movements are so versatile, the trailers and even in the game the environment is as smooth, vibrant and clear that it's hard to convince that it's the same game released back in 2004
So I wonder why it matters that FFXIV is running on an engine 2 generations behind while WoW is running on an engine from back in 2004 yet it still thrives and improves to such graphics

Depending on how exactly you define the engine, parts of it have been traded out over time. Data packaging, database structure, command structure, server-check structures, protocols, and such have all seen substantial revisions, while certain shader and tesselation protocols have been totally replaced and/or added. But that's happened over time, bit by bit, rarely as a selling point or even made known to the players while working towards a better polish or technical benchmark. From what I hear, WoW's engine has badly limited it as well. It just rarely tends to be the go-to excuse.

[TheVigilant]

Depending on how exactly you define the engine, parts of it have been traded out over time. Data packaging, database structure, command structure, server-check structures, protocols, and such have all seen substantial revisions, while certain shader and tesselation protocols have been totally replaced and/or added. But that's happened over time, bit by bit, rarely as a selling point or even made known to the players while working towards a better polish or technical benchmark. From what I hear, WoW's engine has badly limited it as well. It just rarely tends to be the go-to excuse.

Do you think the same thing is possible with FFXIV's engine? I know that it was done bit by bit as I witnessed it myself, I'm playing WoW for 14 years and saw the changes happen over time but I'm hoping the same is possible with FFXIV and not that its less possible cause of its engine

[Dyvid]

No one compared the art style and the countries has nothing to do with it
Are you trying to say Blizz are more capable of creating smooth textures in their 14 year old MMORPG because they're American and there are texture issues with things like the hair etc in FFXIV cause the company is Japanese? But yes, the 2 different types of cinematic were discussed already, I hoped to get an answer to the question itself
If you wanted to say they're just incapable cause of the engine being inferior then I'll understand that

But you are comparing and yes, country do play a factor in art design. Blizzard has a unique look to their games, sort of a trademark. I wouldn't say SE has a similar look to their games but individual producer have a certain niche, Tetsuya Nomura for example.

Now if by "smooth texture" you mean polygon counts, WoW has added models and levels with higher polygon counts with each new expansion, but not everything in the game has received this graphics up, BC is basically the same models it had at release though improved graphics cards and directx upgrades makes it look cleaner.

As for FFXIV, console support is a fact because while PC continually upgrades itself year after year, ps4 hardware remains the same until a new console comes along every 5-6 years. This was a reason SE dropped the PS3 support.

If you are curious about FFXIV 1.0, watch this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CJ9C...x4HT5oBemN23vr

[TheVigilant]

But you are comparing and yes, country do play a factor in art design. Blizzard has a unique look to their games, sort of a trademark. I wouldn't say SE has a similar look to their games but individual producer have a certain niche, Tetsuya Nomura for example.

Now if by "smooth texture" you mean polygon counts, WoW has added models and levels with higher polygon counts with each new expansion, but not everything in the game has received this graphics up, BC is basically the same models it had at release though improved graphics cards and directx upgrades makes it look cleaner.

As for FFXIV, console support is a fact because while PC continually upgrades itself year after year, ps4 hardware remains the same until a new console comes along every 5-6 years. This was a reason SE dropped the PS3 support.

If you are curious about FFXIV 1.0, watch this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CJ9C...x4HT5oBemN23vr

No, my dear friend, I was not comparing the art style but you assumed that I was. I meant the next paragraph of your post regarding the smoothness of the graphics which is possible with any art style except for pixel art, I appreciate your guess of the question this time right. Yes, it was done bit by bit and I witnessed it myself as I have already said in a previous post. Now the quest is, will it be possible with FFXIV? I'm hoping very much that it will be.

[Astarotha]

part of why you think animation and textures look 'better' in wow is because wows hyper exaggerated art style allows for sweeping unnatural levels of movement to not look out of place, where if ff14 characters gestured like that youd think they were having seizures, and for textures again the hyper exaggeration and alien skin tones it inherited from wc3 is why its able to fudge a lot with anatomy and shadow, it literally does come down to art style

and for poly count woes, go watch speakers of hydaelyns rise and fall series for some of the problems that can arise due to high poly counts in an mmo, ie flowerpots taking the same amount of resources to render as a character

[TheVigilant]

it literally does come down to art style

This is NOT what I'm asking for in FFXIV, just what I can use as an example cause it's the same art style yet obviously better than what we currently see when the camera is close to things since FFXIV is an MMO but I want to stop this art style subject at once:

https://youtu.be/YaDlGusdQ78?t=2744

SAME COMPANY
SAME ART STYLE

And does not look like the hair was a piece of chewing gum where the lines were make it feel like it's separate hairs and then the chewing gum was pulled and expanded to resize.

STOP with the art style now.

1.0 was the same art style with beautiful graphics on a different engine and we know it was a mess, but if some things could be improved in the current FFXIV and we can have better options at maximum settings, we can be grateful.

[UPDATE]

I've just found out that this exists:
https://www.nexusmods.com/finalfantasy14/mods/top/

And that they're not against the rules according to an official post by SE in the forums here. It gives me hope that we can have things like this in the future in the game's settings.

Just to show you that it's not the art style:

[Dyvid]

Okay, I think you are still confusing cutscene using in game assets opposed to fully rendered cutscenes by themselves.

Take a look at FFXV Cutscene, note that some scene look better render than others. That's because SE used pains taken animated techniques those scenes to provide greater depth.

FFXIV uses mostly in game assets to do it cut scene because it requires less time for animating scene and allow them to focus on more important matters. As for the actually game it self, the devs have to consider optimize graphics rather than to focus on the high end builds. This is where the problems of 1.0 came into play, focusing solely on high end computers graphics to the point it ruined their game. Now if SE chose to drop console support (bad idea by the way) then yes they could improve polygon counts and make the game look even better than it does. But you also alienate your consumer base.

[TheVigilant]

Now if SE chose to drop console support (bad idea by the way) then yes they could improve polygon counts and make the game look even better than it does. But you also alienate your consumer base.

Doesn't the PC version already have settings that the PS4 doesn't? So why can't the PC settings have options such as those possible with the mods in it?

[Dyvid]

Doesn't the PC version already have settings that the PS4 doesn't? So why can't the PC settings have options such as those possible with the mods in it?

Well to be honest, those mods are snake oil (been playing RDR2 alot). The "HD" photos are just shade tricks to make it look better. All it did was darker the lines to make it look more pronounce, not a actually polygon improvement. Here is good example of what I mean, FFXIV PS3 vs PS4. You can actually see the detail changes because the console is rendering more polygons faster giving it a cleaner, clearer look.