Graphical Quality, Shading and Antialiasing Request

[Arkfrost]

So. Since someone requested, that I post this on the official forums instead of just on reddit, I'll Copy & Paste my reddit post here again (and tweak some things I wrote + emphasize a bit on certain points).

So I just recently did a big mistake. A mistake that would influence my enjoyment of a FFXIV quite a bit...
I have set up a FFXIV 1.0 server on my PC and played some of that bare-bones 1.0 seventh umbral era client, out of curiosity.
The usual things struck me. The UI is clunky as hell, the maps are designed like horrible mazes with no open areas, the game looks kinda dark (maybe because I wasn't able to complete the opening quest, due to missing scripts), the usual stuff people wouild rant about.

However there were some things, where I thought: Why can't we have this in our current version of FFXIV?

So the things that really put me off, when I went back to FFXIV 4.X were the following: Texture detail, polygon count, anti-aliasing, and shading. Just to put it into perspective, I've made a screenshot of my 1.0 character vs my 4.X character. Both a Miqo'te, both in the same location from more or less the same equipment, time of day and angle.

• This is my 4.55'qote
• This is my 1.23b'qote

The first things I notice are:

• Current ffxiv textures look so unbelievably bad in comparison. They're low-res and look bland. They make the character look like she's wearing a 20$ etsy cosplay compared to a 300$ pro self-made cosplay. And you don't need to come here with the "but you are wearing a lvl 1 robe" argument. Just look at Hien's outfit with it's ultra horrible textures or hell, even the Elemental Armor has blocky textures (though not as bad as the others), while on the flipside the same 1.23b lvl 1 armor has some decent textures.
• The lack of proper anti-aliasing really puts me off. FFXIV now only has FXAA which is a poor-man's performance anti-aliasing, that works by simply putting a basic blur effect over the blocky edges. This post on reddit describes the issue in a really good way and with that in mind I don't understand, why the devs can't give us a proper AA option - at least for the PC version as an option. FFXIV 1.23b had up to 8xQ MSAA. It looks sooooo much smoother and better, without any weird blur, which doesn't even solve all of the blocky edges. Also, the lowering of polygon count back in 2.0 was mainly due to the PS3 not being able to handle such a high polygon count. Why can't we get an increase in this from now on? You do not have to redo all the previous assets, but instead can start making the new assets from now on have a higher polygon count and work on the old models piece by piece over a long time in the background with minimal investment. PS3 support was dropped back with Stormblood. So please, there is no excuse, why we can't improve the quality over time. Instead FFXIV devs want to still go with low poly counts and try to tell us "Making better normalmaps makes models look better and more detailed". No, they do not. A model with higher poly count looks better than a model that only relies on normalmaps.
• The shading is also a real issue. While the world in 1.23b - despite the fact that it looks kinda dark-ish - looks so much more 3-dimensional, deep and realistic, while what we have now, looks just bland. It feels somewhat like printed on a piece of paper without any real depth. I mean, just look at these two screenshots: [1.X] vs [4.X].I can't really explain, what it is, but even though 1.X looks somewhat less detailed, the world looks so much bigger, better shaded and the depth of field makes it look so much better in a certain kind of way, while the Ul'Dah in the 4.X screenshot looks like a mud-wall.

Another thing, now that I mentioned it is, that I really miss the lack of depth blur in the field of view. We actually have that option right now, however it is completely limited to /gpose, which funnily enough even comes with some sort of better shading.

Look at this gif I made to compare normal FFXIV with FFXIV+/gpose.

I mean, the option is already there. Why can't we have a setting in the graphics menu that lets us adjust the DoF blur like in gpose + give us the same shading as there.

I know, there is a "solution for this whole shading and DoF problem, which is called ReShade. However, ReShade only works like an overlay and it is a third-party application which is essentially against the ToS. And even if it wasn't: If you use DoF blur shaders, it affects your menus as well, making them blurry and unreadable, when you're in the wrong zoom-distance. Also, having to rely on a mod to make the game shaded properly, while the game already has the capability to shade itself properly is as poor of a solution as Skyrim having to be modded, to become a good game.

So with that said, I really want to raise some awareness about this issue and that we shouldn't stop bugging the devs with the "please increase poly count / texture resolution for future things" questions, because to this date we get ugly stuff like this or this or this.

And to repeat it for the devs: You do not have to make high-res textures and higher-poly models for old assets. Just do it for new assets that come out after 5.0 and spend a minimal amount on updating old assets. Eventually they will become of the same quality as the new ones, but they have a lower priority than the improvements that new things bring.

[Evangelus]

We are in 2020 ! we need more Antialiasing options ! please ;__;

[Noctisnine]

I wish this game got some improvements in graphical quality, so many games out there are changing their engines just to give players a more rewarding experience. Wish we could have something like that. Or even an high res pack.

[Valkyrie_Lenneth]

We are in 2020 ! we need more Antialiasing options ! please ;__;

They'd have to completely redesign the rendering engine, which is why they haven't. They use one that is incompatible with certain AA methods.

[Driavna]

To be honest "a perfect storm" is coming for FF14. The current plot is almost done (could lead to some player feeling "done" with FFXIV) and Blue Protocol is shaping to be real competition for FFXIV (PvE focus, story driving, aesthetic, share many similarities with FFXIV, etc). I know Blue Protocol will be F2P and FF14 is very "play something else" friendly but you never know.

Then, Shadowland is shaping to be a good expansion so I'm guessing a good chunk of "WoW refugees" will be going back there. Also, will be outright sad that WoW end with better character customization than FFXIV (I still think FFXIV chars are more charming).

I really hope SE uses all of this to modernize a little bit FFXIV with better lighting, textures and more detailed models/environment.

[Wind-Krysvein]

To be honest "a perfect storm" is coming for FF14. The current plot is almost done (could lead to some player feeling "done" with FFXIV) and Blue Protocol is shaping to be real competition for FFXIV (PvE focus, story driving, aesthetic, share many similarities with FFXIV, etc).

Yay, is it time to talk about "WoW Killers" again? You know... those things that never actually happened?

Oh but this time it's FFXIV killers, so I guess SE better watch out

[Driavna]

Yay, is it time to talk about "WoW Killers" again? You know... those things that never actually happened?

Oh but this time it's FFXIV killers, so I guess SE better watch out

No one talked about FFXIV killer but the game having actual competition, a good thing for us because can force SE to improve it.

[EaMett]

Yay, is it time to talk about "WoW Killers" again? You know... those things that never actually happened?

Oh but this time it's FFXIV killers, so I guess SE better watch out

Not to mention that Blue protocols is f2p so not going to be even close to the ff14 experience.

[Arngrim_Greyashe]

Yeah, I've watched a few videos from MMObyte on YouTube about Blue Protocol. He seems cautiously optimistic but apparently the Japanese player base had a LOT of feedback on the game after the beta and it sounds like they have a lot of work to get to before they consider launching. The F2P makes me a bit worried, too. If it ever came to PS4/PS5 I'd check it out, but not sure if I'd play it. The only MMO's that have actually gotten any attention from me recently were Black Desert (blegh) and ESO.

[Valkyrie_Lenneth]

To be honest "a perfect storm" is coming for FF14. The current plot is almost done (could lead to some player feeling "done" with FFXIV) and Blue Protocol is shaping to be real competition for FFXIV (PvE focus, story driving, aesthetic, share many similarities with FFXIV, etc). I know Blue Protocol will be F2P and FF14 is very "play something else" friendly but you never know.

Then, Shadowland is shaping to be a good expansion so I'm guessing a good chunk of "WoW refugees" will be going back there. Also, will be outright sad that WoW end with better character customization than FFXIV (I still think FFXIV chars are more charming).

I really hope SE uses all of this to modernize a little bit FFXIV with better lighting, textures and more detailed models/environment.

I've never heard of Blue Protocol. And it sounds like its F2P, which is a big nono for me.