Dizzines & Intense Nausea while playing Tower at Paradigm's Breach

[Rise-chu]

I completed Tower at Paradigm's Breach for the first time yesterday and had a terrible experience. Wondering if anyone else has experienced this.

While running Tower there are red flashing lights on the screen. When we fought the Red Dress Girl I began feeling dizzy and nauseated. There were periods where I had to take my hands off the keyboard and stop playing because I had to shut my eyes, usually this meant my character was KOed on the floor. This occurred again on the moving elevator. This time I had to look away from the screen and keep my eyes closed because I was so dizzy. I noticed that when I closed my eyes I saw flashing lights on the back of my eyelids which is strange.

When we got to the final stage it wasn't so bad. However when it was over I tried to stand up to walk around and realized I was too dizzy. I sat back in my chair and was stuck there for 10 minutes waiting for the dizziness and nausea to pass. I felt ready to puke on my bedroom floor. After I shut my eyes I felt better and logged out. However I still felt sick and had to sit in the dark for a long time before feeling like I could move without puking.

I mentioned my experience to a friend who confirmed that their spouse also experienced dizziness and nausea in response to Tower at Paradigm's Breach. They checked Twitter and confirmed FFXIV players are warning each other not to play Tower because of the particle effects causing similar symptoms in players. Many people with photosensitivity are worried about suffering a medical event from playing the raid. There's a link between these red flashing lights, the constantly changing visuals at Tower, and then my own feelings of vertigo and wanting to vomit along with the flashing lights in my vision when I close my eyes.

At this point I'm scared to take my level 80 jobs into Alliance roulette because now that the Nier raids are unlocked, there's a chance that I could get Tower. Frankly I don't want to play the Alliance roulette anymore because I'm scared of having a more intense reaction and inducing a seizure. I live alone and tend to play the game late at night, if I have a seizure as a result of the red flashing lights and static in Tower then it would be a long time before anyone found me.

At this point I don't see myself playing the Nier raids ever again, this experience was unsettling and left me distressed. If it's happened before then it will happen again and I don't want to risk that. The easiest thing to do is to not play the Nier raids and I'll be fine. I'll stick to Syrcus.

Sorry for the novel but I wanted to explain in detail. My questions are:

1) Has anyone else experienced this after playing Tower?
2) Have you needed medical attention after playing Tower?
3) If you are diagnosed with epilepsy, what do you do to protect yourself from the particle effects in this game?
4) If you are diagnosed with epilepsy, are you going to play any of the Nier raids or risk Tower at Paradigm's Breach?

[Vahlnir]

I can't say I have experienced this in the new raid, but I have become nauseated while playing Minecraft of all things. Gives me a headache as well. Thankfully I'm not epileptic. I'm guessing it depends on the person and potentially whatever issues they have. Hopefully something is done to address this, because this isn't the first time I've heard of this since the patch. I've seen it mentioned in game as well once or twice. I don't think the landscapes in Automata or the hacking mini games are animated in such a way to cause these problems, or at least I have yet to hear of it, so I'm not entirely sure what they were going for here since the issue seems to stem from one area of one game and not the game it was inspired by.

[Rosenoire]

1) I have experienced that. I had trouble moving around on the white staircases, but the Red Girl fight was a whole other level of discomfort. The screen pixellation was jarring enough that I had to look away from the screen to reorient myself. The fight on the flying platform made me seriously motion sick, though fortunately the effect was gone by the time the next boss fight began. Overall, it was extremely unpleasant.

2) Not so far, though I did have the first hints of a migraine the first time I ran it. I logged off immediately. I used to run Copied Factory and Puppets' Bunker during the week because I thought it was fun. I definitely won't be doing that with Tower.

3) n/a

4) n/a

[Chie_M]

1) Has anyone else experienced this after playing Tower?

I had intense motion sickness on the elevator. Fortunately my alliance were understanding of the few of us who were struggling, and told us to tab out / look away and they'd <se> us when it was over.

2) Have you needed medical attention after playing Tower?

Just a cup of ginger tea.

3) If you are diagnosed with epilepsy, what do you do to protect yourself from the particle effects in this game?

I have photosensitive epilepsy, but I haven't ever had problems with the particle effects in this game.

4) If you are diagnosed with epilepsy, are you going to play any of the Nier raids or risk Tower at Paradigm's Breach?

I've done all the Nier raids. I won't re-run Tower, that's just because of motion sickness, not my epilepsy.

[MiniTofu]

I feel for you guys, they need to add option into the setting to reduce these on screen effects.

[Haruka_R]

Gunnar glasses help.

[Tsumdere]

1) Has anyone else experienced this after playing Tower?

Yes. Got a very bad migraine and nausea after Tower because of the visual effects. The Red Girl boss in particular is very bad about black and white flashing lights, the elevator gave me motion sickness, and the overall texture overlay in the blank areas caused some eye strain.

2) Have you needed medical attention after playing Tower?

Went to sleep early because my head was pounding and was seeing double.

3) If you are diagnosed with epilepsy, what do you do to protect yourself from the particle effects in this game?

I am diagnosed and had extreme trouble with it when I was a child, but haven't had a seizure in 8 years now. I always take measures to remove myself from situations where I begin to feel dizzy or headaches.

4) If you are diagnosed with epilepsy, are you going to play any of the Nier raids or risk Tower at Paradigm's Breach?

Not if I can help it, no. I will most likely give it another shot in the future, but if I begin to suffer again I am going to drop regardless of penalty and always drop it if I get it in roulette.

[DamianFatale]

I have nasty migraines about once a month, and although I don't have to totally quit, this raid is usually my last stop for the night.

I cope by wearing glasses, and making sure that I'm not overworking my eyes. The elevator part definitely makes me dizzy.

Starting to think that the devs need seizure and motion sickness warnings for certain fights.

[gotaname1]

I do wonder how people react to the RDM LB if Im reading this since that one always makes me feel uneasy. I didnt have it with the raid on that level though. But I would like the option to turn down visual fx. If I could just tun of rdm lb, I'd be so happy.

[LaughingBanana]

I haven't had the issue, but I know some people with epileptic problems and as I played through the raid and I saw the flashy effects on the battles there, I honestly thought that they're gonna cause some problems for some folks.