Which part of the graphics would you like to see improved?

[TheVigilant]

Hi! Hope you're all doing well!

I like the improvements that have been done throughout the years to the game's graphics and I hope even more are on the way, at least for PC and PS5, and if possible for the PS4 as well if it may.

So I'm curious, if you can each share, which part of the graphics you are interested in seeing improved if any, whether it's something that bothers you or just something you feel would make the game look even better.

Alright, please kindly share!

[Krotoan]

Gear/model textures.


They look godawful in some cutscenes and it looks like certain characters are wearing chunks of 16 bit cardboard.

[CKNovel]

Gear/model textures.


They look godawful in some cutscenes and it looks like certain characters are wearing chunks of 16 bit cardboard.

Yes please!
It's been difficult to look at the characters faces without noticing the massive pixels on their clothes.

If they could release HD textures, I would be good for years until they upgrade something that probably is related to game engine but I'm not a game dev.

[AriesMouse]

Gear/model textures.


They look godawful in some cutscenes and it looks like certain characters are wearing chunks of 16 bit cardboard.

Mostly this. Refine some of the armor/clothing textures. Hien's outfit is just really rough, but more than that, there are some mogstation items that have some really pixelated textures, and for something that costs actual money, I feel the textures should have a higher quality/be held to a slightly better standard before being released. The Carbuncle outfit specifically comes to mind.

Also, environment textures, mostly plants. There are some places where the shrubs and other plants just look really, really rough.

[Anselme]

1- textures
2- textures
And then maybe
3- textures
:|

[ApprenticeSmithy]

1- textures
2- textures
And then maybe
3- textures
:|

I agree with all three! Also, love the mustache! XD

Aside from textures though, Pesronally, I'd love a lighting update. I've seen some lovely lighting in other games, and even some touched up screenshots from FFXIV itself. I feel that upgraded lighting could really help sell the atmosphere and breath new life into the game.

[Sotaris]

1- textures
2- textures
And then maybe
3- textures
:|

This. And a new engine would be nice.

I mean, the reason 1.0 was laggy wasn't the graphics, it was the server/client relationship and the way the game was coded.


Now, if you want to talk about how the graphics made the game difficult to run, sure, but only if you maxed them out. I played the game comfortably on a mid range system back then. A core 2 quad with a gtx 460.

Also, this is my favorite video of 1.0.

https://youtu.be/GV6n5xAoAjw

Beautiful isn't it?

Also this. Hardware is pretty different from 2010 and 2021, even mid-range pc's.
And yes slowness was due to everything was handled server side.

[Theodric]

The character models. Some of them are looking quite dated at this point.

I'd likely play a male Highlander if they had proper eyebrows and nicer looking faces.

[Lauront]

The character models. Some of them are looking quite dated at this point.

I'd likely play a male Highlander if they had proper eyebrows and nicer looking faces.

I'm hoping with an eventual engine overhaul, we'd also be able to do things like set muscle tone on an Au Ra male. Body types would be a dream come true but very difficult to implement. Being able to really make the muscle tone on an Au Ra show would be great.

There's promising news anyhow on the graphics front, based on this:

Even more to look forward to
The PS5 open beta is bringing a lot to the table in terms of upgrades, but we aren’t stopping there—the team is looking to add even more in the future.

Matsuzawa: “We are thinking of eventually upgrading in-game textures in phases and are starting initial preparations for that update.

However, we do need to keep in mind that other platforms, including the PlayStation 4 version, are still in service. Since FFXIV is an MMO, we need to place some emphasis on being able to simultaneously render player characters and their equipment, while still ensuring everything works smoothly. We do need to take care when planning major updates like this and start with testing and verifying it all works well.

Plus, assets that we created nearly ten years ago didn’t factor in the possibility of being displayed at the high resolutions available to us today, so we have to think about how to revise quite a massive amount of assets efficiently.

...and this...

Will there be any graphic improvements for the expansion this time? If so, will there be any demand on higher PC spec requirements?

No, not at all.

We’re improving the rendering on the Playstation 5 and allow players to play with slightly better graphics. The rest will remain basically the same. However, we do think of reworking the graphics engine in the future.

All the assets we’ve created for the past 10 years ended up in enormous amounts here and on top of that, the data folder structure will have to be restructured in order to make this work. In addition to that, there’s also a demand for 4K texture support.

To begin with, I think we will have to change the way we work on creating the graphics in order to do this.

For example, to make the mantle flutter even more, we will have to change the concept called “bones” that are located on the rig, install a physics engine on it, and it is necessary to perform physical adjustments on each character in order to make this work. Doing so will end up overperforming here, so in order to deal with this, we will have to ensure that it will be possible to turn off the character physics calculations of other players. But if we do so, the mantle visual seen on other players will end up cracking because of this.

All of these elements will have to be included and fixed from the ground up, and considering we want to deliver the best game experience due to the importance of the end of Hydaelyn-Zodiark arc as well, the progress is currently put on hold for now.

However, we are indeed laying preliminary arrangements, and we are conducting research here. This applies to the Data Center Travel that was announced earlier but we are moving our projects forward on a multiyear basis here. so in a way, players are able to go on exciting adventures with the current spec required and this will be unchanged for now, and I want players to be able to do so without worrying too much.

However, you can interpret this whole answer as “Yoshida did mention that he wants to do this”, and I don’t mind if you tell readers that.

Adding to that, it would be great if you could also let them know that it will be a tremendous amount of work involved here. (laughs)

Naoki Yoshida

[ksuyen]

The character models. Some of them are looking quite dated at this point.

I'd likely play a male Highlander if they had proper eyebrows and nicer looking faces.