Ffxiv's Zones Looks Extremely Bad and Outdated

[Harlot]

First of all hi everyone. I have been playing ffxiv for few months now, i am a WoW refuge and firstly let me tell you this. I am enjoying every second of it. Specially my class(Black mage), trials and dungeons. And see, thats the thing.

When it comes to trials, dungeons(for example dohn mehg), raids, character models, primal models, animations everything looks wholesome, beautiful, and exciting. But when it comes to zones... Like i can't convince myself that dohn megh, lakshmi and these zones belongs to the same game

Zones looks ugly, dull, extremely empty and dead. They looking like they came out of a game released in 2004 like Metin2. Even few zones in Metin2 looked better then the zones in final fantasy xiv.

There is almost no grass, no detail, no air partical, no shine, textures are ugly and getting uglier and uglier every expansion. Its just they are huge empty, zero detailed places. And strange enough situations gets worst and worst every expansion. In arr there are zones that looked quite good in my opinion. But when it comes to shadowbringers or stormblood... I can become no where close to say the same thing. Specially few zones in stormblood i straight up feel like i am walking on the mars. It is that empty, dull and ugly. Like i don't understand. Like i am looking at the trials, character models, dungeons and there is nothing wrong. Like skill animations are what this game is best known for. But when it comes to zones its like a different game. Thats why i hate doing quests sometimes. Because zones looking so insanely ugly i often feel like i am playing a extremely outdated game.

I think zones need more air particles, shine, detail, more life, and specially more grass, more grass and more graas cause like there is none. So far i am seeing that final fantasy did everything rigth that wow couldn't. But when it comes to zones i can't say the same thing. Take shadowlands zones as an example. Look at ardenweald, bastion. Sometimes i wanna go back to playing wow just because of bastion and bastion only. Because they are that good looking. I wish the same thing would go for final fantasy but the art team that does rest of the things good doesn't seem like putting the same efford into the zones. Cause they be looking like they created them in one hour with the laziest mentality.

[DeafJohn]

Are you sure your graphic settings are not set to low?

Everything looks amazing to me compared to WoW. Especially as you noticed the animations are just gorgeous.

Having both games open out in the zones, side by side WoW looks like a cartoon compared to ff14.

[ksuyen]

I set my graphic setting to second from max, and it looks amazing. When the new engine release (they are currently working on it), it would be even better.

[Harlot]

Yeah all of my graphic settings are at ultra. Same thoughts goes for me too. I think final fantasy looks way better then WoW except like i said, zones. Like i can't even begin to compare bastion or ardenweald to the fringes(the peering stones) for example

[kaynide]

Of course absolutely entitled to your opinion, but comparing Ardenweald's screenshots seems very comparable to like... Lakeland. I do agree, when flying, zones can look rather bland and you start to see texture edges/blocks... and that the game could use some TLC regarding rendering or seeing from far away.

It's also a difference in design; WoW is stylized to look like a cartoon, whereas FFXIV is... what... "try to look realistic, but in an anime style"? Realistic can unfortunately seem rather bland compared to a color-saturated world like in WoW or even Guild Wars.

[ksuyen]

I can see they will add more details but the textures are limited by the old engine unfortunately. Also they need to sandbox zone due to the graphic load. Multiplication polygons causes lag - and they are prioritizing gaming experience.

[Krotoan]

looked up the game you referenced (Metin2):


... really?

I'm not personally a fan of most of the zones on the First.. but saying there's no detail in them and comparing it to.. that up there?

..... REALLY?

[Bacent]

It's really based on the region the area is in really. I can't say anything about 5.X because spoilers. But for the rest of the game it's depending on the region, as well as a lot of areas being shrunk down in size compared to XIV 1.X.

They used to be a lot more winding depending on the area, but the areas were kind of big for the sake of big. They shrunk things down when they remade the game, as well as moving certain parts of the map around/removing them entirely. Areas were huge, but it made going through them a bit tedious, and they've improved each expansion since the 2.X maps I believe.

Here's an example of a 1.0 map and a youtube link showing someone exploring it. It has a lot more of what I think you're looking for, but that game would slow down any good end PC.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ti2AIhEoH9Y

[Shougun]

Honestly the concept art, so a more stylized direction, I think would be an amazing look. I definitely think stylized holds age better, also can get away with some certain colorings that allow you to hide lack of detail occasionally (an open area in a stylized world is going to vibe differently than one that is trying to be semi-realistic).

I think the game in general looks quite good, easily one of the top, but there are also a number of elements that should really receive attention if one was attempting to say "FFXIV is the best looking mmo on the market". Certainly a good looking one, but.. there are elements that could be updated if one was going for 'top'. Most recent we had the crystal arm of pixely wixely, before that it was hien, etc, lol.

If they are, obviously not this second (at minimum 6.0 needs time to breath), going to release another MMO I don't really mind, but if they were thinking 10 more years, 10 more years rick an--.. err FFXIV, then I think it would be nice to see a graphic update soon (like hopefully by 7.0).

[Harlot]

Sometimes i exaggerate somethings just for the sake of the main idea. So yeah ofc they are not as bad as metin2, but you get the point