Thread: 6.2 Patch Notes

Originally Posted by LaylaTsarra

I'm open to wait and see. I didn't even expect them to upgrade the graphics it was a pleasant surprise when they announced it in a live letter. I don't get the NPC comments if they're not character related because that's basically what NPC's are. He even apologized of sorts saying sorry we'll have to wait on some and to be patient.

After all is said and done I think FF characters and animations are beautiful. We shall see what comes but I'm optimistic we'll get some major improvements to the game overall.

The source I believe he is referring to is from here:

He can’t give a firm yes or no answer to whether there will be more character customisation options, but says in terms of workload this is difficult to implement alongside the graphics update.

I believe it was repeated elsewhere as well but I haven't noted where. My understanding is to upgrade CC they'd require more fundamental engine overhauls (to the point that I am sure Yoshi wishes he could do a new MMO - even adding the stubblelander option took adding a new face pick), and the changes will mostly be limited to lighting/shading/texture quality and animations. Likewise, there's no plans to address clipping given the requirement for implementing a physics engine and so it will simply be something to be tolerated given the work involved to rectify it.

Will the planned upgrades (taking the game just a bit past a 2013 game; Yoshi has described the game graphics tech as being two generations behind in the past) last the game into 2032 (assuming a 10 year go forward life span)? Who can say... who even knows what competitors they'll have by then. I wasn't expecting it either, to be honest, although he had given some hints that they were going to work on the texture upgrade in the past, but frankly I don't see how they could put off doing it indefinitely whilst this remains their flagship MMO. He did say that what was shown was just from the first month's worth of testing, so I'll watch how it evolves with interest.

Regarding NPCs, the plan seems to do a partial upgrade of these by 7.0, and those that do rely on options straightforwardly available to players will be updated along with the player characters, whereas some others will be left until later, albeit they will be undertaking some prioritisation of some key NPCs.

As for WoW, which I saw some discussion of here, it is much older (yeah, it's had some touch ups too), relies on a cartoonish style as opposed to XIV's more 'realistic' style, and yet still manages to have what I'd consider to be better longer hair styles. I also prefer the degree to which the game is able to realise a sense of each race having a strong "fantasy", i.e. highly distinctive aesthetic characterising it, e.g. with its racial gear/zones. I am glad to see some other MMO contenders are planning on featuring something like it.