Breaking down some of the screenshots

[YuriSan]

No words to describe my excitment...(no joke, no trolling)

[Zozma]

Guys seriously stop complaining about the graphics. They've mentioned it several times they use STANDARD settings to show the average graphics that the MAJORITY of the people can run. Not everyone can afford an extreme high-end setup, this is an international game across america, europe and asia. And the 3% who post in this forum is usually those with buckets of moniez with high-end cards (I have 4x Crossfire so yeah xD)

There will be plenty of settings in the client which can crank up teh AA to a level where you can probably cook eggs on your graphic card. And if thats not enough, you can use nVidia or Catalyst settings to force 32x wide-tent AA and 16x per-pixel samples; will your rig manage that? Doubtfully.

And lastly, its extremely easy to spot "graphical inperfections" in a sscreenshot compared to live motion.

[MrKupo]

To some people, it's very comforting seeing the lower end graphics. Back before I had a computer that could run this game, I would look at the graphics and already know that it would cost me a fortune to run it. I would always have to settle for less graphically intense games (which was fine) but it really left another game for me not to be played. Now everyone that wanted to play the game before but couldn't can see these and maybe be reassured that SE's looking out.

And the idea of "downgrading the graphics" just doesn't make sense. Why would they do that? They would open up more options for lower graphic settings, but they wouldn't downgrade the graphics globally.

[Vydos]

Here's the deal with the graphics and people need to look further than simple textures and edges. Yes, it has been downgraded. A good eye could tell that, especially if you look at the current FFXIV with settings almost on the highest.

Does this mean it's something bad?
Not necessarily, especially in this case. What they did, is something I like to call being creative with the graphics. Instead of simply going for high textures and smooth edges, they used creativity to bring the zones, characters, mobs to life. Something I appreciate more than just high-definition graphics. It gives some artistic to it all. A more "fantasy" feeling which what this game needed and what people craved for. At least I want the "Fantasy" back in Final Fantasy.

PS: I don't see many comments about the quest log in the screenshots. Nobody happy that they added that lol? Although it is something very mainstream these days.

[Zozma]

Ever thought the new textures let the graphic card adjust the quality in a bigger scale then today?

The client we got today operates with textures and high-polygon stuff which kinda looks good regardless of the settings (if we look away form the abysmal settings which gives little to none performance boost and makes your game look like porrige smeard over your screen)

We don't know anything for certain, but the "standard" settings might look worse then the standard we have now, but high or ultra might look better then anything we can achieve today

[YuriSan]

makes your game look like porrige smeard over your screen

LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL

[Lamentor]

You all are forgetting something huge!!! SE promised that 2.0 will be DX11 compatible down the line!! If the game doesn't look better than the current version of XIV at launch, then it surely will look as good as or better than the current version some time after the game's release. Not only that, but I believe a long while back when SE was showing off the pictures of AF gear, a dev responded that they do not show show their promo pictures at full graphics and the highest resolution. Many times have they actually taken higher resolution shots because it was asked for.

And for anyone that's thinking these E3 shots are the maximum settings, are absolutely out of their minds. Want proof? Wait 2 days tops for an interview, and I guarantee the question about the graphics will be asked and answered. Seriously, you all are worrying for nothing. And if there is a downgrade if any sort, is that a surprise? The game as is uses way too much for even a high end PC. And besides, I see downgrade on the absolute least important things, while I notice a huge upgrade on the more important details- shadows being one of those. Also, I see no downgrade on the detail of characters.

Even all that said, I still think it's premature to say anything is a downgrade. Changing the graphics settings will greatly change the way the game looks. And after all of this complaining about the pictures, it's pretty much guaranteed that SE is going to release a higher res, higher graphics settings screenshot(s) soon. Probably almost immediately after E3 ends, if not during.

[Fear]

Guys these graphics are NOT The lowest, they're Standard, what the average user will run at, possibly PS3 graphics since it was stated the PS3 will run on 720p.

Whenever devs take current 1.xx SS's you can see tons of jaggies and bad graphics, so they take them on Standard, same is true for these new 2.0 SS's + they are 1600 x 900 and NOT 1080p (1920x1080)

[Otaku]

Just thinking about having a Choco partner has my mind racing
What DRG needs a wyvern now that they can have a BLM Choco by their side ><
Or a WAR with a WHM Choco, or even better a WHM with a WAR Choco
I can understand why they didn't want to "trickle" information out, every time I read a little more I have so many questions

[Starlord]

Pick Picky Picky! Downgrade or not Graphics still look amazing, and the Diversity in each area is out of this world from what I see From Forest to Desert, and all of the Rocks, Grass, Cacti etc are not all in the same place every 5 secs you walk ahead! So in the end this so called " Downgrade" of graphics is def. a better trade off to get Better looking zones in general. ( And for all you know this is just the graphics of the standard user, and higher ups can experience it X10 better than what were seeing now.)

The Character Creation screen is how I imagined it ( and I believe I made that idea up months ago, to Have a Nature~ish Background as you Customize your Character. ( Thanky you SE). The Character Creation in general looks amazing, being able to change literally EVERY aspect of your character, will really make sure no one copies your character 100% and every character will looks so diverse from the next, and More options= Awesomesauce.

Also having split roads in a Forest area makes me shiver with excitement! I can't wait to see more about this!!