This is rather frustrating...

[TheVedis]

The last MMO that was considered a graphic powerhouse was Age of Conan, turned out that was all they had past level 20. The game was DOA and the only reason its still around is because it went F2P, even now only a handful play it. I'd rather not FFXIV suffer the same fate. While you may put visuals on a pedestal you are a minority. Every MMO that has failed in the last few years has been because their gameplay does not keep subscribers, SWTOR is hurting because they have no endgame content. Aion touted its Unreal Engine 3, its F2P. Rift had a shiny engine, they were doing server merges only months after release. Whether you like it or not the truth is that most people could care less about graphics if the game isn't even fun to play.

every time i say this people get all mad

gameplay is EVERYTHING, looking pretty is secondary to that

[DeeBeeP]

every time i say this people get all mad

gameplay is EVERYTHING, looking pretty is secondary to that

Ironically 10 million people still play WoW which uses an almost decade-old engine, must be the amazing graphics. People still pay a subscription for EQ and Ultima Online, certainly not for the cutting-edge visuals. According to some people's logic that graphics make the game, if FFXIV's current engine is so impressive, why did this happen;

http://www.metacritic.com/game/pc/fi...asy-xiv-online

Why was FFXIV one of the most critically-panned MMOs ever, why was it bombed by users on metacritic? It certainly wasn't because of its graphics.

A few quotes:

"Fantastic graphics, but it seems this is all they spent time on during creation of this game."

"Yes, graphics are nice, but the UI is just horrid. Everything feels clunky and slow. Developers certainly didn't have user-friendliness in mind when they planned FFXIV."

"The fanboys are saying that the graphics are cutting edge, and the game is challenging, that it doesn't hold your hand. Aion's graphics are superior, and the game is impossible and it won't hold anyone's interest . . . for long."

"Horribly designed, sluggish, with nothing to keep you involved or enmeshed in the game's pretty graphics."

"poor UI, poor gameplay, pretty graphic. To be honest, I have to admit I am not a fan of FF14. "

"It's as if this game wasn't even made by SE. Only good thing about the game are graphics."

"The one thing that is great is Graphics but that doesnt make a good game."

"The Graphics are quite spectacular compared to the 6 year old WoW but that was about it. "

"Pretty graphics do not a solid game make. 0/10 for SE."

I can keep copy/pasting but that is a hand full of over a hundred reviews just from metacritic. I'm pretty confident they know where they messed up on 1.0 and don't plan on repeating the same mistakes.

[Disc]

But I mean, is it really too much to ask to have high res textures back?

I mean, seriously. You guys are kinda being crazy.

They've already stated that it will look better(15%) than those screenshots, assuming they're high/max for the current V2.0 engine. I don't see any reason to believe they're planning for the end product to be that noticeable of a downgrade from V1.0.


That said it's still one of the best looking MMO's I've seen. And I love the look of the new UI & character creation screen. The way it's presented just makes me want to log on & play.

[Seif]

I don't think the graphics in XIV were ever a problem.

Everyone just wanted better visual design.

Honestly I think it's way too early to tell either way based on these few shots of trees and deserts.

Personally I hope they're sitting on that FF imagination material that SE is so good at and these are just the bland places to root them into reality.



This might be off topic but the artist in me waits for the videos rather than these screens to see if there's anything interesting in the new areas. These screens have expertly crafted compositions especially the one in the OP and as such they give a highly edited view of what's going on.

(spear and shadows leading diagonals into the pic. everything important is placed on golden divisions and there's even a line of sight spiral leading into the background) This is without a doubt a beautiful image but as an environment design we really can't judge a few trees either way at this moment I think.

The concept art in the roadmap shows a lot of promise I think that's what we can all agree on. Now let's just wait until we see some of those designs with these graphics.

[Ingolf]

The last MMO that was considered a graphic powerhouse was Age of Conan, turned out that was all they had past level 20. The game was DOA and the only reason its still around is because it went F2P, even now only a handful play it. I'd rather not FFXIV suffer the same fate. While you may put visuals on a pedestal you are a minority. Every MMO that has failed in the last few years has been because their gameplay does not keep subscribers, SWTOR is hurting because they have no endgame content. Aion touted its Unreal Engine 3, its F2P. Rift had a shiny engine, they were doing server merges only months after release. Whether you like it or not the truth is that most people could care less about graphics if the game isn't even fun to play.

Correlation doesn't imply causation.

[Amage]

if you guys havent looked at pics its the PS3 ver. of the game

[DeeBeeP]

Correlation doesn't imply causation.

How does it not?

[brittany]

did someone say... copy/paste?

I live in arizona.. these are like saquaro cati.. they really all do look alike.. =^.^=

anyways.. I played 11 and its grafics seemed blehh.. but i still loved that game ..

[Fear]

if you guys havent looked at pics its the PS3 ver. of the game

No it isn't, it's been stated it was from a Laptop during the interviews.

[Razorboi82]

The graphics are downgraded! hehe, even so I think they did a beautiful job in keeping it amazing. If you look at the texture of some of the fabric/metals they look more watercolorish. I don't care if they did downgrade I think i prefer the painted look.