GRAPHICAL UPDATE

[Reimmi]

I don't really care for/about graphical updates, since one reaches a point where the 2 year old computer needs an update or replacement. The game is lovely as it is- and shiny graphics are not what draws me too or keeps me in a game. But, yay for the shallow crowd???

They already said these updates are optional
It's not shallow at all to want your game to look better lol

[PEANUT]

Heaven Benchmark sure is pretty - can't play it though...better to have good content first.. This is a good game, it does not need newer graphics to remain good. Waste of time, and waste of money upgrading computers. Shallow, like I said - but, hey - dumb blondes draw the eyes first.

Lol, well my fictional "not real" character is blonde... and now you're just getting rude and enforcing stereotypes. Yoshi-P himself even said he was really taken out of a serious scene during a closeup of the terrible pixelated grass, and given the heart of this game is story telling, one of the things that help them do that is having decent graphics. No one is expecting like PS5 next-gen graphics like UE5 or anything, but upgrading them? Yes, for sure, nothing wrong with that and it doesn't mean it's taking away employees or money from upgrading other aspects of the game, so your negative attitude is really not needed. You can stay mad about this issue, but it's gonna happen whether you like it or not so...

[PEANUT]

There's a few things I'd like to see in the update, and here they are in order of importance for me:

Lighting: This is huge when it comes to computer graphics. Fortnite's UE5 update is proof that you can have really basic assets but if they're well lit, it makes a world of difference. There's places in XIV that frankly are lit horribly. A lot of time is spent in the Ocular in ShB and everyone's face looks so weird, and that's just the most prominent example I can think of at the top of my head. This is gonna be huge for the game.
Better Antialiasing: The current implementation is just not great. Good antialiasing can help even low quality textures look rather nice at a smaller loading cost. Add it on top of nice textures and that's the next step to making the game look much prettier.
Foliage: This will make open environments looks so much prettier. The example they had in Elpis blew my mind. That's one I'm excited about.
Textures: Most textures right now are... fine. They're serviceable, particularly if you're looking from a distance. Better AA will help some of these look better. Get a little closer and some just look really poor, particularly in older areas. I think there's room here for improvement.
Character Triangles: Just with better textures and lighting, the current models would look way better than they do right now, and this is why this is the lowest for me. Avoiding sausage fingers and N64 feet are the big change I feel these characters need, though I think this engine can push models with the quality of the ones 1.0 had and even better.

Good graphics aren't a shallow. They're part of the artistic vision of the developers. They let us be more immersed, and there's no reason not to improve on areas that were limited by a PlayStation 3 of all things. As long as the options remain flexible for all kinds of PCs I think this can only be an improvement.

We'll see what comes out from this in the end.

Excellent post! I enjoyed reading this!

The "sausage fingers" and "Nintendo 64 feet" made me laugh! x"D I was really impressed with with the art team showed as far as upgrading character faces when they announced the graphics update and was not expecting them to look so much nicer and more real, but I am DYING to see how they are going to improve the Shrek hands and painted on toe feet for sure! Those take me out of cutscenes more than anything! Like they're wearing gloves x"D

[PEANUT]

What do graphic updates have to do with OPs hair colour? Or better yet, what is the correlation between hair colour and intelligence?

Ty!!! They are just getting rude at this point, taking time and money to fix up the graphics I'm sure doesn't take away from what that person wants out of the game...