P12: Visual Effects and Eye Pain

[Gunloeth]

I hardly ever use these forums, and I do not like to complain (so inevitably, this post is a complaint). FFXIV is a really enjoyable game, and there is so much that I love about it. However, P12 quite hard, not in terms of mechanics, but the visual effects.

I have anterior uveitis, an inflammation of the eye, and cataracts. Usually, this has little impact on gaming, so long as I'm not on eye dilators, and am careful about screen time, and use adequate lighting.

Today, my eyes were fine: no pain, not dilated, and there was adequate light. After doing P12, my eyes are actually painful. Not the soreness you might experience with dry eyes, but sharp, needle-like pain, the sort that always precipitates a migraine.

The battle's extraordinarily bright battle effects, even with adjustments on my monitor, were quite painful. I'm sorry to everyone who was in my party. I could not actually distinguish which wings were illuminated, it was all one smear across the screen. Even with party effects turned off, it was impossible to discern much clearly.

I don't want to be that one person who makes a fuss, but did anyone else have similar experience?

[AngelCheese77]

They had issues like this during the last Nier raid. People got sick from the flashing and brightness. It was tuned down in a hotfix. Hopefully this gets looked at as well.

[Gunloeth]

I was ok with the Nier raids when they came out, oddly. The brightness was consistent across the screen, if that makes sense. There was a general brightness that was a bit hard at times, but it wasn't physically painful. It didn't cause a pre-migraine feeling.

[Colt47]

The fight has a very specific phase where a bunch of effects are going off on everyone due to the boss jumping around and lasers firing. That had a lot of sudden bloom so I can see how someone might get some headaches. An option that can help is to turn down the screen brightness until they patch it.

[Gunloeth]

Good suggestion! Mine is already turned down a bit, but I'll take it a bit further.

[Boblawblah]

A lot of the recent fights seem to be effects overload. I don't usually get bothered by it but sometimes it's so much that i have to look away from the screen, or at best I can't focus on what is going on because it's just a mess of things flashing constantly. I get that that's one way they make the fights more engaging, but it gets a bit much for me.

[Avatre]

I can definitely see how that fight can cause problems for people who have a sensitivity to lots of flashing effect. I don't have a sensitivity, but it was slightly distracting the first time through it and I missed a mechanic causing me to drop. Hopefully they patch it to be a little more subtle.

[Mr_Gyactus]

I hardly ever use these forums, and I do not like to complain (so inevitably, this post is a complaint). FFXIV is a really enjoyable game, and there is so much that I love about it. However, P12 quite hard, not in terms of mechanics, but the visual effects.

I have anterior uveitis, an inflammation of the eye, and cataracts. Usually, this has little impact on gaming, so long as I'm not on eye dilators, and am careful about screen time, and use adequate lighting.

Today, my eyes were fine: no pain, not dilated, and there was adequate light. After doing P12, my eyes are actually painful. Not the soreness you might experience with dry eyes, but sharp, needle-like pain, the sort that always precipitates a migraine.

The battle's extraordinarily bright battle effects, even with adjustments on my monitor, were quite painful. I'm sorry to everyone who was in my party. I could not actually distinguish which wings were illuminated, it was all one smear across the screen. Even with party effects turned off, it was impossible to discern much clearly.

I don't want to be that one person who makes a fuss, but did anyone else have similar experience?

Don't worry about a rightful complaint, this game has A LOT to complain about its graphic/text.

Anyway, you should protect your eyes, are you using eyeglasses with suitable lenses?
I bought a pair from Zeiss, they cost a lot (500+ euros), but it's worth it.

[Ghutts]

MY EYES! OH GOD MY EYES! THE LIGHT HAS MELTED THEM RIGHT OUT OF MY HEAD! (trust me, I feel your pain)

[Gunloeth]

Yes. I use darkened lenses when outdoors, and the lights inside my house are selected for reduced eye pain. Uveitis is a bit of an odd affliction in terms of eye protection!