XVI and XIV implications

[NightHour]

FFXIV with FFXVI graphics would be a dream for many players. I know we already can't expect that, like you said, but to have FFXIV's graphics meet XVI's graphics even halfway would be a huge improvement.

They want the game playable on different levels of hardware.

You shouldn't need a recent mid range pc or higher to play a 10 year old game.

[Ath192]

They want the game playable on different levels of hardware.

You shouldn't need a recent mid range pc or higher to play a 10 year old game.

Counter, a good graphics remake shouldn't take into account last gen hardware but next gen as well. Minimum specs should be able to run on mid-low hardware but max graphics should be making a high end PC sweat. This is a product that may be around for another 10 years. Better yet it should support FSR + DLSS to push the boundaries.

[kpxmanifesto]

They want the game playable on different levels of hardware.

You shouldn't need a recent mid range pc or higher to play a 10 year old game.

I'm not advocating for a mid range pc or higher to be the only means to play FFXIV. The option to play the game on lower quality graphics should remain in place.

[Striker44]

Question? So how quickly does that sense of wonder and exploration fall out once you've done it multiple times to notice a pattern and it starts to be lackluster?

Because let me tell you, that only ever happens when the game is all magical and new to you but then reality kicks in and you start to develop your own endgame agenda and go about playing the game optimally.

Call me jaded but I'm pretty sure that sense of adventure is so easy to fall off in this day and age.

This x100. I still remember an awesome afternoon I had playing WoW back in the day on a PvP server in one of those lower-level contested zones, where a few of us on each side held a good hour-long spontaneous battle for a town. Part of why I still remember it so fondly is that in the 15 years or so I played WoW...that happened exactly once. My take is it's definitely rose-colored glasses acting like the sequence of events Shinkuno posted happens on anything resembling a regular basis, or that it can't likewise happen in FFXIV. (Heck, just this morning I was part of two very chatty A-hunt trains, the second of which spontaneously morphed into an S-hunt when one popped right near the end - tons of fun.)

Its clear that most people that defend this game at this point just want to watch a TV Show without looking like a "lazy person that just sits on their couch watching tv all day" so they pretend there is any gameplay left in this "game".

Strange. I played for a couple hours this morning doing a variety of activities and didn't even encounter a single cutscene. It was all active gameplay. Almost like your description of the game is intentionally dishonest and shaded by an unhealthy bitterness...

Feel free to continue to whiteknight and excuse for a company that couldnt care less about you. May as well go buy the next store item too. You are not jaded, you are just prime target for FF14. People that want to put in 0 thought, 0 effort, just sit there and watch badly animated cutscenes.

When you reach the point of personally attacking someone with pathetic insults because they're having fun, it's time to move on. For your own health.

[SieyaM]

Counter, a good graphics remake shouldn't take into account last gen hardware but next gen as well. Minimum specs should be able to run on mid-low hardware but max graphics should be making a high end PC sweat. This is a product that may be around for another 10 years. Better yet it should support FSR + DLSS to push the boundaries.

I am no developer or anything but I would imagine there is only so much they can do to have the game perform on varying levels of hardware. I don't think it's possible to do have incredibly advanced lighting or physics engines be downgraded to run on lower performance machines, and older models and software can only be polished up so much. In the end getting this game to look like XVI on top of the line machines while still being able to run lower performance machines just isn't a reality.

[Ath192]

I am no developer or anything but I would imagine there is only so much they can do to have the game perform on varying levels of hardware. I don't think it's possible to do have incredibly advanced lighting or physics engines be downgraded to run on lower performance machines, and older models and software can only be polished up so much. In the end getting this game to look like XVI on top of the line machines while still being able to run lower performance machines just isn't a reality.

You are right, you are no developer. A lot of things can be turned on or off altogether to run on lesser hardware.

This is how Modern Warfare II can run on a toaster on minimum specs and tax a 4090 in 4K simultaneously with full on Ray tracing and max textures.

Here are the minimum specifications needed to play Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II:

OS: Windows 10 64 Bit (latest update)
CPU: Intel Core i3-6100 / Core i5-2500K or AMD Ryzen 3 1200
RAM: 8 GB
Hi-Rez Assets Cache: Up to 32 GB
Video Card: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960 or AMD Radeon RX 470
Video Memory: 2 GB

In fact, Sandy Bridge released in 2011 seen above which is 12 year old hardware and yet this is their recommended 4K setup:

Ultra 4K Specifications
The Ultra specs to run the game at a high FPS in 4K resolution:

OS: Windows 10 64 Bit (latest update) or Windows 11 64 Bit (latest update)
CPU: Intel Core i9-9900K or AMD Ryzen 9 3900X
RAM: 16 GB
Hi-Rez Assets Cache: Up to 64 GB
Video Card: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 or AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT
Video Memory: 10 GB

Of which the video cards are from last gen ~2 years old, so they effectively run a full decade of hardware specs.

-----------------------------------
1. As they should
2. As FFXIV should

It will only make everyone happy, so I don't get what people get off on from naysaying or arguing against it.

[SieyaM]

You are right, you are no developer. A lot of things can be turned on or off altogether to run on lesser hardware.

This is how Modern Warfare II can run on a toaster on minimum specs and tax a 4090 in 4K simultaneously with full on Ray tracing and max textures.

Here are the minimum specifications needed to play Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II:

OS: Windows 10 64 Bit (latest update)
CPU: Intel Core i3-6100 / Core i5-2500K or AMD Ryzen 3 1200
RAM: 8 GB
Hi-Rez Assets Cache: Up to 32 GB
Video Card: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960 or AMD Radeon RX 470
Video Memory: 2 GB

In fact, Sandy Bridge released in 2011 seen above which is 12 year old hardware and yet this is their recommended 4K setup:

Ultra 4K Specifications
The Ultra specs to run the game at a high FPS in 4K resolution:

OS: Windows 10 64 Bit (latest update) or Windows 11 64 Bit (latest update)
CPU: Intel Core i9-9900K or AMD Ryzen 9 3900X
RAM: 16 GB
Hi-Rez Assets Cache: Up to 64 GB
Video Card: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 or AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT
Video Memory: 10 GB

Of which the video cards are from last gen ~2 years old, so they effectively run a full decade of hardware specs.

-----------------------------------
1. As they should
2. As FFXIV should

It will only make everyone happy, so I don't get what people get off on from naysaying or arguing against it.

And you're suggesting that they can bring XIV up to that level without redesigning it, just polish up the models and lighting engine and it's ready to go?

[Ath192]

And you're suggesting that they can bring XIV up to that level without redesigning it, just polish up the models and lighting engine and it's ready to go?

They can. Not saying they will. We’ll find out in 20 days anyways. If they did, we would all benefit from it. If they added ray tracing and more recently Nvidia reflex to WoW which is an older game I don’t see why they couldn’t.

We really as whole need to stop settling for mediocrity. I just showed evidence of a game actively doing something like this and instead of agreeing it would be cool you continue questioning it.

The answer is it always depends on how much effort they put into things. Let’s hope for the best.

[NanaWiloh]

They can. Not saying they will. We’ll find out in 20 days anyways. If they did, we would all benefit from it. If they added ray tracing and more recently Nvidia reflex to WoW which is an older game I don’t see why they couldn’t.

We really as whole need to stop settling for mediocrity. I just showed evidence of a game actively doing something like this and instead of agreeing it would be cool you continue questioning it.

The answer is it always depends on how much effort they put into things. Let’s hope for the best.

Keep smoking that mountain of hope and illusion.

[Eorzean_username]

They can. Not saying they will. [...] The answer is it always depends on how much effort they put into things. [...] I just showed evidence of a game actively doing something like this and instead of agreeing it would be cool you continue questioning it.

I think that this starts from the erroneous premise that all games are created equal, and therefore, all games can do the exact same things with their engines and systems.

But "Arbitrary Game A did this, therefore Game B can do this" seems like an oversimplified leap of logic.

How "scalable" XIV's graphics can truly become ultimately depends, at least in part, on decisions made when they first began creating it, which can linger long/deep into the future development processes; as well as other factors, like what their specific team can actually handle implementing.

As well, remember that — for example — things like texture and model changes only tend to remain "legacy" for so long. After a while, the workflow of building everything twice, or continuing to support outdated alternatives, tends to be deemed too costly, and chopped-out.

Usually, when the system ceiling increases in a game — especially an "indefinite-service" game like XIV — the floor inevitably gets pulled up as well, even if there's a time-lag to it.

All of this will factor into how much / how far any graphical revamp gets taken, and what portions of it can and can't be fine-tuned at the individual client level.

We really as whole need to stop settling for mediocrity.

I think that it's just become cynical and self-defensive realism at this point for a lot of people. Expecting too much from SE/CBU3 results in severe disappointment; expecting the bare-minimum possible can sometimes result in pleasant surprises.