We need to compromise as a player base

[Loggos]

Yeah I have the feeling the new lighting was optimised towards better displaying the environment and that does look great, not gonna lie.

It just doesn't really complement the characters for some reason.
Landscapes and foliage that are modelled a lot more realistically probably need different properties to make them shine compared to characters that used to be and still are modelled in a semi-realistic style to avoid an uncanny valley look.

The close up of Meteor in the benchmark trailer felt kinda unsettling to me because on the one hand he was still relatively stylised but he also had really detailed pores.

It feels like with the characters the balance between realism (incl. textures and lighting) and the preservation of FF 14's signature art style is still off at the moment.