The 7.0 Graphical update preview is an objective failure

[sahroo]

Holy wall of text, Batman

First,
My character is largely unaffected by the update. Any changes, I don't really notice.

Aside from the waxy/plastic looking skin, and the darkening, deadening of eyes, I am personally not really bothered by the changes made by the update. For this reason, I would like to believe myself to be at least somewhat unbiased.

I am not considering feedback posted to other websites.

Additionally, the environmental updates look great, and I cannot find any fault in them myself. I am not talking about the environmental graphics update, only the character updates.

And, finally, I'm an idiot that doesn't think good and I word things bad. I'm probably gonna regret posting my thoughts.

======

The subjective opinion of individuals (me, you, anyone) on whether the character graphics update is good or flawed is irrelevant.

I don't believe it to be a matter of subjective opinion.



During the Live Letter LXVIII, the following goal was stated:

"Overall appearance of player characters will be altered as little as possible."

https://youtu.be/N2TWmsce_eg?si=UMOpWU-rIAgkFgAf&t=4423

In the Las Vegas Fan Festival 2023 presentation the following was said, paraphrased:

"We want your characters to still look the way you enjoy them now"
"We're really taking care to make sure you don't look at your updated character and think 'That's not what I thought it'd look like at all'"

https://www.youtube.com/live/--_vb2j...zzXx_bD&t=6360

These are the words and stated goals of Yoshi P and CBU3.





I've been reading the feedback posted on this forum on what was shown in the benchmark. While there are ups and downs, the general sentiment looks to be that the characters have been altered beyond what is considered "as little as possible."

What is relevant is the fact that people are dissatisfied with the changes in many aspects.

I have noticed people stating that core reasons for why they chose a particular race, subrace or gender had been removed or significantly altered in the graphical update, that the overall character and charm had been destroyed. I recall one person even mentioning that they might stop playing FF14 as a result of the changes (though I can't find that particular post right now).





Maybe CBU3 believes their changes to not be significant. I believe that they failed in their stated goals based on the feedback I have read.

It is my hope that work on this is being continued and that the development team is reading the feedback on this forum and taking it all into consideration.

As it stands now, if what was shown in the benchmark is indicative of the final product, then the 7.0 graphics update is an objective failure, based on the goals stated by Yoshi P and CBU3.

These things may not be permanent, but if they are, at least my character isn't harmed by the update in a way I care about

[Turtledeluxe]

Tbh, these threads aren't generating tons of likes and posts, from what I've observed. On other social media I see a lot of flattering photos and people pleased with their character.

I'm going to say there's a bit of the usual forum change resistance happening right now, mixed with some actual poor design decisions like making lips duller, making eyes look dead inside, etc. I'm not saying there isn't real criticism but it's buried under a certain segment of the player base that craves outrage and just like up the echo chamber of outrage posts to varying degrees of success depending on the topic at hand.

Tldr Objective failure is a reach. A lot of characters do look better and people just don't like it. But yes, some have problems.

[Embran]

For the large part, I see pretty much mostly positive opinions about the graphical updates. Reddit, Twitter, etc., basically anywhere except for the official forums — but then again, I can’t remember the last time the official forums was largely positive about anything. This is mostly where people go to air their grievances or ask for feedback.

I think the graphical changes are good. My character looks much nicer, and I feel like the lighting, the gear and the environments are a massive step forwards.

I do agree that there is still work they need to do addressing the changes that were made to some characters, such as eyebrows and lips being totally different, but I certainly disagree that it’s an objective failure. I think the eyes and skin need a touchup, but still a net improvement overall.

Anyway, I find this post odd, because you begin each part of your "objective" statement with "I believe" -- which just tells me you subconciously recognize this is a subjective statement.

I really wish the forum wouldn't use so much hyperbole when levying criticisms. All it does is make people defensive or offensive on both sides to make sure their hyperbole is the one that comes out on top. This is why each thread turns in to an argument by its second page lol.

[Banriikku]

The graphic update ? More like graphic change and half is good and the other half is uncanny. For me its disappointing. We waited and got told "we do soo much and sooo good, yada yada..." and thats "IT"? BTw.: No real cirticsim? Yeah, you wish or better i wish. There is : clipping, washed out colors, badly attached textures and so on. Also we got changes in many cases not real upgrades. Why no lips ? Or why does my hair look like plastic? Why does my skin look like rubber? Why is there a diffrence in quality of textures on the SAME model? Why is the texture not on my char but floats on it? And thats just the tech part. NOT the part where is ask: WHY DID YOU CHANGE FORMS, SHAPES AND COLORS? But hey, we all are just a hoax, bots and should wait until launch. It will be all better.... as always Yoshida saves this game. From what`? Me dont know, ask the peeps who fight for the "million-dollar-corp".

[Warkupo]

I don't think hyperbolic click-bait is very helpful and just dilutes genuine concerns raised by other people.

[Jeeqbit]

I did notice all the default Male hyur selections didn't look good. I don't know if they did before.

But part of it is the smoothing out of the models to remove polygons; high-definition textures revealing detail that couldn't be seen before; light reflecting more and doing shadows properly adding more shine to places. I do think lips have changed.

One of the main differences I notice is just that the look some people were attached to was the fact it was low res. Once it is more real looking, it's not always the same and the only way to get the look back would simply be for it to look less realistic.

If there is an actual bug I think it should be put in the bug forum though, because we have to separate feedback and opinions from objective bugs such as clipping issues.

[Hanayumi]

Tbh, these threads aren't generating tons of likes and posts, from what I've observed. On other social media I see a lot of flattering photos and people pleased with their character.

I'm going to say there's a bit of the usual forum change resistance happening right now, mixed with some actual poor design decisions like making lips duller, making eyes look dead inside, etc. I'm not saying there isn't real criticism but it's buried under a certain segment of the player base that craves outrage and just like up the echo chamber of outrage posts to varying degrees of success depending on the topic at hand.

Tldr Objective failure is a reach. A lot of characters do look better and people just don't like it. But yes, some have problems.

Yeah... there are also those that just really dont care what they do with any graphical updates, me certainly being one, good graphics, bad graphics, meh, personally more curious on any content improvements from whats been mentioned only ever briefly...

[CidHeiral]

Everyone is entitled to their opinion on the changes and they should definitely leave their feedback, but using the place everyone comes to complain as proof everyone hates the update is confirmation bias. People that are pleased as punch with the update aren't typically going to come here just to say "I love it, good job!"

[Embran]

Everyone is entitled to their opinion on the changes and they should definitely leave their feedback, but using the place everyone comes to complain as proof everyone hates the update is confirmation bias. People that are pleased as punch with the update aren't typically going to come here just to say "I love it, good job!"

More than that, I’ve already said I liked the updates in other threads and I’ve just gotten pushback like “good for you, nobody asked” from people who are frustrated by them. I understand why others would want to drown out the positive sentiment regarding the updates in hopes that they don’t go through, but expressing positive sentiment here usually paints a target on your back. I dare not say that I enjoyed Endwalker’s MSQ.

[sahroo]

As stated, I don't word good.

The part I was attempting to be objective about was Cbu3's verifiable words and the general sentiment I gathered from this forum.

I could have used stronger language, but I am used to avoiding conflict and expressing my thoughts, hence the self depricating part about me regretting making the post. Making a post like this is rare for me. I've been thinking this over for a day and decided to get drunk and say "to hell with it."

I didn't think my post was that hyperbolic as, given the sentiment on this forum that I have seen, Cbu3 did fail their stated goal. That is my genuine concern.

I'm not so stubborn as to deny that my statements are flawed. My exposure to thoughts outside this forum is limited. Still, I felt compelled to share my thoughts, even if people disagreed with them.

If I were to take the time to use Twitter and reddit, I'm sure I'd find overflowing positivity. There is a lot of good in what was presented, but I focused on the bad because there is also a lot of bad.