Thread: The 7.0 Graphical update preview is an objective failure

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.

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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

Originally Posted by 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.

Originally Posted by 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.

I really do not know about reddit that much, but on twitter that is simply not true based on my own feed. That said, too, reddit and twitter are usually places for discussion amongst players. You'll find controversial debates about things like gameplay and similar there because that is something that is often discussed amongst peers. But we're talking about people and their opinions on the graphic update and how that has affected their character. No one cares what you (general you) think about how their character looks, but they do care about the results and Yoshida did promise that peoples characters wouldn't be greatly affected by the update which people have found for themselves is untrue. People know Yoshida, and the dev team, use the forums for feedback. It's not surprising that most of the negativity you're going to be seeing is on the forums which is one of the closest ways they can direct their feedback to the developers.

Originally Posted by hymmeli

I really do not know about reddit that much, but on twitter that is simply not true based on my own feed. That said, too, reddit and twitter are usually places for discussion amongst players. You'll find controversial debates about things like gameplay and similar there because that is something that is often discussed amongst peers. But we're talking about people and their opinions on the graphic update and how that has affected their character. No one cares what you (general you) think about how their character looks, but they do care about the results and Yoshida did promise that peoples characters wouldn't be greatly affected by the update which people have found for themselves is untrue. People know Yoshida, and the dev team, use the forums for feedback. It's not surprising that most of the negativity you're going to be seeing is on the forums which is one of the closest ways they can direct their feedback to the developers.

Yeah -- which is why I said in my very own post that the reason you're seeing mostly negativity here is because that is what it is for, and why I went out of my way to say that people SHOULD be voicing their grievances and concerns, even if I personally don't have any because my character came out looking great. I will NEVER fault anyone for being upset about ANY aspect of the game. I just wish it didn't have to devolve in to petty arguments all the time, regardless of which side of the fence you stand on.

Originally Posted by Embran

Yeah -- which is why I said in my very own post that the reason you're seeing mostly negativity here is because that is what it is for, and why I went out of my way to say that people SHOULD be voicing their grievances and concerns, even if I personally don't have any because my character came out looking great. I will NEVER fault anyone for being upset about ANY aspect of the game. I just wish it didn't have to devolve in to petty arguments all the time, regardless of which side of the fence you stand on.

I really do not mean to be rude, but you commented in this thread to the effect of "that is not true, other places no one is saying anything" (which was not true), so it does come across as you finding fault. Any "petty argument" I've seen, so far that I've seen at least so yeah I could be wrong too, has been people telling other people how to feel about the update so I can't really blame anyone for being defensive when someone is telling them how to feel about their character.

Originally Posted by 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".

This isn't feedback. This isn't constructive criticism. This just sounds like entitled whining. Granted, I have not read any of your other posts in regards to the matter. I am talking about this one specifically and other rants of the same cloth.

Fact of the matter is you have no choice but to wait until launch, and even then it's not like this is going to be hot fixed in an emergency update. We won't see any updates to this until 7.1 at best, or around seven months, and that's low balling it. The dev team is very likely going to be addressing the fundamental technical setbacks and gameplay issues based on high duty feedback from trusted savage raiders as their first and foremost priority. This is even more true if they make substantial changes. Buckle up.

This graphical update is cosmetic. I understand and relate to emotional attachment to one's own character, as does the dev team. But at the end of the day, that's what it is. It's fine to leave feedback, it's fine to express criticism, but be an adult about it.

Many players have strong and legitimate concerns about these updates and are able to express themselves as adults without sounding like they are owed something.