Was This Graphical Update Necessary?

[ElHeggunte]

I honestly have no idea what they even did update. Is it suppose to be a super subtle change? I have no idea what I’m looking for here.

It was intended to be subtle, yes. It’s basically a texture and lighting update, not an entirely new engine or something extreme like going from FFVII to FFVII:Remake.

Keeping things close to the original was part of the point, and in my opinion they mostly succeeded. My character looks better without the changes being jarring or uncanny.

[Wildheaven182]

I'm not opposed to the update.

And, considering the fact I'm playing as a FemHroth, I'm generally apathetic toward how characters will change from Endwalker to DawnTrail.

But I'm wondering if it was needed and is it a solid selling point for the game? The game already looks quite lovely from my perspective considering its age. And I wanted to politely inquire as to why the time and effort taken to tune up the graphics wasn't instead invested toward expanding upon character customization, making mount movement more dynamic - which they showcased, yes - improving upon character movement, puzzling out how to improve housing and apartments and so on.

Yes, the grass is prettier. The water does the thing.

Maybe I'm entirely ignorant and I've been living in a cave - but was the update a big ask in the community?

Well, no. It's more of a voluntary design decision from the devs. It's not an upgrade as it rather adds better environmental lighting and shaders, however it isn't compatible with the detail shaders on characters so those are gone. Also, they want your characters to look brighter for the lighthearted expansion, so your character is now a light source. This is why there is no longer shading or highlights on hair at all, and there is no environmental shadows or lighting on the characters anymore.
So it was a choice to favor the environment over the character shading quality.

[Little_Giant]

It was very neccessary, it helped in some areas but I expected more tbh.

Im happy that we finally got some decent "anti-aliasing" with the help of DLSS. However it can be a bit too blurry and Square enix needs to implement a sharpener.
However I rather take the current DLSS blurryness over the shimmering that has plagued FFXIV since forever.

We also got improved lightning and improved vegetation. Textures got some improvements but it's very inconsistent.



FFXIV still has the greenish? tint filter and asses are still flat, -1.

[Ardeth]

I can barely tell. If I stop and look sure, I can tell, but during gameplay, I can't tell a difference.

[Arzalis]

Remember, this is the headliner feature for the expansion as well.

Been saying for half a year now they're pouring all their resources into the wrong thing. I wish I had been wrong, but this feels like an inevitable outcome.

Nothing regarding core game issues has been addressed and a new coat of paint loses it's luster fairly quickly. Especially if it's effectively the same color.

[keichirou]

what update ? lol all i see is some lightning adjustments and that's it , the few new textures are in DT cities and main ones , but beyond that all looks , feels and almost smell the same lol

[Fhaerron]

Lel, this thread aged like fine milk.

[noumen0nn]

No, it wasn't. The environment looks the same, the lighting looks either the same or slightly worse in certain instances, and many of us feel like our characters were butchered beyond recognition. The graphics update was a mistake and shouldn't have happened. Or at least, it should have been handled by a more competent and dedicated team.

[Wildheaven182]

yes it was. It looks like a 10 year old game.

Well now it looks like a 14 year old game, maybe they were going for the number 14 xD

Nah really,
Its just,
Environmental shading: Up
Character detail shading: way Down

In gameplay you wont notice it, but in cutscenes and glamor and rp, which is a huge portion of the playerbase, it looks pretty terrible up close on characters. Shading on hair is completely gone and there is no environmental shading on characters anymore as you are now a light source. Funny enough it was a bit broken in the original benchmark with the bunny ear lightbulb bugs xD

[sindriiisgaming]

For the majority of things it was needed. But since many characters look legitimately terrible. I think they should walk the characters back. Many of us now don't recognise our wold which completely kills the fun of the game