Was This Graphical Update Necessary?

[xxmiamorecadenza]

An interesting note about perception vs reality.

1) You aren't wrong to prefer how your character has looked for 10 years. Art is subjective, and even the slightest change to lips, eyes, etc. are going to be noticed on a face you've spent a decade acclimating and admiring.

2) Nobody complained about the graphical update or even the character updates *until* the benchmark landed; it wasn't until we got to see -our- specific character of the last 10 years with subtle differences that we began voicing our complaints. While I do think the intense hyperbole displayed on these forums is a bit overblown and disrespectful, there's nothing wrong with asking for things to be closer to our preferences if it can be done respectfully.

3) Objectively, character models *are* improved. Polygon count is significantly better meaning that there is significantly less "jagged" looking models. Rounded anatomy of the face like chins, noses, lips, cheeks, etc. etc are all a vast improvement.

4) The improvements are not purely aesthetic either; According to developer interviews, every character model is now "morphed" from a base character model, rather than being its' own separate model. This allows them to much more quickly create equipment since you are making adjustments from the one model, rather than adapting it to several different models.

I'm hopeful that all goes well in good time. I also hope they reverse the subtle erasure of racial traits in some characters.

But I'm afraid that even with the Free Fantasia folks won't be satisfied because the options are no longer familiar.

bruh we had main story chars that were pixelated in cutscenes lol

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. It looked fine to me.

[DiaDeem]

Yes

[Jeeqbit]

Considering people still play old nintendo 64 games with the most blocky and simple models and colors, you could argue that the graphics don't need updating.

But most people have a wide screen now and at least 1080p is a common minimum resolution, yet the textures are designed for a much lower resolution and therefore look pixelated to most people. For whatever reason, even Clive from FF16 was made to have pixelated gear in this game on a 1080p monitor. If you fly to the moon and look at the surface you will notice some textures there look stretched to a degree that looks... not good.

But I'm wondering if it was needed and is it a solid selling point for the game?

The graphics used to be one of the best in the MMORPG category when it was new, but then we started getting games like New World and Ashes of Creation and Lost Ark, so this is the response. If you don't know what those games are, look up a few videos of them on youtube and you'll see.

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

Definitely, yes. A very large percentage of the community uses custom shader software to enable graphics effects that the game doesn't normally allow. I mean a very significant percentage - probably over 50%. Information about it spreads socially and also because it's done for many other games so people just know to do it.

A lot of gamers have high-end gaming computers and want to make maximum use of their investment. They do not want to settle for lower graphics. If I were to tell you the average specs of people who ask for help in the tech support forums, they are very high-end computers as opposed to an old computer from 10 years ago!

Additionally, a lot of players do something they shouldn't, which is increase the resolution of the textures anyway. That isn't allowed, but if you know how many people do this, it's a very large amount of players. The graphics update is a response to this as well.

Balmung, the world you're from, is going to have a higher percentage of players doing all these things than almost any other world as well.

[Roda]

It was showing its age before the benchmark came out, but going back in after staring at the benchmark for so long.. ohhh god yes... yes it was very needed.

[Oizen]

Yeah and whatever the fuck that playstation model that hermes was sad that the ancients killed is why.

[mallleable]

Yes it is.

[Somnolence]

It was necessary, but mainly texture upscaling due to all the pixelation.

This was done, but in addition to that we got polygon changes to the face which shifted facial features for no reason. And lightning, shader etc. changes that turned skin very weird and unrealistic and eyes lifeless.

In general it feels like facial changes were not tested properly because some changes are so bad if you show the pictures to random people of the street they think old one is upgraded version.

[Mosha]

This was done, but in addition to that we got polygon changes to the face which shifted facial features for no reason.

I wouldn't call 60 bones into the face model "for no reason"

[Mimilu]

I wouldn't call 60 bones into the face model "for no reason"

If anything, this will hopefully lead to more expressive and interesting emotes. *fingers crossed* (´･ᴗ･`)

[RulerKelso]

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?

Depends which part of graphical update.
-New enviroment, object details, water, effects, certainly yes!. Sceneries in benchmark are really beautiful, looks like a new game. Im excited how they update older cities too. Age of the game is certainly begins to show

-Characters rework - not so sure - probably not (need more time to polish for sure or postpone if necessarry).
This may be subjective depending on which race(s) you plays. Some races benefited from this, such as Hyur, Pototoes and Miqotes, but the little visual upgrade we see is just not so big to justify that our faces just looks unrecognizable.
And most other races just look different wihtout any great visual upgrade. I would consider only a really big visual uplift to justify the risk of changing our old characters beyond recognition and piss many players. And I dont consider higher ress textures and a little more polygons in face as big graphic uplift
In case of M and F Viera, these look even worse compared to original, on top of butchering our old faces.
I think devs are reworking and fixing races one by one, with Hyur and Miqote being complete or almost completed and the rest of races still need some more polishment... and not enough time to polish everything in a little time we left until 7.0

-New animations as shown in benchmark cinematics - certainly yes!. Till now our WOLs did what? just nodding their head or making basic emotes in cutscenes. You can see our character showing new facial emotions, turning head to look around and behind, using attachments such as compass/map, etc. Im glad to see the game set the course for the 21th century in its more cinematic feel.

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