Was This Graphical Update Necessary?

[xxmiamorecadenza]

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?

[Valkyrie_Lenneth]

Yes. Yes it was.

[Catwho]

It was time. The graphics were definitely starting to show their age, and most people have PCs that can handle the improvements to the lighting engine. They learned a lot with XVI, too.

[Larirawiel]

It was time. The graphics were definitely starting to show their age, and most people have PCs that can handle the improvements to the lighting engine. They learned a lot with XVI, too.

Unfortunately there is no lighting engine in the game and benchmarks. All lights and shadows, you see, are fakes.



Cheers

[Granyala]

Yes. Yes it was.

Definitely. The new materials look absolutely fantastic.
It's just a royal shame that they use crappy DX1 skin textures, riddled with green compression artifacts.
Also, face paints are still blurry as fudge and clearly not updated... looks so out of place on the new faces LMAO. Easily seen on Mr. Promise 2.

Was THAT really necessary just so XIV does not go beyond a pathetic 4GB VRAM in 2024?!

I’m thankful I posted this. Because it just validities that my brain does not register minor details in FFXiV.
I opened up the game this morning and spent ages staring at the ground or plants to understand if there was any kind of difference present or if it was still all mostly the same . It genuinely just looks like the same game to me.

Especially metals are a night and day difference between EW and DT.
Look at Wuk Lamat's head ornament or at The blue Promise Nr 1 guy's headdress.

Yes it IS supposed to look mostly the same. They didn't want to change the personality of the game entirely.
So this isn't a Tomb Raider 1 vs Crysis 3 levels of update. :'D

But the improvements are definitely there, if you pay actual attention.

[Fawkes]

was the update a big ask in the community?

Extremely yes.

Possibly the most requested thing since at least Stormblood if not longer.

[xxmiamorecadenza]

Extremely yes.

Possibly the most requested thing since at least Stormblood if not longer.

I had no idea. I didn't realize people thought the game was lackluster in that way. I've never looked at the game and thought it lacked polish.

[seolhyun]

I had no idea. I didn't realize people thought the game was lackluster in that way. I've never looked at the game and thought it lacked polish.

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

[Fawkes]

I had no idea. I didn't realize people thought the game was lackluster in that way. I've never looked at the game and thought it lacked polish.

It has always looked fine when zoomed out dodging orange puddles. The problem is there's hours and hours of cutscenes and when they do close ups the pixels get more obvious, sometimes to the point of completely distracting from the scene.

For me I think it was this scene from 3.3:



but there have been a number of times where this has happened. The most famous is probably 'Pixel Exarch'.

[xxmiamorecadenza]

It has always looked fine when zoomed out dodging orange puddles. The problem is there's hours and hours of cutscenes and when they do close ups the pixels get more obvious, sometimes to the point of completely distracting from the scene.

For me I think it was this scene from 3.3:



but there have been a number of times where this has happened. The most famous is probably 'Pixel Exarch'.

I guess I barely process graphics in that way. It's always been a non-issue for me. You'd have to point it out for me to even notice what details you're addressing. I didn't even know about the Pixel Exarch bit. And I've watched all the cutscenes.