Reddit vs. the Forums in the Graphics War of '24

[Freyt]

It isn't just reddit. Everywhere else everyone is mostly positive about the graphics changes. The number one place for anyone to complain about anything with the game is the official forum, and as a result that's mostly all you get.

[CVXIV]

Snip.

I am someone who likes the visual update and thought that for the most part my character looked pretty good in the benchmark. Regarding the forums, it is pretty surprising that so many threads have been created about these issues people are having. I suppose I could understand a megathread and the threads about specific races but I don't use forums all that much so I wouldn't know how it typically goes.

The whole situation does feel overly dramatic and overblown to me, and I know it might seem mean to say as someone who does like what has been shown so far and I don't want to seem dismissive of the valid criticism being brought forward regarding the character creator.

There are issues with the benchmark that I am sure will be ironed out and fixed come Dawntrail, like any seams being shown or some of the textures being buggy like with male viera face 3's beauty mark that is just a line.

Though with some comparisons I have seen I really struggle to see a difference. To me, they look like the exact same character but with higher quality textures.

Another issue I've seen is with pale characters having bright hair so some of their features seem to blend in with their skin and idk it just seems like the solution is to adjust the colors.

I hope that SE takes a look at the threads being made and makes adjustments so that people can feel more at ease. I don't really enjoy that the benchmark is so close to the release date of the game, I feel like it should've been further back to allow more time for any issues to be addressed and potentially fixed in a reasonable timeframe.

[Roda]

I am someone who likes the visual update and thought that for the most part my character looked pretty good in the benchmark. Regarding the forums, it is pretty surprising that so many threads have been created about these issues people are having. I suppose I could understand a megathread and the threads about specific races but I don't use forums all that much so I wouldn't know how it typically goes.

As someone with a(n admittedly probably unhealthy) addiction to trainwrecks and dumpster fires, this is pretty par for the course for the (english) OF.
Creating a whole new thread for your own personal opinion, rather than joining an existing one, is kind of a part of the "culture" here (at least on GD). Screenshot dumps and group organizations are the rare exceptions.

The amount of options just exacerbates the issue. EVERY gender, EVERY race, EVERY clan, EVERY face, and even the different body parts and options within them apparently not only needs their own thread, but each individual person with their own opinion on their unique combination needs their own thread, not to mention the opinions on the technical changes, and of course the opinions on the ongoing discourse(we are here). Imo, it'd be cool if the mods were to undertake a cleanup operation and merge some threads to at LEAST be organized by race.


But yeah, just generally speaking, the graphical overhaul was very well done and most looks transferred over relatively well imo (tho full disclosure, my favorite looks have mostly came out of this unscathed so i'm biased). Like, there's a few issues that need to be ironed out of course (A few lips need to go through another round of polishing for example), but I think a large portion of the community has suddenly found themselves having to learn how to scrutinize a face in detail and are going through the learning process with that skill while also doing it with a subject matter that's deeply personal. You can definitely see this in the posts where the before and after are reasonably similar, the critique is usually to the tune of "My character is ruined/butchered/etc" with no extra details describing what actually changed and how it affects how they perceive the character, while the more "yeah that's definitely off" comparisons come with detailed breakdowns and discussions that contain like actual anatomical parts.

[Freyt]

The graphic update isn't even completed yet. The release is less than 2 months away. They'd never delay the release unless they really felt it was absolutely necessary.

I feel that the graphical update backlash is mostly coming from a very small minority, like smaller than the amount of people who actually play Hrothgar, or maybe even Roegadyn.

The demands people have been making range from inconsequential to nearly impossible. From demands of adjustments based on observations caused by the new lighting, which people need to be able to actually play the game to get a good handle on, to demands of having an entirely optional graphical update opt in, effectively demanding the team develop two versions of the game at the same time while anticipating an unrealistic zero consequences for it.

Among actual design decisions there's some reasonable takes in a slew of hyperbole and narrow distinctions. A lip shape might take a 30 degree curve originally, and now it takes a 28 degree curve, and will be described as radically different and lore breaking. Some of the changes people are going crazy about I have to actually check 3 or 4 times to determine which is the new version and which is the old. Meanwhile the male viera face that actually looked quite different has been buried under all of this and I can no longer find that thread.

[Arkdra]

Isn't it interesting that most people (though, of course, not everyone) posting on the FFXIV Reddit favour the visual updates to characters, while the opposite is true on this forum?

I wonder why the two have such different perspectives. Hopping between both Reddit and here is like visiting alternative realities.

It's because this forum is maniacs only.

[Moqi]

Reddit is a discussion board for fans to talk about the game. This is a place for customers to leave feedback to developers.

[Sated]

The official forum is the main avenue for players to leave feedback for the FFXIV teams, and people don't often go out of their way to leave feedback unprompted when they're happy. We're in the complaint box.

Reddit is just a chat room full of players talking with other players.

[GrizzlyTank]

Lot's of people that likes to hop on "Realistic lighting > stylize lighting" completely ignoring the clear advantages of having it stylized...

And the stylization I'm talking about is nothing more than what this dude uses Catch Lights: An Easy Cinematic Tip. Yeah the new lighting does have reflections in the eye, but it's gotten too faint and relies only on the sky rather than the camera so unless you are zoomed in or looking at a specific angle they won't show.

[NanaWiloh]

Oh god reddit..here we go. I am just going to observe and make no further comment here.

[TheOperator3712]

...

I wonder why the two have such different perspectives. Hopping between both Reddit and here is like visiting alternative realities.

r/ffxiv is a curated community, and one that is the textbook definition of toxic positivity. Any and all negativity or discussion has been consistently and methodically pruned and suppressed from that subreddit for years. So it isn't surprising, to me at least, that it would be overwhelmingly positive. It's a hivemind of FFXIV positivity, of course it was going to be positive. The devs can do no wrong in the minds of the people that flock to r/ffxiv.

Now that is not to say that I am disgruntled with the graphical updates, truth be told I'm just fine with how they have turned out and think most of the reactions here are overblown. All I'm saying is, it is or at least was fairly commonly known that r/ffxiv had this reputation of being a fluff subreddit and that if you wanted "meaningful" discussion about the game or its issues you either go to r/ffxivdiscussion or here.