Dawntrail Graphics Update - Eye Strain

[poooman]

tossing my support over here again. i may not have eyestrain struggles myself but the fact that theres THIS many people struggling with it is...... frankly unacceptable. people should not have to use 3rd party programs to play your game without hurting, not even mentioning those on console that dont have this option.

most of the settings i ask to be toggleable are for performance reasons (wet effect, bloom, etc) bc i have a Not Very Good computer that can barely hit 45 fps in new areas (lowest setting btw lol). but these exact same effects seem to be giving people a headache, literally. i just... dont see the logic in not letting people customize their graphics settings to the extent theyd like???? oh noooooo my artistic vision of horrible blur around anything that remotely glows. good lord.

sorry about the health bar in the way, but this is just. horribly ugly...... no one benefits from this? it looks bad, it physically hurts people to look at, and it makes performance even slightly worse.

[Daralii]

tossing my support over here again. i may not have eyestrain struggles myself but the fact that theres THIS many people struggling with it is...... frankly unacceptable. people should not have to use 3rd party programs to play your game without hurting, not even mentioning those on console that dont have this option.

most of the settings i ask to be toggleable are for performance reasons (wet effect, bloom, etc) bc i have a Not Very Good computer that can barely hit 45 fps in new areas (lowest setting btw lol). but these exact same effects seem to be giving people a headache, literally. i just... dont see the logic in not letting people customize their graphics settings to the extent theyd like???? oh noooooo my artistic vision of horrible blur around anything that remotely glows. good lord.

sorry about the health bar in the way, but this is just. horribly ugly...... no one benefits from this? it looks bad, it physically hurts people to look at, and it makes performance even slightly worse.

Crystal formations are weird. You have places like Pharos Sirius that are brighter and uglier than ever, while parts of Mor Dhona and the Burning Wall have lost their glow entirely.

[Fiel_Tana]

Another day, still have forum access, one (perhaps final) bump to the top.

[Taralyne]

Just came back after a long break and I agree ,they need to bring back toggle bloom.Way to bright.
Also the rain effects is a tad to much.I mean the ground is suppose to wet ? Looks like im on black ice most of the time .

[Sinstrel]

Wow, I wasn't going insane afterall. Bumping this post to show my full support and to document what worked for me. I ended up having to massively adjust my graphical settings to reduce the eye strain although it still occurs to a lesser degree than before. I was getting severe migraines within 15 minutes of playing FFXIV, and only FFXIV. As soon as I cut the game off and played something else I could immediately feel the relief in my eyes, literally.

I got the idea to take screenshots of all of the graphical settings in the game and feed them into ChatGPT. I then gave it my GPU and monitor specs then prompted it to play the role of an opthalmologist with extensive knowledge in graphical/UI design for gaming. I told it that my screenshots are from XIV and explained that it was an MMO which requires me to track a lot of things at once visually, and asked it to change all of my settings to what would produce the least amount of eye strain.

Voila. Reduced eye strain but not completely gone. There is definitely something going on with XIV's graphics and to be quite frank, I've always had eye strain with XIV even before the graphical update. However, the graphical update certainly exacerbated the problem. Please look into this Yoshi P/SquareEnix!!!

[Windfire]

Bippity-bump to the front!

[faiarrow]

JP players recently have been discussing the eye strain issue in their GFX feedback thread as well. It's definitely affecting a lot of people - keep fighting.

I start bursting blood vessels in my eyes because of the forced blur on camera movement in the BG after about 2hrs of play. Being PS5 my graphics options are zero, not that they have an option that fixes that issue as is right now, but it's an absolutely poor accessibility showing from a company that already has had an awful accessibility history for XIV.

For the first time in 10 years I've had to turn off party battle effects and have just my own because it's just a nightmare otherwise trying to pay attention to anything in the arena.

[Rueby]

The third area is a bloom nightmare, a pity because I would've really enjoyed its aesthetic. Glow on certain plants is way too overstated (the extra purple-y ones) that remind me of those purple circles where if you go near enemies spawn for quests



I keep expecting something to pop out of the bush to ambush me...

Edited : I removed the stuff about the solo duty NPCs showing all effects as I found a setting for Others excl PvP, which I'm guessing is NPCs... (Or I'm hoping) otherwise I'd complain that I can't see shit during solo duties with more than 2 NPCs popping off.

[Sui-Kune]

Here to show my support as well.

I already have poor eyesight from being on and off a medication that causes a change in eye pressure, and gods the forced bloom is awful. It fatigues my eyesight (and cognitive function) horribly, so I can't play nearly as long as I used to. And this is with being further away from the screen (console player using my TV)! I can only imagine how horrid it is sitting right near the screen as a PC user.

[Anarnee]

Just came back to give this a bump. I'm taking a sabbatical in a pet game and the support in that game has been leaps and bounds better.

It's not exactly engaging, but at least it's not making me sick. I cannot express how disappointed I am with XIV right now.