Dawntrail Graphics Update - Eye Strain

[mightyfineincredible]

Game looks great after introducing sharpening in Dawntrail. Now it doesn't look like a blurry or badly aliased mess stuck on PS3 rendering anymore.
I don't think some people understand that reality is meant to look as naturally sharp as your eyes are able to perceive (without visual noise), and games used to look sharp until forced TAA and FXAA ruined everything.

[Vesplume]

The problem is that with the graphics update, the devs have made an intentional focus on visual noise as part of new content design to show off the improvements of their new graphical capabilities. Visual noise is part of the encounter design, like in Vanguard (the entire environment with its flickering warning lights), Recollection (complicated visual tells that spawned multiple new threads about this problem when 7.2 dropped), and the new raids (especially Arcadion). It's also amplified problems with content that had similar issues before (like the Nier raids). The sharpness of the game usually isn't part of the problem unless its folks having issues with AA causing weird flicker effects, but that's been recorded here too.

This has made people who had few to no issues playing the game before DT experience severe eye strain leading to headaches, migraines, and seizures with side effects like dizziness, nausea and vomiting. Plenty of players who've reported to this thread have also mentioned this is an issue mostly exclusive to FFXIV and are able to play other games just fine.

[Vanfrano]

I came back to the game after several years break and I am having a lot of trouble playing, I don't have any sight issue and I only have this problem with FFXIV. I tried fiddling with the options but I couldn't find anything, it's to the point where I have to stop playing.
Also, the amount of visual clutter, which was already over the top in this game, has reached all new levels of ridiculousness. Note that I always have all effects off except my own.

[Catwho]

There is a video floating around from the final Nier raid where a RDM used limit break (good ol' Verflashbang) right at the same time that the red light / green light train mechanic was coming, and no one could see what the safe track was. Half the raid wiped.

Some QOL features I think could improve the visual effects:

* Being able to manually choose the colors for the visual effects from the boss. Right now, hostile ground AOEs are always orange, and friendly ground AOEs are always blue.
* Being able to change these settings via macros on the fly, allowing you to have a fight specific color profile that you can slap on. /aoe hostile red or /aoe friendly green
* Being able to set the transparency of the ground AOEs and other attacks. Some fights I need them really REALLY visible, other fights it gets in the way. Again, macro commands to set them - /trans 0-100 - the way I can type in /bgm 100 when a track comes on that I want to jam to in duty roulette
* Being able to control the total luminosity of visual effects. My friend with a high nits monitor jokingly calls out "ah my eyes" during any super bright attack. /lum 0-100
* Utilize fade down to black or a cooler color instead of fade up to white whenever possible. It made sense to fade to white in Shadowbringers, but that was two expansions ago. And as always, a choice! /fadeout set dark or /fadeout set light

[UNDEAD10000]

Today i did San d'Oria: The Second Walk first time and good god it's pure nightmare for my eyes due to massive amount of visual clutter entire allaince raid have that makes many of bosses attacks really hard to see and not only that my eys felt really uncomfortable entire alliance raid run.

[DynnDiablos]

I think the issue is they are over-designing these fights to be way more flashy and fast-paced than they need to be, with all sorts of spell effects shooting out everywhere, and there just isn't a need for it at all. I struggled focusing on anything going on for the new alliance raid last night because it was such visual vomit. Pretty much hoped no one would raise me and let me stay dead just to get through it. The airship fight about gave me a seizure.

[TransgressorPterodactyl]

Unsurprising that 7.3 still didn't add any setting adjustments

[glitteringcosmos]

If you have to rely on visual noise to add difficulty to the fights, sorry not sorry, that's bad game design.

[WhatIsHappening]

Glad it's not just me that's been struggling with stuff lately. I've found most of the later fights in the expansion to be much more visually overwhelming than previous expansions, and the latest treasure dungeon's moving background actually made me feel a bit queasy, and I rarely ever get motion sickness. Since the sales for XIV have fallen by a huge amount, I do hope the devs are looking more closely at the forums for feedback and see this one. It's kind of sad they seem to think flashier = better. I don't mind the fight mechanics themselves, I just don't want my eyes to sting after barely a couple hours of playing.

[rihkuwo]

Finally adding my voice, because we all need to be heard, and the more voices the better. I was diagnosed with megaloblastic anaemia last year, that had damaged my eyesight because it got pretty bad before being diagnosed. Up until DT and the graphics update, I only got migraines from EXTENSIVE grind/binge sessions, like, hours at a time, which was probably more about staring at the screen for that long more than anything else. Since DT and the graphics update, I'm lucky if I can manage two hours in a row just doing overworld stuff like Shared FATEs, or doing a match of PVP. I've turned off as much of the ability spam flashes as I can; I've changed the settings to different settings in the hopes that it'll help; I've turned off the HDR on my monitor; I've changed colour settings, and more. Playing things like Arcadion means that I need to do it at the end of a gaming session, because if I do it at the start, that's pretty much me done. The painful "crowd" in the background of Arcadion is not only distracting, it's also just visual noise for the sake of visual noise. The amount of flashbangs and lights and explosions and just... STUFF... associated with a lot of the dungeons and bosses from DT and post-DT patches is just noise for noise's sake. You can telegraph the mechanics in a different way and the mechanics would still be as good. Please let us tune down the mechanic flashes/bangs/fireworks/explosions at least a little. Please let us tone down the neon flashing lights in so many of the new areas. PLEASE LET US OPT OUT OF SEEING LIGHTNING FLASHES IN HERITAGE FOUND.

I also know for a fact that it's FFXIV causing the problem, because I play Destiny 2, probably to excess, and despite the amount of visual noise in that game, it's nowhere NEAR the level of FFXIV's, and I don't get a migraine just from playing Destiny 2. But I do get one from FFXIV. And I'm clearly not the only one having this problem.