Please just give us a non-graphics update option for DT

[Cyrtip]

I don't think they should do this. Normally I'm all for options, but this would be very detrimental. Not only is it a spit in the face to the countless hours spent on every detail, it will take away assets that could be worked on something new/better. Also, the game file size would double and a lot would not be able to handle it. My hubby's PC barely handles this and a lot of PS4s barely handle this too.

I'd personally love to use an option to revert the character graphics changes, even if no headgear, hair, head fashion accessories, or eyewear released after 6.58 appears visible on my character.
The reason the face replacements look so different (and were even made) is because the replacement heads are all morphs of the same mesh (to cut development costs and save time) as opposed to the 6.58 heads which were all unique.
If using the old characters with 0 support were an option (just like Hroth, Viera, and old hats ), I would get a character that does not look bad, and the developers would get an easier job. The old character models would also be a fraction of the size of the old graphics in totality.

[RhaesDaenys]

I'd personally love to use an option to revert the character graphics changes, even if no headgear, hair, head fashion accessories, or eyewear released after 6.58 appears visible on my character.
The reason the face replacements look so different (and were even made) is because the replacement heads are all morphs of the same mesh (to cut development costs and save time) as opposed to the 6.58 heads which were all unique.
If using the old characters with 0 support were an option (just like Hroth, Viera, and old hats ), I would get a character that does not look bad, and the developers would get an easier job. The old character models would also be a fraction of the size of the old graphics in totality.

Your character does not look bad.

[Cyrtip]

Your character does not look bad.

My character, and the ones I see in cutscenes, look so not bad I do not want to play the game. The soul is different, on account of every single discernible facial feature being remodeled alongside animating differently.

At least the graphics update makes my character look as disinterested in the 7.0 MSQ as I currently feel (This screenshot is taken from the dialogue option freeze frame in "Shadowbringers" cutscene #2, where emotions are supposed to be high, not empty, and is used because 7.0 footage without the graphics replacement does not exist).

[Loggos]

Not only is it a spit in the face to the countless hours spent on every detail

This is a point I disagree with regardless of the "side" of this discussion tbh.

In the end, SE sells us a product. If they pour lots of time into something and the result doesn't make the customers happy (I'm talking in general here) then the customers should not feel obliged to like it because of the effort they put in.
In such a case the company would have made the wrong call with regard to their resource management/planning and allocation. They'd have made a business decision but the risk wouldn't have paid off.
I do think it's important to keep in mind that SE is not a small gaming studio. They are one of the biggest players and FF14 is their most lucrative game.

The people who like the update don't just like it because of the time spent, I assume, but because of the result (if SE had achieved the same result faster/smarter happy players would like it the same amount).

This is why, on the flipside, people who are unhappy should be allowed to voice their opinion based on their assessment of the quality of the result. SE meaning well doesn't make our characters look better to us.

Of course then SE has to weigh the feedback of different groups against each other and decide what to do.

But no matter the outcome, or who is in the majority/minority, I just think either side should be able to give feedback based on what we received and what we end up paying money for.

[caffe_macchiato]

Obviously it's great that Square Enix finally overhauled models, but the fact that they needed to do this shows the kind of state the company is in. This should have been done years ago. Final Fantasy XIV has been sold to people as a sub-par product for too long and people got too used to it. Now all of this company's bad decisions are coming to light just as shareholders are backing out and begging for a change. Square Enix is in its worst crisis since FFXIV 1.0 and The Spirits Within before that.

I mean, look at this. They obviously had to re-make every model from scratch to support new rigging. But now it looks too much like devs are racing to catch up before getting yeeted by shareholders. And it looks sloppy.



I'm not going to hate on the developers because at least they're trying. But Square Enix needs more than just a restructuring and it doesn't look like Takashi Kiryu is giving the company what it needs. The dev team needed way more than 300 people and they needed this yesterday.

[Saitress]

I'd be happy if they fix the DirectX critical error that appeared after this graphic update and i'll be able to play again

[Doopliss]

sorry to be simple and bitter, but, really cool "upgrade" for my dark skinned highlander

lol. lmao.
especially +1ing this option right now

EDIT: i do want to add that i know they're going to keep making changes, but god it sucks to have to deal with something that just feels way worse and unfinished for potentially several months. i had fun with gpose once. u_u

[Renii]

lmao you got white-washed

[Anneliese_Lev]

I also would want to revert to Endwalker graphics. My character lost personality by turning her into a teenager girl. She used to look like serious business, and her happier emotes looked good too.

I even liked the darker lighting, even if the new one has fans too. The new lighting also adds more problems because some lights seem to traverse through the head of my character, and make the lips and other parts look much brighter while the rest of the head is in darkness. Also, diagonal lighting gives her the appearance of being harelip (everything I comment in this paragraph isn't show in the image)

(I cannot point exactly what's the problem, but I think it has something to do with the eyes, lips and the general face textures)



(Opening the image in a new tab allows to see a bigger resolution)

[cutestfox]

I would like nothing more than to go back to the old character design

If not buying Dawntrail didn't give me the character update, I wouldn't buy it
If I could pay to go back, I would pay for it

There is no update, no content, nothing I want more than the chance to go back now