Less particle effects and more gameplay

[Absurdity]

I really think that's actually the case. Mechanically the things they're introducing aren't much more difficult than they have been in the past. But oh my GOD the visual vomit this expansion is Eulogia on steroids for every basic mechanic. They seem to just have doubled down on this approach since 7.0.

It isn't exactly a new thing this expansion, Endwalker absolutely already suffered from too much VFX clutter. They've increasingly relied on flash over substance and the ridiculous amounts of particle effects are part of this.

And it isn't just limited to bosses. In an attempt to make job abilities look more interesting than they actually are they plastered giant VFX vomit all over them as well.
Take Warrior for example, I actually like Primal Wrath as a mechanic but good lord is the giant molten lava slam from it and Primal Ruination obnoxious visually.

[angienessyo]

Funny how all the WoWfugees praised FF14's "clean mechanical language". In normal content where a tankbuster is highlighted, sure. But the moment they try to obfuscate it, things become a problem. It's just gotten worse and worse.

To be fair, compared to WoW, FF14 is significantly clearer. Dragonflight was significantly better about visual clarity compared to previous expansions, but it still had issues with mechanics that are similar colors as the floor
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WzrBdEJtSsU
You'd think those light blue lines would be pretty easy to see but in the moment when you're dodging other things, it could be easy to accidentally run into one because everything else would blend together with them.

[Vyrerus]

>_>; Cherry picked scene from O8S. Show me a screenshot of Forsaken 2.

Doesn't change your point though. They keep ramping up all of the bloody visual effects to the point where I'm finally considering turning off player animations so I only have one set of animations to contend with, which is something I've never done. (except in Eureka/alliance content)

[Fiel_Tana]

Most of the time its not the brightness itself being the issue, its the relative brightness. Yes eyes can increase/reduce the amount of light they receive (thats why at night you can still see). Some people have a lower acceptable range between these upper and lower limit. And there is nothing you can do against it without facing problems elsewhere.

Yes, that is definitely part of the problem here. That and adjusting too slowly towards the brighter end of the scale. They are great in the dark and adjust to that rather quickly. (Friends joke that I have cat night vision.)

I have tried increasing the ambient light in my room and having light behind the monitor as well but it didn't help. Tried wearing sunglasses instead of the usual blue light glasses I wear at a computer but then I had some difficulty seeing the darker regions and the flashes still burnt my eyes anyway since the pupils were just adjusted to a slightly darker ambient light so I was still blinded by the light imprint for a few seconds, same as without. Not sure "light imprint" is the right term, what I mean is the ghost like burn-in of the bright object hanging in front of the vision for a bit. Lots of people get that if they look directly at a light bulb then look away. My eyes are rather sensitive so all it takes is a flash effect on the screen and it feels like daggers jabbed through my eyeballs into my brain along with seeing ghostly tracers for a bit. It truly is the least fun mechanic lol.

What I don't know though is why this game, which is now worse after the graphics update, causes this when most others don't. WoW, and to a lesser degree, BG3 had some bright flashes and it didn't cause pain. Do they have lower intensity? Slower flash? Different colours used? Less contrast? Not a clue.

This thread covers other eye strain problems since the update, hopefully the devs will be working on it soon and will add in options for combat and arena graphics:
https://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/...ate-Eye-Strain

Like you say, the devs really should be aware that flashes of bright lights can cause many different issues for people, and test for that. That's why there's usually warnings on films, theatres and night clubs that have flashing or strobe effects. I count myself lucky that for me it's 'only' headaches and eye strain, as terrible as that is, it could be far worse. I worry about how it could effect others with more serious sensitivities.

[kajv95]

Been struggling with this since Endwalker. Luckily, each mechanic tends to have atleast two tells, but the increased reliance on massive glow effects in already brightly lit arenas is flaring something up in my head and its not great.

It hasn't stopped me from being able to clear things this applies to as of yet, but please stop I beg

[Absurdity]

Been struggling with this since Endwalker. Luckily, each mechanic tends to have atleast two tells, but the increased reliance on massive glow effects in already brightly lit arenas is flaring something up in my head and its not great.

It hasn't stopped me from being able to clear things this applies to as of yet, but please stop I beg

I've actually had issues in M1S, but not because of VFX effects.
It's hard to pinpoint but just the combination of the floor tiles, the neon colours and everything going on in the background creates so much visual noise that it becomes harder to concentrate on the mechanics, especially during the clone phase before Mouser 2.

[GreenLeafy]

It isn't exactly a new thing this expansion, Endwalker absolutely already suffered from too much VFX clutter. They've increasingly relied on flash over substance and the ridiculous amounts of particle effects are part of this.

And it isn't just limited to bosses. In an attempt to make job abilities look more interesting than they actually are they plastered giant VFX vomit all over them as well.
Take Warrior for example, I actually like Primal Wrath as a mechanic but good lord is the giant molten lava slam from it and Primal Ruination obnoxious visually.

I mean , Eulogia is from Endwalker hahah , thought its pretty self-explanatory.
Also agreed that ability vfx is also cluttered but at the very least you have the option to turn those off and for encounters you can't. I turned everyone else's vfx off and party set to limited since Eureka because it was a seizure going through there with the vfx of 50+ players at the same time lol.

[Retsu90]

I would say the solution is to turn off VFX, but I can't do that as I use the VFX as a cue for timing my rotation.

[HighlanderClone]

>_>; Cherry picked scene from O8S. Show me a screenshot of Forsaken 2.

Doesn't change your point though. They keep ramping up all of the bloody visual effects to the point where I'm finally considering turning off player animations so I only have one set of animations to contend with, which is something I've never done. (except in Eureka/alliance content)

How is that cherry picked? I am comparing half room cleaves to half room cleaves. And Kefka does not use it during Forsaken 2. He uses it between Forsakens and during Forsaken 3/4 which is what I posted.

It would be cherry picking if I was deliberately choosing an entirely different mechanic to compare. I picked the simplest mechanic - an indication for a half room cleave, to portray how even simple mechanics are now bloated with visual clutter, making it hard to identify the safe spot.

[Vyrerus]

How is that cherry picked?

It's the attack from one angle instead of three. In order to not be cherry picked, you would need to show it from the same angles that you chose for Wicked Thunder. You would also need to acknowledge that the savage tell for M4's Sidewise Spark is not just a half room cleave, but the cubes and orbs are depicting other quadrant cleaves that only happen in savage.

You would need to compare it to the later mechanics in God Kefka in order to make an appropriate comparison. Perhaps Forsaken 3 where you have to watch which wing while watching the idol behind him or alternatively just having to know the difference between Wing of Destruction and Wings of Ruin. The wings light up with the same particle effect, but when it's both the attack is entirely different.