FFXIV and the graphics trap hole

[sindriiisgaming]

greetings, I am an artist, and though i have never worked for a company or made any concept art for a game, I have done it for my own Personal Projects. When i started playing XIV i noticed that it was lacking in a really definitive art style, and was instead going for the typical FFVII style high end graphics that make the game look like the people and world are real enough to compare to your own.

I personally think this is the wrong approach. looking at other Successful MMO i can see that they have a definitive artstyle that separates them from other games, where as ffxiv is only distinctive because it DOESNT have this art style. Because of this, they are going to be forced to constantly reevaluate there graphics to meet more demanding players and current day standards. in a way.. this is a trap hole they can never get out of.

I will show now, a small handful of games that have created player characters and unique artstyle-integrated graphics. to illustrate why the thing that matters more than anything, is not the graphics, but the artistic design.

Conton City - DBXV2


Grand Exchange - OSRS


Ashenvale - World of Warcraft


in all 3 of these examples. the worlds look vastly different. and graphics can stay at a stable point that would never ever need updated, so as not to betray the original artstyle. For the Budget and Future of FFXIV. it would do well to take a lesson or 2 from those games, and focus on creating something stylistically beautiful, instead of realistic, because that very hyperrealism is actually lifting me out the immersive experience and making ffxiv feel like another part of life. The characters look like people, they are not high fantasy or distinct unique races, the forests look bland and boring, there's no feeling of being in a magical realm. (the only zone that broke this mold was IL Mheg and elpis)