Accessibility options urgently in need of update

[Melodic]

I want to add my support for this thread, as a disabled (but not colorblind) gamer who has struggled with reading mechanics-indicators when the colors and/or values are too similar to each other and/or the environment, and after reading the full thread I also want to call some folks in on a particular piece: If you aren't colorblind and you still have issues with the effects and markers in this fight, that does not mean that it's not a colorblindness issue. Because it is.

This, like many accessibility issues, is a "yes, and" situation. It means it's a colorblindness issue and it's a photosensitivity/migraine/epilepsy issue and it's a visual-processing/overstimulation issue and it's a (insert your personally impacted disability/impairment/etc. here) and it's unreasonably difficult to see/process without any kind of disability or impairment.

Accessibility is an important, difficult, and necessary thing to tackle and it's not always so simple as slapping a filter on. (Though sometimes it can be.) Sometimes the accessibility option added to a game that makes things better for a player also makes things worse for another player, possibly even another player with the same disability/impairment/condition/etc. This is why a variety of options and the ability to choose whether you utilize that tool/setting is so key for accessibility.

It is my hope that SE will read through this thread, listen to the varying (but all negative) impacts these design choices are having across a variety of life situations, revisit the fights cited here in a variety of ways to provide us with viable solution options, and will carry this with them into their design discussions for future. And hire some/more accessibility consultants, if they haven't already.

[LyssaLittleBear]

The visuals in Dawntrail as a whole have been incredibly difficult to my light sensitivity and make me not want to even go back into Vanguard or spend time in Heritage Found at all. Implement more accessibility options, from actual color blindness settings that work for colorblind people to options to reduce eye strain when everything is flashing, options to reduce saturation that actually help, and please DESIGN the game with players who have these issues in mind! I shouldn't have to avoid a complete dungeon or zone because of poor game design. People should be able to see mechanics in duties no matter their level of ability to see color!

[ZerothLaw]

I too want to add my support for this thread. There's far too many too bright flashes that make the game painful for me, and I'm not epileptic. And they use bright flashes a lot in intermissions these days, for example in Chaotic.

This is falling into the EW trap of mechanics where hard to read = difficult. Difficulty should come from execution and complexity and variations. Not from being super flashy or hard to read.

Some facts about epilepsy:

- Epilepsy onset can occur at any time in one's life. So a middle-aged player can experience their first seizure while playing this game.

- The first seizure is the most deadly, since it is unknown and untreated. The risk of injury to self and others from the first seizure is higher.

- Someone cannot know they were vulnerable to seizures prior to playing the game.

Please reduce the high contrast light flashes in this game, beyond just player effects. Boss effects and arena effects need to be controlled as well. If that makes things easier then maybe they shouldn't rely on such things for difficulty.

[Azael]

Definite support here. I have poor eyesight(I do keep it checked regularly at the doc), that has gotten worse over the years; and as the game has gone on, I have had more and more trouble in some of the fights. I was okay for most of EW, though I'd say about halfway through the patches things started to get a little weird, and now I've started to dread end dungeon/trial fights because of the messes on the ground. (Actually I'll say the first bad fight I had was Red Girl, but that actually made me motion sick. I just drop Tower these days if I get it and eat the debuff. Even after the fixes I dislike what it does to my vision.)

Of course, I have seen people bring stuff like this up and get pushback because people get very hot under the collar because 'challenge.' I liked doing hard content before, so that's not the issue, my issue is with the consistent 'Just bomb the field with a whole lot of blurry stuff to make it harder.' That post earlier about it being akin to making things harder via server lag rings true here. I know the devs want more 'friction' but there are ways to do this that don't involve just carpet bombing the field in colors and patterns, which some people can't see at all, and others can't see very well. I'd like to be able to find a happy medium somewhere. if they could find a way to make the explosions very clear and concise for folks with poor vision as well it'd be great.

Otherwise, I'd rather them err in the side of being easier on normal content. Either one. Lighten the load, or(preferably), figure a way to get the mechanics much more sharp/visible. I notice we've gotten more and more people having issues with them over the years, so it does seem to be something with their design choices.

[MartinFreepaw]

Hello, I'm pretty colorblind and have had numerous issues since Ol Rasta Pasta back in Eden's Verse: Furor onwards up to the Phoenix in P3 I'm also a someone who has heavily raided in statics and can attest that while I had issues back with Animal farm/brambles the wild use of same saturation/colors has only gotten worse since EW making a lot of the static and ex fights a bit embarrassing for me to try and PF since I either muck it up or have to find a group willing to take pity on the fact that I just do not see the aoes properly in the newer fights.

Even in M6 which I expected there to be a lot of contrasting colors due to the nature of this fight being a painting situation. I didn't realize there was actually aoe markers under the cactuses due to the red on reddish brown before they exploded but just knew from previous mechs that they would explode so i'm often clipped since I can't tell the size of the AOE itself. I just guess.

I've wanted to go into the new EX4 fight because I love Beatrix but everyone I know grips my shoulder and shakes their head at me and has warned me repeatedly that I can't just luck my way out of it. And that i'll need to wait for more 'experienced' friends to hand hold me due to the aoe colors and honestly, that kinda ticks me off. I want to do the content without being hand held, I like the challenge. I do savage/ex for the challenge (and the glams) but all the recent updates has made me have to sit and wait until I can get a group of people willing to assist me and it makes things feel so unfun. Like i'm the family dog sitting outside watching my family eat a nice meal without me.

I've always felt that Accessibility is an important item to tackle in all forms of the game. It's never going to be a one shoe fits every user, sometimes a filter will work sometimes a lil more in depth tuning needs to happen. Having accessibility options is a needed feature for a lot of people. I've worked with children with spinal injuries in the past setting up controllers and usb items specifically so they can play games and teaching nursing staff which options would work for x issue if the patient is bed bound or can only use their feet etc

While i'm colorblind, I used to listen to audio ques to help me but i'm now slowly going fully deaf in one ear and so i'm not able to use some of my old hacks. And the options available to me in the game are not at all the same options I get from newer and older titles and it's a bit laughable that FF16 has better accessibility options than 14. I wonder if the director of 16 can share this with the director of 14.

Honestly the amount of people I know who play this game with other forms of bodily needs and visual/photosensitive needs only rise. What used to not be that big of a problem is becoming more and more of an issue with how the team is adding these VFX/Color choices and it's a really terrible trend.

[Ahrimana]

adding my support to this thread. i don't have colorblindness, i'm not usually photosensitive, and as far as i know i don't have any specific disorders pertaining to this-- but the gradual reliance on flashy, bright effects and visual clutter has given me migraines since endwalker. i first noticed with athena, and then later, sphene. parts of m4s would trip migraines, too. it had never happened prior to this, and if it did, it was so rare that i don't remember.

i can't imagine what a nightmare some of these fights must be with any form of colorblindness. i'm so sorry. y'all deserve to play the game you pay for without issue. accessibility shouldn't be a debate.

[gummicorn]

Like many others who have posted in this thread, I struggled a fair amount in the new trial because of the devs insistence on making an orange marker overlay on a red floor. I didn't struggle as much in M5 seeing as the ground is a much more muted color of red so seeing the markers for where the attacks were gonna hit wasn't too much of an issue, but there were times where I exploded from otherwise avoidable damage, especially during the later parts of the fight.
I regularly use colorblind accessibility settings in other games for the comfort of my own eyesight seeing as I am nearsighted and rely on glasses in order to see, but as the patches go on and the fights get more visually intense, I start to worry.
I shouldn't have to sacrifice my own eyesight just to play a game that I enjoy.

[simplygastly]

I am not colorblind but my husband is, and since Endwalker the design of spell effects and indicators have grown more and more lazy to compensate for people with colorblind issues. The colorblind accessibility settings for this game are lacking/need improvement in terms of color adjustment and, outside of that fact, the current design of many fights is what I'd call muddy. I understand the aesthetic of designing a pink-on-red-on-red-roses fight but in practice, it leads to a confusing experience even for those without colorblind issues.

[Esperian]

Adding my support to this, though my issues are pretty different - im not colorblind, but I have severe keratoconus, which makes me extremely light sensitive. Things like Mt Gulg and the last Nier raid in ShB that got tweaked are issues for me, and the last Nier raid still sucks (I still have to close my eyes when Red Girl does her glitchy raidwide). The bright white screen cuts are hell. The second boss of the newest Arcadion raids are a pain until they start changing the area.

A lot of things that are hard for me to handle are also very common migraine triggers, so it's not just about visual diabilities either !

We need a way to add a tint overlay over specific colors, or change the color of aoe markers in game. I would also love a way to change the skin on dialog boxes. The default light with dark text is extremely hard for me to read. On a bad eye day I can't read them al all. They've shown they can easily change how those look for immersion/effect (the omicron / machine one that's the more standard FF dark blue background, the black 'whisper' one that atarted in ShB I think ?) so being able to pick one of those as a default for all textboxes would be amazing.

[AgathaCrystal]

I want to add support to this thread. I have light sensitivity issues that cause migraines and wear coloured lenses to reduce this happening even with the coloured lenses the flashing can be a lot so I play with battle effects turned off completely.

However a big issue with this is that if I have battle effects turned off I can’t see things such as healing bubbles from other players as there is no visual indicator for them when battle effects are turned off, this could be remedied by something as simple as having a circle on the ground to indicate where a bubble is placed but with how the game is at the moment this sadly leads to many occasions where I unknowingly don’t stand in the bubble which is problematic when you play tank like myself.

Another persistent issue as others have mentioned in the thread is that flashing effects from bosses are not always disabled by these settings either. This also occurs with NPCs in dungeons that aren’t part of the main party, a prime example of this is the opening of tower of zot where I am able to see the effects of the abilities of the NPCs at the start of the dungeon and it can be quite dazzling, there is a few other dungeons where this happens too.

I also struggle with making out AOE markers in certain duties as others have mentioned in this thread. I feel like a solution to this at least for me would be to let players fully customise the colour of AOE markers and maybe even have the option to set different colours for different duties.

It frustrates me that this game lacks basic accessibility options that allow disabled players to enjoy the game. Hopefully this thread reaches the dev team.