Forward of Closing Fantasy 14’s subsequent huge enlargement, Dawntrail, arriving this summer season, Sq. Enix just lately put out a graphical benchmarking instrument. Dawntrail’s benchmark is particularly noteworthy because it’s the primary time we’ve actually been in a position to put the MMO’s much-anticipated graphical replace arriving with 7.0 into follow and see what kind of calls for it would make on our {hardware} by overhauling the 10-year-old recreation’s visuals.
Whereas there’s loads to like concerning the new look – particularly the way in which the rejigged graphics deal with small particulars corresponding to facial hair and lips, the enhancements made to displaying darker pores and skin tones, and the prospect to check out the upcoming feminine Hrothgar race – some gamers have expressed disappointment with among the visible components, with criticism of lifeless-looking eyes, iffy facial contours and each over-glossy and under-glossy textures on their characters when.
Fortunately, producer-director Naoki ‘Yoshi-P’ Yoshida is available with some reassurance, issuing a blog post to quell worries that the visible replace will go away some characters wanting rougher. Yoshi-P defined that the complaints about eyes, facial shadowing and shiny surfaces within the Dawntrail benchmark got here right down to utilizing components of the MMo’s authentic character creation system, which is now a decade outdated and exhibiting its age.
“The character creation surroundings ought to have been up to date, however was ignored as we prioritised the event of Dawntrail and tuning the graphical replace within the precise recreation, for which I want to apologise,” Yoshida wrote.
“Though it used the identical processes because the precise recreation, sure points (corresponding to climate) had been mixed to create particular situations unique to character creation. This was accomplished to current the feel resolutions and shaders at their finest primarily based on the standard requirements on the time, which included the PlayStation 3 model. Moreover, its gentle sources make the most of backlighting which, on this case, proved detrimental for showcasing the upcoming graphical replace.”
As such, the group are engaged on tweaking the weather guilty – an absence of pupil highlights in eyes, incorrect lighting and backlighting on faces, and climate situations solely discovered within the character creator that messes with the looks of textures.
“We’re at the moment expediting a rework of the environments and light-weight sources of character creation for each the precise recreation and the benchmark,” Yoshida assured. “Altering these settings ought to enormously enhance the state of affairs, and I’d recognize it if you happen to may bear with us as we work on updating the benchmark.”
As soon as the modifications are made, the present benchmark shall be up to date with the shiny new one. These tweaks may even discover their approach into the ultimate recreation, too.
As a part of the identical weblog publish, Yoshida apologised for issues regarding lacking high-res textures for sure races and points with necklines and mouths, which also needs to all be mounted by the point Dawntrail launches later this yr.