- cutstom - This comparison represents the Dawntrail graphical update AS IT IS IN 7.0, but do keep in mind that many assets featured here, gear especially, will see dedicated improvements over the 7.X patch series! - Music used: kzread.info/dash/bejne/iXt9vJughM26d6Q.html - UNCUT versions of the recording streams where I captured all of this footage (and much more) at full 4K quality will be available hopefully soon and linked in the description when ready!

MOTHER MIOUNNE LOOKS SO GOOOOOOOOD

@SnapCube2

15 күн бұрын

elezen won tbh

@something5270

15 күн бұрын

@@SnapCube2 fem Elezen already made me die(in a lesbian way) but GOD they really look so beautiful now

@aznhomig

14 күн бұрын

Mommy Miounne now

@puntacana7550

8 күн бұрын

1:47

Because no-one else is brave enough, let me be the first one to say this about the new graphics update: tizzup.

@DemonLordSparda

14 күн бұрын

*claps*

@ipsusu

14 күн бұрын

hey, that's my line!

@MegaAndyGG

13 күн бұрын

I'm not a 12yo kid, so i don't know what that means lol

@NovaTedd

13 күн бұрын

@@MegaAndyGG i'm not a*

@MegaAndyGG

13 күн бұрын

​@@NovaTedd Happy? And for you too. The sentence starts with a capital letter.

The ground! THE GROUND! There's grass around the whole dancer cutscene! The way the light makes you and the crystal of Azem glow at the scene after the *walk*! And the way that Ardbert stands out so much more in the light! Gaia and Ryne in the dark!

@megamage911

13 күн бұрын

I'm 100% doing a full replay of the game eventually JUST to see everything with these new graphics, holy shit.

SLOPPEH now comes in HD.

This is absolutely everything. The syncing with the music, the choice of clips, the outfit changes!!! It's SO good omg I loved that you included the job quests and the y'shtola froth and foam 😭

Tizzup indeed, Aymeric

The graphics update has made me fall in love with elezen women, they look so cool now. hyurs and roedagyn especially have also had such a big upgrade in this update

tizza (raucous applause)

man you did not have to put so much effort into this but you did!!!! This is SO COOL!! This makes me so excited for what's to come for the graphical update. Thanks for doing all that work recording and editing (not to mention the outfit changes! Pella looks so good!)

even in an arguably semi-unfinished state (work in progress of updating and working on every expansion, etc) these changes are MIND BLOWING in hindsight i wish i would have saved some comparison shots of my 6.55 WoL during night cutscenes - he has dark grey/blue skin, and while playing through dawntrail? i can actually *see* him with the lighting changes, and i've never been more relieved 😭💜

@Zakjuh

14 күн бұрын

Some zones are so good now. The Vault, Syrcus Tower, Amh Araeng, Kholusia. KHOLUSIA (that was one of the ugliest zones in the game and is now something I can look at), Aetherochemical Research Facility. Some zones need some touching up for sure. A lot of Endwalker zones seem only partially updated, like Garlemald where I really feel like minimal work was done. So I hope they do that. And of course gear and NPCs will get updated in the patches, which will make everything look even better. I have noticed that the new graphics don't play nice with the old lighting, particularly in older cutscenes like the ARR, HW, SB ones. I hope they take a look at that and kind of adjust what needs adjusting. I think it's the same issue as with the first benchmark, where it was still using all the old lighting, even though it no longer works with the new models, lighting system and shadows.

@danii5630

14 күн бұрын

Mind Blowing lol I love FF14 but the graphics update is a joke, there was so much more potential🥲

@Zakjuh

14 күн бұрын

@@danii5630 Turn 3d resolution scaling to 99 and actually look around and compare. Go to Syrcus Tower for example.

3:12 that difference is STARK

@kiiturii

14 күн бұрын

also 6:31

TIZZUP

Oh this slaps. The syncing is such a nice touch with the banger playing in the background

What a way to show off the graphics update and make me remember the journey of playing this game ❤

Not only does this showcase the comparison of the old and new graphics really well, it also took me on a whole path down memory lane and the editing is superb. Thank you for this gem.

well then… I guess I have to get into ffxiv now. those scenes looked very cool and now I need the context

@flower7671

14 күн бұрын

You'll be in for one hell of a journey 🥰

@Dark-ux4bi

14 күн бұрын

cool thing is you can play right up till 4:25 completely free with the free trial, with no restrictions on playtime

Some of the changes are minor improvements others are massive

Expectation: Simply comparasion Actually: Super cool montage

The only real issue I have are those scenes in uldah, they're SO BRIGHT. Omg I don't need to be reminded there's colour in their outfits with saturation 😂

@TheKeyblader133

14 күн бұрын

Whenever i enter gridania's markets, my hair basically turns into a glowing orange if i walk under a light. Lmao

Hey. Wait. Whoa. This music. It's kicking ass. Like, ow. It bulldozed me.

@just1randomguy658

15 күн бұрын

AND IT'S FROM FUCKING YAKUZA!? OHMYGOD, I'VE BEEN ON SUCH A YAKUZA GRIND RECENTLY. The timing couldn't be better.

I love how I barely saw any difference between 6.55 Zenos and 7.0 Zenos. He is a constant. XD

@Gatsby3737

15 күн бұрын

They mentioned early on in the announcement of the graphics update that characters with unique models like Zenos would not be updated right away. NPC that are based on the character creator are the ones what got the glow up for now.

@Zakjuh

14 күн бұрын

Yup. Zenos isn't updated yet. He's a unique NPC model so they're going to manually have to update him. He's not even the most obvious example. That one goes out to Varis, who in cutscenes is standing in an updated golden Garlean Throne Room... in all his PS2 looking glory that was outdated when it was first introduced 10+ years ago. Venat, Hermes and I think Hades and Hythlodaeus also didn't get updated yet, but Athena did. Which is weird, but I think it might be because she uses a midlander face for the most part.

@alyssarasmussen1723

14 күн бұрын

@@Zakjuh hythlodaeus's eyes in the video look less bright in 7.0 if u caught it idk why

@Zakjuh

14 күн бұрын

@@alyssarasmussen1723 I think it's because they also didn't get updated. I dunno, older cutscenes are a mixed bag now. I assume they'll go back in to fix it eventually.

@nerdatello

13 күн бұрын

@@alyssarasmussen1723honestly everyone's eyes look less bright :( they took away the constant eye shine/orb and put a darker filter on the top half for a lot of races

Your glams are gorgeous. Such great work on this! Edits, music, scene choices. Loved it

Such devastation in 4K!

Came for the graphics comparison, stayed for the edit. That was a fun watch!

I currently have to stop at Stormblood, but I'll be sure to come back to see the rest of these edits, because this is some amazing work.

These look so good! Also HD PELLAA

Pella world!!! Thanks for putting together this video, from setting up and note taking for stuff like the gear you'll use, to the video editing with all those music beats! I think for the most part, the lighting and world textures really improved with Dawntrail's release. I also think the face textures really had a glow up (that Mother Miounne comparison is nuts), although I do know and understand there are people who can find differences in them that they'd like back. Also, those super dramatic, harsh light scenes aren't as striking as much as they were before, but if it's to sacrifice that so you can see your character and their expressions (especially for characters with darker skin), then I think that's fair.

@SnapCube2

15 күн бұрын

There are definitely some scenes in here that i feel like lose a bit of nice contrast with the 7.0 lighting! if I had to guess i'd assume it comes down to the lighting engine carrying ambient light and color a lot better. But many of those old dramatically lit cutscenes were created with the old system in mind so they potentially had to overcompensate on light intensity to make things visible, so the new engine takes that and renders it a bit more naturally and thus we see that extra light bouncing around and making the overall impression brighter. there are also examples where the new system ADDS contrast though so it's really an interesting case-by-case thing and you're gonna run into that when you make system-wide automatic adjustments to content thats already been created with another system in mind. i'd hope someday they go back and tune up things but i doubt it'd be worth the effort since it's extremely rare that the changes make anything look markedly WORSE.

@Zakjuh

14 күн бұрын

@@SnapCube2 I you remember the benchmark version 1 troubles with it still using the old light, or the new light but straight converted from the old version without any adjustments, I think that's what you're seeing here. New lighting and shadows might be in place, but it probably used the same old parameters directly converted from the old lighting. Which isn't going to work. So honestly... if you think a cutscene looks off or lost its dramatic flare, you should report it to them so they can take a look at it and maybe manually fix up some of the lighting. I've noticed that scenes that take place in outdoors settings that just use zone lighting are fine. Ones in instances with specific dramatic lighting are having trouble. So I assume it's not necessarily intended. Maybe an oversight, or maybe something they're working on. But it's worth letting them know.

Amazing work with this video!

Great to see this comparison showcase through plenty of key moments. Seems like everything from ARR benefited the most alongside lighting on faces in general. i assume back then they just focused on whatever lighting there was, while newer cutscenes had more hand tuned lighting per scene

Honestly, Penny, the editing here is so spectacular that if I didn't know your channel and someone said you made this officially on behalf of the devs I'd believe them. Really, just a big tizzup to you!

This was a wonderful ride You must be very proud ❤

Congrats on a job well done! These recording streams were an ordeal to be sure but very fun to be a part of this project

6:31 bees stung his eyebrows in 7.0

One thing people wont notice here but youll instantly notice in actual is the colors dont look washed out anymore

Fem Hyur got a huge upgrade.

i've noticed that some fog effects (like the ascian coming out of the portal at 1:03) aren't lit correctly. it's especially noticeable in the tempest during certain weather conditions.

@SnapCube2

14 күн бұрын

the ascian is a weird bug i noticed pretty early on yeah! hope that gets fixed

came for the comparison, stayed for pella and the music. SO GOOD!

6:31 OMG, perhaps the biggest glow-up 😂

An inspired choice to use the Yamai boss theme ~ also yeah holy shit, the new shadows and shaders do some HEAVY lifting in some new scenes. Mother Miounne looks so good, and just having softer shading on characters and environments makes just cutscenes so much better in a lot of cases

The edit is so good wtf.

If these old cutscenes already look this good, just imagine whats around the bend!

5:04 I think I like the light in this scene better before, but my god all the changes are so good!

Jesus, Penny! You went above and beyond

pella world 2 (featuring tizzup) No but for real though the new ground and face textures and lighting are so so much better. I was just finishing 6.5 when Dawntrail hit, seeing Nahbdeen ( 6:30 ) with an actually finished face blew me away

I just ADORE how well they managed to preserve the feel of the game, while making it look so much prettier, especially the lighting and ground textures were such a massive upgrade it's actually insane. Also stuff like metal and hair. Still very clear that certain old models haven't quite been update yet, but I can't wait to see to see when they are! I definitely going to be doing a proper full replay of the story eventually just to see all this firsthand.

There were some scenes where the improvement was subtle to my eyes...And then there were a few massive improvements that blew everything out of the water, like the Isometric view of Alisae where the 6.55 version looks like she's standing on low res LOD textures because the real texture hadn't loaded in yet in comparison. I think there's only one or two scenes that aren't quite an improvement, namely the ones that took advantage of the old lighting system to make something stylized like the "Who, what are you" scene, but even then it's not that they're bad, they just aren't as extreme as I'd like them to be.

I like how they gave everyone more shine but my walking corpse bro Fandaniel had his eye highlight removed, we love to see it

4:54 oh my go- THE GROUND THE FUCKING GROUND I GOT MENTAL WHIPLASH FROM THAT HOLY SHIT WHAT A GLOWUP

This is the graphical update this game really needed, very happy.

YAA TY FOR THIS

Character models look so freaking good right now and I know its just a small update out of so many to come.

I have not played past ARR, but I still watched the entire vid for the banger editing

with 7.0's added eyeshine and eye details, OG Pella is giving real 'my reaction to that information'

Yotsuyu's hair is silky smooth!

Overall it's a very good and much appreciated graphics update, but there are sure some places that where the lighting is bad and stuff looks like it does in the initial dawntrail benchmark, particularly cutscenes, wonder if they'll bother to fix em

Oh that switch between the Eden and dancer cutscenes was inspired, and reminds me that god do i need to finish the eden raids. All the raids for that matter. There are... so many

@TheKeyblader133

14 күн бұрын

Also im hoping one day the Exarch is gonna get the glowup that Aetherytes got cause GOD could you imagine. I need it. Begging on my hands and knees

6:31 from boiled hotdog to "where's my hug at?". He's still kinda ugly, but atleast he's graphically updated now, poor guy

About the only thing really apparent in the early game zones so far is the updated lighting (Which is good). here's some improved textures placement in spots too. But as the OP stated, it's a work in progress and they plan to get all zones fully updated to their new base graphics spec over time.

In Ul'Dah's cutscenes, it looks good as the lightning feels realistic, but in other cutscenes in that scene, it has some work.

The difference is both small and large. Characters seem more alive, present and in the moment. In some brief moments it looked like the old character was vacantly staring ahead, whereas the newer graphics just capture the moment more vibrantly.

Yamai theme is going hard with this one.😂

1:55 nice kick

the dragons are going to look so good when they get to heavensward graphics upgrades.

The 1:38 face, clothes and lighting differences really put things in perspective, jeez. It also looks far less washed out than it used to be, pretty much impossible to play without gshade/reshade to bring some color into the game. It was even worse when I would switch between WoW and FFXIV, WoW might be the most contrastful/colorful games ever while FFXIV's base was just... flat. Still, as great as the changes are, my biggest gripe with FFXIV was never the graphics, it was the animation engine, 1.0 ran like absolute ass but the cutscenes were fucking incredible (you can look them up on youtube, like the Gaius scene), while 2.0 and up the cutscenes sadly feel very static and VN-like, which of course hasn't changed with Dawntrail, and unless they do another soft-reset/rewrite of their graphics engine, it's not going to happen in the foreseeable future either.

KOOKY JUMPSCARE I WAS. NOTNRXPECTING THAT

god I love this game so much 😭

I love the update a lot. I just hope they go back and fix the ancients eyes not glowing as much post update. It’s really noticeable in the Hyth scene

My issues with the update is that EVERYTHING is lit up in cutscenes. It destroys the atmosphere of some of the more serious ones like the massacre at the wall. Another issue is that a lot of the colors appear washed out. House interiors are where this really shows.

when i play on pc im constantly torn if i prefer 3D settings at 99 or 100. Sure everything looks sharper at 99 for some reason but when everything looks so sharp, especially the background its also a bit jarring and the slight blurr of the 100 setting is a bit more gentle to the eyes...but the detail of the 99 setting tho

I don't know what they did to improve the face lighting and get rid of the wax-figure look but holy shit does it work!

@Firelord_Ozen

14 күн бұрын

DLSS, FSR, and more lighting fixtures and more polygon count on modes.

@SnapCube2

14 күн бұрын

@@Firelord_Ozeni don’t really think it comes down to any of that, most of the stuff you listed is completely unrelated to lighting quality. what really makes the difference when it comes to character lighting and their increased lifelike quality in this update, imo, is a combination of more subtle tech like new skin shaders and ESPECIALLY the addition of subsurface scattering. the latter being something that is so hard to point out even side-by-side anywhere except the tips of ears but for some reason your brain picks up on that subtlety and it genuinely makes a character feel more alive. add improved normal mapping (i believe?) on the faces to make the lighting behave more smoothly and you got yourself a MUCH less waxy looking character. normal mapping improvements are also why i believe a couple key characters with bespoke models (ie zenos) honestly don’t look too different right now in the new lighting. their face is still interacting with even the new lighting in a way that creates harsh contours in most environments. this is all speculation to be fair, but it’s my guess more so than something like DLSS or FSR which almost exclusively deal in resolution upscaling.

nice video, my only nitpick is the music choice. is way too..epic? LMAO it made it funnier

I'll kind of miss the baked in silhouette comic-book style lighting. The real time lighting can be too strong at times, the old could provide a unique look.

Took me until I finished the video to realize this was from Penny lol I already got weirdly used to the graphics update that I was just like "ah yeah, this is just how things have looked!" and then I see some of the faces and expressions and audibly gasp

Real winner here is Nabhdeen. LMAO. But I'm really so glad with this graphics update! Created a FemElezen alt to play through from the beginning.

My malera finally looks good

In 6.55 the characters had teeth, now they are all wearing a mouthguard.

this sounds kind of petty but the dated graphics always felt too jarring for me to get fully immersed, so it's freeing to see that there's finally an engine that can support all the amazing visual design, audio design, and music.

penny you fucking knocked it out of the park with this one

(me, watching in 720p) wow the difference is astounding !!

2:11 tizzup moment

I wonder when will we get the full graphics update, this one was the first batch, right?

@SnapCube2

11 күн бұрын

yea it’s gonna be in waves over time. like i wrote at the beginning of the video i would assume we see this update in its final form around 7.5 which should be a couple years from now, but there will be steady progress in between.

Lmao the Like a Dragon music in the video

4:54 N64 texture be gone

"tizzup"

2:11 had me cackling oh my GOD

I don't even care about the comparison it was just a really good music video haha!

5:20 Is very noticeable

3:43 Wol got even scarier, as if they are from a horror game lmao.

4:54 good lord, I never noticed how terrible ground textures really were before DT

was hoping for a dubstep drop on haurchefaunts death

5:16 bro Emet's face looks way better with the new light/shading, I never realized it was that bad Also 6.55 Mother Miounne looks so evil omg 😭

6:31 is a crazy difference

1:56 Of course

Finally, Nadbheen looks normal for once

Im so happy to see hyurs don't look like murderers now in low light environments

Not as much of an improvement as those screenshots from years ago led us to believe, but still better than nothing.

3:00 the old one kinda looks better cuz it's a small fire light. idk why they lit up the charas so much in the new ver.

ur WoL got me acting up 😅

Wow, I think you just convinced me to go female midlander. Your character looks great.