Old vs New Dawntrail Benchmark Trailer Comparison | FFXIV

I needed to do this for myself because without it the Benchmark literally looked the same to me LOL. I figured since I was doing it for me anyway, I might as well just post it. Also idk what's with the volume, I have reuploaded this like 5x trying to make the volume quieter and for whatever reason it always sounds the same even though it sounds quieter if I open it with a video player on my PC so I really don't know what is going on... I am sorry for blowing out your speakers QQ
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[@FutayuriShironeko]

I prefer old shading for environments and new shading for character models.

[@rajann96]

THIS!!!!

[@dawnnexus5966]

You should submit this then. They're still waiting for feedback.

[@FutayuriShironeko]

Think I didn't? But for anything to happen it would prob need large majority, not 20 people.

[@shybard]

The lighting/shading has definitely changed.

[@idno4856]

Changed for sure. But do you find it better or worse? It feels like a mixed bag to me.

[@jqkm2420]

@@idno4856 They reduced the lighting intensity and added some slight fog, you kinda understand why at 3:33 with the shadows highlighting faces' traits way too much. While I personally like it when the colours are extra vibrant, it feels more natural and less jarring in some camera angles with 1.1. They clearly put a lot of thought and work into it.

[@AnaHeartbeat]

I thought they looked slightly different but didn't know exactly why so this really helps. I stand corrected, I did not think they could pull all this off in so little time but Im really happy with the changes. I hope you are happier with your WOL as well

[@Cranefluff]

0:21 is the only part that matters tbh. the rest was just brighter with a bit of fog

[@INeosIRex]

uuuh the characters look better but holy everything else looks worse...

[@akaiYaMa9]

Well the character creator looks 100% better now but now the actual in game looks grey and washed out like it always has. We took a step forward with the character creator and a step back with every other part of the game lol but who knows, the character creator looks so much better on my own PC then it does on YT so maybe the same is true ingame.

[@Aitherea]

I felt the same. The shading got a bit bleached and I think the warmer tone suited it better. They just needed to fix the parts that showed our char's faces (which they did, those parts are improved), but I think the coloring for the rest of it was fine.

[@akaiYaMa9]

@@Aitherea the good thing is if the washed out look is the only issue then people can just use Nvidia gamefilter (alt + z) or AMD's equivalent and just change the tone without the need to use 3rd party. They fixed the lighting and remapped the characters which was the biggest problems that required mods to fix. Thanks for the vid!

[@dudarrc]

I like the overall changes but they really did something weird to female Au Ras. Idk my character just looks a whole another character, it doesn't feel like her anymore... seriously considering using that fantasia to switch races. They changed their cheekbones and eyes shape too much.

[@idno4856]

I was hoping to hear her thoughts... But, while I feel like her character perhaps looks better, a lot of scenes in the new version seemed washed out to me. Idk. I hope she does a discussion with video of her character in character creation like last time.

[@Aitherea]

DW that video is upcoming xD

[@idno4856]

@@Aitherea Awesome! I'll be anticipating it

[@IKIGAIofficial]

thank you for giving us our sparkly eyes.

[@Naoto-kun1085]

Your character looks gorgeous in the benchmark!!!

[@CogniVision]

The old is better. The new is just fog and desaturation. The game looks no better than it currently looks, no depth. 0:22 - This is probably what many didn't like, the new shot here may be aesthetically pleasing for many with the character's face more lit up for this shot specifically, but the old is superior. Old has far more accurate shadow details than the new. Even the hair bang is casting a shadow on her face, which it is not doing in the new one. They reduced shadow details to brighten up this shot, if only they did it just for this shot or did something more intelligent since it's a cutscene, such as using a light in front of the character for this scene rather than reduce the overall graphics. 1:26 - Character is far more vivid on old. Especially the lip color. 1:09 - Fog filter desaturating the environment, making it more grey and bland. 2:12 - Look at how much color and detail is lost with the environment as she runs by with the chocobo. It's so greyed out, and the fog hides so much detail in the background. The old one is far more lush, with more depth. 3:07 - a minor difference, but still very obvious. The large creature and the red outfit are the most obvious how the colors have been leveled out. New is a graphical downgrade. They quite literally reduced the detail of shadows, added fog, and desaturated everything like someone opening a picture in photoshop and adjusting the levels slider until all the contrast was gone.

[@rajann96]

The world looks so much Vibrant & Real in the old benchmark but the character in the new benchmark is Superior! They should take the best of both & implement it in the final product!

[@TheJamation]

The character lighting looks better in the new version, but it also makes a lot of the environments look washed out now/not as vibrant. Almost prefer the look of the old version because I'll be looking at the environment more than my own character and if I want a screenshot all I have to do is GPose since I can adjust the lighting myself anyways. Thank you for the side by side!

[@Marcus-rx105]

The eyes dont look soulless anymore. I definitely like the environment better now because it looks more like a jungle. Its supposed to be hot and humid.

[@MyndZero]

I feel like they up'd the contrast to make it more greyish with the new benchmark... why they wanted to wash our their colors again is beyond me but at least that's an easy fix in the game.

[@ishirutaekakura308]

I don't even think much of the actually trailer changed, it was mainly everything in the character creation part.

[@ligmasphere901]

Old one is better. All they did was turn up brightness and gamma 🤣. Reshade honestly does it better.

[@Phoenix-rj8ou]

The old one still looks better.

[@brutalwang4106]

Oh dear. Old looks better. Theyve taken all the depth and blacks out of it :(

[@brutalwang4106]

Oh dear. Old looks better. Theyve taken all the depth and blacks out of it :(

[@brutalwang4106]

Oh dear. Old looks better. Theyve taken all the depth and blacks out of it :(

[@leify230]

i actually really like the lighting in the new environments!! the atmospheric “fog” makes it look much more realistic. the old lighting had an even saturation for every layer and you kind of get lost and cannot tell the depth of the landscape.

[@leify230]

for example, at 1:07. in real life, you would not be able to see things in such detail so far away (referencing the old benchmark). i do however see how they’ve lessened the saturation for the foreground, so maybe given the criticisms, they’ll update the lighting to a happy medium!

[@War_Hunter]

The new benchmark looks and are really bad

[@ReidusQuitzed]

basically changed or added a filter?

[@ReidusQuitzed]

the old one looks better

[@smellybearc7411]

Graphics don’t matter to me that much. What I was hoping for, however, was more screen shakes and less blurring effects when I use certain skills. What’s the point of a graphics update if you can’t even tell what your character is doing?

[@alexanderkraev6331]

Face 3 femra here. Benchmark - bad. >:(

[@alexanderkraev6331]

Nice idea with comparison tho.

[@theamericanaromantic]

Looks MUCH better

[@fallow84]

this is ironically the most helpful video you've made, the benchmarks looked mostly the same to me but it's nice to see my suspicions that the OG really did have a weird burnt orange filter applied to like everything, and it's gone in the new one.

[@RyuNoZero]

what are those Viper Weapons??

[@Phoenix-rj8ou]

Maybe dual/Deadpool blade

[@Aitherea]

@@Phoenix-rj8ou I have no idea, I just put her in the flame elites outfit cuz i liked the skirt xD I think the weapon skin changes based on which glam you choose but i dont know for sure.

[@RyuNoZero]

@@Aitherea flames elite?? Uhh that gives me an Idea ^^

[@RyuNoZero]

@@Phoenix-rj8ou nah Deadpool has Dual Katana, those aren't Katanas^^

[@Phoenix-rj8ou]

@@RyuNoZero yes. The weapon she is using low level paladin sword. I just don't know the name.

[@RicardoSantos-oz3uj]

The only thing I see changed from the previous one is that the vignette (transparent rectangle that darkens the edges) is no longer there. And thus it looks more vivid. And is probably faster, as there is nothing that slow things down more in a card than having something translucent covering the whole screen (the card has to write each pixel twice). Which would explain why the benchmark gave me a better number this time around. One thing I notice is that the lips are less glossy. They need settings for glossiness. Specially on the lips. My character looks mostly ok except for the lips. My character lips look like someone bashed her face on the ground and then used grinding paper on them. They look dry and bruised.

[@pkmnswampmaster]

Here's my comparison. Old benchmark: You computer sucks lmao. New benchmark: You computer still sucks, but look how everything looks now. (pls upgrade)

[@simonkristensson3077]

actual game play still looks li´ke ps2 though

[@CourtJustCourt]

Square Enix should be absolutely embarassed for trying to convince people that their is an improvement and you would have to be a total fanboi to think their is. This is no different than the "3d audio" crap they tried to SELL to us. Award for biggest game industry hustlers definitely goes to SE.