FFXIV Old graphics and new updated graphics comparison. (PS5) (A few Ilberd related cutscenes ) 

Those putting down comments about "Put your character lighting slider to 0, you idiot!" Character Lighting slider is for your personal WoL only. (It even says so in the game next to the slider.) EDIT: (disproven! It works for me OUTSIDE of the cutscene for all characters, yet inside the cutscene it doesn't do much of anything. You can attack me for this all you want, but it doesn't change that simple fact. I have done everything I personally can to check. Mine has always been on 0 since I started the game, and I carefully checked it when I started DT. (Since most tips are: you should slide to 0)Thanks for the tips, but sadly that is not what causes the issue in my case. EDIT: I've just rewatched a scene with slider on 100, then turned to 0. It didn't do much change, if anything. Might want to upload that kind of video later once I've progressed more of DT ^^7 Thanks most folk for being so open and putting down feedback. and my overall apologies for trying to prove the previous edit was true. The game has been something I have been trusting for years, and after MSQ grind I could finally use the slide myself, therefore concluding that it WORKS for me outside of cutscenes but doesn't seem to do much in the old cutscenes. To think a mere passion project would arise such confusion and debate, also from my end and claims, I can only own up to it and apologise for the character lighting issue! Sorry for a late edit on this as well, I too am trying to enjoy Dawntrail in its new glory, and I cannot check everything on a whim. So again my apologies for everything ^^7

It's like someone attached a lightbulb to the cameras

The most jarring thing about this video was being reminded of Ilberd’s old voice lol

Scene still gives me fear of Raubahn. The Bull of Ala Mhigo KICKED a segment out of a solid meter-thick stone support column.

In some ways the new lighting definitely helps in the more "well lit" areas like in the throne room, but in the darker areas, ie. Ilberd / Alphinaud moment, it causes the impact of the shadows to be lost, which actually wind up taking away from the scene and character expressions. Makes you wonder if they went through each of these scenes one by one or if it was just a global setting they turned on and it's not properly balanced with every scene.

I never noticed the symbolism of the red wine bottle falling over... What a clever little touch.

Its both better and worse. The more toned down colours and shadows worked for some of the scenes better, but the added details and better overall lighting do help in their own way.

Thank you for making this video! It's neat to see how the graphical update changed some of the old quest cutscenes. Hopefully they get around to fixing the old quest cutscenes to make the new graphics match to the old graphic's style.

Any remaster: Number 1 set brightness to full! Aye captain

I think the problem here is the same as the first benchmark, the light in the cutscenes is different from the light in the world, and with the updates of how models react to light it doesn't work anymore I hope they go back and fine tune old cutscenes to better suit the mood

Obviously looks better but the original was planned out with the original lighting so when they take artistic liberty it doesn't translate as well with the new lighting. The darkness of the original works slightly better with the red rage Robahn lighting. But this is a minor gripe.

The lighting makes some scenes better, and some scenes worse.

While some scenes are definitely too bright, the new lighting enhanced almost all of Raubahn's facial expressions. Surprisingly, Kan-E-Senna's reaction looked great due to the cast shadow of her staff. But yeah, I think dialing the brightness down a bit and making it warmer to match the lights in the background would help the banquet scene a lot.

Teledji deserved a lot more than what he got

I know that this is a comparison between pre-DT and post-DT cutscenes. But can we just take a moment to appreciate Ilberd's speech at 16:10. This is SUCH a good speech with such a spectacular delivery! Thanks for reminding me of it.

Old version had very good lighting placement and knew what colors matched the atmosphere. If they kept that and dimmed the focus light on the new one, then the updated one would’ve been peak.

More than anything, this makes me miss pre-Endwalker MSQ. Loved the darker, more visceral writing and directing.

Love that you took the time to do this!!! Thank you! Now we gotta wait the next waves of Upgrades to get an even better side by side.

The biggest lighting problem of the update is that sometimes it seems the lighting source seems to be irrelevant on how the actors will get illuminated. I have the endwalker paladin armor, and the brightness seems to follow the camera rather than the environment. I hope this can be tweaked in the future, the same way the benchmark odd lighting was tweaked.

I'm actually a huge fan of the increased ambient lighting, especially in darker lit environments. I prefer to see the detail of the scene. Agreed there should be a toggle for people who want the original lighting though

The reflections of light in the world and the resolutions of details like hair are a vast improvement. But I am a bit disappointed in the light on characters. For example when you look at the discussion between Alphinaud and Ilberd (after 17:30) in a dark night scene, the new makes it look like they're literally standing in a spotlight. Too bright and not much shadows left defining the face (even if it sometimes was a bit too much previously). Or Yda (at 18:19), the old makes more sense to me there. If they'd find the middle way on shadows and turn down the character brightness a bit, it'd be perfect.

Ending on the squelch noise was a great idea, haha.

Such a good story line that part had me on the edge of my seat

I miss Ilberd so much he was a great villain

What’s weird is the character lighting is too bright in some scenes, and then appropriate in others. Have to imagine that’s not intended and they just need to tweak some settings.

Everything is great except of the brightness and color of the light. It doesn't match the room they're in. The light should be dimmer and yellowish like the old one.

Ohh I bet this scene must look great. It was some of the best animations of ARR as is.

Teledji still looks like a giant number 2.

Honestly watching this for the most part i like the old better. the new lightning gives good shadows and some better effects on some objects, however on characters it makes them look like clay and with the lighting on characters and objects it looks like there is a spot light on them which makes no sense for a room lit by torch light. its way to intense for an indoor scene. The scene in the chambers makes it feel more ominous with the darker shade

Damn forgot Ilberd used to be voiced by Raiden from MK

Hopefully they’ll fix the shading, though I like how it’s a tad brighter

at 13:00 when you see her run closer the red illumination of the mech can be seen but in the new one its barely there

I appreciate you taking the time to make/upload this!!! Question, SOME of the skin textures and such are updated due to automatic updates for NPC's that were made using character creator assets, however a lot is still OLD NON-UPDATED but all scenes have automatic improved lighting correct? Also the royal chambers scene is updated scenery wise I know but not the characters/clothes, etc.? Hopefully since some of it still looks poor and should be updated in time as the devs continue to expand the graphics update to all FF14 content.

Thanks for this vid! Seeing the differences is dope!

I kinda wish they'd rework the lighting to bring back that darker aesthetic back, the higher saturation kinda ruins the tone

Who tf forcefully increased my in game brightness??

a few of the older cutscenes need a little re adjusting I think, some of them feel a little worse without the heavier shadows, but overall definitely a net positive

I really dont like how everybody is well lit. Loses alot of cinematic feel because it feels produced, doesn't feel real

Old looks better it's like all of these characters are placed outside on a sunny day.

It's far too white of a light imo. Works in some scenes and looks like you're pointing a flashlight at the characters in others

When I play, it's not just a "turning on a lightbulb" that changes it, but there's also a burring effect to surroundings. (I also love the more details to the faces because now I see wrinkles/crow's feet in my character's eyes)

Old lighting was bis in cut scenes, they really enhanced characters expressions that the facial rigging lacks. New lighting takes so much expression out of their face and eyes.

I miss the old graphics already

Man, they just need to reduce that spotlight by like 50%. Edit: They removed all the shadows. I knew something was missing. That's what was so jarring.

10:31 hurts, the face is much more detailed in the old version, this feels like FFX Remaster all over again.

It cuts of the title on phone and i hoped it said "A few Illberts were hurt in the making of this". Alas!

Do more of these! Especially from more recent expansions

amazing to see the differences! I feel like the character lighting is too high in some instances, like the setting is dark but the NPCs are like giant lightbulbs. I know thats not your fault, thats just the new system.

Wait I get the graphics are more flushed out but the ligbting?....hiw are the models still lit up like spot lights in a dark of nigbt...even spot lights can't cast that much on all sides

Characters might seem a little too bright but overall a huge upgrade. All the new shadows casted from the characters is very noticeable

I also discovered that all that flat lighting appears in housing too. I usually switch the ceiling light off and worked with indirect light behind objects and stuff to create some atmosphere. The atmosphere in my house is all gone now, cause everything is lit flat. But sometimes you just want dark rooms with spotlights. And all that ambient light that is everywhere all the same, just kills it and let it look worse, like cheap plastic. So that basically is why graphic updates can look worse than the original sadly. The atmosphere is killed. Later this cutscene again works quite well, with the golden elements in the background and natural shadows that wasnt there before. But the flat lighting in the beginning is terrible 😅

The lighting they added kind of feels wrong for how dark the scenes are.

Old looks so much better and it’s not even close. Reminds me of HXH 1999 and it’s VASTLY superior chrollo fight compared to the 2011 version.

the lighting on updated graphics completely kills the dramatic effect :(

All this time i thought my tv had a darker hue

The old ones feel more atmospheric, but with the new at least darker characters don’t dissolve into dark scenes lmao

Ilberd: slo-wait, it's peak!?😲

No i'm not a fan. The lighting seem off somehow in the new one.

Looks good

Improved lighting..... Not surprised in the slightest

The lighting works great for all the parts that should be shiny, like the gold detailing on the walls in some parts of the palace, but wow does it make the characters look worse.

God I need to do bozja again now!

Part of me misses the distinct tufts and strands of hair in the old graphics. Everything looks way too smoothed out and lacks any character that the old version did. The lighting is much better, but at the cost of some of the actual stylization of some things, I don't think it was worth it.

Graphical update aside, I miss old ffxiv narrative. People getting cut in half, losing a limb, sacrificing themselves and so on.

I play one a brail monitor and since the graphics update the bumps are smoother and more defined

That scene alone is better and more watchable than the whole tuliliola story

Hair looks way better in the old version

Soo they turned the gamma up on the characters??

the lighting is so much better now, it's not just a smudge of color mixing with eachother, you can see emotion and face clearly now. some of the scene lose or gain more emotion depending on the version, but the new one make it easier to see what's going on. old you can't see shit lol. but the lighting being this high in some scene dont make sense, probably an oversight from the team with the new lighting, jsut like in housing right now.

Don't like how everything seems to look brigther, with less contrast. Hope thats just related to your settings. Else this would be a pretty major downgrade.

11:32 Is that Sera's VA from DAI? Or am I just hearing things?

The lighting and shadows do a ton of heavy lifting to make the game look a ton better

I like how instead of being like: "Am from Alamihgoh, nor body's listenin to mi pleas, let's frame the hero for murder of the Sultana, how we do this? We climb the ranks o' the new armi that lickle Alphinaud is buildin, an when we're in the veritable position to speak abourt crea'in a resistant group ta elp Alahmigo, we strike and get rid of the people who would be most willing to elp with our cause." And then when he didn't get his way, he set about causing a Calamity.

9:59 "You will now play as Raubahn". Fucking IMAGINE if this was a thing back then.

this is madnass ...THIS IS ULLDAAA

have you checked your gamma settings? and the character lighting setting? seems way to high imo, i had to turn my gamma down immensely with the new update for the X symbol to disappear

I kept replaying teledji’s death multiple times…sorry.

The main issue is the brightness on models. It seems like now they can't cast shadows on faces or characters nearly as effectively, which is a huge downgrade. It's nice to see REAL SHADOWS appear in interiors though, and materials, especially metals, look way better. But the scene at 15:00 is a great example of how the overall brightness of the update ruins some scenes.

The details on the stone at 1:37 have been broken... also... Dark spirit Raubahn has invaded you.

The old one that felt better was when Raubahn roars at Illberd imo. Really a big fan of the shadow and red contrast in the OG 8:41

i liked the warm yellow lightinf though

Makes me think of old 80s TV Star Trek TNG Season 1 lighting. Lighting on characters that don't exist in world, and sometimes good, and sometimes off.

this will take time to adjust, got so used to the older version, the new version just seem too weird. it is almost like watching 1990 anime (old FF14) to 2015 anime (new FF14). the problem now is tooooooo much lighting. even parts of the story were you need to dark lighting to reflect the dark/devilish characters. afraid to replay shadowbridge with all this new lighting. going try moding the shadows back to old version, than the character faces.

great graphics btw

The details are great and there is proper shadowing, but the characters can look overly too bright in other scenes. It's hard to pick which one looks better solely from this whole sequence alone, though i do slightly prefer the new graphics.

i cant wait to see ser ameryc

Can anyone give me advice on how to login into. My account if I lost my one-time password 😅

Illberd was a top tier villain.

This isn't a criticism of your video at all but it's crazy how much quality the video compression takes out of FFXIV's graphics update. I kind of feel bad for Square-Enix, it's a hard thing to showcase without actually running the game. The upgrade here looks much less impressive than it does in game.

Character Lighting slider if for all npcs, if yall are complaining about how the people face are lit up like what you are seeing here, you need to crack down your character lighting down. Alot of people have their on at 100, and that causes people faces to look like what you see above.

Honestly still the best scenes in game

6:13 & 6:26 Never fail to make me laugh out loud! 😂

Also, please keep in mind the textures in old areas HAVE NOT been updated yet. You'll want to redo this video once the ARR areas have been given updated textures.

I think the character lighting is turned up a little

The red lighting on Raubahn is better in the original imo. But some shots do look better. Lolorito at 5:35 for example is perfectly lit for an accusation like that.

the shadowbringer seems to have been defeated with the new graphic XD

It's very hit and miss, the lighting is definitely going to need some continuous touchups

Man.. I miss Yda :c Shame we never got an expansion to her character.

People are only talking about the lighting but no one is talking about how much stronger the expression work is. Compared to the new faces, the old ones look more like gmod

They are the same someone just turned up your brightness 😅