Sonomaa on Limit Break Radio about the Dupe Bannings

[Okan]

I thought you had better tastes... The BLM and WHM ones were okay, but the rest? D:

[Correction]

All thoroughly impressive, even those which are deliberate improvements over SE's existing art. And that's just a small selection.

Dude likes him some dudes with skirts. Must be funny watching that .dat mod ride chocobos.

'improvement' is subjective. He's got terrible color sense and the BLM hats are laughably big.

[ringthree]

If you think SE consistently does better, you mustn't look at a lot of DATs. Granted, most of them are absolutely hideous, but the ability to DAT swap is part of the reason I still play this game. Aesthetics are indeed that important to me, but then again, I generally dislike Square-Enix's artwork (although FFXI is largely a welcome exception, since it actually looks more fantastical and involves few belts and leather jackets).

Here's some Elvaan male examples, which are mostly done by the impressive pixelpop.

BLM AF: o.O.o Final Fantasy XI Dats o.O.o - EM blm af 1

BLM Relic Armor: o.O.o Final Fantasy XI Dats o.O.o - EM blm af 2

SCH AF: o.O.o Final Fantasy XI Dats o.O.o - EM sch af1

WHM AF: o.O.o Final Fantasy XI Dats o.O.o - EM whm af2

SAM: o.O.o Final Fantasy XI Dats o.O.o - _Water_Serpent_-_Oni_Armor

DRK (don't use this one personally, but): o.O.o Final Fantasy XI Dats o.O.o - Phantasmagoria

BST: o.O.o Final Fantasy XI Dats o.O.o - Savage Beastmaster Set

All thoroughly impressive, even those which are deliberate improvements over SE's existing art. And that's just a small selection.

They are very nice as a point of interest, but they don't blend well with the aesthetic of the game in my opinion.

[Kohan]

They are very nice as a point of interest, but they don't blend well with the aesthetic of the game in my opinion.

The robes don't? The DRK AF, which resembles kindred stylings brought to a more modern resolution and height of detail, don't? What about the fact that the BST AF uses existing textures from within FFXI (animal skins)?

Aside from that, what these DATs demonstrate is that FFXI has incredible upgradable potential, which is why I'd certainly love to see an official DAT pack. Determined PS2 users will continue playing on their systems regardless (for some reason), while PC users can enjoy a DAT update that makes the game nearly good as new.

Even as it is, it already looks far better than the reigning king of the MMO space -- unless you can't resist vibrant shiny colors -- so this isn't a stretch.

[Kerberoz]

The robes look pretty bad, tbh. Textures are stretched and I'm assuming the skeleton weights aren't set correctly and they clip like hell.

The body's pretty crap as I'm really noob with textures, but here's 1024* res blm relic:
o.O.o Final Fantasy XI Dats o.O.o - Sorcerer's Attire +1
Sword I think works pretty well with the rest of the game:
o.O.o Final Fantasy XI Dats o.O.o - Holy Win
And random shit, most are just joking around with VRS:
http://ffxidats.com/users.php?m=details&id=3643

It'd definitely be possible to make nice hi-res reskins if you had some decent texture specialists. Too bad we can't do things like separate enkidu from coral gear, though.

[Thiefami]

The robes look pretty bad, tbh. Textures are stretched and I'm assuming the skeleton weights aren't set correctly and they clip like hell.

The body's pretty crap as I'm really noob with textures, but here's 1024* res blm relic:
o.O.o Final Fantasy XI Dats o.O.o - Sorcerer's Attire +1
Sword I think works pretty well with the rest of the game:
o.O.o Final Fantasy XI Dats o.O.o - Holy Win
And random shit, most are just joking around with VRS:
http://ffxidats.com/users.php?m=details&id=3643

It'd definitely be possible to make nice hi-res reskins if you had some decent texture specialists. Too bad we can't do things like separate enkidu from coral gear, though.

o_o;

[Kohan]

The robes look pretty bad, tbh. Textures are stretched and I'm assuming the skeleton weights aren't set correctly and they clip like hell.

The body's pretty crap as I'm really noob with textures, but here's 1024* res blm relic:
o.O.o Final Fantasy XI Dats o.O.o - Sorcerer's Attire +1

This is just a matter of opinion, but these are the sort of DAT mods I don't personally like. I understand what you said about the textures issue, somewhat, as the textures look rather out of place and unnatural. That's simply on the model itself, but in-game, they look a bit more awkward.

For another example, I enjoy some of Mytoy's work, but this I don't: o.O.o Final Fantasy XI Dats o.O.o - [HQ] Tarutaru Red Mage +1

The textures on their own are nice, but in FFXI they're just odd and out of place. The use is weird too, as the hat looks like the textures were just thrown onto it without any care for actual realistic appearance, and the shoulder guards are far too busy, but the body is otherwise fine.

Going HQ for the sake of stuffing an incredible amount of detail can sometimes be a mistake, as there is beauty in simplicity. This is why I personally like pixelpop's work more, for example. He has also made some rather extravagant armors, but they're never a sensory overload like Mytoy's.

Sword I think works pretty well with the rest of the game:
o.O.o Final Fantasy XI Dats o.O.o - Holy Win
And random shit, most are just joking around with VRS:
http://ffxidats.com/users.php?m=details&id=3643

It'd definitely be possible to make nice hi-res reskins if you had some decent texture specialists. Too bad we can't do things like separate enkidu from coral gear, though.

If I had the money to throw around, I'd definitely hire someone to do it. Oh, if only one of those bastards spending thousands of dollars on characters would pay someone to make the game look better...