One of the big selling points of Final Fantasy 14: Dawntrail, which just launched in Early Access this morning, is the graphical overhaul with 7.0. As Mollie Taylor, another PC Gamer writer, noted during the media tour, the "little subtle tweaks throughout" make for something truly stunning.

Rather than log in today and chew over the new Main Scenario Quest line (MSQ), I decided to go ahead and visit a ton of old zones to see how different they are at the new dawn.

As a player, I don't care much about textures (although they look much better) or numerical fidelity, but lighting tends to bother me. Historically, the quality of lighting in Final Fantasy 14 has been somewhat poor.

Gshade, a mod that allows players to create presets, was very popular for this reason, and its death due to the inclusion of inexplicable security measures that amounted to malware caused great drama in the community.

Now, I am happy to report that things have improved considerably. Interestingly, the game looks beautiful in the sunshine, but it is only in the moody weather and times of dark nights, thick fog, and ferocious snowstorms that Square Enix really shows what it is capable of. [For example, in "Ondo Cups," the deep-sea landscape is covered by thick clouds, and the improved rendering distance allows the viewer to peek through the fog to the fake city of Amaulot.

The overhaul has improved the look of previous expansions so much that I would love to see it all in another alto. Ishgard now feels appropriately chilly, and Kugane's kaleidoscopic colors are actually, well, visible without third-party tools.

All in all, Square did a very commendable job. Final Fantasy 14, aside from the controversial grapes (which I checked out earlier and unfortunately had no extra polygons), never looked unpleasantly bad, but it is still in dire need of a facelift, and a complete makeover is now well and truly received. I can't wait to get stuck into the game's new main story quest and see how Square will further weaponize its shiny new toy.