Lightning
Strikes come at random, two to four pulses each, the bolt burning through every stroke while the clouds light up from the inside around it. Most of them land where you are looking, so you see them.
Jugner Forest
Storms worth sheltering from
Weather in Vana'diel used to be a filter laid over your screen. Now it is a place: the rain falls on the world, and a thunderstorm is something you see building over the hills before it breaks.
Stand under a roof in Jugner and listen to it come down.
Rain you walk through, lightning that lights the clouds from inside, puddles that shine, snow that settles, and nights lit by the moon.
Clouds with weight
Real 3D clouds that change with the weather. When a storm rolls in the deck drops, thickens and darkens, and the light underneath goes with it.
Rain you walk through
Raindrops are fixed in the world, so you walk through them instead of them following your camera. They splash on the ground, hang in grey veils in the distance and stop under a roof.
Wet ground and puddles
Stone darkens in the rain, and puddles gather in the low places and reflect the sky.
And there is more
Snow that settles
In Beaucedine the snow settles on the flat ground and slides off the steep, while more falls through the air around you.
Sandstorms and heat
Blowing sand across the deserts, shimmer over hot ground, and motes of light drifting in the air.
Shadows that read the sky
Sun shadows soften as the clouds close in and nearly vanish in a thunderstorm, and come back sharp when the sun breaks through.
Moonlit nights
From dusk to dawn the world is lit by the moon from above, cool and silver, instead of a dim second sun.
See it for yourself
Make an account in two minutes, install the launcher, and walk out of the gates of your home nation again.