Dawntrail Graphical Update - Au Ra Feedback

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Originally Posted by AdairKiba

I've not ever used the forums before but am so distraught I don't know what else to do. My character looks so different, his eyes look mean now and there's no life in them anymore. They're dull. And the lips, I was able to mostly fix the color by swapping to the lighter lip color, but they're matte now instead of glossy. And like a lot of other people's WoL's his skin is noticeably lighter than before, though I struggled to show it in the character creator without getting shadows across his face.

My character is as kind-looking as I was able to make him while keeping a thin face, his personality is optimistic, gentle, and friendly. His face doesn't reflect that at all anymore.

He feels like looking at a completely different person, nothing like how I wanted him to be when I made him. I'm devastated.

https://imgur.com/a/bh1z9jAhttps://imgur.com/a/bh1z9jA
I hope the picture uploads correctly, I'm sorry if it doesn't. :(

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My character is very much the same as yours and I can't comprehend what they've done to him.

I really hope they can fix or revert it.

Pretty unhappy with the lips change. They've lost all their character imo. Old on top, new on bottom.

https://i.imgur.com/lue8uwv.pnghttps://i.imgur.com/hdxtIvQ.png

Overall, I'm happier with my Au Ra's update than I am my Lalafell's, but I do have a couple issues that I hope are addressed.

https://i.imgur.com/pa8RjFu.png

Positive, first: his horns look amazing (including the little ones that come with this hairstyle), I appreciate the smoother transition between the limbal rings and the iris, and I LOVE that I can get a darker color on his lips.

...but WOW, those lips are flat and dry! I'm sorely missing the shine on his bottom lip - it gave him a softer appearance that contrasted nicely with the rest of his angles, made him appear more lifelike. Also, like many others have pointed out, the sharp artifacts around the scales are a nuisance - optimistic those will get smoothed out, at least.

I am SO SO happy with the changes, it actually feels like I have a nose in most lighting conditions now instead of just some angles, I also like the 'dead' look from not having a catchlight
The mild skin shine makes it look more alive instead of playdough
I do wish they fixed the lips though, we need more shine

Thank you SE !
https://i.imgur.com/eAKp0CN.png https://i.imgur.com/2CCplS3.png

This is my first time ever posting on the forums. never wanted/cared to in the past, its not usually my thing.

but i had to come here to add my poor baby to the pile of failed 'upgraded' characters... i've been playing Solana for a long time. she's deeply personal to me, and i've never wanted to fantasia her even once- never even considered it.

she looks like an entirely different person, like someone made a bad doll or cosplay of her

https://images-wixmp-ed30a86b8c4ca88...tXtlVjytGMWZG4
Heres a close up headshot of her in game right now...

https://images-wixmp-ed30a86b8c4ca88...3kKWEiC9DhWvBA
and heres her benchmark,,

I literally have no words- who is this??
i also tried my best to edit her to return any hint of her personality and face shape at all, and the best i got was this
https://images-wixmp-ed30a86b8c4ca88...5Pm9o-nzdVteZA

its still not her. and at this rate, it'll never be able to be her. i'm genuinely devastated.

I'm *mostly* Okay with the changes so far Ive seen to Au Ra. (Haven't played around too much.)
That said... Two things Ive noticed.

1) The Lips in Female Au Ra - Face 4 - Mouth 2 is very different in shape.
2) The Idle eyes are not staring at the same distance? She seems to be staring at something much further away. It kinda reminds me of a friend of mine who has a lazy eye. - In the benchmark it's self this wasn't noticeable though.

(Image link comparison because the forums don't support GifV apparently)

https://i.imgur.com/u0eUXqv.png

This is also something I never really thought about before but...
Are Au Ra scales not meant to be Reptilian? Looking at them now they look more like... Fish scales?
... Which kinda makes all the sense in the world given Face 2, and Tail 4 both looking Sea serpent esk, but I never thought of them that way.

Not much of a forum poster, apologies if my post is not formatted well!

I'm mostly happy with the way the horn and scale textures look, the biggest issue for me is the strange artifacting on the edges of some parts of face scales (mostly in my boy's nose bridge scales, though I've seen other face's face scales with the extras being pixelated this way)

Dawntrail benchmark on left, current game on right

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachmen...31d0d72204d1d& https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachmen...022524f731c11&

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachmen...42a03e9b28969&

Not sure if this is on other faces, but on face 4 there are slight inconsistencies with texture resolution (the cheek scales are noticeably blurrier compared to the chin), though it might just seem more jarring because the horn textures are much higher rez than the rest of it. Not too noticeable at a distance, but hoping they at least address the edge artifacting issues a lot of folks are also having.

I'm mostly fine with the changes. Pupils being larger does make some uncanny changes depending on your character though. Lip gloss being removed is kinda wack but I feel like they can possibly add that later on if they get enough feedback.

Still feels like my character looking at her go through the benchmark.

https://i.imgur.com/VvdMmbV.png

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Originally Posted by Glyphs

I also want to chip in with my comparisons and feedback... I wasn't happy, and upon seeing other people's before & afters with both Au Ra and non-Au Ra, it does feel like Au Ra have some of the bigger aesthetic changes.

Before vs. After

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GLISmp-XgAAPOOK?format=png

Main things are the eyes and mouth. The iris is smaller, but the pupil much larger, and this just gives a very different vibe and feeling... the upper lid "eyeliner" option is also far less pronounced, which makes the eye shape itself also look a lot different. The combination of them all just looks so different, it feels silly but I have to admit I feel a little upset seeing it :(

With the mouth, on everyone's, it feels to me like a) the mouth shapes themselves are more homogenised between face types - my face 1 Au Ra almost looks like she has a face 2 mouth now, and I've seen face 2 Au Ra have lost the definition on theirs - Turethir's post above is a good example of this - and b) the no lip colour option has far harsher/darker colours. No lip colour mouths had a much softer colour and gradient before, but now it almost looks like my WoL is wearing lipstick. The combination of these two, like the eyes, gives a very different feeling. I could probably make peace with one or the other, but the combination...

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Dude
What they have done to the only good face (1) for Fem Au Ra?
Those lips looks awful, like they turned off lighting - 100.

Issues I have with my FemRa:

• The lips are the biggest issue I have with the new update, I chose Lips 3 because they're the thinnest and most wide of FemRa Face 2 and now they look as narrow as the four other options. The lack of lip gloss is also definitely felt. :<
• The Scales are quite ivory. The horns are pretty much on point, but there is a white/gray highlight and coloring on the new scales that make them feel much colder. I don't dislike the new white ones, but I wish it was an option between white-ivory or white-beige!
• Quickly shifting between images, the eye shape looks like the exact same but there's a slight difference with the eye lashes where the 6.58 version were better defined (see the individual eyelash) whereas the benchmark version is faded and less defined which changes the look of her eyes just a tad.
• Not a huuuge fan of the new eyebrows, there's a weird darker line around the exterior of them instead of fading into the skin like normal eyebrows would look like.

https://lds-img.finalfantasyxiv.com/...9f7c66a535.jpg

Overall though, the lips are my biggest and most pressing issue, the lack of gloss, the different narrower shape makes me not recognize my character and I very much hope it will be addressed before DT comes out!

I do love the new hair textures and horns, those look amazing, and I'm sure the eyes will look even better during cutscenes and places where we can properly see the catchlights. Can't wait to be able to see my FemRa in action! :3