Dawntrail character graphics update - opinions, requests and discussion megathread

I was grumbling looking at the eyes on one of my characters.
One of my Hrothgar looks like it's just checked out.

But then I noticed no matter what settings I changed, the game just looked wrong.

Then I realized. Glare (Bloom lighting) is forced on.
I appreciate that glowy lights make the game pretty..
But now it hurts my eyes to play. I can't even hang out in the gold saucer.

So my characters have wonky looking eyes and mine feel wonky from trying to play them.

Sub cancelled. Ridiculous changes. I hope they actually look at the forums and do something about this.

Opened up all my portraits and Elezens' eyes are extremely dark. Since we only have 2 sources of light, it's impossible to brighten the eyes. Please do something about it Square Enix...

6.5
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GRZncUEb...pg&name=medium

7.0
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GRZndQWb...pg&name=medium

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Doopliss

I have that same exact hairstyle on my Seawolf alt and the issue is the same as yours. It seems like the lighting and color issues are specific to certain hairstyles for some reason. That particular hairstyle now looks even flatter with lighter colors, too, because it hardly has any shadows anymore.

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Yep, there's something seriously wrong with hair shading in general, see my earlier post:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by MaxL

I think I found out why hair shading seems so inconsistent from place to place. You can easily reproduce this using GPose.

https://i.imgur.com/6YfeeW9.gif

Seriously, what is going on here? It's like half of its shading contribution is a uniform term.

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Female Highlander
Face: 1
Jaw: 1
Eye Shape: 3
Eyebrows: 1
Nose: 3
Mouth: 2
Lip Color: none
Facial Features: 1, 2, 3

Screenshots from PC version, max graphic settings of their respective versions. Taken inside the Innocence trial instance.

https://media4.giphy.com/media/v1.Y2...3bLL/giphy.gif

https://media0.giphy.com/media/v1.Y2...6LXb/giphy.gif

I am unhappy with the changes to my character's eyebrows, eyeshadow and upper lip. The eyebrows are smaller, and the outer edges of the eyeliner have been turned downwards. In my opinion, it changes my WoL's piercing look to one of boredom.

I'll link the full images for better comparison:
example A - 6.x
example A - 7.0
example B - 6.x
example B - 7.0

The pizza was way too hot.
https://www.reddit.com/r/ffxiv/comme...ctly_with_the/



Cheers

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Doopliss

This is so strange to me because I feel like my Elezen actually looks more accurate in my equipment window... It's not 1-1, but it's helluva more close than any game lighting that isn't nighttime for her, and basically good enough for me.

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I took the opportunity to take some pictures to show my case. I think the difference between the character information window and a recent screenshot I took in a cutscene is clear:

https://i.imgur.com/QsTeVx9.pnghttps://i.imgur.com/FiLVEPP.png

The second picture looks pretty similar to how things were in 6.58, minus very specific stuff such as the mouth being wider of course.


The next two pictures show the same portrait before and after 7.0:

https://i.imgur.com/F2TG18e.pnghttps://i.imgur.com/ZrGpORM.png

The expression on the new one simply does not convey the same feel as it used to do due to the way the face emote has been changed and because of the lighting, as well as the faded eyebrows and stubble. I do apologize for how small the 6.58 portrait looks, I didn't take screenshots of these so I had to cut it from a video I recorded.

It is impossible for me to take the exact same picture with the exact same lighting and background for comparison. 7.0 Female Elezen smile is different. Her sharpness is gone. Her expression looks concerned (I used "simper" for both 6.5 and 7.0). It really feels like the developers have altered the animations and facial features so much that they do not look the same anymore, in a bad way. This is so upsetting.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GRZ9Lc2b...name=4096x4096
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GRZ9Lc2a...name=4096x4096
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GRZ9Lc1a...name=4096x4096

Ingame Portraits

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachmen...d0aa84b9ba813&
https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachmen...bdc1c18dccf51&

Since fem hyur face #1 wasn't changed since the latest benchmark. These older screenshot still apply and I am still very very unhappy with the changes to female hyur.
https://i.postimg.cc/HsnWCh2m/new-benchmark.png
https://i.postimg.cc/m2jWR8HT/new-be...k-outlines.png

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Freyja_Hyskaris

Hi, just adding my voice to the choir. I appreciate the work that went into the graphics overhaul and the new textures look amazing in the overworld. My main grievance are the significant changes made to the faces. I tried giving it a few days to see if I would warm up to my WOL's makeover but three days on and I still can barely bring myself to look at her in cutscenes.

I have three main issues with my WOL's new face: 1) Darkening of her upper eyelid to the point where she looks like she's in a perpetual ಠ_ಠ face, 2) complete lack of depth on the eyebrows, and 3) entirely new shape of lips and smile. Here's a before pic:

https://i.imgur.com/53YSi02.png

... and after pic (both taken on PS5--not sure why the antialiasing is so bad in gpose):

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

Her eyes were heavily shaded before, but there was still a softness to the irises that made her eyes bright and open. Without that softness, it just looks like her eyes are half-shut in every cutscene:

https://i.imgur.com/gwZ3kgV.png https://i.imgur.com/DrPvTe6.png

The lack of shading on her eyebrows makes them blend into her skin. It's visible everywhere but it's especially bad in low lighting. And her upper lip is shaped completely differently than the same set of lips pre-7.0. Instead of having a soft smile with a full upper lip, the combination of a differently shaped upper lip with only the corners turning up in a smile gives her a C: smile rather than a (:

https://i.imgur.com/hTh0tOg.png


All in all, she used to have such a soft, lovely face. I was prepared for some differences but this is such a drastic change and I feel the end results are much more severe than I was expecting. Different lighting/shaders giving different effects I could understand, but I'm not sure why an entire reshaping of certain facial features (like lips) was necessary. One last before pic for good measure:

https://i.imgur.com/GooBI8D.png

Thanks for hearing me out. I really did try to give the graphics upgrade a fair shake but the faces just aren't sitting right with me.

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Your character is really gorgeous. Even after the update. You are right in differences, those looks more like a twins than the same person (similarity like Alphinaud and Alisaie) :D
I guess the lighting and slightly changed lip shape is the worst offender.
New lighting engine is very harsh on our charcters, maybe it will be adjusted in the future, or added to system option like character lighting with the slider.

-In flat lighting (char/equipment window, barbier), face on my Fviera looks almost the same as my old Endwalker face. With right colors and face contours.
-During gameplay it depends on a light source direction. Areas, where before the character looked great under all circumstances, can now looks like a clown depending on daytime and lightsource.
-It also affect hair color and skin tone, which are rarely rendered in right color during gameplay.
For example Im using pitch black hair color and it mostly looks grey or dark brown in most lighting settings :rolleyes:

About the animations, mine also looks different, like really different. Vieras had the most cute smiles and smirks, all gone now. I hope devs will adjust this too :) It would be shame otherwise.

My Au Ra (face 2) is barely recognisable - round face shape gone, eyes look dead, mouth choices are pursed lips or look inflated. Overall it looks like they had an allergic reaction, I don't know why they changed it so much unnecessarily, especially since I've played this character for years. With re-editing, I could make her look a bit better, but she's not at all the same character I loved before.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Eilous

It is impossible for me to take the exact same picture with the exact same lighting and background for comparison. 7.0 Female Elezen smile is different. Her sharpness is gone. Her expression looks concerned (I used "simper" for both 6.5 and 7.0). It really feels like the developers have altered the animations and facial features so much that they do not look the same anymore, in a bad way. This is so upsetting.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GRZ9Lc2b...name=4096x4096
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GRZ9Lc2a...name=4096x4096
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GRZ9Lc1a...name=4096x4096

Ingame Portraits

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachmen...d0aa84b9ba813&
https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachmen...bdc1c18dccf51&

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Oh this one really made my heart sink. That's a beautiful character that the update does not do justice at all.

I'm just glad they got rid of the matte lips from the early benchmark. I personally *like* the update, but I think it's very YMMV depending on what race you're playing. Sharper contrasts are going to work better with some races than others. Fem Highlanders are looking good with them I've found.

Also male Roe of all things had a massive upgrade. Good god. They actually look like people now!

The widening of the mouth types makes them look worse on the face in this graphical update compared to before. It seems like they were only widened horizontally and weren't thickened vertically, making them look very odd and unnatural. Type 4 mouth is the only one that looks somewhat "normal", but even that is a major disappointment. It feels like there's now no real variety between them whereas before the update at least they all fit the face decently.

The jaw and face overall looks like it was widened as well, or the facial features are now smaller so there's more face to be shown

Now my female viera's face just doesn't look "right" and I bought a fantasia to make the change to another face, but even the other faces look weird now in the eye shape and mouth departments too. It's like the features are either too large or too small in whatever combination that I try and none of them create the same "beautiful", "gorgeous", or "heroic" feel when I looked at my viera in my profile picture. It honestly makes me not even want to play the game since the first experience with an FFXIV expansion is extremely precious.

The eye shapes also look like they've lost definition. Eye shape 3 looks less "sharp" and instead makes her look a bit "dead" in the face.

Other than these, textures are an improvement. But with that said, I'd much rather have the mouth and eye shapes to resemble what they were before the graphical update. So, as a request, please revert the face feature shaping back to what they were before the graphical update.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by P360Crispy

The widening of the mouth types makes them look worse on the face in this graphical update compared to before. It seems like they were only widened horizontally and weren't thickened vertically, making them look very odd and unnatural. Type 4 mouth is the only one that looks somewhat "normal", but even that is a major disappointment. It feels like there's now no real variety between them whereas before the update at least they all fit the face decently.

Now my female viera's face just doesn't look "right" and I bought a fantasia to make the change to another face, but even the other faces look weird now in the eye shape and mouth departments too. It's like the features are either too large or too small in whatever combination that I try and none of them create the same "beautiful", "gorgeous", or "heroic" feel when I looked at the character before the update.

The eye shapes also look like they've lost definition. Hardly any difference between type 1 and 3 eye shape.

Other than these, textures are an improvement. But with that said, I'd much rather have the mouth and eye shapes to resemble what they were before the graphical update. So, as a request, please revert the face feature shaping back to what they were before the graphical update.

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Wait why did you buy a fantasia? There's a quest in Ul'Dah near the retainer vocate for a free one now.

Before and after. Same cutscene, same outfit, same facial expression. And he looks weird now.

I’m trying really hard to get used to it but it’s bothering me so much.

There’s sometimes during cutscenes where he looks good, but it’s when light shines super brightly on him. So I think this weird look is mainly because of the new lighting. I could turn the character lighting to max (it’s currently at 30) but that would make him look like a lamppost lol, and that’s ridiculous.

https://i.imgur.com/zTHFIum.jpeghttps://i.imgur.com/Jxs3xvK.jpeg

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Basteala

Wait why did you buy a fantasia? There's a quest in Ul'Dah near the retainer vocate for a free one now.

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I had no idea honestly. I'm kind of a solo player I guess? So, there's a lot of things I don't know and I rarely come to the forums for anything. Only reason I had posted today was because this update made me so disgruntled that I felt like I had to make a post to add to the pile of requests for a reversion, or some type of change. But thanks for that info! I'll definitely go and grab that

Quote:

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Originally Posted by RulerKelso

Your character is really gorgeous. Even after the update. You are right in differences, those looks more like a twins than the same person (similarity like Alphinaud and Alisaie) :D
I guess the lighting and slightly changed lip shape is the worst offender.
New lighting engine is very harsh on our charcters, maybe it will be adjusted in the future, or added to system option like character lighting with the slider.

-In flat lighting (char/equipment window, barbier), face on my Fviera looks almost the same as my old Endwalker face. With right colors and face contours.
-During gameplay it depends on a light source direction. Areas, where before the character looked great under all circumstances, can now looks like a clown depending on daytime and lightsource.
-It also affect hair color and skin tone, which are rarely rendered in right color during gameplay.
For example Im using pitch black hair color and it mostly looks grey or dark brown in most lighting settings :rolleyes:

About the animations, mine also looks different, like really different. Vieras had the most cute smiles and smirks, all gone now. I hope devs will adjust this too :) It would be shame otherwise.

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... just wanted to add, it is still possible to simulate the "old", homogenic lighting in Gpose by using 3 cardinal, gradient lightings sources: 1st type 1 in front of character, 2nd type 2 on side of character, and 3rd type 2 behind :) Just try to find the sweet spot in the lighting source distance
https://i.imgur.com/ym7hMTL.png
*here is similar picture taken in the past in old graphics - not 1 to 1 comparison, pose and expression is different, just comparing lighting and overall character appearance :)
https://i.imgur.com/UAsEaed.png

The team did a good job on a lot of graphics but I thought they will make it as close as possible to the old shapes for the facial features. I think that didn't happen here.
I am looking at my character and I can’t help but feel… robbed... I can't currently play.:(

Race: Miqo’te, Seeker of the Sun, F
Face: 1
Eyes: 4, large iris
Nose: 2
Mouth: 4

1. Cat’s eye slits – Shape
The shape for all Seekers was completely changed.

• In EW, they were thinner at the bottom of the eye and was giving that mysterious, fatal, feral look of a cat.
• In DT, they are plump and taking larger area of the eye.

That is quite a major factor for a change in the expression and I would very much like the old shape back.
https://i.postimg.cc/D077ZmQJ/Eyes2.png

https://i.postimg.cc/8C8QcjNp/Eyes1.png
https://i.postimg.cc/Wp5Br9Tf/Eyes3.png

2. Cat’s eye slits – Incorrect position and turning
For some reason, the slit is not following the direction of the gaze properly causing the effect of CROSS-EYED! When the face turns, the faraway eye's slit is not following the direction at all.
https://i.postimg.cc/c1DJHMjd/cross1.png
https://i.postimg.cc/mrGLqdcy/cross3.png
https://i.postimg.cc/tCY4VnQW/cross2.png

3. Iris size
In DT, the iris size was changed to take a larger area of the eye. This only amplifies the effect of overly big eyes and the cross-eyes feel.
https://i.postimg.cc/Rhj5tFKL/big-eyes3.png
https://i.postimg.cc/qv2088mh/big-eyes.png
https://i.postimg.cc/269fzT5J/big-eyes2.png

4. Upper Eyelid's shadow
It is not casting shadow on the sclera in DT at all. :confused: The shadow just merges gradually down and doesn’t look like a cast shadow .
In EW, the dark parts were darker, the light parts were lighter where the eyes are lit by the light. In DT, the eye just stares at you.
https://i.postimg.cc/x8sGpJtL/eyelidshadow1.png
https://i.postimg.cc/Hsx9czkz/eyelidshadow2.png

5. Eyelashes
In EW you had those doll-like beautiful curved eyelashes. In DT they are just straight…
https://i.postimg.cc/J0dJ5wzq/eyelashes1.png
https://i.postimg.cc/mZdQs9yH/eyelashes2.png

6. Lips shape
Lower lip:

• In EW, Mouth 4 had that pretty shape – not too plump, not too big just delicate.
• In DT, they made the lower lip look bigger which made the overall mouth look bigger.

Upper lip:
Looks acceptable on some light but could be better.
https://i.postimg.cc/NGPrVcQ8/lips1.png
https://i.postimg.cc/CL3nhsBz/lips3.png
https://i.postimg.cc/652GxmQk/lips2.png

7. Nose
Nose looks good enough but still the light makes it a bit bubbly. :(

Quote:

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Originally Posted by P360Crispy

I had no idea honestly. I'm kind of a solo player I guess? So, there's a lot of things I don't know and I rarely come to the forums for anything. Only reason I had posted today was because this update made me so disgruntled that I felt like I had to make a post to add to the pile of requests for a reversion, or some type of change. But thanks for that info! I'll definitely go and grab that

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It's a very new addition (arrived with Dawntrail, in fact), so it's easy to miss if you haven't been paying attention to the press tour or patch notes. But now ya know!

First and foremost, I'd like to apologize for my terrible tracing, so some features might look worse than they actually are. I just want to add my alt with a more detailed explanation than my previous post to our voices.

https://i.imgur.com/uL2YZ4D.png

1. The light from our eyes are gone! I think the new lighting makes our eyes look a bit awkward at times and the pupils look bigger now.

2.The lower punctum (? i think thats what it is lol) size has been increased. In my opinion, it kind of gives our characters a more sickly/tired look and puffier eyes.

3.The nose appears a bit larger and more rounded with the nostrils more visible.

4.Cheeks more round and puffy. It's like she ate a mild bee almost.

5. The lips look like have been squished a bit, and the color is changed. Personally not a fan of the larger mouth corners.
I can not recreate the lighting of my old plates no matter how hard I try, and its either my hair or my skin or both that will look dull no matter how much I mess with it. This goes for all of my characters.
Also there's less of our dark eye makeup :( I'm extremely happy for those who are happy with the changes, some of you guys look fantastic. Some people might call us crazy but with enough small changes to our characters that we've been playing for so long, they do not feel like the same character. It's not all about looking better, it's about too many changes for what we thought was a graphics update that would be minimal to our characters.
Sorry if this was hard to read I'm sleepy ty for your time

I hate my scales now =( the outline is terrible

https://imgur.com/a/A81Z3jb

Quote:

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Originally Posted by WeaverOfDreams

<snip>

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This is probably comprehensive enough that it's worth posting on the JP forum as well, though I don't know how well machine translation would convey the specifics.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Eilous

It is impossible for me to take the exact same picture with the exact same lighting and background for comparison. 7.0 Female Elezen smile is different. Her sharpness is gone. Her expression looks concerned (I used "simper" for both 6.5 and 7.0). It really feels like the developers have altered the animations and facial features so much that they do not look the same anymore, in a bad way. This is so upsetting.

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The gaze changes from looking at you to looking somewhere else

Hello, I believe I've identified one of the primary culprits in Hyur Midlanders looking "off", which is that the shading at the top of our eyes cast by our upper eyelids has been significantly toned down, to the point where it looks functionally absent.

https://i.imgur.com/K3c8mbl.png

I believe this shadow is a critical aspect of Hyur's visual impression. From any distance besides very close up, it creates somewhat of an illusion of the eye being shut slightly, creating a relaxed and confident expression. Without it, Hyur look somewhat wide-eyed, as if maintaining an expression of high alertness or anxiety.

https://i.imgur.com/03ChDXz.pnghttps://i.imgur.com/qiy5TMm.jpg

At first, I believed this might be an unavoidable consequence of the new lighting system. However, I then noticed that Viera have kept their similar eye shading into 7.0. If anything, it is very slightly stronger than before.

https://i.imgur.com/BpxZ9u2.png

It should be noted that this shading varied in intensity across different Midlander faces in Endwalker, with face 1 having what I see as the strongest shadow.

https://i.imgur.com/iNmSq8J.png
https://i.imgur.com/B2VGm9A.png
https://i.imgur.com/XXeCuDD.png

I request that this shading be restored, with perhaps some softening at the edge if neccessary to make it seem more in line with the new graphics. Below, I have edited a screenshot of my character's new face in order to more closely mimic this shading, as well as other morph edits to make her facial features match her old face more closely.

https://i.imgur.com/3hSeEc2.pnghttps://i.imgur.com/h3N27ZJ.pnghttps://i.imgur.com/6VpBpy0.png
https://i.imgur.com/fanDzsP.gif

I don't have the energy to add yet more comparison photos to those folks have already shared and shared, especially since the graphics update has been giving me severe eyestrain, but I wanted to still chime in here and say that I am deeply disappointed in the changes made to character designs in a 'texture and shading focused' update. Some of my characters I could learn to tolerate (if I can somehow SEE them again without a headache x.x) but the majority look shockingly different. It's a million tiny things, a chin resized/shaped, a nose altered, the eyes changed in shape/size, lips recolored/shaped/positioned/etc that all add up to a vastly different face shape.

Shape. Not shading. Shape. Different shape. Not texture. Shape.

After seeing the Benchmark I opted against getting the expansion, and right now I'm glad I didn't bother hoping to be pleasantly surprised. Many key character facial elements remain forcibly changed, plenty of examples already in this thread and others. No amount of free Fantasias will bring back options that no longer exist... which means a LOT of peoples' WoLs no longer exist. If the devs want to add new face shapes, new eyes, new brows and jaws and noses, please do ADD them. There are people who like the new facial features, to the point where it has been cited that these are NEW FEATURES even by those enjoying them. Taking away the face elements people have used for years, with no way to get them back, seems callous. The player base was told "Overall appearance of player characters will be altered as little as possible" and that sounds like a lie right now.

screenshots from endwalker benchmark and 7.0. the only thing i changed on the 7.0 side is the color of the limbal rings to better match the original look.

https://i.imgur.com/stRA6s5.png

i also tried recreating an older screenshot, and while not perfect, i think it actually shows better how big the difference is than the screenshots from the character creator.

https://i.imgur.com/hacI1K1.png

the most jarring difference is the shape of the mouth. the pupils have also changed in size, making it harder to see the actual color of the eyes. it just doesn't feel like the same character i've grown to love throughout these years. :(
it feels like au ra got hit especially hard with this graphical update. i just wish they could address these concerns. i've seen many au ra players give their feedback ever since the first benchmark released, but it feels like not much has changed.

In another post I made in this thread, regarding female miqo'te face 4 mouth 3, I wrote the following:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by ConantSivrha

(...)the mouth itself looks narrower horizontally.

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Since then, I have found that the mouth is not, in fact, narrower horizontally.

In the following comparison image, both faces have been turned away from the light, so there is no contrast between shadowed and unshadowed areas. The horizontal width of the lip texture is actually exactly the same, as demonstrated by the blue outline of the Endwalker lip shape over the image of the Dawntrail version of the lips.

https://i.imgur.com/39uq8Uv.png

The lips in the Endwalker version looked wider to me because the old lighting caused darker shadows to be cast by the lips and by the shape of the face near the lips. This is only a factor when light shines on the face, so it isn't visible in my comparison image, but it can be seen in images like this one from Ysmia, which I also quoted in my other post.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Ysmia

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachmen...2ec4633d5f363&

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Other than that, in my comparison, you can see more clearly how the top lip shrunk, and how the cupid's bow has been smoothed out. The bottom lip, too, is smaller, but only slightly. The corners of the mouth have also changed, possibly in an attempt to mimic the shadows on the original version.

While I'm glad there are those who are happy with the graphical update, I can't say I'm one of those people, sadly. I use Male Miqo'te Face #1, and the best way I can put it with regards to my character is, he now looks baby-faced, to the point any time I see close-ups of his face in cutscenes, he doesn't look like a battle-hardened adventurer, he looks like he belongs in a K-pop boyband.

Do I miss the old graphics? Yes, because my character looked fine and not doll-like. Do I wish the developers would allow us to choose between the new and old graphics? Also yes, but I would be happy with the developers giving us a solution that meets halfway. Have improved graphics, but not to the point that people's characters look baby-faced.

I forgot to adress an important (imo) point. The character's bodys still look really low quality. Especially male chars still look wrong when wearing chest revealing pieces.
My male midlander Hyr hasn't even a normal visible belly button. That's because the visibility of the belly button is connected to the muscleslider.
And when turning the muscleslider to minimum then the belly button almost disappears. I really don't like that because it looks so wrong.

I don't expect SE to give us high resolution realistic nippels and belly buttons. That would be wrong, too. But I would like to see a middleway. A solution that looks kinda normal/natural.
Please! *prays*

If SE gives us nothing else I at least want them to acknowledge that a lot of people are unhappy. I wonder what will happen after official release.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Heavenchild

I forgot to adress an important (imo) point. The character's bodys still look really low quality. Especially male chars still look wrong when wearing chest revealing pieces.
My male midlander Hyr hasn't even a normal visible belly button. That's because the visibility of the belly button is connected to the muscleslider.
And when turning the muscleslider to minimum then the belly button almost disappears. I really don't like that because it looks so wrong.

I don't expect SE to give us high resolution realistic nippels and belly buttons. That would be wrong, too. But I would like to see a middleway. A solution that looks kinda normal/natural.
Please! *prays*

---

I think body updates were one of the cans that got kicked down the road. For now you just have to suffer through a mismatch or very visible neck seams.

It seems to me from watching my own character in cutscenes and looking at everyone’s photos here that most characters look more angry with dark or bags around the eyes and much less joy in the faces. I know some of this is down to shadowing, but I was changing up my retainers and it was very difficult to get any lighter eye color on anyone and I have several races. I prefer light eyes regardless of color because you can see the pupil (esp. with my sun Miqo). But I have to go to the absolute lightest color to get this when before I could go at least 3 shades in and still have light-ish eyes. Now even the second option is too dark but not really saturated.

I do like the glassiness of the eyes because it is more realistic. I also appreciate the new ease of getting some saturated lip colors. But the expressions are so different and she looks angry when it is supposed to be just a smirk (like when we fly off on Vrtra and look back in the last parts of EW). Now it is like the brow is furrowed even in some smiles.

It is just a mess for many players.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Aco505

I took the opportunity to take some pictures to show my case. I think the difference between the character information window and a recent screenshot I took in a cutscene is clear:

https://i.imgur.com/QsTeVx9.pnghttps://i.imgur.com/FiLVEPP.png

The second picture looks pretty similar to how things were in 6.58, minus very specific stuff such as the mouth being wider of course.


The next two pictures show the same portrait before and after 7.0:

https://i.imgur.com/F2TG18e.pnghttps://i.imgur.com/ZrGpORM.png

The expression on the new one simply does not convey the same feel as it used to do due to the way the face emote has been changed and because of the lighting, as well as the faded eyebrows and stubble. I do apologize for how small the 6.58 portrait looks, I didn't take screenshots of these so I had to cut it from a video I recorded.

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Oh, yeah, I 100% see what you mean. My post was more so just there to say that it's weird 'cause--since I took a lot of screenshot in menu windows before maintenance--my Elezen mostly looks like her old self in portraits and menus vs in-game. But that's not the case for several of my other characters, and I can absolutely see the difference with yours.

After seeing several other Face 4 ♀ Elezen post, I'm starting to just think I got insanely lucky with the features I picked (excluding the goddamn distracting now-smiling mouth...), because their expressions look considerably more different from the old version than mine. In my case it's just that her eyes opened a little wider in most things, which is still annoying, but less intense...

Meanwhile every alt I've thus far been brave enough to look at the new Adventurer Plate of has been noticeably worse and more awkward-looking. It's made me scared to look at the ones I haven't seen yet. I finally looked at my ♂ Au Ra's adventurer plate last night and cry-laughed.
https://i.imgur.com/5pS0SMr.png
I don't tend to like using exaggerated memes for comparison, but, just...
https://64.media.tumblr.com/31dd6e81...331dcd75ac.jpg
I just look at him now and I feel this in my bones...

Please, SE, you can't keep characters lookin' like they got looksmaxed... Please...

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Len_

If SE gives us nothing else I at least want them to acknowledge that a lot of people are unhappy. I wonder what will happen after official release.

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I feel this 100%. It's hard enough dealing with the depression of feeling like I lost what makes my WoL herself. It's harder to feel like our cries are landing on deaf ears while everyone else goes and enjoys their "summer vacation", and I got pretty frustrated when I read that comment about "some people may feel their characters look ever so slightly different" that the team made when confirming our free fantasia. That felt like gaslighting. The fundamental structure of my WoL's face has been changed, in what world is that "ever so slightly different"?

Maybe I should show what I mean, because for me this is really an issue and I hoped that they would fix this with the update.

Features like the belly button should not be tied to the muscleslider. I really hope that this will be fixed one day.
The appereance of the chest and belly with minimal muscleslider is very bad. But I don't want to increase it just for the belly button.

Additionally for me also the missing nipples look disturbing. And I would wish for a more normal look.

https://i.imgur.com/aORW0D0.png
Good visible belly button just possible with muscles maxed out

https://i.imgur.com/rsgTvJk.png
How my chest looks because I chose a softer look without much muscle shadows on legs and arms

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Heavenchild

Additionally for me also the missing nipples look disturbing. And I would wish for a more normal look.

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I would truly give just about anything for even just slightly pigmented areolae on top of the weird phantom nubs we have now lol.

Hyur Midlander eyes are looking very dead after the update. Would prefer if they'd add some life into them by editing the catchlights to be more obvious while bringing back some of the old shading at the inner upper eye area.

Something like this:

https://i.imgur.com/c02olbU.gif

https://i.imgur.com/0pon0SO.gif

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Heavenchild

I forgot to adress an important (imo) point. The character's bodys still look really low quality. Especially male chars still look wrong when wearing chest revealing pieces.
My male midlander Hyr hasn't even a normal visible belly button. That's because the visibility of the belly button is connected to the muscleslider.
And when turning the muscleslider to minimum then the belly button almost disappears. I really don't like that because it looks so wrong.

I don't expect SE to give us high resolution realistic nippels and belly buttons. That would be wrong, too. But I would like to see a middleway. A solution that looks kinda normal/natural.
Please! *prays*

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Agreed. I've asked about this before so feel free to support that thread if you want.

If they do it though, it'll be in 8.0 or, worse, even later.

https://i.imgur.com/QAU3BUL.png

My character lost the light in her eyes. I feel like her soul is gone. I had purposefully given her warm and kind eyes but now I feel like she has the eyes of a dead fish.
The next photo is supposed to be a /surprised expression, but she looks so unenthused.
https://i.imgur.com/crPfCcv.png

The photo below was taken directly from cutscenes with no editing other than cropping.
https://i.imgur.com/EYl53zm.jpg

Since the lighting in cutscenes can't be adjusted, every time she appears in a cutscene, her eyes have this same deadpan expression. This isn't a one-time issue, it happens in every cutscene.
https://i.imgur.com/hqpsZX4.pnghttps://i.imgur.com/ChQ9Fk1.png

Even when looking directly at the camera, her eyes feels unfocused and looks as if she looking beyond the camera like her soul has flown into the abyss.
It puts her into a perpetual daydream state.
https://i.imgur.com/UgUEQgQ.png

I tried to reinact an old photo with white mage battle stance emote. Whilst the lighting is different, you can see the difference in expression
https://i.imgur.com/AfEISJq.png
https://i.imgur.com/rSEvbT9.jpg

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Aco505

Agreed. I've asked about this before so feel free to support that thread if you want.

If they do it though, it'll be in 8.0 or, worse, even later.

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In the end I have no clue. But for me it just feels like that SE is treating their cashcow badly.