Updated benchmark

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Originally Posted by lolicon09

Personally, everything looked better in the first examples they released, before devs started to change things based on feedback

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I agree to some degree. There was valid criticism and by all means, outright mistakes should be corrected but as for purely aesthetic choices, they should have stuck with their decisions and simply should have given people the time to get used to it. They can't please everyone anyways and and they already went back from improvements like natural light and reflections to artificial light sources (e.g. the catchlight in the eyes that shouldn't be there in a totally dark room) and hardened shadows inestead of the previous soft ones because people couldn't handle the upgrade and needed their low poly flaws back, claiming they had emotional value... We're lost. I'm unhappy. But what can I say, the masses have spoken.

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Originally Posted by MeraHarch

Eyebrows are less full (even if you add the stronger eyebrows facial feature they still have holes like the regular eyebrows, the facial feature that you can toggle was specifically supposed to fix that by giving you strong eyebrows but now even with this feature activated the eyebrows are still not full...)

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I thought the same thing at first and was surprised at the gaps, but if you zoom WAY in it's actually a very accurate reproduction of the original. The difference is that the original is so incredibly low resolution that the gaps mush together and appear more full.

So the artistic dilemma here is do you keep the current 7.0 eyebrows which are technically accurate, or do you make them look thicker which is actually a deviation from the original but closer to the impression of the original. I wouldn't mind if they thickened them up a touch, but my concern would be if they did so and they end up looking worse than they do now, since that would require an artistic judgement call and may not turn out how you and I would prefer. They're not going to change them again after the fact.

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Originally Posted by MeraHarch

The 2nd facial feature that is a sort of liner/black eyeshadow is almost completely useless now, there's barely any difference when you toggle it. The fact that we lost some of the strength of the black/dark shades makes the eyelashes more discreet and thus makes the eyes feel smaller. Even if you activate this facial feature that is supposed to make the eyelashes and eyes pop up a bit more doesn't help at all as the difference is absurdly small. It could've been a solution to this "smaller eyes" feelings but no, it doesn't change anything...

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This was more pronounced in the previous benchmark but changed after feedback because it was different from the original. I liked it a lot too.

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Originally Posted by MeraHarch

BUT my biggest issue is still the mouth/lips.
They're completely different from before.
I don't mind the new texture at all but the way they changed the line/shape and completely removed the lip corners shades is a big issue to me. The lips suddenly feel fake and doll-like, definitely less realistic than before so for me this is the only real downgrade so far. They also give a more "pokerface" expression to the character while the expression was more neutral and natural before, now she feels a bit haughty...

https://i.ibb.co/5nss3gJ/02.png

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I use that same mouth and it's pretty much identical to the original. The reason that little corner shadow looks more pronounced in the original, which creates the illusion that the mouth shape is different, is a combination of much worse lighting bouncing off of much more rudimentary geometry. It's actually still there in the new version if you zoom way in, it's just much more subtle because it's behaving as light on a real face actually should. If the devs were to "fix" this they would probably give the mouth a little smirk which personally I would really hate.

Anyway, not saying you're wrong for posting any of that. I just use many of the same options and thought a lot of the same things at first glance so I'm sharing what I learned upon further inspection.

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Originally Posted by Angelivia

I agree to some degree. There was valid criticism and by all means, outright mistakes should be corrected but as for purely aesthetic choices, they should have stuck with their decisions and simply should have given people the time to get used to it. They can't please everyone anyways and and they already went back from improvements like natural light and reflections to artificial light sources (e.g. the catchlight in the eyes that shouldn't be there in a totally dark room) and hardened shadows inestead of the previous soft ones because people couldn't handle the upgrade and needed their low poly flaws back, claiming they had emotional value... We're lost. I'm unhappy. But what can I say, the masses have spoken.

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I don't mind the lighting change so much but I definitely agree on the new catchlights looking awful. After the actual expansion release people probably wouldn't have cared about the old ones, but oh well.

Your post reminds me of when Blizzard was adding female Worgen to World of Warcraft. They originally looked awesome and just as fierce as the males, but then they were player feedbacked into looking like derpy chihuahuas with mascara.

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Originally Posted by Rein_eon_Osborne

Don't have the motivation nor energy to do full comparison pics for today. But brief glance thru the new benchmark, I see that they've addressed aplenty of Male Middie Face 7 issues for the most part (kudos to them!). I am however still disappointed that they insisted on keeping the profound nasolabial folds on face 7 when from its inception since 6.0 it's been barely noticeable.

I'm considering to switch back to face 5 now since apparently the new benchmark has toned down their nasolabial folds... but then I won't get to enjoy face 7's stubble :/

Ugh... :smh:

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EXACTLY this. I just spent 5 min switching back and forth between the two, wishing I could go for face 5 with the stubble...

Why not just add stubble to the facial features, SE? :)

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Originally Posted by Risough

My character across all the different graphics versions we've seen. While the lighting changes are impressive, I dislike the more pronounced creases at his brow and the corners of his mouth seem thinner than the benchmark V1/live versions.

https://lds-img.finalfantasyxiv.com/...ea6f5c667d.jpg

https://lds-img.finalfantasyxiv.com/...fe8ce8c0a3.jpg

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I've had a chance to sleep on it and I'd like to speak a bit more about those wrinkles on his brow. The furrows are too exaggerated compared to what we see in 6.58. This is for Face 4 highlander.

https://lds-img.finalfantasyxiv.com/...f44ffd19bd.jpg
https://lds-img.finalfantasyxiv.com/...45071bd9fb.jpg

https://lds-img.finalfantasyxiv.com/...af1d17d55c.jpg

https://lds-img.finalfantasyxiv.com/...c3738c4544.jpg

https://lds-img.finalfantasyxiv.com/...816acf0a95.jpg

I've outlined the area I'm unhappy with above. You can see the wrinkle around the brow is much deeper and darker now. The shading and contrast give the impression that he's always angrier than before. It's especially noticeable when viewed top-down as in the images from my previous post.

Highlander players in general feel pretty ignored. It feels a bit like after 10 years of asking for brows SE has given us a "best we can do is deeper wrinkles." I don't expect to see eyebrows as part of the update but I hope there is still some time to make adjustments to match the look we had.

Comparing the current brow to the first benchmark, perhaps the crease was exaggerated to fix the lighting in the old build? If so I hope the shading can be adjusted to be less severe in 7.0.

Lordy folks are picky af... Ya'll do you though, just keep in mind you prolly wont see any further changes by launch, its crunch time.

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Originally Posted by Hanayumi

Lordy folks are picky af... Ya'll do you though, just keep in mind you prolly wont see any further changes by launch, its crunch time.

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I genuinely have no idea why people come on a feedback megathread; exactly the way the forums are supposed to work; and basically say “what’s the point yall just give up l” when this is exactly what yoshi p asked us to do

Sure it may not fix the problem before launch but this isn’t the end of the graphics updates

Like do you genuinely have nothing better to do

A closer comparison of the eyes on F Moon Miqo Face 2, Eyes 6, Brow 2 between benchmarks. I really liked how in the first benchmark, the eyebrows were a softer color, and not as thin on the inner part. Looks kinda like drawn-on angry eyebrows in the newer one. Having the heavier eye makeup was my preference, sad that they reduced that without adding it as a facial feature option. And the iris and pupil themselves looked less uncanny in v1.

v1
https://i.imgur.com/zQHDgNW.png
v2
https://i.imgur.com/sYjp7YM.png

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Originally Posted by Risough

I've outlined the area I'm unhappy with above. You can see the wrinkle around the brow is much deeper and darker now. The shading and contrast give the impression that he's always angrier than before.

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He actually looks ever so slightly more relaxed and happier than before, due to a subtle shadow on the corners of his mouth that hint at a smile. The slightly deeper furrows doesn't make his expression look angrier at all.

As far as not paying much attention to Highlanders, they fixed an issue on my Highlander's brow ridge that I didn't even realize was there, until I did a side by side by side of live, 1.0 bench, and A Benchmark Reborn.

Of all the races, I'm really liking the Midlander looks. Some of the details look even closer to what modern FF character models look like.

I'll call this revenge of the Midlander. The race that got dismissed for looking like dolls are getting the best revamp with 7.0. Now if they can just fix the female midlander lips...

I'm happy with the new graphics for the most part and I really feel the improvement between benchmarks! The new lighting really helps.

My two grievances are:

1. Face 4, eye type 6 on female Keepers. The eyes look like they've been stretched a bit wider, and... softened? They look more natural now, for sure, but I find the angular appearance of these eyes to be quite cute and distinctive as they are. I can make myself accept this one as a consequence of different perceptions of what these eyes "should" look like, but in general female Miqo'te eyes updates have been hit-or-miss for my friends and me, so it might be worth mentioning.

2. Hair is a lot duller now. I feel it the most on my alts with black and near-black hair; they become grayish in the light, and there's not nearly as much shine to them. This might have to do with the way characters are lit now, but it's a confusing adjustment to me. I like the vibrancy of our current hair! (I think this might be at least part of the issue with male Viera getting their eyebrows nerfed?)