New Dawntrail Benchmark - Show your WoL's before and after: Part 2

Much of the issues I had were corrected with this update but the problem still lies with the lips and nose where fidelity was not maintained. The shape of the nose has been changed which is weird since male viera don't have similar changes to their noses. The lips are flatter and lost character. At least that's how i feel for these particular lips. The slight cupid's bow is gone and the lip corners don't seem to line up. It's not noticeable with dark lipstick. But the bottom lip just looks like it was tacked on and not apart of the face. I also think that the bunny nose detail should be a high quality texture. I mean the end result is a very attractive face, but so much character has been lost. https://lds-img.finalfantasyxiv.com/...57793e8e3f.png

This nose job is making it hard to breathe
https://lds-img.finalfantasyxiv.com/...c935e9295d.png

I was content with the 1.0 benchmark as a Rava female Viera face 2 with darkest grey skin and with the newer version of the benchmark my opinion hasn't changed.

I did however notice that for the Noscean background the sun has changed it's position so now, to have light shine on your characters face again, you have to align the camera to the right somewhat so that the grassy area is behind you.

Short hair, kind of same camera thorough all 3, going from current to latest benchmark build.
https://i.imgur.com/YiHwGR3.png

Longer hair but one to have face clear of any strands, last camera pov adjusted to meet the light.
https://i.imgur.com/a6ZUStW.png

Gridania indoor lighting, same thing as above but for a dark character there is barely any light for you, however the lighting is still very good and realistic I feel.
https://i.imgur.com/HYDTBi3.png

I don't mind the colder/sterner look my viera has gained and kept with the updates, and I have to say I am most happy with how her eyes focus has been fixed to be forward looking when compared to the live version.

I think overall it's an improvement from the first benchmark however there is still underlying issues that still exist that people pointed out the first time around which is disappointing to see.

Updated Far away:
https://media.discordapp.net/attachm...&=&format=webp


Updated Close up:
https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachmen...fb3c364ce6af7&


Where to begin, I think the main issues revolve around the eyes and the eyebrows.

Mainly the shape of the eye looks rounder where as in the Original it has a shaper look to it. I think there's a few reasons for this the upper eyelashes have been trimmed significantly giving a rounder look. The eyes overall seem brighter which perhaps lessens the shadow from the upper eyelid giving a rounder look once again.

The eyebrows are less defined which in turn with the hairstyle ends up making her look like she has no eyebrows.

Some other notes are the nose being more human like rather than being curved slightly up which gives it that FF12 art style look, now its just 'lol they're humans but with bunny ears' rather than Viera's distinct look.



Edit:Made some gifs to compare

Far away: https://media.discordapp.net/attachm...a8ccb8f7be08&=

Close up: https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachmen...838d13dc84850&

I think this highlights the change to the upper eye lid giving the rounder look and less sharp look

For Veena face 3, overall I think she looks really good. But the lips are very different and much less cute. It seems like, across the board, they made changes to lips that made them look more generic. Idk if this is something to help with new emotes or what, but it is unfortunate.

First new bench, last current game.
https://imgur.com/SydCAbj.pnghttps://imgur.com/uL0F1Zh.png

The character is still uncanny looking. The hair clips when Au Ra dances (See image below the comparison image). Don't get me wrong, the new benchmark is better looking than the previous benchmark. It looks like they fixed the flat tone on the character's face, but compared to Endwalker's character creator, the character is still miles different and the uncanny feeling remains. My character's lip gloss is gone and so is the size and shape. The face looks "squished" for lack of a better term. I am disappointed with these changes and I will have to get over it if further changes aren't implemented. I hope SE continuously updates the characters given that they don't have time for implementing changes due to expac release. I'll have to use the free fantasia they will provide.

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

Hair clipping on Au Ra dance.
https://i.imgur.com/CrJ8Nxp.png

Edit (my friend was able to make a gif of the comparison):
https://i.imgur.com/ylOsUNH.gif

https://i.imgur.com/SqZIGST.jpeg

Veena face 3, mouth 1, eyebrows 2, eyes 4.

Overall, it's much improved from the first benchmark! The good;

The contours of the jaw are visible again, the dark halfmoon over the top half of the eyes is lessened so she doesn't look so ominous, the lips are glossier again, and the pupils are bigger again but the colour accuracy is still much better than the original Veena eyes.

The bad;

The line between the upper and lower lip is still missing its curve and is a straight line rather than a defined upper lip (this is an issue on almost everyone, it seems.), the already sparse Veena eyebrows are a little better, but still very smudgy and barely visible compared to currently.

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

https://i.imgur.com/Vy9r3k3.png

https://i.imgur.com/4MsohvS.png
Updated DT Benchmark
I'm happy with the updated version!
My eyebrows got saved! :D

The 1.1 update definitely made the lighting a lot better across the board, but they didn't change the geometry of my character's face at all, which was disappointing. Using Xaela fem face 3, eyes 3, mouth 3. I also really hate how the limbal ring only glows when it's dark instead of all the time, it's such a downgrade.

https://i.imgur.com/Jsf6g8F.jpeg
(full imgur album)

GIF comparison:
https://i.imgur.com/WrDO7p4.gif

And my Pepe Silvia insane attempt at highlighting the differences between current patch and benchmark 1.1:
https://i.imgur.com/GgvlHCc.png
https://i.imgur.com/R3MPZlC.png

In general, it feels like when they made things higher poly, they also made them a lot rounder and softer, which loses a lot of the charm the more stoic and angular faces had. It's a lot of very minor differences, but it adds up to the face just feeling off and not quite the same. The nose I don't really care about as much, but the eyes and lips feel very different, especially the change in resting expression and the duller limbal rings. I could live with the changes if they left it in this state, but I would still be pretty disappointed.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Zeastria

https://i.imgur.com/4MsohvS.png
Updated DT Benchmark
I'm happy with the updated version!
My eyebrows got saved! :D

---

I feel they were much kinder to male viera.

I'm fairly pleased with the changes on my Midlander. In the original benchmark, I noticed his eyes were differently shaped but was prepared to live with the change. I'm happy that they restored his eye shape! His face looks about as close to the original as possible.

https://i.imgur.com/w7YjFz0.jpeg

Unfortunately, there's still the issue of the eyebrow change and I really do feel that the thinning of them changes his expression somewhat. I was hoping it was a scaling issue but it seems to be a design choice. However, I do wish to see those brought closer to how they look before the graphics update as it was my only real nitpick of how he looks.

Even still, I'm very happy and looking at the second image, you can see just how much he looks like himself before the graphics update.

https://i.imgur.com/sRr4tzH.jpeg

https://i.imgur.com/oaaDBJJ.jpeg

The devs have done a great job and I hope they continue to tweak some of these more minor issues.