Dawntrail Graphical Update - Au Ra Feedback

I put together a bunch of comparison shots just for reference, more than anything the lips are what really are bothering me, they're COMPLETELY DIFFERENT in the benchmark (red lined in the first image for a better shape comparison)
https://i.imgur.com/pq5tyZw.jpeg

In case my writing isn't super legible, the main points are that in current 6.x the lips I use have a much wider cupid's bow, the corners are lot more upturned, and there's divot in the middle, but in the benchmark, they're very flat with a small cupids bow. It really dramatically changes how she looks and it really bothers me...(yoshi-p you said this was a summer vacation but you've made my daughter miserable ;__; )

There's some smaller things like the corner of her eyes being a different shape, the eyebrows being darker and thinner, and the makeup being a lot less colourful and dull.

The dilation of the pupils and the blending over the limbal rings isn't as bad on her as I've seen on other Au ra, probably because of the colour of her eyes, but it's still not great, I definitely prefer the current 6.x version.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by lunartears

EDIT: Horns not connected to the scales? Oh that's very strange...

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachmen...70463ac0475ab&

More of a personal addendum but also got lots of anxiety regarding the new mouth rig, I am attached to the weirdness of the /fakegrin emote on this race.

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I didn't notice that, since my character having braids conceals the underside of the horns... that's really unfortunate and I hope that gets fixed :( just feels like someone missed it while working on it.

Looking at everyone's characters, while I'm uneasy about the face 1 mouth, I feel lucky that otherwise my character doesn't look so different. It feels like more striking characters look completely different now, maybe since the faces feel more homogeneous. Face 2 and 4 especially seem affected, since the mouths had such a unique look. I appreciate a significant amount of it is the more neutral expression on the lips at base, but when horns are connected to face as well we only have so many options to convey personality without changing something that's hugely noticeable (horns). With face 1 and 2 seeming to swap mouth expressions, being able to switch might make the transition a lot less jarring for some, though this is obviously a big ask...

Of course, the biggest issue is the artifacting around scales that's more visible on darker skinned characters. At bare minimum that has to be addressed because it seems unfinished, like they just didn't test with darker characters.

I can only hope that they will listen to feedback considering how concerned the devs seem about preserving people's images of their characters.

I actually really love the face 2 mouth change, the dimples on the corner of her mouth used to make expressions that weren't just closed mouth smiles look really weird because it created the illusion of jowls depending on the lighting. I've seen quite a few people say they don't like this change but I'd be sad to see it reverted.
https://i.imgur.com/UWI7C3y.png
https://i.imgur.com/prrQqPS.png
(I picked an expression that I had similar screenshots of to show off what I mean by the expressions being weird, but honestly this is mild too, it's been much worse in more extreme expressions like grimaces...)

The face itself I'm very pleased with, but the scales(especially on the neck) are much worse even though theyre definitely higher res. Theyre far too flat while also not looking like they really belong on the characters skin. The texture is weirdly dark and desaturated? I'll miss the sugar cookie-like color of the old raen scales

Edit: just to reiterate, I like the face change. The expressions that are currently in the live game are what were weird to me. She's cuter now!

I would encourage people to look at their characters emoting in the benchmark (on the voice selection screen, they will emote when you select one). For me, she looks good while emoting, it's just her resting face is a little different.

While I think for some the changes really are that big, it might put you at ease if you emote and it looks familiar. I do feel like I've come out better than others, but it's sad to see how many people don't recognise their characters. It's worth seeing if you do while they're in motion.

Mostly disappointed with the changes. :( The lips look like they're more puckered, and the lack of lip gloss feels like a downgrade. It feels like such a huge change to her since I adore the way her current lips look! The eyeshadow is also much lighter and it makes the eyes feel smaller compared to how they are right now.
But on a more positive note, I was very nervous about the limbal ring changes and I'm really happy with the way they look now!

https://imgur.com/a/JtpFCy8

I much prefer the lips on face 2 on my Au ra as I always found the mouth to fish like and it looked bloated. I hope they do not change that back or at least give me a toggle as I did love the fish horn face but the mouth was always too much.

I think they need gloss and some better colour options but overall Au ra look really nice to me and I am thinking of going back if my Hyur does not port as I would like.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by lunartears

I'm not sure how many of the Au Ra players notice this but it feels like our current eyes have a nice glow/shine to it (seems to light up a little in dark lighting), if you notice it how do you feel about the changes to this? Personally, I feel like the eyes have been made to look "too glowy" as opposed to the original subtleness. I probably sound insane saying all of this and I am not too sure if it is even exclusive to us, but I see it on my own character in the current game without using umbral rings.

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachmen...9174f40f6edbc&

Using the Black Shroud setting here, old on the left and new on the right.

I've been concerned about this in particular since they first showed the changes, but due to the other changes presented in the benchmark I've shifted focus to the general image of the character. I had actually made an admittedly poor thread just before the benchmark dropped regarding this change that included Lalafell.

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They do look a lot more glowy on bright colors. My as-is model from current build shows up as if she has limbal while actually she doesn't have any. The fact that she also have bigger pupil in benchmark further enhances that faux limbal look. I had to move the color to darker shade to compensate for the glow so she doesn't look as dead.

Ok, I -think- I'm going insane. Was doing some fine tuning, when I noticed that in the La Noscea and Thanalan backgrounds my character resembled the og look. Then I turned her around to have light shine on her face... and it looks completely different?? I know I have prosopagnosia (face recognition disorder), but it is still weird that the change of lighting would cause the face to look completely different, which wasn't the case with the old lighting, imo. Explains why the usually very bright cutscenes of the benchmark also made her look "wrong".

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachmen...f4d5f3fa6cd97&https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachmen...331f3381e80e6&

https://i.imgur.com/nmY4qFG.png

Face 1 is great in my opinion. Just had to fine tune skin color and lips to get something very satisfying.

I think that face 2 is a lot better than before. I don't like the 6.58 version but the 7.0 version is very beautiful. If I was not so attached to my character, I would have changed to face 2 :D

First time posting in the community, please forgive me if English isn't good. I was really looking forward to it, but the result was very disappointing.
The essence of my Xaela Au Ra male1 has completely disappeared, it doesn't look anything like the character I originally loved.
I hope SE can allow players to freely choose between the new changes or maintain the original settings...

Quote:

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Originally Posted by execlinca

I would encourage people to look at their characters emoting in the benchmark (on the voice selection screen, they will emote when you select one). For me, she looks good while emoting, it's just her resting face is a little different.

While I think for some the changes really are that big, it might put you at ease if you emote and it looks familiar. I do feel like I've come out better than others, but it's sad to see how many people don't recognise their characters. It's worth seeing if you do while they're in motion.

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Nope, lol. The emoting is specifically what I'm worried about with the new mouth.

What is this joker smile. The corners go up way too far...
https://i.imgur.com/XcxFhiy.png

Quote:

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Originally Posted by execlinca

I would encourage people to look at their characters emoting in the benchmark (on the voice selection screen, they will emote when you select one). For me, she looks good while emoting, it's just her resting face is a little different.

While I think for some the changes really are that big, it might put you at ease if you emote and it looks familiar. I do feel like I've come out better than others, but it's sad to see how many people don't recognise their characters. It's worth seeing if you do while they're in motion.

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I did try that, went through the whole benchmark and everything, but she only looks even a little familiar when her face is in shadow and thus I can't see the dimples they gave her, her pout is less noticeable, and her cheeks aren't so highlighted so they don't look as chubby. The second there's any light on her face it becomes "who is this person".

I'm happy with my character overall, I still recognize her and the changes aren't too drastic. I do feel like the scales could be blended in a little bit better though, there's a clear outline and it's quite distracting. There's barely any shine in the eyes but it looks fine during the benchmark so it's probably just the bad lighting in character creation.
Seems like they've removed the lip gloss though, which I'll hope they'll revert because I'm really not into the matte look.

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

From the side, chin doesn't seem as pointy as before. Also easier how the eyes are more rounded, which idk how to feel about it yet, I liked how bored she looked.

https://i.imgur.com/6chEB1b.png

I know there's a lot to criticize about these new faces, but on a positive note, shout out to whatever dev decided we needed backlight/subsurface scattering on the horns!

(spinning gif warning)

https://i.gyazo.com/36ea7260bfd5386f...8761093858.gif

https://i.gyazo.com/7f1a9420ad40b11d...2a9065e099.gif

https://i.gyazo.com/aaabdfd59f057136...cbde26d38f.gif

https://i.gyazo.com/e092a225670b71da...eb696d64aa.gif

Exactly! There are some issues with Xaela scales too, and I hope they get that blended and textured better. The horns turned out great!

I don't know if this was the case before but I don't like that the Raen scales/horns are tied to skin color. I hope they consider making them the same color au'ra wide. The light skinned au'ras are getting a pretty pink hue to them & us darker skinned au'ras aren't getting that v.v

Besides that I like the changes and hope they keep the lipstick the same as what it is now or put in an option to put in gloss. I really like the matte look but I know some people don't.

https://imgur.com/a/pqOlXJx

I decided to leave feedback because I felt it was necessary, even though it will be more positive. And for the most part, I'm very happy with the graphics update for my character. I got a case where, roughly speaking, the overall impression of her appearance has not changed at all, but in the details has become better. I like how the lips look now, how the eyes are more alive, and the limbal rings are now really round and well inserted into the iris. And love how the white hair doesn't blend in the light. I also think the skin colour has become slightly paler (with the same colour), something I was dreaming of and a bit jealous of Raen Au Ra lol.
https://i.imgur.com/vlBH0nY.png
A few notes I found on my character that are worth fixing: the mini-horns that are on a few of the default hairstyles are still blurry; the horns are now not touching the scales, which looks weird if the hairstyle doesn't cover those areas; the horns clip with this hairstyle; and also, at the back, where the connection line between the head and torso is located, the difference between the updated lower part of the scales and the old blurred upper part is very noticeable.
https://i.imgur.com/BIwslTi.png
Also, after looking at a bunch of examples from other people and looking at my own, I think the open environments in the editor (The Black Shroud, La Noscea, and Thanalan) have some weird lighting and don't fully convey how the character will look in game (comparing to the example from the benchmark itself).
https://i.imgur.com/FNkcLWv.jpeg
Even though I'm happy with my character, I still notice quite noticeable changes in face 1 Au Ra on others, such as on my wife's character. And she generally like the update as well as me, but there are some concerns: type 1 eyebrows are now slightly curved upwards, so the character looks more innocent-looking; the new small iris are now even smaller than they were, making a distinct gap between the iris and the lower border of the eye visible, and type 3 eyelashes point downwards instead of straight up. Examples are respectively:
https://i.imgur.com/QqOoZmQ.jpg
Although I can't say anything but general impressions about the other face presets, but as a female Au Ra enjoyer with a lot of friends with different face presets, I really like the new face 2 and face 3, but I can really see that face 4 needs improvement and understand the strong dissatisfaction.

I'm still grateful to the development team for the work they've done on the overall graphics update, and I hope they listen to the feedback and can address important player concerns. Also, I apologise that the text turned out to be so long...

Some pretty good notes there, to be honest. Especially on some easy to miss things, like the way the horns and scales no longer connect. Definitely something that needs a fix. And yeah, the character creation lighting is all kinds of horrid.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Roda

I know there's a lot to criticize about these new faces, but on a positive note, shout out to whatever dev decided we needed backlight/subsurface scattering on the horns!

(spinning gif warning)

https://i.gyazo.com/36ea7260bfd5386f...8761093858.gif

https://i.gyazo.com/7f1a9420ad40b11d...2a9065e099.gif

https://i.gyazo.com/aaabdfd59f057136...cbde26d38f.gif

https://i.gyazo.com/e092a225670b71da...eb696d64aa.gif

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Wow, that's pretty cool. I hadn't even noticed that. I knew they did that for Elezen ears, but not Au Ra scales.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Solais

Ok, I -think- I'm going insane. Was doing some fine tuning, when I noticed that in the La Noscea and Thanalan backgrounds my character resembled the og look. Then I turned her around to have light shine on her face... and it looks completely different?? I know I have prosopagnosia (face recognition disorder), but it is still weird that the change of lighting would cause the face to look completely different, which wasn't the case with the old lighting, imo. Explains why the usually very bright cutscenes of the benchmark also made her look "wrong".

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachmen...f4d5f3fa6cd97&https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachmen...331f3381e80e6&

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Nope! You're absolutely not going insane. This is the biggest marked change between current live characters and benchmark/Dawntrail characters. The shaders/materials of the skin are made to respond to light more like it would in real life, so that means that depending on the lighting angle, intensity and quality, the results are gonna be considerably different. If there's no light anywhere near their face, they also won't have that shine in the eyes. Or at least not with that familiar intensity. It's definitely a change, but it's also kind of inevitable with these updates, because old skins just didn't really do much more other than evenly light up (or darken) where light fell or didn't fall.

(Also, the character creation lighting is pretty poor. Not sure why, but what they did with it is not working out for them. I feel like the environments are all the old pre-Dawntrail stuff, and therefore also provide cheaper and lower quality lighting.... which doesn't really play nice with these new models.)

Noticed some issues with scales and tail for female Xaela.
The tail appears to be a diffirent colour/shade than the scales.
In addition to scales appearing more "flat" than the old ones I also noticed that they seem to have been poorly cut from the old texture; some of the thinner extended parts seem to have become thin malformed lines.

Left side is endwalker benchmark and right side is dawntrail benchmark. (angle bit different due to weird lighting issues)
https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachmen...1db3587921fa0&

Quote:

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Originally Posted by rchmides

Even though I'm happy with my character, I still notice quite noticeable changes in face 1 Au Ra on others, such as on my wife's character. And she generally like the update as well as me, but there are some concerns: type 1 eyebrows are now slightly curved upwards, so the character looks more innocent-looking; the new small iris are now even smaller than they were, making a distinct gap between the iris and the lower border of the eye visible, and type 3 eyelashes point downwards instead of straight up. Examples are respectively:

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I really dislike the lack of the eye glint present in these photos too.

I also think the pupils are way larger than before (2/3x the size previously). I'm hoping this becomes an option rather than a forced feature. The pupil being so large makes the eyes look more dead because of the lack of the eye glint too.

But yeah pretty evident the iris is smaller and the pupil is larger which I don't think many expected in a graphics update? I feel like those are stylistic changes rather than a direct graphics update.

https://i.imgur.com/5r72iI8.png
I have been informed that my former comparison pic was too different in lighting to see the differences properly, so here's with recreating my benchmark CC image in the live game as closely as possible (same angle, background, position, etc). She just looks so...tuned down. So much softer, less angular, and why did they add dimples to the corners of the mouth (and the dimples are there whatever mouth I choose)?

Now, to be honest, not AS bad as I expected after seeing some other examples. At least from this angle, from the front the face is way more round. The first time I looked at her, I did not recognize her as my own character in the new benchmark(the char is almost 6 years old, with barely any changes since creation). The lighting did not fix the things I outlined below:
The most critical thing is the unnecessary cheek puffing and general face geometry changes, which makes it look like she's constantly keeping air in her cheeks and it really rounds the face shape. It changed the angled look it had which was the sole reason for picking this face.
In my specific case limbal rings look fine, but some other examples do have them blend too much. The eyes also look way more like dead fish eyes than before, but again, at least in my case the contrast of colors helps, but it's not the case for everyone.
The mouth looks way different now, which is fixable a bit(with fantasia, and not fully because the lower lip shape and overall width was changed, and the other options change the upper lip shape or don't match the width so I can't get it right with those either), but it still looks way less defined than before. The latter is an issue across the board for every race.
The eye shape was also changed, and there is no option that looks like the old one, either the shape does not match or width. It is a slight change but it does make the character look and feel very different. Now instead of sharp eyed look I have a indifferent soft one.
It's very disheartening that, even with a free Fantasia, I won't get my character back because the options for it are just gone. I can salvage it, sure, but in the end it will be just salvage.
https://i.imgur.com/IYEYXfF.png

Quote:

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Originally Posted by rchmides

snip.

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I was wondering when someone will talk about the racial hair where we have extra horns showing in some of them. I don't have pictures, but both male and female Au Ra race hair that show horns are not graphically updated... yet.

Just another comment on the horns not attaching to the scales issue:

https://i.imgur.com/KrDqui0.png

It's definitely an issue, specifically a face 1 issue. Face 2 seems not to have ever had scales beneath the horns (a shame in my opinion, but not a benchmark change) and face 3 and 4 are fine. This one feels like another quality control one to me.

The neck texture is also true:

https://i.imgur.com/sBDh5CG.png

Looks like it's happening on the neck seam and makes it more visible. I feel like they must have just forgotten to swap the texture out though...

I've mostly made peace, but these are quality control issues. Especially hope the scales near the horn get fixed.

Just adding my feedback to the mix:

I didn't think it would be that bad, and then I looked- it is very bad. The new facial structure of face 4 is almost completely unrecognizable to the original version. All the sharp and angular features that defined the look have been lost.

- The facial structure overall is softer, cheeks are insanely puffy, and the chin is oddly fat. It looks as though I've had an allergic reaction to something.
- The eye shape is notably different and softer, the signature "sharp" stare is no longer present. The pupils are too big, look dead and out of focus, and the limbal rings are still not nearly as bright as they should be (you have to go for specific, high contrast colors if you want them to stand out now). The eyes look out of place in the skull.
- The lips are *completely* different. They are fatter, and overly puckered up, it looks like I am always pouting. This is probably the change I dislike the most as it looks nothing like the original. The mouth protrudes strangely from the face, giving the jaw an odd and noticeably different look and angle.
- The scales on the face are duller looking, they look oddly lopsided and lumpy. Personally at least, I'd still prefer them to be sharp.
- Overall the skin and face look more like porcelain. It appears unnatural from most angles and borderline uncanny valley in others, even outside of the character creator and within the benchmark itself.
- Colors are off, while to be expected with a graphical update like this, it has made pale skin tones look notably worse and unnatural, especially when combined with contrasting dark or bright makeup, which blended perfectly originally. Now it seems very out of place.

I appreciate all the work that goes into such an ordeal as this graphical update, but while it of course it is likely easier said than done- I simply wished for an upscale of *my* existing character with the same features that I have come to know and love. Currently, this is an unwanted and surprisingly drastic transformation into a completely different looking character that is no longer my own. It feels almost insulting to have a character for this long and have it be changed this dramatically into something I can hardly recognize. Please make some adjustments to make these changes more in-tune with what we already know.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by yoyonoya

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

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I came back to this after trying a lot of suggestions I've seen posted around (comparing using the exact same lighting/angle, waiting until the sunlight was hitting strongest, making sure the gamma levels matched my live game) to see if I was more happy with the model, but doing so only made me more sure that the changes to my character are an absolute downgrade.

https://i.imgur.com/ML8V8JJ.png

Using the the exact same facial angle, I did a before/after gif comparison (gif link). You can actively see her aging in real time.

I tried to analyze what feels so off about the changes. Here's the conclusion I came to:

https://i.imgur.com/IVGo0gR.png

These things might seem minor on their own, but it changes her overall impression immensely.

And even though she looks better in the benchmark than the character creator, she doesn't look good, especially compared to other races. I think the lack of deep shadows on the faces makes Au Ra in particular look incredibly flat. Just look at this comparison with my male Miqo'te and you can tell that other races aren't having the same issues. My girl looks like a plastic barbie doll in comparison because there's hardly any dark shadows on her nostrils/lips. Her features are getting completely lost on her face.

https://i.imgur.com/Zwgt9aB.png

I feel like something in between the current model and the benchmark model while adding back in some deeper shadows + the base eyeshine would be a massive improvement.

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

Anyways sorry for the tl;dr but I've seen folks doing these comparisons for the other faces but no one had done one for face 3 yet that encapsulated my woes. The dev team has done really great work with the other races (and I'm super happy with the upgrades for my Lalafell & Miqo'te!) Even if it's not exactly what I want I hope the dev team is able to make at least some changes to preserve the essence of our Au Ra characters.

Adding my voice to those unhappy with what the new changes did to my character. A lot has already been said, but just want to emphasize how weird the lips are (mouth 2, face 4). They're flatter, duller, and differently shaped and colored. My character now looks like she's constantly pursing her lips, or holding a candy or something in her mouth.

I also loved how sharp and defined the old limbal rings were (despite the pixelation), but I'd find those more acceptable than the mouths.

EW (left) | DT benchmark (right)
https://i.ibb.co/jZzhBPK/ffxiv-04152024-113110-585.png

Hi !

Aora face 2 was unplayable for me before, big lips + the horn = just a big fish. And I was sad because she got a lot of potential !

Now she got a beautiful face, love it so much ! the corners of the lips are much better in the benchmarck. Don't let dimples come back please T.T Sweet smile, sweet lips, sweet eyes, georgous ! She is so perfect ! I'm verry happy about that :) Now I want to play her, its become my dream face for aora ! ♥

edit : the face 4 is become strange for me (in 7.0) because this face inherited the old problems of face 2

https://lds-img.finalfantasyxiv.com/...b72275ae3b.png

While I can probably get used to most of the changes - and ngl I love the new eyes - I just cannot handle the change to Face 2's mouth.

https://i.imgur.com/3IEJsvS.png
https://i.imgur.com/ChrvTsb.png
https://i.imgur.com/K1je5ii.png

SE stole her dimples and put them on Face 4, and it makes her smile look so unnatural now. It used to be wide and genuine but now her mouth protrudes oddly and it looks like she's sucking on a candy or something. :(

I'd be fine with the new mouth as an option but I'd really like the old one back please.

After 4 years of of being happy with my Au Ra, now she stands upon the edge of a knife.

As some have criticized, the mouth is the biggest problem. The shape is now completely different (smiling more), much more pouty, and the lip textures are glossy, even with lipstick off. The lower lip in particular stands out more.

Due to the changes in the benchmark, she loses what I find so great about face 4 :

A serious and cool character running around as a Reaper, Gunbreaker and Machinist.

https://i.imgur.com/DjMdl86.jpeg
https://i.imgur.com/pe11kz5.jpeg

Her apperiance is much softer now. She has lost her soul. I am speechless and shocked.

https://i.imgur.com/s7836CF.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/BzBr4GB.png
https://i.imgur.com/UtKjSCd.png
https://i.imgur.com/RhXl8Tj.jpeg

I don't blame anyone who is happy with the appearance of their character at the benchmark. Unfortunately, this doesn't happen for everyone.

The best solution would be to make the old style as an optioal option in the character editor. Alternatively, if this is not possible due to the technical limitations, it should at least be possible to have the old lip shape and a matte lip color to choose from.

For the most part, I'm quite happy with how my character turned out with the changes. I am however chiming in as another voice in the patchiness around the scales with darker skin tones.

You can see a bit of pixels around the chest plates on the right image, and in the Benchmark screen (bottom centre where the neck scales are at full size will be the easiest to spot):

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

https://i.imgur.com/5wqvn38.png

And here's a collage of various areas affected by this as well (I didn't check the legs, but there may be some there too):

https://i.imgur.com/IX7c4wI.jpeg

Outside of the larger dark pupils present for every character I'm really sad the nose scale "wings"/pinchers seems to have been made smaller. Also a shame the nose in general seems just like a normal human one now, I liked the more straight/sharp impression.

https://i.imgur.com/idOqoZt.png
https://i.imgur.com/Ao4x8XA.png

Worst offense is that the light male Au Ra Raen scales are too dark with the details sharpened making it all look cluttered and busy! It also doesn't match the much lighter horns.

I also miss the slight contour that helped to frame the face and scale shapes even more (though this detail I can understand not everyone will miss.)

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

Currently the slight upward tilt of the corner of mouth no.4 creates a very charming shape when seen from frog perceptive, benchmark mouth is too shapeless.

I've never had a reason to post on the forums before, but I'm not very happy at all. I've been trying to keep it positive but I just cannot lie to myself about what I'm seeing. My character has been laid to waste and looks like a very different person.

Her lips have been narrowed/rounded/filled, with dimples giving her a cutesy porcelain doll look, removing the wider, balanced look that I liked about her lips before. Her lips make her cheeks look puffed out like she's got something stuffed in them and she's puckering to keep it in. They've given her a white cast like someone's put low-quality sunscreen on her. Her pupils are notably wider, and the limbal rings have all but disappeared, it's like she has a lazy eye or something. If anything she looks MORE like a dead fish in the benchmark than she does in the current patch.

This is not the character identity I had in mind when I made her. I chose face 4 because it had a look that I felt would be more adaptable to the atmosphere/mood of more scenes than the others. Her serious and capable look has been replaced with one that's dead, brainless, with a touch~ of cute doll. I can't simply fantasia the issues with her face away. No face/race is Jin Valentyne to me in emotional sentiment, aesthetic, or feeling, and that's not for lack of trying. I shouldn't have to compromise on my character in race choice nor who she is in an RP sense because of some minor changes to critical details that have a net negative effect on the character aesthetic I've become attached to.

https://media.discordapp.net/attachm...081&height=454

https://media.discordapp.net/attachm...081&height=453

https://media.discordapp.net/attachm...081&height=527

I'm unfortunately not as happy as I thought I'd be with the graphic update. If anything it seems like a downgrade in some aspects.

The before and after:
https://i.imgur.com/75lNCuN.png

As many have already stated, the lips simply aren't as full or lip-like at all, they have lost all texture and gloss when using a color, as well as any dept.

The other aspect, which worries me most, is the skin color, needless to say I simply imported my current character's look from the game, so the skin color should be the same, but it is not, it is green... not a pretty one either. Believe me, it's not the lighting, I didn't want to spam too much with images but it's just the same under different lighting conditions.

The eyes as well, they seemed to have lost vibrancy in color and in Xaela's case, the black sclera seems to have been washed out. And I also wish to bring notice to the eyebrows, somehow you managed to make them thinner, please, give us ways to give our characters thicker eyebrows or a the very least, leave them as thick as they are currently in game.

These are my two cents, I wholeheartedly hope you take in consideration everyone's feedback. Thank you.

I only have one Au Ra character and I generally thought he had an upgrade but that drywall skin... I'm sure others have brought it up already but it's particularly bad on mine. You can see it on his forehead and cheeks pretty clearly.

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachmen...b799c2b9ab818&

And the scales on the face haven't been upgraded, and the face paints are very pixellated. The lower lip lighting wasn't consistently great throughout the benchmark. So... he looks strange.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Idril

Hi !

Aora face 2 was unplayable for me before, big lips + the horn = just a big fish. And I was sad because she got a lot of potential !

Now she got a beautiful face, love it so much ! the corners of the lips are much better in the benchmarck. Sweet smile, sweet lips, sweet eyes, georgous ! She is so perfect ! I'm verry happy about that :)

https://lds-img.finalfantasyxiv.com/...b72275ae3b.png

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Honestly, I way prefer face 2 as it is now, but... this is kind of a cold take? If you say it was unplayable before, I have to assume you don't play a face 2 femra as it is.

I'd be happy switching to face 2 now, the horns are stunning with the update and I do prefer the new mouth... but for everyone who got used to their characters who were made with face 2 originally and have spent years with them, I wouldn't want to say "no, your version you had for years sucked, I get a new toy now". I feel strongly that people who already have characters they're in love with that no longer look recognisable should have their opinions prioritised in the dev's eyes at least. I just feel it's a bit insensitive in this scenario. I would take these people getting their characters to look familiar again over me liking the face that I didn't pick in the first place.

My au ra gal looks SO GOOD I will say I think this face came out very well. That said, I spotted what appears to be a bug:

https://imgur.com/a/8ViL7j1

- In full light, eyelashes look as expected
- In shadow, eyeliner & mascara suddenly appears
- No eyeliner or mascara makeup option is turned on
- (edit: this is F face 3)

I think I saw someone say this was happening to their midlander as well.

Intel i7-8700K CPU @3.70GHz
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080

Skin gets a soft rubbery look when in strong light, it look like the inside is hollow and you can easily cave in the face model if applying pressure.

The skin and eyes also have a green tint instead of my initial warm gray but I'm switching between PS5 and the PC benchmark so I dunno if that does it.

Some droopy charm of eye shape no.1 was lost, maybe it's just the more prominent eyelids messing things up?

The loss of the permanent lipgloss is truly tragic, but if anything there needs to be built in dark shade for middle of mouth line so it pops more?

https://i.imgur.com/7RYHtQf.png
https://i.imgur.com/LuGTmqd.png
https://i.imgur.com/BYxj0Pn.png
https://i.imgur.com/xI5bQjR.png

Posting for a friend who can't log in right now: EW / DT

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachmen...f5c69bf0ac50b&

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachmen...264505e0ba335&

Super big fan of the eye texture, hair texture, horns, etc! Overall really positive and loving how she looks. However, I wish that she had her original mouth shape (less round), had more saturated skin, and had higher quality freckles.

Overall, I love the wonderful new textures for the horns, the improved hair textures, the detailed shadows, and so many of the environmental improvements. On the other hand, I find that the impression I get from my Face 4 Xaela is completely different from before. I really valued the "tomboyish"/"non-cute" look with sharp features, intense eyes, and thin mouth. The changes made in the benchmark weaken the feel of the eyes and dilate the pupils, round and soften the face, add a shine to the skin when lit, and worst of all leave you with a plump, puckered mouth no matter which option you pick. It just doesn't feel like my character any more.

Purposefully, I tried to find consistent, unflattering lighting for both to do an apples to apples comparison. Here's what I've got:
https://i.imgur.com/ZXIogU7.pnghttps://i.imgur.com/Q7cBpVN.png

Unfortunately, no amount of tweaking in the character creator seems to be able to restore the feel I get from my Endwalker and prior face. I hope that SE can make a few adjustments to restore the features that made Face 4 unique and attractive. I hope they can find a way to bring back some of that sharpness from the original face.

I think that could be achieved in part by:

• Adjusting one of more of the mouth options to make them flatter, thinner and more severe. Ditch the dimples please.
• Decreasing the size of the pupils, and brightening daytime limbal rings to define them a bit better.
• Thickening the eyeshadow option to give the eye more sharpness and definition.
• Making one or more of the nose options more angular.

Here's an amateurish edit that I hope indicates why those changes bring it closer to what we had before:
https://i.imgur.com/U7nboED.png