its really cool, however

The graphical update very sparsely shows up.
The FILTER and LIGHTING in the game is an issue. A graphical update, but I still cant see the depth of my characters model because the lighting is so bad. Everything looks flat, even in Radz-at-han. It gets difficult to pick it all apart.

Ive been playin for not long, but I love character creators. And for a company that makes the most well known games, Final Fantasy, and has beloved character designs, I just cant help but think;
Why are we being left with nothing options. Im not joking when I say it breaks my heart that the options for our characters are so bad.
Miqote fem hair. The options are like. 50% colour options for jewelry for the SAME design.
The fem Hroth is...THE HAIR IS TIED TO THE HEAD? Why?
And why are the options SOOO minimal?? And two of them are basically the exact same.
Youre a big company, take your hair models, mash them up and port them for all the races. Im confused why some of the hairs dont work with certain races, or arent an option. Some yes, but others??? Why are we so limited? Sure we can earn clouds hair, we can buy the twins' hair, etc, but the base game should have more options in replacement of all those 'variants', of which they should still exist but should NOT make up all or HALF the choices.

Why is the makeup ONLY; off-off again-and dim. there is no light option, it doesnt show up. The dark option BARELY shows up. The colours are FADED. Its SAD.
The facepaints are nonesense half the time. and cant be moved or anything?
for most of the races and genders, the facial differences are non-existent in both the face paint, the facial features like jaw and eyes, and then ALSO with the racial features. Its. Such a waste. That out of the feature options one of them for fem hroth is a waterline. a pink waterline. Its a nice detail but who cares, what about whiskers? what about different nose shapes? what about cheek fluff or jowls or something? The fangs COULD be a slider, that would make more sense I think.

For Au'ra youre condemned to which "I just ate a bee" face you want because you want cool horns. WHY ARENT THESE OPTIONS SEPARATE? It just makes me so saddd! It is SOOO restricting! for a game thats obsessed with glamour! And the visuals and life of the 'WARRIOR OF LIGHT'!! So! Why arent we trying a little harder to have nicer stuff.
Or more vibrant colours. Or hair that doesnt have a gap seam at the forehead.

The fem Hroths look AWESOME!!! They look GREAT theyre so fun and so cool. The designs and concepts are all these races and the world are BEAUTIFUL. But why does it feel so restricted in aesthetics when thats like..a huuuge part of what SE does.
Supposed to be excited for somethin new but knowing theres maybe 3 options that actually matter in the creation and thats it?

CONTINUED: Theres a lot of options but in actuality It feels like theres maybe a solid 3-5 options each and it does feel like it takes away the uniqueness of the characters, or rather it can get in the way. "Uniqueness" is a strong word, because it doesnt exist in games like this when you have so many players, but you know what i mean.
Now after he benchmark, we're seeing people talking about how their fangs are gone on miqo's, highlanders still dont have an eyebrow OPTION at all, Viera and fem au'ra look like theyve been eating lemons, and Fem hroth hair is locked to their skull instead of making sense. :/

this is way more of a character creator thing, but im just so frustrated. I cant even try to enjoy the graphics looking at somethin thats on a flat filter bland lighting and a character that. I love them to pieces with all of my heart but MAKING them is hard. no I dont want it or expect it to be perfect, but when I see things that could have so many more options, and really easy too, im just. Deflated and wondering why certain choices in design have been made... I think we are at the point where we need more options and this restriction on hairs attached to skulls needs to end...
Sorry to dump a bunch or word blegh, I genuinely love this game and have been OBSESSED, but. man

I LOVE THIS GAME i just also love FF designs and character creation and im just so confused!!!

this is also! JUST MY perception and experience and thoughts! it could very well differ to others. I am more blind than the average person. Im not important. Im just taking part in the benchmark and have thoughts

I also dont care if this is an acceptable criticism format or not
the wind is knocked out of my sails.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GLJt_93a...jpg&name=small
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GLJt_91a...jpg&name=small

The look of Light (on) and Dark (on). Light is more like OFF and Dark is just light. On the darkest colour. It would be much better if it was a shape or had some saturation.

https://64.media.tumblr.com/cf89d3eb...ac60d21a39.png

Lips look like they were flattened as well, making them look a little weird especially when theres colour.

Also a note on this bc as more time passes things come up;

Messing with the gamma CAN help but I did this before and the difference was still too small. Its not just gamma, its full saturation, depth, shadows, lighting. Things mesh together too much and theres a weird.... dust over things, almost? The games settings are too limited to help with this. This is also having an effect on skin tone, although it has been shown that the changes IN game ARE there, they are small and could benefit from help.

Messing with makeup and facial extras dont always work together, sometimes not at all, and won't work in darkening things in layers. the issue comes with the colours not showing up or being vibrant, I might as well go without.

Hairs and horns overall should not be tied to the face, its far too limiting, and its getting out of hand with this fem hroth update. Especially with half the choices not being different from one another save for a bun or bangs.

Viera as a whole look sickly, almost
https://64.media.tumblr.com/373feefe...695dc98312.png

ON A POSITIVE NOTE;
The mouths look SO great, as do the hands and feet. Ive seen talk the mouth shape got weird, but the teeth look really great in my opinion! It's nice that our characters have no more void mouth. I also love the textures of everything, it actually looks like it could be made of something, not just smooth pixels, which is really pretty!!
The lighting is gorgeous, the light through Elezen ears is wonderful!!
https://64.media.tumblr.com/60615fb4...f1a4de2aaf.png

i keep adding to this bc im probably delusional lol but i also keep seeing people messing with it, and i also keep messing with it, and its!

A wonderful update incoming
But i just cant help but be worried and a little disappointed with how some of the things have been presented, when for something like square it should be or could be easy to just make options and separate things FOR choices-
Theres a lot of options, yes for sure
and theres a few really good ones, and more that can be bought and earned yes of course
but at LEAST in the topic of the benchmark why the heck is hroth hair tied to the face... the skull shapes aren't so different they need to be fused on? and to that, why is it so much effort to mold the piece just a bit to fit? I suppose it seems like it would be, maybe not easy and its still labor, its someones job, but its just hair and colours-?

This is getting a lot less professionally constructive, but i dont expect this to get many eyes anyway lol- let it be known i love this game i just know it could have so much more