Dawntrail Graphical Update - Au Ra Feedback

I apologize if my thread belongs elsewhere. I do not really use the forums, so I was unsure.

I appreciate the development team's hard work on the new graphical update. I know some changes are inevitable and will just take some time getting used to, but when I made my character in the new benchmark I could not get over the very dark eyeshadow that now comes prepackaged with the male Au ra face 3.

https://i.imgur.com/nUotdtZ.pnghttps://i.imgur.com/6Obu0pm.png

(7.0 is above, current below)

As you can see, the eyelid and the inner corner of the eye is noticeably darker in the updated version. I can kind of understand what they were going for and I can see some people enjoying this change, but I am not among them. I could see this being a toggle, but as it is I am upset about how much it changes my character's general expression and vibe. I would very much like an option to remove this makeup/dark shadow.

(I know the character creator lighting is not the best, but I tried different lighting as well as the benchmark trailer itself, this is also not dependent on eye shape/eyebrow/other features/face paint choices - so the free fantasia will not fix my problem. I am very attached to my character so I'm a little stumped on what to do.)

Feel free to post other Au Ra related graphical update feedback in this thread as well, as I know I am not the only person with concerns.

Edit: Made a more detailed comparison as well as tried to make an edited version based on my suggestions.

https://i.imgur.com/GHUXO12.png

Au Ra player checking in, I am personally upset about the lip changes on my character. I made my character's lips white as I wanted her to have a very pale ghostly appearance and it went well with the glossiness of the original lips. Now I feel that the new lips are too flat for my WoL and too visible compared to my original intention. To me, it looks like her lips have been filled :( I much rather preferred the "more mouth than lip" before, it's the entire reason I chose the "Light" option and white.

Old on left and new on the right:

https://i.imgur.com/56O35Hc.png

Granted I am not a fan of change but this is very noticeable to me, it's the first thing my eyes are going towards now. I'm not a fan of how the eyes or nose look either, I feel like this is not my WoL anymore.

I also weep for the loss of the sharper eyes and unsettling look for Auri women.

Just noticed that the face shape seems more rounder now too :(

Well, it seems like if your au ra has a darker skintone, the transition from scales to skin on Au Ra are scoffed beyond belief:

https://i.imgur.com/wyKY77C.png
--
https://i.imgur.com/Il0gjIk.png

This is awful, and I hope this gets corrected before release :/
(all images are from the benchmark character creator)

Mao confusled. Is no indication on pictures which is old and which is DT.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by lunartears

Now I feel that the new lips are too flat for my WoL and too visible compared to my original perception.

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Really?
Personally I think the lips are less visible if anything.
Especially on your last comparison.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Eraden

Mao confusled. Is no indication on pictures which is old and which is DT.

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Look at the quality of the scales and horns. If they are more finely detailed it's the benchmark.
That's how I spot which one's which at least.

Honestly a lot of the textures suffer from pretty bad compression artifacting.
I also weep for the pupil being changed so nonchalantly.

Also it seems they made all the female Au Ra nostrils wider not a fan.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Evergrey

Really?
Personally I think the lips are less visible if anything.
Especially on your last comparison.

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It might be the gloss removal, I think it looked a lot better with it.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by lunartears

It might be the gloss removal, I think it looked a lot better with it.

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Lack of gloss and the lack of the dark line between the lips.

Mao nots impressed. Mao askings if peoples will gets free fantasia with DT. Mao mights need make some changes. Mao most worried abouts peoples reportings hairs goings from black to grey.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Eraden

Mao nots impressed. Mao askings if peoples will gets free fantasia with DT. Mao mights need make some changes. Mao most worried abouts peoples reportings hairs goings from black to grey.

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I don't know who Mao is, but Yoshida did say everyone will get a free fantasia.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Embran

I don't know who Mao is, but Yoshida did say everyone will get a free fantasia.

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The person you responded to thinks its quirky to talk in the third person, I suppose haha. I was confused initially too, but its the name of their character

I'm too tired to go back into the benchmark / game to make comparisons but I just wanted to contribute before bed. I can come back with screenshots later!

Female Raen face type 1 is just completely unrecognisable from my original character. Her lips are a completely different shape, and there's no shine to them anymore. Her whole face looks so flat, her pupils are massive and don't have the same feeling at all. It's crushing when miqo'te looks identical but au ra somehow doesn't...

Female Au Ra, Face type 4, Mouth type 1, has noticeably different lips and changes how my character looks quite a bit. I'm not a big fan of this, and at the very least, I would like there to be an option to have the exact same lip shape and fullness as the current live game.

First is 6.58, second is the Dawntrail Benchmark
https://i.imgur.com/BIryxzw.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/OhBsl2C.jpg

I'm checking in here as someone else who's disappointed with the mouth shape/lack of lip gloss :( It completely changes how my character feels. The best way I can describe it is more "puckered in" - it's missing the line/width of the original. Here's a comparison (current on left/new on right) - she really does look quite different!

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

Glad I wasn't the only one to notice that lmao
I mean the scales look freakin awesome, but c'mon.. what is that pixel chaos on the edges <_<

My girl is not the same anymore, I'm so sad, they messed up the lips so bad... It's not the same at all. Even the nose shape seems too different

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

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Eraden

Mao nots impressed. Mao askings if peoples will gets free fantasia with DT. Mao mights need make some changes. Mao most worried abouts peoples reportings hairs goings from black to grey.

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It was confirmed in the live letter the other day that they intend to give a fantasia with DT. We were quite certain before that because they hinted it ages ago and they know not to hint something like that if it's not happening.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Aadrian1234

Female Au Ra, Face type 4, Mouth type 1, has noticeably different lips and changes how my character looks quite a bit. I'm not a big fan of this, and at the very least, I would like there to be an option to have the exact same lip shape and fullness as the current live game.

First is 6.58, second is the Dawntrail Benchmark

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Seems to be a change in the eyes angle resulting the look going from stern to lazy.

Reporting in to say I am also seeing the artifacting and/or texture mismatch around scales on darker skintones. The issue is definitely present on all skintones and both M+F models, but is really stark on darker ones and almost invisible on lighter ones. This is absolutely a quality error that should be a priority to fix before launch. (Both images on DT benchmark)

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachmen...50eea5b87000c&

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachmen...1f17a99c5bc1d&

I really like the softer look now
something about my Viera irks me but my OG au ra just looks soo much better now outside of limbals being a little dull now and they do need to do a little clean up the body scales a bit

DT EW
https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachmen...a5992a6daf6fd&

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Turethir

I'm checking in here as someone else who's disappointed with the mouth shape/lack of lip gloss :( It completely changes how my character feels. The best way I can describe it is more "puckered in" - it's missing the line/width of the original. Here's a comparison (current on left/new on right) - she really does look quite different!

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

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It just feels like they really dulled out the face and made it less alive/vibrant. :/ Sad.

I seem to be lucky, since I cannot complain too much about how my WoL is looking with the new update - some things I was a bit bummed out the past few years have been fixed, but I also miss the glossyness of the lipstick. I hope this will be added again fairly soonish.

One thing I really am not vibing with is the skin texture up close. I know skin is usually not super smooth, but a mutual on twitter described it as "paper towel texture" and I think - especially up close - it is a bit too much. I like how the skin looks from further away; it gives a bit of realism, but as soon as you zoom in (as you might do for gposes) it looks a bit too much.

If this could be either smoothed out or even get more finer that would be cool, but overall I'm one of those lucky Au Ra players that is actually fairly happy with the result.

I really hope that all feedback is heard and everyone can love their WoLs again!!!

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1-zs...ew?usp=sharing

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1j2O...ew?usp=sharing

I also want to chip in with my comparisons and feedback... I wasn't happy, and upon seeing other people's before & afters with both Au Ra and non-Au Ra, it does feel like Au Ra have some of the bigger aesthetic changes.

Before vs. After

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GLISmp-XgAAPOOK?format=png

Main things are the eyes and mouth. The iris is smaller, but the pupil much larger, and this just gives a very different vibe and feeling... the upper lid "eyeliner" option is also far less pronounced, which makes the eye shape itself also look a lot different. The combination of them all just looks so different, it feels silly but I have to admit I feel a little upset seeing it :(

With the mouth, on everyone's, it feels to me like a) the mouth shapes themselves are more homogenised between face types - my face 1 Au Ra almost looks like she has a face 2 mouth now, and I've seen face 2 Au Ra have lost the definition on theirs - Turethir's post above is a good example of this - and b) the no lip colour option has far harsher/darker colours. No lip colour mouths had a much softer colour and gradient before, but now it almost looks like my WoL is wearing lipstick. The combination of these two, like the eyes, gives a very different feeling. I could probably make peace with one or the other, but the combination...

(I hit enter too soon on my earlier post haha, sorry!)
Just contributing to balance the discourse but I personally am very happy with the changes to the eyes, lips and nose on my male au ra. The face looks far more realistic to me, the nose especially is just amazing. The eyes now have a real warmth, I especially like the expanded pupils. He looks a lot less cartoonish and more believable. I'm also so happy that the eyebrows are finally visible haha, I've been drawing them on for years!
https://i.postimg.cc/nh4P0MDR/comparison1.png
https://i.postimg.cc/CKmBCHLF/comparison2.png

(Left is current, right is update)
I've played male Au Ra face 1 since Heavensward early access so I'm very attached to it and I think they've done great justice to it here. I personally hope they keep these changes!

I'd like to chip in as well, I purposefully selected a prominent nose for my character and now they've changed it completely to a more generic one(but still pretty enough I guess).

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachmen...f2ac1c16537bf&

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachmen...d1935ddd079fd&

To be frank, some of the changes are doubtless driven by the more realistic lighting. Sure my character is still cute, but she has a completely different nose. I think the live version (longer straighter nose) gives her face more character. And I'd like it if they tweaked the shape a bit, to be truer to the original face shape.

I can move my head around and watch the light go THROUGH her head to shine on the lip... I think I can see it in her eyeball too

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachmen...22d7419d6a231&

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachmen...0c765bf60ccdb&

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachmen...f47837e946489&

In the last pic you can see it's not as obvious against the aetherial background as it is in limsa (first set) and gridania (second set) but it's still there and the sun is very clearly behind her head.

https://i.imgur.com/ut4XRDG.jpeg

Here to join in with the chorus expressing some disappointment with how Auri faces have been flattened and changed.

My girl made out OK overall, but Face 2 for Fem Au Ra has a lot of minor changes that go together to create a really uncanny valley for those of us that liked the unique features of the current live Face 2:
-The lip change. The shadows that previously defined the edges of the Face 2 lips are gone, and the shape has been changed. Versus the live game, they seem flatter and less unique. They should be adjusted back to look like the old lips or a toggle should be given for us to select what we prefer.
-The eyes. The pupils are overly dilated. I would love an adjustment to make them resemble the more stylized live game at present.
-The limbal rings. The glow effect is OK, but they've been made much smaller compared to live game. Again a toggle would be great!
-The eye shape. As many other Face 2 players have voiced, the shape has been changed, making our characters look not like themselves. Please adjust closer to the original!

I also can't go without mentioning the skin textures: on darker skin and lower graphics settings, the textures look waxy, which contributes to the unsettling dead effect that characters across race models have. If there is a way to adjust the skin to look more alive again and retain the undertones that they previously had, that would be incredible. <3

Overall, I am unfortunately critical of the homogenization of female Auri faces to appear more doll-like and cute. They look less unique with the benchmark changes. While Face 2 is among the softer options, I still managed to create a stern and cool look for my girl, and I treasure that look highly. It being taken away through this collection of changes that are individually smaller but in a gestalt create an extremely different look makes me a little sad :(

(Additionally, while it's harder to see with Raen scales, there's texture issues with scales at the edges where stray pixels/artifacting is visible on darker skintones, which feels like an issue of only testing with lighter skintones. Please do test with darker skintones as well!)

Agreed - though my gripes are a lot smaller than some people's characters, I definitely feel a difference in the mouth shape with Face 1...

https://i.imgur.com/jst719y.png
(current left, benchmark right)

She looked happier before, it makes me sad! I really feel the comment about how it feels like they swapped Face 1 and Face 2 mouths, because I somehow feel like Face 2 feels more suited to her now... I always liked Face 2 horns and they look amazing in the update, so I don't exactly mind, but since I have a lot of art of her it's a drastic change to consider.

The pupils are definitely a lot larger, but that doesn't super bother me with my character's looks, but it does make some characters look much more different and I sympathise. The scale artifacting around the outside on darker characters is pretty bad, but I think that is definitely something they'll fix if people post about it more. Definitely a quality issue.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by huopa

I apologize if my thread belongs elsewhere. I do not really use the forums, so I was unsure.

I appreciate the development team's hard work on the new graphical update. I know some changes are inevitable and will just take some time getting used to, but when I made my character in the new benchmark I could not get over the very dark eyeshadow that now comes prepackaged with the male Au ra face 3.

https://i.imgur.com/nUotdtZ.pnghttps://i.imgur.com/6Obu0pm.png

(7.0 is above, current below)

As you can see, the eyelid and the inner corner of the eye is noticeably darker in the updated version. I can kind of understand what they were going for and I can see some people enjoying this change, but I am not among them. I could see this being a toggle, but as it is I am upset about how much it changes my character's general expression and vibe. I would very much like an option to remove this makeup/dark shadow.

(I know the character creator lighting is not the best, but I tried different lighting as well as the benchmark trailer itself, this is also not dependent on eye shape/eyebrow/other features/face paint choices - so the free fantasia will not fix my problem. I am very attached to my character so I'm a little stumped on what to do.)

Feel free to post other Au Ra related graphical update feedback in this thread as well, as I know I am not the only person with concerns.

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My female Au ra just doesn't look like my character anymore because of how they changed the structure of the lips and noses.
I hope it won't go live the way it is now.

I'm really trying to get used to my character in the benchmark but it's off, also please fix the scales for the darker skin tones. So tired of dealing with dark skin tones getting overlooked in every freaking game. Add gloss options for the lips as well.

Dark skin tone Issues

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

Comparison

https://i.imgur.com/2wL9SM0.jpeg https://i.imgur.com/iVrNbP2.png

Like the OP, I have a face #3 male Au Ra and I am quite frankly horrified by the addition of the heavy shadow around the eyes and the general impact on the face.

Current face:
https://lds-img.finalfantasyxiv.com/...8628a52508.jpg

Benchmark face:
https://lds-img.finalfantasyxiv.com/...dc0a8c7a98.jpg

This is just not remotely okay. The character in the benchmark is not my character. He looks like Zenos turned into an Au Ra. The eyes are wrong, the mouth is angry, and it still looks wrong in the benchmark video.

I think the angle of the eyes looks changed as well, unless that's due to the exact camera angle.

Here is mine, they look pretty similar to me. But its hard to get the lighting the same. One of the things i noticed is the new models do look better when your not zoomed in so close.

Current retail version.
https://i.imgur.com/QiFmtk7.jpeg

Dawntrail Benchmark
https://i.imgur.com/RWSRiw6.jpeg

https://i.imgur.com/R9hc1Xpl.png

I'm definitely also having the problem of the scale texture bleeding onto the skin and she's not as dark as some people's characters are. It isn't a very good look on her to have.

https://imgur.com/a/3KXDBij
https://imgur.com/a/U2a9i7V

This is NOT my character...

A couple of things:

1) Please reintroduce blockier shadows/highlights on the face and body scales. It helps with the illusion of depth. At present they really look like they are just printed on printer paper and glued on. Horns look fine, though.
2) Please return my squarer jaw and wider mouth. The duck face and stealing cheeks from face 1 is not what I'm after. It would be fine if the "Instagram/IMVU look" was an option but after fiddling with options there's no way to make her look nice. This is a personal one for me, I naturally have a squarer jaw and wide mouth with full lips so I liked being able to share that with my warrior of light.
3) The harsh lipstick line is hideous. If the harsh very opaque look is meant to mimic liquid lipstick please give us an in between option that is the darker lipstick but that loses opacity closer to the edge of the lips.
4) Something positive: The fin ear horns I do think look nicer in this update. :)
5) Something else positive: THANK YOU FOR FINGER NAILS!! (Please let nail polish color be an option with the hair stylist guy)

https://64.media.tumblr.com/5000a2e2...9f1e94f408.pnj
https://64.media.tumblr.com/a94ece8b...b0d6a6c5cd.pnj


And something very specific to grey gargoyle and white hair lizards: Somehow they made the "oops now I'm glowing since it's direct midday sunlight" worse it feels like haha. (I tried messing with gamma correction and neither 0 or 100 improved this)

https://64.media.tumblr.com/24d1d96f...38d944d087.pnj

Like a lot of others who have raised their voices about the eyes and lips of the female Au Ra I would like to also point out similar things.

First i'll talk about what I liked about the current graphics.
1. The pupils are small and look normal/natural sized, when the setting is at small
2. The line that is in between their lips are extended, again giving it a more natural look
3. Shading under the lip makes it so a person can tell that the bottom lip is bigger.

https://imgur.com/DepO8E7 (6.0/current graphics)
https://imgur.com/J5WvDBP (7.0/dawntrail benchmark graphics)

In the Benchmark, the faces just look TOO different, even the nose of the 7.0 update is a very different nose! The nostrils are very round.
Also to add, my Au Ra's face has slight lines under the eyes (I'm not sure if that's intentional for the current graphics), and I love them! It gives her a more mature look. In 7.0 she looks quite young. The body scales can use some more work.

Lastly, some positives about the new 7.0 graphics for Au Ra, her eye makeup looks great, her eyes look like they have lids. I like how the lip color isn't as shiny. Horns looks very good. Hair is great (cant wait to see with the Y'shtola hair!)

Atleast with the face 2 female Au Ra, they've replaced the lips entirely which drastically changes how our characters look. The assets themselves are fine in terms of quality but it looks like a completely new face which according to Yoshi P isn't what was the aim of improving character graphics. Either let us use the old character models or change the new models to look more faithful to the originals albeit in higher resolution.https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachmen...497f654596f72&

Quote:

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Originally Posted by RushBee

Atleast with the face 2 female Au Ra, they've replaced the lips entirely which drastically changes how our characters look. The assets themselves are fine in terms of quality but it looks like a completely new face which according to Yoshi P isn't what was the aim of improving character graphics. Either let us use the old character models or change the new models to look more faithful to the originals albeit in higher resolution.

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PLEASE... it looks so bad! The mouth is completely different. I also dislike the loss of light in the eyes, but the mouth is the biggest thing and was such a charm point of this face. It needs to be fixed!

I posted this in the general before/after thread but I'll post here as well since it's specific to Au Ra.

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

I'm so devastated with how my girl looks. Her previous resting expression looked mildly pleased, but now because of changes to the shadows it looks like her entire face has been pulled taut? She looks like she hasn't slept in weeks. The top/bottom eyeliner in the Other Features section used to be an opaque color that gave the impression of a larger lined eye, but now it blends into the skin and makes it look like raccoon eyeshadow instead.

I've tried editing so many things in the character creator but there's no way to make her look like she did before... I really hope they fix this.