Hyur Midlander female faces need... help.

[flatbear]

I just changed to midlander after years playing miqo'te, so I feel extremely confident asserting that miqo'te faces are far more expressive and mobile! I chose the same kind of features I had on catgirl: heart-shaped face, full lips, upturned nose. Maybe it's just the configuration I chose, but something makes my new middie's expressions seem horribly wooden. You can't often tell what she's thinking, or emotes are so distorted that you get the wrong idea. It's almost like my middie and miqo'te are from different games!

The features I chose cannot manage better than the most modest smile (and modest smiles basically disappear). /biggrin and /haurchefant are ghoulish, painful grimaces, whilst they looked exuberant on my miqo'te.

Here, look: Hnnnnggg.... (Honestly, this might be enough to force me back to miqo.)

Why the change if I have these objections? Catgirls aren't very serious, and they are somewhat uncanny-valley. Their features don't take well to certain lighting. The best lips are so upturned at the corners that they seem always to be smiling. I wanted something more stately that could still get away with cutesy looks, and something that wouldn't have a tail clipping obnoxiously with my favourite glams. Voila! I am now prancing around as a midlander, despite all her problems.

I chose the ever-popular face 5, because this face's shape is most familiar and aesthetic to me. The nicest nose option is far too small, so looks horrid at some angles, in some kinds of lighting, and simply strange at best. I think only female highlander has a nose I'd call perfect, though, and it's really just shy of that. Still, I would REALLY like a version of face 5's upturned nose that is just a couple ticks bigger, just so it doesn't look like extremely ill-advised plastic surgery. The upper part of the nose bridge could use narrowing, too, as the current width seems like it belongs to a different face.

The fullest lip option for middie face 5 is also problematic, with the upper lip lacking a discernible cupid's bow, though it is a smidge better in-game than in the character creator.

The anime "late for school" jogging animation really turned me off at first, but several people I know find it cute, so I decided to give it a go. It has grown on me, and it reminds me so strongly of a certain beloved Shadowbringers character that I can't hate it much.... It seems dreadfully out of place on the WOL, but whatever.

There is a lot wrong with even the 'best' middie face, though, and I think improvements are long overdue. That is why I will not apologize for 'necroing' this thread. It remains very relevant.

edit: grammar

[Floortank]

I made a midlander F with face 4. This face wants to be a military officer.

She's a face that works really well with the right hair choice, and this face wants her to be a bit taller rather than short. She doesn't look that bad to me.

[ReynTime]

I just changed to midlander after years playing miqo'te, so I feel extremely confident asserting that miqo'te faces are far more expressive and mobile! I chose the same kind of features I had on catgirl: heart-shaped face, full lips, upturned nose. Maybe it's just the configuration I chose, but something makes my new middie's expressions seem horribly wooden. You can't often tell what she's thinking, or emotes are so distorted that you get the wrong idea. It's almost like my middie and miqo'te are from different games!

Reading this just reinforces my thoughts on the following: Since I first started this game I always felt whoever decided on the variation of faces went for quantity over quality just for sake of having the options there. They never gave any deep thoughts on whether people would all just go Miqo'te because of how much more expressive they are compared to everyone else or how robotic the race supposed to be the most human-looking one would turn out to be. I don't know how they saw some of the gestures/animations Elezen have that make their neck look like nightmare fuel and thought "yep this is looking great, players will love these models".
I really, really think non Miqo'te races needed a fine tuning in animation and alt faces.

[flatbear]

Reading this just reinforces my thoughts on the following: Since I first started this game I always felt whoever decided on the variation of faces went for quantity over quality just for sake of having the options there. They never gave any deep thoughts on whether people would all just go Miqo'te because of how much more expressive they are compared to everyone else or how robotic the race supposed to be the most human-looking one would turn out to be. I don't know how they saw some of the gestures/animations Elezen have that make their neck look like nightmare fuel and thought "yep this is looking great, players will love these models".
I really, really think non Miqo'te races needed a fine tuning in animation and alt faces.

Yes, I have seen those neck-emphasizing animations. Nightmare fuel is right. I get that they wanted their elves to be different from the rest, but there are perhaps better ways to go about it. ^^;; And if elezen facial movements are as stiff as my new hyur's, that's even worse. I remember thinking some of Haurchefant's smiles were absolutely horrifying. XD

The rigid features issue is just getting worse the more I play. My midlander's face might as well be carved from wood. Behold this sad attempt at a smile, versus my original character in the same pose. :C The middie's eyes and mouth just don't have the same mobility, and the result is an overall expressionless character.

I absolutely agree with you that there was not as much care put into crafting some races as others. Of course I could understand new races being more detailed, but miqo and hyur are legacy! Should appearance and animations not be of similar quality?!