[Graphical Update Feedback] Eyes and Limbal Rings on Au ra

[Zjar]

I absolutely, 110% do not like this Limbral Ring change. Upgrade the polygon count, sure. Do not remove the uniqueness of Au Ra Limbral Ring eyes. I like my Limbral Rings to look like they are glowing. Hell, if they want to change the Rings more than just polygon count, outright add a faint glow to them so they stand out even more in the dark. I would also accept upping the brightness on the rings, so they don't blend in and just look plain like in that 7.0 picture.

I love my bright blue Limbral Rings. They look very neat and unique to my character. This change just makes your eyes look like everyone else's eyes. Boring. When I swapped from Hyur to Au Ra, one of the things that sold me on going through with the change was seeing how cool the Limbral Rings made my eyes look! I will literally start using addons to get my eyes back the way I like if this change is implemented, and I've been no plugins since I started in 2014.

[Lunaxia]

As is, its easy enough to make a gradient with the current system. If they were not intended to "glow" then they should never have offered the ability to make them so bright.

I think that's just a side effect of trying to make the brighter colours pop with poor graphics. There's no doubt the eyes are meant to be pretty bright as a feature of the race, but if they had intended the more artificial, neon glow look they have now, they wouldn't be changing it in the upgrade.

[ZanseiStone]

I think that's just a side effect of trying to make the brighter colours pop with poor graphics. There's no doubt the eyes are meant to be pretty bright as a feature of the race, but if they had intended the more artificial, neon glow look they have now, they wouldn't be changing it in the upgrade.

still whether it was originally intended or not, it has become part of the identity for many players after it has been in the game for what like 8 years, and the spirit of the graphics update is supposed to be things will still look the same, just better

[Lunaxia]

still whether it was originally intended or not, it has become part of the identity for many players after it has been in the game for what like 8 years, and the spirit of the graphics update is supposed to be things will still look the same, just better

But there's a conflict there between "things are supposed to look the same but better" and "please preserve this graphical issue because I identify with it as part of my character." This is the same but better, it just results in a more harmonious and natural look. Au Ra were never intended to look like androids.

[ZanseiStone]

i do think the new eyes are like 90% of the way there to being a straight improvement personally, its just that last 10% regarding the glow of the limbal rings that i have concerns with, and hope that feedback is taken into account to preferably providing the option of a glow for your limbal ring if you want

[KusuriyaV]

...but some people dig that effect from the looks of it, which is fair enough. I do think, though, that it's more of the same with regards to the other graphical update complaints so far - people have become so attached to their characters that they've come to perceive graphical limitations as character traits, and I think once they get over that, they'll warm up to the new looks more than they think.

No. Just no. I don't want to warm up to a 'new look,' I want my character's current look. The devs made it a point that is a goal for this update, is to preserve the overall looks of our characters. People who like the glow, shouldn't have to lose that glow that fits their character nor warm up to a new version of the rings. It isn't about graphical limitations, it isn't anything complex. I want the glow, cause it fits my character's look and I built my character with the rings glow in mind. You can dislike the glow of the rings, but that doesn't mean we have to accept them being loss or warm up to the idea of a lack of glow, when some of us didn't intend with such an idea when making an Au Ra.

Again, we shouldn't be tackling this with the idea of glow vs no glow. But be pushing for a glow toggle/brightness options to allow everyone to have the ability to alter the limbal rings as they wish for the best of both worlds.

The original intent doesn't matter, when the goal IS to preserve the overall looks of players characters. If characters believe there is a glow effect and want that preserved, regardless of the original intent of limbal rings or why that glow occurred. It is the devs responsibility, in a effort to adhere to those goals, to establish a toggle for glow/glow effect in an effort to preserve that identity for those characters. It is fine, if you are using intention and etc, to argue or dismiss people who like/want the glow. But that doesn't mean we can't push for options so we can preserve what we intended with our characters as well.

[stellarCouncil]

I completely refuse to accept the idea of warming up to REMOVING an option I CHOSE ON PURPOSE.

Dunesfolk eyes are a good example of a contrast, they're less empty than I was originally drawn to, but they aren't like, adding clear high-def pupils, just a stronger suggestion of an iris than before. They aren't drastically changing a major character trait, just making it more detailed.

I don't care what their intentions were. Their intentions are meaningless after YEARS of these being the options available. When I started, the option to not use limbal rings existed. I could pick between more human-looking eyes, limbal rings where the eyes matched the rings, or the freaky inhuman high-contrast look. I CHOSE the high contrast. On purpose. I do not and will not accept my choices being removed from me. They do not need to remove my choices, to add more detail to them. There is no defending this, no accepting this, it is wrong it is wrong it is wrong.

It is not improvement if it takes away the choices I made. They've shown VERY CLEARLY that they can improve the graphics, add details they didn't have before, to eyes that have a very particular aesthetic people enjoy. So in seeing the difference between retention of aesthetic between Dunesfolk and Au Ra, I refuse to accept what they're doing to the limbal rings. More detail, higher graphical fidelity, that's all fine, BUT KEEP THEM GLOWING. If you don't want your eyes glowing, don't use limbal rings.

[stellarCouncil]

I no longer like how angry I wrote that but I still stand by the content.

[Xeronia]

I would agree that I picked the limbal rings because of how bright they were and how well it complimented the eye color with that brightness on any Au Ra I made. I would hope they do retain that and there is just an option between the two so people who like this get it and people who like the older brightness can retain it.

[SchwarzwaelderTorte]

I think that's just a side effect of trying to make the brighter colours pop with poor graphics.

But there's a conflict there between "things are supposed to look the same but better" and "please preserve this graphical issue because I identify with it as part of my character."

I've seen the same rhetoric used in the feedback thread on Roegadyn eyes and I find it quite low to call what was the norm for all of us until recently "poor graphics", "mistakes" or "issues", just because we have something to compare it to now, and because it is different and new, it must mean previously established graphics must be "wrong" somehow.

The game established an art direction within the technical limitations of its time and its engine, and regardless of how much things have improved on a technical level, they have stated themselves that they want to "preserve the existing style".

Style is not the same as technical improvement. It's a creative intention that can be shaped by technical limitations, but it remains an artistic choice nonetheless.

It's a bit difficult to put into words exactly what I mean, so I'll use another example from the Technical Art panel to illustrate it:



I'd argue that on this model, the stylistic choices have been preserved. It doesn't look exactly the same, some things have moved a little (the little nails on the chest, the right shoulder), more contrast has been added on the embossing and between the armor plates and the chainmail, but I would say that the stylistic choices have been preserved.

The only exception I can see are the decorations on the lower belt: before it looked like they were a mix of metal and leather (or maybe painted metal), and after it looks like they're made of only metal, with the darker background engraved into it. That's not just adding more polygons and shaders and pixel resolution on the texture, that is a conscious artistic decision from whoever redesigned the model.

I can't find the original concept art for this armor so I don't know how the belt was originally intended to look, but if you look at the artwork here you can see that the details are closer to the original model than the new one.



Now look at how Magnai is designed. Both the highlights in his hair and the weapon he was given (a reskin of the Tremor Axe) are a direct callback to his striking yellow limbal rings that contrast against his dark facial marks, his skin and his scales. That is 100% an artistic decision.

Now imagine him if the light in his eyes went out. Would you still call him the same character, with the same design, the same feel?