Benchmark/Graphics Update - Show your WoL's before and after

[Razraptre]

While there does seem to be an increase in green/yellow tones in skin, in my experience a lot of that is due to picking the La Noscea scene, and I think it has something to do with colour from the grass reflecting off the face or something. They don't seem to be as green/yellow in the Shroud/Thanalan areas.

I think you might be right about that. I was worried that Sea Wolves had a greener tint to all tones but it's not as apparent with Gridania/Thanalan lighting.

[Skivvy]

Some of my peeps:

Miqo - face 4
Before:

After:

(imgur keeps deleting the "after" picture for some reason. lol. If it's gone again, just know I tried three times).

My biggest complaint on her is that the changes to eyeliner/lashes have changed the shape of her eye. I use 'Eye 3' quite often on a lot of my races, and it's become a lot more rounded looking. In the case of the miqo, there's only a tiny difference between 3 and 1 now which is a bummer.


Viera face 2
Before:

After:


She's looking puffier, but OK for the most part in this lighting. This face looks ROUGH in some of the other options. lol. My biggest issue with her is the lip shape and the overlining, which isn't super noticeable in this screenshot, but it's there.

(I thought I took pictures of my current Viera (face 1), but it seems I didn't. She actually looks mostly OK which I'm happy about.)


Au Ra - face 1
Before:

After:


So, unpopular opinion, but I'm actually semi-OK with how my Au Ra looks now....SPECIFICALLY because she's more rounded looking. I always loved her 3/4 profile, and that has been impacted by the change, but when looking at her straight on, i prefer her chin not being super pointy. Though she does look like she's melted a wee bit in this specific picture...

One thing about face 1 - they've always looked the tiniest bit boss-eyed to me. With the update, it looks like the gaze is more straight. It's incredibly subtle, and may just be a me-thing, but it's a plus for me.


Lala -face 1
Before:

After:

BONUS!:

MORE BONUS!:
Before:

After:


Sigh. RIP to my Lala. This is the one I'm completely unhappy with. The eyeliner is far darker all around. Her lash line is completely different which changes eye shape. They've stolen our upper lip. The nose blends into the face. AND THAT MOUTH. Geezus. As a whole, she looks like she's seen some things and it's not good.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

After playing with my characters in all the lighting, spinning them around, going through the benchmark...as a whole they seem to look a lot more....puffy/rounded. They also look less expressive to me. Mouths need a lot of help. I can't say that I'm loving the changes, but I'm not feeling as negative about it as I was yesterday. Minus my Lala. She needs all the help she can get.

As a disclaimer, I did try to get screenshots where the benchmark-shot looked relatively normal for what it is. Not a fan of point-blank shots, but I think it helps to highlight the changes best. Gonna try to stay cautiously optimistic that it won't be as...ehhhhh in game. Lighting/angles/clothing make a world of difference, so we'll have to see how it is once things are live. I will definitely be doing a lot of testing in-game before using that free fantasia.

[Doozer]

I think you might be right about that. I was worried that Sea Wolves had a greener tint to all tones but it's not as apparent with Gridania/Thanalan lighting.

I'm glad it was worthwhile information to someone at least.

[sylanxi]

That makes sense. I just wanted to point it out since your post reminded me of it and I didn't think anyone had mentioned it in the thread yet. Just in case someone else had a similar problem and it turned out to just be lighting.

Yeah for sure! I've had plenty of friends who went from "who is this creature" under the CC lighting to "actually this is kind of cute" in the trailer lighting, it seems to be a mileage varies thing. My poor wol just lost the genetic lottery I guess lmao

[Doozer]

Yeah for sure! I've had plenty of friends who went from "who is this creature" under the CC lighting to "actually this is kind of cute" in the trailer lighting, it seems to be a mileage varies thing. My poor wol just lost the genetic lottery I guess lmao

Yeah I went through a few stages of grief myself but after some tweaks and knowing that the CC is like the selfie camera on your phone, I feel a bit better. Still sucks for other people though, like yourself.

[Troykaka]

I don't understand why they would purposely dull a races' defining trait. I hate the way his nose looks now.

[Loops]

After a much closer examination of my character I have found that I was wrong, and there are fewer changes than I'd thought. I am not as upset as I was previously, but there are still definitely a couple of things that I think should be changed.

To those of you who are also unhappy with the changes to your character, I encourage that you also try to spot where added polygons or low-contrast shading (it makes a difference regardless of lighting) could have created the illusion that the shapes of your facial features have changed.

The mistakes that I made when examining my character:

• My jawbone was less pronounced. This is only because more polygons were added.
• My face was rounded overall. My chin is the only thing that was actually changed about my overall facial structure.
• My eyes were rounded. The increased density of eyelashes, the change to the bushy eyebrows facial feature, and the lower contrast shading all created the illusion that my eyes were rounded.
• The tip of my nose and my nostrils were rounded. This is only because more polygons were added.
• My nose was less pronounced. The combination of new lighting and the scar facial feature caused the bridge of my nose to be less visible.
• My lips were filled out and made more defined. Due to the addition of more polygons, the lip texture appears to have been extended to cover area that was previously difficult to see due to the higher contrast shading.

What I am unhappy with:

• My chin was widened and rounded out to accommodate the increased number of polygons along my jawline.
• The scar facial feature on my nose has been re-positioned further down my nose, and has made the bridge of my nose less defined.
• The bushy eyebrows facial feature was made more pronounced horizontally and less pronounced vertically, and it makes my eyes / face appear wider overall.
• The increased density of eyelashes make my eyes appear rounder.
• The new iris texture is not as sharp as the old one.

Additionally, I still prefer the higher-contrast shadows because they gave me a more stylized look; however, I wouldn't say that's something I'm unhappy with.

[ChaoticAvenger]

I'm really not a fan of the new lips for my main look. The new ones take all of the character the old lip choice had, and its one of the things I liked most about my character. Now they just look kind of basic and samey. Other than that I don't see a huge issue, the eye shape seems a bit different, but maybe its just cause the lips made everything else work. Please SE, try to make the new lips look a bit more similar in shape to the old ones. They were so much more voluminous and cute!

[Kimeraandrel]

Incredibly happy with how my character turned out.

[TBerry]

Posted this in the other thread, but here.

All in all, there isn't really that much difference.