Sure it's a good idea to remove the static light dot from the eyes?

[4clubbedace]

It's like you didn't see the other photo I posted three posts down from my first one, or the ones from other Final Fantasies that another person posted, at least a few of which were in dark or dimly lit areas. There is a reason that most games with this kind of style make the eyes look wet or shiny even when it's dark, because it looks uncanny to just be dull.

all of these are from cutscenes which, like photoshoots , are specifically and meticulously crafted for vewing pleasure

most of the time, in game, they look liike this





not liek, bad, and these eye shine sure, but of course lightning, effects, shadows on the face. Arnt goign to be as important as wehn the game going into "Story cutscene moment"

Sure, but the second photo seems shot with the intention of mimicking natural lighting – and this entire game effectively is a photoshoot or movie set with the power to place studio lights wherever they feel like it, even in configurations that would be impossible in real life.

Not entirely true, nor would i want it to be. But for studio lightning thats when we have "special cutscene moments" hence why so many people (not all, but plenty) mention the BM itself feeling better than the cc.

and you know, gpose, where specialty lightning and other effects can be used.

[Tsumdere]

Yeah, I feel like the light catch on eyes is maybe behaving a little too realistically, and could be tastefully exaggerated slightly.

This is the answer.

The original white dot was really ugly in comparison to the new catchlights. The new catchlights just need to be more sensitive to lights around them.

[Roda]

Can some of y'all who're missing eye shines post your settings? 'cause here's an album of every race/clan/gender/face combo and they all have some kind of sparkle eyes going on. Some are stronger than others, but they do all have something. And they exist in direct and indirect lighting. ._.

[GrizzlyTank]

Can some of y'all who're missing eye shines post your settings? 'cause here's an album of every race/clan/gender/face combo and they all have some kind of sparkle eyes going on. Some are stronger than others, but they do all have something. And they exist in direct and indirect lighting. ._.

The lighting the that character creator is different than the one in-game, and the light dot there is smaller than the live creator, the screenshots generated from the benchmark is better representation of the issue. Also as I've pointed out, the light dots follows or should follow the camera, but new one only follows the sun so the sparkle will be missing from most situations.

[Tsumdere]

Can some of y'all who're missing eye shines post your settings? 'cause here's an album of every race/clan/gender/face combo and they all have some kind of sparkle eyes going on. Some are stronger than others, but they do all have something. And they exist in direct and indirect lighting. ._.

They are all taking their screenshots in Gridania which is abysmal lighting and makes everything look horrible and flat regardless of angle. It doesn't help that the very first close-up shot in the benchmark is shrouded in shadow.

Characters look immensely better in the aether.

[GrizzlyTank]

They are all taking their screenshots in Gridania which is abysmal lighting and makes everything look horrible and flat regardless of angle. It doesn't help that the very first close-up shot in the benchmark is shrouded in shadow.

Characters look immensely better in the aether.

Though gridania seems to have the best colors in it's lighting. The other locations adds bit of a tint.

[Tsumdere]

Though gridania seems to have the best colors in it's lighting. The other locations adds bit of a tint.

All of the maps are the wrong color tbh. It's all washed out or too dark except the benchmark. Gridania looks like you got flashbanged.

[Roda]

They are all taking their screenshots in Gridania which is abysmal lighting and makes everything look horrible and flat regardless of angle. It doesn't help that the very first close-up shot in the benchmark is shrouded in shadow.

Characters look immensely better in the aether.

I chose aether 'cause it didn't have the shifting clouds issue which would add a few more variables to the comparisons that I was too lazy to try and mitigate, but my eye shines stayed consistent in every lighting scenario (As mentioned by my last line)



(lit from the side)


(in shade and obscured)


(lit from behind)

At least on my end, the sparklies are still very present :x

[4clubbedace]

[StarKorg]

I think the issue stems from a mixture of the eye shiny that is almost always visible is so incredibly low contrast that it makes the eyes look lifeless in addition with some races (Roe is the biggest offender, faces 1 and 3 having it the worst I think) having incredibly dark eyes all of a sudden.
See:

The old static shiny was higher contrast, but with the changes to the eye colours and the sclera being even whiter now it looks so much more dull by comparison (giving the illusion of the lifeless eyes)

I think what the blue aether background does in some of its scenarios is almost good enough, it just needs a bit more pushing of that contrast to make the eye shine pop more, and maybe a bit less of the shadows on the eyes, but from what I've seen of screenshots on the forum this entirely depends on the race, some I've seen had the eyes lightened (Elezen for example).

Here's a little turnaround I did of my main character (for reference!), my settings are not perfect, I know! They're just the defaults.
TLDR: Eye shiny in Aether looks best, but needs more contrast and those shadows need nerfing on some races!


Turnaround video (I don't know how to embed videos sorry!):

https://youtu.be/fAovsAfUtR4