7.0 Graphic Update - Elezen feedback

[SpiritMuse]

So to summarise most of the problems I've seen here and around the boards for Elezen so far:

• Faces are too rounded and have lost definition of chins and cheekbones
• Darker skin tones look waxy and strange
• Duskwood have been drawn using Wildwood face textures, giving them dark eye circles that they didn't have before
• Some lips have completely changed shape
• Some lips have been turned up at the corners creating a 'smiling' effect that wasn't there before
• Some lips have an odd stripe of light added above them
• Some noses have been made straighter, narrower and less pointy
• Some eyes have changed shape
• Lack of eye highlights is causing a dead look in the eyes
• Eyelashes are longer and thicker, changing the visible shape of eyes and also contributing to the dead eye look by covering any highlights that may be there
• Facial expressions and 'feeling' of many characters have changed significantly due to these changes in features

[Larirawiel]

• Faces are too rounded and have lost definition of chins and cheekbones
• Some lips have completely changed shape
• Some lips have been turned up at the corners creating a 'smiling' effect that wasn't there before
• Some lips have an odd stripe of light added above them

Those changes are propably bugfixes due wrong normal maps for Elezen faces. Normal maps are used for structure simulation. I guess, the players got used to the wrong normal maps or built their character around them. And with the fixes their character looks different. And yes, it happens relatively often, that players start to like some bugs in games if the bugs stay long enough.



Cheers

[Tsumdere]

Those changes are propably bugfixes due wrong normal maps for Elezen faces. Normal maps are used for structure simulation. I guess, the players got used to the wrong normal maps or built their character around them. And with the fixes their character looks different. And yes, it happens relatively often, that players start to like some bugs in games if the bugs stay long enough.



Cheers

Some of them are 100% just normal map updates. I know because I purposefully chose rounded features but they still had shadows regardless of the actual shape of my face. A problem like this is lose-lose situation because they were absolutely incorrect. Retaining the feel of these parts and resculpting all of the options is probably beyond the scope of their original idea and probably can't be saved before DT.

Some parts are completely changed. The biggest offender is the thicker lips people have been posting about. These drastic differences that really can't be disputed by anyone should get first priority even if the rest of the perceived changes have to wait however long.

[SpiritMuse]

Those changes are propably bugfixes due wrong normal maps for Elezen faces. Normal maps are used for structure simulation. I guess, the players got used to the wrong normal maps or built their character around them. And with the fixes their character looks different. And yes, it happens relatively often, that players start to like some bugs in games if the bugs stay long enough.



Cheers

Then they should update the normal maps to reflect the structures they have been showing until now. It doesn't matter if it's a bugfix. The facial features have been visually changed to the point where characters don't look like themselves anymore.

[Larirawiel]

Then they should update the normal maps to reflect the structures they have been showing until now. It doesn't matter if it's a bugfix. The facial features have been visually changed to the point where characters don't look like themselves anymore.

I doubt, that they will re-implement very old bugs.




Cheers

[Naseilis]

Alright, my turn !

< ENDWALKER LEFT | DT BENCHMARK RIGHT >






Overall, the result is a mixed bag, but mostly positive. Here are the elements that called to my attention the most :

EYES :
Actually pretty happy about the changes to the shape of this set of eyes. They were the most innocent but also "out of place" looking so that's why I picked them initially, but now they are more in line with the other designs and it makes him look more mature like the rest.

HOWEVER, he's a duskwight, and now he has dark circles under his eyes ?? No can do ! I took a duskwight face specifically to avoid those dark circles... !

The new eyebrows make all the elezens look angy or evil now, help- And I've seen some who have lost their eyebrow identity... It's not all bad, but for the most detailed ones to lose their identity is a shame for sure.

HAIR :
The hair seems to have lost some shine in parts and gained in others, and the new hair shader doesn't make it look like hair. Idk, I'm gonna be real, it looks kind of "cheap"... The previous hair had more definition somehow, albeit not always lighted correctly. Something about the previous shader made it shine more like actual hair strands ?

I also find the coloring much less saturated in the benchmark version that the previous one (except for the secondary hair strands coloring which in turn looks extra saturated in some places), and seems to go in line with people's observations so far.

SKIN TONE :
The model seems to gorge itself with a tad too much lighting which makes it glow and wash out the shadows in high lighting areas. The problem also subsides in low lighting (e.g. first pic) as expected of SSS, so there might be some tuning to do ? I'm a BIG fan of the reddish ear tips, of course ♥

TL;DR : Nice eyes upgrade, but please, NOT the dark circles under his eyes ! Also eyebrows, varied lighting and coloring "issues"

[decomposer]

I doubt, that they will re-implement very old bugs.

This is something I've been grappling with over the last few days. Are we really meant to think that hooked noses, strong profiles, smaller almond eyes, and full lips were "mistakes?" If so, I'm not sure why they let people build characters with those mistakes for ten years. A lot of people held onto those features as the only crumbs that allowed us to make ethnically diverse characters.

[Larirawiel]

This is something I've been grappling with over the last few days. Are we really meant to think that hooked noses, strong profiles, smaller almond eyes, and full lips were "mistakes?"

Jepp. There is a nice documentary on YT how ARR was made. They took literary every shortcut, they could to finish ARR as fast as possible. With the graphical update, they fix some defect things.



Cheers

[Lorefiend]

Jepp. There is a nice documentary on YT how ARR was made. They took literary every shortcut, they could to finish ARR as fast as possible. With the graphical update, they fix some defect things.



Cheers

The normal map might not have been perfect and got remade, but 3D shapes are not bugs. The sculpting of the face was intentional for 1.0, and it is intentional for 7.0 too.
The changes hurt the character creation range we used to have, and are the opposite of what they said they were trying to do; staying faithful. This is not something that needed to be lost to fix the bugs.