Yoshida gives update on the benchmark/character creator

[Nebty]

However, why they changed such features as Moon-Keeper fangs etc., I don't know. Aside from doing it to try to push realism (which has been received badly across most of the communities from what I hear), I can't think of any other reason for which they would consciously elect to do it, particularly after saying they would try to keep characters as close to their current appearance as possible. Unless it was an outcome of the adjustments, but for as many posts that I've seen suggesting the slight feature changes are unavoidable for technical reasons, I've seen an equal number saying that not to be the case.

The face/mouth sculpt issue is likely tied to:

1) Faces apparently having over 50 new bones now, which are going to introduce some rigging issues (I'm thinking mouth/facial expression bugs fall into this category).

2) The new facial animation workflow that involves having a standard head mesh and then morphing it into each different head to cut down on animation time. I think this is probably the reason for the keeper fang nerf because it's easier to do something like this when there are fewer differences, and Suncats don't have fangs. It's also probably responsible for the general homogenization of unique facial features (mouths either getting narrower, fuller, sudden appearance/removal of dimples, slimmer/rounder cheeks, etc).

The changes caused by #2 are among the biggest issues currently being vocalized by the playerbase and I think the feedback they've received will make them more likely to reincorporate those differences as much as they're able. Which, as a Face 2 Fem Au Ra player I'm really really hoping for (their unique mouth shape now looks way more like Face 1). Fingers crossed that keeper fangs make a return.

I'm also just generally worried about the quality of facial animations under the new system if it's this buggy only two months before release. Are we going to have Mass Effect Andromeda levels of "oh god what is my character's face doing???" with the new standardization? Already not a big fan of the creepy smile in the Dawntrail Benchmark, or the persistent duckface some characters seem to be getting.