Dawntrail character graphics update - opinions, requests and discussion megathread

[Tsumdere]

Follow up on my post earlier. I don't have many screenshots on hand due to computer issues, but I was able to make this quickly. I posted this on the JP forums as well. I think it gets the point across well enough.

The dark circles on Duskwight males are horrendous. I played through the first cutscene and the moment I saw his face I knew that I couldn't continue like that. I thought I could but it's just super awful in cutscenes. It's not even a minute detail, but just a full blown in your face alteration to the clan. He genuinely looks like he got punched in both eyes.



Duskwight players on NA and JP have been asking for the removal of the dark circles since the moment the benchmark dropped. There are posts with hundreds of likes about it. We asked again for benchmark 2. Seems we were completely ignored again as there wasn't even an attempt to lighten them. In fact - they seem darker!

Combine that with them completely ignoring the Roe nose smudges, they just don't seem to give a damn about lesser played races.

-

Edit: I'm putting this revelation in this previous post instead of making a new one so I don't fill up the thread with Duskie woes.

I'm not certain that it's only a texture change.

After some Duskwight players have played around with the Duskie male textures using specific methods, it has been determined that it is only the texture causing darkness under the eyes. A quick two minute paint over has produced results extremely close to pre-DT graphics. I imagine given another hour or two it would be high-quality enough to officially put in the game - especially when it could be done by professionals and not the players themselves.

As I prefer not to use such methods (and console players can't), it is disheartening to know that is the case.

This is clearly either a result of the dev team projecting their own wishes onto player models or pure negligence. I personally think it would be impossible to miss the amount of Duskwight players in the JP thread requesting this very specific thing. It didn't require long paragraphs or in-depth breakdowns of differences since it was so obvious and it was a racial trait just like Keeper fangs are, but they didn't touch it. I'm inclined to believe they simply think they can skirt by not addressing the issues of the least played races.

[Cyrtip]

This image is from the dialogue option in the first cutscene of the quest "Shadowbringers."

She's supposed to look angry or determined (I know this because both are reflected in the dialogue options, and the context of the SS), but instead looks detached from reality.

Next is during the dialogue option from the final cutscene of the quest "Extinguishing the Last Light."

She's supposed to look shell shocked, having woken up after falling unconscious during events I won't explain to avoid spoilers (Both dialogue options are questions about what happened, showing her confusion), but after the DT graphics replacement again looks quite blank. I don't know what emotion, if any, is supposed to be expressed in the right image. The SS looks as if she is just mouth breathing with a neutral face.

As another example to show the radically changed character impressions in Au Ra♀ face 4, here is my current adventurer plate.

The expression of the portrait has changed from one of determination, to that of a room temp corpse.

Even looking past the loss of expression in Au Ra♀ face 4, the appearance of the eyes, pupils, eyebrows, nose, mouth, and more have all changed to be completely different to their 6.58 counterparts (contributing to this problem). I would like if these differences could be rectified, as I believe the graphics update should be an update and not a replacement, impressing those previously comfortable with their characters first and foremost, as appealing to any other demographic of player makes little sense. Why would a player make a character they are dissatisfied with, and wait for a graphics replacement? I don't know who the intended audience of these changes is supposed to be.

On a slightly funnier but still sad note, she now reminds me not of a lizard or of a dragon, but of a chipmunk whenever she smiles (I believe this SS was taken from the second cutscene of "The Coming Dawn"), as her cheekbones are larger and her smile is awkward.

[GrizzlyTank]

Why did they thought it was a good idea to change the eyes in such a way, when people picked those due to the ridiculous flash lights.

[SchwarzwaelderTorte]

Just a friendly PSA that if you're going to post in the Japanese forums, there's a new thread for specific improvement requests, the big one is more of a "general" thread about the graphical update so it was hard to sort the feedback from the discussions.
The new thread was created to hopefully make it easier for the devs to check feedback (if they check the thread, we don't know if they do)

Also, please:
- Remain polite
- Remain as factual as possible
- Keep your emotions in check (that's also part of being polite)
e.g. "my character is ruined" -> "the eye shape has been slightly altered" etc

(Trust me, I feel the same way, but they don't need to know how you feel about this, they need to know what needs to be worked on)

I won't bother reposting this every page on every thread where people are posting their complaints, but if you feel like doing that feel free to quote this post.

[Gaddes]

I envy people who had minimal differences... my Elezen basically looks like someone injected him with botox. He is certainly softer and rounder with the update, yes, but almost all of the intensity from his expressions have been neutered compared to how he originally looked.
The eyebrow shapes have been completely redone, as ALL the options now have rounded, fatter brows compared to the tapered arched ones from before, so I will have to try and choose one that is thinner without looking slanted/angry by default I guess.
The lips to me are the big loss, as they used to be fuller and thicker, but more importantly the upper/lower lips were similar sizes. Now the upper lip is tapered and the lower one looks like someone injected filler into it. And the other lip choices if I fantasia are just thin lips.





I'm just really bummed that my character used to have an intensity when he was angry or smirky and now he barely looks mad and a little dead inside.

[sindriiisgaming]

just adding to this thread that my male aura has been destroyed in this new update. i honestly want this reversed.

this is my new portrait. how do i say how much i hate it. its heinous. he cant even smile and half of his face is deleted by overshadows.




idk what is going on with the smile either. but it looks genuinely awful and creepy.

[Len_]

I envy people who had minimal differences... my Elezen basically looks like someone injected him with botox. He is certainly softer and rounder with the update, yes, but almost all of the intensity from his expressions have been neutered compared to how he originally looked.
The eyebrow shapes have been completely redone, as ALL the options now have rounded, fatter brows compared to the tapered arched ones from before, so I will have to try and choose one that is thinner without looking slanted/angry by default I guess.
The lips to me are the big loss, as they used to be fuller and thicker, but more importantly the upper/lower lips were similar sizes. Now the upper lip is tapered and the lower one looks like someone injected filler into it. And the other lip choices if I fantasia are just thin lips.





I'm just really bummed that my character used to have an intensity when he was angry or smirky and now he barely looks mad and a little dead inside.

My elezen uses I think the same eyes and lips. I can't stand how huge and prominent the eyes are now and the totally different lips. They are such important features totally obliterated. You can't recognize it as the same person with them being so different.

[MaxL]

Just a friendly PSA that if you're going to post in the Japanese forums, there's a new thread for specific improvement requests, the big one is more of a "general" thread about the graphical update so it was hard to sort the feedback from the discussions.
The new thread was created to hopefully make it easier for the devs to check feedback (if they check the thread, we don't know if they do)

Also, please:
- Remain polite
- Remain as factual as possible
- Keep your emotions in check (that's also part of being polite)
e.g. "my character is ruined" -> "the eye shape has been slightly altered" etc

(Trust me, I feel the same way, but they don't need to know how you feel about this, they need to know what needs to be worked on)

I won't bother reposting this every page on every thread where people are posting their complaints, but if you feel like doing that feel free to quote this post.

Could you please link to the thread? I can't find it. Thank you.

[Loggos]

Just a friendly PSA that if you're going to post in the Japanese forums, there's a new thread for specific improvement requests, the big one is more of a "general" thread about the graphical update so it was hard to sort the feedback from the discussions.
The new thread was created to hopefully make it easier for the devs to check feedback (if they check the thread, we don't know if they do)

Also, please:
- Remain polite
- Remain as factual as possible
- Keep your emotions in check (that's also part of being polite)
e.g. "my character is ruined" -> "the eye shape has been slightly altered" etc

(Trust me, I feel the same way, but they don't need to know how you feel about this, they need to know what needs to be worked on)

I won't bother reposting this every page on every thread where people are posting their complaints, but if you feel like doing that feel free to quote this post.

Do you know if it is ok to use a translator or would too many nuances get lost when using one?

[Daralii]

Looking through viera hair, I found... whatever this is. I think there was similar shading pre-7.0, but it definitely wasn't as pronounced. There are a few other hairstyles that have very pronounced dark patches, though usually along detailed splits on the scalp, so there are just sharp black lines going along either side.

As far as eyes go, and this is more me just noticing a difference instead of taking issue with something, the shading and folds around this area definitely weren't as pronounced either. They wanted to do something with the topography around the eyes(seemingly for every race based on the other posts), but I don't really know what or why.