Quote Originally Posted by Anneliese_Lev View Post
I don't have evidence, but the more I think about it, it looks like it was "upgraded" using a light touch of AI.

That's a good explanation of why you would obtain "doll" faces in female models
I've been pondering on this and... I think you might be right. Concerning the textures at least - I don't think AI is particularly advanced when it comes to 3D work.

My lip misalignment issue did sorta exist on the old normal maps; there appeared to be two lines that could be interpreted as the apex of the upper lip. It didn't register as an issue then because the models and textures were lower res and more stylised and there was no texturing on the lips to 100% define lips and skin.

As well as that, AI wouldn't know how to handle Roegadyn's brows so it would smooth out the inhuman creases on the nomal map, but it makes sense for diffuse maps to maintain more of their detail since they can contain freckles, tattoos, makeup or scars.

I can't fathom a human artist looking at roe face 2 right now and being proud of their work, nor of thinking "this looks good!", but a machine with lacking human oversight? Yeah, I can believe that.

As much as I as a game artist myself am loathe to assume the use of AI rather than actual human artist's love and care, it makes this bitter pill slightly easier to swallow - it's not a human maliciously deciding the least played race can remain ugly for all they care or some overworked soul going "eh, close enough", but rather a skeleton team relying on technology to do the work for them because they simply don't have the manpower to do it manually as fast as the higher-ups are requiring them to.

Either way, I still stand by the fact I think they should have taken a lot longer to do this upgrade. perhaps starting with environments and lighting and taken another year or a patch or two to do the characters right. It's really not that hard to just update the models and textures to a higher resolution but change nothing else, but it does take a lot of time, care and effort.