Dawntrail character graphics update - opinions, requests and discussion megathread

[KhujaRela]

Same, I play this game so that I don't have to look at real faces because I genuinely like anime faces over faces in real life. I actually can't hold eye contact with others IRL because I have a fear of realistic faces. I am genuinely contemplating stopping subscription if this doesnt get fixed by the time 7.1 comes out due to it just simply being impossible to do MSQ while having to keep convincing myself that these faces are not real. The NPCs' faces have all of a sudden became super realistic. Especially when they (and to an extension, the character that 'I' became since the "graphical """update"""") open their mouth the interior of the mouth with all the clarity is like super freaky. Please fix.

I agree, they said they didn't seek realism and I feel kinda lied about that too... the problem is its also uncanny realism, some parts more detailed like eyes and iris, and others retaining their "anime like" or "fantasy like" features which makes it even worse...

[Cosmoz]

Ok so I managed to get the Endwalker benchmark to do a better comparison. Needless to say that I'm super disappointed with the Dawntrail one.

[Reinha]

Nope, not the same... Before and after:



I'll post my female Elezen when the lodestone picture refreshes.

[Aco505]

My seeker of the sun with Face 1 and Eye shape 6 has gone from stoic to stoned during the idle pose. It improves when using emotes, but the default face looks so vacant... Honestly not sure what to do to fix it.

Agreed, the changes to lip shape and eye color make things different.


I'm going to provide my feedback on the male miqo'te face 1 with mouth 4, although some of it will likely apply to other faces, genders or races.

After playing for a bit, I'm getting more used to the changes but there's several issues I see:

- Eye color is faded and darker compared to before. This is the biggest issue in my opinion. While they made the eyes look better from the first benchmark version to the second, the color of the eyes is still faded and darker compared to before. I suppose it's because it doesn't have the extra luminosity it used to have.

However, the consequence is that the character still looks "dead inside". When very specific lighting conditions are met, the eyes look fine but these situations are not that common. This also happens when I check other characters. It's hard to see the color of the irises of Keepers sometimes, for instance.

Additionally, the slit pupils of Seekers are less prominent now and harder to see.

- Eyebrows are thinner and faded and so is their color. Our eyebrows are simply less noticeable than before and face 1 didn't have thick ones to begin with, thus worsening the situation. The color of the stubble for face 1 also looks a bit faded to me.

- I personally don't mind the changes to mouth 4 but I agree that it's a big difference.

What I do feel is that the idle pose for mouth 4 makes it look as if we're smiling now. I'm not too sure if it's due to the lip color I have or if it's just like this. When checking other characters, it seems alright but sometimes when I look at mine it feels like the expression has changed for mouth 4 from normal or slightly serious to slightly smiling.

Lip color is also different.

On another note, I'm very happy that we lost the lip gap that many other mouths also had. I do wish for them to include it as an option to appeal to those players that do want it back, particularly for specific female miqo'te players.

- I have noticed that Koana has special features despite otherwise being a normal male miqo'te with face 1. One of the features that bothers me the most though is the fact that he has lower eyelashes whose color match his hair. Why can't we have those too? We literally have no lower eyelashes at all.

- The low resolution textures are still there and should be fixed: on the sides of the face, below the lower eyelids (and the lower eyelids themselves), the male markings below the eyes and face paint.

- My portraits look very weird now. I don't know what it is but they feel off and the face emotes don't convey the same feeling they did before.

Overall, the textures and graphics are great but I still feel like there's several areas to improve on. A lot of the feedback from previous posts such as this one has not been addressed. Also, as I expected, the body being lower resolution is jarring now.

They did improve it a bit but it's far from what it should be. Fingers need more work but toes look great. I suppose it's because the former are more complex body parts due to their movement.

I will conclude by attaching my own two pictures below of the before and after for comparison.

[Mystifina_Freikugel]

Disheartened by the visual update, having used my AuRa for over 5 years, since I was gifted expansions up to Stormblood and going from trial to subscription (was Mi'qote but the one I made didn't resonate with me). Used the ARR quest reward fantasia and chose AuRa Face 3 and never looked back.

The visual update which I won't dispute looks great, especially the scales, face 3 doesn't look the same to me anymore. I think it's a mix of the eye shape, mouth and the philtrum being so pronounced on the face. Not sure if I'm the only one who thinks so?

Not sure how you guys are getting access to the old lodestone view to show better side by side but here are a couple side by side from me even if it doesn't show the 'update' in the best light.

[Its_Kazzy_D]

I don't really have anything to compare with but I'm quite happy with how the graphics update treated me. I didn't need to make any adjustments with my pre-launch fantasia at all!

[ShizuForever]

Found some contour changes that makes my character different (in a bad way):

This is me pre-graphical-updates above. The face bone is a V shape and there is no jutting out from the area just below the eyes.

This is me post-graphical-updates. My face is swollen everywhere but most noticeable on the area just below the eyes. I did not change face type as that completely makes everything different. I noticed it because I had to change my skin color to match my previous skin tone because I'm supposed to be a magicked doll that has never seen sunlight like ever. (uses umbrellas if I must go outside)


Please either make a new copy of the old face types or like roll it back or change current ones to align with old curvature (more V sleek) as I cannot relate to the current face types and consequently cannot make any meaningful use of my pre-order early access money.

[Sora-Ta]

I used the free fanta to change to rava because the huge eyelids are less visible on them with the darker skin tones, but I just noticed that light really catches on them...


Why are they this thick on vieras?!

[Mercelia]

I'm in the same boat, I was really excited for DT (especially getting a new story) and I can't even look at my character in cutscenes anymore. I tried to get over it, but I now just skip all the cutscenes because it's too sad to look at. Sure, we got free fantasia, but I was happy with her appearance and thus made my WoL look the way she looked. I will continue playing because I love the game, but at the same time I was very much attached to my old WoL too and have a hard time to "just deal with it". I hope that SE will keep working on the graphics, so I can look forward to getting my real WoL back!

EW left/top, DT right/bottom:





I tried to fix it with make up, but I was shocked to see what my WoL looked like without it!

Please SE, give us the old models back as an extra-option in character creation, so that we can make our WoLs look again like they used to, but also give those who are happy with their updated WoL the choice to keep it as it is now.

[VessLynn]

I made a comment not long ago, but wasn't able to provide images. So I just wanted to upload one for people to see the difference. The angle of the camera has changed and it's closer, but everything else in the portrait is the same.

But you can see how awful it looks now. Aaagh! It's even worse in a lot of cutscenes.

Link if image doesn't show up here: https://i.imgur.com/C3xixei.jpg