Dawntrail character graphics update - opinions, requests and discussion megathread

[Iscah]

My forum avatar has updated now and it is doing outright bizarre stuff with the shadowing – half the hair casts a shadow and then it just stops.

Shadows are behaving oddly in the game as well. They're pixelated and can flicker badly as the camera moves. (Edit: Though I do need to keep reminding myself that despite having switched to playing on my PS5 console, I'm stuck playing the PS4 program as it was the only version I could download, possibly because PS5 Endwalker was taken off the store and PS5 Dawntrail isn't available until the official release date.)

And of course there's the eyes that look nothing at all like their proper shape, which is also my main sticking point in the game itself. My bug report on it was accepted, last I checked, so I can only hope it will get addressed. For now she looks half-asleep any time the camera is on her and it's extremely uncanny having the rest of her body look the same but the face is effectively someone else's.

On the other hand, they rejected the puckered face shape as "working as intended" but perhaps I can try again once I've encountered more instances of it – there have been a couple of shots where it's really noticable.

The curse of the eyebags has struck Alphinaud and Alisaie as well.

[MaxL]

Also as many have commented. Hair sheen is in consistent. Look at the hair vs the Ear texture. Like who let this past QA?

I am more and more getting the impression that they made wide-sweeping changes that were tested in only a very narrow set of scenarios.

And when even those narrow set of scenarios had issues (everything that was pointed out in the Dawntrail benchmark character creator), the response was to shift the goalposts. Instead of fixing the shaders to act properly in such and such lighting conditions, they changed the lighting of the character creator scenes instead. That's the common mistake of fixing the symptoms and not the causes.

That sort of attitude in addressing feedback doesn't leave me exactly hopeful for a proper follow-up

[Tahli]

The shaded pupil was always pronounced. That's what gave bright eyes on Keepers that ethereal shine and the "moon eyes". Definitely don't want to see unique traits removed.
Here is my partner's cat from EW. Her pupils are greyish purple.

While there has always been a glow from the iris color over the pupil, I agree that it does seem more pronounced now.

In some lightings, it feels like a white/grey film more than a glowy moon eye. I think the iris colors losing colored lighting that made them pop probably also makes the cataract look more pronounced.

[IndraSyngiwyb]

I posted yesterday but wasn't able to get very good pics to illustrate the differences like I wanted to. So I went back and got more.

I reiterate. My femroe has been completely changed. Pretty well beyond recognition.

EW Benchmark 1:


DT Benchmark 1:


EW Benchmark 2:


DT Benchmark 2:


DT In-Game:


Final Comparison:


Thank you to anyone who reads, and I hope these images better illustrate the issues. Those being: massive pupils, no nose-smudge, and a different-shaped mouth.

[Kibaa]

Yeah I think the mouth changes are the biggest culprit for complaint with turning characters into wholly different people.

I really wish they implemented this change, it's not that I think the new faces are bad or anything, but its just not my character, and the fantasia won't fix this because they just removed that mouth completely.

[MaxL]

I posted yesterday but wasn't able to get very good pics to illustrate the differences like I wanted to. So I went back and got more.

I reiterate. My femroe has been completely changed. Pretty well beyond recognition.

EW Benchmark 1:


DT Benchmark 1:

These two pictures do a wonderful job of showing how much the eyes changed for the worse. If you don't mind, I'll take the liberty of sharing these with the Japanese thread.

[Lieri]

Keep the lips as they were! and the emotes too. For some reason /simper looks so different now. Keep everything consistent please. You cant just put something new that looks so different than the older one.

Thats not updated graphics, thats a completely new look that you might as well make it as one of the options in character settings than overwritting the older one.

Also some eyes are too glowy and as a result have that crazy eyes look.

[Conroy]

Really shouldn't be able to see a seam on my neck in cutscenes... There wasn't ever a seam before.

Still the complaint of lifeless lips just smacked onto me.

[Ysmia]

I've discovered that they've implemented changes after the 1.1 Benchmark.



The mouth gap of Miqo'te Moonkeeper Face 4 has been added back (a feature that existed prior to the Graphics Update). With the new changes with lighting and texturing, however, this feature is now a glaring issue. Idle movements of the character make the rendering of the mouth appear to have a moving white line rather then teeth. This existed prior to the changes, but the teeth are brighter now.


Through cutscenes, especially in dark zones, this is made more obvious as the lips are darker in contrast. (I'm personally not a big fan of curving the ends of the mouth to make the character smile more, but I digress.)


Unrelated to the Benchmark: There is a significant amount of gloss with the new changes.

(Changing the gamma levels help, but it also darkens the brightness of the game.)

These are only observations and not demands. What does not appeal to me might appeal to others so I cannot make suggestions.

[KisaiTenshi]

I'm pretty sure they just used the same lip shape for everyone so they can simplify the "speaking" animation.

As captured in 6.58:

As captured in 7.0:


Now that I see it, the lower-eyelash placement is ... wrong. There is something wrong with the lower-eyelid