Dawntrail character graphics update - opinions, requests and discussion megathread

[Fiorentine]

So, maybe unpopular opinion, considering the race I am, but like... I'm really disliking the update more than I should. I love how some races definitely have a glow up and some of the changes defintely made me like Au Ra more. (I do understand that many Au Ra people are upset and I can see why)but in my case it's a different problem I have, or well, not only a face discomfort when seeing my character in game.

So, without trying to sound uneducated, but anyone who uses skirts specially the shorter ones, have you noticed a change in your legs and/or arms? In general, the width of your thighs, or even a more "tubular" look on them? That has been happening to me over the last 24 hrs. I'm fem-Highlander (yeah yeah thighlander, and exactly cause of that is that I noticed) and I just noticed that whenever I'm using short skirts (like the Faire Kohakama) I dont have legs like before, like... feels like my legs got streamlined with midlander and miqo legs (slimmer legs) as well as my arms. Not saying it's bad, but if I chose highlander, it was cause I wanted to have that difference in spite of me really disliking some other innate features, like the way they run or some emotes.

I feel like changing skin, some features, adding textures etc would make expected changes like some face, eyes and hair changes... but, legs? arms? :|

Maybe it's just me, and I'm uneducated but dunno, just wanted to bring it up. (If anyone wants I can show pics of the kind of difference I noticed).

[Gaddes]

Final Edit: I made an extremely bad drawing that over-exaggerates the differences that are annoying me so badly between DT and Pre DT Lips of Female Miqo'te Face 3 when combined with Female Miqo'te Mouth 4. Keep in mind that i totally exaggerated these shapes. I'm just trying to make obvious the differences i see that are bugging me so much and making me sad:

I've been noticing that other people, like myself, who had mouths that used to have fuller, rounder/curvier lips (specifically the upper lip) had the most changes unfortunately.

My Elezen is the following:
Face 1
Eye 2
Eyebrows 4
Mouth 2

Mouth 2 was completely changed out with this expansion. Here's a side-by-side of my characters, and then a version with the drawover:



If I ignore how the eyebrows are now thicker and rounded on the inside ends and how the eyes are larger overall (I had to fantasia to Eyebrows 2 to even slightly remedy it), the lips are... literally not the same in the slightest.
And the most frustrating aspect is now all the male elezen lips are thin and narrower overall, so the one set of lips that at least had some body to them are just no longer there.

I've noticed the face options that are shared with important NPCs (like Haurchefant, Urianger, Estinien, etc) had the least if any adjustments made, because obviously they didn't want to radically alter established characters' faces. But woe be to anyone like myself that used options that are not found in prominent NPCs, because those are the ones that got butchered.

And I already commented in a previous post about how the change in brows makes my character not emote nearly as intensely as he used to, which is just such a major bummer in cutscenes like the one above.

[Iscah]

I'm quite disappointed by the changes to my Au Ra guy. He used to look very gentle before the DT update, but now he looks perpetually angry, even when smiling he has this stern frown on his eyebrows, his eyes seem to be a bit more squinted and over all just doesn't feel right at all. My sweet boy before and now after in DT

My Au Ra is very similar to yours and I've been through the same disappointment. The lips are thin and downturned, and the structure of the eyes has been altered to have much heavier eyelids. They did at least make improvements to the eye makeup from the disastrous first benchmark look, but it still feels like an entirely different face has been applied to the character.

My instant impression is that it resembles Zenos, and it's also quite close to Lucia's face. The heavy eyelids are commonly a trait on Garlean characters with customised faces.

[AstiSpumante]

In general, the width of your thighs, or even a more "tubular" look on them?

It's not just highlanders, I noticed Midlanders seem to have more thigh gap and both midlanders and aura have more "realistic" leg muscle shading. I'm a short skirt enthusiast and noticed it almost instantly. It's not my fav personally but not as jarring as the face changes. But there definitely was a change, you aren't going crazy.

[azaleai]

I haven't really seen anyone else mention this, and I sadly do not have comparison pics, but wondering if anyone else thinks their character looks kind of dirty? I play a fairly dark-skinned Rava viera, though not the darkest, kind of a medium-to-light brown, and while I do like that I can see him better in cutscenes, I just keep thinking he looks like he has dirt all over his face. Like the skin looks almost mottled or something, instead of the smooth matte look of before.

Absolutely! something about the unevenness of the shadows and the poorly done normal map make her look... grubby. Not helped by the new shine making her look oily, either.

Honestly all of those points in the story where NPCs make a fuss about the WoL being dirty or smelling bad coming off of who-know-how-many-hours of adventuring is starting to make more sense.

[TheDustyOne]

So, without trying to sound uneducated, but anyone who uses skirts specially the shorter ones, have you noticed a change in your legs and/or arms? In general, the width of your thighs, or even a more "tubular" look on them? That has been happening to me over the last 24 hrs. I'm fem-Highlander (yeah yeah thighlander, and exactly cause of that is that I noticed) and I just noticed that whenever I'm using short skirts (like the Faire Kohakama) I dont have legs like before, like... feels like my legs got streamlined with midlander and miqo legs (slimmer legs) as well as my arms. Not saying it's bad, but if I chose highlander, it was cause I wanted to have that difference in spite of me really disliking some other innate features, like the way they run or some emotes.

I feel like changing skin, some features, adding textures etc would make expected changes like some face, eyes and hair changes... but, legs? arms? :|

Maybe it's just me, and I'm uneducated but dunno, just wanted to bring it up. (If anyone wants I can show pics of the kind of difference I noticed).

I'm also a fem highlander (same face and hair as yours even) who frequently uses the shorter skirts and dresses, but one thing I'll also add is that older gear has been untouched, including the body pieces attached to that gear, so it's highly unlikely that the legs are slimmer than before. It's only the skin textures that got changed, which was more of a necessity, but otherwise geometry is unchanged from what I understand. I'm sure someone who's tinkered with the game files can probably correct me if I'm wrong though.

That said, I do feel the difference in the face; my mouth feels very off, I can't put my finger on why, it just looks wrong, and the eye shape that I gave feedback on is left unchanged, so that also feels off. I ended up using the free fanta to change to eye shape 4 as that's "closer" to what I envision my character, but I shouldn't have had to do that to begin with.

Side note; my lodestone profile is taking ages to update, I haven't had this hair in a day now.

[ShizuForever]

Somehow Part 4 Of 2 (OK This Joke Is Getting Old)
Somehow after one fantasia and two jandelaine surgeries later:

This is at least something that I don't have to turn my face away from ... but now I gotta level up my jobs in bozja to catch up with all the time I used to explain my issue here ...

I really hope they fix the face contour and the lip issue cuz right now whenever I only look the same when in bright areas (compare the two images here, the contours look different under different lighting conditions) so yeah~

[Zadood]

So, maybe unpopular opinion, considering the race I am, but like... I'm really disliking the update more than I should. I love how some races definitely have a glow up and some of the changes defintely made me like Au Ra more. (I do understand that many Au Ra people are upset and I can see why)but in my case it's a different problem I have, or well, not only a face discomfort when seeing my character in game.

So, without trying to sound uneducated, but anyone who uses skirts specially the shorter ones, have you noticed a change in your legs and/or arms? In general, the width of your thighs, or even a more "tubular" look on them? That has been happening to me over the last 24 hrs. I'm fem-Highlander (yeah yeah thighlander, and exactly cause of that is that I noticed) and I just noticed that whenever I'm using short skirts (like the Faire Kohakama) I dont have legs like before, like... feels like my legs got streamlined with midlander and miqo legs (slimmer legs) as well as my arms. Not saying it's bad, but if I chose highlander, it was cause I wanted to have that difference in spite of me really disliking some other innate features, like the way they run or some emotes.

I feel like changing skin, some features, adding textures etc would make expected changes like some face, eyes and hair changes... but, legs? arms? :|

Maybe it's just me, and I'm uneducated but dunno, just wanted to bring it up. (If anyone wants I can show pics of the kind of difference I noticed).

Some bottom gear such as bunny/bunny chief tight, 2B legging, shisui/faire skirt, will change the shape of your leg, and make it look more slimmer.

If you want a stocking without changing your leg shape, go with bridesmaid thigh or quintelle skirt.
I recall a lot skirt glam usually goes with your default leg.

[Hatsuoki]

im pretty happy with it, im surprised so many people want their creepy uncanny valley features back

Some are good, some are bad. Unfortunately the hyurs need help in a few places, specifically the mouth. All are unedited except for cropping.



I don't have a comparable before pic of this expression but it wasn't this unnatural before.

[lunartears]

[1/5]

Previous feedback
Bench 1 (Images missing): https://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/...38#post6436938
Bench 2: https://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/...12#post6471912
Bench 2 (JP but more concise): https://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/...19#post6480219

It has been a few days since Dawntrail early access has began and I think I have spent enough time looking at my character to compile my thoughts. I have provided feedback in both April and June regarding this face type and I feel a little disappointed that I have to write about it a third time. Upon login, I noticed immediately that the anxiety I had all this time had come true. I didn't want to start the new MSQ and still haven't because I feel it would sour the entire experience for me.

I would like to apologise if my tone is misread throughout this series of posts, I only intend to get straight to the point. I will organise my feedback orderly into several sections.

For illustrated examples, left = 6.5 and right = 7.0
For gif images, refer to pupil size. 6.5 will have smaller pupils and 7.0 will have large pupils.

- 1. Eyes - Larger pupil and eyeshape, gaze is different



I immediately noticed that the eyes were much larger. A key point would be the pupil being enlarged, which gives off a totally different impression compared to 6.5. The iris has also been moved from the middle of the eyeball to a more raised point.

I would like it if the eyes would gaze in the same direction as before and for the pupil to be made smaller as it really doesn't look right on Au Ra.

- 1b. Eyelashes - Eyelash direction rotated, appears less voluminous, not possible to achieve the same sharp appearance on Eye Shape 3 anymore -



Setting: Type 3

The direction of the eyelashes has been rotated making the corner eyelash flick no longer appear sharp. They are also less voluminous as before and the upper eyelashes that cover a small portion of the iris are much more thicker and noticeable. It is only possible to see the flick again if you look at the character from below.

I traced over the first eye image to try to make it easier to see the difference in the pupil and eyelashes:



I would like it if the eyelashes could return to the direction they were before and for the appearance to go back closer to 6.5. I would like the sharp flick to appear from the forward facing angle again.

- 1c. Makeup - Eyeshadow has been lessened -



Eyeshadow makeup appears less prominent as opposed to before. It is best noticed when the eyes are closed or at certain angles.
I used this setting alongside face paint to darken it but even with the face paint still enabled, it has notably lessened.

I would like it if I could have a heavier eyeshadow like before.