Dawntrail character graphics update - opinions, requests and discussion megathread

[AbelEngelgardt]

I love general textures update so much, they look fantastic to say the least.
But as far as I noticed, elezen folk, especially male, have pretty dead eyes now. This unfortunately affected my character really much. He didn't even go through HW to be that dead inside bruh
He does look like a dead fish now, and he isn't the only one - my favourite npc elezen face this problem as well.
Elezens became older, they've got lots of wrinkles under their eyes, these features do not suit them well if they have youngish features. Please, fix that
[IMG]ibb.co/XLgbDNJ[/IMG]
[IMG]ibb.co/12b1DSn[/IMG]

[noumen0nn]

Maybe we should all just go post on the JP megathread with google translate after all. At least over there, you don't have a bunch of clowns chanting the chorus of "but I can't see the difference so it's fine and you're complaining about nothing!!" after every post.

Actually, you know what? Feel free to follow us over and tell the JP community the same thing. Would love to see some of you run up against the JP moderators.

[Plasmaspy]

I love general textures update so much, they look fantastic to say the least.
But as far as I noticed, elezen folk, especially male, have pretty dead eyes now. This unfortunately affected my character really much. He didn't even go through HW to be that dead inside bruh
He does look like a dead fish now, and he isn't the only one - my favourite npc elezen face this problem as well.
Elezens became older, they've got lots of wrinkles under their eyes, these features do not suit them well if they have youngish features. Please, fix that
[IMG]ibb.co/XLgbDNJ[/IMG]
[IMG]ibb.co/12b1DSn[/IMG]

[Anonumia]

I hate looking at my Dunesfolk lala in the cutscenes. The reason I chose a Dunesfolk lala was their luminous eyes, but now the eyes lost the luminosity and the iris looks concave in certain angle and lighting. Also the difference in the light reflection from one eye to another is so jarringly different that you would think one eye is a mile apart from the other. The eye brow is crooked and the lips have no upper lip at all. Someone pointed out that each end of the lips are downward now whereas they were upward before. I agree and I think it makes a huge difference. My lala looks like she is in a bad or serious mood all the time now. Also, the new roundness of the lala's jaw makes it look like she has a mouth full of water whenever the lighting comes downward from the top. My lala is no longer cute in the cutscenes and it really ruins the immersive experience. I really hate continuing the story now. I want my Endwalker lala back.


As of 7/1/24, I changed the race to Hyur. I could not watch the cutscenes without wincing and have reached my limit.

[Nebty]

Just tried out a bunch of facial expressions and it's so bad. Because the new Fem Au Ra Face 2 mouth had its corners turned up unnaturally, all the smiles look uneven, with the corners going up way too far rather than a natural curve like before. If they were going to alter the mouth then why didn't they adjust the facial expressions to match? If that would've taken too long then why change the mouth in the first place? The facial expressions are the dealbreaker because my character's smile just looks so weird now. I used to love taking screenshots in gpose but I can't even recreate any of the expressions I remember.

[MarcellFleur]

I don't know if this the same for other races (it seems to be as I've seen it a bit) but the textures on the face look SO different to the body and its kind of jarring, especially when you wear clothes that don't cover the neck and is also a lot more noticeable from a distance. I have my graphics set to the max so i dont think it could be related. But this is really my only problem with the graphics besides from some areas needing softer lighting

[Plasmaspy]

Just tried out a bunch of facial expressions and it's so bad. Because the new Fem Au Ra Face 2 mouth had its corners turned up unnaturally, all the smiles look uneven, with the corners going up way too far rather than a natural curve like before. If they were going to alter the mouth then why didn't they adjust the facial expressions to match? If that would've taken too long then why change the mouth in the first place? The facial expressions are the dealbreaker because my character's smile just looks so weird now. I used to love taking screenshots in gpose but I can't even recreate any of the expressions I remember.

I noticed that too with some emotes, a weird belle delphine lip curl now.

[Nabril]

The changes are much more obvious to people that have been familiarized with their character for many years.
The only people that hand wave or complain that people are wrong for reporting their personal feedback either;
don't care,
like the changes,
their character wasnt impacted,
use fantasia often,
or use mods to alter their appearance anyway.

My character looks the same. Even when I zoom WAAAAAYYYYY in do I see the tiniest of changes. His armour looks the same too. With how much the system requirements increased (I was easily running on maximum settings before the change and I'm still on maximum settings), I expected a big change. Instead, all I got were minute changes that can only be seen under a magnifying glass.

My point is, this update could have been completely undocumented and I would have never noticed.

[Aria_Nocturna]

My character used to look beautiful, lively, and otherwise alive.
Now she has become some hideous uncanny valley alien in broad daylight.
Even in perfectly even lighting (character creator), a flat and lifeless wax doll.







For the record, my Miqo'te alt looks fine, and even upgraded. My main, though...

I'm going to put Dawntrail content on hold, because seeing this uncanny valley wax doll in cutscenes would ruin all immersion.
Actually, my monthly subscription renews soon. Housing demolition timer just got paused too, so I'll just take a break for now.

Edit: Sigh, this post has caught the attention of the "but I can't see the difference!" trolls.
Is it really so hard to acknowledge how "graphics update" inherently means a change to the graphics?

Edit 2: Image links broke. Fixed.

[Velvina]

Not expecting any actual changes, just shooting my shot in the event there are any. ^^

TDLR, mainly concerned about Face 2 for Male Viera:

1. Lost baby face (full/squishy cheeks) and is too similar to face 3, while unfortunately failing to be attractive. Widening the face to how the EW face was modeled would restore the cheek plumpness and remove the gaunt/triangular oval shape.

2. Nose is dark at sides/much narrower in width. Takes away from face 2 softness/androgyny. Please lighten.

3. Lack of form shadow/cast shadow in eyes(from top eye lid especially + outer edges of eyes changed too much; they used to have a gentle slant downward). Lashes are way too short/thin and lose that 'doe eyed' look. Adding thicker lashes much like the female vieran counterpart could return the attractiveness of the eyes given the new lighting.

4. Lip option 4 (the smallest lips) are now quite wide and rival lip option 1. The top lip is also incredibly small and doesn't stretch across the mouth while the bottom one is very wide. They do not match up... It is more notable if side by side comparison from EW to DT. The corners of the mouth are also too dark and extends pass the actual lip.

5. Chin is much pointier and nose is longer in length, which makes the face look elongated. The rounded/flatter chin added to the unique look it had previously.

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The graphical update was well done in my opinion, it's just that there are some very obvious changes I'm not too fond of. More specifically the fact some faces appeared to have received more love and care in the update then less used faces. Almost to the point they look a tad unfinished.

It may in part have to do with the light looking different in game (again, in my opinion) as opposed to how characters look in character creation. Or, if we're to look a little further:
1) The updated normal maps reflect light off the mesh way too differently.
2) The diffuse maps are painted too harshly in some areas or lack any shading at all.
3) The face models being remade as a whole. While they are made to look almost exactly like the original, the 'copy' is never going to look 100% 1 to 1 with the originally, which will lose the 'feeling' the original had. To remedy that, it may be nice to just focus on the 'feel' the faces gave in the first place and make adjustments based off that, since again, it will never look like the original 1:1, so it's best to capture the key appeal. There can probably be a compromise found with the player base by doing that. ^^