Dawntrail character graphics update - opinions, requests and discussion megathread

[Nabril]

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.



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.

It's my opinion that your main looks dead and lifeless in the old screenshots before the update- Especially in the image I left included. Pale skin and a vacant stare. I hope I'm not offending, but I just don't see the zombies that people say the update brought anymore than I saw them before the update. They both look like zombies in the blue light.

[lunartears]

It's noticeable in hair colour and eye colour but has anyone else noticed colour discrepancies on gear/npcs?

For example, I noticed that Alphinaud's clothes seem less blue and more like purple now (in the CG illustrations it's always been shown as a blue)

*I know that lighting can affect the colours but it looks purple even in the dark

[Leosphinx]

Would you be offended if someone said that about your character? Her femra doesn't look dead and lifeless to me in the first pic and her feelings about the changes are valid. I feel exactly the same about my femra and many others do as well. The point is, we all designed our characters to the aesthetics we wanted and enjoy. That is subjective. Now those things have been changed to where they don't look like the characters we chose, it's absolutely valid to be unhappy with that. Whether you like or dislike someones character design, or you like the new changes and think they look better, it doesn't negate the personal feelings of the people who are saddened by the changes to their own characters. Many of us clearly liked the way our characters looked and spent a lot of time creating them to be just so. It makes me sad to see people saying negative things about others characters and invalidating their feelings.

[Doopliss]

Man, sorry to complain, but I finally got my report about how weirdly some hair colors react to light now, along with how certain hair colors outright changed even between the 1.1 Benchmark and 7.0, to move to "Accepted Bugs". I felt so relieved because I've been trying to explain this forever...but then it got moved to "Working as Intended" and that relief got washed away.





Just...really? This is supposed to read as intentional? When none of the other reds literally all over my character react the same way? My Midlander's hair is straight up a cool tone instead now (the same hair color was literally lighter in the 1.1 Benchmark)? I can't even change to different colors because the other options get waaay too dark or light instead. Several others are noticing it, too, and lighting used to be way more consistent...

Black hair is constantly pointed out as being too glossy or washed out, but it's only on certain race/hairstyle combinations, when, again, it was consistent before. That's weird, right...?

I'm really trying to enjoy the game, but this did get me feeling even more down. Can't get my characters to look right, nor can I get my colors to look right. Very cool.

I've probably tried posting all I can, but, still, I hope people don't give up...this just got some (hopefully momentary) pessimism out of me...

It's hard to notice, but they did still make some changes between both Benchmarks and 7.0:

• Face 1 ♀ Au Ra's lips got a little wider, in attempt to match the previous width.
• Face 4 ♀ Au Ra's lips also got changed a little bit in attempt to be closer to their previous version.
• ♂ Au Ra's pupils thankfully got reduced significantly so you can see their main eye color with limbal rings again.
• Face 2 ♀ Highlander had the geometry of their eyes vertically widened a bit so they'd be closer to the original.
• Face 4 ♂ Miqo'te had lips adjusted slightly to make the new "smile" shape less noticeable.
• Face 4 ♀ Miqo'te had their lips edited in attempt to restore the lip gap.
• The entire disaster that was ♂ Viera in Benchmark 1.0 got corrected to be, at least, significantly less of a disaster in Benchmark 1.1
• Veena pupils were enlarged.

They're listening and trying, at least--even if their current attempts didn't quite reach the goal. So please continue giving voice to the changes you've noticed and don't let others get you down... I just needed to vent for a moment. Buh.

[Nabril]

This is my character after the update. I'm quite pleased with him. The changes are very subtle. I don't have an identical screenshot for comparison, but I know him well enough to see the very small changes in him. I can honestly say that the changes don't diminish him in my eyes. This is the "straight face" expression and it's spot on. This is the same guy I've been saving Eorzea with for so long. I seem to be one of the very few people in the world who doesn't want to stick forks in my eyes.

[Nabril]

Would you be offended if someone said that about your character? Her femra doesn't look dead and lifeless to me in the first pic and her feelings about the changes are valid. I feel exactly the same about my femra and many others do as well. The point is, we all designed our characters to the aesthetics we wanted and enjoy. That is subjective. Now those things have been changed to where they don't look like the characters we chose, it's absolutely valid to be unhappy with that. Whether you like or dislike someones character design, or you like the new changes and think they look better, it doesn't negate the personal feelings of the people who are saddened by the changes to their own characters. Many of us clearly liked the way our characters looked and spent a lot of time creating them to be just so. It makes me sad to see people saying negative things about others characters and invalidating their feelings.

I was being honest. The character doesn't look anymore dead or alive in the before or after image. It wasn't my goal to walk on egg shells or spare feelings. It was my intent to be honest about a comparison that was being offered to everyone here.

On that note, this is a thread meant solely to tell EA games that their graphic changes are complete garbage. All of you are being honest in your complaints about something that some people worked really hard on. I did nothing different and I won't apologize for my comment. I offer only honestly as you all are doing. I promise that I will always give my honest opinions.

[Strika23]

My fem Roe's hair doesnt reflect as much (looks less 'shiny', she's lost her upper lip (which is a complaint I'm also seeing for Elezen females), and her eyeshadow isn't as dark as before. Otherwise, the skin/eyes/pupils/hair texture have all improved.
I am noticing as many people have mentioned that the colors in general seem very different than before though. (on both gear and characters).

[Doopliss]

My fem Roe's hair doesnt reflect as much (looks less 'shiny', she's lost her upper lip (which is a complaint I'm also seeing for Elezen females), and her eyeshadow isn't as dark as before. Otherwise, the skin/eyes/pupils/hair texture have all improved.
I am noticing as many people have mentioned that the colors in general seem very different than before though. (on both gear and characters).

I have that same exact hairstyle on my Seawolf alt and the issue is the same as yours. It seems like the lighting and color issues are specific to certain hairstyles for some reason. That particular hairstyle now looks even flatter with lighter colors, too, because it hardly has any shadows anymore.

[Aco505]

I think, to a certain extent, the new lighting is a big reason why characters look so different. Certain contours of the face becoming way more exaggerated, or far less emphasized.

This is correct. Besides specific changes like mouth shapes and such, characters do look a lot like before but only under specific lighting conditions.

This is easily seen when checking your character equipment window and then checking your character in the average cutscene. The difference in eye color, for instance, is striking.

Lip color also changes depending on this, which at the same time can also alter the way the expression of the character looks.

Of course, some of the face emotes have also been modified somewhat but it's clear that one of the main offenders for the changes are lighting and shadows.

[ZephyrMenodora]

Hi, just adding my voice to the choir. I appreciate the work that went into the graphics overhaul and the new textures look amazing in the overworld. My main grievance are the significant changes made to the faces. I tried giving it a few days to see if I would warm up to my WOL's makeover but three days on and I still can barely bring myself to look at her in cutscenes.

I have three main issues with my WOL's new face: 1) Darkening of her upper eyelid to the point where she looks like she's in a perpetual ಠ_ಠ face, 2) complete lack of depth on the eyebrows, and 3) entirely new shape of lips and smile. Here's a before pic:



... and after pic (both taken on PS5--not sure why the antialiasing is so bad in gpose):



Her eyes were heavily shaded before, but there was still a softness to the irises that made her eyes bright and open. Without that softness, it just looks like her eyes are half-shut in every cutscene:



The lack of shading on her eyebrows makes them blend into her skin. It's visible everywhere but it's especially bad in low lighting. And her upper lip is shaped completely differently than the same set of lips pre-7.0. Instead of having a soft smile with a full upper lip, the combination of a differently shaped upper lip with only the corners turning up in a smile gives her a C: smile rather than a (:




All in all, she used to have such a soft, lovely face. I was prepared for some differences but this is such a drastic change and I feel the end results are much more severe than I was expecting. Different lighting/shaders giving different effects I could understand, but I'm not sure why an entire reshaping of certain facial features (like lips) was necessary. One last before pic for good measure:



Thanks for hearing me out. I really did try to give the graphics upgrade a fair shake but the faces just aren't sitting right with me.

I think I can see what people are getting at with this one. These characters look more like cousins or sisters than the same person.