Dawntrail character graphics update - opinions, requests and discussion megathread

[Cheapshot]

Great feedback! It seems that the problem of the glossy lips is not only present with Au Ra.

https://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/...97#post6514897

I filed it as a bug report in hopes they consider it a mistake and return "none" to having no gloss. I only have my one character though so I can't show any before and after of lips for different races.

If anyone else would like to reply to that thread and let them know if Dawntrail gave you permanent lip un-togglable gloss, that would be helpful.

[Aurumis]

I'd also like to take a moment to appreciate just how terribly my catboy's portrait translated in the new lighting lol.

Behold:



And still, you can see the way his face has changed, from his jawline, to the shape and curve of his lips, to the shape of his nose (it lost the smooth feline slope it had previously), to the thickness and position of his eyebrows... Small things, individually, that combine to create a different face altogether.

they just killed our characters and replaced them with someone we don't know... I would have prefered the game to never upgrade its graphics.

[Sairaag]

To be honest, it's the character update that has made me wonder if I should even continue playing.

My Keeper lost the update lottery badly, and feeling like my WoL is barely even a character in this story combined with the stranger's face he has now has killed all the excitement I had for the expansion. Even when I go off to do side content to get away from the MSQ, it's not the character I made on the screen anymore. I could go finish my latest replay of the previous MSQ (or replay something else like I used to enjoy doing), but this time around my character can't even pull off the emotional intensity he used to; the update-downgrade gave him a permanently tired look and there's something weird going on with his other facial animations, too. That's all previous content that I used to love replaying gone now.

On the more vain side of things, he can't even pull off many of his hairstyles anymore since the enormous mouth has made his face too masculine for them. Same thing with some of his glams: his old face was more pretty than handsome, so I liked to put together visual kei outfits every now and then. Now I'm stuck with shades to somewhat disguise his borked eyes (doesn't really work, those cursed eyelids shine through any amount of shadow now) and hoping that the many, many cutscenes show him from the side to disguise the mouth. I was definitely one of those referenced "screenshot enthusiasts", and that's gone too now. Simply put, I don't enjoy my character anymore. In a game where a large part of the attraction is falling in love with your character(s), this is catastrophic.

So, what now? The response to the whole expansion has been disappointed enough that I'm not sure how high a priority working on character models would be for the devs. I did think it was a bad sign when they doubled down on some of the most visible changes people gave feedback on - like in my Keeper face 1 WoL's case, they actually made the sleepy expression worse by increasing the size of the eyelids even more after the first benchmark. And still I bought Dawntrail because the devs had previously earned quite a lot of my trust. I figured they'd keep adjusting things like they said and things would get better again. But now, having seen how many things need addressing in Dawntrail, I don't know.

Do I turn to mods? Are there even any for restoring old models yet? At this point it feels like getting banned for it would just be someone else ripping off the bandaid for me.

[Iscah]

One of these characters is an upgraded version of the other one, allegedly.



Some of the cutscene emotes are looking okay (once you account for all the parts of the face looking wrong) and keep giving glimmers of what the character is supposed to look like, because they're Aurelie's expressions even though they're being performed by the uncanny changeling, but then you get things like this. I know what Aurelie should be looking like in these moments that call for that warm, gentle smile, and the altered character just can't manage it at all.

It's really saddening to see a beautiful character turned to this.

[Miemi]

I'd also like to take a moment to appreciate just how terribly my catboy's portrait translated in the new lighting lol.

Behold:



And still, you can see the way his face has changed, from his jawline, to the shape and curve of his lips, to the shape of his nose (it lost the smooth feline slope it had previously), to the thickness and position of his eyebrows... Small things, individually, that combine to create a different face altogether.

I feel you

[RulerKelso]

Ouch your character was hit pretty hard. I still say that it is the new dynamic lightings and lighting ambience which is the culprit of most problems, which include uncanny face and washed out hair/skintone colors

New lights are just too harsh on all characters. Just compare the face when standing in shadow vs on direct sunlight or near a light source, face will be unrecognizable.
Hope the developers will continue to adjust how light affect the characters, because there is still long way to go.
I just visited area in which the umbral wind weather was and my whole character was just.. GREEN without any contrast

[aili_]

To be honest, it's the character update that has made me wonder if I should even continue playing.

My Keeper lost the update lottery badly, and feeling like my WoL is barely even a character in this story combined with the stranger's face he has now has killed all the excitement I had for the expansion. Even when I go off to do side content to get away from the MSQ, it's not the character I made on the screen anymore. I could go finish my latest replay of the previous MSQ (or replay something else like I used to enjoy doing), but this time around my character can't even pull off the emotional intensity he used to; the update-downgrade gave him a permanently tired look and there's something weird going on with his other facial animations, too. That's all previous content that I used to love replaying gone now.

On the more vain side of things, he can't even pull off many of his hairstyles anymore since the enormous mouth has made his face too masculine for them. Same thing with some of his glams: his old face was more pretty than handsome, so I liked to put together visual kei outfits every now and then. Now I'm stuck with shades to somewhat disguise his borked eyes (doesn't really work, those cursed eyelids shine through any amount of shadow now) and hoping that the many, many cutscenes show him from the side to disguise the mouth. I was definitely one of those referenced "screenshot enthusiasts", and that's gone too now. Simply put, I don't enjoy my character anymore. In a game where a large part of the attraction is falling in love with your character(s), this is catastrophic.

So, what now? The response to the whole expansion has been disappointed enough that I'm not sure how high a priority working on character models would be for the devs. I did think it was a bad sign when they doubled down on some of the most visible changes people gave feedback on - like in my Keeper face 1 WoL's case, they actually made the sleepy expression worse by increasing the size of the eyelids even more after the first benchmark. And still I bought Dawntrail because the devs had previously earned quite a lot of my trust. I figured they'd keep adjusting things like they said and things would get better again. But now, having seen how many things need addressing in Dawntrail, I don't know.

Do I turn to mods? Are there even any for restoring old models yet? At this point it feels like getting banned for it would just be someone else ripping off the bandaid for me.

Quite similar as you, so I never entered this game since the second day of DT pre-release lol.
I miss my WoL but I can't find her in this game anymore.
And to me mod doesn't help, personally I don't want to cheat myself to feel like she's still here then continuing being the cashcow of a company just threw her away.

[SturmChurro]

One of these characters is an upgraded version of the other one, allegedly.



Some of the cutscene emotes are looking okay (once you account for all the parts of the face looking wrong) and keep giving glimmers of what the character is supposed to look like, because they're Aurelie's expressions even though they're being performed by the uncanny changeling, but then you get things like this. I know what Aurelie should be looking like in these moments that call for that warm, gentle smile, and the altered character just can't manage it at all.

It's really saddening to see a beautiful character turned to this.

Lmao. Oh my God, this graphics update is just..

[aili_]

Lmao. Oh my God, this graphics update is just..

my WoL suffered quite the same thing…lifeless eyes and facial expressions, with chubbier face and weird mouth……her sharpness is all gone
Congrats DT release square enix, I'll enjoy EW benchmark for a while

[Verdelot]

Fantastic, well-constructed feedback. I'm planning on collecting my observations about Midlander face 1 into one big list like this, and I'll absolutely be using your post as a model.

Thank you for putting something together about this! Maybe it can be accepted as a bug report like the post about Face 3 Midlander eyes.
I wanted to make a post myself, but I'm not sure I really have the artistic knowledge or good screenshots from before the update to show a comparison.