Dawntrail character graphics update - opinions, requests and discussion megathread

[FateweaverAlpha]

Howdy all. First time I've ever used these forums. I play on PS5 for reference but I figured I'd post my Duskwight Elezen fella cause the changes to him are pretty drastic and I'm wondering what happened...
I wasn't able to grab many before pics as IRL got in the way and when I got back the update was in progress. I never got to see him in the benchmark being a PS5 player. I managed to scrape together a before and after image and gif using his old and new Bard portrait which shows exactly how bad it is.

Black Cloak is his Endwalker graphics, Red Cloak is his Dawntrail Graphics.



I used Face 2, Jaw 4, Eyes 3, Eyebrows 4, Nose 4, Mouth 1, and Ear Shape 1.

From what I can personally see his cheekbones have been lessened by a lot, while his lower jaw is larger between the ear and the chin, his eyebrows seem to have changed shape and placement, his lips almost always look like he's tiredly smiling now (when he isn't using his annoyed emote), his eyes have changed shape drastically (he always had a annoyed emote in his portraits cause that's his usual mood), and gotten bigger with very dark under eye bags, and his skin is very waxy/wet in appearance.
His nose is the least changed from what I can tell and I can live with that but the rest of all this changes him so much that I've been completely unable to play him. Tried several different combos of facial parts and nothing works.

[DPZ2]

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It was nice that you combined the two images. Most of what you've been describing are not changes in shape or size, but in shading - in lighting itself. I can literally put my thumb to the upper and lower portion of your eyes and note that there is no change. Same with the contour and length of the jaw.

I have to say that the lips of the original have more of a "smile" to them than the new version. Most of that is due to lack of shading on the face of the original.

I've noticed a certain sheen to the skin of my own avatar (who has pretty close to the skin coloring of your avatar). Under most circumstances, the sheen is not there. It's definitely not the sheen we get with wet skin though I've yet to determine what lighting is necessary to produce it.

It may take a bit of time to get used to the changes. Or not. I haven't used a Fantasia on my avatar since he was created nearly 10 years ago (anniversary coming up this fall). Based on other MMORPGs I've played with graphics changes, WoW Cataclysm comes to mind, I know I'll grow used to any changes in the next two to three months. I'm sorrowed that your avatar, who I consider good-looking in both incarnations, has become a cause of dissatisfaction.