Dawntrail character graphics update - opinions, requests and discussion megathread

[Khiiral]

I signed up to the forums in order to share feedback. Of course the two characters I like the most are the ones that got hit the hardest with changes.



My main is an Au Ra Raen male, I chose Face 3 because it had a soft, more gentle look to it. The new face has sharply angled the cheeks and chin, making the face look larger and disproportionate. The eyebrows and eyes now look more slanted and angry and the scales on the chin are much more pointed. The mouth is also larger, the upper lip thinner. The scales on the cheeks do not lie flat on the face with gaps between them and the skin.

This face is not the one I chose for my character three years ago, and I am very sad watching cutscenes when he no longer looks like my character at all. Using the Fantasia item to customize does not help correct any of this as it is an issue with the model itself. As the majority of Au Ra male faces look harsh and war-like, I feel the single option for a less strict face should remain available. I would really like for them to consider reverting these changes and making more options available for other facial expressions.

It's especially frustrating considering there is a certain male Au Ra NPC in game that look super cute and those options are not available for player characters at all. I get the "unique NPCs for game" thing, but I think we should be allowed to have better options for our PCs as well.


My Miqo Seeker alt is the one I'm more disappointed with, though.



On this character model, Face 1, the mouth is now much bigger than it once was. The wide mouth is very off-putting. I feel that the character is no longer the same person. The face is much larger and less delicate than it was prior. Although the example on the left is smiling, the eye shape has still changed, as well as the nose shape and size. This is actually the smallest mouth option available for this model, which is really disconcerting. Other people have already posted in other threads a size and shape comparison with outlines, but I can't believe how much they changed this and it makes me sad.

I really hope they will read and consider everyone's feedback, I know I am not the only person who is disappointed and I feel for everyone who feels they've lost their WoL's personality with the update. Happy for those who are excited about their glow ups, but I hope they will continue to tweak these graphics.

[Mecia]

There appears to be a horrendous sharpening filter that you cannot adjust or turn off due to FSR/DLSS. Id very much like to turn it off.

[Moonfallen]

Every since the graphics update I get awful image ghosting on PS5 when turning the camera. It's really noticeable and was never there before.

I thought it was just me seeing things, but I'm on PC and others have mentioned the same thing. I think it's an overall issue.

[shinjyu]

hi. I'm play ffxiv in global server and korea server. so might my english is bad. but please read this until the end. I really appreciate that. Thank you.

the femroe face 1 is quite improvement in DT than benchmark. but i still not satisfied about my character face.





as you can see. the face feature is quite different. and face emote make it worse.

here is the why is look so different





the differences

1. eyebrow
2. race tatoo
3. wrinkle of eyes
4. eyeliner's length
5. nose width
6. lip's thickness
7. mole's size

and I think the white eye's iris is more smaller than black one. but it just guessing

I edited image as original featured as I could





and my friend really disappointing about male roegadyn's less eyelashes.




we still remain almost 8 month until DT in korea server. I came global server for see the 7.0 MSQ, but I'm quite worry about my WoL's change. I lived eorzea as this body over 380 days in playtime. she brought me joy 8 years. since I became adult in korea and started ffxiv. but now in DT I coudn't see her face directly, because my soul totally refuse that. and I cast every head glamour in monoa mask. I finished 7.0 MSQ with mask. but I really hope I could finish 7.0 MSQ without mask in korea server.

she is my muse about crafting and drawing. this image may let you know about my love about her.




thanks to read this long writing. i wish every player satisfied about changed WoL. have a good day, good afternoon, good night.

[Moonfallen]

Another thing I've noticed that sucks is some people's WoL did not change like at all. A few of my friends characters look damn near 1:1. It feels like some races and faces received more time and care than others to keep them relatively similar while others were just completely changed. Using a fantasia isn't going to bring back mine or others WoL when they've effectively changed our entire face. All those small changes add up to create a different person altogether. Effectively my sun cat version of my WoL looks better than my moon cat WoL, but not by much. I had an alt with the same appearance as my main and decided to use my free fantasia on her for the giggles just to see if there's anything I might like. Chose all the same options as my moon cat and she doesn't look as bad in and out of game. The animations are still awful though. This just seems like one of those cases where if it's not broke don't fix it. I don't know why they decided to mess with not only our character models, but the animations as well, and half assed I might add. Huge gaming companies releasing things that aren't complete and telling everyone that it will be done over time and through patches is a trend that needs to die. Whether it's a game that's not fully finished and released or a graphics update that's not done and will be completed in stages, I'm so tired of this.

Also to add, my WoL being a completely different person has dampened my mood. This is the first time since I started playing the game that I haven't finished the story yet. I'm on the second to last zone and I just haven't been able to enjoy the game as much. Putting a mask on in every glam just so I don't have to look at my character in cutscenes or in game because her face and animations suck. I also get annoyed because the NPCs in and out of cutscenes look so much better than my character and damn near 1:1 to their old selves. Why couldn't they do that for us? Character NPCs also have better animations than our characters.

[Heavenchild]

I'm trying man, but I don't see my character anymore. :<

I am really sorry for you. I also saw how much the look of that face changed. It was better before.
The old mouth was so cute. The new one appears less interesting.

[Cheapshot]

hi. I'm play ffxiv in global server and korea server. so might my english is bad. but please read this until the end. I really appreciate that. Thank you.

I edited image as original featured as I could





thanks to read this long writing. i wish every player satisfied about changed WoL. have a good day, good afternoon, good night.

Thanks for leaving your feedback despite the language barrier. I can really see how much you love your character and I’m sorry she was changed.

I want to highlight this because there’s a point I want to make. Something that’s frustrating me is seeing so much hostility toward people sad about character changes from those who like the updated graphics. Take a look at this lovely edit above. This person has made just a few subtle changes and the face completely regains the spirit of the original character. More importantly, what those minor edits don’t do is make the character look lower quality or worse. The faces can be edited to preserve the original style without reverting back to old graphics! Everyone can get what they want! I don’t understand why those who like the graphics update are acting like the game has to be made ugly to satisfy us. The proof is right above showing that’s not at all the case. We can have our cake and eat it too and yet I keep seeing so much rudeness and hostility for those sad about their new appearances. We should all be coming together to ask for both a beautiful graphics update and the preservation of our characters looks! We pay monthly for this game, why shouldn’t we be allowed to hold higher standards?

[CidHeiral]

Overall I am quite pleased with the graphical update, especially what it has done for the different zones and whatnot. I only have a couple complaints.

1. There's an issue where the entire image gets very blurry every time you move. It makes the game a real eyesore since it's blurring/unblurring/blurring/etc constantly the entire time you play. I reduced it to a manageable level by switching to FXAA but it would be nice to be able to use the fancy new AA without searing my eyes out of my skull.

2. The lower lip on highlander face 1 has had this weird issue going on since the first benchmark where what looks like the lip shading texture on the lower lip has a very stark border compared to the rest of the lip. It makes it look like she has three lips.



In lighting conditions that help blend that together it looks great and as I would expect it to compared to the pre-update model.



It's almost like there's some kind of blending layer that isn't showing up properly sometimes but I really have no idea what the problem is. Hopefully it gets fixed one day though. It looks pretty silly in a lot of cutscenes and that's all I could stare at any time it appeared. lol

[lunartears]

At the risk of sounding like I'm requesting work, it might be worth including a before/after for au ra with limbal rings. They're a unique customization option, and the update changed them a lot. They're dimmer in light, lost most of the hard definition and are more of a gradient, and now glow in the dark.

As requested, here is a limbral ring comparison:
Hopefully this is what you had in mind.

Each eye is using the same colour for both the eyes and limbral rings, except for where I specify using two different colours. I also added images for how the eyes appear in the dark (La Noscea).

(I used Raen for the last two sets on Male Au Ra to better show the eyes)




Full size:

I will also link Meira's post about limbrals:

I’m not typically a forum poster, but after reading (skimming) all 59 pages I felt there wasn’t nearly enough mention of Au Ra limbal rings. So, here’s my feedback:

https://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/...98#post6518698

[Neclord-X]

Thought I'd add my voice to the people unhappy with the update and the changes it made to their characters. I've been playing the same female Highlander since shortly after ARR launched. In all that time from way back on the PS3 to PS4 and now PS5 I've only used a Fantasia once and that was to change her eye colour. Since this update I have already used 2 Fantasia and I'm still not really happy with how she looks.



The left is before 7.0 and the right is after.

I'll start with the eyes since they bother me the most. It looks like they've shortened her eyelashes and the shape of her eyes just seems different. She now has bags under her eyes and looks fatigued in a lot of lighting. The eyeshadow looks weaker now and her eyebrow colour appears washed out. They've changed the shape of her lips and they now look smaller. Her nose is shorter and wider now. It looks they smoothed a lot of the angles from her face overall making her look younger. All this combined makes it feel like I'm playing a crappy imitation of what my character once was. Really not happy with these changes and while I'll probably eventually get used to them it has made me want to play less.