Dawntrail character graphics update - opinions, requests and discussion megathread

[Astronis]

Just dropping by again to say it has been two weeks, my opinion remains that they did an excellent job, and I am regularly caught off guard at how good my WoL looks compared to before (except for logging in, he looks absolutely horrible there). Looking at older screenshots just goes to show, for me, how well the devs did in updating the characters.

[eohippus]

Lips, too. In a way that's driving me equally crazy. Several lips that used to have a slight smile got changed to a neutral or frowning expression (♀ Elezen Face 1, ♀ Miqo'te Face 2, ♀ Roegadyn Face 4, ♀ Midlander Face 1, ♂ Midlander Face 4, ♂ Au Ra Face 3, ♂ Viera Face 3), and several lips that used to be shaped in a frown or neutral expression got changed to a slight smile (♀ Elezen Face 4, ♂ Elezen Face 2, ♀ Au Ra Face 2, ♂ Miqo'te Face 4). Just examples off the top of my head. And of course they've been both widened or narrowed inconsistently, too.

It does really make it feel like things were either rushed or just eyeballed rather than it being an intentional beautification attempt. Then again, makeup for all female characters in the first benchmark was thickened significantly across the board... I really wish they could really tell us what the hell has been happening here.

The inconsistencies are so baffling. my friend plays as a femra, and we were talking the other night about the graphics update. turns out we had the exact inverse happen to our character's eyes. my face 5 ♂ midlander's eyes were made pointed and narrowed, while their ♀ au ra's eyes are now way more rounded. neither of us are happy. likewise I assumed all lip changes (which I don't like) were standardized, but there's been some faces allowed to maintain features that were totally removed from the lip shape I use on my wol....make it make sense

[Kaziek]

I've posted this about female midlander face 1, eye shape 4 in the bug report forum, in case someone wants to contribute or add more screenshots from before and after (I don't have many from before to compare).

https://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/...-1-Eye-Shape-4

This is an issue with all eye shapes for face 1 actually, and is easily the biggest issue with the character update for that face. There are several other things too that people have already pointed out in detail in this thread as well as the JP one, but if I could pick only one thing to be brought more in line with the old face it would be fixing the eyes. Unlike some of the other F midlander faces they actually reduced makeup as a whole for face 1, which is part of the reason that the under eye bags are so prominent.

[lunartears]

Honestly, I think it can be assumed that every single face was modified drastically (with a heavy focus on eye, eyelash, pupil, mouth corners, lip width, lip shape, eye width, entire facial features position, list goes on) just to varying degrees (sometimes the lips will stay the same but the eyes will change?) with the majority being done in a way that completely lacks the original feeling. When shown an NPC even of a race I don't have familarity with, most of the time I can immediately tell that something is off.

I could probably prove this by analyising and creating a comparision for every single face combination across all races but it would be way too tiring to pull off.

[Aurumis]

Honestly, I think it can be assumed that every single face was modified drastically (with a heavy focus on eye, eyelash, pupil, mouth corners, lip width, lip shape, eye width, entire facial features position, list goes on) just to varying degrees (sometimes the lips will stay the same but the eyes will change?) with the majority being done in a way that completely lacks the original feeling. When shown an NPC even of a race I don't have familarity with, most of the time I can immediately tell that something is off.

I could probably prove this by analyising and creating a comparision for every single face combination across all races but it would be way too tiring to pull off.

if you take a look at the japanese forum, they are doing it already...for their own characters tho, but there is so many... they DID change everything. The devs lied about not changing them or listening to the feedback of the benchmark. How is it possible that the Scions look exactly the same but better, but all the character models looks different? this is not an upgrade, it's a downgrade for many faces. Some look good? yes, but many not, and changed so much that it is not the same character, they could have left them stay the same but with high definition textures and etc, like how gshade, mods and all works, but they fucked it very badly. And it was not necessary. Like I say, it's sad that the NPCs looks exactly the same (except Thancred, he looks worse, specially his skin texture), and the WoL of the people have totally changed. Just liars.

[Adelora]

Just want to share my pain

[Themarvin]

its fine I scored 36K+ with everything on in the benchmark... I like the changes we got, but you can't get it fully up to date since it is an old game, however more nice stuff as it is.

I wont say no to improvements, anything helps, and yes it has gotten quite a bit better as of late.

I think people expect to much and forget to see what we actually got and from there on just trying to appreciate it.

[cutestfox]

Just want to share my pain

I'm speechless
What is THIS

[Einnecy]

The more feedback we give to the devs, the greater the chance that something will happen, even if it is small I'm afraid. That's why it's so important that we continue to voice our disappointment about the face changes in the forum and also in the Japanese thread (please be polite and objective there).

It is possible that not much will happen for the time being, as the development resources are still being taken up by the recent update. But maybe there will come a time when decisions that have been made will be reconsidered and we might see a wonder after all (pre-DT facial features/mouth shape as an additional option in the character editor, no glossy lips if no lipstick etc.). This would also show that SE takes criticism seriously, even if it doesn't come from the masses. And it would mean that every player is important for SE.

So maybe there is hope for hope after all...

I'm still hopeful because, and I don't mean to spread negativity by saying this, until things get addressed I'll be speaking with my wallet even if it's mostly involuntary which REALLY saddens me to think about. My subscription is up again but my time in-game has dropped by 80-90%. I currently only play because of PvP and deep dungeons, and besides the daily Frontlines match I am not really in-game anymore and it's very likely that this might be my last subscription for a very long time. I'm starting to feel like not even the series FOMO will be able to lure me back. What's the point in collecting mounts, minions, and glamours if I don't care to match them up to my characters anymore?

I can deal with a bad storyline, for me the MSQ is predominantly a "suggestion". If I don't like something I can and will simply erase it from my headcanon or rewrite it (<cough> EW alliance raids and the timetravel stuff in MSQ) but what I can't deal with is my characters, my muses and entries into this world, the one thing that imho should be absolute, changing.

On the up side, the update has given me the push I needed to spend more time writing my non-xiv OCs and the time to play more games. I save some money from buying glamours on two characters too, I guess...

[Barachim]

I'm pretty happy with how my character ended up looking after the update.