Dawntrail character graphics update - opinions, requests and discussion megathread

[Einnecy]

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

No, we are not expecting too much.

[lunartears]

Found this video today: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zgBEkzT8xhU
Good reference for the way that MSQ has been affected by the graphics update.






Lots of scenes are now notably brighter which has resulted in losing the original tone, I feel sorry for anyone playing through the game for the first time.

[poooman]

oh man, the story cutscenes comparison is ROUGH. the lack of contrast and colour on the lighting leaves the characters looking like theyve been greenscreened in without care or concern to make them fit in

[Iedarus]

Just want to share my pain

Coming up on Botched...

[DPZ2]

I, on the other hand, am relieved that the dimly lit MSQ of ARR finally got to the point where it doesn't look like someone forgot about lighting cutscenes properly.

It's an aesthetic, sure, but ARR was not supposed to remind me of a low budget black-and-white movie from the 50s.

[Iscah]

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

Is it "too much" to expect that our character still looks like the same person as before, just in higher detail?

What's the point in collecting mounts, minions, and glamours if I don't care to match them up to my characters anymore?

This has been my feeling – not with mounts and minions so much, since I never collected those anyway, but glamour has been my passion in the game for some time. In any other expansion, by now I would have spent a few hours trying on all the new glamours across my seven alts, but now it feels like there's no point to it. It just make me have to look at the character's new face and dulled expression, and I've lost any desire to build glamours and take screenshots.

[Evergrey]

Found this video today: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zgBEkzT8xhU
Good reference for the way that MSQ has been affected by the graphics update.






Lots of scenes are now notably brighter which has resulted in losing the original tone, I feel sorry for anyone playing through the game for the first time.

I watched that video and I didn't like it.
When the surrounding enviroment is dark the characters should naturally be heavily shaded.
It really sticks out like a soar thumb that all the characters appear illuminant regardless of their surrounding.

[Moxxi]

Checking the video (without audio because bleh english sounds weird after years of japanese.) characters look like there is someone behind the "camera" with some wide light to brighten them up. Having gone through heavensward myself after the update.. there are some scenes that things can look good.. and in the video i do like that characters actually casts their own shadows. But it seems to depend so much on the surroundings and natural lighting if things look odd or not, as a hobby photographer on here and other games.. i would so have toned down that character light thing going on.. or at least make it work better with the cut-scenes if their intent is to not have them look too dark when not fully illuminated by surrounding lights. Because you can see how some cases a lot of shading goes poof gone!

[Iskra]

Just want to share my pain

Wtf. They robbed her of her top lip! (Just like mine) I've noticed the trend of most characters lips being drastically changed for some reason. It's awful.

[ConantSivrha]

So I did a gif using Endwalker and Dawntrail benchmarks.
To everyone who said they didn't change faces.... you are fucking blind.

I want my old face... what they did to my WoL... they just ruined him. Look at his eyes... and the mouth.... the eyebrows are thinner... the chin is rounder than before... I just want to cry...

Male miqo'te face 4 eyes 3 mouth 1, nose 1

I can see it. The jaw does look more angular in Endwalker, and more like a smooth curve in Dawntrail. The new lips + the new shading and shape of the eye create a really different resting expression. It even seems like the eye might be positioned lower in relation to the eyebrow than it was before. The eyebrows, in addition to being thinner, are also a bit grayer/darker, so they no longer match the color of the hair and contrast differently with the skin than they did originally. This specific change has happened to other faces, too, to varying degrees. I’ve pointed out a similar change on one of my characters (female miqo’te face 4), who has been given very unnatural-looking gray eyebrows.

One of the most notable issues is probably the fact that the catchlights in your character’s eyes are hidden under his now-droopier eyelids. This could contribute a lot to the appearance of dull eyes, especially when other characters in the game have a visible shine to their eyes. It’s even a visual trope in anime/manga to draw eyes without catchlights to make a character look zoned-out, hopeless, or just “off”, so this seems like a particularly strange choice.

You have good reason to complain. Male miqo’te face 4 seems to be one of the most altered faces after the update.