Dawntrail character graphics update - opinions, requests and discussion megathread

[ConantSivrha]

here it is, my comrade fella. if anyone want pre DT recording or screenshots, I'll give it to you guys. korean server still remain 8 month to DT anyway~

https://youtu.be/YaSRtIcNJVI?si=8DXQlWrm1YuJgZAs

Thank you! This is very helpful! Hopefully, if those of us in other regions kick up enough of a storm, everyone's faces will be fixed before Dawntrail hits you guys on the Korean server.

For comparison purposes, I've compiled some screenshots of the current Dawntrail version of the mouth (face 4 mouth 3 on female miqo'te), using a character with a similar appearance to the one in the video.



As seen in this picture, the bottom edge of the top lip is pitched up in a tent-like shape towards the middle. This is more visible when the mouth is open, and it causes the overall shape of the opened mouth to be more triangular, a bit like a cartoon cat mouth. The original version of the mouth didn't look like this (as seen in Shinjyu's video). When the mouth is stretched wide, the middle section of the top lip looks unnaturally stiff and seems to be positioned too high.

Additionally, the drawn-on shadows near the corners of the bottom lip create the appearance of strange indents on the bottom lip, and this becomes more obvious when the mouth is wide open. The shadows on the lips were mentioned previously in a post by Cheapshot, which also discusses many other alterations to female miqo'te face 4. The following quote is only a small portion of the post, which I would encourage anyone to read if they want to know more about the changes to this face:

[Turnintino]

Expansion : Stormblood
Quest : Silence in Three Parts
Cutscene No.1

I love the quality control here. The characters blink way too often that to me it's actually distracting, to top it off her eyelashes clip through her eyelid, and since she's blinking nonstop it's so obvious. Granted this is happening in this angle, but honestly, I don't want to check her other cutscenes because I'd rather not see the amazing quality that this update brought to our beloved characters.

I thought I couldn't be more disappointed in this graphical update, but here I am. It's really hard to remain positive about this since I doubt any of it will get 'fixed', everytime I submit a bug report they say not enough information. What more would they possibly need then the issue is right there??

I know I'm abit emotional but all I had left in this game was my character, my house and the unending journey to see my favorite characters that the writers obviously hate.

Her face, like many other NPC's with unique faces from previous expansions, hasn't been touched. It remains to be seen if it ever will be, but I believe the official word was that these NPCs would be updated later, while player characters (and consequently, NPCs who use the same features) remained the priority.

Before the update, for example, my catboy had a similar (though less drastic) issue. Below, you can see that his lashes clipped through the inner corner of the eyelid.



And an old bug report shows the same thing happening on at least one other face.

I haven't taken new screenshots, but this was one thing that I would actually define as "fixed" by the update, probably by the way they rotated the lashes on many faces. Regardless of the how or why, though, it no longer occurs on my miqo'te. It's possible Yotsuyu's issue may be addressed as well, assuming they actually update her mesh someday, but who knows.

I said this earlier, in response to a post about Ryne (whose mesh hasn't been updated either), but I do wish we could've just gotten visual bugs like that addressed without completely -- and unfaithfully -- reconstructing our faces. So many of us would've been happy with no more than that, upscaled textures, and better lighting lol.

[Moonfallen]

I wish I had a video saved of face 3, mouth 3 moon keeper miqo because the emotes now looks so off :/

[Rueby]

Snip

That's really interesting...I only ever used M Miqo Face 1, F Aura Face 2 and F Miqo Face 4...I never noticed any glaring issues. Honestly the pictures of your catboy look...alright to me, I had to look closely to see it. Not to say it's not there but yeah.

I found Pre DT vid of this cutscene....approximately same-ish part though I had it paused. You can see everytime she blinks her lashes sit well on her eyelids and don't stab them. If this issue existed when I did the SB msq I would've been so annoyed by it. She blinks way too often now that it's actually weird/distracting. I think this 'touch of realism' was unnecessary and looks jarring given the game's style imo...I wish it was a toggle of some sort but I doubt such a thing is possible.

https://youtu.be/aLlp4asWdVg?si=KeZrTcK3fDR5QMop&t=350

I'm not experienced enough to tell you what's going on or what went wrong. I'm terrified of looking up close at Zenos actually, I know he had some kind of upscale because his ear doesn't suffer from the intense artifacting it did before, but I'm not too worried about him because Zenos as a whole is a unique model...

I don't know why they rushed it aside from knowing that DT is a weak entry and needs something to 'hype' it up and/or bring more people in with 'new' not outdated graphics. ShB rode on the back of the SB set up, EW on 10 year build up....DT? Emet told you to look forward to it and graphical update. I'm really disappointed. I had such low expectations from the MSQ going forward after EW, but the graphical update and how altered our characters are made me not want to do the MSQ or look at my character much.

I wish they gave it more thought/time..or let players test and give feedback. Show us a sign that we're being heard rather than this sensation of 'it's all pointless'. I would've been fine if this game wasn't story driven, if you didn't get attached to your character or other characters in the story or the world around us. Literally the first MMO that didn't make me think 'eh, my char is something to dress up and I'll hardly look or care to look at her often. I haven't found a game that does this, the way this game does.

I'm sure there are merits to this graphical update and perhaps with time it'll get better....but could we at least have gotten our characters' defining features back...

[Moonfallen]

Some head pieces no longer fit on your head depending on your race. Noticed that some of my head gear is just floating away from my miqo's head. Can't get a photo to upload to show what I mean.

[shinjyu]

I wish I had a video saved of face 3, mouth 3 moon keeper miqo because the emotes now looks so off :/

here it is, my good friend.

https://youtu.be/WSgx3OAyLhU

[NekoNova]

I need more physic jigglies on Viera ears

[Moonfallen]

here it is, my good friend.

https://youtu.be/WSgx3OAyLhU

Ah thank you so much my friend! I miss my old face and emotes!

[OvernightSiren]

I like the update. I think it looks fine. It certainly doesn't seem as major as they were hyping it up to be though. It's still an upgrade, but I feel it was a bit over-hyped especially given how much time was dedicated to talking about it during Live Letters.

[Argasun]

Really shouldn't be able to see a seam on my neck in cutscenes... There wasn't ever a seam before.

Still the complaint of lifeless lips just smacked onto me.

The neckseam is so bad on some races it should be it's own thread with a clear title regarding it.