Dawntrail character graphics update - opinions, requests and discussion megathread

[owov]

Users probably didn't expect a "graphics update" to change their characters so much.
Shouldn't they have at least taken the time to get feedback from users before releasing a graphics update?
The only fixes in the benchmarks are critical errors (light settings, or broken graphics), and none of the things that users asked for were fixed.
Also, the announcement posted yesterday only says that they will be making a final fix to the graphics update, but it doesn't say anything about where or how they will fix it. How long are we supposed to believe and wait?

I used to be a female miqote 3 face only player, but since this graphical update, I can't play that race because I feel like I'm a defective doll and a badly molded monster.
The excessive eyelashes look gross, and instead of adding light to the eyes, they look washed out. The lips also have excessive shadowing at the corners of the mouth, making my character look angry all the time.
The dots around the eyes look unnatural, like they were taken with a photoshop brush, and the W-shaped lip line that used to resemble a cat's mouth has become a straight line, losing the characterization of miqote.
Also, why on earth are my lips glossy even when I choose no lip color? This makes me look bizarre when I make various facial expressions.



I'd like to see the female MIQOTE #3 face returned to the way it was before, and the current face added a face type, like the male MIDLANDER #7 face was added, so people can choose.

I also have a lot of issues with the female AURA #1's face. First, the lips are somehow swollen, which I assume you know about because everyone says it's a problem.
The eyes on face #2 have been changed to look more like face #2, and the eyes on face #3 have been changed to look more like face #4 (you can't see much difference from the front, but you can feel it in game).




Eye #3 on the male viera #4 face also changed to look more like face type #1.

This is not a difference that is simply a matter of changing the position of the light source.
Why did you change the different face types to be mixed in a 'graphical update', is this an 'update'?

If you can't fix my feedback, at least make it possible to turn the graphical update on/off.
I've already posted twice on the forums, and I'm very tired of my character's face, so I can't be nice.
Final Fantasy 14 needs to realize that they are a paid game. We are the ones paying to play the game, not the game testers.

[mdv8]

I am generally happy with the graphical update. However, there are a few specific things about my character that look different from the way they looked previously. I think these would be subtle changes that would help a great deal to increase the similarity between the character before and after the graphics update. (midlander fem, face type 5, mouth 4, eye 1).

The eye shape looks different after the graphics update. The outside corners of the eyes look more pointed, and it looks like there is more eyeliner present (but maybe it's the lighting?). Comparison below - the top picture is pre-graphics update, the bottom one is current. Should be noticeable that the eye shape looks more rounded in the older picture, close to the corner of the eye, and that the eye looks different overall.




The other thing I would like to see changed is the mouth. Pre-graphics update, there was a gap between the lips, and in the current version of the game the lips are completely closed. I don't think a comparison picture is necessary here as this is very obvious to see, especially from below. With this gone, it changes the expression of the face (from looking interested/engaged to looking more bored), which changes how their personality comes across.

Finally, with the way the shadows fall differently on the face in Dawntrail, when there are stark shadows across the face it makes the shape of the face look different. I don't think there is a real difference in the shape, but the new lighting engine makes it look that way simply by shadows falling differently than they used to. I don't know if that's fixable, but thought it was worth mentioning.

--

These changes are very small and (I would think) easy to change. I am happy overall with the graphics, and would be unhappy if big changes were made to my character's appearance in a future graphical update, or if they were made to look less similar to their past appearance. All that I would want are very subtle changes that make the character more resemble how they used to, but would rather the graphics team not make any changes than make the character look more different. I think the graphics team did a fairly good job overall considering what a difficult task it must be.

[Dragoness572]

I told myself I wasn't going to make a forum account, but I wanted to throw my hat into the ring to hopefully get some eyes onto female Au Ra face 1.



I've looked at this image for a long time trying to figure out what's causing the difference. Apart from the lighting being way more direct the eye make up is less prominent. But interestingly she looks different from the front view. A side view shot causes her to look more like her old self.

I wish I could say more as to how things are different but unfortunately the words to articulate my feelings escape me.

[GalahGriff]

If you don't like the changes, then I'm sorry. But I feel like I should voice my opinion in support of what they've made here because I do genuinely love what they've done with most of the graphics update and am worried that future changes will cause results that people who are happy with 7.0's graphics update to be upset.

Opinions on whether or not the graphics update character model changes are good or bad are highly subjective. I personally really like the changes to my male aura (who i think looks significantly less goofy & scowly), but I really dislike the changes to my female miqo'te (who lost her slightly absent, happy-go-lucky stare) & my male viera (who looks like he got buccal fat removal with how much thinner his cheeks are now).






Point is, the developers adjusted the models so drastically that it has fundamentally changed most of our characters-- not just their looks, but their personalities-- for better or for worse.

If they keep everything as it is, they piss off the people who dislike the changes. If they revert everything to how it was, they piss off the people who like the changes. Which is exactly why we should be (& have been, as you may have seen perusing this thread) emphasizing the need to revert the changes, but with the new models added as additional character customization options.

Hopefully this will also lead to the development of a more robust character customization system in general, since FFXIV is already so limited in that regard. I'm still holding out hope that they'll let me give my male viera big eyebrows someday.

[Lorika]

PLEASE FIX MIDLANDER FEMALE FACE 1. There is just so much wrong going on with this face after the graphical update. It went from most used to literally rarely used even on npc's... which leads me to think that maybe they dont even like how it came out.

a big +1
I was playing with Face 1 since SHB.

I played with Face 6 from ARR to SB.... Until one day i decided to make alts with another races... And, by doing do, i discovered that face 6 had a very big facial expression problem (It was almost an expresionless doll).
Then i switched to face 1 and i loved it until.... DtTupdate messed up completly her face.
Between the bags under her eyes, the Lips bigger (Lips 4), the nose longer (did she take a Pinocchio Cure or what?), the part between the nose and lips too 'big'...
So i switched back to Face 6

But, i want also that you look into face 6 facial Expression. They are better than before the upgrade but the face is still quite expresionless and deliver less emotion that any other faces or race.

But first : fix Midlander Female FACE 1 please

[Rolder50]

You know, with the vast majority of these side by side comparisons, I really can't see the difference.

[Kiara_Mela]

I've not seen anyone mention it yet, but Keeper of the Moon female face 3 used to have an area of freckles / redness across the upper cheeks and nose that I thought was really cute, and that's gone entirely with Dawntrail. The new face 3 has extremely "flat" skin with no texture or colour variation that tends to make it look like I'm wearing heavy makeup, especially combined with what they did to the eyes that made the mascara look significantly more pronounced (unclear how much this is the eyelashes vs the change to eye shape?). This has been by far the most significant change for me, in terms of how my character feels, and I really hope it can be fixed. I miss my cute freckles!


(face 3, jaw 3, eye 6, eyebrow 2, nose 3, mouth 3)

My face stripes are also pulled back a little and fade out on the end, which I dislike for reasons similar to disliking the attempt to reduce the cute fangs. I'm a cat, my cat features should be front and center, y'know? Like the freckles / skin texture variation, they add character.

All of the above contributes to a sense of my face being physically flatter -- I can't tell whether this is an actual geometry change or just there being a lot less shading and variation highlighting facial contours.

My face also feels rounder, but while there's been a small geometry change there, most of the effect there comes from the lighting no longer casting shadows on my jaw in the same way, making it look significantly rounder from the front. This seems like probably the same underlying issues as the face flatness thing.

I don't super love the eye shape changes or the lil mouth dimples, but plenty of others have gone into the issues there already.

Also you can't tell in the aetherial sea lighting above, but my hair colour used to have an orange tint to it under most lighting conditions, but is now chocolate brown. It doesn't seem possible to get closer than this to the colour I used to have, unfortunately.

On a positive note, the high resolution hair texture is really nice, it looks a lot better than the old one.

[Astronis]

We would like to thank everyone for their feedback regarding the graphical update.
The Development team has been carefully reviewing this thread and many others, including bug reports and concerns raised outside of the official forums.

We are currently working on an update based on the feedback provided, as well as preparing to share details about our planned course of action.
As these are undergoing thorough final inspections, we expect to make an announcement in late August.

Thank you all for your patience as we continue fine-tuning the graphical update.

I hope that in all this, "leaving everything alone for the people who are absolutely in love with what is currently in game" is on the table. Because let me be honest--I would not forgive SE if they changed my character at this point.

[Doopliss]

Since I'm a little more awake now and fully prepared to continue appearing as a huge asshole, I wanted to add a general statement: They made a promise to their customers pre-update that they would keep the impressions as close as possible to the original versions.

They have made no such promise about keeping the initial batch of post-update impression differences. In fact, they stated the opposite in the final benchmark update post on the lodestone; they had plans set in motion, since then, to continue making adjustments to the post-update versions of characters. That is another big reason why the situation differs between the two "sides", and, again, why they are attempting to amend it.

The best case scenario would be to add more options. However, I do not blame them for prioritizing corrections first.

That being said, myself and many others do not actually want things outright reverted. We just want our characters to look like themselves and to keep the diversity of options we had before, but with the higher fidelity models.

[Astronis]

Since I'm a little more awake now and fully prepared to continue appearing as a huge asshole, I wanted to add a general statement: They made a promise to their customers pre-update that they would keep the impressions as close as possible to the original versions.

They have made no such promise about keeping the initial batch of post-update impression differences. In fact, they stated the opposite in the final benchmark update post on the lodestone; they had plans set in motion, since then, to continue making adjustments to the post-update versions of characters. That is another big reason why the situation differs between the two "sides", and, again, why they are attempting to amend it.

The best case scenario would be to add more options. However, I do not blame them for prioritizing corrections first.

That being said, myself and many others do not actually want things outright reverted. We just want our characters to look like themselves and to keep the diversity of options we had before, but with the higher fidelity models.

Given that this is a feedback thread, for opinions on the character update, and I have posted several times that I love it, I think it is fair to let SE know that anything that jeopardizes what I vastly, vastly prefer to the original, is worth stating. I would be happy if you were happy. I would be livid if in order to make you happy, what was given to me was taken away. SE needs to know that.