Dawntrail character graphics update - opinions, requests and discussion megathread

[Hatsuoki]

I think some of the reactions here are kind of extreme when it comes to overanalyzing the neutral faces.

Expressions being muted though? 100% the facial expressions are kinda way too mild now—I mean have you seen what some people did with faces?

I'm sorry but I have to disagree that the expressions are too mild now. I think they're they opposite - they're way too exaggerated now.

Since I don't like to post in the feedback thread without contributing, I will add some new comparisons along with my old ones. None of these are neutral faces of course.

Cutscene - mouth curved up too much unnaturally, it's supposed to have the feeling of a "true smile" but it doesn't seem to reach his eyes


Scoff - eyebrows, eyes, mouth all have weird and unnatural curves


Fake smile - corners of mouth curved up too much, also this is with the new "fixed" indoor housing lighting. The color of the eyes comes out really light now even though I've made no changes.


Fake smile + Converse - same, the smile is exaggerated and cartoony


Grin (new) - I'm suffering


Edit: Forgot the most egregious - Ponder. I don't have an old comparison photo but he looks like he's about to pass out. About to be not-pondering tbh.


Lastly, I feel like I haven't given my opinion this entire time because I've only been posting comparisons that are really egregious. I haven't talked about my main because I do like all of the changes she got but I also liked her before the update. I would instantly give up all of those changes to get Hancock and my alt back. Of course I'm only speaking for myself and not everyone has an NPC or other character that they like get butchered but I wanted to put my opinion out there.

[Astronis]

I'm sorry but I have to disagree that the expressions are too mild now. I think they're they opposite - they're way too exaggerated now.

Since I don't like to post in the feedback thread without contributing, I will add some new comparisons along with my old ones. None of these are neutral faces of course.

It reeeeally brings the Testuya Nomura design out in him, doesn't it?

[Lorika]

It reeeeally brings the Testuya Nomura design out in him, doesn't it?

It's why it need to be fixed.

[eohippus]

/snip

I'm so happy to see someone has made a comprehensive post of this. male midlander expressions look very bad after the update, to the point where my friends who don't play as them were all shocked when they finally saw a picture of what the default smile looks like on my WoL now. Its been a very disappointing aspect of the graphics update that I did not expect at all. genuinely found him difficult to look at in cutscenes. its like the corners of the mouth now only move up or down instead of moving OUT as well (like a smile does in real life)

[ConantSivrha]

(snip)

Thank you for bringing this up again. I agree with you. (I’ve also been considering making my own post on the subject, but, unfortunately, the video I took of a few expressions before the update isn’t very good, because I was ignorant of some basic functions of gpose at the time, such as zooming in farther than what is possible with just the mouse wheel, or changing the expression within gpose instead of exiting and re-entering gpose every time I wanted to change it.)

After the update, some expressions—especially smiles—just don’t look right. In my opinion, the most obvious problem is that the corners of the mouth mainly point up instead of being pulled up and to the sides when smiling.

I’ve mentioned that the mouth I use on my main (male miqo’te face 1 mouth 4) is significantly wider now than it was before the update. However, when smiling, it isn’t pulled wider in the way that a mouth should be; instead, the corners just move up vertically while remaining at the same or similar position horizontally, which isn’t really something you’d see in real life. I worry that if the mouth is changed to be closer to its original size (which I do want…in theory) the new expressions will become even more unnatural (which I do not want).

Additionally, the surprised-looking expression that the WoL sometimes makes in cutscenes (I think it’s /amazed /awe) looks very odd on my character (the face 1 male miqo’te) after the update. The eyes look larger than what should be reasonably possible, and the expression comes off more like helpless terror than amazement or surprise. In the past, it looked less cartoonish/exaggerated than it does currently, which I felt looked more natural on the face, and also seemed more fitting for the subdued personality generally shown by the WoL in cutscenes.

[TheDustyOne]

I'm sorry but I have to disagree that the expressions are too mild now. I think they're they opposite - they're way too exaggerated now.

<snip>

This is something that really needs to be talked about more because it was something I noticed even in the benchmark, but couldn't put my finger on what was wrong when I saw my character smile. At the time I just chalked it up to the face changes, but no, I believe they also reanimated the expressions entirely for the new head models (there are new bones in the face as far as I know) and the end result ends up looking uncanny. Maybe I should look through my older screenshots and compare, but something about my characters current /beam, /smile, and /simper is massively off.

[Rueby]

This is something that really needs to be talked about more because it was something I noticed even in the benchmark, but couldn't put my finger on what was wrong when I saw my character smile. At the time I just chalked it up to the face changes, but no, I believe they also reanimated the expressions entirely for the new head models (there are new bones in the face as far as I know) and the end result ends up looking uncanny. Maybe I should look through my older screenshots and compare, but something about my characters current /beam, /smile, and /simper is massively off.

Expressions in their current form look really uncanny. Especially smile. Alot of character have this really unhinged upturned corners of the lips. This isn't a cute/subtle smile. Mouths and muscles don't work that way. It's so strange how 10 year old facial animations were way better and more expressive than this. I feel like for expressions everything got dialed up to 11.