Dawntrail character graphics update - opinions, requests and discussion megathread

[Hatsuoki]

Additionally, these alterations largely seem to tend towards lowered eyelids and increased rims on the eyelids, which is probably blocking out light from reflecting on the eyes.

I agree. This is exactly why I'd ask for people with complaints or the people who like the update provide their character creation settings when posting. It could very well be some niche lighting/graphical glitch or it could be due to eyelid/eye shape. For the ones commenting on how they haven't seen a comparison where the old one looks better, that is an opinion on other people's characters that isn't a helpful comment to make.

[SaraSin]

I wonder what happened to the people that posted early on in the thread when DT first launched. Have you guys gotten used to the changes or has the graphics update just demotivated you from logging in whatsoever?
I ask because it looks like a lot of people didn't fanta into something else despite their grievances. Not trying to antagonize or belittle anyone; disliking the update is totally valid. Just curious where you all stand 2 months later.

2 months later and I'm still not a fan. I hardly play anymore and I try not to look at my characters as much as possible. Can't remember the last time I took a gpose. I think what annoys me the most is the lips and hair lighting, like the hair looks shaded(?) completely different than the body at times. My ol PC also does not like the update, been having to play with 30 fps and lowest graphics settings. The environment is beautiful though with higher settings.

Left is before update, right is me trying to get as close as possible to the same lighting and expression as before. It feels too different for me to enjoy. Happy for those that do like the update though

[Risough]

I wonder what happened to the people that posted early on in the thread when DT first launched. Have you guys gotten used to the changes or has the graphics update just demotivated you from logging in whatsoever?
I ask because it looks like a lot of people didn't fanta into something else despite their grievances. Not trying to antagonize or belittle anyone; disliking the update is totally valid. Just curious where you all stand 2 months later.

I was one of the people who provided feedback both early in this thread and in the second benchmark thread. My feelings regarding the update remain unchanged. The improvements to world lighting and detail are incredible, but I find it harder to feel connected to that world due the changes to my character's appearance. Whenever he shows up in a cutscene I'm distracted thinking "I wish they'd handled his brow differently" or "His smirk looks off here..."

As others have said, I opted not to fantasia because my character's appearance is defined and has story attached to it. I just wouldn't feel right replacing him with a new person. I'm not satisfied with the way the current settings look, but they're still the closest to what feels right among the current offerings.

This picture from my earlier post best shows the things that bother me. The furrowed area between his eyes, the harsher circles under his eyes, and the lip shape make him look quite different:



Endwalker is on the left and Dawntrail is on the right.

With regards to your question about how the changes have affected my motivation to play, yes I would say I feel less motivated to log in. I used to log in because I enjoyed seeing the world through the eyes of my character and imagining what he'd be thinking of his adventures. I'd spend a lot of time exploring and immersing myself. Now I spend a minimal amount of time in game collecting gear to ensure I'm ready to raid with friends. I have a lot of close friends that I play this game with and staying in touch with them has become my primary motivator to keep playing.

I'm hopeful that the feedback I left reached the right ears and they'll make some adjustments. I hope that they're able to tweak things to the point where everyone in this thread can enjoy their time in Eorzea again. You're all obviously very passionate about FFXIV, so I hope one day it will make you happy again.

[lunartears]

I haven't bothered with my alts or my portraits in general, but I'm having a really hard time adjusting the lighting on my Lalafell character's portrait. I know this is just another complaint about the portrait lighting changes, but this character was meant to be very "illuminated" (for the lack of a better description) and everything I try is either too gloomy or looks like the sun is blinding her. The lighting I settled on doesn't feel right either, it's like the facial features are harder to make out than before.



Generally, I feel like there's a unique problem with the lighting in the "Try On" window and portraits. Everything looks extra dead and flat. In the actual world, the lighting is different and she is more "illuminated", just not in the same way as 6.5 (which is disappointing but since it's an alt character I don't really feel as strongly about it as on my main).
My only real dislike with this character is the changes to the eyes, but I didn't take any group pose screenshots of this character in 6.5 so I can't make any posts about it.

Also, I've been experiencing some weirdness with the hairstyle shining in dimly lit places like on my main character. I wonder if this issue applies to other hairstyles with thick/layered parts.

[potatsdevourer]

I was one of the people who provided feedback both early in this thread and in the second benchmark thread. My feelings regarding the update remain unchanged. The improvements to world lighting and detail are incredible, but I find it harder to feel connected to that world due the changes to my character's appearance. Whenever he shows up in a cutscene I'm distracted thinking "I wish they'd handled his brow differently" or "His smirk looks off here..."

As others have said, I opted not to fantasia because my character's appearance is defined and has story attached to it. I just wouldn't feel right replacing him with a new person. I'm not satisfied with the way the current settings look, but they're still the closest to what feels right among the current offerings.

This picture from my earlier post best shows the things that bother me. The furrowed area between his eyes, the harsher circles under his eyes, and the lip shape make him look quite different:



Endwalker is on the left and Dawntrail is on the right.

With regards to your question about how the changes have affected my motivation to play, yes I would say I feel less motivated to log in. I used to log in because I enjoyed seeing the world through the eyes of my character and imagining what he'd be thinking of his adventures. I'd spend a lot of time exploring and immersing myself. Now I spend a minimal amount of time in game collecting gear to ensure I'm ready to raid with friends. I have a lot of close friends that I play this game with and staying in touch with them has become my primary motivator to keep playing.

I'm hopeful that the feedback I left reached the right ears and they'll make some adjustments. I hope that they're able to tweak things to the point where everyone in this thread can enjoy their time in Eorzea again. You're all obviously very passionate about FFXIV, so I hope one day it will make you happy again.

I saw your post on JP forum that push me to write mine too, and just reporting (again) from face#2 Male Highlander, they also got extra furrows on eyebrows and cheeks post-DT. I can understand what are they trying to get to, but lol honestly this is as major as adding older version face for midlander with stubble. Sure nowadays I can get used to less visible eyeballs but since they depend more on environmental lighting, he looks derpier. And oh don't get me started on the lower eyelid. I swear I never see it that visible

So at one point I decided to fanta to darker skintone and brighter hair color to make eyeball part pops more, and sure enough it helps me detached from my old character look but it feels just plain wrong playing with character that I do not recognize.

I would really love that they hear some of the feedback but I am really not holding my breath. I feel like they have chosen certain creative direction, which reminds me of certain another popular request that falls on deaf ear: eyebrows addition. I mean ffs look at most highlanders and I bet it is easier to count who does not use that cursed facepaint eyebrows.

[Aurumis]

Yeah, overall, the new eyes look bloody fantastic. The new materials and the lighting put more life into them than they've ever had. That said, I can see people having some issues with the limbal rings on au ra since they look to be done differently so the glow effect can be overwhelming and also weird when it's a 'glow' around a dark color, or some Sunseeker miqo'te eyes, it's a little hard to see the slit pupil on some faces. Just the base materials though, I can't get enough of how amazing they look. It's been two months and I am still stopping to look at everyone's eyes because I love what they did so much.

If you are not a troll I don't know what you are because the eyes are the worst of the change in the graphics in the 80% of models.

[Winyumi]

The Development team is currently still carefully reviewing all feedback and considering a planned course of action. However, we will require another week or so for translations before we make an official announcement.
We apologize that this is taking longer than expected, and we thank you all once again for your patience.

Thank you very much for the update! It's highly appreciated. Please take as much time needed to address this carefully. I'm looking forward to it.

[azaleai]

This absolutely hits home and hurts. I'm so sorry. I know it's not much but you're not alone in how that feels at all.

I couldn't help but feel so seen in your post.
Everything you wrote accurately describes how I've been feeling.

You're not alone, I resonate with this so much...

I don't want to say I'm glad you are all suffering like I am, but it's certainly comforting to know I'm not alone, haha. I've never spoken to you personally faiarrow but I won't lie, I feel a considerable sense of kinship with you just through the interactions we've had here - It's reassuring to hear from someone else as vocal as I am about the issues with our face, at least I know I'm not crazy.

Honestly at this point I have one foot out the door; I'm fully prepared for this announcement to either be hot-air-corpo-speak "we'll keep this in mind for the future" or to just make minor tweaks to the more popular races/faces and not touch any of the glaring issues with femroe face 2 or the frankly creepy facial animations... I would be very, very happy to be wrong, but I'm certainly not going to hold my breath.

RE: the topic of eyes. I do agree that Astronis' eyes look better after the update, but I think that's more of an edge case. Most faces have had the eye shape tweaked, upper eyelashes lowered and the heavy shadow over the eye added, as well as the eye tracking/animation being altered leading to portraits seeming to look in a different direction and the upper eyelid lowering a lot more than it used to when the character looks downwards. All of this together combines to make the look far more tired, dopey or sultry than they used to. The updated eye shaders concerning the catchlights are better, but at most angles they're hidden by the heavy shadow or the deeper set eyes (which also afect how the eye colour comes across). For people who are used to their character's eyes looking alert and open, they now look dim and unfocused.

From a technical and realism standpoint they do look better, but from an expression and impression standpoint they're wildly different. And that's what a lot of the criticism here boils down to - the new stuff doesn't necessarily look bad, but it looks vastly different and we were told they wanted to keep the same look and feel which, to be blunt, they failed to do. I think it all depends on which angle you're taking - as someone who's more interested in the expression than the realism, I'm leaning more towards disliking the update, personally, but I do understand where the people who prefer it are coming from.

[Sorimachi87]

I wish the draw distance would be going much smaller when flying through the clouds in yanxia. I am aware about the fps issues it can cause when done wrongly..
Just a big fan of weather and fog/steam in games

EDIT: Just saw its about the characters.. but my thoughts have indirectly to do with them so.. ^^"

[Astronis]

If you are not a troll I don't know what you are because the eyes are the worst of the change in the graphics in the 80% of models.

I'm someone who sincerely disagrees with your opinion. I've been civil. I'd like it if you extended me that courtesy.

ETA:

RE: the topic of eyes. I do agree that Astronis' eyes look better after the update, but I think that's more of an edge case. Most faces have had the eye shape tweaked, upper eyelashes lowered and the heavy shadow over the eye added, as well as the eye tracking/animation being altered leading to portraits seeming to look in a different direction and the upper eyelid lowering a lot more than it used to when the character looks downwards. All of this together combines to make the look far more tired, dopey or sultry than they used to. The updated eye shaders concerning the catchlights are better, but at most angles they're hidden by the heavy shadow or the deeper set eyes (which also afect how the eye colour comes across). For people who are used to their character's eyes looking alert and open, they now look dim and unfocused.

From a technical and realism standpoint they do look better, but from an expression and impression standpoint they're wildly different. And that's what a lot of the criticism here boils down to - the new stuff doesn't necessarily look bad, but it looks vastly different and we were told they wanted to keep the same look and feel which, to be blunt, they failed to do. I think it all depends on which angle you're taking - as someone who's more interested in the expression than the realism, I'm leaning more towards disliking the update, personally, but I do understand where the people who prefer it are coming from.

It's very possible that my opinion is sharply influenced by how much of an upgrade the eyes were to my character! I mean...this is the nonsense I was dealing with for years:

My dude's eyes have been upgraded. Everything about him has.

I do, though, very sincerely, like the upgrade on virtually every other character, too. I have an Au Ra alt and I like what her eyes look like now as well. I've looked at miqoeyes and loved them, female Highlander eyes and loved them, elezen eyes...on and on. Buuuut--it's also much more in the realm of matter of opinion, side-grade, however you'd like to call it. It's not such an obvious and blatant upgrade as what happened with my WoL's specific face.