Dawntrail character graphics update - opinions, requests and discussion megathread

[noumen0nn]

If I consider all the changes to my face, and there were a large amount, the entire mouth stands out as the worst and most drastic change. It would be my #1 ask for fixing. The shape of it, the new recessed corners, the flat texture with drawn on and incorrect shadows, the unnatural default colour, the permanent gloss no matter what setting you choose. Mouths in this update look bad to me. I'm sorry to be rude but I have to be honest. I'm honest because I want the game to change for the better. This graphics update in many many regards was not the quality I expected to see.

Here's some more comparisons


Of course mouths were low poly and rough and needed improvement but think they got carried away and forgot to stick to the characters original feel. They look strange and doll like to me now.

• The mouth is a different shape (you can see this further in a side profile comparison which I've done in previous posts), including these recessed mouth corners that are new.
• The colour of the lips by default are now far too strong making it look like lipstick is applied even though "none" is selected. (I believe this may have been mentioned as something to be fixed in the recent statement).
• There is a glossy shine on the lips that is permanent despite "none" being selected.
• There is very little texture and variation to the lip colour making the lips look very smooth and doll like.
• There are shadows drawn onto the lips texture, which ignore game lighting. This causes a very strange appearance where the shadows appear even with light shining straight on them. The shadows are also both too strong and incorrectly placed. The shadow at the corners are out of place and make it look like something is dripping out the corners of the mouth! I think it's strange that the developers were firmly against keeping backed in fixed catch lights, but have no problems adding baked in fixed shadows?

I think this is one of the prime examples of how big of a subjective difference even tiny changes can make. I'll be honest, even I have to closely study the image to spot the differences (shape-wise at least, the shadows and gloss are obvious), but once you do it really stands out. I'm hopeful that the recessed mouth corners get addressed since that's one of the things they mentioned in the announcement.

But this begs the question- what the hell happened with my lips, or rinai's eyes? The features that even at a glance are just not even close? This update was all over the place in terms of consistency.

[Cheapshot]

This update was all over the place in terms of consistency.

That's just been my biggest grievance with everything. I think they should have taken the time to do this graphics update on its own without distractions or split efforts. And really do it right and get all the details right. The fact that it's so inconsistent on top of the games zones and gear being updated in parts? It's not a good state to put a live service monthly sub game in.