Dawntrail character graphics update - opinions, requests and discussion megathread

[FlamboyantAsBurningInferno]

The new lighting continues to ruin old cutscenes.

Endwalker 6.0.


Dawntrail 7.0

[lunartears]

[...]
For other races that's not the same problem. My Miqo'te and Au Ra haven't lost the non-human features that indicate their race, but they have lost the specific face shapes that defined them as individual people.

I hope this doesn't come across as dismissive because I understand where you are coming from and I have enjoyed reading your feedback (as with all) but I respectfully disagree about Au Ra.
I feel like my Au Ra lost her racial traits which to me were the small pupils, sharp nose and smaller mouth.
Though some would probably say those features (aside from the pupil size change) don't count as a defining racial feature and are more likely related to the update as a whole, so it's just my own interpretation after spending 3-ish years with this character.

Also, I apologise if my usage of "hyurification" has upset you. I have only used it in the way I would "humanificiation'" as Hyur is basically "human" in this game. Hyur is one of the races where I can most easily identify the changes so I don't think they are unscathed at all.

[FuturePastNow]

In the corresponding Japanese thread, a player retold Mr. Yoshida's words that screenshots can lead to confusion. It seems like we'll receive another black bag without an opportunity to preview its contents and have to deal with the results. At least that's what Google Translate tells me.

I'm afraid there won't be anything substantial in the next PLL too, except maybe for a brief mention: "We are working on characters; please look forward to it.".

So we'll have to endure yet another month of waiting and uncertainty.

They really ought to update the benchmark again once the next round of changes are "final", though I don't expect it.

[Garruss]

The new lighting continues to ruin old cutscenes.

Endwalker 6.0.


Dawntrail 7.0

That does ruin the whole feeling of that moment with the new lighting

[Moonfallen]

When looking through Chinese lodestone threads, I've found this very interesting post about changes in the faces of Midlander males and how they affect the cutscenes and the plot in general.

Warning: HW and SHB spoilers ahead!

Going through the link and the screenshots just solidifies I will NEVER go through the game on a new character again. It looks AWFUL, and I'm sorry to say this but they ruined their own game. They want to last another 10 years? I don't see that happening after fucking up this badly. So many people I know either play less or quit entirely because the entire vibe on the cutscenes is ruined by horrendous lighting, bad animations, and everyone looking like completely different people. Talking about this link and thread currently with a friend and going over all the screenshot comparisons and even they are asking what the devs were thinking.

[Astronis]

When looking through Chinese lodestone threads, I've found this very interesting post about changes in the faces of Midlander males and how they affect the cutscenes and the plot in general.

Warning: HW and SHB spoilers ahead!

Those all look fine to me, with maybe one out of the whole bunch being over-lit. Mostly they've just had that godawful grey overlay that used to make everything look bad removed. The lighting issue a few posts up in the scene after defeating Thordan, now THAT is a radical shift for the worse that needs to be fixed. These though? They're hardly different at all, certainly not enough to affect the plot.

[noumen0nn]

Those all look fine to me, with maybe one out of the whole bunch being over-lit. Mostly they've just had that godawful grey overlay that used to make everything look bad removed. The lighting issue a few posts up in the scene after defeating Thordan, now THAT is a radical shift for the worse that needs to be fixed. These though? They're hardly different at all, certainly not enough to affect the plot.

Hard disagree. The expression differences are subtle, but so are microexpressions in real life, and those are enough to fully change the emotion being displayed by a face. Facial emotes as a whole need another pass, they look wooden in screenshots and alien in motion.

[Astronis]

Hard disagree. The expression differences are subtle, but so are microexpressions in real life, and those are enough to fully change the emotion being displayed by a face. Facial emotes as a whole need another pass, they look wooden in screenshots and alien in motion.

I can damn near guarantee that someone playing FFXIV for the first time is not going to come away from the game thinking the plot is substantially different than you think it is, based on these subtle differences.

(I say substantially, since at the level of microexpressions, one person's interpretation of another's emotion becomes subjective.)

[CuteBucket]

Those all look fine to me, with maybe one out of the whole bunch being over-lit. Mostly they've just had that godawful grey overlay that used to make everything look bad removed. The lighting issue a few posts up in the scene after defeating Thordan, now THAT is a radical shift for the worse that needs to be fixed. These though? They're hardly different at all, certainly not enough to affect the plot.

It's not about the lighting and colors here (I agree in most of these the new lighting looks better), it's about the structural changes to the Hyur face model Ardbert uses making his expressions look different and just in general him looking like a different guy. Yeah, new players won't notice or care, but it kind of sucks for players that love going back through the story or their favorite cutscenes to have a character they liked have expressions that are different and just generally look like a stranger to them.

[Astronis]

It's not about the lighting and colors here (I agree in most of these the new lighting looks better), it's about the structural changes to the Hyur face model Ardbert uses making his expressions look different and just in general him looking like a different guy. Yeah, new players won't notice or care, but it kind of sucks for players that love going back through the story or their favorite cutscenes to have a character they liked have expressions that are different and just generally look like a stranger to them.

I understand that and sympathize with people who dislike it, though of course it's subjective. To me they all look like the same characters with higher fidelity graphics. Ardbert looks like Ardbert to me. I've gone back through some of the cutscenes and enjoyed how much better they look with the update. Urianger looks soooo much better now. To me at least!