Dawntrail character graphics update - opinions, requests and discussion megathread

[CidHeiral]

For the record, this is with character lighting turned all the way down, and yet he's fully illuminated in a completely shadowed environment, as if cut and paste from another image.

That was a direct result of player feedback. It was previously much more subtle but changed after the first benchmark when people complained.

Environmental Lighting Adjustments

When characters were backlit or in shadow, the softened shading made details appear rather flat. As such, we made overall adjustments to characters' environmental lighting to preserve a three-dimensional appearance even when a character wasn't being lit. We also made minor adjustments to the overall environment, such as fog.

Source: https://na.finalfantasyxiv.com/lodes...ecd574ad0d397a

Unfortunately that's the double edged sword of addressing feedback. Any change meant to appease one group of people is going to be disliked by another group of people. Fortunately in this instance while I do think it looks silly to glow in the dark it doesn't ruin my enjoyment of the game or anything.

[Turnintino]

That was a direct result of player feedback. It was previously much more subtle but changed after the first benchmark when people complained.



Source: https://na.finalfantasyxiv.com/lodes...ecd574ad0d397a

Unfortunately that's the double edged sword of addressing feedback. Any change meant to appease one group of people is going to be disliked by another group of people. Fortunately in this instance while I do think it looks silly to glow in the dark it doesn't ruin my enjoyment of the game or anything.

I can appreciate their attempt, but I'd also argue the inciting issue wasn't ultimately addressed; the details of the character still look flat -- we're just also glowing now lol. But if the saturation were just turned down a bit to match the environment, it would make a world of difference, IMO.

I think their fix was strange to begin with, though, since all it seems to do is force character lighting, a setting we have in the game but not in the benchmark, where of course some players might've felt its absence. It also doesn't appear everywhere. By my observations, it only seems to act like this when the character is in shadow during daylight hours, so I'm not sure it's even entirely intentional.

[CidHeiral]

I can appreciate their attempt, but I'd also argue the inciting issue wasn't ultimately addressed; the details of the character still look flat -- we're just also glowing now lol. But if the saturation were just turned down a bit to match the environment, it would make a world of difference, IMO.

I think their fix was strange to begin with, though, since all it seems to do is force character lighting, a setting we have in the game but not in the benchmark, where of course some players might've felt its absence. It also doesn't appear everywhere. By my observations, it only seems to act like this when the character is in shadow during daylight hours, so I'm not sure it's even entirely intentional.

Personally I liked the softer lighting of the first benchmark and I think they should have let people actually run around in the world for a bit before making drastic changes, but it is what it is. It's definitely intentional though because you can see the same thing going on in their examples in that lodestone post.

[Iscah]

That was a direct result of player feedback. It was previously much more subtle but changed after the first benchmark when people complained.



Source: https://na.finalfantasyxiv.com/lodes...ecd574ad0d397a

Unfortunately that's the double edged sword of addressing feedback. Any change meant to appease one group of people is going to be disliked by another group of people. Fortunately in this instance while I do think it looks silly to glow in the dark it doesn't ruin my enjoyment of the game or anything.

The base cause of the player feedback was the devs' introduction of the new "soft lighting" in the first place, which affected different skin colours in drastically different ways – my dark-skinned Miqo'te looked fine in the first benchmark but my pale-skinned Midlander was translucent.

Both of them looked fine in the old lighting and both of them look awful in the new lighting in different ways to the benchmark – pale seems prone to going featureless and puffy in bright light; dark has constant reflection from the fake cool-white spotlights that shine on everything now.