Dawntrail character graphics update - opinions, requests and discussion megathread

[lunartears]

I really loved the old graphics, even with its quirks in certain zones (like inns), I thought that overall it was very nice and suited the game's aesthetic. I would have preferred to have stayed with it as a whole extending outside of the character update, but I know as questionable as the graphics update is - there's absolutely zero chance they'd throw away their work.
Since the original game graphics I fell in love with are gone for good, all I can do is direct my thoughts towards desperately wishing that the original character features would return - because I feel that even if I don't like how the world looks anymore, at least I would still have my character to enjoy playing with.
I think about this every day, I want to be able to enjoy playing this game again so badly.

[noumen0nn]

I really loved the old graphics, even with its quirks in certain zones (like inns), I thought that overall it was very nice and suited the game's aesthetic. I would have preferred to have stayed with it as a whole extending outside of the character update, but I know as questionable as the graphics update is - there's absolutely zero chance they'd throw away their work.
Since the original game graphics I fell in love with are gone for good, all I can do is direct my thoughts towards desperately wishing that the original character features would return - because I feel that even if I don't like how the world looks anymore, at least I would still have my character to enjoy playing with.
I think about this every day, I want to be able to enjoy playing this game again so badly.

Agreed on all counts. I get sad thinking about how the old version of the game is effectively lost media, and although the world changes don't bother me nearly as much as the character ones, nothing about the graphics update is an improvement to me. It's all sidegrades and downgrades, and when I think of everything graphics-related that they could have spent this effort on instead (a non-embarrassing double dye system that worked on every item from the start, more character creation options, viera/hrothgar hats, etc.) I can't help but feel like the entire update was just a gigantic waste of time. What's done is done, but this was a terrible decision.

[Einnecy]

I really loved the old graphics, even with its quirks in certain zones (like inns), I thought that overall it was very nice and suited the game's aesthetic. I would have preferred to have stayed with it as a whole extending outside of the character update, but I know as questionable as the graphics update is - there's absolutely zero chance they'd throw away their work.
Since the original game graphics I fell in love with are gone for good, all I can do is direct my thoughts towards desperately wishing that the original character features would return - because I feel that even if I don't like how the world looks anymore, at least I would still have my character to enjoy playing with.
I think about this every day, I want to be able to enjoy playing this game again so badly.

I'm in the same boat. I will miss the game that was before 7.0. The thing that first drew me in were the visuals. I've been mulling over this since my last response, words fail me still, but prior to 7.0 the visuals had this... harmony to them. Everything felt so vibrant. Alive. The animations are awkward and goofy, and yet they never felt out of place. The game as it is right now feels so ugly and uncanny, unrelated to the completion of the graphical update. The "realistic" philtrum, the sandpaper texture on the skin, the additional "realistic" shaders and catchlights... it all meshes so horribly with how the game simply moves.

I wish CS3 didn't fall into the graphical fidelity à la realism rabbit hole with FFXIV.

[MikatoKai]

Not so much of a 'graphics' update, but I'm noticing that the /annoyed emote for face 4 male viera looks pretty different now. It looks more... concerned than mad, compared to how it was before. My face 1 male viera looks /annoyed, so I can only assume some face bones made the expression on face 4 go weird. I didn't take a screenshot of the before, but it definitely looks... off now. Yet another grievance with face 4 male Viera I suppose...

[Reinha]

Agreed on all counts. I get sad thinking about how the old version of the game is effectively lost media, and although the world changes don't bother me nearly as much as the character ones, nothing about the graphics update is an improvement to me. It's all sidegrades and downgrades, and when I think of everything graphics-related that they could have spent this effort on instead (a non-embarrassing double dye system that worked on every item from the start, more character creation options, viera/hrothgar hats, etc.) I can't help but feel like the entire update was just a gigantic waste of time. What's done is done, but this was a terrible decision.

This. All I have left of my character is screenshots. The scenery in them looked beautiful too. It's kind of ironic that I played this game for years as other races and when I finally landed on the elf race and really liked it they get remodeled, just like what happened to my Night Elf.

[Loggos]

I really loved the old graphics, even with its quirks in certain zones (like inns), I thought that overall it was very nice and suited the game's aesthetic. I would have preferred to have stayed with it as a whole extending outside of the character update, but I know as questionable as the graphics update is - there's absolutely zero chance they'd throw away their work.
Since the original game graphics I fell in love with are gone for good, all I can do is direct my thoughts towards desperately wishing that the original character features would return - because I feel that even if I don't like how the world looks anymore, at least I would still have my character to enjoy playing with.
I think about this every day, I want to be able to enjoy playing this game again so badly.

I feel this.
The graphics update ruined some of my favourite zones. Ultima Thule always meant a lot to me. Sometimes I just spent some idle time there to relax and take in the scenery. The clear view on the bright, surreal planets in the distance was just stunning. It was particularly important to me tbh.
Well it's all gone now.
Not only are the lighting and the colours a lot less appealing. The entire region is suddenly filled with some kind of strange greenish fog that clouds your view into the distance. So you can't see the crisp and colourful luminaries anymore.
This bums me out so much. It's the final zone of EW for goodness' sake, one of the most relevant zones of the last 10 years.

I miss spending time there (and enjoying it) so much.

[Astronis]

Not only are the lighting and the colours a lot less appealing. The entire region is suddenly filled with some kind of strange greenish fog that clouds your view into the distance.

That's a very strange thing indeed. On my computer, Ultima Thule is more vibrant and clearer than it's ever been. If you're constantly getting green fog without being on New Game+ in Ultima Thule, bug report it, it should go away as you advance through the story. Astromagnetic Storms are purplish fog.

ETA: Well...looking at it right now, it's more bright greenish-blueish. Been awhile since I went there in that particular weather.

[HawkeScream]

I really loved the old graphics, even with its quirks in certain zones (like inns), I thought that overall it was very nice and suited the game's aesthetic. I would have preferred to have stayed with it as a whole extending outside of the character update, but I know as questionable as the graphics update is - there's absolutely zero chance they'd throw away their work.
Since the original game graphics I fell in love with are gone for good, all I can do is direct my thoughts towards desperately wishing that the original character features would return - because I feel that even if I don't like how the world looks anymore, at least I would still have my character to enjoy playing with.
I think about this every day, I want to be able to enjoy playing this game again so badly.

Feel this so much. I was digging through old screenshots for something and accidentally made myself sad all over again seeing what my characters and the game used to look like ;-;

[Feina]

So true! I kept all my screenshots throughout the expansions, and it's sad to think that my WoL was so heavily changed (face 1 female Midlander) to the point a side-by-side comparison was like two completely different characters.

The instant I saw the changes, I couldn't help but think "look at how they massacred my girl" :/

[CuteBucket]

Since the original game graphics I fell in love with are gone for good, all I can do is direct my thoughts towards desperately wishing that the original character features would return - because I feel that even if I don't like how the world looks anymore, at least I would still have my character to enjoy playing with.
I think about this every day, I want to be able to enjoy playing this game again so badly.

I have been lucky enough to find a [REDACTED] to help fix my male miqo'te's face and make him look more like himself again. But while I have fun playing as him, he's technically not "my" character, he's a Fire Emblem character I put in the game when I started because I had no ideas for an OC yet, as I didn't know the world or story of FFXIV. He's my main I do all the endgame content with.

But my other character Eleonora, my sweet face 3 au ra girl, my story WoL I was taking the time to replay the game and experience it through her eyes, who I came to adore so much, who I crafted a story for to fit into the world I'd come to know, who I have commissioned artwork of and written about and connected with and who I came to love just looking at and taking cute pictures of her... She's gone. And since that a "less popular" face, I don't know if I will ever get her back. I've looked and looked up and down on the places I know of to look but no [REDACTED] has been made to restore that face. And the statement from the devs and Yoshi-P has not given me any hope that whatever "fixes" are coming will actually fix her face at all. I never needed nor wanted [REDACTED] character's faces before. I saw no need. I loved them just the way they were.

The way I survived the content drought in Endwalker, the reason why I never unsubbed that whole time even though I was bored with the story and the content, is because I had her. I was replaying the story, taking my time this time around and not trying to race to the end to catch up with my friends. I loved just logging in to look at her, to play dress up with her, to take pictures of her. Even in the the most barren of content droughts, I had her, and that was enough.

But now I don't have that anymore. She's just...gone. I miss her.