Dawntrail character graphics update - opinions, requests and discussion megathread

[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.

[Winyumi]

Personally, my main ask is for the Au Ra pupil size to return to its original size (or have an option for it). It really shouldn't be that hard to fix. If I don't see any change in the upcoming patch, I swear I'm going to lose it. I can't bear to wait for another future patch in hopes that it gets fixed if ever.

FFXIV has been my main game for years. As I struggle to come back to play a stranger of my character, I'm slowly but surely losing interest and motivation to keep going. I barely log on anymore.

[Einnecy]

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.

My biggest gripe with using [REDACTED] is that I would be putting my account at risk just for the sake of fixing bad aesthetic changes on the developers' part. I might have been willing to accept the risks if it meant improving my characters instead of reverting them to how they used to be. Before DT I had contemplated getting some custom texture work done so that my characters can look "lore accurate" (burn marks on my midlander, and lightly iridescent fish-like body scales and some light skin picking scabs for my au ra) but ultimately decided against it because it would be a lot of work to learn a new craft and I too was perfectly happy with my characters as they were.
It is not just my characters who I would have to fix also. Even the NPCs look jarring and uncanny to look at. I would have to alter the pupils, grossly white eyewhites, bleached teeth and raen scales, and apply it to every NPC in the game. A simple one-and-done. But I do not have the patience nor the skill to alter the head meshes of, at the very least, those who were hit by the graphical update the hardest (like Thancred) if not every face in the game. I hope they did not touch Nero. I don't know what I would do if I found that man stripped of his features.

I have never used [REDACTED]. It would be a lot of work. Why should any of us have to fix the developers' questionable stylistic decisions?

[CuteBucket]

Why should any of us have to fix the developers' questionable stylistic decisions?

We absolutely should not, but I [REDACTED] accessibility needs [REDACTED] should be in the game to begin with, but here we are, so unfortunately I'm somewhat used to this circus of having to find fixes on my own in those lawless lands because SE does not provide them in the game. It's just wild to me that I need [REDACTED] to have my characters look more like the original, vanilla game now. Absolute upside down crazy world.

And honestly, if SE is willing to hunt me down over that, well, guess I'd just take it as a sign to move on and find a new home elsewhere. They already took my story and gpose WoL from me and I'm bored with the game as it is. I stick around for weekly raids and to chill with my friends at this point, and the DC travel restrictions have even made just doing those two things more difficult. And I could weather it all if I just had my silly little blorbo to look at. But I don't, and my patience is wearing thin.

[Einnecy]

And I could weather it all if I just had my silly little blorbo to look at. But I don't, and my patience is wearing thin.

My friend, I sincerely wish for you to get your blorbo back one way or another. I hope my previous comment did not come across as critical or negative to anyone except SE. I have to wonder how many people have considered and also went down the rabbit hole because of the graphical update, or how many people have outright lost interest and quit or are on the fence about it as I am because too much has changed to be salvageable. I'm upset that we as players have to potentially take matters into our own hands because the game keeps failing its playerbase.
On the topic of accessibility, and to shoehorn in another issue in regards to the graphical update, I am heavily disheartened by the lack of acknowledgement on this thread about eye strain. I want to see the game do better than this.

[Khryseis_Astra]

It's just wild to me that I need [REDACTED] to have my characters look more like the original, vanilla game now. Absolute upside down crazy world.

And I could weather it all if I just had my silly little blorbo to look at. But I don't, and my patience is wearing thin.

I’m really hoping we get some encouraging news and/or visuals in the Live Letter this coming weekend. I’m playing through the MSQ on my Highlander now and it’s just striking to me how much she’s changed. I can almost pretend she’s still ok until the cutscenes play… one of the big things was supposed to be this new lighting that was going to be so much better. But I’m watching cutscenes, and beyond my character having a totally different face (I swear the way they did the brow and nose, along with the awful philtrum, she looks more like a Roe at certain angles than a Hyur!), the way the light and shadows fall is just awful! I’ll have to take some more screenshots, but I’m just getting to DT zone 3, if you remember any of those scenes leading up to there.

But I feel you, as someone else who spends a lot of time in gpose, it really sucks to have that taken away. Certain facial expressions have just been totally ruined, and that really affects the personality of a character.

[lunartears]

Personally, my main ask is for the Au Ra pupil size to return to its original size (or have an option for it). It really shouldn't be that hard to fix. If I don't see any change in the upcoming patch, I swear I'm going to lose it. I can't bear to wait for another future patch in hopes that it gets fixed if ever.

FFXIV has been my main game for years. As I struggle to come back to play a stranger of my character, I'm slowly but surely losing interest and motivation to keep going. I barely log on anymore.

I'm bothered that they haven't addressed this, I don't understand why it was changed when it was perfectly fine before and the lack of acknowledgement makes me anxious that they are considering it "spec". The lip change is the worst part for me but add those big pupils and it makes my character look ghoulish. I empathize so much, my character is totally unrecognizable at the moment and I haven't been playing as a result. Even if I haven't played as many years as others, I have pretty much logged in for a few hours every day and that trend fizzled out after the graphics update went live.

This photo that makes me ask "Who is this?"

[noumen0nn]

I'm bothered that they haven't addressed this, I don't understand why it was changed when it was perfectly fine before and the lack of acknowledgement makes me anxious that they are considering it "spec". The lip change is the worst part for me but add those big pupils and it makes my character look ghoulish. I empathize so much, my character is totally unrecognizable at the moment and I haven't been playing as a result. Even if I haven't played as many years as others, I have pretty much logged in for a few hours every day and that trend fizzled out after the graphics update went live.

This photo that makes me ask "Who is this?"

What made them decide that everyone's nose has to be the most prominent, stuck-out feature of their face? It looks comically bad. Practically every other shadow on the entire model has been softened, and then our noses just look like they have dirt smudged along the edges