Dawntrail character graphics update - opinions, requests and discussion megathread

[Luluna]

I really hope they have got rid of the baggy eyes on Hyur midlander females, it is quite bad. Face 1 has terrible bags and face 5 has really dark inner eye shadows QQ. The lip colours seem all beige/brown and just washed out I really hope they had tried to fix some of it.

[Khryseis_Astra]

The closest look we really got from these tiny images is this picture of a Midlander from the part about eyeglasses opacity.

It's hard to glean much without knowing which numbered face options this model is using, but there's... some reason to hope. Here's the good things I notice:

I’m not the only one who was trying to look at these tiny pictures for clues! lol Too bad this image has the face mostly in shadow though… I’ve found that not facing a light source hides a lot of the flaws that become instantly noticeable when you do.

The lips… I’m not sure. If they’re using the thinnest option, then they’re much improved, but if they’re using the fuller ones, they’re probably still messed up. Still, I can notice slight improvements even with the shadows. Worst case scenario and they don’t fix my Highlander’s face well enough, I’ll can just turn her back into a Middie. Why I can’t just have a Midlander head on a Highlander body is beyond me! lol (but more character customization in general is a rant of its own…)

[noumen0nn]

I’m not the only one who was trying to look at these tiny pictures for clues! lol Too bad this image has the face mostly in shadow though… I’ve found that not facing a light source hides a lot of the flaws that become instantly noticeable when you do.

The lips… I’m not sure. If they’re using the thinnest option, then they’re much improved, but if they’re using the fuller ones, they’re probably still messed up. Still, I can notice slight improvements even with the shadows. Worst case scenario and they don’t fix my Highlander’s face well enough, I’ll can just turn her back into a Middie. Why I can’t just have a Midlander head on a Highlander body is beyond me! lol (but more character customization in general is a rant of its own…)

The thing that gives me hope with the lips is that they seem fuller at the corners of the mouth, like how they used to be. Having seen pictures floating around the web of the diffuse maps of various faces, I can tell you for certain that the 7.0 Midlander map is just... wrong. It looks nothing like the lips on any other race; like their lips taper off and end before reaching the corners of the mouth. The lipstick follows suit and thus we have our permanent pout. If *both* are fixed, we're probably fine.

[CidHeiral]

That middie has seen some shit lol.

[Astronis]

Well, I hope they have learned a bit from the feedback and that this doesn't mean that unique NPCs are going to look significantly different

I haven't heard anyone complaining about Alisaie and Alphinaud despite the fact that they have new models, nor much about Urianger. So hopefully people won't have too much to complain about with the next wave of NPCs getting updated. I've been replaying ARR on one of my alts, and it's kind of shocking to me how bad the old textures look in the new lighting.

[sylphlands]

I just hope Thancred looks better eventually. His face now compared to previous expacs is so jarring and...flat? My male midlander also looks odd now while my fem miqo'te looks fine, so I wonder if midlanders just got hit with the hypersonic smoothification beam harder than other races.

[Khryseis_Astra]

I haven't heard anyone complaining about Alisaie and Alphinaud despite the fact that they have new models, nor much about Urianger. So hopefully people won't have too much to complain about with the next wave of NPCs getting updated. I've been replaying ARR on one of my alts, and it's kind of shocking to me how bad the old textures look in the new lighting.

The twins pretty much look the same thankfully… and a lot of Elezen saw some positive changes. Poor Thancred though… *cries* I mourn original Thancred!

[aph]

So honestly. My only problem with the character graphics update is the textures. Sculpt-wise, the faces are good. perfect even (for face 5 midlander male). Textures? Not so much. I very much prefer Endwalker face textures more than Dawntrail face textures. That's really the only thing that irks me the most. everything else is fantastic so far, just a few bits and pieces that I feel would just be picky if I pointed them out. I wish I can show examples but alas. Hopefully devs don't change the sculpt too much, if at all, in the next patches. I have the slightest hope they'll (maybe) bring back Endwalker textures, but I highly doubt it.

PS: please bring the real Thancred back

[Turethir]

Also hoping that they will have fixed the issues with Thancred with the mention of changes to NPCs, but I am trying to keep my expectations in check.

If not, I'm going to keep pushing for the changes - I won't give up on him!

[mallleable]

Hoping there aren't really any changes to my character in the patch. She came out pretty good with the last round of updates a while ago.