Dawntrail character graphics update - opinions, requests and discussion megathread

[AvaloniaFallen]

7.0 vs 7.1
The only difference I can see is that her eyes are more angular in the outer corner than before, which I appreciate. I think they lessened the grease effect but it's still definitely there. Pretty much identical otherwise.

[Cheapshot]

https://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/...=1#post6513666

I put all this effort in, as early as I could, and hardly anything changed. A small tweak to the mouth. I was right not to get my hopes up, and yet I still feel disappointed anyway. I made a trial account to preview the changes. This was their chance to win me back, but I think maybe I stay unsubbed. I miss my miqo'te so so so much.

[asrali]

https://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/...49#post6623649

Looks like the issues are still there for female highlanders like I showed in my FOURTH feedback thread.

[AdairKiba]

I'm so upset with this change, my WoL's limbal ring has never been this bright even at night! Surely this is a bug?

I have always had the darkest green limbal ring on my WoL, because I wanted his brown eye to look like a brown-and-green hazel like my own eyes. Until now, it kind of read like that during the day. But as of 7.1, his limbal ring is neon bright! If I had wanted him to have glowing eyes and not just the color, I would have picked the brighter glow-like shades from the start.

Additionally, I noticed that the darker shades (right side of the color select column), glow brightly in the daylight but appear dim at night. It doesn't make any sense.

I would suggest that luminosity be put on a slider in addition to the color selection. Alternatively, a checkbox to have glow or not would also be a good option.

My WoL's eyes are relevant to his lore and personal to myself, I wish they would stop altering them so drastically. Let the players choose how their characters look.

[SchwarzwaelderTorte]

Aww, I really liked the backlight scattering on the horns, was that really something that was being complained about enough for them to remove it? (or did they accidentally break it?)

(pics are from 7.0)

Yes.

But the announcement on Lodestone only said that it would be lessened, not removed entirely...
So I'm surprised that on Au ra F face 1 at least, it seems to have completely disappeared. (personally I don't mind, but I would have also been fine with horns that simply didn't glow bright red in an unnatural way)

Regarding limbal rings:




Personally I am very happy with the change, it's what I've been fighting for since... pretty much October 2023.

However.
I see exactly what problems other players like duckslap, Doopliss, sleepystaccato and especially Joralia have with the 7.1 limbal rings.
There's also something really weird going on with the conditions that make the rings glow or not glow (and potentially change their thickness too, not sure yet) depending on the lighting, weather, and environment (go see my post on the Japanese forum thread).

My personal opinion is that the method of rendering is wrong, and the way the Au ra eye shader is built is what is causing the limbal ring to appear thicker or brighter than necessary, and ultimately different than what dissatisfied people would like it to be.
I think applying the same method as 3.0-6.X (which was very simply a low poly donut slapped over the iris with its own material that was not affected by lighting as much as the rest of the eye), but with more polygons and a transparency gradient in vertex color for a smoother transition (and resulting in the same thickness for all colors) would be the better way to go.
It's very possible that they considered that already but decided against it for reasons ranging between memory issues (I doubt that adding a few polygons to a pair of donuts would have a huge impact, but who knows), depth rendering issues (it's difficult for 3D engines to guess which half transparent object to render in front of the other), or simply personal taste...

But the current solution, while making me very happy on a very individualistic level, is bound to create more conflict between users (and then who knows what 7.2 will look like as a result) and I would really like to get off this stressful emotional rollercoaster once and for all and just... you know... enjoy the game with the character I designed 7-8 years ago.

The better solution, of course, would be to expand the options of the character creator as soon as possible, and stop arbitrarily changing what already existed before the graphical update.

[Korynith]

https://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/...49#post6623649

Looks like the issues are still there for female highlanders like I showed in my FOURTH feedback thread.

I was SO hoping I would log in today and be in love with my Highlander's face again but nope, no noticeable change. I don't care if it sounds dramatic, but it has literally made me stop playing. I'd completely unsub, but I have a house in my dream spot and I'm not yet willing to give it up.

I think our characters have similar faces except I'm using eye 6 instead of eye 3, and there is still a tilt issue with eye 6.

[wyrmbr4nd]

Agree, they completely changed my highlander's lip/eye/jaw shape and I do not understand why. Still seems to be an issue now and I'm just sad bc I miss my OC.

[Khryseis_Astra]

I’m really hoping that when they said “everything won’t be ready for 7.1,” that meant they might not get to all the faces, because any changes were very subtle… if there were any! Top screenshot is 6.5 vs. 7.0. Second is 7.0 vs. 7.1. I had changed the lighting on my portraits since then, so the 7.0 was taken last night and the 7.1 this afternoon, for a true comparison.




For settings, my Highlander is using:
Face 2, Jaw 4, Eyes 6, Eyebrows 1, Nose 5, Mouth 4, Facial Features 1 & 2 (Brows and Eyeshadow)

This is 6.5 vs. 7.1…


This just isn’t the same person. I was really hoping to log in today and see something noticeable! Just keeping that Fantasia until they say “ok we’re done” so I don’t waste another one trying to fix this. At this point, just fix the nose and lips and it would be fine. But the curve of the nose is off, and the upper lip is still wrong.

[Winyumi]

I can kind of see an improvement. Pupils are unchanged; still too big. Here's an update of my character. But what is seriously going on with the portrait lighting?




Here's a GIF:

[AdairKiba]

Regarding limbal rings:

Personally I am very happy with the change, it's what I've been fighting for since... pretty much October 2023.

However.
I see exactly what problems other players like duckslap, Doopliss, sleepystaccato and especially Joralia have with the 7.1 limbal rings.
There's also something really weird going on with the conditions that make the rings glow or not glow (and potentially change their thickness too, not sure yet) depending on the lighting, weather, and environment (go see my post on the Japanese forum thread).

My personal opinion is that the method of rendering is wrong, and the way the Au ra eye shader is built is what is causing the limbal ring to appear thicker or brighter than necessary, and ultimately different than what dissatisfied people would like it to be.

It looks like they restored your Au Ra's eyes to how they originally were before the 7.0 graphics update (with a little extra vibrancy on top of it), that's awesome! I remember your post from when the benchmark came out, and agree that it was a huge change for players who had picked the lighter/brighter limbal rings on purpose and am glad it's better for them now.

What I'm failing to understand is that suddenly my Au Ra's dark green limbal ring glows brightly during the day, when it has never looked like this before. I have had the same color settings since I made my character during Shadowbringers. Maybe the effect is slightly different for male and female characters? It's really upsetting, and I haven't been able to enjoy the patch content yet because I'm so put off by how my character looks now and being unable to fix it... Which I'm sure is exactly how many Au Ra players felt in 7.0.