Dawntrail character graphics update - opinions, requests and discussion megathread

[noumen0nn]

I'm planning on making one more big post about midlander F face 1, now that I've had even more time to collect data. Because seriously, it is by far the worst "update" out of every face in the game, it does not resemble its old look even slightly, and the slight adjustments in 7.1 did nothing to help the issue.

In the meantime, I keep talking to people from all walks of the game, and finding that negative sentiment toward the update is still more common than not, with some form of "I didn't like it but I got used to it" being the most common attitude.

[Mijeme]

Yoshi P said we were gonna get the 6.0 job gear updated in 7.1 and all we got was poorly upscaled Scion gear in the cash shop. I believe that we will get drip fed the updated gear and A LOT of the upcoming gear is gonna be old gear with the update ( IE Neo Kingdom Gear being 6.2 crafted Rinascita gear).

I was hopeful but what we are gonna get is a watered down rollout of the graphics updated gear and I'm fine with that.

[zipkin]

Was unsubbed for a long while, and the changes are still wildly jarring to come back to. I didn't 'forget' how characters looked, and I still find the remodel to be disconcerting and upsetting, especially following those promises mad about preserving the integrity of our characters. I'm also still having terrible eyestrain and headache issues, with additional motion sickness now. Not really much new to add about the situation, as it seems the feedback has not much been addressed since I unsubbed back in July. Or even much acknowledged. Disappointing, though I guess not surprising.

[Cyrtip]

Picked up where I left off replaying ARR, and...

Papalymo's got a laser light show on his chin lmao. With all the time the devs probably spent rebuilding their lighting system, did they really not have one single person look at how it would affect old content? This isn't even 10hrs into the game
(from Gridania's prologue, after you fight the Ixal at the guardian tree)

Also, you know how two textures look when they're placed inside of eachother and flicker uncontrollably as the game has no idea which to render in front? The hair on his forehead did that when he walked away

[lunartears]

With all the time the devs probably spent rebuilding their lighting system, did they really not have one single person look at how it would affect old content? This isn't even 10hrs into the game
(from Gridania's prologue, after you fight the Ixal at the guardian tree)

I assume this is a result of old zone + new lighting system but I could have sworn that the ARR zones were somewhat updated for DT... I honestly don't know.

That being said, Bowl of Embers (which is definitely not updated) gives your character some fantastic lip and eye glow post graphics update.




I can't attribute this strictly to old zones, I've seen weird character model lighting in DT zones as well.

[Rinoa_353]

I wish we could have the old graphics back

I like the new graphics for the world itself but I would love the old character graphics back, especially the eyes, lighter color eyes don't look right to me for Miqo'te for example. They should give us the option to choose the new or old graphics for our characters and also make the old graphics higher polygon without messing with their shapes. The face stripes on Miqo'te are also too faded in the new graphics. I personally like the older ones because they had a sort of anime feel to them, especially the eyes.

[Darko]

I like the new graphics for the world itself but I would love the old character graphics back, especially the eyes, lighter color eyes don't look right to me for Miqo'te for example. They should give us the option to choose the new or old graphics for our characters and also make the old graphics higher polygon without messing with their shapes. The face stripes on Miqo'te are also too faded in the new graphics. I personally like the older ones because they had a sort of anime feel to them, especially the eyes.

Same. My midlander is just staring into the void. It's so unsettling not to recognise his face anymore. I can't get used to it.

[Khryseis_Astra]

I can't attribute this strictly to old zones, I've seen weird character model lighting in DT zones as well.

Yeah these are from 7.1 cutscenes…



Beyond the shapes of her facial features being totally different, the lighting is just weird in almost every scene. Had to Fantasia, and unless they actually make some substantial changes in 7.2, I probably won’t be going back to Highlander.

[Rinoa_353]

Same. My midlander is just staring into the void. It's so unsettling not to recognise his face anymore. I can't get used to it.

Yeah, that's another issue that makes my Miqo'te's look like they have that thousand yard stare war veterans have after deployments.

[noumen0nn]

I think one of my most-hated changes from the update is how many of the "painted-on" shadows they removed, ESPECIALLY from our eyes. I get that the idea is you don't need those with a more robust lighting engine. But the new lighting is barely more robust than the old, it absolutely does not re-add the feature depth and detail that was lost from taking out those shadows. Even if it WAS more robust, the painted shadows was a stylistic feature. The gradient shadow that blended into everyone's eyelashes? That is taken straight from an anime aesthetic; it was an expected part of the visuals, and its absence (or at least, SEVERE scaling back) is why there are so many complaints about characters looking wide-eyed or having thousand-mile stares.