Thancred's new face

[Turethir]

A huge thank you for a massive 100 Likes on the original post! The more Likes the better, so if you feel passionately about this issue please do add one!

And yes, it's massively appreciated that people are keeping this thread alive. I won't give up until there's an answer about this one, as it means so much to me. If that makes me annoying, so be it

Any bumps always help to keep this visible - please share with your friends and anyone else who would be willing to give their support! Thancred deserves just as much love as the other NPCs that have been faithfully updated!

[Xrhyse]

to begin, i'm aware the graphical update is ongoing. while i understand that it's hard to replicate character model shapes 1:1, after 7.2 (+ the fidelity of emet-selch and aymeric's updates) it is my belief that the changes to thancred's faces in particular are not caused by technical limits, but rather a conscious decision on the team's part to shift his character design entirely.

i believe this is a mistake for 3 reasons:

1) such a dramatic shift in thancred's look is antithetical to the team's messaging about the graphics update. in january 2024 at tokyo fanfest, director yoshida, according to english interpretation, said the team "want[s] to keep the image of the characters the same, so [...] if you think 'oh, it doesn't look that different', that's kind of a good thing". the changes made to player characters in 7.1/7.2 as well as free fantasias are strong indications that the dev team wish to keep their promise of updated graphics "while preserving the overall look that [we] know + love" (las vegas fan fest 2023). i know pcs take priority--but i hope that extends to the npcs we know + love, too.

2) being the only npc with such a different updated look is jarring. he is the only one that is nearly unrecognizable. after a decade of having a distinct appearance, i now have trouble telling him apart from other midlanders.

3) thancred's face is a large part of his character design. he has a dramatic character arc + an intentional display of his growth was in his appearance. in 2.x, his face was youthful, fuller--a handsome stranger. it represented who he was before his journey as a character. next, he had a different look in 3.x through 4.x. the dress-up thancred minion says it best: "several moons in the wild, removed from civilization and forced to adopt a more bestial means of survival transformed not only thancred's body, but his mind." he looked haggard and tired, but his facial features remained recognizable. then in 5.0+, we have thancred's third face, which is clearly older than in 2.x but more well-rested than 3.x/4.x. he looks more mature + actualized, which is fitting considering his story.

i don't think thancred's updated faces tell this same story.

also, in FRU, we once again see fatebreaker, a manifestation of ryne's father figures. he always looked like thancred dressed as ran'jit, but his face wasn't changed upon FRU's release. fatebreaker loses his sense of character + impact as a figure in the raids with the changes made to thancred, too.

moreover, official merch + promotional materials featuring thancred's official gunbreaker render, which is used often, now look nothing like the thancred in the game.

i hope the amount of feedback the team is receiving from the changes in thancred's model + textures is seen not as nitpicking or whining for little reason, but rather the reactions of passionate fans that have little choice but to try to appeal to the development team to solicit change. i hope they listen.

[NayeliUmbra]

to begin, i'm aware the graphical update is ongoing. while i understand that it's hard to replicate character model shapes 1:1, after 7.2 (+ the fidelity of emet-selch and aymeric's updates) it is my belief that the changes to thancred's faces in particular are not caused by technical limits, but rather a conscious decision on the team's part to shift his character design entirely.

....

Cannot agree with this take more! You wrote it better than I could've!

[schakerin]

...
3) thancred's face is a large part of his character design. he has a dramatic character arc + an intentional display of his growth was in his appearance. in 2.x, his face was youthful, fuller--a handsome stranger. it represented who he was before his journey as a character. next, he had a different look in 3.x through 4.x. the dress-up thancred minion says it best: "several moons in the wild, removed from civilization and forced to adopt a more bestial means of survival transformed not only thancred's body, but his mind." he looked haggard and tired, but his facial features remained recognizable. then in 5.0+, we have thancred's third face, which is clearly older than in 2.x but more well-rested than 3.x/4.x. he looks more mature + actualized, which is fitting considering his story.

i don't think thancred's updated faces tell this same story.

I absolutely 100% agree (I agree with the whole thing, but this is what I was thinking when I saw his updated model for myself)
Aside from that, I think thancred has a really iconic look, and now he just looks kind of... Doughy? And I don't mean that in a chubby sense

[mouse_marple]

i hope the amount of feedback the team is receiving from the changes in thancred's model + textures is seen not as nitpicking or whining for little reason, but rather the reactions of passionate fans that have little choice but to try to appeal to the development team to solicit change. i hope they listen.

Thank you for phrasing this so well, you captured my feelings exactly. When I read the 7.2 patch notes, I had a bit of hope they might update Thancred. I was really disappointed to see nothing had changed. I'm starting to lose hope they will ever acknowledge this issue, but I hope keeping threads like this alive might help.

[Parisanparisan]

That’s exactly what I wanted to say..! Thank you for explaining it so clearly!

i believe this is a mistake for 3 reasons:
1) ....
2) ....
3) ....

i hope the amount of feedback the team is receiving from the changes in thancred's model + textures is seen not as nitpicking or whining for little reason, but rather the reactions of passionate fans that have little choice but to try to appeal to the development team to solicit change. i hope they listen.

The post I made on the Japanese forum about Thancred’s face changes has now surpassed 200 Likes!
I truly appreciate everyone’s support! ✨
If you also feel the same way, please consider supporting the Japanese post with a Like! ⬇️⬇️

サンクレッドが好きすぎてサンクレッドを日々研究している者です。
今回のグラフィックスアップデートにより、サンクレッドが別人のように顔が変わってしまったことが個人的に非常に気になり、そのことでなかなかメインストーリーを進められずにいたので今回こちらに初投稿いたしました。サンクレッドはミッドランダー男性ですので、ここで他の方々がミドラン男性について要望されていることと共通する部分もあります。
以下に、比較しやすいよう漆黒・暁月の同じムービーシーンを旧・新と並べて添付いたします。
左が6.58までの旧グラのサンクレッドで、右が宿屋で見た7.0でアップデートされたサンクレッドになります。
........
......

[Kytrin]

to begin, i'm aware the graphical update is ongoing. while i understand that it's hard to replicate character model shapes 1:1, after 7.2 (+ the fidelity of emet-selch and aymeric's updates) it is my belief that the changes to thancred's faces in particular are not caused by technical limits, but rather a conscious decision on the team's part to shift his character design entirely.

i believe this is a mistake for 3 reasons:

1) such a dramatic shift in thancred's look is antithetical to the team's messaging about the graphics update. in january 2024 at tokyo fanfest, director yoshida, according to english interpretation, said the team "want[s] to keep the image of the characters the same, so [...] if you think 'oh, it doesn't look that different', that's kind of a good thing". the changes made to player characters in 7.1/7.2 as well as free fantasias are strong indications that the dev team wish to keep their promise of updated graphics "while preserving the overall look that [we] know + love" (las vegas fan fest 2023). i know pcs take priority--but i hope that extends to the npcs we know + love, too.

2) being the only npc with such a different updated look is jarring. he is the only one that is nearly unrecognizable. after a decade of having a distinct appearance, i now have trouble telling him apart from other midlanders.

3) thancred's face is a large part of his character design. he has a dramatic character arc + an intentional display of his growth was in his appearance. in 2.x, his face was youthful, fuller--a handsome stranger. it represented who he was before his journey as a character. next, he had a different look in 3.x through 4.x. the dress-up thancred minion says it best: "several moons in the wild, removed from civilization and forced to adopt a more bestial means of survival transformed not only thancred's body, but his mind." he looked haggard and tired, but his facial features remained recognizable. then in 5.0+, we have thancred's third face, which is clearly older than in 2.x but more well-rested than 3.x/4.x. he looks more mature + actualized, which is fitting considering his story.

i don't think thancred's updated faces tell this same story.

also, in FRU, we once again see fatebreaker, a manifestation of ryne's father figures. he always looked like thancred dressed as ran'jit, but his face wasn't changed upon FRU's release. fatebreaker loses his sense of character + impact as a figure in the raids with the changes made to thancred, too.

moreover, official merch + promotional materials featuring thancred's official gunbreaker render, which is used often, now look nothing like the thancred in the game.

i hope the amount of feedback the team is receiving from the changes in thancred's model + textures is seen not as nitpicking or whining for little reason, but rather the reactions of passionate fans that have little choice but to try to appeal to the development team to solicit change. i hope they listen.

100% THIS! You put it into better words than I ever could've!

[zipkin]

Have a bump over here while I can still post in the forums. So many faces look so different after the update, it's disheartening.

[Turethir]

The more I think about it, the more I think that with 7.2, we might have a stronger case for a bug report. This is because we now have solid evidence of other NPCs with custom faces that have been updated faithfully to their original appearances.

With this in mind, it's a very strong case to argue that Thancred should have been updated with the same fidelity. Why do other NPCs get to stay the same, whereas he looks so drastically different?

I am happy to write up a suggestion for a bug report and have others input on it, if you think it is worthwhile? At this point I am willing to try anything, since our efforts so far don't seem to be bearing any fruit.

Compare Aymeric's update to Thancred's:
(Aymeric pictures courtesy of cakey39 on Bluesky - thank you!)



This is the kind of update we deserve - faithful and keeping all his uniqueness intact!

[Tahli]

Also bumping in support again!

I think the positive reaction to Aymeric and other recently updated NPCs' graphics shows that we really AREN'T impossible to please. If the job is done with care and accuracy, pretty much everyone's happy. The threads begging for fixes to specific graphics problems can all be solved by listening and fixing those problems.

There's a lack of transparency, communication, and careful diligence with some character details that is causing avoidable stress for everyone involved.