Patch 6.3: Character Camera Controls settings should NOT apply to portrait

[Elzilcho]

Controlling your character in-game is different from moving a portrait. These settings should not be linked. Inverting the Y-axis for one should not affect the other. I initially assumed this was a bug because why wound moving your mouse UP move your character DOWN, but it's right there in the patch notes:

"Camera Controls settings applied via the Character Configuration window will now be reflected when adjusting character positioning in the Edit Portrait interface."

When controlling your character, you are moving the camera around a central pivot point. For some people it's more natural to push up to look down (maybe if you first started playing flying games before FPSs?).

When moving your character in the portrait, character screen, fitting room, etc., you are are basically grabbing your character and moving it left/right/up/down. This is NOT the same thing. One is pivoting a camera, the other is moving an object.

I can now either pilot my character naturally, OR move my character model naturally. I don't have the option to do both.

I understand if some people have the same preference for both (someone obviously asked for this), but they are not the same thing, and should not be FORCED to be the same. Please either implement them as two separate options, or revert the change.

[ninichu]

This drives me nuts, I really hope they change it

[Xegodar]

I agree, I immediately got dizzy after trying to preview an item and turning the character in the try on window.

The options to invert camera X/Y axis should absolutly not affect the character/portrait windows in the UI, this needs to be separated.
No idea why they thought it was a good idea to change that after 10 years. Did anyone even have an issue with the way it was?

[Lusavari]

I have to lend my support to this. I have been happy with my control scheme for years, and suddenly, I can't have a coherent experience between the preview window and playing the game. These need to be unlinked. Just because we play with 1 setting inverted doesn't mean we need things inverted all of the time. I'm extremely unhappy with this change.

[TashiKai]

Agreed. It’s been terribly jarring attempting to try on new gear today. This seriously needs to be reversed/hotfixed ASAP.

[Leah_Nelhah]

Yes please. It's a terrible change that should be reverted or fixed if it's a bug.

[Alyster]

I am so very much hoping this is a glitch, it's so annoying.

[WintaPhoinix]

Patch notes 6.3:

2.x
Custom settings for camera controls applied in the Character Configuration menu will now be reflected in the Try On feature and portrait editor preview images.
* Updated on Wednesday, January 11, 2023 at 1:00 a.m. (PST).

So it was an intentional change.

But I think the developers don't quite understand why people reverse camera controls, and to be fair, I think many who have never used them don't understand.

For me and others I've spoken to who use reversed camera controls, the mental modal is that I'm moving the camera itself, like a physical object. It has a pivot arm locked on the character and has to move left in order to show what is to the right of the character, and if I want to look up to the sky, the camera needs to move downwards in order to look up.

However, in the character preview window, the camera isn't moving, the character is. If I am rotating or moving the character, it's like a direct touch screen (the cursor is now like my finger touching a phone, if I move up, the character does too. And swiping left and right rotate in the respective directions).

I wondered if this was a difference between mouse and gamepad, but no. It's just as bad on gamepad. In fact, even worse to an extent because the movement up/down/left/right is on the left stick and inverted and the rotate is on the right stick (again inverted). Left stick control being inverted only makes sense in a 3D space with tilt, pitch and yaw movement. Here is it manipulating movement on a 2D plane and having that inverted is mindboggling.



Dear devs,
Please revert this change. If there are any players who prefer this inverted controls for a static camera, maybe consider giving it to them as a separate option.

It doesn't align with the mental model of camera movement vs static viewpoint movement at all, and feels really unnatural for the reasons stated above.

Kind regards,
Winta Phoenix

(Apparently you can't use the word "phoenix" in forum usernames, which I assume is because it includes the word "enix"... *grumble*)

[Okieeomi]

Greetings and salutations everyone,

Thank you all for your feedback regarding this topic.

In the 6.3 patch notes, we'd mentioned that "Camera Controls settings applied via the Character Configuration window will now be reflected when adjusting character positioning in the Edit Portrait interface"; however, this change not only applies to the Edit Portrait interface, but to all character preview windows in general. Our explanation in the patch notes has since been revised, and we apologize for the confusion our initial explanation may have caused.

Furthermore, we relayed your feedback to the Development team and received the following response:

This fix was intended to correct the issue in which inverted camera controls were not correctly reflected in preview interfaces.

However, based on the feedback we've received from players who prefer to use inverted camera controls for gameplay while maintaining normal camera controls in preview interfaces, we are currently looking into the possibility of implementing an option to designate different camera control settings for gameplay and preview interfaces in a future patch.

We appreciate your patience as we look into this matter and apologize for the inconvenience that may be caused by the present state of the Try On feature and other preview interfaces.

[Elzilcho]

This fix was intended to correct the issue in which inverted camera controls were not correctly reflected in preview interfaces.

However, based on the feedback we've received from players who prefer to use inverted camera controls for gameplay while maintaining normal camera controls in preview interfaces, we are currently looking into the possibility of implementing an option to designate different camera control settings for gameplay and preview interfaces in a future patch.

We appreciate your patience as we look into this matter and apologize for the inconvenience that may be caused by the present state of the Try On feature and other preview interfaces.

Thank you devs!