[ Graphical Update Feedback ] Examples of Darker Skinned Characters/Darker Lighting

[Kharn]

Adding a voice of support to this thread. Please give darker skintones proper attention, SE! For Players and NPCs both.

[Rudje]

To add more evidence to the choir, have some samples from my alts.

This dungeon isn't even that dark and Peach is already almost vanishing (though I will note, if this was the lower limit of detail loss on dark-skinned characters I would find it acceptable--the problem is that this dungeon is, for the most part, not that dark compared to other areas)


This is in Limsa, and you can already see that because Baavgai's face isn't directly in the light he's vanishing a bit.


More Baavgai, this time in the Ultima Weapon arena.


Ayulsa with a THM NPC to show how bad the lighting treats her compared to him; the area's a bit dark, but one character is clearly suffering more from it.

[Zel_Zackarias]

Adding my support to this thread! My main WoL is light skinned, but I have several alts who have very dark skin tones. They aren't up through EW yet, but even up through SB the lighting issues are pretty egregious. I love my Dark Skinned characters and I'm really concerned about what's going to happen to them in the update considering how the game treats them now.

I would also like to voice my support for better lighting, and neutral background option, for the character creator menu. The Aetherial BG and the various starter areas make it almost impossible to really get a feel for what these dark skin tones are really going to end up looking like in game. A dimly lit interior room is also a terrible option. The same dark skinned character can end up looking vastly different against each of these back drops. I want to see my character in neutral lighting before checking them out amid the various starter areas so we can actually see what's going on.

I support basically everything brought up in this thread though! I don't think it would hurt to see more previews in the fanfest panels or otherwise showcasing both light and dark skinned characters of all races and genders. Having four images is a lot for each preview, but something I think is necessary. As someone else voiced before me, we pay monthly for this game and all characters, WoLs and NPCs, deserve the same careful treatment as the light skinned characters are getting.

I don't want to get to important scenes and watch Erenville vanish due to poor lighting nor do I want my WoLs to suffer the same.

[rinzukodas]

Adding my support for this thread as well. My WoL has dark blue skin, and while I've gotten some degree of contrast in with her design to make her easier to see in dark locales, it's an undeniable fact that it's really hard to actually see dark-skinned characters in anything less than total daylight, and even then they often appear washed out or greyish (though some of that can be attributed to the natural grayness... gamma? the game has already).

I would love to see previews that show dark-skinned characters with the new changes in both traditional skintones and fantasy skintones!

[DynnDiablos]

Has there been any word on whether the graphical update will add HDR?

[Ayche]

The game has always been underlit, and that is always been because they have had very limited global illumination in the game.
We know that the graphical update will allow them to place more light sources in zones, so I really hope all scenes get lot more illumination in them as a result.

[RaiPhantom]

adding support
please show examples of darker-skinned characters in the next update showcase

[Zifeara]

Definitely here to support better lighting for darker skintones; it's been a problem for a long time and they have a good chance here to fix it. I hope they finally put the work in for an important QoL change!

[Ansemaru]

Strongly agreed that this has been left unaddressed for a long time and the graphical overhaul would be a perfect opportunity to improve lighting with dark-skinned characters kept in mind. It would benefit players and cutscenes with existing NPCs!

[Spiswel]

I have dark-skinned alts and lots of friends with dark-skinned characters. We are all quite curious about those upcoming 7.0 graphical changes and how they will affect tan/dark skins.

Please don't forget about them !