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

[Lunaxia]

Looking through this thread, it makes me sad that we don't see much in the way of variety in skin tone and appearance in the MSQ cast. There are some really beautiful characters here.

[vanillavanitas]

Aside from just being a dark blob I really wonder how the cool skintones will be told to adjust to the SSS being integrated in the shaders. I particularly wonder how the backface scattering will look on like... they blueish grey duskwight ears?

^ That is what I'm referring to
Like obviously for "normal" tones it'll skew reddish, so will grey-blue ears skew pink? or just... lighter grey/blue? (which imo would look quite awkward)

Support for pretty much everything in this thread, but this post in particular made me remember something. Will they do anything for palms? The palms of the hands and soles of the feet of anyone with mid to dark skin in real life are always lighter, a fact which is not replicated in game. Considering that they will be doing the above for the tips of elezen ears, can they fix how the palms and soles look for any darker skin in the game? It will, of course, be up to them on whether or not they change palms and soles of the non-human skin colors like red, green, blue, and grey, but it'd follow through and be really neat to see non-human skin colors get lighter palms and soles, as well!

I'd also like to reiterate what an earlier post said: please do tests on darker skin tones, including all non-human skin tones! The 2B outfit and Gaia's outfit both faced problems with the sheer on darker skin tones and non-human skin tones when initially added. We pay for the game monthly, and Gaia's outfit is extra money by itself. These things need to be tested ahead of time!

I also want to see more NPCs, especially those consistently present in MSQ, with darker skin colors! Fixing the lighting according to darker and non-human skin tones and sad problems with theses darker and non-human skin tones would make me happier with the game and would make it easier to incorporate more NPCs with darker and non-human skin tones!

[vanillavanitas]

To reiterate: it's not just Ultima Thule that has unfortunate lighting for dark or non-human skin tones, even at 100%. I've grabbed a few images with a buddy of mine with dark grey skin for her viera. My skin tone is Seeker of the Sun Miqo'te column 6, row 17. Her skin tone is Rava Viera column 6, row 20. I'm at least thankful that it's a bit easier to see a human skin color than a non-human one, but this is still sad, especially with how washed out we appear at 100% half the time...

I forgot to include screenshots to show the weather each time ;-;

[eternalmagic]

To reiterate: it's not just Ultima Thule that has unfortunate lighting for dark or non-human skin tones, even at 100%. I've grabbed a few images with a buddy of mine with dark grey skin for her viera.

Thank you so much for including more--I meant to include additional shots as well in other places than UT and the Doman Enclave, but just plain forgot ;;; it is so sad to see in even a normal housing area too...

I got one of a Duskwight in Empyreum, actually, I'd lost it my screenshot folder. Still at that 100%, and definitely a bit washed out.

[syntheticshield]

Adding support for this post. I want to see Square Enix do better in respect to supporting darker skin tones within this game.

[LynMars]

Here are each of my characters' skin tones on the character selection screens:


A Seeker, a Midlander, a Hellsguard, and a Rava, in order of lightest to darkest.

Below they are each in the lvl 50 Dark Knight quest "Our Answer", cutscene 2, which has slightly different lighting if you do it at night or during the day, but is otherwise a black screen shadowrealm. It's worse at night, and my Rava has the same dark-as-can-be skin tone as Erenville, who is set to be a major NPC in Dawntrail. My Rava, even playing the cutscene in the daytime, vanishes entirely into the background.

Various dungeons, several zones, indoors or outdoors, caverns or buildings, and in cutscenes; several times characters just are badly lit or outright invisible--and the darker their skin, the worse it is.

I have done what I can in the game settings. Adjusting character lighting only works in some cases (and also turns pale characters into light bulbs!). I shouldn't have to use my graphic card's shaders, and/or Gpose, and/or a lot of post-process work on my screenshots, to see my characters at all, let alone decently lit.

Seeker, Night:


Midlander, Day:


Hellsguard, Night:


Rava, Day:

[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!