Benchmark/Graphics Update - Show your WoL's before and after

[Snowroark]

How do you even get Styled for Hire in the benchmark? That's what my highlander uses lol.

You copy the appearance data and just don't edit it.

[Embran]

You copy the appearance data and just don't edit it.

Don't know that I even have that option. Can't load it in without hitting "create new character" -> "load appearance data" and then it just throws me in the creator with a default hair style.

[Worzoth]

before


after


before


after



overall im happy, it seems better...at least for my bunny

[Azhyk]

Definitely not a fan. The eyes are so wrong in comparison. He looks... I don't know like he's on something?? He's not as alert and the eyes don't have that same shine as in current. He looks even worse when seen in the aetherial background.

[Snowroark]

Don't know that I even have that option. Can't load it in without hitting "create new character" -> "load appearance data" and then it just throws me in the creator with a default hair style.

I will just quote the reddit post:
"Copy over the .dat file that belongs to your character from "Documents\My Games\FINAL FANTASY XIV - A Realm Reborn", let's say it's FFXIV_CHARA_01.dat, paste it in "Documents\My Games\FINAL FANTASY XIV - A Realm Reborn (Benchmark)" and rename it to FFXIV_CHARA_BENCH10.dat, it should now show up in the benchmark character creator."

[nordiclania]

This isn't even the same character. I feel like I've been robbed. What happened?

This is exactly how I feel! :'( I don't feel like my Viera is the same, and I use the same face as you. I miss the old lips and eyes.

Old -> new

[Zhav]

Female Highlander Hyur checking in! First image under each header is of the old version of my WoL, and the second image is of the new version:

Three-Quarter View:



Additional Views:


Front View:




Side View:



I'm sure that the graphics department worked very hard on updating the character models, but I'm going to be very honest and voice my disappointment with what I've seen so far.

My WoL's face has been scrubbed of some of its detail, her skin looks far too waxy, the gloss and texture have been removed from her lips, and her eyes look flat and lifeless. The new version actually looks much less visually interesting than the original--although I suppose it could be argued that the new version looks more classically "pretty" (I prefer her OG look, however, as she looks friendlier). Her hair and skin have become lighter (with no way to really go any darker in this case, unfortunately), and the face paint options are still very low-quality and don't play well with dark skin at all. The whites of her eyes are also far, far too bright, and lack the soft realism of the originals.

Hopefully this is just a stepping stone on the way to the actual finished product, as I love my WoL to bits and the "upgrade" currently feels a bit more like a downgrade.

With that said, the updates to the environmental detail (new stone/grass/etc. textures, improvements to ground clutter and other environmental assets, weather effects) do look quite lovely.

(P.S. I ran the benchmark several times to see if that might help my opinion, but she looked rather flat throughout the entire presentation and her face has had enough random changes made to the structure that she doesn't really look like the same person.)

[DynnDiablos]

Folks realize they aren't going to make drastic changes in two months right? Early access is 6/28. This is what we're getting.

[Rosenstrauch]

Folks realize they aren't going to make drastic changes in two months right? Early access is 6/28. This is what we're getting.

If they need more time to iron out the issues, they should delay the character upgrades to a later patch.

[DiaDeem]

It is absolutely INSANE how massive the upgrade we're getting actually is.

This has completely blown my expectations out of the water. We're going from horribly lit low res dead dolls, to characters that actually feel ALIVE.

You guys have no idea how happy it makes me to see light behave like light. I absolutely despise how hideous and unnatural indoors shadows have always looked since ARR, but no longer.


Shadows finally behave like real shadows. Skin is reflecting and refracting light, it finally looks like actual skin and the game engine FINALLY understands how to do proper contrast. There's no reason why shadows should be so dark when you're under direct sunlight as it was before. You can even see lovely hues of pink mixing with the shadows on the left side of the face, under the eye and cheeks.


Just to further drive the point home, I'll post my alt as well.

The horrendous low res hair is gone, the hairline no longer looks like clay, the eyes are finally interacting with light naturally instead of looking like unfinished PS3 graphics (which is literally what they've been for the past decade) and again: I can't begin to explain how beautiful the new lighting looks. Shadowbringers has a ton of scenes in the Occular, and I always abhorred how freaking horrible the lighting made faces look in those cutscenes, and you can see that in the comparison below. I can't tell people what to like and what to dislike, but I legitimately can't understand in what world or universe the horrendous character on the left is considered better than what I'm looking on the right.


I hardly ever think so highly of things SE has done with XIV, but from just the previews, I didn't think they could make characters look this good. If any dev is reading this: Thank you, you've done an absolutely amazing job.

I also think you guys have wonderful looking characters, seriously.