Dawntrail Graphical Update - Au Ra Feedback

[Ancalagon_Blacktalon]

This is funny to me because one of the big complaints when they initially showed Au Ra with these changes was that the limbal ring was too subtle.

but personally its intended effect looks virtually the same to me, at least with my character. compare,




The eye texture itself is better but I think the ratio of iris-to-glow is nearly the same, just with the transition made fuzzier so it actually blends in.

[execlinca]

EDIT: Horns not connected to the scales? Oh that's very strange...



More of a personal addendum but also got lots of anxiety regarding the new mouth rig, I am attached to the weirdness of the /fakegrin emote on this race.

I didn't notice that, since my character having braids conceals the underside of the horns... that's really unfortunate and I hope that gets fixed just feels like someone missed it while working on it.

Looking at everyone's characters, while I'm uneasy about the face 1 mouth, I feel lucky that otherwise my character doesn't look so different. It feels like more striking characters look completely different now, maybe since the faces feel more homogeneous. Face 2 and 4 especially seem affected, since the mouths had such a unique look. I appreciate a significant amount of it is the more neutral expression on the lips at base, but when horns are connected to face as well we only have so many options to convey personality without changing something that's hugely noticeable (horns). With face 1 and 2 seeming to swap mouth expressions, being able to switch might make the transition a lot less jarring for some, though this is obviously a big ask...

Of course, the biggest issue is the artifacting around scales that's more visible on darker skinned characters. At bare minimum that has to be addressed because it seems unfinished, like they just didn't test with darker characters.

I can only hope that they will listen to feedback considering how concerned the devs seem about preserving people's images of their characters.

[execlinca]

I would encourage people to look at their characters emoting in the benchmark (on the voice selection screen, they will emote when you select one). For me, she looks good while emoting, it's just her resting face is a little different.

While I think for some the changes really are that big, it might put you at ease if you emote and it looks familiar. I do feel like I've come out better than others, but it's sad to see how many people don't recognise their characters. It's worth seeing if you do while they're in motion.

[Nebty]

I would encourage people to look at their characters emoting in the benchmark (on the voice selection screen, they will emote when you select one). For me, she looks good while emoting, it's just her resting face is a little different.

While I think for some the changes really are that big, it might put you at ease if you emote and it looks familiar. I do feel like I've come out better than others, but it's sad to see how many people don't recognise their characters. It's worth seeing if you do while they're in motion.

Nope, lol. The emoting is specifically what I'm worried about with the new mouth.

What is this joker smile. The corners go up way too far...

[Fuyume]

I would encourage people to look at their characters emoting in the benchmark (on the voice selection screen, they will emote when you select one). For me, she looks good while emoting, it's just her resting face is a little different.

While I think for some the changes really are that big, it might put you at ease if you emote and it looks familiar. I do feel like I've come out better than others, but it's sad to see how many people don't recognise their characters. It's worth seeing if you do while they're in motion.

I did try that, went through the whole benchmark and everything, but she only looks even a little familiar when her face is in shadow and thus I can't see the dimples they gave her, her pout is less noticeable, and her cheeks aren't so highlighted so they don't look as chubby. The second there's any light on her face it becomes "who is this person".

[emecsek]

Mostly disappointed with the changes. The lips look like they're more puckered, and the lack of lip gloss feels like a downgrade. It feels like such a huge change to her since I adore the way her current lips look! The eyeshadow is also much lighter and it makes the eyes feel smaller compared to how they are right now.
But on a more positive note, I was very nervous about the limbal ring changes and I'm really happy with the way they look now!

https://imgur.com/a/JtpFCy8

[Luluna]

I much prefer the lips on face 2 on my Au ra as I always found the mouth to fish like and it looked bloated. I hope they do not change that back or at least give me a toggle as I did love the fish horn face but the mouth was always too much.

I think they need gloss and some better colour options but overall Au ra look really nice to me and I am thinking of going back if my Hyur does not port as I would like.

[Solais]

Ok, I -think- I'm going insane. Was doing some fine tuning, when I noticed that in the La Noscea and Thanalan backgrounds my character resembled the og look. Then I turned her around to have light shine on her face... and it looks completely different?? I know I have prosopagnosia (face recognition disorder), but it is still weird that the change of lighting would cause the face to look completely different, which wasn't the case with the old lighting, imo. Explains why the usually very bright cutscenes of the benchmark also made her look "wrong".

[Moshimoshikami]

Face 1 is great in my opinion. Just had to fine tune skin color and lips to get something very satisfying.

I think that face 2 is a lot better than before. I don't like the 6.58 version but the 7.0 version is very beautiful. If I was not so attached to my character, I would have changed to face 2