Dawntrail Graphical Update - Au Ra Feedback

[Duskane]

I really like the softer look now
something about my Viera irks me but my OG au ra just looks soo much better now outside of limbals being a little dull now and they do need to do a little clean up the body scales a bit

DT EW

[rinzukodas]

Here to join in with the chorus expressing some disappointment with how Auri faces have been flattened and changed.

My girl made out OK overall, but Face 2 for Fem Au Ra has a lot of minor changes that go together to create a really uncanny valley for those of us that liked the unique features of the current live Face 2:
-The lip change. The shadows that previously defined the edges of the Face 2 lips are gone, and the shape has been changed. Versus the live game, they seem flatter and less unique. They should be adjusted back to look like the old lips or a toggle should be given for us to select what we prefer.
-The eyes. The pupils are overly dilated. I would love an adjustment to make them resemble the more stylized live game at present.
-The limbal rings. The glow effect is OK, but they've been made much smaller compared to live game. Again a toggle would be great!
-The eye shape. As many other Face 2 players have voiced, the shape has been changed, making our characters look not like themselves. Please adjust closer to the original!

I also can't go without mentioning the skin textures: on darker skin and lower graphics settings, the textures look waxy, which contributes to the unsettling dead effect that characters across race models have. If there is a way to adjust the skin to look more alive again and retain the undertones that they previously had, that would be incredible. <3

Overall, I am unfortunately critical of the homogenization of female Auri faces to appear more doll-like and cute. They look less unique with the benchmark changes. While Face 2 is among the softer options, I still managed to create a stern and cool look for my girl, and I treasure that look highly. It being taken away through this collection of changes that are individually smaller but in a gestalt create an extremely different look makes me a little sad

(Additionally, while it's harder to see with Raen scales, there's texture issues with scales at the edges where stray pixels/artifacting is visible on darker skintones, which feels like an issue of only testing with lighter skintones. Please do test with darker skintones as well!)

[GoatOfWar]

I apologize if my thread belongs elsewhere. I do not really use the forums, so I was unsure.

I appreciate the development team's hard work on the new graphical update. I know some changes are inevitable and will just take some time getting used to, but when I made my character in the new benchmark I could not get over the very dark eyeshadow that now comes prepackaged with the male Au ra face 3.



(7.0 is above, current below)

As you can see, the eyelid and the inner corner of the eye is noticeably darker in the updated version. I can kind of understand what they were going for and I can see some people enjoying this change, but I am not among them. I could see this being a toggle, but as it is I am upset about how much it changes my character's general expression and vibe. I would very much like an option to remove this makeup/dark shadow.

(I know the character creator lighting is not the best, but I tried different lighting as well as the benchmark trailer itself, this is also not dependent on eye shape/eyebrow/other features/face paint choices - so the free fantasia will not fix my problem. I am very attached to my character so I'm a little stumped on what to do.)

Feel free to post other Au Ra related graphical update feedback in this thread as well, as I know I am not the only person with concerns.

My female Au ra just doesn't look like my character anymore because of how they changed the structure of the lips and noses.
I hope it won't go live the way it is now.

[OceanWater]

I'm really trying to get used to my character in the benchmark but it's off, also please fix the scales for the darker skin tones. So tired of dealing with dark skin tones getting overlooked in every freaking game. Add gloss options for the lips as well.

Dark skin tone Issues

Comparison

[Iscah]

Like the OP, I have a face #3 male Au Ra and I am quite frankly horrified by the addition of the heavy shadow around the eyes and the general impact on the face.

Current face:


Benchmark face:


This is just not remotely okay. The character in the benchmark is not my character. He looks like Zenos turned into an Au Ra. The eyes are wrong, the mouth is angry, and it still looks wrong in the benchmark video.

I think the angle of the eyes looks changed as well, unless that's due to the exact camera angle.

[Zumi]

Here is mine, they look pretty similar to me. But its hard to get the lighting the same. One of the things i noticed is the new models do look better when your not zoomed in so close.

Current retail version.


Dawntrail Benchmark

[Pach]

I'm definitely also having the problem of the scale texture bleeding onto the skin and she's not as dark as some people's characters are. It isn't a very good look on her to have.

[AstiSpumante]

A couple of things:

1) Please reintroduce blockier shadows/highlights on the face and body scales. It helps with the illusion of depth. At present they really look like they are just printed on printer paper and glued on. Horns look fine, though.
2) Please return my squarer jaw and wider mouth. The duck face and stealing cheeks from face 1 is not what I'm after. It would be fine if the "Instagram/IMVU look" was an option but after fiddling with options there's no way to make her look nice. This is a personal one for me, I naturally have a squarer jaw and wide mouth with full lips so I liked being able to share that with my warrior of light.
3) The harsh lipstick line is hideous. If the harsh very opaque look is meant to mimic liquid lipstick please give us an in between option that is the darker lipstick but that loses opacity closer to the edge of the lips.
4) Something positive: The fin ear horns I do think look nicer in this update.
5) Something else positive: THANK YOU FOR FINGER NAILS!! (Please let nail polish color be an option with the hair stylist guy)





And something very specific to grey gargoyle and white hair lizards: Somehow they made the "oops now I'm glowing since it's direct midday sunlight" worse it feels like haha. (I tried messing with gamma correction and neither 0 or 100 improved this)

[GoatOfWar]

https://imgur.com/a/3KXDBij
https://imgur.com/a/U2a9i7V

This is NOT my character...