female au ra face 4 lips/nose/philtrum/eyes/rings look awful

[GrizzlyTank]

The rings can get their brighter colors back, you just need to shift it around a little bit.
Also, personally, while the face does seem a bit off here and there it only really seems to be the resting face. Click on the emotes for the voice check, they seem to be pretty well done.

Though it's the resting face that is iconic for the auras. And this update changed their expression.

The two tomboyish options are also made a lot more feminine.

[Alice9]

Just adding my feedback to the mix:

I didn't think it would be that bad, and then I looked- it is very bad. The new facial structure of face 4 is almost completely unrecognizable to the original version. All the sharp and angular features that defined the look have been lost.

- The facial structure overall is softer, cheeks are insanely puffy, and the chin is oddly fat. It looks as though I've had an allergic reaction to something.
- The eye shape is notably different and softer, the signature "sharp" stare is no longer present. The pupils are too big, look dead and out of focus, and the limbal rings are still not nearly as bright as they should be (you have to go for specific, high contrast colors if you want them to stand out now). The eyes look out of place in the skull.
- The lips are *completely* different. They are fatter, and overly puckered up, it looks like I am always pouting. This is probably the change I dislike the most as it looks nothing like the original. The mouth protrudes strangely from the face, giving the jaw an odd and noticeably different look and angle.
- The scales on the face are duller looking, they look oddly lopsided and lumpy. Personally at least, I'd still prefer them to be sharp.
- Overall the skin and face look more like porcelain. It appears unnatural from most angles and borderline uncanny valley in others, even outside of the character creator and within the benchmark itself.
- Colors are off, while to be expected with a graphical update like this, it has made pale skin tones look notably worse and unnatural, especially when combined with contrasting dark or bright makeup, which blended perfectly originally. Now it seems very out of place.

I appreciate all the work that goes into such an ordeal as this graphical update, but while it of course it is likely easier said than done- I simply wished for an upscale of *my* existing character with the same features that I have come to know and love. Currently, this is an unwanted and surprisingly drastic transformation into a completely different looking character that is no longer my own. It feels almost insulting to have a character for this long and have it be changed this dramatically into something I can hardly recognize. Please fix face 4.

[smashBG]

It's rough. I went with a face 4 xaela specifically because they had sharp, stern features that were still pretty in their own way, and it suited their lore as warrior nomads. The softening of various features isn't bad on its own, in fact I'd wager that someone picking up the game for the first time would think the au ra all look quite nice. But SE's stated goal was to increase visual fidelity while preserving the original style, and by that metric the updates to face 4 have been a failure. The sharpness is essential to the look.

[hymmeli]

I never thought they were supposed to be dimples until I read people's opinions on the forums, but the dimples are really strange on this face. Maybe face 1 or or for wings horns face it would look fine, but on face 4 it looks off and not the image I have for my character. If they want dimples for face 4, then I wish they would make it a toggle on or off option.

[Zakon]

I commented this in another thread but yes, the problem to me seems to be that the eyes are more gentle now and the lips are a bit puffier. If you played face 4 for the more aggressive/determined look that it had, it lost a bit of that.

[GoatOfWar]

Every after picture in your examples looks better to me, personally. I think you just got very attached to the 2 polygons that constitute your current face.

I think the poster above you has a better looking character than you.
Do you now feel any urge to play as their character? Of course not. You did not make your character for me.
I don't want to play as another character just because you think the new models look better either.

[Oizen]

It only looks better if you don't care about personality. Sure, face 4 is now more conventionally attractive. But if I wanted a cutesy soft conventionally attractive face I have three other faces that fit the bill. This was the only face that was even close to looking more aggressive or stern and now it's just another cutesy rounded face.

ETA reference picture:

Your character looks like they've been sucking on sour candy.

[Fawkes]

Every after picture in your examples looks better to me, personally. I think you just got very attached to the 2 polygons that constitute your current face.

The only differences I see is that the lips are more pouty and the lipstick on the bottom lip was changed from a triangular shape to full-lip coverage. And some limbal rings are a little softer.

Mouths in general seem to be the most screwed up things, with flattened fangs and weird expressions on some races. It's hard to tell if any of these changes are on purpose, maybe they outsourced some of the work or something, because it feels a little sloppy and different for no reason.

[Egggi]

Every after picture in your examples looks better to me, personally. I think you just got very attached to the 2 polygons that constitute your current face.

Whether they have been objectively improved and especially whether you, personally, having never played another person's character, like how their character looks more in the benchmark are not quite the point. Some people have played their character for years, some only using fantasia for a limited period or even not at all. Of course they're going to get attached to the current spirit or feeling of their character (which is what Yoshi-P has said is their goal to preserve), and they're perfectly within their right to do so, and to be upset about updates that change those aspects for the worse.