Benchmark/Graphics Update - Lip shape concern and eyes

[Kacho_Nacho]

Posting here too
everything about this mouth needs dire help

Yeah, I don't know why CBU3 made the changes they did with the mouth. It completely changes your character's appearance.

[KiraRavens]

Don't have screens at hand atm, but same for my Hyur male... Eyes look dead, lips are too flat, skin texture is off, his stubble is less visible and - the thing I dislike most - his eyebrows (option 1) now have this weird crease that makes him look like a comic book villain rather than the sassy boy he used to be. Not happy with the face update at all, even if the environments look great.

I'm also curious to see how all the (Ex-)Scions and other NPCs are gonna look in-game after the update... probably very different as well.

[LaraWildstone]

As a viera player, I am super concerned about the eyes. I feel like the benchmark sucked the life out of our eyes and they just lost the personality that it gave to the face. The lashes and shadows around the eyes are also concerning because they just don't look good in my opinion. It looks like a downgrade in my opinion, but I am intrigued to see if there will be any changes.

[decomposer]

I had the time tonight to grab hold of more extensive comparison shots specifically to highlight the change in lips and eyes.

Here is my Duskwight. I lightened his skin for visualization purposes. I also traced over the mouth and eyes to show shape as well as shadows. I did the profile too, because (to no one's surprise) changing the lips and eyes alters a profile. I also found in this process that they seemed to stretch the face and shave the nose and chin.

I think the universal application of the Wildwood textures to all Elezen might be the culprit for some of the eye changes, here. But not all. And I know more polygons means smoother features. But that chin shave is so sad (so is the loss of the nose hook.)

These are factually not the same features. They have entirely different implications (ethnically, aesthetically, mood-wise, etc.) Also the quality, in my opinion, is worse. The lip line and waterline are so pixelated, it hurts.


This is lower resolution, but if you would like to see the full page, here it is!

[Sockatoomie]

Tossing my hat in with the group to say that the changes to the eye/mouth/lip shapes did a number on the overall vibe of my WoL.
Here are a couple comparisons of current game vs benchmark:
https://imgsli.com/MjU1OTE5
https://imgsli.com/MjU1OTI0

The lips have unfortunately lost a lot of the charm points in that the fat deposits seem to have been eliminated/smoothed out, the overall width has been reduced, and the depth around the corners has all but disappeared. The eye shape has changed as well, along with being sculpted upward.

My particular desire above all else is to have the Face5 hyuran midlander female have the option to toggle off some of the heavy eye makeup--would love to have the face/eye shape without the panda eyes, similar to the eye makeup options for the other four face options!

[GreenLeafy]

One of the things that threw me off the most about my miqo was really his eyes , removed catchlight aside it just didn't feel the same. Aside of the obvious darkening of the top of the irises I couldn't quite pinpoint exactly how to explain why it didn't sit right with me. Looking at my cats today I realized the issue - he kind of lost a lot of the strong feeling of him actually having cat eyes. I've seen a lot of people talk about one of the distinctive racial features for Keepers of the Moon to be their fangs which unfortunately have been dulled down with this update. For Seekers the bonus you get is the really cool slit pupils to really resemble cat eyes and I haven't seen as much people talk about that aspect. Unfortunately for male seekers aswell if your eyes are small the darkened iris is a huge detriment to that feature as it makes your eyes appear more normal with a perpetual cast shadow even in lighting scenarios where it really shouldn't be as strong which is a bummer ! Especially since its a feature that really attracted me to Seekers to begin with. If the excuse is realism ,well , realistically cat eyes aren't the way they are in the benchmark either?
I hope that the dev team gives us an option to bring that back for Seekers!

[Loggos]

I noticed this on my viera too and thought I was just going crazy; I'm lucky that he otherwise looks great and not all that different from his old self but I'm gonna be a little sad if he loses his beautiful mouth shape

I don't even dislike the mouth shape on the right. It looks good in its own right. It's the fact that it replaces the other really lovely mouth shape that is so upsetting (I use it on my viera too and I'm going to really miss it, ngl :/ ). If the mouth on the right was an additional option and we got to keep the original one on the left that would serve everyone because more options to cater to more tastes is always good. I might even make an alt with it. But I don't like it as a substitute.

[squiddragoon]

One of the things that threw me off the most about my miqo was really his eyes , removed catchlight aside it just didn't feel the same. Aside of the obvious darkening of the top of the irises I couldn't quite pinpoint exactly how to explain why it didn't sit right with me. Looking at my cats today I realized the issue - he kind of lost a lot of the strong feeling of him actually having cat eyes. I've seen a lot of people talk about one of the distinctive racial features for Keepers of the Moon to be their fangs which unfortunately have been dulled down with this update. For Seekers the bonus you get is the really cool slit pupils to really resemble cat eyes and I haven't seen as much people talk about that aspect. Unfortunately for male seekers aswell if your eyes are small the darkened iris is a huge detriment to that feature as it makes your eyes appear more normal with a perpetual cast shadow even in lighting scenarios where it really shouldn't be as strong which is a bummer ! Especially since its a feature that really attracted me to Seekers to begin with. If the excuse is realism ,well , realistically cat eyes aren't the way they are in the benchmark either?
I hope that the dev team gives us an option to bring that back for Seekers!

OMG yes!! You described it perfectly. The new iris texture for sun cats is pretty cute but the old feels more cat-like. The new one is IMO a bit too dark around the upper pupil and from some distance away, just looks like moon cat eyes unless the lighting in the area is really bright Wish we could have the new v old eye textures on a toggle (or perhaps have the slit on the new texture be sharper and longer like the old texture?)