Character graphical changes are NOT in an acceptable state, please make it optional

[Catwho]

Another suggestion for everyone: Please remember to use the UNIQUE animation when previewing your character, and snap a few screenshots with the different patterns of shadows and light. The sparkle came right back into my Highlander's eyes (and lips and hair) once I did that. The high noon fair weather light is atrocious for showing off some of the textures.

[seolhyun]

What all these threads are telling me is that a goodly proportion of the population have prosopagnosia. Some of the arguments about the faces has me wondering "how can you not see the blatantly obvious differences?"

to me it seems like tons of ppl actually cant tell that the lighting is different. there are some obv changes like eye and mouth shapes but some are like bro turn ur character around

[Iscah]

to me it seems like tons of ppl actually cant tell that the lighting is different. there are some obv changes like eye and mouth shapes but some are like bro turn ur character around

"Only looks good in the right lighting" is not a solution. I don't want my character to look like someone else every time they turn around or step into a shadowed area.

[Gyson]

I'm really disappointed with the way the update impacted my character. I honestly feel like the older visuals (left) look much better than the newer ones (right). All the life is gone from my character's eyes. The older hair seemed much more detailed and layered, and the two color tones blended together much better with the original art. The lip shape has changed and become larger (particularly the upper lip), and the painted on eyebrows have moved to a higher location on the forehead. The chin has been shortened. The ridge of the nose has been widened. The skin tone has changed.

The quality of the lighting seems to also have taken a hit in the update as that's the same settings/angle/location/time in both captures.

Personally I'm not a fan of sharpening up the detail on the textures for the clothing without updating the model as well, as it just highlights the low-poly nature of it even more.

I really wish you were giving us the option to use the older art assets, although I doubt that's practical. I prefer that you reduce the instances of dramatic difference, as some faces (like Highlanders) were hit very hard by the update. I went from being excited about this update to dreading it the moment I saw how my character from the last 10 years has turned out. I don't recognize the character I'm looking at any longer.

[slippdipp]

I think, while there are some actual changes that need to be addressed such as texture opacity and lips, saying you're "mourning" a videogame is generally just indicative of an overly unhealthy attachment to an ephemeral concept in your computer. What will you do, 10 years down the line, when XIV shuts down?
Either way, there's changes to be addressed, but this thread is a crash course on how not to do it. Look at the JP masterpost of criticism. Civil, proper with proper alternatives.
Please remember, it's only a videogame. Go outside and take a deep breath. Things will be ok, just a little bit different.

[Doopliss]

Hello again. I was originally going to post this error in the Elezen thread, but felt here would be better, since the first post of this thread has done a good job at collecting some errors.

I'll start by saying that I have both the live version and the benchmark at the default gamma (50), and the live version with character lighting set at 100, which I believe the current benchmark is running at, and the cause of characters appearing to glow. The previous two benchmarks had character lighting at 0, for reference.

I believe certain hair colors aren't displaying correctly for several race/gender combinations. I don't want to fill this with even more screenshots, though, so I'm using my main for reference.

At first I thought it was just the new lighting messing with my eyes, but I believe it looks substantially different enough from the live version that it is a mistake.



If I move the hair color just one slide over, it appears much more in line with the current version. However, you can see that her Duskwight earclasps change color according to the way they do in vanilla, so they're darker than current. I also think this is a problem because this means some race/gender combos who have the darkest shade selected can no longer achieve that look. This is likely why some characters with jet black hair appear dark grey, instead.

I'm not sure what would cause this specific issue, but I believe it's part of what's affecting Gyson's Highlander above. However, this seems to be far from only a hair issue, as others have also reported Facial Feature, Tattoo, and Facepaint color differences that appear independent from lighting changes.


For further proof--and Elezen women are very convenient in this case, having four variations of the same hairstyle--you can see the color changes a shade between these two different, yet fundamentally same hairstyles. I did not select a different color here. It's more difficult to discern in a side by side screenshot, but looking for one's self between fem Elezen's hairstyles #13 & #14 may make it easier to discern.

With everything considered, I fully believe there is some coloring bugs all throughout the benchmark's build.

[Thrawn21]

Or maybe some of us are just legitimately happy with the changes? I've been playing this game for over a decade, I love my character, and I love the graphical update.

I get why people are upset about some things, but stuff like this is why I sometimes wonder why I bother trying to remain fair...

It's hard to remain fair and level-headed when everyone feels strongly about the changes to their character (myself included). I commend you for that. I've played over a decade as well and ironically find myself relating to both sides of the topic. In some pictures I love the changes and in others I don't. The physical features of my character's face changed quite a bit (as someone else mentioned for male hyur face 4) but depending on the lighting and angles he still looks great.

Here's an example of one I dislike (creepy eyes, no nose bridge, flat pasty lips, weird eyeliner, reduced cheekbones/jawline, etc.). All valid reasons to hate the update in my mind.
Current = left, updated = right


But here's an example of a picture where I do like the changes. A lot of those negative features were improved by the angle/lighting, even though the character settings are identical.
Current = left, updated = right


The more I mess around in the character creator and benchmark the more I notice how different the updated characters look based on the environment, and it can be pretty jarring. Hopefully SE will receive this feedback well, despite how polarizing and heated it can be. I love the dev team. They're far from perfect but I appreciate that they are open to feedback and want to give people what they want. Making an effort to remain fair about all this will definitely help them move forward in the right direction.

[twobear]

What all these threads are telling me is that a goodly proportion of the population have prosopagnosia. Some of the arguments about the faces has me wondering "how can you not see the blatantly obvious differences?"

I think most of us who think you guys are wildly overreacting can see the differences, we simply disagree that they are 'huge' and 'completely ruin' the character, who is now 'unrecognisable'. If I have to look at two more pictures of 99% identical catgirls and be told that they 'don't even look remotely similar' I will spontaneously combust.

[Banriikku]

So many side by side sreenshots and people still talk about "upgrade". This is not an upgrade, this is mostly a redesign nobody asked for. And thats the whole problem. If they wanted to redesign they should have give us more options. Besides light and shadow are "upgraded" but buggy as hell and need fixing on technical levels. We are 3 months away from release.... this means THIS IS IT. Thats what we are getting at launch.... are they mad?
Where is QA? Still alive?

[Doopliss]

Sorry for posting something cluttered again so soon. I'm sure many can tell by now I'm not very good at condensing my words. I had some other errors I wished to address, though.

As you can see here, there is very obvious artifacting going on with certain tattoos, that become much more clear when changed to black. I believe a player with a male Highlander character posted a thread highlighting this same issue some time earlier, as well.

I also want to mention I believe female Elezen are far from the only ones with rigging issues. Certain races now have smiles that look like they're being held up by strings, and Lalafell show a slightly uncanny amount of gum when smiling, without even mentioning the far uncannier "realistic" placement of their new teeth.

For a more obvious, different example: F4 male Miqo'te eyebrows can now perform the worm.