Au Ra Raen Fem Face 2 Feedback & More

[LilyEmber]

I'm here to present some of my critiques regarding the recent changes shown in the benchmark. Obviously there's a lot of positives, but I feel if one race could use some more adjustments, it's Au Ra. And I will be providing some feedback on face 2 for Raen. Obviously, others may not agree with me, but these are my suggestions.

6.0


7.0


1. The catchlight in the eyes appears to be quite weak in particular. This is giving them a very lifeless appearance, in my opinion.
2. The shapes of the eyes. The face 2 Au Ra girls always had downturned eyes, now the angle appears to have been altered and are straighter which I feel takes away some of the uniqueness of this face.
3. The lips, another defining feature of this face. I loved it for the fullness of the lips, with their pouty-ness, however with the new changes, and this seems to be a common change amongst all races, they appear to have lost their shape. Instead of a cupids bow (the point in the center of the upper lip), they're very straight. And they've also lost their corner dimples. I think this was a unique and charming feature of this face.
4. The eyeliner is too harsh. The character featured in this thread doesn't have any of the eye makeup facial features selected and still it looks quite heavy.
5. The scales. They look dirty to me. I personally would have just preferred sharper, crisper looking scales, but these just look like they're dirty. Sure, a Raen won't have perfectly white scales, but the scales on the neck and chest make me want to scrub at them with a toothbrush or something, like as if dirt was building up in the grooves of the scales. I feel this could be toned down some.
6. The whites in the eyes. This goes for all or most races, but I feel the whites in the eyes are far too bright. I've noticed this especially on Viera.
7. The undertone of the lips is off. Like there is some blue undertone. Pink looks purple, yellow looks green, etc etc. This is a consistent issue that has been in the game for sometime, but appears exasperated in the update.

[AnnRam]

Not gonna lie.

The second one it's spooky as fk.

[LilyEmber]

I truly do believe it's because of the lack of expression. Weak catchlight takes the life out of the eyes, and the lips lacking any remote shape lends to a blank expression.

[SabrinaScribb1es]

I also feel like a lot of the "unique-ness" and "character" of this face has been changed. I actually really like the new scale textures/defintion, but I can also see where you are coming from as well. I also don't mind the changes to the eyes (though again, I can see where you are coming from), and I really like what they've done with the limbal rings. My biggest problem are the shapes of the lips, nose, and the definition of the philtrum.*Edit: I figured out how to include photos *





I think the change in lip shape is the biggest issue for me. The original lips had a very uniquely round shape and expression that I really liked. Like you pointed out earlier, they aren't as pouty or as filled-in anymore, which leads to a very blank and straight-faced expression. I find the loss of the dimples particularly saddening, as I think they added a lot of that expression and uniqueness to the face (that, and I have dimples IRL and wanted them on my character too). The lips are also very matte, and no longer have any shine to them, which I dislike.

I also dislike the changes to the noses. I'm not quite sure how to describe it, but the way the new noses are so well defined just feels off. Certain lighting makes the new noses look very thin and very flat, giving an almost uncanny feeling. I could be imaging this, but I also feel as though a few of the nose options sit pretty far up on the face, especially if you choose to use thinner/smaller lips.

I feel like the new extra defined philtrum just exacrobates both the issues I have with the lips and noses. Similarly to the nose, I think the philtrum looks very weird in certain lighting. In some lighting, it's not noticeable at all, but in other lighting, it sticks out like a sore thumb. In the more noticable lighting, I feel as though it makes the distance between my Au Ra's nose and lips to be extra long. I vastly prefer the much softer philtrum of the old models.

Edit: Others have also pointed out that the actual shape of head, specifically the cheeks and jawline has been changed, which in turn affects how every other feature on the face looks. In particular, they seem to have made the jawline sharper, which I also really dislike

[Doopliss]

I'm already sick of myself posting to forums, but adding +1 to this one because, out of all my characters, I think this is the one that got shot the most. I intentionally chose this face because it makes it easy to give a more down-to-earth, youthful impression. I also gave her as little eye makeup as was possible for a fem Au Ra.

...God, I don't even think I need to explain what's wrong with this one. this shit hurted

[Asteri]

Adding to the pile! Here are my issues with my FemRa:

• The lips are the biggest issue I have with the new update, I chose Lips 3 because they're the thinnest and most wide of FemRa Face 2 and now they look as narrow as the four other options. The lack of lip gloss is also definitely felt. :<
• The Scales are quite ivory. The horns are pretty much on point, but there is a white/gray highlight and coloring on the new scales that make them feel much colder. I don't dislike the new white ones, but I wish it was an option between white-ivory or white-beige!
• Quickly shifting between images, the eye shape looks like the exact same but there's a slight difference with the eye lashes where the 6.58 version were better defined (see the individual eyelash) whereas the benchmark version is faded and less defined which changes the look of her eyes just a tad.
• Not a huuuge fan of the new eyebrows, there's a weird darker line around the exterior of them instead of fading into the skin like normal eyebrows would look like.

Someone did a fantastic breakdown of the changes on the AuRa thread that really points out the issues (Thanks Roda!):

[Nebty]

This is the one that really broke my heart. More than anything else, the lips were what made my girl look like herself. She had a gorgeous smile. Now she looks like she's constantly making a weird duckface. Her dimples were adorable. It hurts to imagine that it was changed in the name of making them "cuter". It just completely changes her facial expressions into something I don't recognize.





Like yeah, she's more or less the same character. But her smile is what I loved about her.

One other issue I'd like to point out is also the shrinking of the eyebrows and the slimming down of the face->chin area. Again, traditionally "cuter", but it doesn't give her as much character. And I tried in the CC but there isn't an option to give her brows any heavier than the ones I already have.

[AstiSpumante]

I figured I would add my face 2 comments here in the face 2 specific thread.

1)I miss the less filled in lower cheeks and the wider mouth. The whole lower face is different. The new mouth looks like she is making a duck face and that combined with the bolder matte lipstick look is making her look like she's a teen on Instagram. It would be fine if this was an option but after fiddling with settings and options there's no way to get away from this look. I like the original wide mouth and less full cheeks, I partly chose Face 2 since it shared those features with irl me.
2) I prefer the depth the shine and feathering of the old lip color, please make that an option.
3) The hyper detail on raen scales doesn't look nice. It makes them look flat, like they were printed on printer paper and glued on. It's a problem on both body and face scales. Blockier shadows/highlights or making the lines of the detailing less crisp would resolve this. I also like the more organic look from the blockier/blurrier OG scales.
4) Please put the optional menu eyeliner on top of the face paint or make it bolder. I liked to use it to make her eyes even bigger/add more depth in her eyes.
4) The larger pupil and removal of the eye shine make her look like a doll or like she has that disinterested expression that the kids on tiktok are all about these days. I don't want her to look like she is zoning out, she is a gargoyle at a glance but has a big expressive goofy face to counteract that.

If I had to make only only change though, it would be to bring back the wider mouth and original lip shading/shine+shadows.




After sitting on my thoughts for 2 days now I'm realizing what the main issue is though, all the aura lady faces have been fairly homogenized into being a similar doll/teen on Instagram look. Before each face had a distinct vibe (1 was the hime vibe, 2 the goofy/girl next door, 3 was dignified and could be made matronly if you wanted, 4 was the sharp cool girl). Now it feels like the devs are saying only one type of lizard girl gets to be the protagonist. It feels like they're saying people who look like me aren't supposed to be playing this game.

[SabrinaScribb1es]

Oh my god, I knew that the jawline looked strange, but I didn't realize that they had completely changed it! Now I know what else was bothering me about the changes to this face -- they removed some of my WoL's buccal fat and got rid of some of her baby face. I also choose face 2 because it is similar to the shape of my IRL face. When I first created my character, I was so excited to see that I could give my lizard girl a soft jawline like me, but now she's lacking that

[poochipaw]

I have posted to other forums but adding here as well as it regards Female Au Ra Face 2 as well.



Here is a picture of the current female Au Ra face 2 in the game.



And here is a picture of the same face as of 7.0 as seen in the benchmark with the exact same settings.
The lighting on the character when viewed in character creation is a bit strong and makes the face appear rather flat in the 7.0 version.



The lips have been significantly changed. Shown here is a comparison of Lips 1 between old and new graphics:
- they appear smaller
- dimples are gone
- they are more straight
- appear more monotone and stiff

I feel like the lips have lost a lot of the definition that was nice to see in the old model, is there a way to reach a middle ground or keep the old shape of them but in updated graphics?



In certain harsh lighting it almost appears as if the mouth is being "sucked in".





When performing emotes a line appears on the neck, indicating the head model does not align properly with the body model, which would need to be adjusted before finalizing the update.

I appreciate all the hard work the developers put into making this an enjoyable game and I hope that the player's wishes are taken into consideration!