7.0 Feedback - Male Midlander

[epsiRIZING]

So far all of my characters have looked really good with the overhaul, but unfortunately, I couldn't really feel the same for one of my Midlanders.

I use Face 6, and I was very obsessed with how the lips looked for it. It's almost like my character was going :3, but as soon as I put him in the benchmark to see how he looked, I was very disappointed to see the charm lost. His lips look flat and less defined now, and I don't like how they look very much.
The character creator's camera is awful so his face looks a bit distorted, so the lips are the only problem I have right now.

Old -> New


Does anyone else feel the same with their Midlander?

[Heavenchild]

I am happy with the change for my Midlander. He looks much better now. ^o^

[Lomosma]

Same here, very disappointed, they DOES NOT look like the same person to me.
NEW← →OLD

[Rein_eon_Osborne]

I have expressed my utter disappointment and feedback elsewhere. But here's the quote anyhow (putting them on hidden cause wordy!).

The overhaul definitely upsets me in plenty ways. OP have raised many of my current issues so I'm just going to add my comparison pics plus few comments on my own.

First, the pics themselves.

Today (taken in Aesthetician, and changed hairstyle because unlockable hairstyle aren't available):


And this is from Benchmark (copied 1 to 1 from saved appearance feature in login screen):


I... am speechless. He's like a totally different character.
[-] Eyes missing today's catchlight texture would left him looking 'soulless' in places without proper lighting.
[-] Waxy/"Ken doll" skin texture. I can see his cheeks proper now but they looked out of place & he looked like he just aged 15 years to the future lmao.
[-] His lips, particularly the philtrum (upper lips) are thinned beyond recognition. Now I don't have the 'average lips thickness' option.
[-] Inconsistent shade of color on skin, lips, & hair. It looked like the only way for me to get what I wanted is to make them darker by 1 square but this might also impose an issue to my already established glamour aesthetic on him over the years.
[+] Upside? His stubble now follows his hair color proper instead of staying black all the time.

A gem of a finding though... let's have a closer look to his stubble.

Today:


Benchmark:

"Oh my-- what the-- omg honey what happened to you???"

Yeah... so what's with that oddly cut stubble underneath his chin? Also I do want to add that the stubble is now probably too soft or less defined. But this is a rather minor gripe than what I've mentioned so far.

Oh yeah! Did I mentioned of having to change his hairstyle? Yes I did! This is what he looks like proper:


Please also, add the option to use the unlockable hairstyles. Look at how much of a missing hairstyle has ripped him off his character(s).

====

Overall? I'm very disappointed with how this turned out. It feels like they've taken 3 steps forward but then do a 15 steps backward after.

[Gannon_thunderchad]

YES! The old lips for Midlander face 6 had volume, and seemed to be always "Puckered". It added some Cuteness to the face and was one of the charm points of face 6. I think these things: Highlights on the lips, visible catchlights on the eyes) are important to keeping the character looking the same.
Heres a comparison of my character (hopefully the link will work LOL. Me not tech savvy, unga bunga smn main and all.)



And here's a comparison I threw together in a paint program with the changes in mind: Adding catchlight, slight shadows on the lips to bring back a bit of the smile, and some contrast on the nose to bring it forward. otherwise I'm pretty satisfied with my character, but I feel like the Catchlight is a Big big "please add this to the character lighting" thing for me and many others.




Sorry if these images are huge, enjoy my blorbo breathing in your personal space ig. Im mostly happy with him but catchlights are a must for this game, otherwise, you get the "my character Is being mind controlled" vibe.

[cbanogueira]

It seems to me that the designers paid attention to isolated details of the characters' faces, individually analyzing eyes, nose, mouth, jaw, etc.
However, they forgot to analyze the entire work, the final face and how far it is from the original face. This can be seen in the links below. When seen up close, the face doesn't look that different, but from afar, when you look at it as a whole, it doesn't appear to be the same person.
I can't recognize my character after 9 years of playing Final Fantasy XIV. I'm very sad about this.

https://imgsli.com/MjU1ODQx

https://imgsli.com/MjU1ODQw

https://imgsli.com/MjU1ODM4

[Ardeth]

Yeah, mine also looks fine.



And



Seems like a net positive to me.

[Wasselin]

I'm mainly upset with the loss of my eyebrows and facial hair. Something about the face 5 for Midlander male also looks older to me, but I can't put my finger on what is causing it.

Here is an example: https://imgsli.com/MjU1NjE2

[Thais]

I like everything else except for the fact that face 1 Midlander definitely suffers from their eyebrows being too thin. The eyebrow change alters the look a bit too drastically where he doesn't quite seem like the same guy. I'd be happy if they restored the look of the previous eyebrows as they weren't incredibly thick in the first place. I've noticed other races not having such major change to theirs so I'd be fine with something improved but adjacent to what we currently have.

[Mirikh]

I'm mainly upset with the loss of my eyebrows and facial hair. Something about the face 5 for Midlander male also looks older to me, but I can't put my finger on what is causing it.

Here is an example: https://imgsli.com/MjU1NjE2

That's a great side by side comparison and a good summary of some of the general issues I've seen. It's not just the facial hair. The DT face looks flatter and washed out or over-exposed to me. The shape of the nose is different, the jaw looks rounder. It's not a "bad" face but if I could characterize it I'd say it looks generic rather than customized. I feel the same about my Elezen.