Updated benchmark

[MsMisato]

For the lulz I opened the game on one screen and the benchmark on the other and made a direct comparison of old face 3 me and new face 3 me. I also rotated them away from the sun so this whole lower jaw and mouth situation is not influencing judging the shape.

She looks really similar to people who don't play the game as her I'm sure, and this is nothing I'd quit the game over or anything. However, I noticed something had changed with her eyes, making her look like she was trying very hard to get this Mountain Dew mount. I'll live, but I know I'm going to miss all the gpose moments where she's just relaxing somewhere, gazing into the distance, with this contempt resting face, happy and alert but calm. I can't even point to what the difference is, maybe it's the lack of dark eye lashes, one pixel being moved elsewhere, or the size being bigger and the eyes being further apart from each other, or at least giving the impression they would be further apart. Maybe all of that. So I checked how far I could get by recreating her with a different face, putting that free Fantasia, adjusting it just like we were asked to. That face 2 version was the closest I could get to, but it's still a rather different, idk, vibe? Face 1 would mean losing basically all of my fancy tiger stripes, and Face 4 looks to me more like a shy or anxious person, and this just doesn't suit her at all. It's a pity these stripes are glued to the face. I really wish they'd be optional features, so every face can have all types of stripes.



Not sure what I'm going to do when Dawntrail drops. Might not Fantasia right away in case there are going to be any tweaks in the first few patches or so, but whatever I choose, I'll need time to get used to that. I know that much.

(Then again, maybe the lighting decides for me, depending on if they fix that mouth situation or not, because these "dimples" are just absurd. https://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/...51#post6470751 )

i think you should pop your current character without that that hairstyle and use the one that is on the new benchmark. that would be a better representation

[Sky7]

I like the new lighting and I'm glad they fixed the weird greasy skin appearance. However, there are a few things about my character's face that are different from the original that I'm hoping will get tweaked. My character uses face 2, jaw 2, eye 3, eyebrow 2, nose 4, mouth 4 and ear 3.



At first, it didn't look too different but as I kept looking, something seemed off about my character's face. I drew red lines on the eyelashes, left eye and nose to highlight the differences. Looking closely, I saw that in the benchmark, the top eyelashes are slightly longer with a shallower curve that ends curving more downward. There is a greater gap between the bottom eyelashes towards the end and the eye. The rounded parts on the sides of the nose are now flatter and slightly longer. The nostrils are flatter than the original. My character's ears are now slightly shorter. To maintain the current ear size, I would have to increase it by about 5. This isn't a problem for me personally but people who want the maximum ear size with ear 3 may be disappointed. I don't know if the other ear types are shorter too but ear 3 is definitely slightly shorter.

The last issue I have with my character is her smile in the cutscene. I can't pinpoint what exactly the issue is but something still seems weird about her smile. Specifically the bottom lip. There is something uncanny about it.



Other than the points I brought up, I like the changes and I am excited to see it in game in the near future. Thank you devs for working so hard to make the game look beautiful!

[Irishfae]

The last issue I have with my character is her smile in the cutscene. I can't pinpoint what exactly the issue is but something still seems weird about her smile. Specifically the bottom lip. There is something uncanny about it.

This is happening with almost all the models I've tried. Some are worse (au ra f head 4) and some not too bad (my keeper of the moon looks pretty good)

[Larirawiel]

The last issue I have with my character is her smile in the cutscene.

They have screwed up the facial normal maps again. Especially female Miqo's are extremely affected by this. Almost every female Miqo picture, i saw, has this crazy smile. For some reasons the FF14 art team struggles hard when it comes to create proper normal maps. Either they do some try&error stuff or something else.



Cheers

[Minali]

i think you should pop your current character without that that hairstyle and use the one that is on the new benchmark. that would be a better representation

I thought about doing this, but I already did this extra step for the first benchmark and later for a comparison for this mouth thing in my first post (although there I only used an extra short hairstyle so hair shadow wouldn't be in the way.) So I was tired of running to Jandeleine yet again. xD

[Irishfae]

Just wanted to take a moment to thank the the whole team for their efforts. I know I'm being critical of some of the changes, but I am also really looking forward to Dawntrail and the graphical update and thanks to everyone working on it for their work.

[GhalEjinn]

The face 3 of XAELA ONLY, have resolution scale problem. Not the raen face. And not others xaela face.

[Arua]

Still no complain on my end, I guess it's kind of a lucky combination, it still feel like the same as current game just in HD.
Current > Benchmark 1.0 > Benchmark 1.1 > Benchmark 1.1 no blue light

It's face 3, jaw 4, eye shape 6, eyebrows 2, nose 3 and mouth 3

[noumen0nn]

I'm very unhappy that the updated benchmark did nothing to fix the various off-model features of Hyur face 1. Here's a side-by-side of my WoL:



While she no longer looks like a wax doll like the previous benchmark, the impression of her face is still completely off, and her dark makeup accentuates the issues.

Going over the details, here's some traces I did of the eyes, plus an overlay of the traces for more clarity of what's changed.



Her entire eye (type 5) has "shrunk" for no apparent reason, and the overall shape of the eye is much less upturned and much more almond-shaped. Her eyeliner has shrunk as well, and received a similar de-slanting, giving her eyes a duller, less-intense look than before.



Moving on, her nose (type 4) is noticeably more wedge-shaped, which along with the more flared-out nostrils gives her a witch-like appearance.



And the lips (type 4). I don't even know what to say. The way the lipstick is drawn has changed completely, making the lips seem like a drastically different shape; she looks like her lips are permanently pursed. Her philtrum is much thinner, and her cupid's bow is an entirely different shape, even without the lipstick.

I know the devs worked hard improving the benchmark, but I cannot find it in my heart to thank them right now. I can't stand looking at my WoL in the benchmark, and I'm dreading the release of Dawntrail when I should be getting excited for it.

crossposting for visibility

[asrali]

The eyeshape on face 1 for female highlander is also off and makes the character look completely different?
It is eyeshape 3 that I have the most gripes with because suddenly the outer eye corner droops down instead of going up and the inner corner has been made less angular as well.

Let us not forget the gap in the eyebrow as well.

Reposted here for visibility!