Updated benchmark

[Boblawblah]

Just going to add the biggest thing I noticed that was taken from us lalafell... our belly button

potato jokes aside, that's ...an odd choice. Why would they remove that?

[Fawkes]

That depends on the characters skin tone. The paler you are the more apparent it is.

How is their skin tone making the barrel in the background green?





I'm reasonably pale but me and my barrel look less green.

[Pyshiro]

potato jokes aside, that's ...an odd choice. Why would they remove that?

Not quite sure... especially since you can still see the vague man pecs so it's very :shrugs:

[Dysvalence]

Compared to the last benchmark, the distortions around the top of the nose and chin are toned down, and the hair is a massive upgrade. Unlike the first bench, I'd consider the game playable in this state, though I need to adjust skin tones on pretty much all my characters regardless of race.


With that said, I still prefer the current game. On live, the eyes are more detailed than everything else, which draws the viewer's attention in and gives the overall face a focused look. But in the benchmark the detail on the philtrum and chin shadows is excessive and distracting, especially on low shadow settings, where it just kinda looks bad. The eyeshadow, especially in the outer corners, isn't as intense. The bottom lip still needs to be smaller.




On my viera I have more or less the same complaints, especially on the lower eyelid.

[Sandoria]

Ngl, when I saw the one on the right in the first Benchmark, I was worried. Now though, I'm over the moon thrilled with how great she looks. My Viera might be the biggest success story in Benchmark comparisons.


I thought Elezen was a massive improvement last time and this time, it's unreal. For me at least, this is an immensely wonderful change and I couldn't be happier. I hope everyone gets to feel that way about their characters eventually.

[AdventZero]

Admittedly I didn't care for my look in the new benchmark while watching it stand alone, but putting a few old BM screenshots next to new BM screenshots and it's not to bad, in fact I like it more with each moment. As someone who liked the old one there are still some points I like better in the old BM, like her hair color, love the brighter color while still being a med/deep red. If I lower the color it becomes to dark of a red, and if I rise it, it becomes to light/pinkish, so stuck here for now. otherwise I do feel she looks better in the new one and will only continue to do so as time passes.

Put new on the left and right so both lighting options can be seen next to the old one. I still look meh in blue light in option 1, but option 2 is great.



All other pictures are old BM left, new BM right. Didn't put as much effort into matching them up perfectly, but I think it's close enough.

Limsa Day.


Limsa Night.


Grid Day.


Grid Night.


Ul'Dah Day.


Ul'Dah Night.


Room face close up.


Over all, I still love how she looks and will continue to play as her.

[Khryseis_Astra]

Other than a couple minor things, my Lala definitely looks more like herself in the new benchmark.



And my Highlander got even better! Everything that changed on her was a plus.

[Rikizza]

My eyelashes have been slightly reduced from v1 to v1.1.

And I guess the face marks and nose smudge are a little darker maybe.

Your miqote looks super cute but i hate that they toned down the lashes

[Sjofn]

So generally speaking, I think my characters look great. I only have one complaint about my elezen dude:



Now grant you, this neck seam/surprisingly sharp adam's apple is still miles better than the current elezen neck seam, but ideally there'd not be a seam at all, you know? Still, that feels pretty minor overall.

I am much more concerned about my face 4 hyur dude's problem:



So his facial hair is much lighter/thinner than in the current game, and I don't love it. I could live with it, though, if it didn't ... turn black at certain angles, in certain lighting:



That straight up looks bugged to me. Especially since other times he's close up and in shadow, it looks like how I think it's supposed to:



Right now I'm crossing my fingers that it's just that one specific scene and that one specific set of lighting messing it up, but since it looks so, so unintended, I really needed to wave my arms about it somewhere.

[Tahli]

Some pros in my opinion: Visible upgrade from current ingame graphics, more HD than previous benchmark, Mooncat fangs returned!! Improved mouth shape using emotes compared to current ingame, my character's face (Moon Miqo face 2) has nostril textures now! Less "waxy" in some lightings like Thanalan compared to previous benchmark. Lip gloss reacquired.

Some cons in my opinion: I liked the softer eyebrow shading of the previous benchmark better. I preferred the darker upper eyelid makeup of the previous benchmark and wish it was an option to toggle on in the new one. The pupils seemed a little darker in the previous version too, and I felt it gave a nice "black cat with big round void eyes" sort of look (and I actually liked less eye shine). Not sure if it was intentional or just missing shading, but I also liked how the iris colors popped more in the previous benchmark, like they were faintly glowing -- the new irises are a bit dulled from shading at some angles, and have uncannily distinct "lines".


Current ingame -- Benchmark 1 (April) -- Benchmark 1.1 (June)