Updated benchmark

[Iscah]

Still making my way home from work, so looking at everyone else's and feeling not particularly optimistic about what I'll find in the end.

I don't really want to be someone who complains, but I feel like the updated benchmark was actually a downgrade for my Keeper miqo'te. I was looking forward to it, but now I'm disappointed and more than a little confused. I wouldn't normally make a post about it, but I feel like the change was pretty drastic

Current In-Game/First Benchmark/Second Benchmark


With the change to his lips, it feels like his resting expression has completely changed, and instead of a neutral/resting grumpy face, he's now constantly smiling? I tried looking at the other lip options, but it seems like they've also gained upturned edges.

Additionally, it feels like with every benchmark that Face 4 Miqo'tes become softer and rounder, and I wish I understood why. Face 4 was the only real sharp/angular face option for miqos, which is the entire reason I chose it, and I feel like it's losing its identity with every subsequent update. It was the perfect fit for a stoic, no-nonsense character, and now it just feels... well, a bit out of character. Overall, it seems like a pretty noticeable change between the first and second benchmarks, especially when I didn't think male miqos in particular were getting a lot of complaints when compared with Viera or Elezen.

Male Miqo'te face 4 now has a resting smile and softer eyes, when I purposely chose it for a more harsh, no-nonsense look. The vacant stoned look the first benchmark gave him is still there.

The really curious thing with the Face 4 expression in the first benchmark is that he looked "spaced out" and smiling in the aetherial sea backdrop but fairly normal in the Thanalan backdrop.

This was a comparison I made at the time with the first benchmark showing the different lighting (the second picture is not from the second benchmark):


Then we got those preview pics from the updated benchmark and the female Miqo'te example had the spaced-out look in the Thanalan lighting, so I've been dreading and expecting this ever since.

i haven't seen too many fem hyurs, but something about my character just feels scuffed/off now. not sure what it is oh well...maybe she'll be cuter in game?

It's the dark shadows under the eyes. The shape was there before but the shadows were not.

Funnily enough you can likely tell most of the complaints are coming from the PC community who spend unhealthy amounts of time starring at their characters to notice a 1 polygonal shift in their eyes and lips while we console folks just sit here from a distance and are like… I just want to play the expansion… I wear headgear or helmets like I’m never going to see my face much and if anything it’s when the story moves the character there… I also change character or race every expansion to basically play as something new so… yeaaaahh

I'm a console player and I still get a lot of enjoyment out of looking at my characters' faces up close, and even then I had to scrutinise to work out what had actually gone wrong with them. The overall impression can still feel off even before you can articulate what has actually gone wrong.

I am happy with the changes for the most part, and I'm glad they fixed the weird rigging for female elezen mouths. However, I am still unhappy about the forced default smiling expression. Before, the lip shape for female elezen face 4 curved downward, giving her a more neutral face.

However, in the benchmark, the lip shape has remained changed so that it curves upward in a constant smile. I have seen other screenshots from other races with the same issue; the resting default face should be more neutral in general, so I hope they change this.

I have this issue with my Midlander as well, and the Miqo'te face above, but also the opposite problem with some other models who now look grumpier. Maybe they've kept the face shapes "the same" but they actually need to alter them so the shadows fall as they did before, or maybe they're actually changed.

Whatever is causing it, I really hope it can be fixed, because having a neutral expression is really important.

[BeoCat]

Here's my 2 bits of observations i guess, i'm generally fine with what they've done.


Pros:

• overall lip shape improved
• eye-shape and reflections improved
• skintones and skin-textures are better.
• neck shape improved.

Cons:

• Global illumination decreased and more natural looking soft shadows replaced with harder more EW type shadows because people were complaining about flat looking scenes.
• Certain hairstyles that used to have a self casted shadow, no longer have it as a byproduct of the above change
• Visible neck seams on some race/face combos

I'm sure stuff will get finetuned until the end, so again thank you dev team for your efforts.

[CidHeiral]

Here's my 2 bits of observations i guess, i'm generally fine with what they've done.


Cons:

• Global illumination decreased and more natural looking soft shadows replaced with harder more EW type shadows because people were complaining about flat looking scenes.
• Certain hairstyles that used to have a self casted shadow, no longer have it as a byproduct of the above change
• Visible neck seams on some race/face combos

I'm sure stuff will get finetuned until the end, so again thank you dev team for your efforts.

I agree, hair in your face mysteriously not casting a shadow looks very strange. I was confused what the dev post meant by saying character faces looked "mottled" when hair shadows are cast on them. That's just how light works.

[Taliriah]

I agree, hair in your face mysteriously not casting a shadow looks very strange. I was confused what the dev post meant by saying character faces looked "mottled" when hair shadows are cast on them. That's just how light works.

A hair strand is far from being completely opaque so not casting a shadow at all is a better approximation of reality in most cases

[CidHeiral]

A hair strand is far from being completely opaque so not casting a shadow at all is a better approximation of reality in most cases

A hair chunk that large would absolutely cast a shadow.