Benchmark 1.1 Feedback - Elezen

[oracleofroses]

Some feedback of my Elezen WoLs in comparison with the 1.0 benchmark.



The fem Elezen mouth fix is the biggest change that I needed from 1.0. She looks much more fierce compared to the 1.0 result with dead eyes and lower teeth that's trying to escape her mouth. The teeth for both male and female Elezens are more detailed now, when back in 1.0 they mostly look like mouth guards.



Lighting for dark skin characters is much better now. I have the same issue with Endwalker where my brown skinned WoL is illuminated terribly especially in Ultima Thule. 1.1. lighting now shows her features clearly, compared to 1.0 where her mole and nose is drowned out by the shadow.



Another point for lighting fix, especially in character creation. The moving clouds from 1.0 character creator made it hard to get a consistent feel for color. 1.1's character creator is similar to Endwalker's, and the colors now accurately represent what you will see in the benchmark movie.



Lighting and teeth detail fix. 1.0 makes him look like he's been working on customer service for 10 years. 1.1 actually evokes a feeling of excitement for a new adventure.



This is something I noticed in 1.0. The lighting effect of the viper lb3(?) animation makes my red haired character's highlights look like tinsel even after the light source is gone, and it wasn't changed at all in 1.1. Compared to a white haired WoL where the tinsel effect is very minimal, I'm guessing this is an intended effect.

So far I'm very happy of the results of 1.1. Thank you to the dev team for all your hard work <3

[Larirawiel]

Aaaaand, they screwed up the female Elezen mouth. You can click on the image for full size.



Miqos have also this error to a very small degree. We need an 1.2 version of the benchmark.





Cheers

[Lyallon]

Thanks for the Elezen specific thread.
I will put in some screenshots of my own.
(From left to right Endwalker, Benchmark 1.0, Benchmark 1.1)
I'm a little unhappy with my WoL to be honest...
Male Elezen Face 3 looks much less feminine and soft in comparison to Endwalker.
I'm still missing my lipgloss and I feel like the whole shape of the face has changed (not sure if it's only because of the lighting)

[Reinha]

I'm really glad they fixed the femelezen mouth animation, the skin colors/shading and everything about the eyes.

My main requests for female Elezen face 1 are to re-add black color into the eyebrows to make them look closer to the original, and to make the shape of the lip closer to the original shape. Those two alterations really change how the face looks and I struggle to recognize her as the same character in the benchmark. I would also like the lips to be glossier but I don't mind it too much if they stay less shiny.

Otherwise I'm very satisfied with the changes!

This is my main in the old version of the benchmark and in the live game's character creation mode.


And here is the new benchmark version.


+ The lighting and shadows have been greatly improved compared to both the live game and the old benchmark
+ Eyes have a shine to them again and they look alive
+ The lips look three dimensional again
+ A smaller portion of the ear turns pink, giving a more natural look
+ Eye liner makeup has been made closer to the original and not so heavy
+ Hair quality is better
+ The skin doesn't have a green undertone like in the first benchmark

- Nostril shape / side of the nose has changed?
- Lip shape is still different and smaller compared to the original
- Lips are less glossy than in the live game
- Eyebrows are still light and not black

My female Elezen undeniably has better graphics but she still doesn't look quite like herself, regardless of lighting conditions. I think it boils down to the eyebrow color and lip shape being different from the original.

[oracleofroses]

Aaaaand, they screwed up the female Elezen mouth. You can click on the image for full size.



Miqos have also this error so a very small degree. We need an 1.2 version of the benchmark.





Cheers

Oh I didn't notice this. I will have to experiment with makeup too when I get home. Given how close Dawntrail's release is I don't know how feasible it is for a 1.2 benchmark, but I hope they'll release one just to fix these issues.

[oracleofroses]

Thanks for the Elezen specific thread.
I will put in some screenshots of my own.
(From left to right Endwalker, Benchmark 1.0, Benchmark 1.1)
I'm a little unhappy with my WoL to be honest...
Male Elezen Face 3 looks much less feminine and soft in comparison to Endwalker.
I'm still missing my lipgloss and I feel like the whole shape of the face has changed (not sure if it's only because of the lighting)

I think the change in the softness is both from the lighting and sculpt for face 3. The benchmark sculpt (both 1.0 and 1.1) has a curve that emphasizes the chin and jaw, while the lighting in 1.1 from all the front facing shots draw a shadow that deepens the cheekbones. It does take away the softness of the current version.

I'll look at the changes in makeup too later for a comparison, my WoLs usually only have eye makeup because the shiny-ness of the lip paint is distracting for me during cutscenes.

[SpiritMuse]

I do think on the whole it is much improved, my Elezen actually looks mostly like himself again now. Or at least, this face is giving largely the same laid back vibe that the old one does, with the removal of the "evil eyes" look that benchmark 1 had.



However, there still remains the issue of the incorrect facial textures for faces 2, 3, and possibly 4, that were taken from Wildwood, that are now giving Duskwights dark shadows around their eyes that we did not have before, and that are impacting the neutral facial impression quite a bit, especially on darker skin tones. It is still making my character look a bit uncanny in a way he didn't before.

Current:


Benchmark 1.1:

[MascheRano]

I am going to reiterate what I had already posted this in the bnchmark update thread. While I am happy with the changes for the most part, and I'm glad they fixed the weird rigging for female elezen mouths, I am still dissatisfied about the forced default smiling expression. Before, the lip shape for female elezen face 4 curved downward, giving her a more serious face.

However, in the benchmark, the lip shape has remained changed so that it curves upward in a constant smile. Pre-update, face 4 is the only face that doesn't have a default upward lip curve, which is why I chose it for my more stoic character. It seems this issue is affecting all races, not just elezen, where the mouth shape changes create a new resting expression for the characters.




Edit: I am very thankful for all the hard work that the devs have put into the graphics update. While I am giving my feedback on what I would like to see, at the end of the day, I think the graphical improvements as a whole are good. If there is an update down the line even as Dawntrail has already released that addresses the issues with the character models, then I would be very happy, but I think the actual bugs and glitches need to be fixed first before worrying about the minute details of our characters' faces.

[Liamont]

The one major thing that I was hoping to get fixed was the eyebrows, and it looks like nothing was done at all to fix it:



I'm glad the eyes seemed to have been changed to be more similar to EW, but I would like to kindly ask why we were even given the option of straight eyebrows in ARR-EW when now all straight eyebrow options are removed in DT?

[ChaChaOnIce]

The fullest lip option for Duskwight Face 2 is still nerfed. There are no longer any actual full lip options for this face, this was the largest one and it is now very similar to the other thinner lip options. The nose bridge is still noticeably different as well, lacking the indent and nose bump near the brow ridge. The lips in particular really change the look of my WoL, I'm very unhappy that nothing was done to address these concerns from the previous benchmark.