The artificial Eye reflection looks bad.

[Angelivia]

There is updating graphics and then there is changing the artsytle.

What they have done in some cases, like the eyes is to change the artstyle.

I don't think it has anything to do with "artstyle" - The static catchlight simply got painted on due to graphical limitations; natural lightning and reflections weren't possible at that time so they needed a solution to make it less apparent. It might not have been ideal but it did the trick. It's not like it was intentional from the beginning. Now they have the means to update said graphics, so of course they're replacing poor compromises with far better design choices. And it saddens me to see they're going back on it because the vast majority seriously got attached to the makeshift method of flaw-concealment.

Next thing they say is that low poly corners and angles are the "sharp features" they're missing with the high poly even lines.

[Fjarrisky]

I think one of the biggest issues is the contrast issue with both lighting and changes to the iris/pupil definition. The current implementation seems like a muddled compromise that appeases nobody.

For my miqo, mesing about even more, the lighting changes and the weak fuzzy catch light reflections make the eyes sorta blur into the face, its got less impact, less presence. Other races/eyes/color combinations have less of a problem, but for my colors, its really noticeable how boring it looks. If they boosted the catch light contrast against the eye (and fixed the milk-iness) I think it would look way better, because right now they look like dull marbles, at least on my miqo.

1.1 Bench with slight hair+eye color change | Live

[Azureskies01]

And this is what happens when you ask for them to change stuff that doesn't need to be changed.

Has everyone learned their lesson?.... Yea I thought not..

[OgruMogru]

I think adding the artificial light -before- we'd even got to see how the lighting in the eyes looked with the updated benchmark is classic FFXIV dev overcorrecting tbh.

[GrizzlyTank]

I don't think it has anything to do with "artstyle" - The static catchlight simply got painted on due to graphical limitations; natural lightning and reflections weren't possible at that time so they needed a solution to make it less apparent. It might not have been ideal but it did the trick. It's not like it was intentional from the beginning. Now they have the means to update said graphics, so of course they're replacing poor compromises with far better design choices. And it saddens me to see they're going back on it because the vast majority seriously got attached to the makeshift method of flaw-concealment.

Next thing they say is that low poly corners and angles are the "sharp features" they're missing with the high poly even lines.

As mentioned earlier, the whole eye got changed style wise. From clear looking with sharp pupils to more washed out, with a notable material change in how the light reflects from the eye as seen when you turn the camera to the side to look at the sclera.

I think adding the artificial light -before- we'd even got to see how the lighting in the eyes looked with the updated benchmark is classic FFXIV dev overcorrecting tbh.

Did they change much about the lighting in the benchmark beside adding the catch-light? The lighting issue was mostly about inconsistent lighting between the character creator and game/benchmark as well as the absence of catch-light.

[GrizzlyTank]

I think one of the biggest issues is the contrast issue with both lighting and changes to the iris/pupil definition. The current implementation seems like a muddled compromise that appeases nobody.

For my miqo, mesing about even more, the lighting changes and the weak fuzzy catch light reflections make the eyes sorta blur into the face, its got less impact, less presence. Other races/eyes/color combinations have less of a problem, but for my colors, its really noticeable how boring it looks. If they boosted the catch light contrast against the eye (and fixed the milk-iness) I think it would look way better, because right now they look like dull marbles, at least on my miqo.

1.1 Bench with slight hair+eye color change | Live

Would be better to have a clearer camera-catch light and more faded ambient catch-lights As well as making the eye features look sharp again.

Also don't use discord for linking images those links expire after a while.

[Zadood]

I just need to stay off OF for this. While there are still legit concerns, its becoming clear to me that some people just cannot handle the fact that updating the graphics will change how their character looks and they will fight tooth and claw to hold back graphical progress. Adding back the fake reflections is the perfect example of that

Most people wouldn't want to admit that the limitation of old downsized Luminous Engine
Is what make their character... their character.

And the tricky things is art is both objective and subjective at the same time.

What CBU3 could do is just simply increase the polycount across the body without changing the current character features and options at all.

And then add some new character customization feature as well as options that became possible due to increased polycount of character.

But we all know due to technical debt of 2.0 FFXIV's downsized Luminious Engine, it was too time consuming to be prioritized to add these feature.

The biggest mistake Yoshida-san has done to FFXIV is release FFXIV within the life-span of PS3. And now this development decision is starting to bite them back now.