[Dawntrail Benchmark 1.1] Male miqo'te face 1 feedback

[Aco505]

This thread is meant as a follow up to my previous one about feedback for the first version of the Dawntrail benchmark character creator.

It will be focused on the male miqo'te face 1 with mouth 4, but likely applies to other miqo'te faces and mouths, as well as different races or genders.

1 - Low resolution textures just below the eyes and to the sides of the face.

This is the most apparent issue and it has not been addressed from the first benchmark. In the pictures below (first the old benchmark, then the new), I have highlighted the low resolution textures existing just below the eyes.

Additionally, the skin on the sides of the face has a low resolution tone as well, particularly depending on lightning. Some settings hide it better but it's still there. I have highlighted this in the second picture with arrows.



The low resolution spots below the eyes should simply be removed and the lower eyelid shape made smoother. The lower resolution skin tones to the sides should be fixed to match the skin that shows at the front of the face.

2 - There's a visible permanent neck seam now that wasn't there before.

The neck seam is quite noticeable when wearing race clothes and in most lighting environments. You can see it on the second picture above.

Tenna has provided more sample pictures here.

3 - It doesn't look like eyes have changed that much from the previous Benchmark and the color is still different compared to 6.58.

If we compare the three pictures below (6.58, old Benchmark, 1.1 Benchmark), it doesn't look like eyes have changed much or at all. It still feels that the character looks "empty inside".



In addition, eye color from 6.58 to both versions of the benchmark has been changed noticeably, as it has become darker.

Using the new lighting option shows a darker color as well. See the first picture below and then compare to the second taken today in Gridania. Their color is lighter in the latter:



4 - Eye lashes seem more prominent now whereas eye shadow has been reduced.

I find this change to be somewhat neutral but I wish eye lashes were easily visible through more angles than just above or below.

TheVegetable has also talked about it in this post here.

The softening of the eye shadow is a good change as it would create thicker colored lines in the previous benchmark version.

5 - Male miqo'te facial marks below the eyes are still low resolution.

These are integral to a male miqo'te's facial appearance and they cannot be changed or removed. Please, update these textures alongside general face paint, as well.

6 - Mouth 4 for the male miqo'te face 1 remains quite a change from 6.58.

TheVegetable also talks about this in the post I linked above, but the changes to mouth 4 makes it so that the male miqo'te face 1 doesn't really have a smaller mouth.

Now it's just a slightly shortened default mouth 1 but it has lost some of its previous features.

I'm personally not too bothered by it, but it does remove options for those wishing tinier lips and mouth. Please, consider adjusting this.


Bodies should be updated at some point, as otherwise differences such as the ones found in the neck area (and the body overall) will be jarring when comparing the high resolutions found in the faces with the lower ones in the bodies, and especially depending on the glamor used. I have written about it before, should you wish to support it.

To conclude, I think the changes are going in the right direction but there's still plenty of things to improve. Please, take our feedback into account!

For those reading, feel free to comment on my changes, your changes or both. Are there any other elements that have not been addressed?

[TheVegetable]

I was too caught up with the mouth and eyes to really pay much attention to the textures and colours, but yeah, I agree that those things all need correcting. The markings specifically are pretty noticable, and now that they've been mentioned, I notice that they're also more faint than they used to be on my own character.

Regarding mouth 4, I think the main issue is that, presumably, the other mouths are just stretched and squashed versions of mouth 1, and with the changes to the overall mouth and lip shape, the relative difference of mouth 4 has a very different result, causing it to lose its very distinctive look. Guess I should add that to my own thread.

[Aco505]

Added an extra picture to show how the eye color has been darkened, even when comparing it to the new lighting option in the benchmark.

[aceeko]

Your mouth shape seems to be very different now. I assume that people usually choose this mouth shape because it's narrower compared to the other options, so the fact that the lips are now wider on the sides don't make them unique anymore. There doesn't seem to be another narrow option for those who don't want "wide" lips. It doesn't look bad to me, but I'm just not sure it's giving the effect wanted by those who picked them in the first place.

Also, not sure if it's more noticeable on your face type but the makeup looks different as well. You're using red eyeshadow atm (current game before any update) but on the benchmarks the eyeshadow is more scarce and the most prominent part of it is an eyeliner wing on your eyelid. It's good that they tried to improve makeup but if the effect you wanted to have was just powder on the lid and not eyeliner itself then it's a bit off, I think? They did make it softer from one benchmark to another but I'm curious as to why they added this eyeliner wing in the first place. It doesn't look bad though and I wish that there was an eyeliner option in the makeup for all faces (my face type kinda has one, although black by default, so I personally don't feel the need for one, but some other races/faces might want this option available at least).

I'm also unhappy with my mouth change (face type 4).
I'll link some threads for anyone who'd be interested in checking/supporting them, although it's not for the same face type as the OP: https://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/...le-Miqote-Lips / https://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/...hmark-feedback).
They didn't fix your mouth type from benchmark 1 to benchmark 2, but they edited ours for some reason by giving us a smile we never had which is odd
I already posted it in a thread but here are some pictures that show the changes from benchmark 1 to benchmark 2:



It might not be noticeable enough for some but there is a weird smile on our faces now, which should be an emote and not our normal facial expression (it might be more obvious on other character's faces I've seen in several threads).

Hopefully they take into consideration the new feedback but also the previous one since your face type still has some textures and shape issues.

[CapoNhyvah]

I agree there's a big issue with the textures around the eyes, the facial markings by the nose and the race tattoos. They look very low resolution, and in my opinion, look especially bad when you are able to see the comparatively higher fidelity scar and skin pores.

[Aco505]

I agree there's a big issue with the textures around the eyes, the facial markings by the nose and the race tattoos. They look very low resolution, and in my opinion, look especially bad when you are able to see the comparatively higher fidelity scar and skin pores.

Your picture has also reminded me of something I forgot to mention: the Seeker slit pupils have become less noticeable compared to before. It's not only due to their changed shape and color but I guess also a combination of the new darkening of the eyes and lighting.

It's almost as if you didn't have pupils at all in your eyes. Were they this hard to see before for you?

The effects of this change on the slit pupils have also been noticed in the JP mega thread so hopefully they'll have a look into it.

[CapoNhyvah]

Your picture has also reminded me of something I forgot to mention: the Seeker slit pupils have become less noticeable compared to before. It's not only due to their changed shape and color but I guess also a combination of the new darkening of the eyes and lighting.

It's almost as if you didn't have pupils at all in your eyes. Were they this hard to see before for you?

The effects of this change on the slit pupils have also been noticed in the JP mega thread so hopefully they'll have a look into it.

To be honest I don't really mind this. My character has always had black eyes and part of his lore is that you can't see the typical seeker-slit eyes (he doesn't have them). So in all honesty, I actually prefer this look. However I acknowledge I am almost definitely in the minority here as I know the slit eyes are a charm point for most people and they would like for them to be prominent and visible. I wouldn't be upset or annoyed if SE made them more visible for that reason.

[Aco505]

To be honest I don't really mind this. My character has always had black eyes and part of his lore is that you can't see the typical seeker-slit eyes (he doesn't have them). So in all honesty, I actually prefer this look. However I acknowledge I am almost definitely in the minority here as I know the slit eyes are a charm point for most people and they would like for them to be prominent and visible. I wouldn't be upset or annoyed if SE made them more visible for that reason.

Thanks for the clarification. The color combination you chose does hide them quite well indeed. Hopefully you get to keep this feature if they end up correcting the pupils.