Miqo'te Face 4 Benchmarks

[Shadowbinder]

Hi, I have never posted here before so I apologise if something goes wrong or it's a bit hard to follow. I'll try to edit it if the pictures don't show and try to fix it.

So this is from the first benchmark but it's been edited from how it looked first so there will be a follow up picture to show how my character actually looked during the launch but I'll use these screenshots first to show how my character looked.



So her eyes have gotten rounder in the middle and slimmer at the ends. Her nose marking has gotten darker. Her pupil has gotten much thicker and is dark rather than a green tint that it had before.

Her face has gotten more oval than the previous heart shaped head she had before, or even so far as egg shaped than oval. In these recent screenshots I took her chin looks almost detatched from her face, like it's been put there as an after thought.

And she has these weird speckles all over her face as if she is going through puberty. Her eyebrows look painted on and thin, her lips has such a matte tone despite being on light. Before Dark was matte, Light was a gloss.

Her profile is not right either. Her nose is less up, her face in general looks pulled out.

In the world to see some differences more clearly.


These pictures are from before I figured out how to take screenshots (my computer just didn't want to, so I opted for pictures instead)



Here she looks more like a kitten about to cry, and her face is much rounder and squished down. (It says too long so I'll split it up.)

[Shadowbinder]

This is from the current benchmark.



She has the oval face rather than heart shaped still. Her eyes are closer together. They are also smaller. The edge also feels thicker than before, almost as if she was sculpted from clay. Her lips are thinner and her mouth is smaller. Her dual eyes are more obvious in this one than ever before.



Her nose is further down and smaller. The dark on her nose looks more like dirt than the lala-esque nose it had before. Her face in general is pulled down and pulled out. Her chin is less sharper as well. Her beauty mark is also bigger and closer to her mouth. Her eyebrows are straighter and makes her look sour. Her eyeshadow also feels off. Her jawline also looks puffier? It's a bit hard to describe.



I also don't like how weird the hair looks. It feels almost slimey? Or that someone has jumped her and rubbed hairgel all over her hair.


It was also a brownish purple/blue before and now it's very clearly blue instead.

Here she is in some other lights. She still has the odd indents in her face in this update.

[Shadowbinder]

So here is how my character looks at the time of posting.



They have already added some of the changes, so it's not really fair to compare at this moment. So "Now" is a weird mix going toward DT rather than what she actually looked like.



Before there was a odd split down the face dividing it in two? I can't see it in these pictures. She also has the odd speckling on her face.

Atm her eyes are more tilted and the puff under her eyes is much more noticable. Her lips are also poutier. This is also the face that has a little bit of gap in the lips.

She had dual eyes, but you couldn't really tell unless you got close or if the area was dark. Her hair as stated before was a weird mix of purple and blue and showed as such depending on the light. She had round eyes with a bend, her eyebrows were sharp and filled in, not fethered. She had a shade on her nose just like some lalas and somewhat puffy cheeks. Her lips were always a bit on the thinner side but they still looked full? And the clasps I'll be honest, I always thought they were tattoos or something, so I liked that they were matte and kinda hidden in the ears. I liked that you couldn't really see them. She had a sharp jaw which kinda shows still.

I know this all sounds very harsh but it's because I care about my characters that I decided to post this, as these changes are deal breaking for me.

Here is where the technical bit ends so if you don't want to read further have a nice day.

[Shadowbinder]

Why I am as harsh as I am is because as I stated before, this is deal breaking for me, that my characters faces feel like they are destroyed. They don't look like themselves at all and it makes me really struggle to motivate myself to keep playing this game. My attachment to my characters is one of the reasons why I still play FFXIV. Their faces being gone is as if I have lost all my characters.

I understand why people would read this and think "What an overreaction" but I will try my best to explain why I react the way I do. To add a bit of context, I am faceblind, and the way I use to see and recognise faces has been completely destroyed in the graphics update.

I don't recognise any of my characters except 2, and they are a "Ok I can see the likeness, but...not really them though." My two mains are completely and utterly destroyed for me. I have played this game since the first Starlight event. I have had this character since the second Starlight, when I got my own account.

I am very upset about the changes that have been done to the face, and it makes me incredibly upset. It's my "identity" that has been ripped away, as it doesn't look like "me" anymore, and there is nothing I can do about it.

I have seen people say "That's what fantasias are for", but I tried changing her face in the benchmark. There is no way for her to look like "herself" anymore, "my face" that I have had for years is gone.

And yes, I can cover my face with a mask so I can pretend that everything is okay, but what about every cutscene that removes head gear? What about seeing "my" reactions in game, from frowns to small smiles? All that will become unavailable to me then. And I don't want to be jumpscared by this strange face every time the mask is removed. And I'll always know that "my face" isn't under the mask, like a caricature of myself.

And sure I can hide my face in masks, but what about the Scions? You can't fantasia them, you can't put masks on NPC's (at least not most), they'll be changed too, and there is nothing you can do about that. And seeing as Hyur's and Miqo'te's have gotten the biggest brunt this update it's not hard to figure out that a lot will look completely different. And what about the Grandcompany leaders? How will they look now?

And what about the HW NPC's? SB? ShB? EW? All of them will be changed. What about the beast tribes? How will they look? How will they change from their current state? I thought the Chocobo looked a bit different in the benchmark and their beak doesn't look as defined in the game to me anymore, what about them? I haven't seen people talk about the NPC's in the game (I could have missed it).

And what about features that aren't in the game anymore? Faces, facial features and more that now are a "legacy face/state" in player characters? What will happen to them now? How will they change? (1/2)

[Shadowbinder]

(2/2)

I also feel stupid, because I was really exited about features in DT, and because of life reasons, I haven't been able to be caught up with the stroy, but I had a shot to be there at launch for the first time which also exited me.

I was looking forward to the dye channels, I was exited about the enviorment turning back to what I remembered it looking like 10 years ago and looking good again rather than bad PS1 graphics. I was exited about more houses and more inventory space as well as the delayed Beast Master class. When I saw the Viper and Pictomancer I finished Vipers glamour the same day and was looking for pieces for the Picto glamour.

But when I saw these changes all that exitement went away, and it's difficult to find motivation to play a game where "I" will be gone, almost like playing with a new character in "my shoes", and where I don't feel welcome.

I feel like I'm being shooed away from a game that has brought me great comfort over the years.

And I've also heard people say to just "deal with it".

To not take away from the topic, I will just say that my quota has long since been used up. And this is not something I can bend on.

Maybe look at it like this, imagine that your character gets forefully changed to your least favourite race and there is nothing you can do to change back. It's locked there.

That's kinda close to how this feels. This is just the straw that broke my back. I want my face. My character. I want "me" back. I want to have my own face, not someone else's.

Why I added the old benchmark is because, honestly? I feel like I'd feel more comfortable playing with the kitten version of my character rather than this uncanny valley feeling version. The kitten one I can at least see is me, even though that also makes me uncomfortable as it still isn't "me".

Having better teeth, nails and clearly defined fingers and feet that don't look glued to the shoe isn't worth loosing my face over.


I understand that this probably sounds harsh and whiny, but I loved this game. I just want to be able to finish the game I liked.

Have a nice day.

[Cheapshot]

You're not alone. I think Miqo'te faces, both masc and femme got hit hard with the homogenization. I have some gif's I made showing my current character in profile vs the updated benchmark. It's a pretty significant change and I too feel like it's not the same character to me.


And I agree with you that a free fanta isn't the answer, when there are like 4 extremely similar options to pick from per facial feature. They really are long long overdue for an overhaul the CC to add more options. Or even better, sliders now they they're using a universal basemesh and shapekeys.

And until then there needs to be a pass to restore original detail to the shapes and features.

I have a thread about it here if you want to read other peoples opinions and experiences.
https://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/...ace-4-feedback

(also as a side note, I dunno whats up with your images but they're all microscopic)

[KitiaraIornsight]

I'm going to explain this again like I did in the other thread. The reason you are seeing MINUTE differences in the shapes of faces, etc are literally because the WOL character models have been replaced. This whole issue was covered at the London Fan Fest with the developer's technical panel that showcased the process of how they are now using a single BASE model and molding and morphing it into each of the races instead of each race having its own unique model. The reason for this is two fold. 1. It reduces the number of in game assets that has to be stored and loaded and allows for an increase in polygon count and 2 it allows the design of in game gear to be much easier for the designers and allows for more creativity including allowing for more hats and headgear for Viera and Hrothgar. The side effect is though, try as they may its not going to be 1000% perfect one to one translation from your old character model to the new one. I'm sorry you are so distraught over this, I'm sorry you feel you will be so traumatized and "jump scared" by these changes, but that type of ranting is not going to get you far with the game devs. Unfortunatley outside of minor tweaks, your character is NEVER going to look exactly the same because of the graphics update, that's the nature of how these things work.

[Cheapshot]

I'm going to explain this again like I did in the other thread. The reason you are seeing MINUTE differences in the shapes of faces, etc are literally because the WOL character models have been replaced. This whole issue was covered at the London Fan Fest with the developer's technical panel that showcased the process of how they are now using a single BASE model and molding and morphing it into each of the races instead of each race having its own unique model. The reason for this is two fold. 1. It reduces the number of in game assets that has to be stored and loaded and allows for an increase in polygon count and 2 it allows the design of in game gear to be much easier for the designers and allows for more creativity including allowing for more hats and headgear for Viera and Hrothgar. The side effect is though, try as they may its not going to be 1000% perfect one to one translation from your old character model to the new one. I'm sorry you are so distraught over this, I'm sorry you feel you will be so traumatized and "jump scared" by these changes, but that type of ranting is not going to get you far with the game devs. Unfortunatley outside of minor tweaks, your character is NEVER going to look exactly the same because of the graphics update, that's the nature of how these things work.

I'll copy this over from the other thread too then. These details are what's important to a lot of us. Not everyone derives enjoyment from games in the same way or from the same things. Respectfully, you'll have to come to terms with that.

Does a new basemesh mean things wont necessarily be 1 to 1? Of course. Can adjustments still be made to bring features closer in appearance to the originals? Yes. That's the devs intention and what they've already begun to do with the last benchmark update. There is no need to shut down other peoples feedback, especially with rude or antagonizing language.

[Shadowbinder]

Thank you, I will check the forum out.

[HeyMcFly]

Submit the lip issue with face 4 in the bug report forms
I would rather keep the original lip gap - the DT version makes the lip look odd
I'm fine with everything else

But I also hope they give us the option for thicker eyelashes- I quite liked the doll lashes in the 1st benchmark