Dawntrail character graphics update - opinions, requests and discussion megathread

[Doopliss]

Hello again. I wanted to give a couple of more examples now that I have the energy to do so. Specifically on a female Midlander face I think is less popular, and whose change feels noticeably extreme to me due to several issues people have already touched upon.

For reference, I took this in a friend's studio with the same three-point lighting settings in GPOSE both times. Unfortunately, the new lighting reflects way too much white light against skin now, and hair now reacts inconsistently too, so they look rather different.

I'll go ahead and say it right away: yes, she's considerably cuter in the right one. I know that. Cool. Great.
Anyway, the issue is that I don't want her to look like that. But first I want to actually point out the major differences.

1. Her eye shape (Shape 3) is noticeably less sharp and has become more downturned instead of upturned. This is particularly obvious with the upper curve of her eyelid. This has been a problem with many faces, and it's strange. The options for more "extreme" upturned or downturned eyes has become more muted across the board, leading to less diversity.

2. The distribution of her eyelashes changed. In 7.0, the spread of her eyelashes is also more "rounded out," and are more even among the top and bottom. Before, they were straighter and the bottom lashes were longer than the top ones. It's a shame to see this changed, because I felt like the bottom lashes were a major characteristic of this face (Face 2).

3. Her lips, of course, have changed. I don't mind the shape too much, because turning a neutral shape into a slight frown still gives essentially the same impression. What's more important is that the color changed very drastically. She doesn't use lip color, for reference.
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Anyway, I wanted to bring this up for a couple of reasons. One is that ♀ Midlander Face 2 isn't that popular of an option. I was also thinking about the overseas user that posted here who uses ♀ Roegadyn Face 1--another unpopular, albeit very characterful face that gives off a mature, nurturing feeling with delicate features--and came here to voice their sorrow with the graphical update. So this is a plea to look at all faces equally and adjust them accordingly, not just the popular ones. There are players who picked those options who, too, very much loved their character for years. Hell, an even less popular ♀ Midlander option--Face 4--had all the subtle signs of ageing smoothed out of its features. It was the only feminine face in the game that offered that.

The other thing I wanted to get to is that it's not only lip shapes that are scuffed, but their coloring. Before 7.0, many face options had lips that had uneven coloring in unique ways, that would offer a specific, delicate balance and impression.

Now, nearly all lips are one solid color, along with both the bottom and top lip now always being equal in size, instead of carefully thought out like they were prior. This is neither more detailed or more realistic. I'm not going to theorize why this happened, just...please, look into it.


Here's a quicker screenshot of my male Midlander for another example. I can tell it's supposed to be the same guy, but the eyes, nose and mouth all look off. A characteristic of that face (Face 4)--the large pupils--also got diminished because they're really determined to not keep pupil sizes consistent for some reason. The shape of the tip of his nose changed, making it look wider and shorter. His lips...I don't even need to talk about, but you can see the coloring balance there, too. His bottom lip used to be very pale, for an obvious example.

It's strange because in this case he doesn't even look more conventionally attractive. Now the face just looks more...unhinged? Which is saddening, because it used to have a nice balance of soft features (large pupils, soft smile) against sharper ones (defined cheekbones, narrow chin).

Still, there are things I like about the update. The new normal maps for face textures are really nice in areas that actually do have the new lighting in place. Seeing the new facial animations on NPCs in the MSQ and Role Quests has been cool.

But...a lot still needs to be worked on. Facial features, color balancing and etc. all feel too messy right now. I used to be able to tell what options somebody picked to make up their character's face, but the diversity of options has lessened due to becoming so much more "subtle" that I no longer can.

I say this all as somebody who still very much loves this game, in spite of all the complaints I have about it. I just want to happily play as my characters again, and I want others to, too. The idea of the graphics update is nice, but it's not drastic or high fidelity enough to make these changes ignorable. I'm sorry for the long post.

[Roido_Avingu]

So I finally did a comparison of my male Miqo'te, because while I enjoy playing as my OG race from when I started way back in Stormblood, part of me still misses my catboy and well... I'll let the image speak for itself.



The left image, his facial features are more angular and his eyes are far sharper, more suited as a battle-hardened adventurer. The right, his facial features are rounded and softer, his eyes are slightly doe-eyed, and permanent lip gloss. I could not look at him in cutscenes at the start of MSQ when they zoomed in because his facial expressions were so off-putting.

[lunartears]

The other thing I wanted to get to is that it's not only lip shapes that are scuffed, but their coloring. Before 7.0, many face options had lips that had uneven coloring in unique ways, that would offer a specific, delicate balance and impression.

Now, nearly all lips are one solid color, along with both the bottom and top lip now always being equal in size, instead of carefully thought out like they were prior. This is neither more detailed or more realistic. I'm not going to theorize why this happened, just...please, look into it.

A million times yes, I've probably said this over and over again at this point but my WoL's lips stick out so much now because of both the shape and colour change. The way they look on her is so ghoulish and ugly that I have no idea how it can be considered a more "attractive" upgrade. It's practically impossible to pale the lips or try and make them invisible like I had done, as you say even the no lip colour option has been changed. I have noticed this even on other characters that aren't using delibrate lipstick, looking like they have lipgloss or a peach lipstick on at all times now.

And I see how your faces have changed too, I'm also a fan of the sharper eye look and found my eyes looking more neutralised. I agree with everything you wrote, the loss of character option diversity feels like such a mistake.