Dawntrail character graphics update - opinions, requests and discussion megathread

[Astronis]

I understand that you like your character (and I'm very glad for you, in earnest), and now you feel uneasy that he might be taken from you or downgraded in any way. I'm starting to feel the same about my alt, haha. Considering also the treatment many faces got, I don't feel that the possible future update might be beneficial for many of us; I'd be glad to be proven wrong, of course. But time will tell; now we have nothing to do but wait.

I sincerely hope SE will listen to both of us.

For sure. That's pretty much my only purpose for being here. I have lots of other thoughts and feedback on Dawntrail, but other people have said what I would already and better. On this particular subject, there's not a whole lot of people who just really love what they did with the character update saying so! So I want SE to hear more from the "love it" contingent.

Fingers crossed they can thread the needle.

[noumen0nn]

The more time passes, the more I find myself hoping for some kind of "legacy graphics" option. It would mean I get to keep exactly what I love, and people who like how it is now don't have to risk adjustments they don't want. And given that non-updated NPC faces (like Lyse, pre-ShB Thancred, etc.) seem to still work with no issues, I assume the old player faces technically could as well. On the other hand, I know that one of the reasons they swapped to every face using the same base mesh had to do with expediting head gear creation or other things of that nature, so maybe it's not viable based on those considerations.

Either way, I guess we'll know soon.

[Tahli]

The more time passes, the more I find myself hoping for some kind of "legacy graphics" option. It would mean I get to keep exactly what I love, and people who like how it is now don't have to risk adjustments they don't want. And given that non-updated NPC faces (like Lyse, pre-ShB Thancred, etc.) seem to still work with no issues, I assume the old player faces technically could as well. On the other hand, I know that one of the reasons they swapped to every face using the same base mesh had to do with expediting head gear creation or other things of that nature, so maybe it's not viable based on those considerations.

Either way, I guess we'll know soon.

As someone who likes the updated graphics in general but thinks they could still make adjustments, I really fear the thought of them entertaining a "legacy graphics" option. It would probably mean they wouldn't bother making adjustments based on feedback anymore with the new graphics.

[Tatiana]

As someone who likes the updated graphics in general but thinks they could still make adjustments, I really fear the thought of them entertaining a "legacy graphics" option. It would probably mean they wouldn't bother making adjustments based on feedback anymore with the new graphics.

pretty much how i feel as well, and i am also someone who likes the updated graphics and likes my character with them. i think a better option would be to copy the faces people are complaining about, and work to adjust them to be as close as possible to the original face and make them an additional face option, that way people who like the current version of the face don't lose it, but people who don't can go back and switch to the alternate/new face.

they shouldn't consider a solution that takes something away from another player in order to appease a different one, nor should they shy away from updating the graphics and models as needed.

[noumen0nn]

As someone who likes the updated graphics in general but thinks they could still make adjustments, I really fear the thought of them entertaining a "legacy graphics" option. It would probably mean they wouldn't bother making adjustments based on feedback anymore with the new graphics.

For sure, that would be the other big pitfall. I know I'm probably in a minority, and agree that adjusting the new faces is the best option overall

[lunartears]

Honestly this post is rather pointless and more of something I just wanted to share.

Regarding artistic direction, I looked for some concept art of Female Au Ra because I wanted to see how they were originally portrayed (I'd love to see more, but I don't own the art book yet) and managed to find a poor quality photo. I know concept art exists as a concept, and that the following photos are probably more directed at hairstyles than faces but noticing that the faces were close to (or maybe referencing) the in-game models made me think about how drastically different the facial shape and structure was changed.

While this is not my main point, it also makes me wonder if in the future, they would reference the new face types and thus - create different depictions of the playable races to before. I know a lot of official art is creatively lax and goes beyond a 1-1 recreation of the in-game model, but I always felt like it represented the in-game appearances very well.

I really like the profile on this one, it highlights the racial features really well (small pupils, sharp chin, sharp nose, rounded cheeks).



For cases like Face 2, whose lips are totally different now, it's refreshing to see the face in concept art.
Refer to this thread for the changes to Face 2: https://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/...-Feedback-More



Off topic:

On the topic of official art - I also wanted to mention that we already have an incredibly off-model Au Ra:
Though this is more about the proportions than the face, I honestly have no idea what happened here.

[Doopliss]

...Honestly this post is rather pointless and more of something I just wanted to share.

Regarding artistic direction, I looked for some concept art of Female Au Ra because I wanted to see how they were originally portrayed (I'd love to see more, but I don't own the art book yet) and managed to find a poor quality photo. I know concept art exists as a concept, and that the following photos are probably more directed at hairstyles than faces but noticing that the faces were close to (or maybe referencing) the in-game models made me think about how drastically different the facial shape and structure was changed...

This isn't actually pointless. This is something I've struggled to bring up myself, but there have been several people in the past claiming that the shape changes are likely intentional and are probably closer to the artistic intention, and it's constantly bothered me because everything points to that not likely being true.

The concept art is used to reference face type details as much as it is for hairstyle details; this was also spoken about when they were showing off female Viera concept artwork during the SHB Fanfest. Also, from what I've been able to gather, in a JP-Only interview posted in their forums, Yoshida actually spoke about how they had the ensembled FFXVI graphics team work on the character updates, while the OG team was busy with the new environments and presumably female Hrothgar.

All in all--especially since Au Ra were created 9 years ago now--it is actually highly unlikely the original artists were the ones updating them and having their intent shown.

[lunartears]

This isn't actually pointless. This is something I've struggled to bring up myself, but there have been several people in the past claiming that the shape changes are likely intentional and are probably closer to the artistic intention, and it's constantly bothered me because everything points to that not likely being true.

The concept art is used to reference face type details as much as it is for hairstyle details; this was also spoken about when they were showing off female Viera concept artwork during the SHB Fanfest. Also, from what I've been able to gather, in a JP-Only interview posted in their forums, Yoshida actually spoke about how they had the ensembled FFXVI graphics team work on the character updates, while the OG team was busy with the new environments and presumably female Hrothgar.

All in all--especially since Au Ra were created 9 years ago now--it is actually highly unlikely the original artists were the ones updating them and having their intent shown.

You have a really good point, I've even been sharing the same frustrations (maybe it was in my subconscious when I was looking for racial concept art?) so i'm glad my post has some merit to it.

I appreciate the additional information as well, particularly on Viera (also I wish they would publish their rough concept art in an art book, same goes for anything else only seen on slides). I've heard about the FF16 team thing as I've been occasionally visiting the JP forums but I didn't know it was for certain. I know that they are a new race so there wasn't really any way they could go wrong but Female Hrothgar look really good (scaling issues aside), so I wouldn't be surprised if the original team was involved.

My personal theory is that the character graphics update team did not reference the original concept art and loosely referenced the original face models. I feel like the team did not have an understanding of the distinct racial features and FF14 art style.
I also think that the unification of the head mesh plays a major role in why faces were changed so much (or Hyur-ified as i've seen some posts say). It's a really messy situation and I'm eager to hear the official reasoning behind it.

[HawkeScream]

I wonder what happened to the people that posted early on in the thread when DT first launched. Have you guys gotten used to the changes or has the graphics update just demotivated you from logging in whatsoever?
I ask because it looks like a lot of people didn't fanta into something else despite their grievances. Not trying to antagonize or belittle anyone; disliking the update is totally valid. Just curious where you all stand 2 months later.

Sorry if this is kinda late to reply, I'm just catching up on some posts in here. But I was one of the early posters. My Face 3 viera I was able to tweak a lil and he's mostly good, though there are still things I would prefer adjusted closer to EW. My face 1 femhyur is not fixable in character creator to a degree I'm happy with, and while I started Dawntrail on her, I haven't gotten past the starting city. I don't want to go through all the cutscenes with her as-is cuz it really bums me out XD. I've been waiting and hoping for adjustments. If I can't ever get her back closer to how she was, I'm not going to fanta, I just won't play her anymore which sucks cuz she was my first character =[

[Argantaelle]

If there is no response from SE today, I'm afraid there won't be any till Monday. So 3 more days to wait.