Dawntrail character graphics update - opinions, requests and discussion megathread

[ConantSivrha]

I can't shake the feeling that all of my wol's (midlander hyur face 5) features being changed (eyes made less round, lips made slimmer and narrower, rough skin pattern, makeup made lighter) were all done in a misguided attempt to make male characters look "more masculine." when I did not need or want that. I miss all the features that I had that made my wol look like my wol.

I have a similar feeling about my characters, especially the one who uses the female miqo’te model with face 4. I feel like the majority of the changes here—such as lips that contrast more with the surrounding skin and have the appearance of permanent makeup, a daintier lip shape, a smaller nose, eyebrows that look penciled-in, lighter skin, flattened features overall, and so on—were an effort to make face 4 female miqo’te characters look more traditionally feminine (including looking like they’re wearing makeup).

Another, a male lalafell, had his long eyelashes removed (face 4, eyes 4), presumably because someone on the team redesigning our faces arbitrarily decided that they looked too girly, and his lips also became smaller. My main, a male miqo’te, had his lip shape (face 1, mouth 4) changed and widened so that it’s more similar to the other lip options on face 1 and the lips of other male miqo’te faces, creating the sense that he was changed so that he “looks like a proper male miqo’te” (looks more homogeneous with other male miqo’te).

A similar issue can be seen with other races/faces (such as female au ra and female midlander), with unique features being removed from faces to make them look more gender-conforming, and more homogeneous and generic within their race.

[Moonfallen]

I can't seem to find their post now, but to the other face 3 keeper I saw mention the freckles of our old face in EW; I agree that we definitely should have our freckles back. It's been so long since seeing my old face in game that I almost completely forgot it was something we even had. I really do not like the look of all of our faces having makeup caked on our face hiding every pore, freckle, and everything else that made our faces unique before the update.

[Tsumomo]

I have NVIDIA DLSS turned off for that reason and am currently using AMD FSR at 99 3D Resolution Scaling. I thought maybe it was just me since the newer graphics have been messing with my eyes horribly (no other game does this).

its not just you! There are many people who have been having eye strain, motion sickness, headaches, migraines, and overall unable to play the game since the new graphics update. check out the Dawntrail Graphics Update - Eye Strain thread. (idk if its ok to link threads, I'm still relatively new to interacting with the forums.)

[Rueby]

its not just you! There are many people who have been having eye strain, motion sickness, headaches, migraines, and overall unable to play the game since the new graphics update. check out the Dawntrail Graphics Update - Eye Strain thread. (idk if its ok to link threads, I'm still relatively new to interacting with the forums.)

Actually same. I mentioned it in the eyestrain thread and asked about it on the official discord...I never experienced this in any game, there's a brief flicker when between moving/staying still (blur/sharpen) that caused me headaches...I also get headaches from circus tower...it's pretty bad what they did to the crystals, lava and the overstated contrast mixed with spot-light arenas where areas are too dark.

[mochabun]

I hope that this is the right place to put this, if not I apologize because I've never posted on here before. I just wanted to say that I'm not a huge fan of how much reflection is on this fem Au Ra hairstyle ? It looks borderline greasy

https://imgur.com/a/OU7Ghrl

[Kaziek]

I hope that this is the right place to put this, if not I apologize because I've never posted on here before. I just wanted to say that I'm not a huge fan of how much reflection is on this fem Au Ra hairstyle ? It looks borderline greasy

https://imgur.com/a/OU7Ghrl

Yeah they messed up with a lot of the hair sheen, especially the smooth straight ones. Great lengths also looks very greasy, almost like plastic even in bright lighting.

[Moonfallen]

its not just you! There are many people who have been having eye strain, motion sickness, headaches, migraines, and overall unable to play the game since the new graphics update. check out the Dawntrail Graphics Update - Eye Strain thread. (idk if its ok to link threads, I'm still relatively new to interacting with the forums.)

Oh wow I had no idea there was an entire thread about this and just how bad it is holy cow. I think you should be able to link other threads, but I am not entirely sure. I've seen others in this thread link to other threads like the JP thread similar to this one and the bug report threads.

[Fiel_Tana]

its not just you! There are many people who have been having eye strain, motion sickness, headaches, migraines, and overall unable to play the game since the new graphics update. check out the Dawntrail Graphics Update - Eye Strain thread. (idk if its ok to link threads, I'm still relatively new to interacting with the forums.)

It's OK to link threads, or at least no one has complained when I've done it.

There's 1 main thread about the eye strain from the graphics update:
https://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/...ate-Eye-Strain

And this one somewhat relates. I add this because the combat, especially Boss and Areana effects, is a major cause of eye strain for me and some others:
https://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/...-more-gameplay

[Moonfallen]

It's OK to link threads, or at least no one has complained when I've done it.

There's 1 main thread about the eye strain from the graphics update:
https://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/...ate-Eye-Strain

And this one somewhat relates. I add this because the combat, especially Boss and Areana effects, is a major cause of eye strain for me and some others:
https://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/...-more-gameplay

Thank you so much for linking the threads! I should put a post in those as well since I have had considerable issues since the new update. I've actually had a hard time completing MSQ and the raid on normal because of the graphics and combat effects.

[AiriDaemonia]

I am glad that feedback is still being listened to. I had a lot of fun playing through Dawntrail but unfortunately I still am not used to my WOL's new look and this took away from my experience as she just looks so very different from what she used to.

PRE DAWNTRAIL




DAWNTRAIL




Eyes: Outer eye corners lack original wing making eyes look massively bigger/rounded. The bottom inside corners also had a little stylistic swoop to them which made the eyes feel defined. Now they just feel very round. The black pupil is HUGE, this combined with new Limbal rings washes out the over all color of the eye. The new starburst pattern does not do any favors in this department as well.

Nose: From the front the nose looks upturned, I assume this is due to the shadowing and the new over definition of the Philtrum.

Mouth: I would say the mouth is my biggest grievance as the mouth is fundamentally a different shape now and this results in the character looking completely different. The outside corners of the mouth no longer look elongated, looks like her mouth got cut off at the ends abruptly as if there is only the full part of the lip instead of the mouth lines that extend out. This results in the loss of dimples for the character as well as the angularness of the mouth and lips in general. The lips feel almost too round. Her cupids bow is no longer prominent either. After staring at my characters smile for almost 8 years it now brings me sadness instead of joy.

In general: The T zone where her cheeks are shaped and meet her nose have lost their angularness, again her features feel more rounded instead of defined. Especially her jaw line as well as where the top part of her face scales & eyes meet the bangs/hair line. There are no defining features or bone structures.

Scales: The Raen scales used to look like they had a golden bone like hue. They now look like a dried out sand dollar to me? They are more white than bone colored which may be intention but I wish there was a way to still have the bone like hue.

I would also like to cite this thread here where more people are conversing about Female Au Ra Face 2, as I feel it is very important to this thread.
https://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/...76#post6565176