Dawntrail character graphics update - opinions, requests and discussion megathread

[Sora-Ta]

My bun doesn't look anything like she used to. Its hard to enjoy the game when I'm looking at an unfamiliar face so often. I've tried different makeup, facial features and hairstyles/colours but it just doesn't look right. Blonde hair on pale skin is completely unusable now. The biggest issue is the eyes, or eyelids - I feel like they're too big? Expressions look weirder, especially winks or big grins.

[Angelivia]

I would strongly advise people in this thread visit the aesthetician, and I say that with all sincerity. There's a small chance the devs accidentally reset people's non-Fantasia facial features like lip color, shadow, and eyebrows, and those can have a significant effect on how a face looks. I just did the same and managed to get back most of the features that defined my character, just by changing a few small things!

Is that really what happened to you/can this actually be the case? How sure are you? Asking because after reading that, I am now afraid that maybe some shape keys got altered as well? Doesn't need to be restricted to non-fantasia features, does it?
I'd like to think it's the new lightning/shadows that made it some colors appear different maybe. Not that the settings you chose for your character - by fantasia or by aesthetician - could somehow have been reverted to... what state? Default model before creating?

[Teffy42]

My character looks barely the same and I hate it. Specifically his lips and eyes look very different. The old lighting emphasized his jaw and cheeks differently so the overall face shape doesn't look the same either.



In this cutscene the most noticeable things are the different lips and eyes, new lips look wider or flatter, and on the eyes the eyeliner is weaker. Chin looks overall flatter in the new picture. In both comparison sets the lower lip just looks larger.

[Plasmaspy]

Yeah I think the mouth changes are the biggest culprit for complaint with turning characters into wholly different people.

[Mr_Gucky]

Fem Au Ra Face 4 is a disaster. The changed mouth shape and the more pronounced chin ruin everything!

[Boblawblah]

Okay, now that I've calmed down a bit and watched some of the older cutscenes and looked at her in more different backgrounds, I think it's maybe not AS bad as I was thinking. The lips are FOR SURE different, it's as if they gave her plumper, narrower lips and combined with the inconsistent lighting, she can go from looking very similar to what she was, to looking totally different.

On the topic of lighting, while it looks good for a lot of things, there's definitely still some weirdness for sure with it and it's not a good thing.

I need to play more to see if I'll use a fantasia, but I'm not convinced that it would help

edit: I TAKE IT BACK, SHE LOOKS SO BAD WHEN SHE SMILES

[SongOfTheWind]

For someone like me who feels there are no fantasia features which could salvage the look you loved and you can’t stand it as is - try a new hairstyle, like in a very different style from the current one. It’s not a solution but especially if you were not changing the style before for long or ever - it might help you soothe the effect a little bit as the overall perception will shift inevitably. Before changing it I constantly had a reminder how everything is supposedly the same and yet it is a different vibe/feel/facial structure etc (depending on how lucky you are). It’s still sad, but more bearable at least.

[AddictedToWitches]

Oh I'm even more disappointed now
fem hroths don't have their sharp nails unless you use their racial gloves or the gold saucer nails. . .

[Fatty]

Glad I found this thread. I'll add my character to the list. I'm also quite unhappy with the changes.

There are clear differences. And nope, Fantasia doesn't fix that.

• Pupils don't look right
• Skin details are too pronounced / not as smooth
  • Creates eye bags
  • Creates a more wrinkly appearance
• Mouth is too pronounced

It looks like my character aged. Looks like a different character overall. His expression changed too.

Adding "more detail" shouldn't mean making dents/wrinkles/shadows more pronounced, or changing the details. It changes the character and their attitude.

These images are from my portrait. I don't know if there's something wrong with the portrait rendering, but in the character window, pupils render a little differently. Textures need rework - they're no good. They're too different.

Adjusting lighting in portrait editor doesn't resolve the issues. It can help a little, but only to cover the damage.

Looking at this thread, this issue seems to affect many races/faces/setups.

Though at least SE gave me spectacles to cover the eye bags now.

Dear SE, please at least give us an option to use the old textures. Even the pixel/detail density did not change between the portraits - meaning there was no benefit of using higher res textures here. There was no improvement. It only changed the character I am used to playing for more than a decade. And that is not good.

[teknopathicz]

This is my first time posting on the forums, so please excuse any incorrect formatting.

I've been enjoying the graphics update for the most part. The increased graphical fidelity is very nice.

However, as it stands, I'm really not a fan of how the new lighting system / shadows interact with the skin and hair colour of my character. I'm currently using the palest skin colour available on male Midlander. The lighting / shadows after the graphics update make the hair and skin colour look way darker than what it used to be. It's very jarring to me, and I really hope this can be changed in the future.

I tried replicating an older screenshot with the new graphics update as best as I could. The last image was taken in the Character menu. The colours look fine here due to the even lighting, bar the slightly desaturated hair colour. However, it looks completely different everywhere else.







I'm disappointed. The hair and skin colour just don't go together nearly as well as they used to. Fantasia doesn't fix this, and neither does the aesthetician; I tried my hardest. Even the pic of my character on the left side of this post looks strange.

I find it hard to put all this into words, but I hope I was able to convey my thoughts well enough.