Dawntrail character graphics update - opinions, requests and discussion megathread

[Verschlafen]

What i found out is, if i reduce the character lighting to 0 under Displaysettings, it helps do reduce the wrong shadows from the nose and a little bit the shiny look for me, not perfect as before, but a little bit.

[Windfire]

I don't play Lala so maybe I'm wrong but I don't think their smiles were ever this creepy, the only edit I did was cropping to avoid spoiler text.

[Astronis]

There are some here who have been playing with their WoL for several years with the same look. For them, Fantasia is an unfamiliar word.
Because they are more than satisfied with their WoL. 100 out of 100 points. Some have even had pictures of their character drawn.

And now you has to realize that overnight your WoL is no longer the same. That's how it was for me. The fact that the character you have grown to love is no longer the same is the hardest blow I have had to endure in my MMO career. I am really sad and I don't know how to continue in FFXIV.

First, I have to overcome the shock, and then I will have to see how to proceed.

I can understand anyone who feels the same way."

I understand how you feel, and I am posting this to see if I can help you (and lots of other people) look at the situation a little differently, in a way that might make it easier to deal with.

I'm in a similar boat, in that I have been playing the same WoL for several years and only used a fantasia once to adjust his skin color really early on. I was and am very satisfied with my WoL. I have not had pictures drawn, mostly because I am very capable of doing that myself and have done that myself as a hobbyist portrait artist.

THAT is what I want to use as a jumping off point. Because I am a portrait artist, I don't see these characters as they were or are now as the perfect representation of themselves. There is a version of my WoL out there in the space of my and SE's artists imaginations that can never be rendered with enough polygons and textures and whatnot to be a perfect representation of him. Maybe if we could all get together and summon him like a primal and then take a photograph it would be close. Obviously, we can't do that. The Endwalker version of him was an artist's interpretation. The Dawntrail version of him is also a higher-fidelity artist's interpretation. My own portrait I'm showing here is a second-hand artist's interpretation, since it's two steps removed. I have other drawings I've done that hew closer to what m WoL looks like in my mind's eye but that the game cannot replicate.



All three of these versions of my WoL are different. Obviously, objectively, different. It would be madness to suggest otherwise. But they're all of the same character, one that exists beyond FFXIV's game engine capability to render (and mine, too). I could point out the differences all day long between all three of these versions of the same character. It'd make me personally miserable, since I'd be picking at my own artistic skill, but I could. They are different. Critically, they are all different visions of the same character, if we look at the character as something extant in our imaginations that the devs (and I) have done artistic work to render visible.

Anyhow, that's what I'm seeing in almost all these pictures of everyone's various WoLs. Different interpretation, same character. Which it's understandable to be a little shocked by when seeing it for the first time. And it's understandable to prefer the previous interpretation. I hope though, that you, and most of the people unhappy with the current interpretation, can see that it is just an interpretation and that your WoLs really are still there, in your minds and in the dev's minds, and if you look at the new versions with that in mind, hopefully you'll start to see it, too.

[Saitress]

I just want this game to be PLAYABLE AGAIN!!!i wasn't been able to log into game because of CRITICAL DIRECTX ERROR and nobody can fix it. Until this update everything was working PERFECTLY. I want this back!!!!

[HyoMinPark]

Personally, I’m very happy with the graphical update to my character. My complaints are very mild, and I’ve gotten used to the changes since early access started.

The biggest changes I’ve noticed are the eyes and the mouth. My character’s eye color looks a bit darker, but I’m considering using the free Fantasia to lighten the color a shade to see if that fixes it. The pupils are also a little bit large, so I was going to see what she would look like with the small iris size versus the large. The mouth is just, in general, a different shape (Moon Miqo’te, Face 3, Mouth 4) — but I don’t dislike it. I originally chose this face 1.) because of the cheek whiskers, and 2.) it looked like my character’s resting face was a subtle smile/upturned lips, which I felt suited her. I still have this with the new graphical update, just the upper lip is slightly different in shape. But not jarringly so.

Going to add to this after I spent some time examining my character more closely last night:

The only thing I will say about the new mouth is that I wish my character’s “angered” expressions looked more like a frown. It still looks like she’s kind of smiling/trying not to smile or laugh while looking angry. I rewatched some of my favorite cutscenes in the game and compared them based purely off of my memory to come to this conclusion. I did have some pictures for comparison, but as I got a new pc recently, I did not have immediate access to my old library of screenshots.

I think adjusting the shapes of the mouths to something closer to their previous look while keeping the upscaled textures and readding more gloss/gradient might help alleviate my complaint here. It’s not a game-breaking change for me, personally—but it is a change/reversion I would like to see.

[RepairCat]

Soo, this is what happened to my Au Ra... not really sure where to go from here because the changes are pretty massive imo. I already adjusted some colors here, especially lip color which was way too dark in the original 7.0 version. Also emotes and some cutscenes seem a little off now. A lot of expressions feel dulled down compared to 6.5.

[noumen0nn]

Soo, this is what happened to my Au Ra... not really sure where to go from here because the changes are pretty massive imo. I already adjusted some colors here, especially lip color which was way too dark in the original 7.0 version. Also emotes and some cutscenes seem a little off now. A lot of expressions feel dulled down compared to 6.5.

This au ra mouth in particular is probably the most egregious example of the mouth shape changes across the board. I don't understand how people can't see the difference. The other changes are significant too, but that stands out to me the most.

[Nebty]

Soo, this is what happened to my Au Ra... not really sure where to go from here because the changes are pretty massive imo. I already adjusted some colors here, especially lip color which was way too dark in the original 7.0 version. Also emotes and some cutscenes seem a little off now. A lot of expressions feel dulled down compared to 6.5.

I'm genuinely envious of everybody else's characters because the mouth change is the only thing that I cannot get used to. It looks completely different for no reason and it affects all of the emotes too. Just so heartbroken right now. If they wanted to change the mouth this drastically then why not just add the new one as an option in character creation?

[RepairCat]

I'm genuinely envious of everybody else's characters because the mouth change is the only thing that I cannot get used to. It looks completely different for no reason and it affects all of the emotes too. Just so heartbroken right now. If they wanted to change the mouth this drastically then why not just add the new one as an option in character creation?

Thats the thing that puzzles me the most about all of this. Why did they feel the need to change mouth and eye shapes at all? Or the noses on Roes? They could have just improved shaders and texture detail and called it a day. Or as you said, add them as additional options. Its not like we have a ton of options in the first place.

[Stapler-san]

I'm genuinely envious of everybody else's characters because the mouth change is the only thing that I cannot get used to. It looks completely different for no reason and it affects all of the emotes too. Just so heartbroken right now. If they wanted to change the mouth this drastically then why not just add the new one as an option in character creation?

i feel the exact same way
ive spent ages in the character creator trying to fix it but there really is nothing i can do about it
but for face 3 elezen its not just shape but color too
im really sad about it
just want an option to go back to the old face