Dawntrail character graphics update - opinions, requests and discussion megathread

[Miemi]

I'd also like to take a moment to appreciate just how terribly my catboy's portrait translated in the new lighting lol.

Behold:



And still, you can see the way his face has changed, from his jawline, to the shape and curve of his lips, to the shape of his nose (it lost the smooth feline slope it had previously), to the thickness and position of his eyebrows... Small things, individually, that combine to create a different face altogether.

I feel you

[Doopliss]

I was initially going to reply to a comment about this in the Face 1 ♂ Miqo'te thread, but this is more general and I want to pretend I'm a little more organized than I actually am, so I'll comment here instead.

But the more I look at all of the races, the more eye color and eye shading has been bothering me. In the Miqo'te thread mentioned, another user was talking about how eye color was one of the worst offenders. And...I agree, but I also felt even more bothered because male Keeper eyes are now shaded the same way female Viera eyes were shaded prior to the update. So instead male Keepers look off while female Viera (especially Veena) just look...unfortunately, broken (though there are a lot of issues with female Viera right now, too. As if opposite to the Hellsguard problem, their nose smudge is much too dark compared to before, and lacking the nice blending they had prior to 7.0).

It's such a small thing that I feel embarrassed every time I mention it, but honestly, the way eye color and shading varied between race to race was something I noticed since 2.0, and was present even on the higher fidelity 1.0 models...

For example, Hyuran eye tones are generally gentler and less bright. When Viera were added, I noticed immediately they shared the same tones as Hyur. Female Viera specifically were made with a really unique dark gradient over their eyes that gave them a more "mature" and "gentle" look, and that made their eye colors a smidge darker-looking. This was especially noticeable for Veena and their larger pupils. Instead that was replaced with a dark black line just stripped over the upper portion of their eyes with that nice gradient removed...

Now, on the other end, male Keepers were designed with pupils that reacted significantly to their eye color choice. It's on the same level as female Roegadyn. Particularly, though, since male Keeper pupils are so large, this gave them an especially bright, otherworldly look to their eyes. Female Keepers actually always had colored pupils too, but it's to a lesser extent than male Keepers. I assume this is because they're a 1.0 model and male Keepers are a 2.0 model, and they changed them to make them equivalent in the update... I get where they're coming from with that, but the impression is different enough that I actually think those differences should instead be maintained.

Elezen, Roegadyn, Au Ra, Miqo'te, and Dunesfolk (Plainsfolk had tones closer to Hyur) in general all had brighter-looking eyes before the update. In Elezen and most male Roegadyn cases, it's because their pupil colors were actually also subtly affected by their iris color (again, for female Roegadyn, that difference was actually as extreme as male Keepers, which I think should be kept). Male Roegadyn eye color is affected in the same way as female Viera for a couple of face options in the update, which surprised me--basically all the ones that got changed to have stark black pupils instead and had any gradient removed now have all their eye colors looking "whiter" than before.

Maybe the old eye designs seemed sloppy and unintentional to some, but, to me, it always felt intentional and gave the differences between races and clans a more distinct feeling. In the update, it just feels like they didn't actually pay attention to what made eyes feel the way they did, and that includes even Hyur, as you can see from many examples pointing out the problems in ♀ Midlander Face 1!

I feel like I'm asking for too much with this, but, god, I hope they actually look over it...

Sorry for the wall of text and lack of image examples. I'm just tired after all the prior attempted JP thread organizations and bug reports, unfortunately.

[Iscah]

One of these characters is an upgraded version of the other one, allegedly.



Some of the cutscene emotes are looking okay (once you account for all the parts of the face looking wrong) and keep giving glimmers of what the character is supposed to look like, because they're Aurelie's expressions even though they're being performed by the uncanny changeling, but then you get things like this. I know what Aurelie should be looking like in these moments that call for that warm, gentle smile, and the altered character just can't manage it at all.

It's really saddening to see a beautiful character turned to this.

[RulerKelso]

Ouch your character was hit pretty hard. I still say that it is the new dynamic lightings and lighting ambience which is the culprit of most problems, which include uncanny face and washed out hair/skintone colors

New lights are just too harsh on all characters. Just compare the face when standing in shadow vs on direct sunlight or near a light source, face will be unrecognizable.
Hope the developers will continue to adjust how light affect the characters, because there is still long way to go.
I just visited area in which the umbral wind weather was and my whole character was just.. GREEN without any contrast

[SturmChurro]

One of these characters is an upgraded version of the other one, allegedly.



Some of the cutscene emotes are looking okay (once you account for all the parts of the face looking wrong) and keep giving glimmers of what the character is supposed to look like, because they're Aurelie's expressions even though they're being performed by the uncanny changeling, but then you get things like this. I know what Aurelie should be looking like in these moments that call for that warm, gentle smile, and the altered character just can't manage it at all.

It's really saddening to see a beautiful character turned to this.

Lmao. Oh my God, this graphics update is just..

[aili_]

Lmao. Oh my God, this graphics update is just..

my WoL suffered quite the same thing…lifeless eyes and facial expressions, with chubbier face and weird mouth……her sharpness is all gone
Congrats DT release square enix, I'll enjoy EW benchmark for a while

[SamuraiMiqo]

Hello, sorry to bother you with a question like this. i had some images I was wanting to post to show how my Viera changed. how did you manage to upload yours? I tried using an imgur link but it didnt work

[lunartears]

Slightly off-topic but I opened up the Endwalker benchmark today and I was so happy to see my WoL again. I honestly missed everything about it (the scales, the detailed hair texture, the way the makeup fades, the sharper eyelashes, the smaller and more stylized eyes, the list goes on) but I miss the expressions especially

[Iedarus]

Gonna hold off on the Fantasia. Even though I'm getting really annoyed at the hat restriction, my character did receive a marked improvement in the graphical overhaul. His eyes feel a lot more alive and also preserve his resting bitch face. I just need some real eyebrows.