Was This Face Change Ever Explained?

[Aimuari]

With the graphics update, I've seen alot of posts about face differences before and after. Alot of the differences I think are up to personal scrutiny on whether or not they are noticeable.

I've noticed this particular face difference that is glaringly different, however.

Were these ever explained by the developers?

I remember there was a mentioning that they wanted to keep faces close to how they originally appeared before the graphics update, but this change seems way too glaring to be a mistake.

The face markings have turned from a monochromatic gray to a strange, and personally off-putting, mix of bruise-purple of different shades.

Was there ever any word about this change in any live letter or such? Is it to conform to some lore behind miqote, or return to 1.0 graphics or something?

Has anyone noticed any other seemingly "intentional" changes to other races or faces with the graphics update?

Before:


After:

Screenshots were snipped from another forum post.

[Jeeqbit]

Obviously, they wanted to do the graphics update, but they couldn't do very much with faces precisely because they knew this would be the reaction.

So they changed the faces just a tiny little bit. Resolution increase, smoothing the polygons on some faces, lighting/shader improvements, lip color/shader improvements, eye resolution increases...

And for those minor changes, they got all this backlash still, despite that it was a fraction of what they could have done within their new system requirements.

They have prepared a massive patch to address a lot of these concerns. I suggest waiting for that patch and then seeing if it's still a problem.

[Silaryn]

Obviously, they wanted to do the graphics update, but they couldn't do very much with faces precisely because they knew this would be the reaction.

So they changed the faces just a tiny little bit. Resolution increase, smoothing the polygons on some faces, lighting/shader improvements, lip color/shader improvements, eye resolution increases...

And for those minor changes, they got all this backlash still, despite that it was a fraction of what they could have done within their new system requirements.

They have prepared a massive patch to address a lot of these concerns. I suggest waiting for that patch and then seeing if it's still a problem.

It was a character update, not a character redesign, they shouldn't have changed anything to do with how our faces looked in the first place.

The backlash is because they heavily changed our characters' faces to the point where some people can't even recognize their WoL anymore. These were not minor changes, they didn't even bother trying to "keep the look of our characters".

N̶o̶,̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶y̶ ̶h̶a̶v̶e̶ ̶n̶o̶t̶ ̶p̶r̶e̶p̶a̶r̶e̶d̶ ̶a̶ ̶m̶a̶s̶s̶i̶v̶e̶ ̶p̶a̶t̶c̶h̶ ̶t̶o̶ ̶a̶d̶d̶r̶e̶s̶s̶ ̶o̶u̶r̶ ̶c̶o̶n̶c̶e̶r̶n̶s̶.̶ ̶T̶h̶i̶s̶ ̶i̶s̶ ̶a̶ ̶s̶t̶r̶a̶i̶g̶h̶t̶ ̶u̶p̶ ̶l̶i̶e̶.̶ ̶T̶h̶e̶y̶ ̶s̶a̶i̶d̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶y̶ ̶w̶e̶r̶e̶ ̶g̶o̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶t̶o̶ ̶p̶r̶e̶p̶a̶r̶e̶ ̶a̶ ̶s̶t̶a̶t̶e̶m̶e̶n̶t̶ ̶r̶e̶g̶a̶r̶d̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶o̶u̶r̶ ̶c̶o̶n̶c̶e̶r̶n̶s̶.̶ ̶H̶o̶n̶e̶s̶t̶l̶y̶ ̶t̶h̶o̶u̶g̶h̶,̶ ̶I̶'̶l̶l̶ ̶b̶e̶ ̶s̶u̶r̶p̶r̶i̶s̶e̶d̶ ̶i̶f̶ ̶i̶t̶'̶s̶ ̶a̶n̶y̶t̶h̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶m̶o̶r̶e̶ ̶t̶h̶a̶n̶ ̶a̶ ̶p̶r̶ ̶s̶t̶a̶t̶e̶m̶e̶n̶t̶.̶ ̶

Edit: My above paragraph is wrong, there is an update planned. Apologies to Jeeqbit.

To address OP's question, Au Ra's eyeliner was changed in a similar way to the Miqo'te markings. The eyeliner used to be dark and black but after the update it became a weak silvery gray. No idea why they decided to make these changes. Male Viera looks like they had the color of their nose smudge changed (I don't have a Viera so feel free to correct me if I'm wrong). And no, they have not explained any of these changes (and I'll be shocked if they ever do).

[Jeeqbit]

These were not minor changes, they didn't even bother trying to "keep the look of our characters".

I get that they are a big deal to people who are into glam and appearance or have an attachment to their former look, but that doesn't mean most of them aren't technically minor. It is like how a dress can have a line curved in a slightly different way. That's a minor difference... but there are a lot of people that would find it a massive difference.

Same with lighting or shadow differences. I get it's a big deal to people, but from a technical standpoint, it's just adjusting sliders and clipping to try and make it similar under the new light settings and they tried their best.

They were definitely trying to keep the look of the characters because they explicity said they were trying to do that.

No, they have not prepared a massive patch to address our concerns. This is a straight up lie.

No it is not. Here is the link! https://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/...=1#post6570905

They said they were going to prepare a statement regarding our concerns. Honestly though, I'll be surprised if it's anything more than a pr statement.

They said an "update" that is "undergoing final inspectations". That is another way of saying it's a patch.

[Silaryn]

I get that they are a big deal to people who are into glam and appearance or have an attachment to their former look, but that doesn't mean most of them aren't technically minor. It is like how a dress can have a line curved in a slightly different way. That's a minor difference... but there are a lot of people that would find it a massive difference.

Same with lighting or shadow differences. I get it's a big deal to people, but from a technical standpoint, it's just adjusting sliders and clipping to try and make it similar under the new light settings and they tried their best.

They were definitely trying to keep the look of the characters because they explicity said they were trying to do that.
No it is not. Here is the link! https://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/...=1#post6570905
They said an "update" that is "undergoing final inspectations". That is another way of saying it's a patch.

The changes are not mostly minor though. There's a whole megathread where people have outlined the many changes made to the our characters' faces. Maybe you don't care about the changes but that doesn't make them minor. Even if a change was minor, it is still a change and should not have occurred.

No they did not bother trying to keep the look of the characters. Yes, they said they were doing that. They lied. Companies lie. Take a quick look through the megathread and it becomes obvious they didn't give a chocobo's arse about making our characters look the same. They managed to downgrade the character models while keeping the characters looking the same there is no excuse as to why they couldn't have done it while upgrading the character models.

Also, thanks for the link. I was wrong about there not being an update. I'll fix my post.

[Cheapshot]

I get that they are a big deal to people who are into glam and appearance or have an attachment to their former look, but that doesn't mean most of them aren't technically minor. It is like how a dress can have a line curved in a slightly different way. That's a minor difference... but there are a lot of people that would find it a massive difference.

That is true. Simultaneously, when you give many of those lines a slightly different curve, at some point you just have a different outfit. That thread shows many such wardrobe malfunctions.

[PassinLay]

I get that they are a big deal to people who are into glam and appearance or have an attachment to their former look, but that doesn't mean most of them aren't technically minor. It is like how a dress can have a line curved in a slightly different way. That's a minor difference... but there are a lot of people that would find it a massive difference.

Same with lighting or shadow differences. I get it's a big deal to people, but from a technical standpoint, it's just adjusting sliders and clipping to try and make it similar under the new light settings and they tried their best.

They were definitely trying to keep the look of the characters because they explicity said they were trying to do that.
No it is not. Here is the link! https://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/...=1#post6570905
They said an "update" that is "undergoing final inspectations". That is another way of saying it's a patch.

"The company said so, thus it must be true"

lmao.

Hrothgar and viera hats would like a word with you, it's been 5 years its "allegedly" in the work. Lmao.

[DragonFlyy]

"The company said so, thus it must be true"

lmao.

Hrothgar and viera hats would like a word with you, it's been 5 years its "allegedly" in the work. Lmao.

Is there a link that shows they said they'd make hats for them eventually, because my memory is just that they would have none because of the model design, except a few devs decided to try on their own time. I haven't seen anything saying that they would have hats in the future.

[FuwafuwaMii]

It was a character update, not a character redesign, they shouldn't have changed anything to do with how our faces looked in the first place.

The backlash is because they heavily changed our characters' faces to the point where some people can't even recognize their WoL anymore. These were not minor changes, they didn't even bother trying to "keep the look of our characters".

No, they have not prepared a massive patch to address our concerns. This is a straight up lie. They said they were going to prepare a statement regarding our concerns. Honestly though, I'll be surprised if it's anything more than a pr statement.

To address OP's question, Au Ra's eyeliner was changed in a similar way to the Miqo'te markings. The eyeliner used to be dark and black but after the update it became a weak silvery gray. No idea why they decided to make these changes. Male Viera looks like they had the color of their nose smudge changed (I don't have a Viera so feel free to correct me if I'm wrong). And no, they have not explained any of these changes (and I'll be shocked if they ever do).

Accusing people of telling a "straight up lie", just because you're too lazy or incompetent to do your homework automatically disqualifies you from any form of public discussion.

[Aimuari]

Oh I hadn't heard about an upcoming update! Thanks, I'll save my fantasia for now then. I wonder what's to happen for players who already spent theirs though.

This particular change on changing the colors of the face stripes seems so blatant to me however, that I assume it to be an intentional one. Instead of being a minor alteration of a lip or eye shape, this seems to be such a more... obvious, for lack of better words, change, so I assumed it was one they did on purpose. I just wonder if there was any word on "why".