Date & Time: Since 28 June 2024, 9:00 a.m. (Server Time)
Frequency: Always
World name: Everywhere that the character could access in European and Oceania Data Centers
Character name: Cecile Damon@Phoenix
Race: Au Ra Xaela female
Retainer name: None
NPC name: None
Monster name: None
Class/Level: Reaper/93
Party or solo: Both
In-game time: Various, daytime and nighttime. Sometimes, the location is not affected by in-game time. The details will be described in the steps.
Area and coordinates: Everywhere
Housing: Everywhere
Steps:
1. The character is a female Au Ra Xaela, Face 2, with the appearance as follows:

Skin Color: RGB: 184,137,115
Jaw: 1
Eye Shape: 3
Eye Color: RGB: 92,30,30
Limbal Ring Color: 72,25,24
Eyebrows: 3
Nose: 4
Mouth: 4
Lip Color: 184,86,77


2. These are screenshots of Endwalker Benchmark and Dawntrail Benchmark version 1.1:



A gif version:


When noting the changes, some which I could describe are:
- The eyes become smaller and more slanted with less noticeable white dots. The lines of the eyes on the outer corners become darker and longer, but thinner on the bottom.
- The nose becomes smaller.
- The mouth becomes smaller and lacks the dimples on the corners.

3. More screenshots of the character in different angles and environments:
- Endwalker Benchmark and the character customization in the game:



On the character customization in the game, the corners of the mouth become turned up a bit compared to the one in Endwalker Benchmark. It makes her look like she is smiling when her expression is supposed to be neutral, or "Straight Face" as in the Expression tab on the Emotes menu.

- Cutscenes in Endwalker:

Chronicles of a New Era - Pandaemonium, "The Emissary's Judgment"




The Main Scenario Quest, "Her Children, One and All", Cutscene #6


When I re-watched this cutscene by chance, I was surprised that, at a glance, I felt like I was seeing the impression of my character before the graphics update. What I easily notice are:
a. Because the limbal rings glow in the dark after the graphics update, it makes the eyes look prominent here; which is a similar impression as when the eyes were bigger before the change.
b. The combination of the dark lighting and the shadow presents a strong impression of dimples on the corners of the mouth, which was more consistently present in different environments before the change.


Another note: the limbal rings do not have a consistent appearance after the graphics update. They barely can be seen in the bright environment of the Chamber of the Fourteen during "The Emissary's Judgment" cutscene. In contrast, they glow in the dark environment of the Andron during the cutscene #6 of "Her Children, One and All". I don't really mind the glow in the dark, but I would still like them to be more noticeable in bright environments as before.

As a more personal thought:

I feel that female Au Ra Face 2 lost its characteristics after the graphics update. It becomes more similar to the impression of female Au Ra Face 1, bar the horns difference. At least with the facial features of my character here, what noticeably differentiated Face 2 from Face 1 is how she had big eyes and wider lips with dimples. Truthfully, what I would hope of the graphics updates is merely the higher definition of the existing facial features, not replacing them with different ones.

Because there is now such a different impression of my character, I could not help but refrain from doing any story-related content ever since the early access for Dawntrail. It is not a great feeling, though, as the people I know around me progressed through the new Main Scenario Quest, then unlocked the new Extremes and Savages while I could not experience it alongside them. However, I also know that if I forced myself to join with the flow, I would not be too happy either as I could not see the familiar face of my beloved character in the journey. As much as I like doing Extremes and Savages, I also treasure the first-time experience of going through the stories in Final Fantasy XIV that I do not skip cutscenes and will try to talk every relevant NPCs. I love to be immersed in this world, in which, to do that... I need my character with their ever familiar, intended appearance.

As I subscribed to these EN and JP threads about the graphics update on the forum:I observed how many players also share the importance of their character's consistent impression like me. It affects our enjoyment in the game. I hope you put this in a high consideration.



Platform: Windows

■ PC Specs

-=-=-=-=- System Information -=-=-=-=-
SYSTEM_OS Windows 10 Home Single Language 64-bit (6.2, Build 9200) (19041.vb_release.191206-1406)
SYSTEM_CPU AMD Ryzen 7 3750H with Radeon Vega Mobile Gfx (8 CPUs), ~2.3GHz
SYSTEM_CORE_NUM SYSTEM_CORE_LOGIC 8 SYSTEM_CORE_PHYSICS 4
SYSTEM_BIOS FX505DT.316
SYSTEM_LANGUAGE English (Regional Setting: English)
SYSTEM_MEMORY 8001.336MB
SYSTEM_VIRTUAL_MEMORY 134217727.875MB
SYSTEM_PAGE_FILE 30749.875MB
SYSTEM_STORAGE C:\ SYSTEM_HARDDISK_DRIVE SYSTEM_TOTALDISC_SPACE 926.517GB SYSTEM_FREEDISC_SPACE 187.391GB
SYSTEM_STORAGE D:\ SYSTEM_HARDDISK_DRIVE SYSTEM_TOTALDISC_SPACE 364.258GB SYSTEM_FREEDISC_SPACE 5.975GB
SYSTEM_STORAGE E:\ SYSTEM_HARDDISK_DRIVE SYSTEM_TOTALDISC_SPACE 364.257GB SYSTEM_FREEDISC_SPACE 29.371GB
SYSTEM_STORAGE F:\ SYSTEM_HARDDISK_DRIVE SYSTEM_TOTALDISC_SPACE 202.165GB SYSTEM_FREEDISC_SPACE 0.452GB
SYSTEM_DIRECTX_VERSION DirectX 12
SYSTEM_GRAPHICS AMD Radeon(TM) RX Vega 10 Graphics
SYSTEM_GRAPHICS_DEVICE \\.\DISPLAY1
SYSTEM_GRAPHICS_CHIP AMD Radeon Graphics Processor (0x15D8)
SYSTEM_GRAPHICS_MAKER Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.
SYSTEM_GRAPHICS_VRAM 113.570 MB
SYSTEM_GRAPHICS_SHARED_VRAM 4000.668 MB
SYSTEM_GRAPHICS_DAC Internal DAC(400MHz)
SYSTEM_GRAPHICS_DISPLAY_MODE 1920 x 1080 (32 bit) (60Hz)
SYSTEM_GRAPHICS_DRIVER C:\WINDOWS\System32\DriverStore\FileRepository\u0361708.inf_amd64_7de6b99937f60751\B358199\aticfx64.dll,C:\WINDOWS\System32\DriverStore\FileRepository\u0361708.inf_amd64_7de6b99937f60751\B358199\aticfx64.dll,C:\WINDOWS\System32\DriverStore\FileRepository\u0361708.inf_amd64_7de6b99937f60751\B358199\aticfx64.dll,C:\WINDOWS\System32\DriverStore\FileRepository\u0361708.inf_amd64_7de6b99937f60751\B358199\amdxc64.dll
SYSTEM_GRAPHICS_DRIVER_VERSION 27.20.1032.0002
SYSTEM_GRAPHICS_DRIVER_DATE 8/11/2020 07:00:00
SYSTEM_GRAPHICS_DRIVER_LANGUAGE English
3.0
SYSTEM_GRAPHICS_PIXEL_SHADER 3.0
SYSTEM_GRAPHICS_VERTEX_TEXTURE SYSTEM_SUPPORT
SYSTEM_GRAPHICS NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650
SYSTEM_GRAPHICS_DEVICE Unknown
SYSTEM_GRAPHICS_CHIP NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650
SYSTEM_GRAPHICS_MAKER NVIDIA
SYSTEM_GRAPHICS_VRAM 7935 MB
SYSTEM_GRAPHICS_SHARED_VRAM SYSTEM_UNKNOWN
SYSTEM_GRAPHICS_DAC Integrated RAMDAC
SYSTEM_GRAPHICS_DISPLAY_MODE Unknown
SYSTEM_GRAPHICS_DRIVER C:\WINDOWS\System32\DriverStore\FileRepository\nvami.inf_amd64_c0512be42d63826a\nvldumdx.dll,C:\WINDOWS\System32\DriverStore\FileRepository\nvami.inf_amd64_c0512be42d63826a\nvldumdx.dll,C:\WINDOWS\System32\DriverStore\FileRepository\nvami.inf_amd64_c0512be42d63826a\nvldumdx.dll,C:\WINDOWS\System32\DriverStore\FileRepository\nvami.inf_amd64_c0512be42d63826a\nvldumdx.dll
SYSTEM_GRAPHICS_DRIVER_VERSION 32.00.0015.6081
SYSTEM_GRAPHICS_DRIVER_DATE 7/30/2024 07:00:00
SYSTEM_GRAPHICS_DRIVER_LANGUAGE English

SYSTEM_GRAPHICS_PIXEL_SHADER
SYSTEM_GRAPHICS_VERTEX_TEXTURE
SYSTEM_SOUND Speakers (Realtek(R) Audio)
SYSTEM_SOUND_DEVICE_ID {D1778E2C-295E-49DC-97B2-B82FCD473993}
SYSTEM_SOUND_DEVICE_NAME RTKVHD64.sys
SYSTEM_SOUND_DRIVER_VERSION 6.0.1.8639
SYSTEM_SOUND_DRIVER_LANGUAGE English
SYSTEM_SOUND_DRIVER_DATE 2/19/2019 07:00:00
SYSTEM_INPUT {6F1D2B60-D5A0-11CF-BFC7444553540000}
SYSTEM_INPUT_NAME Mouse
SYSTEM_INPUT_REMARKS SYSTEM_GAMEPAD_AXIS 3 SYSTEM_GAMEPAD_BUTTON 8 SYSTEM_GAMEPAD_FOV 0
SYSTEM_INPUT {6F1D2B61-D5A0-11CF-BFC7444553540000}
SYSTEM_INPUT_NAME Keyboard
SYSTEM_INPUT_REMARKS SYSTEM_GAMEPAD_AXIS 0 SYSTEM_GAMEPAD_BUTTON 128 SYSTEM_GAMEPAD_FOV 0
SYSTEM_INPUT {7B196770-676E-11EE-8001444553540000}
SYSTEM_INPUT_NAME ASUS Wireless Radio Control
SYSTEM_INPUT_REMARKS SYSTEM_GAMEPAD_AXIS 0 SYSTEM_GAMEPAD_BUTTON 1 SYSTEM_GAMEPAD_FOV 0
SYSTEM_INPUT {E0129B00-677E-11EE-8002444553540000}
SYSTEM_INPUT_NAME Wireless Controller
SYSTEM_INPUT_REMARKS SYSTEM_GAMEPAD_AXIS 6 SYSTEM_GAMEPAD_BUTTON 14 SYSTEM_GAMEPAD_FOV 1
SYSTEM_INPUT {7B1F33D0-676E-11EE-8007444553540000}
SYSTEM_INPUT_NAME HIDI2C Device
SYSTEM_INPUT_REMARKS SYSTEM_GAMEPAD_AXIS 0 SYSTEM_GAMEPAD_BUTTON 0 SYSTEM_GAMEPAD_FOV 0
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-


Laptop Model Name: ASUS TUF Gaming FX505DT

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