They fixed benchmark but they didn't fix her face | FFXIV

[@natebroadus8474]

It's not at all unreasonable to have preferences. My girlfriend mains an Au'ra, and her exact words were, "matte finish Au'ra girls won this round."She did say the gloss is more apparent in the trailer, and I agree. After seeing this video, I rolled a bungirl, a Hyur Midlander and a Miqo to see how their lips look, and they definitely won the gloss sweepstakes this time, it seems. I will say, her Au'ra looks gorgeous, and frankly, all the ones I've seen do, as well. If you decide to tweak your Au'ra in the creator, I wish you luck. Hopefully, there is some configuration that will fit your tastes. Believe me, I understand (I had to retweak my Highlander to get him to a place I was happy with using the new settings and within the new lighting setup).

[@CogniVision]

That's actually a quite noticeable change to the face shape. It sucks when you think they could have used this opportunity to give us MORE face shapes, rather than change what we have.

[@incognisance4293]

Ngl you can have a preference I understand that, we all do, but to expect them to get it 100% the same as before is unfair. We all wanted these updates to happen, it’s good for the long term health of the game. Having a characters face look slightly different is not enough to take away from that fact. Even my character who I’ve had for 10 years looks a bit different, but I know it’s worth it and I can also change him a bit if I want with the free fantasia. It’s all getting a bit silly now.

[@incognisance4293]

Also ngl your point around the lips makes no sense. A normal person doesn't have wet lips constantly. If anything, the lips on the newer models are slightly more accurate and the colour of the lips you've chosen also has an impact.

[@098Xzibit]

Yea agreed. Like shii my character also looks different and I'm not entirely down with her new look but that's why they're giving me a free fantasia and I'm fine with tweaking her a little bit At the end of the day it's not that much of a drastic change, certainly not as drastic as with WoW did when it got updated models.

[@IDontNeedThisOK]

​@@incognisance4293 Do you know what lip gloss does? It's a type of liquid lipstick that HYDRATES the lips and make 'em look wet and glossy like the surface of a candy apple. The lipstick options USED TO look kinda like that and NOW it's not. Just because you value the old looks less than other people doesn't mean their points aren't valid. You should consider yourself lucky for not playing a race that has stuff like extra unremovable makeup or other bullshit forced upon them which makes the characters much less malleable.

[@incognisance4293]

@@IDontNeedThisOK lip gloss sure, but there is no option for those in the creator, so that’s what you should be complaining about, not “wet” lips. You’re taking this incredibly seriously when it’s a video game and they’re doing their best and constantly listening to feedback.

[@newbielolgaga]

ffxiv mofos when someone dare to critique ffxiv 💀 try to take criticism challenge impossible

[@GordieKat]

Sometimes when you add more poly's to something, you unintentionally change the shape a bit.

[@NohaJm204]

Yeah you're right, was feeling the same with my au ra, i mean was seeing the "upgrades" in the graphics and the lightning but still felt my character off. My catgirl more or less took the changes well so might go with it on Downtrail. Feel you tho, haven't played the game too long at least not in comparison, about a year at this point, but was enough too feel really attached to my character, and it sucks that we can't do anything to keep it other than mods i guess.

[@Ms._Crimson]

What bothers me the most is that SE changed the shape of so many facial features, eyes, eyesbrows, nose, lips and the shape of the faces itself... all of my chars look totally different in the DT Benchmark ~ and the lighting itself is the horror for me, it's probably a "me" thing, but it's just not look good when the light shines down on my chars, my main char looks like a ghost or a doll as soon as she is outside in the sun... but looks more or less "ok" at night, aside from the fact that she looks like someone tried to copy her and made the wrong choices in the editor.

[@Naruchyo-c1v]

The cat eye is staring into my soul...

[@IGotsBadFeeling]

Yeah my Hyur looks completely different. I hate it! I can't really explain... I just look like a wax doll or something. And yes, the Miqo does look a lot more HD. Or does the Au'ra just look.. muddy? I dont know how to describe it.

[@Kitsune9Yokai]

I’m convinced it’s just the creator, because in the benchmark trailer it looks decent but something is still off with the eye color and hair color feels super muted

[@idno4856]

That's what I was hoping after her vid for the original demo... And while I think characters look better in the 2nd demo vs the 1st, Aitherea shows pretty clearly that a lot of the issues have to do with the new textures and not with lighting. I really hope you're right tho, but her vid shows pretty conclusive evidence to the contrary.

[@Kitsune9Yokai]

@@idno4856Oh don’t get me wrong I do still think there’s big issues with the update in general that’s what I was meaning by the Eye color and Hair color being super muted and dull. Something else I’ve noticed is most players who are not really concerned with the aesthetic side of the game are praising it whereas the people into the glam side or aesthetics have a lot more issues which are very valid but 100% gonna be overlooked by SE. I’m not happy at all with Highlander female and my elezens eye color is way less impactful which makes for most characters in general looking basic to a degree and don’t stand out like they used to.

[@KurosakiRuka]

yes

[@notcolexd]

I'm not fond of may of the changes to Mi'qote, meanwhile I am pretty happy with Au'Ra. I believe the changes will grow on me eventually though. WoW had a character model graphic update back in 2014 for the first time in 10 years of the game existing and I felt the same way about those updates as I do about these. Eventually they grew on me though and looking back, I think "Sheesh those look old af, good thing they updated these."

[@ドライデ-ファッサ]

just hope, there will be a mod, that reverts our character face back to 6.0.

[@monsterswaltz]

I don't understand why so many changes like the size of pupils or the shape of the mouth, I understand they wanted better textures and lighting but they definitely changed faces... also added eyelashes, changed shape and color of eyebrows, all those things affect the perception of a face.

[@CogniVision]

They should have added new shapes rather than change what we had. The changes to the facial structure is very noticeable. People won't just look like an HD version of their character but like a different character entirely because of it.

[@jolisphinx]

​​@@CogniVision This is something I think people defending the changes don't seem to get or want to get. There were clearly artistic liberties taken with some faces and then other faces just got more of a faithful update. The fact that it's inconsistent between faces proves this. I also use femra face 1 and they absolutely made artistic changes to the eyes and lips most noticeably, which is what Aitherea is noticing. If someone likes the artistic changes aesthetically then they're happy with it and people like me, who don't like them, are unhappy. They shouldn't have taken such liberties with the faces at all.

[@ishirutaekakura308]

There's this one face of the male midlander that looked stupid, but in the new benchmark he got a glow up, it's generally a good option to pick now. But they did offer us a free fantasia where we have like up to 60 mins of in game playtime, so if we don't like how our characters will look now, we get the option to modify as much as possible so long as it's within the 60mins. I personally am not a fan of how my male midlander will look but it doesn't look bad it just doesn't suit my character, so I will be changing his face up a bit! I just think, we've all got our preferences and there's a change happening there and it might be time to accept it or to alter.

[@user-is4jz9yh1o]

DT has just been released and I feel the same about my char. They ruined it and it doesn't look good at all. I wish they'd give us the option to use the old textures. Can we make an impact if we reported this with support tickets? So disappointing...

[@iriseteru]

You are 100% correct. They butchered female Au Ras and I'm pretty disappointed with how my character looks.

[@BaghNakh1]

This shouldn't be final, iirc Yoshi P said that they just adressed the more popular complaints (like the lightning stuff, etc) and this is how the graphics will look like for DT launch but thats part of the plan to keep working and fixing things even after DT launch, so I'm assuming CBU3 will still be working and improving the graphics update, but I think for this current iteration they just focused on the things that most people complained about and probably they'll work down the list from there. I mean Yoshi P made it sound like some of the things we saw on the first version of the benchmark were completely thrown out the window and remade from scratch, so I wouldn't lose hope completely.

[@Aitherea]

Don't give me hope, it is dangerous.

[@alexanderkraev6331]

Someone is overdosing on copium. Yea dude, they will sure revert changes they made to models and wasted resources on just because many people complained.

[@BaghNakh1]

@@alexanderkraev6331 Not true. Some changes required to be done again from scratch because fixing the already existing ones to match feedback and requests wasn't enough, one case of this is some facial textures and having to do redraw textures all over again is quite a lot of work. Also it was mentioned by Yoshi P that the process of improving the graphical update will continue after DT launch but that the big bulk of changes were implemented in the recent updated version of the benchmark tool. All of the things I mentioned and more you can read yourself on the Lodestone, said by Yoshi P himself. You say those things but have no evidence for it, CBU3 had no obligation to implement changes to the benchmark tool, they could've just said "oh big sad you didn't like how your characters look with the updates, oh well we hope you like them once DT launches lmao" yet they still decided to listen to the biggest and most important complaints/feedback made by the community and fix the issues, which they could've done in the background and put the changes for DT launch yet they still decided to update a benchmark tool so people get to test the changes themselves, probably because they still want to hear feedback and start working on those changes in advance and put them in the game after DT launch. Sure I would agree that what Yoshi P said isn't a complete guarantee that big changes to the graphics update will keep rolling constantly so saying "we don't know what will happen" would make sense, but what you said is straight up an intelectually dishonest statement.

[@benoitrousseau4137]

I promise you they're not changing a single pixel of your character after Dawntrail's release, otherwise they risk upsetting a lot of players loving their new Dawntrail character and have to hand out more free Fantasia. They will obviously fix character glitches that players will inevitably discover with some head gear, but otherwise characters appearances are locked down after June 28th. I'm happy because both my elezen and my wife's midlander look awesome in 1.1, but I completely understand if people who were less lucky are starting to panic 3 weeks to launch. 🙁

[@smoltoaster]

I use face 1 Au Ra and have similar gripes. I actually liked the 1st benchmark, but this new one seemed to widen the face even more, shrink the eyes a bit, and mess with the mouth shape, and I dont like any of these changes. The new lighting looks better but I wish they would stop changing face features and shapes, its starting to look like a different character.

[@user-is4jz9yh1o]

(Edit: Apparently KZbin didn't eat my previous comment, so I will reuse this space) Looks like there are a lot of people complaining on the forums about this. Hope that can create a change.

[@SephirothsBIade]

Dawntrail is live. I logged in to see my character's eyes were dead. Where did the soul of my Au'ra's eyes go? I go into the editor and it is impossible to correct it. I now run graphic contrast at 25 instead of 70 just to get a sliver of the impact my character's eyes used to have.... I sincerely do not understand how it is possible to have improved everything else so much, while defacing the single most important part of any character...

[@MrCarlWax]

KEEP GIVING FEEDBACK! My bunboy was so bad in the first benchmark that I decided to skip dawntrail. But this version fixed him fully and I'm so happy. I really hope you and others who still aren't happy to get what changes you want

[@alm08e]

Thanks for putting into words what I couldn't quite put my finger on as a guy. My character just didn't look right, but I'm not as good at parsing out exactly what makes that the case. Might be time for male bun or lala for me with the free fantasia we get!

[@Liltama]

I agree with the AuRa lips and Miqo'te lips shape, but not about the miqo'te eyes... to me that white color looks creepy before and after haha

[@IDontNeedThisOK]

Sun kitty's slit-shaped pupils with light coloured iris kinda creeped me out before, but now it somehow got even worse.

[@thomasm.2360]

my veira somehow looks worse in 1.1 than 1.0, not sure if its just the lighting or if they changed the eyes/face

[@NakiriInazuma]

The lighting does look good but my Au Ra is ruined 😭

[@Aitherea]

You understand! Like, I can see that the graphics improved, I just wish the facial features didnt change so much with it.

[@alexanderkraev6331]

Same. :')

[@idno4856]

I don't even wanna see what my character looks like. I made a new character for the last demo too.

[@pampstamp]

The softness in all of my characters is gone. All of my characters that I have played for years and years and developed and roleplayed are just... hot garbage now. I am praying that the mod developers will save us.

[@KurosakiRuka]

I had the perfect cat girl and got compliments for her looks. I was excited for the graphics update but my character was also butchered. I feel like the changed the colours and now my character falls apart, looks pale and tired. On the other hand my alt au ra i was not so found of looks now better. I wish they dindt change the character graphics

[@maddragonqueen_]

I play male viera and I'm really happy with him now, they fixed 90% of the problems I had with him in the original benchmark, but its such a bummer they didn’t do that for everyone.

[@robloxhusband]

same.. I really didn't like how my male Viera looked in the first version of the benchmark but they improved it a lot in the update. I hope they continue to make fixes though.

[@rezahydra]

For Treicantha, my own main who is also a Xaela, turned out amazing. EXCEPT for the lip color. HOWEVER, I actually have noticed a fix for my end, as well as a massive discrepancy between the benchmarks on this fix. The lighting plays a huge factor on the gloss now, but this is ON TOP of the actual color. YES, the color AFFECTS GLOSS in my experience. The discrepancy is by how much. In the first Benchmark, it was by a notch brighter, but I was not happy with the lacking gloss. Now, I cannot get what I want on that row, and had to go a full 2 notches brighter and one more saturated to even get the color with the gloss I currently have.

[@terceleto]

Going to have to give the new benchmark a look tonight. I was pretty indifferent before for my miqo boy, but I feel a big part of what makes him 'him' is his hair, which isn't one of the base styles but one of the unlocks (styled for hire). I'll have to take a closer look this time around.

[@Teachidoll]

Just continue to voice your concerns. on afficial forums ect.

[@aleera8257]

I think I'm switching to moon Miqo female using face 4, because my Xaela Au'ra face 1 and 4's thicker lips shape look horrible to me now. I really don't want to but they messed up the bigger lips so badly especially on Au'ra face 4. It looks hideous. Not to mention the lipstick sucks too, I thought maybe if I used the light option, it could look good since I assumed it would blur the lip shape, but it's colour is not visible at all. 😭

[@seekittycat]

I'm going to be adjusting my character in the character creator to see if I can get it a bit better.

[@MorpheusCh]

Yeah agreed, the pupils being bigger for no reason, the different shape and gloss of the lips and the different shape of the noise really upsets me as well.

[@bluezhift]

Oh No! I really feel bad for you! This sounds a lot like how I felt when PSO2 overhauled their graphics and models for the New Genesis update and it totally nuked my character! I was so unhappy that I quit playing the game for quite a while. Sega kept working on the game and I eventually got a look that I liked. But I still don't play it nearly as much as I used to. I hope that FFXIV will continue to make updates so we all can be happy with our characters again!

[@IDontNeedThisOK]

I'm an Aura face 1 user and I'm beyond disappointed. This is an *update*, not an *upgrade*. I want my pretty aura to have lip gloss, not lip stain.

[@SirCharlieSan]

My femra looks different for sure. My bunboy looks fine but just more HD

[@thevoxdeus]

I think the healthiest thing for everyone is going to be approaching 7.0 as being a new game, graphically. You're not going to have your existing character, you're never going to get them back, so you'll need to figure out if "close enough" is okay, or if you need to find a completely different look that works for you.

[@shybard]

She still looks far prettier than I ever will. So she has me there.

[@Kitsune9Yokai]

I had an epiphany that could it possibly be the character lighting setting being on zero in the build of the benchmark, idk about anyone else but I found when you turn that setting up in game setting options characters look better overall maybe that could fix things?

[@MyChannelsNameIs]

You are absolutely not crazy. My fem midlander still looks atrocious; if anything, the fixed lighting and textures made it MORE obvious that her facial features are way off-model. It sucks, because I really want to be excited for Dawntrail, but the graphics update has me feeling like I'm dreading a deadline, instead of anticipating a release.

[@megagreatgodlywhiteshark2929]

Besides the taller with more breast girth races\characters lol 😂👍🙏

[@mimo0024]

you'll get used to it

[@iwannadie9031]

I don't like what they did with the type 4 eyelashes on au ra. I liked the way it was before where it curved more upwards. That's just one of many criticisms I have but I agree with everything you said, the lighting is great and I like what they did with the environment, but I feel like they missed the mark on characters. At least the scales and horns look nice...? ? ?

[@burrushito5967]

This girl is determined on making the game around her preferences. The world doesn't revolve around you.

[@MrCarlWax]

This comment gives me incel vibes

[@iwannadie9031]

Her preferences are what we have now. Is it wrong to like the current design?

[@4NSW3RM3]

Guess I'm lucky I started in April, and was disappointed in aspects of how my au ra looked overall. Not being so attached, I'm looking forward to tweaking her when DT drops. Mi'qo lips are still disappointing though, but that gives me a way to avoid the inevitable fall into playing a cat girl

[@KikyoKl]

for me, I still will wait and see. I will wait til Dawntrail , then maybe change some things on my character.

[@lightnbrightt]

i think the shadow and shading just changes how things look a lot a lot like in real life shading and lighting is gonna heavily affect how you look

[@katsilva4277]

Its exactly like you say and i've been saying since the first benchmark chargen preview. They've made all the female faces look like china dolls. Any expression has been flattened in favor of looking like a a porcelein doll with big, dead eyes. Its upsetting because we've lost personality from the old faces in favor of one artist's sense of 'prettier' based on their apparent appreciation for literal inanimate objects. And as women especially we deal enough with that kind of demeaning objectification. Don't have personality, quirks or individuality. Just be 'pretty'. As I define it. Ick.

[@lavenderbeds]

i feel like im going crazy because no one else is talking about face 1 femra missing the scales connecting their face scales to their horns. losing hope it will ever get fixed because my character is in a minority where this is actually visible due to her hairstyle, it's driving me insane. there's nothing subjective about that, it's just outright missing

[@nararanaraiii2022]

I have something a bit similar, while I'm happy with how my bnuy looks, for some reason everyones screenshots in twitter look way better? am running at max settings so i dont know why my character looks weird, i guess am just used to before

[@Zoeila]

The lighting in the char creator and the boat section is hyper exposed. In the original eyes and lips had shading drawn on so it's never gonna look right. Also I don't think miqo fangs are fixed unless I need to remake her from scratch.

[@Aitherea]

I checked a mooncat laugh and it looked pointy to me. It was also something they actually brought up during a livestream too and specifically asked for feedback from viewers so xD It's too bad there isnt a toggle for it like there is for the hrothgar. Or a slider. Choose your length =P

[@nararanaraiii2022]

They said I believe mouth 3 has smaller fangs than the other ones cuz some people liked the smaller fangs so they left the option there

[@-candy-cats-9532]

i wish the updates were optional than forced , this way we can have more customization options , and people who don't want to change can keep their looks so it's a win win ... but then again Spaghetti codes i guess

[@pres002]

Buns still have the eye issues. The top is just too dark. Plus the skin tone isn't right. We now still see brown and yellow skin tones. And I agree with the lips and eyes. Though for me my eyes weren't big enough and I had to change to the large.

[@EdTheRobot]

At this point its take or leave ii scenario. 7.0 is on its way so i dont think theyre gonna do anything more with the graphics as they shouldn't since the resources needed should be allocated to future content (patch content etc.) Honestly this whole topic is a matter of personal preference. Some arent gonna love it as much as others. Personally the overall picture in terms of the zones and lighting with more density is what makes this so hype for more than how My WOL looks (which im satisfied how it turned out) so it is what it is at the end of the day.

[@glasslilacs]

Yeah... my catgirl has died as well. She does not look well anymore. It'll have to be bunboy or male elezen for me this season... :(

[@Sir.Catsanova]

Your previous cat girl was also creepy tbf

[@Codemandragon21]

It over looks better and they cannot please everyone thats impossible

[@strshdw71]

As someone whose main character is a Miqo'te, I COMPLETELY agree with you. I had the same reaction that you did. I play a dark-skinned catgirl with purple eyes and black hair. The skin looks greyish now, the eyes are so dark and lifeless you can hardly see the color (looks like I have the beginning of cataracts), the lips have no gloss and looks like I had a run in with a collagen needle, and the hair...OMG....the hair is now grey! I have it on the blackest setting and now it looks grey. It changes my whole look and there is no way to tweak it with fantasia to make it right as it is already on the blackest setting. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE the background and lighting improvements, I just wish they would have left our characters alone. I have become extremely attached to my character for the last seven years, and now I feel that in less than a month I will have to say goodbye to her as I know her. I am really disappointed. 😭

[@ziddship]

She's gone from baby-faced to actual baby

[@FutayuriShironeko]

I find similar problem with my Viera. Its kinda close to what it was before(or currently is), but it's looks like imitation of my character and not an update.

[@Fizzsama]

I like that they've spent this much effort improving textures and lighting since this game is getting up there in age, but more than anything I think this would have been a perfect opportunity to add even more options to the character creator I think.

[@Shikori_Tsuru]

I'm really happy with what I'm seeing in the updated version. The biggest downside for me are the low-res hair textures, those pixelated waves are still a thing, just better than before.

[@Ceraphyen]

Honestly scared to look at my wol in the benchmark I can’t imagine playing a character that doesn’t look like her exactly

[@alexanderkraev6331]

You are right. I noticed many small chances in my femra's face (face 3) as well and basically they just made her look worse. Like why do I need to pay for expansion and then rely on modders to revert some changes?

[@incognisance4293]

This is illogical because mod have already existed before these changes if you didn’t like it. At the end of the day this is squares vision and you can change it with mods like you’ve always been able to.

[@Zhyiber]

Yes cause you're only paying for the graphical updates LMAO. Like be fr, you're paying for the content which every other xpac has had, the graphical update is just a side thing they decided to do.

[@alexanderkraev6331]

@@Zhyiber k.

[@markup6394]

I truly hope you play the game for something else other than graphic updates...

[@ahrinrhesa]

i agree

[@gloameyedprince]

It's just really strange how this is supposed to be an upgrade, and then they go on to just straight up remove the dimension to the skin, lips and face? No colour gradient to the lips anymore. No shine to anything. Skewed face models and eye shapes. Parts of the old graphics just look better quality, it's really bizarre.

[@kuyap9455]

appreciate honest take. Sad you may not want to use catgirl anymore. bit tragic actually. Do you think you'd create a secondary using diff race, if so which? also... any twitch streams in near future? (:

[@Aitherea]

I still like catgirl, but not my previous design because it just doesnt work with the new features. I'll probably keep her as a catgirl but use the fantasia to change to a different face/change her eye color. Otherwise, my bunnygirl still looks fire. I just miss being able to use certain hats/hairstyles because even though they added lots of hairstyles most of em dont look right :c

[@krovidae]

My miqote looks mostly the same in benchmark (I dont remember which face type), but the only thing that is different to me is that in current graphics her lips are very slightly parted - she has dark skin so you can see the tiny sliver of white teeth at certain angles - and that expression has always given her a slightly air-headed look which I find hilarious in story moments when other characters are giving exposition and it cuts to her with her big glazed eyes looking slightly "away with the fairies" so to speak 😂 In benchmark her lips are closed so her neutral face looks actually neutral which is fine i guess 🤷‍♀️ But I'll miss my derpy bimbo queen 💜 I'll have to just headcanon that she grew an extra braincell 😆

[@victoriaroberts2105]

Omg i feel exactly the same about the faces we get what I like to call high quality ugly lol it’s the shadow in the eyes from the lid that’s wrong it makes everyone look like their eyes are totally jacked up. The Vieras look like we’re looking up all the time cats and dragons look deranged it’s not good

[@NotTheWheel]

This girl really about to be searching for "Lip and Hair Gloss" mods day 1 lol jk I figured it looked a bit better but I'm not all that particular as I am a Lala boi.

[@Aitherea]

bro ima be looking for the "classic ffxiv au ra model" mod 😭

[@NotTheWheel]

@@Aitherea I'm a bit worried about my friends who ended up scoring low on the test. I almost feel like there should be a "Legacy Graphics" option.

[@AnubisOda]

I might trying looking for a smaller more feminine hand model because after doing the chuckle emote i was shocked at the sausage fingers, the hands look bigger than their head!

[@Jake38nine]

I feel left behind as well. White scales just make my Fem'ra look washed out. We'll see when I get the update since I can't play the Benchmark due to being a PS5 player. But I'm really afraid this might be the semi-death of the game for me. I may still play it because it's a good mindless game to grind out. But even with some of my favorite classes and their combat changes I'm a bit disappointed in as they're taking away bits of the fun from my classes that I worked so hard to learn. I really wish you could go back to previous versions of the game and play as them, just not in the newest expansion. But I guess that's just the risk you take with an online MMO RPG. Not like I've put in a lot of effort in the game as I used too. Ikinda lost interest after the new year. It's not gonna feel the same to me. I may adjust, but I'm not having high expectations.

[@maxvieira2595]

Now that changes are out, I was fine with the models, I use face 4 female aura, but when I checked the portrait, it just felt like I got sucker punched, the eyes just feel like a dead fish, while previously it was very sharp and really good with other expressions, now you can just cycle through every expression and barely tell the difference. I have never considered changing appearence, more specifically race, until now.

[@sasuchimm4208]

obviously its not gonna look the same, i personally love the matte doll like look to her now, so its just a preference thing! i used to play only f3 aura before but i dont really like it after the graphical changes and thats fine 🤷‍♀theres so many options to choose from its really not a big deal

[@tyder9103]

Just fanta tiny differences in colors to something you like? Isn't that the point of the fanta?

[@AnubisOda]

The females have man hands, sausage fingers, once you see it you can't unsee it, also the face tattoos are still super low res, and the viera ears are also still low res, sooo this is it, this is what it'll be like when dawntrail releases, i do think benchmark 1.1 is better than 1.0 tho.

[@SxD1982]

Your Catgirl is giving Overly Attached Girlfriend vibes

[@098Xzibit]

Honestly I wouldn't depend solely on how the character appears in the menu. The real test is in-game and for that we'll have to wait for the expansion. Honestly I love how my character looks, but when I see her on the login screen? I would be like nahhh. Char maker and menu lighting is weird even currently.

[@TheGrandUltima]

I agree, they did nothing to change the female Au Ra faces and they still look terrible compared to what we have now

[@idno4856]

Ok Aitherea, you need to add a jump scare warning in the vid before you turn that 2nd light with your Miquo. I watched Quazi's video after yours and was a bit hopeful after seeing the pics he showed... But I trust your vid more (since idk if people photoshopped their pics before posting or not). This brought back all my skepticism. P.S. Really appreciate the vid and hearing your thoughts. Thank you!

[@Aitherea]

I havent seen quazii's vid. I think the reality is he probably doesnt care as much as I do xD A lot of people dont. And I've also just kind of accepted it (edit: meaning, ive accepted this is how things will look going forward). I still like the features of my old chars more than the updated version. The graphics do look good, better even, but the facial features to me are different, and different can be good or bad depending on who you ask.

[@idno4856]

@@Aitherea he also, unless I'm misremembering, didn't show his own character but rather pics and comparisons that he found online (which probably confirms what you said about him not caring as much). But that's also why I waited for and watched your 1st vid 1st (wasn't expecting the 2nd one so soon).

[@qamarqammar7629]

The features look as if they were redrawn on some of these characters. I don't know the technical details but I don't like that some faces default to a smile, for example. Elezen males now look bland, thus a downgrade.

[@darzanas]

oooh this makes me feel so validated, i play a face 4 aura and my girl looks so different now, she had this serious, regal aspect to her that i loved, but now she looks... idk not like herself? i love being an aura but i'm honestly considering if by week 2 of DT i don't get used to it, i'll either use that fantasia to make her a catgirl (though they also changed how miqo face 4 looks :( it was my fav bc it had more cat-like qualities) or i'll jump into mod territory to fix the little things. also idk if it is still a lighting problem but the xaela skin tones all look pretty awful now? esp the paler ones look especially greyish.

[@Aitherea]

I honestly think what they need to do with the char creator is just add the gpose lighting control panel. Because as it stands the lighting is still weird/makes it difficult to really see your character well. Like its better than it was, but only slightly. We still have issues of certain terrains washing us out completely cuz of too much sun or casting strange shadows.

[@rtbear674]

I think my face 4 aura looks better in 1.1 than in 1.0 benchmark. Didn't compare it with Live one, I think it's close enough if I just compare it to my memory. Currently I have no complains as is -in 1.1 the cheek is fuller, softening the shadow on the cheek. 1.0 one changed the cheek - lower cheek shape too much. -in 1.1 the mouth side indent less than in 1.0, which made harsher highlight and shadow on the sides of the mouth in 1.0, to softer shadows & highlights in 1.1. -The eyelids also looks better too. -The nose shape changed as well. Well there'll be mods that will adjust the face shape following the current shape probably. Which of course I'll choose whichever I like. 1 thing I want is the glossy horn from back in 1st fanfest. I think that one look nice.

[@blairwang7572]

hmm，the new face is ok for me

[@VampireNoblesse]

starting to panic, its their way to sneak in masculine jaws & co for ESG points ..., pls tell me I'm just paranoid and it's not the case

[@arcanebunnysociety]

I am so with you. Everyone seems so pleased, so I feel like I am just a complainer..... but my Viera looks cross-eyed and the whites of her eyes have a weird reddish brown tinge. My Au Ra is slightly better, but she still has puffy features. I feel pretty disappointed and am not sure who to play in Dawntrail.

[@Keksedieb1337]

Look very closely at the Raen facial scales, they have rainbowcolor in them, if I'm not totally blind.

[@HikingFeral]

The new version is better. Use the free Fanta to make changes. Your old character is on borrowed time. Either obsess over it or get over it. Most people are happy and the devs can only go with the majority. They are not going to start editing code because you have some vague idea about lips puffiness. I'm not being mean just being factual.

[@OkayyyIGetIt]

I’m gonna miss my cat girl 😢😭

[@psoffxifan4904]

I don't understand the fixation on this, you're going to see the back of your character's head most of the game and it's potentially going to be covered by a head piece. It's overall minor differences that are being blown up into a bigger deal than they are. I'm really not trying to be an ass about this, it's just very confusing to me why there are so many people so upset over things that you're not going to pay attention to during gameplay. If it's really that big of a deal to make multiple videos on it, just use the graphical mods. I know a lot of people complaining about this have those mods, some in forums have even admitted it. Give some time for the mods to update, then make your character look however you want.

[@Aitherea]

Some people have made jokes about "do you really spend time staring at your char?" but the plain answer is yes. A large portion of the playerbase enjoys gposing (taking pics of their chars, sometimes very artistic). Not to mention, we get really good looks at our characters in cut scenes all the time. Lots of people (myself inlcuded) also love to play with glam, and when you do that you will often be fixating on your char. I spent a fair bit of time looking at her face. When I afk, it's usually with my char sitting in my house with the screen zoomed into, you guessed it, her face. FFXIV is an mmo where we can raid and do w/e the heck else, but for a lot of us it is equal parts dressup game. As for mods, this isn't something we should be considering as a solution. They are a bannable offense in the game, some people dont *want* to use them, and other people (console players) cannot access them at all. It's nice that SE wants to update the game to look more crisp and modern, but in doing so they also need to try and preserve the integrity of the characters we created, and they know that, and they're trying. But there have been some misses. Some people will call me dramatic or whatever other names, but I am simply providing feedback (data) in the form of a video, and I don't see anything wrong with that. Anyway, I hope this somewhat long comment (sorry) helps you understand why people care. But maybe you'll never get it, cuz clearly you don't care, and there's nothing wrong with that either.

[@libertylizard_]

Lmao this is probably one of the most ill-informed/ignorant takes that I've ever seen for this game. You thought a game where almost 80% of the playerbase (PC) uses aesthetic mods and uploads their glamour creations to Eorzea Collection, somehow didn't care about their appearance? It's precisely because of the reigning popularity of them, that the game retains a community of people who don't even 'play' the game at times. They do nothing but posing and standing around in the camera mode instead. As stated by some in JP; FFXIV is no longer really categorized as an MMO in the way it's industry peers are either. Hell the hardest content can be cleared without a healer in many cases, now. It's a lifestyle/social game, with elements of playing with others. Part of the ambition of attracting large numbers of 1-button casuals who enjoy FF games primarily for the story and solo engagement - are again, very fond of the art/character/immersion set up. If you'd have posted this in a game like ESO with wooden emotes, or a more dated palette like WoW - I'd have given a little more leeway. However in many of the dev meets and PowerPoints - art and character focus/themes - rank higher than the gameplay itself.

[@psoffxifan4904]

@@libertylizard_ I'm not going to argue anymore, it's gotten to a point where it's not worth the time or energy. I've moved on with my friend group back to vanilla/tbc wow. If the 14 community wants to spend hours looking at their character instead of playing a video game then I'm happy for you. I hated that the aspect of the game I came for back at the start of heavensward has been all but eradicated in the service of either homogenized job balance, or making everything soloable, or the focus on turning the game into second life. I'm done here.

[@ParisLeShea]

I feel like they totally ruined my female Hyur :(

[@phantomvox]

Cat has Elizabeth Holmes’ psychopathic stare

[@violetvampy]

you are crazy yea XD

[@zeldsfan]

I noticed something about face 4 au ra in the benchmark, they look too friendly 🤔

[@WickedIsPopular]

My husband and I have been Au Ra since they came out and I think his face looks fine but as for my character I don't like her new face at all😭 I might change to a female hrothgar.

[@marslara]

not to be mean but I laughed when I saw the jaw 3 on face 1 au ra why she got the chad chin 🤣 I do like the face 2 a lot more and midlander eating hardcore which is my main race. But yeah not sure why they changed features so much. I don't understand why they didn't just add more options instead of editing the ones we already had.

[@Aitherea]

I think what the graphical update highlights more than ever is the need for more customization. It has always been limited, but now that we're having these changes to the features, it just becomes more clear how much added customization would benefit this game.

[@7DiceGaming]

They use a smudge on the new to make images smoother it's a photo trick to try to enhance the image. They failed hard too.. 😂

[@megagreatgodlywhiteshark2929]

An muscles

[@fallow84]

SE really defeating us with this one ;-;

[@Mr.Sequiro]

You'll never be happy with anything they do because it will forever and always look uncanny valley to you in comparison to the way it looked before, you had your "perfect character" and any graphical alterations is going to make it look different, not sorry if this comes off harsh, you just need to get over it.

[@koumorihanyou6819]

I swear people like you go looking for videos like this. Either buy a life or farm some empathy.

[@clpdaddyo717]

Catboy changes are the worst imho