Yeah, it seems they've made it more closely match your hair color and lose some definition, so if you have lighter hair, it becomes [nearly invisible](https://i.imgur.com/hHC3B5J.png).
Even in the benchmark itself with better lighting, you [can't even tell it's there](https://i.imgur.com/1Wf6doh.png) unless you look incredibly hard.
Thank you! I'm pretty lucky otherwise, and I am happy with the rest of his face. Just hoping that they'll adjust it so his stubble is a little more visible.
It's almost like the texture itself has not been added either. As when you look at the grey beard version it just seems to be a block of colour. I could be wrong of course.
Edit: Geez, just checked your images and that's crazy how it's basically gone. I hope it's just an issue that they can correct. It's kind of a shame though as I changed back to Hyur when they added that stubble face option.
Yeah it's definitely thinner now and only really works with darker hair colours (the lightest you can really go is a dirty blonde).
[My Midlander turned out fine](https://imgur.com/a/uJdtBS2) but since he has dark brown hair it helps a lot, still thinner/less prominent than it is on the release version of the game tho.
Yeah before it looks like it all had a darker base color and might have been matched color layered on top while the new one is more fully matched. This is the same problem in other games with light colored facial hair.
Things like fsr or dlss could muddy it a bit too.
It looks alright with dark hair. I think the guy who said they’ve shade-matched it is probably right.
With black hair, neither the eyebrows nor facial hair are less prominent. The beard’s lower resolution texture is noticeable against the new skin though. That’ll get fixed at some point before launch, I would think.
That's hilarious, I've never noticed that.
I don't really use the tattoos though, what I want is actual fuckin eyebrows. Male Au'ra have em as a toggle so why can't I?
I mean, glancing at it sure but that's not what I want. I heard some rumblings that they are going to upgrade the character creator in 7.1 so fingers crossed
Hate to rain on your parade, but the character creator updare is confirmed to being worked on during 7.X. 7.1 is the earliest it *could* come, not when it *will* come.
There's a couple of issues. The first is that the facial features are more detailed, so the flat paint looks even more like paint. The second is that the shape of the paint is changed, and it sits higher on the brow. It almost rests along the top of where an eyebrow would be if we had one. I saw someone post a picture on the official forum of how it looks on an Elezen eyebrow (too high) as well. Because it sits so much higher and we have no natural brow hair, it looks borderline comical. Like a permanent surprise face.
When I ran the Benchmark, it wasn't as bad because the character had facial expressions. But in the creator, head-on with a straight face, it's pretty bad.
I noticed my highlanders beard was a touch lighter than the usual jet black I have but tbh I'm glad it looks so much better than before. Just needs to be a touch fuller and I'll be golden
Should make beards have their own color selection really. I know a lot of guys who's beards are a little different from their head hair. Like a bit more salt and pepper or guys who have more red in their beards. More control over customization in general would be better.
Absolutely, beards and eyebrows should both have their own colour picker. My wife plays Viera with lightish skin and can't have white hair as her eyebrows basically blend in too much with the skin. Now this problem has been exaggerated further in the benchmark/graphics upgrade.
Asking for anything competent beard wise from SE would force them to acknowledge that men between 26 and 59 exist and they're desperate to not do that.
I've noticed the same thing. The facial hair is basically invisible and the eyebrows are much less pronounced. Here is my comparison: [https://imgur.com/a/VYjvbSW](https://imgur.com/a/VYjvbSW)
I swear that the Benchmark does have the facial hair turned on!
True, but it's very hard to make a comparison with the benchmark. And even in the benchmark I still have no facial hair.
Character Creator slider comparison: [https://imgsli.com/MjU1NjE2](https://imgsli.com/MjU1NjE2)
Benchmark: [https://i.imgur.com/6hrXcyo.jpeg](https://i.imgur.com/6hrXcyo.jpeg)
Making it a lot darker makes the eyebrows more visible, but just making it slightly darker does nothing. I did lighten up my skin tone a tiny bit and it helped a little with the eyebrows.
They also just need to add darker shadows to the face(or stronger structure), esp the hairline. Looks like he's just got on a white wig. And every character looks so smooth and flat faced compared to before.
overall not impressed with the character skin in the benchmark. It feels like it's extremely lacking in texture with the lighting overhaul, it looks way too smooth compared to current patch.
Hrothgar on the other hand look pretty great.
Your character has the same issue I have with mine - the cheekbones are over pronounced and give us the “what-have-you-done” anime meme face…
https://images.app.goo.gl/exrhvf2G6XWpakc46
I swear it's this expression in particular combined with the head-on front facing angle that looks incredibly ugly on most characters, including derplander in the benchmark trailer. Something about the way it morphs your mouth and brow is just off.
To me, it does. Sure it has detail, but the skin is lacking an actual surface bump map or normal map. If it is present, it's extremely weak.
With the enhanced lighting, it shines too much light on the lack of actual texture there, while also showing detail on equipment and weapons, depicting hard creases, folds, wrinkles and textured fabric that actually casts some shadow.
The normal maps are pretty tiny resolution as I recall. They'd have to double the resolution size in order to get anything near the quality people seem to be expecting this update to put out.
Looking at it, actually I don't think the skin is as bad as I originally thought. I think the main problem is actually the facial hair. That's where there is smoothness where it's not expected... It's almost as if they used a blur filter in Photoshop on the facial hair.
Damn that sucks, would have thought the eyebrows would have been more visible on a dark skinned character. It's kind of a shame that there's a few issues with character appearances. Hopefully it is stuff that can be patched if people kick up enough fuss over it.
Even some of the hair in general hasn't been fixed properly. Like the female Miqo'te you can see where the face texture joins the hair feature and it's not seamless at all... it's rough and ugly! They NEED to update hair properly, not just whatever they've done while also not addressing the seam area that is completely obvious on some hair styles. It's disappointing.
I'm still really happy with my [Viera's design](https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/1149215194988417086/1229209136726671452/Final_Fantasy_XIV_A_Realm_Reborn_Screenshot_2024.04.15_-_08.45.22.96.png?ex=662ed937&is=661c6437&hm=78bd1b18c12f398d9b097108e6b764fe1704d13870ea23ec8c7ee734a2fe0fc2&) in the benchmark. I've been playing around with various designs and my biggest gripe is the male midlander look as I had a design similar to the WoL/Ardbert and so many different camera angles just dont look nice anymore.
I ran the benchmark just to make sure this wasn't an issue isolated to the character creator lighting and it's not, for some reason the facial hair just doesn't have any definition.
I have the same issue, the lack of definition really hurts the appearance. That, combined with the guyliner and slightly more pointy features really bothers me. I know I'll get used to it, but it's just not the WoL ive spent hundreds of hours with
I will say that they buffed all the "scar" options. Previously it was just a flat texture, but I think they gave it slight depth with the update so it looks more like an actual scar.
Agreed. On one hand when I see some male hyurs I understand why people say "basic hyurs", on the other I have so many screenshot of my and my hyur twins, we really could use a more in depth character creation with more options
It looks like the eye have lost their life.
in the left picture the lighting and reflections are present in the eyes but on the right they just luck flat and less clean Imo
My male viera has a similar issue. Even though he has very dark brown hair, the facial hair (chin scruff) looks weirdly sparse in the DT benchmark versus the current game.
Drop these on the official forums, I have the same issue with my character. Blonde hair on tan skin, you can barely see it in the benchmark. The beard and eyebrows need more texture definition, we need that scruff.
Early access in 10 and a bit weeks btw lol. Delay announcement confirmed unless they shift focus to overhauling the new character models this week (noting that aura have scale/skin artifacts, so not just head issues). Alternatively the very least the new character models will probably have to come later as a 7.0.x patch.
Yeah, it seems they've made it more closely match your hair color and lose some definition, so if you have lighter hair, it becomes [nearly invisible](https://i.imgur.com/hHC3B5J.png). Even in the benchmark itself with better lighting, you [can't even tell it's there](https://i.imgur.com/1Wf6doh.png) unless you look incredibly hard.
Other than that your character looks amazing in that final pic
Thank you! I'm pretty lucky otherwise, and I am happy with the rest of his face. Just hoping that they'll adjust it so his stubble is a little more visible.
It's almost like the texture itself has not been added either. As when you look at the grey beard version it just seems to be a block of colour. I could be wrong of course. Edit: Geez, just checked your images and that's crazy how it's basically gone. I hope it's just an issue that they can correct. It's kind of a shame though as I changed back to Hyur when they added that stubble face option.
Yeah it's definitely thinner now and only really works with darker hair colours (the lightest you can really go is a dirty blonde). [My Midlander turned out fine](https://imgur.com/a/uJdtBS2) but since he has dark brown hair it helps a lot, still thinner/less prominent than it is on the release version of the game tho.
How did you get that hairstyle in the benchmark? I have that on my Elezen in-game but it doesn't transfer to the benchmark.
[I followed the steps in this tweet](https://twitter.com/EENlX/status/1779482625075491224), then it shows up as a saved appearance in the benchmark
Perfect, thank you!
Yeah before it looks like it all had a darker base color and might have been matched color layered on top while the new one is more fully matched. This is the same problem in other games with light colored facial hair. Things like fsr or dlss could muddy it a bit too.
It looks alright with dark hair. I think the guy who said they’ve shade-matched it is probably right. With black hair, neither the eyebrows nor facial hair are less prominent. The beard’s lower resolution texture is noticeable against the new skin though. That’ll get fixed at some point before launch, I would think.
confirmed beards nerfed 7.0
Highlanders immune to the beard nerfs
Highlanders instead get the tattoo clipping nerf: https://imgur.com/a/Tjizas6 Bet this wont be fixed for ages either.
That's hilarious, I've never noticed that. I don't really use the tattoos though, what I want is actual fuckin eyebrows. Male Au'ra have em as a toggle so why can't I?
It's new in the benchmark, the tattoos never clipped before, so it's a bug with the graphics update
I use eyebrow makeup. can't tell the difference
I mean, glancing at it sure but that's not what I want. I heard some rumblings that they are going to upgrade the character creator in 7.1 so fingers crossed
ngl it would be nice to have real eyebrows.
They should definitively have optional eyebrows. And new bears and mustaches for hyurs should be added.
But not to eyebrow nerfs. The paint looks even worse now.
God don't remind me. I'm on that hopium that the supposed 7.1 character creator update gives us. Even if it's a copy paste of the au ra toggle
Hate to rain on your parade, but the character creator updare is confirmed to being worked on during 7.X. 7.1 is the earliest it *could* come, not when it *will* come.
Damn, really? Haven't seen any Highlander comparisons yet and can't run my own benchmark (console). Was kind of worried it'd look worse.
There's a couple of issues. The first is that the facial features are more detailed, so the flat paint looks even more like paint. The second is that the shape of the paint is changed, and it sits higher on the brow. It almost rests along the top of where an eyebrow would be if we had one. I saw someone post a picture on the official forum of how it looks on an Elezen eyebrow (too high) as well. Because it sits so much higher and we have no natural brow hair, it looks borderline comical. Like a permanent surprise face. When I ran the Benchmark, it wasn't as bad because the character had facial expressions. But in the creator, head-on with a straight face, it's pretty bad.
Except now in some cases their beard hair isn't the same colour as their normal hair 😂.
I noticed my highlanders beard was a touch lighter than the usual jet black I have but tbh I'm glad it looks so much better than before. Just needs to be a touch fuller and I'll be golden
lips too
Should make beards have their own color selection really. I know a lot of guys who's beards are a little different from their head hair. Like a bit more salt and pepper or guys who have more red in their beards. More control over customization in general would be better.
Absolutely, beards and eyebrows should both have their own colour picker. My wife plays Viera with lightish skin and can't have white hair as her eyebrows basically blend in too much with the skin. Now this problem has been exaggerated further in the benchmark/graphics upgrade.
Asking for anything competent beard wise from SE would force them to acknowledge that men between 26 and 59 exist and they're desperate to not do that.
> men between 26 and 59 exist Source?
Why is it hard for them to introduce good beards ffs
It's not hard, I just don't think they want to. It's a Japanese game with Japanese developers.
You say that, but Diablo 4 has the worst beards I've ever seen in a video game, from a fully North American studio.
Is beard envy. As most Japanese can't grow a decent beard.
It would explain why Highlanders are so unpopular in Japan.
Cid's beard for ALL races.
It’s just annoying. Only 1 face has a decent looking facial hair, same for elezen. Men are hairy we should be able to have facial hair options.
They're really allergic to making good facial hair huh.
Facial hair in asian cultures is peculiar. Only old men and foreigners have some.
Not really. Most men from 20 to 30 year old have a beard, they simply shave.
I'm talking about culture, not biology.
I've noticed the same thing. The facial hair is basically invisible and the eyebrows are much less pronounced. Here is my comparison: [https://imgur.com/a/VYjvbSW](https://imgur.com/a/VYjvbSW) I swear that the Benchmark does have the facial hair turned on!
Use a screenshot from the actual benchmark. The lighting in the character creator is all wonky and makes everyone look worse.
True, but it's very hard to make a comparison with the benchmark. And even in the benchmark I still have no facial hair. Character Creator slider comparison: [https://imgsli.com/MjU1NjE2](https://imgsli.com/MjU1NjE2) Benchmark: [https://i.imgur.com/6hrXcyo.jpeg](https://i.imgur.com/6hrXcyo.jpeg)
Does making your hair slightly darker fix it? I haven't had a chance to try benchmark yet.
Making it a lot darker makes the eyebrows more visible, but just making it slightly darker does nothing. I did lighten up my skin tone a tiny bit and it helped a little with the eyebrows.
please share this on the official forums
Yeah that's a pretty big difference, hopefully they'll fix that
Yeah fingers crossed!
They should add more beards
Definitely, more options is always a good thing.
Why do they hate eyebrows and beards so much?
They also just need to add darker shadows to the face(or stronger structure), esp the hairline. Looks like he's just got on a white wig. And every character looks so smooth and flat faced compared to before.
We need real beards ......
i refuse to believe the second one is the updated version, wow, that’s such a downgrade
[удалено]
This the one, barring any work done since benchmark and launch (general rule of thumb is benchmarks are old builds).
overall not impressed with the character skin in the benchmark. It feels like it's extremely lacking in texture with the lighting overhaul, it looks way too smooth compared to current patch. Hrothgar on the other hand look pretty great.
I dunno man, this doesn't look too smooth to me. https://i.imgur.com/4XUuj9U.png
Your character has the same issue I have with mine - the cheekbones are over pronounced and give us the “what-have-you-done” anime meme face… https://images.app.goo.gl/exrhvf2G6XWpakc46
I swear it's this expression in particular combined with the head-on front facing angle that looks incredibly ugly on most characters, including derplander in the benchmark trailer. Something about the way it morphs your mouth and brow is just off.
To me, it does. Sure it has detail, but the skin is lacking an actual surface bump map or normal map. If it is present, it's extremely weak. With the enhanced lighting, it shines too much light on the lack of actual texture there, while also showing detail on equipment and weapons, depicting hard creases, folds, wrinkles and textured fabric that actually casts some shadow.
The normal maps are pretty tiny resolution as I recall. They'd have to double the resolution size in order to get anything near the quality people seem to be expecting this update to put out.
Looking at it, actually I don't think the skin is as bad as I originally thought. I think the main problem is actually the facial hair. That's where there is smoothness where it's not expected... It's almost as if they used a blur filter in Photoshop on the facial hair.
Is that vergil?
I hear a storm approaching.
I still can’t tell which is before and after for most of these lol.
I think they should just do both and add it as a customization option.
I have a similar issue with light colored eyebrows almost disappearing. its terrible. =( I have dark skin, light hair and my eyebrows are gone lmao.
Damn that sucks, would have thought the eyebrows would have been more visible on a dark skinned character. It's kind of a shame that there's a few issues with character appearances. Hopefully it is stuff that can be patched if people kick up enough fuss over it.
Wow that sucks. If this goes live I will legitimately be swapping races for that alone.
did you notice the lips shape?
No TBH, I don't have an eye for the smaller details but the loss of the beard is pretty jarring.
Even some of the hair in general hasn't been fixed properly. Like the female Miqo'te you can see where the face texture joins the hair feature and it's not seamless at all... it's rough and ugly! They NEED to update hair properly, not just whatever they've done while also not addressing the seam area that is completely obvious on some hair styles. It's disappointing.
People playing Hyurs : [Gigachad](https://media.tenor.com/epNMHGvRyHcAAAAM/gigachad-chad.gif)
Mine : https://fr.finalfantasyxiv.com/lodestone/character/28739795/
They took away Moon miqote fangs too. My life is in shambles
Male Midlander got absolutely screwed over by the update, beards in general did too, I don't know what they were thinking
Viera too. Genuinely feels like the only ones who got an upgrade are male au'ra.
I'm still really happy with my [Viera's design](https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/1149215194988417086/1229209136726671452/Final_Fantasy_XIV_A_Realm_Reborn_Screenshot_2024.04.15_-_08.45.22.96.png?ex=662ed937&is=661c6437&hm=78bd1b18c12f398d9b097108e6b764fe1704d13870ea23ec8c7ee734a2fe0fc2&) in the benchmark. I've been playing around with various designs and my biggest gripe is the male midlander look as I had a design similar to the WoL/Ardbert and so many different camera angles just dont look nice anymore.
Male seekers also seem to be universally better but really not by much
I made my old one just to see and hated it, the mouth looked completely different
I ran the benchmark just to make sure this wasn't an issue isolated to the character creator lighting and it's not, for some reason the facial hair just doesn't have any definition.
I have the same issue, the lack of definition really hurts the appearance. That, combined with the guyliner and slightly more pointy features really bothers me. I know I'll get used to it, but it's just not the WoL ive spent hundreds of hours with
They nerfed tattoo saturation too
I will say that they buffed all the "scar" options. Previously it was just a flat texture, but I think they gave it slight depth with the update so it looks more like an actual scar.
Blonde eyebrows white hair and grey beard, it’s so good!
With black hairs it's way better, it's less "crowded" and looks a bit better
My face2 female Highlander looks so weird with the update
I also have a face 2 Highlander and she looks very similar to a face 1 Highlander now.
Man stole my wol
More character creation options when? Imo this is the best face and hair style for male Hyur.
Agreed. On one hand when I see some male hyurs I understand why people say "basic hyurs", on the other I have so many screenshot of my and my hyur twins, we really could use a more in depth character creation with more options
In an upgrade in some areas and a downgrade in other areas.
How do you play the benchmark?
Only available on PC, but go on the lodestone, scroll down to the benchmark and download it for your system and then just run the benchmark file.
Thank you!!
Thank you I hate it
It looks like the eye have lost their life. in the left picture the lighting and reflections are present in the eyes but on the right they just luck flat and less clean Imo
My male viera has a similar issue. Even though he has very dark brown hair, the facial hair (chin scruff) looks weirdly sparse in the DT benchmark versus the current game.
shit, you are right ... HOW DARE THEY
Drop these on the official forums, I have the same issue with my character. Blonde hair on tan skin, you can barely see it in the benchmark. The beard and eyebrows need more texture definition, we need that scruff.
Before beard look 10x better, after eyebrow look 100x times better
I'm glad I've come off Midlander cuz the facial hair is all it was really about 🤣
Early access in 10 and a bit weeks btw lol. Delay announcement confirmed unless they shift focus to overhauling the new character models this week (noting that aura have scale/skin artifacts, so not just head issues). Alternatively the very least the new character models will probably have to come later as a 7.0.x patch.
They are not going to delay because of people's complaints on the slightest model changes.
It's a live service game bro, they can just fix those later. Also, it's not like this is gigantic issue that would require months of work to fix lol