Final Fantasy XIV Player Character Models and Faces Will Be Fixed in 7.1

Director and Producer Naoki Yoshida said that following Final Fantasy XIV player character models and faces feedback, various avatar fixes will come in the 7.1 patch. He shared a list of major, recurring issues related to lips, faces, mouths, eyes, eyelashes, jawlines, and smiles. 

The first thing Yoshida discussed was how polygon and mapping affected certain Final Fantasy XIV player character faces, which he hopes to have fixed for avatars in 7.1. Some of the biggest changes will involve lip colors being the way they are intended to be, a more noticeable philtrum, that the corners of mouths will look more natural, eye shadows and bags will look more uniform and consistent, and other issues with polygons will be rectified. He also noted that there’s been some progress already, citing differences between 6.58 and 7.0.

Yoshida also paid quite a bit of attention to eyelashes in the update. He cited that the graphics update might have made them face in odd ways, so that will eventually be adjusted. However, while that improvement might not come until after 7.1, some other ones involving them looking too thin or dark will be handled in the 7.1 patch. 

There are also some other Final Fantasy XIV player characters face and model issues that will be fixed for avatars after 7.1 since Yoshida described them as being intensive. The jawlines are one issue, which involve polygons and rigs, and will be worked on to look more like the 6.58 ones. The same goes for smiling issues. The Auri horns will be fixed in 7.2, as will face paint appearing improperly on models. 

Finally, Yoshida shared a list of other issues that the team is aware of and will fix. Here are the other issues:

• Beards and scars appear lighter on certain face types, when paired with specific skin tones (processing issue).
• The scales on the faces and bodies of Au Ra have a rough silhouette in certain areas (visible at higher resolutions).
• Hair floats slightly in certain areas (polygon surface joining adjustment error).
• The mouths of certain NPCs appear to glow (data issue).
• The nose tips of certain Viera faces appear extremely dark (adjustment oversight).

Final Fantasy XIV is available for the PS4, PS5, Xbox Series X, and PC, and the 7.1 patch will be further discussed at the TGS 2024 Letter from the Producer Live.