As Final Fantasy 14's Dawntrail benchmark turns some of the MMO's players into cursed beings with "lifeless" eyes, Yoshi-P apologizes and promises a new one

20.04.2024 - 18:50 / gamesradar.com / Iain Harris

The Final Fantasy 14 Dawntrail benchmark is here, giving MMO fans a glimpse into what their characters will look like after the graphical update in patch 7.0. While plenty are rather pleased about their Warrior of Lights glow-ups, some have been left looking worse for wear.

But fret not, director and producer Naoki 'Yoshi-P' Yoshida says that's because some issues are at play that can be solved with a new and improved benchmark you'll get soon. 

Yoshi-P explains in a new blog post that the character creation system you see was designed 10 years ago and should have been updated "but was overlooked as we prioritized the development of Dawntrail and tuning the graphical update in the actual game."

As such, if you find your character's eyes "lifeless," facial contours flattened, or gloss lacking or excessive, an upcoming graphical update should sort your Warrior of Light out.

"We are currently expediting a rework of the environments and light sources of character creation for both the actual game and the benchmark; once that is complete, the current benchmark will be replaced," Yoshi-P says.

Whilst I understand people's negative feedback on twitter about certain stuff they've seen with the FFXIV DT but THIS is how you compile data as feedback, doing god's work over on the JP section. (this is just a tiny fraction of what's in the thread) pic.twitter.com/clBWFS4rBTApril 16, 2024

OH WHAT THE FUCK NOYOSHIP PUT THOSE FUCKING CANINES BACK IN RIGHT MEOW pic.twitter.com/cSUbNiXxAQApril 14, 2024

That's the first part of the issue the team has identified, the second relates to how the game handles the requirement to modify "an enormous amount of data" – which I assume means your character changing appearance. 

Thankfully, those issues are steadily being remedied as Square Enix nears Dawntrail's release, though said issues have remained in the benchmark due to "simple data-related errors or neglecting to reflect the upcoming changes to the benchmark environment."

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As such, the game is experiencing issues with unimplementing high-resolution textures for certain races, certain circumstances making certain characters' necklines look off, and more. Much like the first point, the issues will be resolved both in a new benchmark release and in Dawntrail itself. 

"My apologies for asking you to bear with us as we address the points of concern," Yoshida says. "The team and I will continue doing our best for the graphical update and Dawntrail's release, and we would appreciate your continued support!"

10 years ago, Final Fantasy 14's hard-fought revival was nearly derailed by an infamous boss who Yoshi-P says made 300,000 defeated players drop the MMO.