Final Fantasy 14: Dawntrail Benchmark Software Will be Replaced with Fixes for “Lifeless Eyes”

As Final Fantasy 14 prepares for its Dawntrail expansion, game producer Naoki Yoshida has announced an update to the benchmark tool used for assessing player systems. Through a comprehensive blog post, Yoshida explains that while the game has been visually enhanced for Dawntrail, the benchmark's character creation platform remained outdated, showing characters with what some gamers described as "lifeless eyes."

Yoshida attributed this disconcerting description to missing highlights and inappropriate facial shadows due to poor lighting, combined with inconsistent gloss effects caused by varying weather scenarios. Recognizing the crux of the issue lay in the outdated settings of the character creation system, Yoshida assured that rectifying these would notably enhance the character's appearances.

In an expansive move to refine the player experience, the updated benchmark tool will also address other technical issues, such as resolution inconsistencies across different character races, incorrect scaling of character’s mouth sizes, and specific data processing problems.

While the release date for the updated benchmark tool is still pending, excitement builds for the July 2 release of the Dawntrail expansion, with pre-order players gaining early access as of June 28.