Dawntrail Benchmark Software Will be Replaced with Fixes for “Lifeless Eyes”

While Square Enix recently released the benchmark tool for the upcoming Final Fantasy 14: Dawntrail, producer and director Naoki Yoshida has taken to a blog post on the game’s official website to reveal that the software will be getting a new version to improve what has been described by players as the “lifeless eyes” of characters.

Yoshida goes quite in-depth about the game’s new graphical update, revealing that while Final Fantasy 14 will be getting a graphical upgrade with the release of Dawntrail, the development team overlooked updating the character creation environment in the benchmark software, instead prioritisng the development of the expansion itself.

The appearance of characters having “lifeless” eyes, according to Yoshida, comes down to a lack of highlights in the pupils, facial contours appearing flattened due to incorrect lighting conditions, and a lack of gloss or excessive gloss due to weather conditions.

“The special conditions created for the existing character creation system are largely responsible for the points outlined above,” says Yoshida in the post. “Changing these settings should greatly improve the situation, and I would appreciate it if you could bear with us as we work on updating the benchmark.”

The benchmark software’s replacement will also be focusing on other aspects of performance problems, including high-resolution textures for certain playable races, issues with uncorrected scaling for different characters’ mouths, and issues pertaining to special data processes.

The next version of the Final Fantasy 14: Dawntrail benchmark doesn’t yet have a release date. The expansion itself is slated for release on July 2, with pre-orders getting early access on June 28.