Final Fantasy 14 Dawntrail benchmark gives your WoL a new-gen makeover

And some people aren’t happy about it

Square Enix

The Final Fantasy 14 Dawntrail benchmark is here, and while the test’s ostensible purpose is showing whether your PC can handle the MMO game’s new update, there’s another reason for it: recreating your character in FF 14’s overhauled graphics. The Dawntrail benchmark comes with a character creator that features an early version of the FF14 7.0 graphics update, and you can use that character’s data in the benchmark test, which functions like an extended trailer starring your WoL.

If you’re playing FF14 now, you can save your character data and load it into the benchmark’s character creator or just start from scratch. Just be prepared for some changes.

The Dawntrail graphics update tweaks textures, lighting, shapes, and pretty much everything, so depending on what settings you used to create your Warrior of Light, they might not look quite like you expected. I stuck with a pretty standard Miqo’te and ended up pleased with the result, even though it looks like his eyebrows vanished.

Before / Square Enix/GLHF

After / Square Enix/GLHF

Others weren’t so happy. Reddit, Twitter, and the FFXIV Forums had several complaints, many less than politely phrased, about the changes, with some players even swearing they’d leave the game for good. Facial hair and eyebrows are rendered so thin and light that you almost can’t see them, Miqo’te Keepers of the Moon have had their fangs reduced, and Square Enix implemented a hero light so you can actually see your character in-game, though some consider the brightness a defect.

If you’re not happy with a character quirk, you can post your issue on the FFXIV forums. Square Enix promised to take issues under consideration and continue tweaking the graphics up until – and probably after – Dawntrail’s July 2024 launch.