The lalafell. Eorzea's potato. A whole mountain of evil condensed into one tiny gnome-like overlord. Consider: a mouth that opens as if its jaw was unhinged, revealing nothing more than a top row of teeth gracing an endless void.
Well, at least that's the way lalafell physiology has worked in Final Fantasy 14 since its inception, but things are changing—upcoming expansion Dawntrail is being accompanied by a graphical facelift, and that means some of the ageing character models are getting updated. While we wait for it, the recently released benchmark has given fans a pretty decent insight into what we can expect.
For the most part, fans seem pretty happy with the changes. My Viera has lost some of the twinkle in her eye, a result of the changes to how they're lit, but I'm pretty happy with her upgrade overall. For some, however, tragedy has befallen their Warriors of Light.
Some of the changes are hopefully accidental—like the removal of fangs from Keeper of the Moon miqo'te, which is one of the traits that distinguishes them from their Seeker of the Sun brethren. Some seem more intentional, and here to stay. One such change that has been getting particular attention on Reddit is whatever the hell Square Enix has done to lalafell mouths.
Lala evolving into dolphin? I can't unsee these teeth from r/ffxiv
The wide gummy void has been swapped out for a distinctly narrower gob. It looks fine in isolation, but the teeth's where the real bizarreness kicks in. They're squeezed in considerably closer now which, as one Redditor put it, implies "that the cheeks are empty storage space, like a hamster." It's created a rather unsettling image, which is saying a lot considering we're already looking at a lalafell.
I personally prefer the new lalafell mouths, as do a number of the commenters in the thread. "I like the new mouth, but not the new teeths," one user wrote, while another said "It actually makes them look cute for the first time… the black abyss was scary and now they just look like silly little goobers". Maybe you're in the same camp as this player, who commented that "Both are equally terrifying in their own way".
It's definitely strange seeing these minor adjustments to our beloved characters after all these years. It'll take some getting used to, especially since this change just veers from one odd design choice to another. Even if their teeth do stay frighteningly narrow, lalafell are a notoriously rich bunch, so there's probably a dentist knocking around in Eorzea who can slap some braces on them or something.
