I have been playing this game for quite a while, and I like the new faces, but I think there is room for improvement.
Starting off with the shading around the nose and mouth, I believe the characters would be better without it. The shading can be removed by just putting the mid tones over the shadow. The shading around the noses should be lessened, but not removed. The shading above the ears is also a bit too intense. The highlights on the cheeks also can be removed or lessened with the mid tones of the skin.
Some lips are simply too big for the faces, so the lower lip can be trimmed down from the sides. The upper lip should have more shadow, for the upper lip is almost always darker than the bottom one.
i 100% agree with you about the nose & mouth shading! especially on girls, the nose's shading makes the bridge look really thin & sharp like its contoured, so it stands out uncomfortably on the round, chubby face. then the nostrils seem to flair out, so the overall nose shape is kinda comical. i too want the nose shading reduced & the shape slightly re-sculpted. i also really want the smile lines around the mouth completely removed. i think those 2 things contribute most to the aged look girls have. guys have these problems too, but not as severe.
i also agree about the highlight on the cheeks, i think its what makes the face look chubby since the shape is so round. maybe reducing the area of coverage on the cheeks would help, because the way it is now makes the cheeks look raised like they're puffed out.
some of the lips are definitely odd, for guys & girls. girls dont have a lot of natural-looking thick lip options -- many of the thicker options are painted more like lipstick, even with neutral colors. and one of the only thick option that looks more natural is way too big for the face. then guys have weird mouths that are partly open or completely missing an upper lip, and many are also way too wide. i hope this can be looked into by the devs. i like the ideas you suggested!
i do think the team needs to look at skin colors urgently. when they reduced the intensity of the lighting in test realm, a lot of the colors became really flat-looking and desaturated, especially the darker tones . if they do the changes to the sculpt of the face that you mentioned, i think they can bring up the strength of the lighting again (though not as much as it was originally) so our skin looks more lively. and of course the entire palette should be expanded greatly.
finally, this is more of a technical/animation issue, but i think it would make a HUGE improvement to the face. the current idle animation for the face & mouth is SUPER awkward -- the mouth moves way too much, like we're constantly chewing something in a completely unnatural way. i really hope KI changes this. keep the mouth still & neutral while in idle, and maybe simplify the blink by making it snappier & reducing the eyebrow movement. this would make the faces so much easier to look at, plus it would help with animations too -- because so many of them are currently missing, the face often freezes mid-frame outside of the idle before snapping back into place.
sorry if that was too long, i care way too much about the art of this game lol... and i really liked your feedback! thanks for sharing your perspective, i truly hope devs take what you said into account & make improvements
. if they do the changes to the sculpt of the face that you mentioned, i think they can bring up the strength of the lighting again (though not as much as it was originally) so our skin looks more lively. and of course the entire palette should be expanded greatly.