Canis lupus
Member
Not how assets work, they don't need to throw any thing they have made in the trash.
Character models were likely used for all levels of rendering capacity. A pre rendered character model is not different from the in game model. It's why an intro like the FFXIV prerend intro can be so filled and shockingly detailed, because they have already made like millions of assets for the game.
Different clothing and hairstyles maybe but that's far from starting over.
Look at the increased geometry and objects in the environment, Stella's new model. You think they didn't throw away any assets?