Poll of the Day > When it comes to games with custom characters:

(+) Yeah! (+)

I am EXTREMELY sexist when it comes to this, I will admit.

Dark Souls series, for instance.

I always start with a male character. Usually go all melee.

Then on the second playthrough I always make a beautiful woman. And go pure magic.

LOL

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Zeus posted...

I typically pick the least-human race so...

[insert incredibly obvious joke here]



Zeus posted...

For Oblivion, I picked Argonian despite there not being a ton of water in the game (thus limiting the racial perk's usefulness). For Skyrim, I mained a Khajiit both for the look (Argonians didn't look great) and because they had great racial bonuses, especially the nightvision perk (which was great for exploration).

So you picked a race in Oblivion that would rarely get to use its strengths, and in Skyrim you picked the race that was being socially ostracized (even if it wasn't reflected in gameplay, more's the pity - it would have been cool if you got more shit or had to actively avoid certain cities as a Khajiit). It's like you're deliberately choosing hard mode!

I was pretty much the exact opposite. It wasn't really a conscious choice on my part, but I noticed that my first choices in the Elder Scrolls games tended to be thematically appropriate. My first run in Oblivion I was an Imperial, my first run in Skyrim was a Nord. And it wasn't really a case of me going "Well, I'll play someone who's from here" - in Oblivion I went with the Imperial because of the speech bonuses (always a huge plus for me in any RPG), and in Skyrim I went with the Nord because they had the best-looking face models (in a selection of almost universally terrible faces).



GreenKnight127 posted...

I am EXTREMELY sexist when it comes to this, I will admit.

I always start with a male character. Usually go all melee. Then on the second playthrough I always make a beautiful woman. And go pure magic.

I tend to have a similar gender-based melee/magic assumption (though I'll happily play Amazon women swinging giant two-handed swords). But I've also noticed that my bigger bias is alignment-related.

If I'm trying to do a deliberate evil run in an RPG with moral choice, where I'm going to screw over everyone I meet and torture innocent people, I almost HAVE to play as a male character. When I play female I tend to lean more into nurturing/protective instincts and wind up reflexively going good.

In KotOR, I started out assuming I'd be a Sith by the end of the game... but I played a female character, and I was 100% Light Side before I ever left the third planet.
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ParanoidObsessive posted...

So you picked a race in Oblivion that would rarely get to use its strengths, and in Skyrim you picked the race that was being socially ostracized (even if it wasn't reflected in gameplay, more's the pity - it would have been cool if you got more shit or had to actively avoid certain cities as a Khajiit). It's like you're deliberately choosing hard mode!

I was pretty much the exact opposite. It wasn't really a conscious choice on my part, but I noticed that my first choices in the Elder Scrolls games tended to be thematically appropriate. My first run in Oblivion I was an Imperial, my first run in Skyrim was a Nord. And it wasn't really a case of me going "Well, I'll play someone who's from here" - in Oblivion I went with the Imperial because of the speech bonuses (always a huge plus for me in any RPG), and in Skyrim I went with the Nord because they had the best-looking face models (in a selection of almost universally terrible faces).

I'm boring that way. I always play as the that region's race in whatever Elder Scrolls game I'm playing.
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ParanoidObsessive posted...

and in Skyrim you picked the race that was being socially ostracized (even if it wasn't reflected in gameplay, more's the pity - it would have been cool if you got more shit or had to actively avoid certain cities as a Khajiit). It's like you're deliberately choosing hard mode

I agree to some degree. I think you (playing a khajhit) should either become recognized as dragon born or have to complete a missiom for every city to gain entry to that city. Basically a whole earn the jarls trust type of BS mission.

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mooreandrew58 posted...

I agree to some degree. I think you (playing a khajhit) should either become recognized as dragon born or have to complete a missiom for every city to gain entry to that city. Basically a whole earn the jarls trust type of BS mission.

Could make it easier if you only have to do so for Stormcloak-controlled areas, since the Empire would be less likely to discriminate along those lines.

...though, on the other hand, Khajiit are from Elsweyr, and that's technically part of the Aldmeri Dominion, which should bias both Nords and Imperials against you to some degree. Though that should apply to elves as well.
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Most female characters in Morrowind have better stats than male characters.

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ParanoidObsessive posted...

Could make it easier if you only have to do so for Stormcloak-controlled areas, since the Empire would be less likely to discriminate along those lines.

...though, on the other hand, Khajiit are from Elsweyr, and that's technically part of the Aldmeri Dominion, which should bias both Nords and Imperials against you to some degree. Though that should apply to elves as well.

Yes their ia racism in elder scrolls and I do actually wish gameplay would reflect that. Dont make it impossible to do everything with a race just with some you have to make them like you first

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mooreandrew58 posted...

Yes their ia racism in elder scrolls and I do actually wish gameplay would reflect that. Dont make it impossible to do everything with a race just with some you have to make them like you first

I think one character attacks you if you talk to them as certain races or something like that.
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mooreandrew58 posted...

I do actually wish gameplay would reflect that. Dont make it impossible to do everything with a race just with some you have to make them like you first

I always think of how Vampire: the Masquerade handled the Nosferatu - they're hideously disfigured vampires, so they can't really blend in with humans. And because the game has a "Masquerade Violation" mechanic (ie, if you get caught doing vampire things, and people realize you're a vampire, you get a strike. If you get five strikes it's an automatic game over), you literally cannot walk around in public without getting Masquerade violations. So if you pick Nosferatu as a clan, you're basically forced into stealth-based play, and you have to travel around through the sewers instead of just walking the streets (like other clans can).

Making certain aspects of play more difficult for a given race is/should be fine, as long as it's still doable. If anything, it can make that race more interesting for people who choose to play it.
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ParanoidObsessive posted...

I always think of how Vampire: the Masquerade handled the Nosferatu - they're hideously disfigured vampires, so they can't really blend in with humans. And because the game has a "Masquerade Violation" mechanic (ie, if you get caught doing vampire things, and people realize you're a vampire, you get a strike. If you get five strikes it's an automatic game over), you literally cannot walk around in public without getting Masquerade violations. So if you pick Nosferatu as a clan, you're basically forced into stealth-based play, and you have to travel around through the sewers instead of just walking the streets (like other clans can).

Making certain aspects of play more difficult for a given race is/should be fine, as long as it's still doable. If anything, it can make that race more interesting for people who choose to play it.

That seems like a dumb mechanic since it makes no sense that the game would suddenly end in that way.
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ParanoidObsessive posted...

I always think of how Vampire: the Masquerade handled the Nosferatu - they're hideously disfigured vampires, so they can't really blend in with humans. And because the game has a "Masquerade Violation" mechanic (ie, if you get caught doing vampire things, and people realize you're a vampire, you get a strike. If you get five strikes it's an automatic game over), you literally cannot walk around in public without getting Masquerade violations. So if you pick Nosferatu as a clan, you're basically forced into stealth-based play, and you have to travel around through the sewers instead of just walking the streets (like other clans can).

Making certain aspects of play more difficult for a given race is/should be fine, as long as it's still doable. If anything, it can make that race more interesting for people who choose to play it.

With ES it would be nice too that it wouldnt always be the same racea at a disadvantage since every game is another kingdom.

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It's been a while since I heard something like in the OP. I used to see it a fair bit from newer players. Some people just naturally assume that everyone makes their character look like them IRL. I remember playing MH tri on the wii. It was clearly a lot of peoples first online game and so many people assumed I was a girl in real life just because my hunter was female (which hilariously led to them just giving me free shit and hunting whatever I wanted to a lot of the time) despite me never saying anything to imply I was. Playing as a male character later for the hell of it, everyone was much less nice and it was hilarious to see the difference.

I always play female when given an equal choice. If theres gender locked classes or specific characters than I'll play whatever I think will be most fun. i play human probably 70% of the time but I'll sometimes go with something else. Generally pale skinned but within that sometimes I'll go for a caucasian look and sometimes for an asian/anime look. I pick a variety of heights, hair colors, muscles and bust size as well although I'd say about 50% of the time I go for about 5'8", C cup, red or white hair (red if short, white if long), slim.

So much of end game MMOs is about cosmetics/fashion and I just couldn't care less about what a male character looks like most of the time so the choice is easy. It's also nice to just have variety compared to real life in addition to the normal reasons of rather look at a girls ass or not hear male moaning or whatever. I think initially the idea for me was that every game that doesn't let you choose a character has you play as a guy so I wanted to mix it up and ended up preferring it.

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Revelation34 posted...

That seems like a dumb mechanic since it makes no sense that the game would suddenly end in that way.

The accumulation of evidence threatens to reveal to the entire world that vampires are real, resulting in humans hunting you all down and killing you. So other vampires murder the fuck out of you because you keep casually violating a policy of secrecy that's been enforced for hundreds of years.

It makes perfect sense. And it's perfectly in keeping with the setting. The game is literally called Vampire: the Masquerade because the Masquerade is one of the most important elements of vampire culture. Pretty much every faction that exists in the setting would easily kill you over it. And you're hardly the most powerful vampire around in-game (and definitely not in-universe).
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ParanoidObsessive posted...

The accumulation of evidence threatens to reveal to the entire world that vampires are real, resulting in humans hunting you all down and killing you. So other vampires murder the fuck out of you because you keep casually violating a policy of secrecy that's been enforced for hundreds of years.

It makes perfect sense. And it's perfectly in keeping with the setting. The game is literally called Vampire: the Masquerade because the Masquerade is one of the most important elements of vampire culture. Pretty much every faction that exists in the setting would easily kill you over it. And you're hardly the most powerful vampire around in-game (and definitely not in-universe).

I've never even played the game and I guessed it was something like that.

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If the customization changes playstyle I will pick based on how I want to play. Otherwise I spend a lot of time making a female character I want to play as for the rest of the game.

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