Poll of the Day > Character Customization...

(+) Yeah! (+)

How much customization do you like? The other topic got me thinking about this. I like some, but I've never been big on a lot of it. I guess I just feel it always takes too long. Like, some if ok. But when I have to choose everything, it kind sucks... Especially with something like the sims. Haha. Unless I make a game out of it by trying to make my friends while looking at them, and them trying to make me or something... It just takes too long and I'm usually ready to start the game.

But what about you guys?
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It's cool but too much at times.
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Hate it. I get through it as fast as possible because I just want to play the game.
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Zero. It's why i like zelda, witcher, etc.
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I give zero craps about how my character looks (sadly similar in real life), but I care a TON about customizing my abilities and stats and having ways to progress and improve my character as I play, and also not being the same as everyone else.

I don't care if I'm just 2 pixels conected together though, but if I gotta look at pixes, I prefer them to be female pixels just the same.
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minervo posted...

Zero. It's why i like zelda, witcher, etc.

So games with established characters?
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wolfy42 posted...

but I care a TON about customizing my abilities and stats and having ways to progress and improve my character as I play, and also not being the same as everyone else.

Well, that's normal. It's actually part of the gameplay itself... And that's actually usually pretty fun...
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LinkPizza posted...

wolfy42 posted...

but I care a TON about customizing my abilities and stats and having ways to progress and improve my character as I play, and also not being the same as everyone else.

Well, that's normal. It's actually part of the gameplay itself... And that's actually usually pretty fun...

I like to spend points in skills trees counter-intuitive to my play style and weapon selection.
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a lot. it better look like what i made in-game though (monster hunter ultimate....).

if you don't care then thats what default/preset is for.
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Krazy_Kirby posted...

if you don't care then thats what default/preset is for.

I think I end up using this or something similar. I feel compelled to try to customize when I have the option, but it turns out bad. Or I get lazy like part way through. Or I really dislike them for some reason...
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I love lots of customization when I play the game the first time, I could spend 2 or 3 hours just fiddling with sliders. Second playthrough I just go with a default or try to make something as ugly as possible in 5 minutes :P
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If its going to have it the more options the better.

I wanna be able to make anyone, big tits small tits big ass, skinny as fuck fat as fuck various levels of muscle tall short and everything in between. And if I have those options I expect npcs to vary too.

I know people tend to think boob sliders just cater to pervs but to me its just a tad unrealistic when every chick (and guys too for that matter) are identical from the neck down in terms of body shape including the player character.
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EVERYTHING MUST BE CUSTOMIZED!

Perhaps not the best but the creator in Dragon's Dogma is the best thing I can think of in terms of this. Great great options that actually affect gameplay more than you first realize.
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I don't really care about character customisation (as in, if it's there cool, if not also cool).
But I find it humorous how angry certain people get if there's things you can/'t do.
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TheGreatNoodles posted...

I don't really care about character customisation (as in, if it's there cool, if not also cool).
But I find it humorous how angry certain people get if there's things you can/'t do.

I wouldn't say I get angry just disappointed. First games I played with create a character where wrestling games and few games have ever macthed that level so I guess the bar got set too high for me from the start
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Appearance: I don't really care if its there or not. If it is, i'd prefer a simpler one with basic stuff like hair-style/color and clothes. When you've got a setting for every little detail, i'm going to pick hair/clothes/body frame that fits what I want, and then skip the rest.

Abilities/stats: I love that stuff. I do like it to have some organization though.
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PMarth2002 posted...

Appearance: I don't really care if its there or not. If it is, i'd prefer a simpler one with basic stuff like hair-style/color and clothes. When you've got a setting for every little detail, i'm going to pick hair/clothes/body frame that fits what I want, and then skip the rest.

Abilities/stats: I love that stuff. I do like it to have some organization though.

For me again the more the better and to the point there are simplified options for ppl like you like a few preset body builds like skinny athletic buff fat etc. And a few preset faces which I do want because I pick which one comes the closest to what I want and use it as a starting point.
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tit slider > max
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If it's there then the range should be varied, definitely prefer Dark Souls customisation to Skyrim for example.

I'm perfectly happy with a professionally designed character unless I'm supposed to be some generic and can build my character in different ways.
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mooreandrew58 posted...

PMarth2002 posted...

Appearance: I don't really care if its there or not. If it is, i'd prefer a simpler one with basic stuff like hair-style/color and clothes. When you've got a setting for every little detail, i'm going to pick hair/clothes/body frame that fits what I want, and then skip the rest.

Abilities/stats: I love that stuff. I do like it to have some organization though.

For me again the more the better and to the point there are simplified options for ppl like you like a few preset body builds like skinny athletic buff fat etc. And a few preset faces which I do want because I pick which one comes the closest to what I want and use it as a starting point.

I've done that. I keep clicking random until something similar to what I want pops up. Haha. Less work for me. And hopefully, I can start the game sooner...
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LinkPizza posted...

mooreandrew58 posted...

PMarth2002 posted...

Appearance: I don't really care if its there or not. If it is, i'd prefer a simpler one with basic stuff like hair-style/color and clothes. When you've got a setting for every little detail, i'm going to pick hair/clothes/body frame that fits what I want, and then skip the rest.

Abilities/stats: I love that stuff. I do like it to have some organization though.

For me again the more the better and to the point there are simplified options for ppl like you like a few preset body builds like skinny athletic buff fat etc. And a few preset faces which I do want because I pick which one comes the closest to what I want and use it as a starting point.

I've done that. I keep clicking random until something similar to what I want pops up. Haha. Less work for me. And hopefully, I can start the game sooner...

Clicking random is something I did a bit in Oblivion. I prefer having presets though as random is well random, you could lucky or be there a hot minute before something good pops up
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I like it when it's there but don't really miss it when it isn't.

It does bug me a bit when I spend 30 minutes or more dealing with various sliders only to never see my character's face due to helmets or whatever.
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mooreandrew58 posted...

LinkPizza posted...

mooreandrew58 posted...

PMarth2002 posted...

Appearance: I don't really care if its there or not. If it is, i'd prefer a simpler one with basic stuff like hair-style/color and clothes. When you've got a setting for every little detail, i'm going to pick hair/clothes/body frame that fits what I want, and then skip the rest.

Abilities/stats: I love that stuff. I do like it to have some organization though.

For me again the more the better and to the point there are simplified options for ppl like you like a few preset body builds like skinny athletic buff fat etc. And a few preset faces which I do want because I pick which one comes the closest to what I want and use it as a starting point.

I've done that. I keep clicking random until something similar to what I want pops up. Haha. Less work for me. And hopefully, I can start the game sooner...

Clicking random is something I did a bit in Oblivion. I prefer having presets though as random is well random, you could lucky or be there a hot minute before something good pops up

Yeah. It really is a roll of the dice... Which is probably why is usually has dice for the random button. Haha.

Metalsonic66 posted...

I like it when it's there but don't really miss it when it isn't.

It does bug me a bit when I spend 30 minutes or more dealing with various sliders only to never see my character's face due to helmets or whatever.

Yeah. I was watching someone play a game. And they mention that they had better be able to see their character after all this work. Haha
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Metalsonic66 posted...

I like it when it's there but don't really miss it when it isn't.

It does bug me a bit when I spend 30 minutes or more dealing with various sliders only to never see my character's face due to helmets or whatever.

In elder scrolls I'll turn down the difficulty quicker than I'll wear a helmet. But even when I do decide to wear one I actually change into normal clothes when doing things in game not dealing with combat like stuff in town around my chars house etc.

Ioved how one game kingdoms of amular I think had a hide helmet option. Where you got the stat boost from equipping a helmet but it didn't show up on you.
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mooreandrew58 posted...

Metalsonic66 posted...

I like it when it's there but don't really miss it when it isn't.

It does bug me a bit when I spend 30 minutes or more dealing with various sliders only to never see my character's face due to helmets or whatever.

In elder scrolls I'll turn down the difficulty quicker than I'll wear a helmet. But even when I do decide to wear one I actually change into normal clothes when doing things in game not dealing with combat like stuff in town around my chars house etc.

Ioved how one game kingdoms of amular I think had a hide helmet option. Where you got the stat boost from equipping a helmet but it didn't show up on you.

Xenoblade Chonicles X had two clothing options. One was for you actually gear. And the other was for fashion. So, whatever was in the fashion catergory (I forget what it was called) would be what you character looked like he was wearing, while he got the benefits from the other clothing. You could also make it look like the actually ones you were wearing, as well.
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LinkPizza posted...

How much customization do you like?

A billion minor sliders adjusting every minute facet of a face/body are kind of pointless, because you can spend hours tweaking dozens of non-intuitive numbers only to wind up with a face that looks almost identical to the default anyway (Bethesda and BioWare games tend to fall into this trap).

But I absolutely love customization that goes beyond mere appearance. I love having access to tons of clothes and hairstyles, as well as lots of accessories. Being able to give a character different voice sets, backstory, or other narrative tweaks makes me happy as well.

I've been known to spend an hour or so in character creation just trying to think of the right NAME for a character in some RPGs. With a complex enough character creator, I will happily spend hours, and all of that tweaking with invest me FAR more in that character than any pre-established persona.

I spent half the time I was playing Witcher 3 thinking "Man, this game is pretty cool, but I'd definitely enjoy it more if they'd let me make my own character and fill in the blanks of their history and personality, and not just force me to play Geralt, who is already a well-established character." And half the reason why I love Fallout: New Vegas while Fallout 3 and 4 leave me relatively cold is because New Vegas actually lets me develop my character along almost any line I want, while Fallout 3 and 4 spend most of their time hammering me into an overly-defined persona that leaves me with almost zero narratively appropriate freedom of choice.

I know it's unrealistic to expect every game to be like a D&D campaign where I can play almost any character concept and the game is forced to adapt, but I definitely enjoy games more that try to at least give me the illusion of that sort of freedom, rather than just giving me a pre-established character and leaving me to trail along in their wake.


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I *love* character customization in online games, specifically MMOs. But It means virtually zip to me in single-player.
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Character customization is paramount. Honestly, it was the thing that appealed most to me about some games.

(Also I realize that this is the third or fourth time I meant to post this. Each time I start to add something then get distracted.)

LinkPizza posted...

How much customization do you like?

Tons, obviously. My biggest complaint is that customization tends to not go very far, mostly due to programming issues where it's more expensive to give broader levels of customization. For example, most games you can't choose the character's height. If I'm playing a warrior, I want him to be gigantic. By contrast, if I'm playing a rogue, I'd want him to be small because it's a better fit for the narrative.

LinkPizza posted...

But when I have to choose everything, it kind sucks...

Which is why I like games where you can fine-tune your character design later on into the game. There's a lot of essentials that should be picked right away -- height, musculature, hairstyle, etc -- but then smaller details that you might want to finesse once you get a better feel for the design.
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Zeus posted...

Character customization is paramount. Honestly, it was the thing that appealed most to me about some games.

(Also I realize that this is the third or fourth time I meant to post this. Each time I start to add something then get distracted.)

LinkPizza posted...

How much customization do you like?

Tons, obviously. My biggest complaint is that customization tends to not go very far, mostly due to programming issues where it's more expensive to give broader levels of customization. For example, most games you can't choose the character's height. If I'm playing a warrior, I want him to be gigantic. By contrast, if I'm playing a rogue, I'd want him to be small because it's a better fit for the narrative.

LinkPizza posted...

But when I have to choose everything, it kind sucks...

Which is why I like games where you can fine-tune your character design later on into the game. There's a lot of essentials that should be picked right away -- height, musculature, hairstyle, etc -- but then smaller details that you might want to finesse once you get a better feel for the design.

Also a lot of games don't allow you to adjust body mass. Fallout 4 was good with this though it wasnt perfect as it didn't adjust the texture as I believe you could make a fat female and her ribs still showed for example. Think men still had abs even when fat
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I like it, but I'm ok if there's a little of it or none at all.
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LinkPizza posted...

How much customization do you like?

Depends the game. In general though as much freedom as possible. Even if I'm too lazy to create my own character in some games like WWE games you can download what others have created and due to the freedom some folk have created some really good wrestlers. Two of my favourites on WWE 2K18 was a Deadpool creation and Trump. It was a match for the ages too.
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Having a slider for different options like face, eyes, hair, skin color, height, girth, etc is enough. I don't need to manually adjust cheekbone height or jaw width and things like that.
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I just create random characters and pay no attention to design.
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Its usually my favorite part of whatever game its in.
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I just remembered something I HATE about customizing characters..... WHY do they look SO FREAKIN DIFFERENT outside of the creation screen!? I have to restart and change the skin tone like 5 times before I get what I actually wanted >:[
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I usually try to make a character look as hideous as possible.

On first play through I don't put much effort into it. But if I like to replay, I will comeback and make a serious effort to create something I find interesting for more than carrying my gear.

JimCarrysToe posted...

I just remembered something I HATE about customizing characters..... WHY do they look SO FREAKIN DIFFERENT outside of the creation screen!? I have to restart and change the skin tone like 5 times before I get what I actually wanted >:[

Yeah especially in Oblivion since the lighting in that starting area sucks. Character creation should have a toggle for the various lightings you'll likely find in the game. I've had more than one who look good in one lighting and like a train wreck in another
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I usually enjoy character customization! Whatever game it is, Ill spend about 20 minutes making a character based off myself, or one off my million final fantasy OCs
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WarriorOfLight5 posted...

I usually enjoy character customization! Whatever game it is, Ill spend about 20 minutes making a character based off myself, or one off my million final fantasy OCs

I do have two characters I'll make as same as possible in most RPGs I play. One male one and one female one. Male is always blonde with green eyes and a elf when possible and the female is always red headed with green eyes

Always same names too to save me from the hours thinking of a name. Always play them similar too.
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