Poll: Customizable Characters - Do you like them and Ideas?

[StormShaun]

Fellow Escapists, I always wondered how many people really like customizable characters and some people's ideas for them in the future.

We have always seen that these characters are often a portrait of our image in a game (even if you do make them look like aliens that have been mated with a horse), I even wonder if some people dislike it. Also if you think that we should have new ideas for these custom made characters, list and discuss them here.

I would like to see more games where these custom characters fit into a block buster series, I would like to make my own character that can venture with Nathan Drake and discover riches, treasures and the most usual, a load of bad situations.

List them below and such. ^-^

 

[MassiveGeek]

HOLY SHIT CUSTOMIZATION IS THE BEST THING EVER

Ahem. I mean... yes, I enjoy them.
It's practically the only reason I enjoyed Aion for as long as I did - because look at that fucking customization screen. It's BEAUTIFUL!
It isn't a must unless it's an RPG though. But I don't use it to(consciously) make characters look like myself. I RP, so I just like to use characters whoms appearance I decided. I'll be making their decisions, makes it more fun if the character is my own, ya know?

 

[DanielBrown]

Yes, I generally like them. Downside is that once I've made a character whos looks I'm comfortable with I never try a new one again. For example; all my characters of the same race in WoW and LOTRO are copies of each other.
An improvement I'd like to see is more long-hair style and beard options. Often there's practically no good facial hair options(if any) and perhaps one hair style that goes to the shoulders. As a guy with hair down to my waist it disappoints me. I want my character to look like meee!

 

[Gorilla Gunk]

I spent more time customizing my character/s in Brink then I did actually playing the game. That game really did have some amazing customization. It's too bad the rest of the game was the very definition of mediocre.

 

[Mandal0re]

I love it, pretty much essential in RPGs and definitely a nice touch in games of other genres. Although shallow I find it really makes the experience feel 'your own'. One thing that bugs me in RPGs is the restrictive nature of gear, sure you might be able to customize your physical appearance but by the end of the game you will be using identical gear to anyone else using a similar character, ie the best gear available for whatever class it is you are playing which is unlikely to be your favourite gear aesthetically. There is no reason in game stats should be tied in with the physical appearance of gear and one of the only things I will praise Fable 2 for is a fantastic range of customization with regards to your characters outfit. I also thing Transmogrification arriving in the next WoW patch is a great idea.

 

[babinro]

Voted 'Don't Care' as it was the closest option to 'depends on the game'.

Heavily story driven games are not enhanced by character creation in my opinion. Sure I can create a character that reflects who I am, but they likely won't sound like me, or make the choices I'd want to make. The creation aspect is only good from a creativity standpoint and can often take you out of the story as the game comes across as unnatural when including you.

Games like MMO's, Wrestling games, Rock Band, and online FPS are great contenders for customization because your character is defined by their in-game actions. The body on the screen is purely aesthetic.

 

[terror55]

I generally think they're a good idea as they give you a chance to project yourself into something that actually does things rather than sit around a play video games all day. On the other hand they do take up time that could be spent actually playing. When I hit the start button i want to be playing or at least watching the opening cinamatic, not selecting whether or not my characters tounge can reach his nose.

 

[Thaluikhain]

Eh...dunno about official customisation, but I love customising graphics myself, coming up with dodgy home made skins.

Much easier in the days of Exile 3 and 4, only really needed 2 similar pics for a character or normal sized monster. When Spiderweb moved to 3d-ish graphics, made it much harder (and also uglier).

 

[Brutal Peanut]

Since a majority of the games I love are (W)RPGS; I , of course, love characters I can customize and really make my own - that fit smoothly into the story just like it was originally intended for the character I created.

I can still play and really enjoy games without the customization option, but it's something I'd prefer to have.

 

[TheGreatAndPowerfulZOG]

I don't really love it. I think it puts a lot of constraints on the writers, since NPCs will have the same reactions to any fan-created character those relationships usually feel pretty empty to me - Mass Effect is a good example of this, the 'dating' sideplots were cringe-inducing. I hated seeing Liara, a character I liked, throwing herself at what was essentially a manikin (with a HORRIBLE voice actore).

 

[Xprimentyl]

If you mean aesthetic customization, I only like it when there're enough options (sliders) to make a truly unique character, where prety much any vision I have can come to fruition. I hate it when a game gives you 8 pre-set faces topped by 6 pre-set hairstyles pasted onto one of 4 generic "race" archetypes.

 

[LookingGlass]

I like customisation of clothes/armour/weapons/items, but as for the actual character, it depends.

I don't like having full control over width/size/shape of facial features and all that crap. What I like is having a number of pre-designed faces/builds for my character, and then I can perhaps customise hair colour and style, facial hair, eye colour.

When too much customisation is allowed, it tends to be next to impossible to create a halfway decent looking character (or at the very least will take a lot of time when you'd rather be playing).

 

[crop52]

Actually, no. To me, custom characters lack a certain depth that a normal character has. I will always have a deeper connection with Nico Bellic than the character I made in Oblivion. Well this is probably because games with custom characters usually do it in a bad way. Mass Effect did a really good job, you could make Shepard act in any way, and he would always feel like a real human being.

 

[Amberella]

I love customization and I think it's awesome when you can customize your character!! Though I suppose it depends on the game. I'd much rather make me own character then play some of the ones I have in games though. I like to connect to my character and if I can't, then I just can't get into the game.

 

[Evil Top Hat]

I love games with character customisation, even if it's relatively limited.

The abbility to create your own superhero (or villain) is probably the only thing that actually made me buy DC online, and one of the main reasons I still play it. On any MMO, my log in screen tends to be filled with level 1 characters that I have never played, but keep because I like the "idea" of them or I think they are awesome characters.

The same tends to apply to bethesda games as well. I'll map out a plan for my characters, give them personalities, motives and temperments (I sometimes even assign my characters myers briggs personality categories) and then never actually play those characters.

 

[TheYellowCellPhone]

I probably could spend more time just customizing my player than playing the game. It makes me feel like a god, controlling what my character looks like and just what they'll do.

megusta.jpg

 

[everythingbeeps]

Definitely do. It's not necessary, but it's still nice when it's there.

 

[Bad Jim]

One thing I don't like is being forced to make game affecting decisions before I know what I am doing. I can handle just picking a character class because I expect the devs have playtested each class. But when there is a huge character sheet with stat points, skill points, perks, special abilities, races, classes and star signs I always feel I've screwed up before I've even started.

However there are ways around this flaw. Being able to respec is one way. Another is to allow everything to be levelled independently, so you cannot make a character permanently suboptimal by investing in useless skills.

 

[SuperSuperSuperGuy]

It depends on the level of customization. I really don't like doing appearance customization except for maybe clothes. But, really, it depends on the game. Huge open-world RPGs benefit more from a player-created character, while story-driven games are usually better with predefined characters. I also typically prefer learning a fixed skill set in games where you have a party. When you're going solo, you can build your character however you want, but there needs to be some reason for me to use certain characters over others.

The selling point for character customization for me is this: can you craft your character into an all-powerful god of death? Or do you have to specialize in one and only one area? One thing that I hated about Dragon Age is that you need to know how you're going to build yourself from the very beginning and you had a very limited number of skill points. I couldn't even get half of the spells that I wanted!

 

[NickCaligo42]

I'm a huge fan of Bethesda RPGs, so obviosly yes

I've always wondered what the appeal of a customizeable avatar is in a game where you never see it.