Poll: Why do RPGs absolutelly need character creators?
- Thread starter Sewblon
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Because you're role-playing x) You ideally want that role to be as familiar and/or appealing as possible.
They don't need them, but I'd rather make my own guy. If only for the feeling that the character is truly your own.
Depends on the game. If there isn't a character creator, it gives the writers an opportunity to use real names instead of calling the player "chosen one" or "O Mighty Lord" or "OUTLANDER" all the time.
Though the Gothic series had no character customization at all, it did leave the hero nameless (Played for laughs whenever he tries to introduce himself "I'm..." "I don't care, get me ten magic bear hearts").
Though of course, no character creation is better than some- Divinity II allowed a choice of about three hairstyles for each gender and three face styles, which meant that not only did no-one ever call you by your name, you had the feeling that you were just like everyone else.
And I'd rather see me conquering all of Calradia rather than some random short brown haired fool.
Though the Gothic series had no character customization at all, it did leave the hero nameless (Played for laughs whenever he tries to introduce himself "I'm..." "I don't care, get me ten magic bear hearts").
Though of course, no character creation is better than some- Divinity II allowed a choice of about three hairstyles for each gender and three face styles, which meant that not only did no-one ever call you by your name, you had the feeling that you were just like everyone else.
And I'd rather see me conquering all of Calradia rather than some random short brown haired fool.
You don't NEED one, as proved by nearly every jrpg and a fair few other games, but one would be nice (particularly in comparison to some of the really annoying premade characters that you get in some games)
They certainly don't need them, but It's nice to have them. I suppose it's because most WRPG's are heavily based on P&P conventions, and a charcater creator is an aspect of that that people might miss.
They are generally quite one dimensional though, with the limits of computer RPG's there's only so much you can do to make your character individual.
They are generally quite one dimensional though, with the limits of computer RPG's there's only so much you can do to make your character individual.
Well, have you seen the character creator for PWI? Not to go all..weird on you, but it's very in-depth, but kinda fun, cause no two characters look alike...but hey, I also agree you don't need a character creator, but it adds a whole new level to the game.
It's not required, but it does deepen the the whole role playing experience when you get to customize the character you're going to role play as from the ground up.
Character creators generally run down two paths. Either you are stuck watching somebody elses story or you have a generic story regardless of your choices.
In the 16 bit era we didn't have anything like character creators and we were doing great. The characters made the storyline. Look at Cecil from FF4. Here we have an awesome dark knight who has it all and loses it, then becomes a paladin and that's where his story really begins. FF6 had no clear main character that you start and finish the game with. Terra is the first one you play with, but you don't even have to pick her up in the world of ruin for the final confrontation. About the most customization you could get in this era was a few games you could choose between a male and female protagonist. Sometimes this had large impacts on the storyline, sometimes not so large.
Playstation era had a few games like this. Star Ocean 2 is a great example of a drastic change in story based on who you start the game as. On the PC front we had some of the first games where we could customize our character such as baldurs gate and Icewind dale. Because of this, we found that we were playing the story with the other 5 characters in the party while your main character was just the one who made it game over when he died. Icewind dale had some interesting dialog options if you chose certain classes (like bard), but it was rather lacking in characters because you created your entire party. In many ways, this was a great plus. It was also one of the last games where you could roll your entire party rather than some lame weighted points system (Since any stat over 14 costs more than one point, why would you do anything other than make your character have 14's down the board?).
In the PS2/Xbox gen we really started to have some decent character creators such as Morrowind, KotOR 1/2, etc. I love these games. But I also enjoy games like Shadow Hearts, Front Mission 4, Disgaea and other great rpgs of that era. This gen also introduced mainly voice acted dialog. Once you are able to customize so very much the only thing left is the voice. Mass Effect did a pretty good job of being able to fully customize what your character looked like, but you pretty much sounded like the same guy or bitchy woman however you looked. The other option is to make your protagonist silent. The only game I know that has an excuse to have a silent protagonist is Drakenguard.
My answer is they don't absolutely neeed a character creator. If you create a solid and enjoyable character for me to play, I'm totally into playing said character.
In the 16 bit era we didn't have anything like character creators and we were doing great. The characters made the storyline. Look at Cecil from FF4. Here we have an awesome dark knight who has it all and loses it, then becomes a paladin and that's where his story really begins. FF6 had no clear main character that you start and finish the game with. Terra is the first one you play with, but you don't even have to pick her up in the world of ruin for the final confrontation. About the most customization you could get in this era was a few games you could choose between a male and female protagonist. Sometimes this had large impacts on the storyline, sometimes not so large.
Playstation era had a few games like this. Star Ocean 2 is a great example of a drastic change in story based on who you start the game as. On the PC front we had some of the first games where we could customize our character such as baldurs gate and Icewind dale. Because of this, we found that we were playing the story with the other 5 characters in the party while your main character was just the one who made it game over when he died. Icewind dale had some interesting dialog options if you chose certain classes (like bard), but it was rather lacking in characters because you created your entire party. In many ways, this was a great plus. It was also one of the last games where you could roll your entire party rather than some lame weighted points system (Since any stat over 14 costs more than one point, why would you do anything other than make your character have 14's down the board?).
In the PS2/Xbox gen we really started to have some decent character creators such as Morrowind, KotOR 1/2, etc. I love these games. But I also enjoy games like Shadow Hearts, Front Mission 4, Disgaea and other great rpgs of that era. This gen also introduced mainly voice acted dialog. Once you are able to customize so very much the only thing left is the voice. Mass Effect did a pretty good job of being able to fully customize what your character looked like, but you pretty much sounded like the same guy or bitchy woman however you looked. The other option is to make your protagonist silent. The only game I know that has an excuse to have a silent protagonist is Drakenguard.
My answer is they don't absolutely neeed a character creator. If you create a solid and enjoyable character for me to play, I'm totally into playing said character.
Having a character that you have created helps with the immersion, and that's at least half of the reason I enjoy RPGs.
I fucking hate having to make my character every fucking time.
Give me presets, and like, a hood or something, in case I hate the face later on.
Give me presets, and like, a hood or something, in case I hate the face later on.
well Diablo II has pretty much the same 'character creator' as Borderlands do... and Im pretty sure no one disputes that that is an amazing RPG, if not one of the best.
There nice, but not neccesary, an RPG stands for Role Playing Game. So your charactors apearence doesnt really matter, you role play as him. Its not like you could decide exacly how you look in IRL.