Hmm... wasn't the picture I actually pasted in, must of miss-clicked. However both are over the top (Original Picture was only the guy on the right)
Yeah, I've just recently replayed the LoK series, as good as I remember it, slightly bad camera controls still, lol. Steam, gotta' love it sometimes for old school gaming memories.
I can still rate the voice acting and even the story (To an extent) to be one of the best still to date.
The problem I'm having is that the number of insanely designed characters kind of out numbers the good ones. Sometimes you end up with good designs mixed in with rediculous ones, especially in the case of Final Fantasy XII. Balthier and Vaan aren't too bad in the clothing design department given the setting, but the women are just super sexualized to the max. Seriously, it would have helped with the character department if Penello and Ashe had clothing that matched up with the setting a bit better.
I actually have less of an issue with fighting game characters dressing weirdly than RPG characters, largely due to the kind of insanity that is typical in fighting games such as energy beams, telekinesis, and super moves. In RPGs on the other hand, there are plenty of conventional attacks thrown in, so it makes sense there should be well designed armor. Unfortunately, it seems like people who do armor design on RPG characters don't get enough inspiration from historic sources, since their are reasons we didn't have knights wondering around with perfectly sculpted abdominal and pectoral muscles on their chest pieces.
Worst: ACV's characters. In particular RD. He is initially some kind of submissive newbie assistant operator whose sole character trait is worried and whose sole reason for existing is an unexplained psychic ability to sense danger, which there invariably is (and I HATE unexplained psychic abilities in an otherwise logical universe). About halfway through, he betrays your side and joins the Corporation, adopting another 2D personality - he's a crazed killer fighting out of fear (gets an Armored Core by now, you never actually see any characters as humans, you just sort of trust that they exist). This might seem interesting, but it is an unprecedented change and all of his lines are stupid. Furthermore, the other two characters (the boss of the operation whose character arc is that over a couple of missions she becomes more confident in her role, and some kind of pilot whose character arc is that they care about money [why work for the rebels and not the Corporation] and are a little bit more moral-driven at the end) forget that RD was ever on their side and speak for you in saying that you're going to destroy him mercilessly. Which you do.
Also, characterisation is the reason I stopped reading Naruto. By the time I got to the water Hokage and her bodyguards I thought it was getting ridiculous. A character whose only trait is that he is irrationally unsure of himself despite being demonstrably powerful? A character relationship that consists purely of one's dialogue being misconstrued by the other as something disparaging to their image? And the worst part is this is every fucking line we see their one character trait.
Also, Dragon's Dogma. The Princess is ridiculous. It's not just that she's stereotypical, she does nothing that is not stereotypical and is constantly pitiful, and the worst part is she's the default romance to the point where it's hard to both complete her arc and NOT have her as your romantic interest designated by the game, and you're forced to sort of have an affair with her regardless of gender or what your character would do. So really I think I hate her for the characterisation that she foists upon the player character rather than her own, which is merely weak.
As far as best characterisation, Siegmeyer of Catarina from Dark Souls.
An optimistic knight of Catarina who was exiled leaving an ailing wife and child, he constantly comes up against obstacles which you must help him surmount, and you do through just playing the game yourself, thinking nothing of it. What you don't realise is you're stripping him of his honour every time you help him, leading him to eventually recklessly throw himself into danger unnecessarily for your benefit. If you let him die, or die yourself showing his efforts were in vain, he will die/commit suicide, but if you manage to save him one last time, you continue the storyline. Meanwhile you've presumably also helped his daughter by telling her you saw him, as she has also become a knight, and ventured to Lordran to tell Siegmeyer that mother has died. However when you next see Siegmeyer, he is hollowed, the combined news of his wife's death and you having robbed him of his honour leading him to lose hope, and his daughter Sieglinde is forced to kill him, as she has done before, and will have to do many times. She thanks you for all you've done for them.
Putting on my fanboy hat for a moment, Dark Souls really does have some excellent characters, which is strange because you can't choose how to interact with them beyond saying yes/no and killing or not killing them. I think it's just how well thought-out and affecting when you think about it, but understated in-game they are. Some of the only emotional moments I've had in videogames were simple encounters with old friends gone hollow in Dark Souls.
The witcher 2 (the Witcher 1 was pretty awful though) has great character design. A lot of the character comes through in the little details designs.
I fell in love with Artorias the abbyswalkers armour pretty much instantly in darksouls.
I for no apparent reason really like Elika's design from Pop 2008
I always liked the big daddies and big sisters from bioshock though much of my love for the sisters comes from how they move. Songbird from infinite looks cool too but I've not played that yet.
I like a lot of the character design in the AC series (though not so much the actual assassin uniform though its not bad) too but I'm to lazy to get pictures.
Generally I don't like the massive out of proportion characters with clusterfuck armour like War for Darsiders
Though I do actually really like the Watchers design.
I don't know whether Ivy from soul calibur design is bad for her personality since I haven't played much of it but dear god dose it look awful.
Yeah I'd have to say The Witcher series especially number 2 is fantastic. I don't have any pics but the way most of the people in the world wear practical clothing and armor, each with small details that say something about the character without shouting it shows a real talent for design. Even the more out there styles (the mages) are that way for a reason, mostly as an illustration of how different they are from the common man.
Another great series for character design, Zelda. Simple but demonstrative without being confusing. You can look at almost any character and tell if they are good or bad or a fighter or something else. Perfect example is Link Iconic with out being over the top. You look at Link and instantly you know he's a hero even though he isn't flashy.
Can't think of any really bad ones right now, I'm sure I will later.
It actually made a lot of sense in the case of the first installment. Observe:
The similarity between the Assassins' garb and that of the scholars actually gets a direct reference late in the game when a rather...paranoid Templar starts persecuting scholars due to their apparent affiliation with the Assassin Brotherhood, with one such scholar directly noting that the Assassins mimicked them, not the other way around. Oddly enough, this was before the Assassin Order became secretive.
Thank you so much for leading me to that script, that was so fucking funny. *highfives*
OT: I was rather fond of the bad guy's gear from a movie simply titled Ninja because it seemed like something a modern day ninja would actually wear. I know it's not from a game but it is all I have right now.
As for worst, I'm drawing a blank here. I might be able to dredge up something with time but right now I have nothing.
Edit: Well, after so long I finally found a worst. The fuck is this?
I thought Seth was bad when I saw her, but Queen Numara was an entirely new low.
I'm surprised I haven't seen Shadow of the Colossus. It's quite one thing to design a massive enemy to look cool, it's quite another to design ways to kill them using their own body architecture. And the final colossus
Seeing that thing on the horizon filled me with such dread... then it starts firing tank shells out of its hand.
I hate Ichigo's current look for his Bankai (from Bleach).
His old one was great, it has this modern trenchcoat look by way of samurai robes thing going on, and his bf sword becomes a normal katana, though the black blade is a bit cliche I'm good with that.
Then for some reason Tite Kubo thought it would be cool to add a bunch of little extraneous details to it.
As for one's I like, I especially enjoy Mordin Solus's overall design from ME2. There's a ton of palette swapping in the ME series. Every Turian basically has the same face and wears the same two outfits just with different colors, and the same for Salarians.
What I like with Mordin is that it's both unique and definitely Salarian. The chest piece and the bracers are there, but also different.
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