The Best and Worst Character Designs
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When it comes to bad design, think we can all agree Nintendo/gamefreak is the all-time champion with bad pokémon designs.
Some companies may have smellier shit, but none other had more of it.
Exeggcute, Natu, Pineco, Swampert, Ludicolo, Loudred, Lileep and claydol are among the WORST designs I have ever seen for any creature.
But on the other side has pokémon some of the best creature designs as well.
Pikachu, Bulbasaur, Entei, Syther, Galvantula, Togekiss, and of course Heracross, all great designs!
Oh, well, I guess if you're going to design over a hundred of these at a time, over six hundred in total, sooner or later something's gotta give...
Some companies may have smellier shit, but none other had more of it.
Exeggcute, Natu, Pineco, Swampert, Ludicolo, Loudred, Lileep and claydol are among the WORST designs I have ever seen for any creature.
But on the other side has pokémon some of the best creature designs as well.
Pikachu, Bulbasaur, Entei, Syther, Galvantula, Togekiss, and of course Heracross, all great designs!
Oh, well, I guess if you're going to design over a hundred of these at a time, over six hundred in total, sooner or later something's gotta give...
Just look at that bad boy, you can tell everything about him just from his appearance, from his greying hair, to the bullets on his vest, to the cigarettes in his sleeve.
Kuja is one of my favourite looking FF villains. I love the way they managed to make someone with a flat chest so insanely attractive without turning her into some kind of lolita.Smeatza said:There's a lot of hate for Final Fantasy character designs here. But I would say that Final Fantasy 9 had fantastic character design (not only that but their visual design in general was just beautiful), specifically........
I'd like to say that Dynasty Warriors has both some of the best and some of the absolute worst character designs. Sometimes they're pretty badass looking, other times, they're just absolutely ridiculous.
While I haven't read through the other two pages I can't believe no one has mentioned Team Fortress 2's character design. No two classes look similar enough to confuse them in a heated moment which not only looks nice but has gameplay value such as knowing which target should be a priority. Sure once you get into flaming stacks of hats the design is iffy but it is still effective and eye catching.
Most fantasy RPG's really start looking bad once you get into high level uber armors. It seems less like your wearing practical armor but rather you are participating in a contest of the devs to design the most overdesigned suit of armor they could think of. Bonus points if your armor clashes with your boots because the boots had more toeybuff than the matching pair.
Most fantasy RPG's really start looking bad once you get into high level uber armors. It seems less like your wearing practical armor but rather you are participating in a contest of the devs to design the most overdesigned suit of armor they could think of. Bonus points if your armor clashes with your boots because the boots had more toeybuff than the matching pair.
We're going to be seeing a lot of "why hasn't [guy who's been mentioned] been mentioned, yet!?", I'm afraid. Also, it feels like cheating to nominate closet porn like Queen's Blade.
As my own contribution, I'd like to say that Castlevania: Judgement has some of the dumbest-looking characters I've ever seen. Castlevania in general has some highly influential (if possibly divisive) designs, and Judgement is like it's surreal Bizarro World.
Also, Platinum Games deserves mention as a good/bad combination. Most of their characters are awesomely goofy-looking, but it really works. They truly are the most blessed of cheese-makers.
As my own contribution, I'd like to say that Castlevania: Judgement has some of the dumbest-looking characters I've ever seen. Castlevania in general has some highly influential (if possibly divisive) designs, and Judgement is like it's surreal Bizarro World.
Also, Platinum Games deserves mention as a good/bad combination. Most of their characters are awesomely goofy-looking, but it really works. They truly are the most blessed of cheese-makers.
Why say post FFVII when FFVIII doesn't have over the top character designs and outfits ARE practical? Look at Squalls design. It's awesome and you could wear it without looking too silly. Also it fits his personality quite well. How about Zell? Fits perfectly.Miss Layton said:
I don't get the hate towards character designs that are over the top and would be unpractical to wear. But that's the thing! You can have such characters in game and they can look good. And thats how I like it. I prefer Lightnings outfit from XIII-2 over XIII. Who cares if it's unpractical? I don't need realism in my games. I want away from it.
I'd say you've got that backwards. From those pictures, I can clearly figure out Max Payne's characteristics at a glance (out of shape, miserable, obviously a tourist) whereas the knight could be any knight from any game or story, utterly generic. Plus he's an absolute mess of belts. Perhaps it's authentic, but it isn't anything that stands out.MacNille said:Best male design?
clean, cool looking and comfortable.
Fat bald max payne looks so bad it is almost good. Keyword here is almost.
OT: Going on my hatred of belts, I'd say the worst character design is Connor's sartorial smorgasbord:
Ugh, so cluttered. The same guy is responsible for Garrett's new look, which explains why his body is festooned with leather belts and ties. Must take him an hour to get dressed.
Best may be the protagonist from Journey, but I'm going with...
Well okay, maybe he isn't the best, but I like Blob's clean, cheerful and friendly looking design. It does what it needs without anything excessive.
Here are some of the best designed characters in my opinion. Also, when you get to the 3rd one... Don't hate me, it's just my opinion.
Heather Mason. Not over sexualised, practical outfit but still pretty. I think what really makes her design great rather than good is the dark roots of her hair, makes her look more like a real teenage girl. Also; reasonably sized breasts!
Probably the best designed character in modern military shooters if only because of the suit degradation.
New Dante, yes. The costume fits perfectly with his personality, it looks bad ass and it's very memorable... And I like his hair.
Heather Mason. Not over sexualised, practical outfit but still pretty. I think what really makes her design great rather than good is the dark roots of her hair, makes her look more like a real teenage girl. Also; reasonably sized breasts!
Probably the best designed character in modern military shooters if only because of the suit degradation.
New Dante, yes. The costume fits perfectly with his personality, it looks bad ass and it's very memorable... And I like his hair.
While I really like Xenoblade Chronicles. I do feel that a lot of the different armors for the characters look really stupid on them. Almost all of Sharla's outfits are blatantly fanservicey.
Seriously? What is this??
If the game gave me the option not to change the character's model when choosing different armor, I would be happy.
Seriously? What is this??
If the game gave me the option not to change the character's model when choosing different armor, I would be happy.
Perhaps it's a futuristic mammoth tanker's anchor? XDbartholen said:Mentioning Final Fantasy for worst design in this thread already feels like beating a dead horse that's stuck under another dead horse, but GODDAMMIT IF THIS TWATCAKE ISN'T MENTIONED IN THIS THREAD THEN I WILL DO IT!
The worst part is he doesn't even have the worst character design, it's just that he being an insufferable little shit amplifies the atrociousness of his costume, making him one insurmountable pain in the ass.
Huh, now that I look at it, his shoes actually look quite sensible.
As for best design... weelll Kratos has been mentioned already, but he is IMO definitely as iconic as Mario or Link. Oh, and Team Fortress 2 probably has the best character designs ever.
Wh... wha... what... WHAT IN THE NAME OF JESUS TEABAGGING CHRIST AM I LOOKING AT? Is that a sword or... what the hell is that thing supposed to be? I know japanese character designs featuring swords often tend to stray towards the absurd, but that is just beyond words. That's like the Dragonslayer from Berserk had sex with Cloud's Buster Sword from FFVII and then irradiated the fetus until it suffered copious elephantitis. Jesus christ.The Wykydtron said:
Assuming, of course, that it even is a sword, but I've got no clue what else that thing could be.
Oddly enough - from what I understand - the Aeria Games MMO has no relation to the Japanese franchise of the same name, hence why its localized title is "Scarlet Blade". The point still arguably stands, but because of the game itself rather than any franchise expectations.lleihsad said:
Anyways, on the better end of the scale...I might actually have to suggest the Aeons in Final Fantasy X. Yeah, they're a bit over the top, but there's a bit of brilliance in that. Take Bahamut as a case in point. Human stance, gilded, armor-shoulder-spikes and a plethora of details more designed for form than for function. Honestly, it almost reads more like ceremonial dragon-armor than an actual dragon...which - in all honesty - it actually is. It's not a dragon, it's a ceremonial construct crafted from a human soul to be the sword and shield of a summoner. That's what an aeon is in that game, and because of that it makes sense for them to seem over the top.
I'm just given out one example of each-
Best
Male- Prince of Peria (2008) He just look very distint looking. Name me another character with that headwear and a claw/ ganunlet on one of his hand who isn't a game enemy?
Female- Juri Han. She is menacing while look bizzare (her hair style) in a good way when it come to Street Fighter characters.
Worst
Male- Vaan from FF12. As a game protaganost expecially Final Fantasy, he is just not convincing and look inferior comapared to the others FF protagonists.
Female- That X Blade chick. She is pretty much fanservice as its worse.
Best
Male- Prince of Peria (2008) He just look very distint looking. Name me another character with that headwear and a claw/ ganunlet on one of his hand who isn't a game enemy?
Female- Juri Han. She is menacing while look bizzare (her hair style) in a good way when it come to Street Fighter characters.
Worst
Male- Vaan from FF12. As a game protaganost expecially Final Fantasy, he is just not convincing and look inferior comapared to the others FF protagonists.
Female- That X Blade chick. She is pretty much fanservice as its worse.
there are many examples to choose from for both good and bad but theres one character who does both
Ashley Williams (Mass Effect)
Shes in the Marine Corps, as such she wears a sensible uniform like the rest of the military personel. Her hair is sensibly tied back and she doesnt wear too much make up. Also her combat gear, while form fitting (like male armour) is usually bulky (most players would put her in medium or heavy armour) and looks functional. And still shes fairly pretty.
Also shout out to Lieutenant Mira (Space Marine)
Shes a soldier in the army and she wears the exact same stuff as the men.
Shes in the Marine Corps, as such she wears a sensible uniform like the rest of the military personel. Her hair is sensibly tied back and she doesnt wear too much make up. Also her combat gear, while form fitting (like male armour) is usually bulky (most players would put her in medium or heavy armour) and looks functional. And still shes fairly pretty.
Also shout out to Lieutenant Mira (Space Marine)
Shes a soldier in the army and she wears the exact same stuff as the men.
Ashley Williams (Mass Effect 3)
Oh boy. she now looks like a cheap prostitute, im sorry but she does. She's wearing her body weight in make up, hair is impracticle for combat. her non combat outfit has lost all sense of believability and looks less like the Marine Corps uniform and more like the Alliance Babe Watch division. and for some reason her boobs have doubled in size.
Oh boy. she now looks like a cheap prostitute, im sorry but she does. She's wearing her body weight in make up, hair is impracticle for combat. her non combat outfit has lost all sense of believability and looks less like the Marine Corps uniform and more like the Alliance Babe Watch division. and for some reason her boobs have doubled in size.
and all of thisThe Madman said:Witcher 2 had phenomenal character design, easily walking that thin line between fantastical and stylish without losing some sense of realism.
Holy crap, practical armour? In a videogame? Is that even allowed?... Apparently so.
I actually like Big's design. It's distinct from other Sonic characters, it fits his personality, and it's a unique way of portraying a cartoon cat.shrekfan246 said:Then you look at the expanded Sonic-verse and get things like...
Ugh.
The Elite Knight Armor isn't really a "character design" as much as it is one of many sets of armor your customizable silent cipher can wear. However, I really like it as an armor set; as MacNille said, it's clean and comfortable. It doesn't look especially generic to me because there aren't many games out there with knight armor that looks within the bounds of realism.maninahat said:I'd say you've got that backwards. From those pictures, I can clearly figure out Max Payne's characteristics at a glance (out of shape, miserable, obviously a tourist) whereas the knight could be any knight from any game or story, utterly generic. Plus he's an absolute mess of belts. Perhaps it's authentic, but it isn't anything that stands out.MacNille said:Best male design?
clean, cool looking and comfortable.
One of my favorite designs from Dark Souls is Executioner Smough.
I know Agent 47's design is fundamentally a bald fella in a suit, but it just works. Sinister and smart, and a touch unnatural.
Also; dat helmet.
Also; dat helmet.
That AC3 outfit is pretty bad - apart from the first one, I never really liked the outfits in AC games, they always look far too complicated and flappy for an assassin. They only really make sense within the setting of the 1st game.maninahat said:I'd say you've got that backwards. From those pictures, I can clearly figure out Max Payne's characteristics at a glance (out of shape, miserable, obviously a tourist) whereas the knight could be any knight from any game or story, utterly generic. Plus he's an absolute mess of belts. Perhaps it's authentic, but it isn't anything that stands out.MacNille said:Best male design?
clean, cool looking and comfortable.
Fat bald max payne looks so bad it is almost good. Keyword here is almost.
OT: Going on my hatred of belts, I'd say the worst character design is Connor's sartorial smorgasbord:
Ugh, so cluttered. The same guy is responsible for Garrett's new look, which explains why his body is festooned with leather belts and ties. Must take him an hour to get dressed.
Best may be the protagonist from Journey, but I'm going with...
Well okay, maybe he isn't the best, but I like Blob's clean, cheerful and friendly looking design. It does what it needs without anything excessive.
The best character designs fit the world and feel of the game as well as bringing their own individuality to it making them memorable characters in their own right. Their designs also reflects their personality, backstory (if any) and abilities as well as take into account any limitations systems may impose on their design (not usually an issue now)
The worst character design is the opposite of this. Characters do not have to be practical to the events that take place in their game in relation to our world logic because it is a game world and has its own rules and as long as the character fits in thats fine.
Nintendo traditionally has excelled at fantastic character design actually the best designed characters are quite easy to tell because they have obtained fame outside of their games and our known by others outside gaming circles even if they dont know what games they are from. This is not an absolute rule as even well designed characters can go unnoticed if they are not seen by anyone due to the game not being released in many places or selling extremely poorly.
few e.g:-
Mario
Ryu
Sonic
Lara Croft
Pac Man
Cloud
Master Chief
My two personal favourite games overall for character design are (probably) FFVII and Darkstalkers (Vampire saviour if I have to pick one game) I just think they did an excellent job in these games of nailing the design on the characters making all of them distinct and memorable through their looks actions, abilites use of text etc as well as grounding them in their respective universes. Actually I would say most (successful) fighting games employ excellent character design at least as far as looks animation and movesets go anyway mainly because the design of the characters is such a huge part of these games if they are all bland and boring odds our people wont bother sticking around even if the game engine is ok.
The worst character design is the opposite of this. Characters do not have to be practical to the events that take place in their game in relation to our world logic because it is a game world and has its own rules and as long as the character fits in thats fine.
Nintendo traditionally has excelled at fantastic character design actually the best designed characters are quite easy to tell because they have obtained fame outside of their games and our known by others outside gaming circles even if they dont know what games they are from. This is not an absolute rule as even well designed characters can go unnoticed if they are not seen by anyone due to the game not being released in many places or selling extremely poorly.
few e.g:-
Mario
Ryu
Sonic
Lara Croft
Pac Man
Cloud
Master Chief
My two personal favourite games overall for character design are (probably) FFVII and Darkstalkers (Vampire saviour if I have to pick one game) I just think they did an excellent job in these games of nailing the design on the characters making all of them distinct and memorable through their looks actions, abilites use of text etc as well as grounding them in their respective universes. Actually I would say most (successful) fighting games employ excellent character design at least as far as looks animation and movesets go anyway mainly because the design of the characters is such a huge part of these games if they are all bland and boring odds our people wont bother sticking around even if the game engine is ok.