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[Mattdaddy]

I agree OP, I have similar thoughts when I consider why I love the Witcher 3 so freaking much for example.

Some of that writing and world building is so memorable, its just such a tighter narrative experience when you have a defined main character.

For example, there's a part where Geralt goes into a tavern and the thugs in there say something like "Oye fuck off ya white haired freak. You got two swords that mean ya got 2 cocks??" Lmao or something belligerent like that.

But goddamn what a memorable line, and its got tons of stuff like that. But in Skyrim for example... that couldnt happen because the writers have no clue what the hell kind of character is about to walk through that door... so you just get this generic... "Hey.... you!"

Customizing a character is cool, but for me the advantages to having a well defined main character just trump it overall.

 

[Bond007]

Agree in most cases.
Especially how it generally leads to a voiceless main character.


Then there are a few that are incredibly well done. Say- Dragons Dogma 2

 

[CosmicComet]

I kinda agree but I also don't want any character designed by a current year western dev.

 

[Raven117]

I agree with you on paper. I though that, for example, Geralt in Witcher 3 is way more memorable than most user created protagonists I've played as in other RPGs.

This. You can put your own little spin on him, but the core of his character is pre-determined. This is the best of both worlds approach.

BUT, as you said, the rub will be in actually writing compelling main characters to like.

 

[Wildebeest]

If you create a character, it exists in your head. It is up to you to decide how they feel about what is going on and fill in the gaps yourself. With that sort of game, it is important for the developers to not overwrite the player character and give them a variety of different ways to react. For example, Fallout 4 is a common example of a game with a player created character which is horrendously overwritten. You select from 4 options, many times all 4 options being exactly the same option, and almost always the option will lead to some horrendously over the top dialogue from your character which isn't anything like what your concept for the character was.

 

[jcorb]

Character creation sucks and is a waste of time. Like 90% of the time, I don't even touch it, even if required. Just go with how the default character looks. Really comes as a cop out for devs that they can't make memorable characters imo.

Always thought it was funny too in a lot of games, they give you all these options to create a character, then next thing you know, you only see their back for the rest of the game.

Ironically, I can sort of understand the sentiment. I'm a redhead, and I was picked on a bullied quite a bit for it when I was a kid, so I had a very special attachment to characters that also had red hair. Crono from Chrono Trigger was a bit one, or the Druid from Diablo 2; guys with red hair are rare enough, but are generally depicted as either "losers", "villains", or "creeps". So seeing characters with red hair, presented in ways that were still *cool*, definitely made a difference to me when I was younger.

So, I do agree there is value there.

Thing is, custom characters absolutely *do not* scratch that itch. And like I said, I don't think custom characters are *bad*, I'm just kind of sick of so many games going that route.

One of my favorite characters of all time is Zack from the original Crisis Core (I haven't played the remake, but the VA left a poor impression from what little I heard). The original Zack just felt like this upbeat, super charismatic guy, and he truly *felt* like a hero, like someone you wanted to be more like. That's just not something you would ever get some a create-a-character, because again, even though he was very much a straight forward "good guy", he still had a very distinct personality.

 

[Kagoshima_Luke]

 

[Griffon]

JRPGs are the answer OP.

 

[EverydayBeast]

Making character creation before a game is respected, what I do is skip it or use default as option, I think developers concerns aren't the main character anymore.

 

[Gamer_By_Proxy]

I just hit generate a few times or make a hot Asian chick. I skip over half the options every time.

 

[Trilobit]

I don't get why more aren't like Mass Effect where you have a very very strong character in Shepard, but still technically create a character. Like even when you made choices they all felt like Shepherd making the choices, not you the player.

 

[saintjules]

It's one of the things I don't like next to silent protagonists.

 

[Team Andromeda]

This is very much a symptom of modern gaming, but I actually think that "creating your own character" is getting stale.

I'm certainly not suggesting it is inherently bad or anything.

However, I *do* think it winds up getting lumped in with some incredibly lazy practices and storytelling.

First off, "your character" doesn't exist. The developer explicitly cannot know your character or their motivations. "Choices" are given to hopefully give you an outlet to *broadly* apply to certain character themes, however you're simply never going to get the same level of detailed storytelling with a player-created character. Your character is never going to convey interesting quirks or personality flaws, because again, almost by definition, custom characters have to be built on broad-strokes.

It's also a super common trope, or even a crutch, to make NPC's effectively worship the ground your character walks on. After all, custom characters are an extension of the player, and you want the player to feel *cool*, right? But things can never get too personal, so again, it always winds up feeling a bit disingenuous.

And then visually, a lot of times you get into situations where to play as an interesting-looking character, you're asking the *player* to effectively serve as an artist.

Like, bro; I didn't go to school to be an artist. I literally don't give a shit to become an artist. That's *your* job. How many people remember running around in Oblivious, or any one of the Souls games, with some alien-looking motherfucker?

In my view, custom characters are sort of like loot systems:

In games that fully commit to them, they can be great!

But not every game *needs* to have a loot system, or custom characters.

In fact, a lot of games do themselves a huge disservice by trying to shoehorn those elements in, rather than evaluating the experience they want the player to have earnestly and catering to that.

But in any case, I think it just winds up making games worse a lot of the time.

End rant.

Couldn't agree more. Keep ranting

 

[Northeastmonk]

Really? I feel like it personalizes the experience. I totally get why a set character design gives a story meaning, but if the character‘s personal traits don’t have an impact then I don’t see why it’s a bad thing.

If I want to make Taylor Swift in Bloodborne I can. It’s all about the journey.

 

[Melfice7]

Do you really want chars designed by todays western devs?

 

[DeltaPolarBear]

This is very much a symptom of modern gaming, but I actually think that "creating your own character" is getting stale.

I'm certainly not suggesting it is inherently bad or anything.

However, I *do* think it winds up getting lumped in with some incredibly lazy practices and storytelling.

First off, "your character" doesn't exist. The developer explicitly cannot know your character or their motivations. "Choices" are given to hopefully give you an outlet to *broadly* apply to certain character themes, however you're simply never going to get the same level of detailed storytelling with a player-created character. Your character is never going to convey interesting quirks or personality flaws, because again, almost by definition, custom characters have to be built on broad-strokes.

It's also a super common trope, or even a crutch, to make NPC's effectively worship the ground your character walks on. After all, custom characters are an extension of the player, and you want the player to feel *cool*, right? But things can never get too personal, so again, it always winds up feeling a bit disingenuous.

And then visually, a lot of times you get into situations where to play as an interesting-looking character, you're asking the *player* to effectively serve as an artist.

Like, bro; I didn't go to school to be an artist. I literally don't give a shit to become an artist. That's *your* job. How many people remember running around in Oblivious, or any one of the Souls games, with some alien-looking motherfucker?

In my view, custom characters are sort of like loot systems:

In games that fully commit to them, they can be great!

But not every game *needs* to have a loot system, or custom characters.

In fact, a lot of games do themselves a huge disservice by trying to shoehorn those elements in, rather than evaluating the experience they want the player to have earnestly and catering to that.

But in any case, I think it just winds up making games worse a lot of the time.

End rant.

You are describing what was once the standard with JRPGs. For a long time, JRPGs does not let you make your own character but instead give you a preset one. It is more mixed now (like the Souls series), but basically Japan is where you still get what you want.

 

[Mibu no ookami]

I'm one of those people that when playing a self-insert "You are the protag" type of game, I immediately go on Google to search for their canon name.



And I name them their canon name

That's interesting, I also google their canon names. I always use default names in other games, but Persona games don't offer the default/canon names.

It's especially weird when there are two names differing for the game and anime. Canon though would suggest the love arcana is probably the love interest, but those characters are usually too over the top, but in general I'm trying to stick to a preset story.

 

[Starbuck2907]

Rainbow 6 Vegas 2 let you scan your face into the game. I scanned my face in with my tongue sticking out. Every time another character talked to me, there I was sticking my tongue out as wide and as far as possible.

I want more of this. Just let me scan my face in with a phone app or something and me be the hero.

 

[thief183]

No character creation no buy for me (or buy at low discount). I don't care for a story that 99.9% of the time sucks.

 

[Lambogenie]

I agree. Though I do enjoy it from time to time.

It's also a good way to push toy and merch sales if the character is good, cool and easily identifiable. Even if they're blank slates like Link or Persona MCs (which I also kinda dislike). There's only so much Demon's Souls MC merch they'll sell. But Persona MC? Endless streams of it.

 

[thefool]

Let me just add, i also don't want 50 classes and 200 different combinations, half break the game, half make it impossible to play, meta bullshit, etc. I want my gaming experience optimized.

 

[Hypereides]

I think the core issue is that interesting character designs requires a character designer with an actual unique perspective. Such folks are either in short supply or have left the industry for various reasons. Most of these current AAA western designers come off as activists that are far less interested in exploring new, otherworldly, inspiring and idealistic heroes or styles and more interested in, you guessed it, pushing activism. The result is lackluster and unimaginative designs getting OK'ed in creative development.

There's very few character designs nowadays that play with or inspire your imagination. Creating good and interesting characters is hard and I think the problem is multi fold:
a.) not many current character designers possess that desire, b.) they are getting blocked by suits who have no sense for artistry or fail to understand the vision, or, c.) creative leads are veto'ing it from happening.

Its a shame really.

 

[DavJay]

I had the same sentiments for years. The created characters always look like shit and takes me out the game completely. At least Mass Effect had a default but for these others games… arghhhh