How Do You Create/Customize Your Characters?

[Moonface]

A lot of games give you the chance to make a character your own, either by making them almost entirely from scratch or giving you the ability to customize them to the point you may not even know who the character originally is (looking at you, Tekken). So what do you tend to go for when making a character or customizing an existing one? Do you prefer picking a male or female character to create, or do you go by what feels right for the tone you want from your game or just by which choice has the better options to choose? Do you keep your customizations simple and fitting of the base they're being applied to, or are they just a puppet for whatever crazy fashion statements your mind can come up with?

Normally for me I tend to make a character from scratch that looks similar to myself, just so I can feel more immersed in the game I'm playing by feeling it's more like me playing outside of just the obvious "Well I'm holding the controller so obviously I'm playing" feeling. The only games I can think of where I will make original characters or at least characters that don't resemble me are WWE games, since for starters you get a lot of creation slots so I don't have the limit of one creation, and there's an incentive to make different characters because you can make different types of wrestlers. I can't remember if I made other Mii's or not, but if I did they would have been some abomination that has their facial features duplicated and/or moved around to create some poor being that wants to die.

[Karo]

For me I tend to always pick a female character to create generally I try to make sure my character fits the setting, but I am not very strict about whether or not it completely fits the setting or not games are suppose to be fun afterall and definitely a puppet for whatever crazy fashion statement my mind can come up with.

[Moonface]

For me I tend to always pick a female character to create generally I try to make sure my character fits the setting, but I am not very strict about whether or not it completely fits the setting or not games are suppose to be fun afterall and definitely a puppet for whatever crazy fashion statement my mind can come up with.

Would you say there's always certain physical traits you pick for female characters like a hair color or something? Or is everything always just completely different and what you feel like having at the time?

[Karo]

Oh there definitely is I tend to go for natural hair colors, but sometimes I will go for the dyed hair colors it just with natural I feel like every outfit would work for that, but when you get to dyed...sometimes I just don't think it works. The outfit is definitely whatever I'm feeling up to at the time and that really goes for the race too if its a fantasy setting.

I feel like humans are just kinda plain if you could be a human with an extra little twist like a nekomimi or a dragonmimi. still very human, but just different ears and a tail basically.

[Dragon Lord]

In games with CaC, I just pick a female character, do the bare minimum to make her look cute, and that's about it. I absolute hate spending more than 5 minutes in a character creator, as I find it to be a waste of time. I just want to play the game.

I'll never understand how people can spend 5+ hours in character creation.

[Moonface]

I'll never understand how people can spend 5+ hours in character creation.

The only time I've done that is in WWE games, but that's because you have to also assign all the moves and animations too unless you want them to just use stock moves, which doesn't work if you're trying to make a particular wrestler. Otherwise I'd say ten minutes is the maximum time to spend so you have time to see all the options and stuff.

[Karo]

I feel like I usually spend more than hour on character creators I haven't ever done anything past two hours yet that I know of but it something that I personally really enjoy doing and it honestly can get me into a game.

[Moonface]

I feel like I usually spend more than hour on character creators I haven't ever done anything past two hours yet that I know of but it something that I personally really enjoy doing and it honestly can get me into a game.

Do you do that even if the game recommends you wear armour that covers your characters face and body to the point that how it visually looks doesn't matter? Like for Dark Souls I can't see why going intricate on the character would matter when normally you'd wear a helmet.

[Dragon Lord]

I'll never understand how people can spend 5+ hours in character creation.

The only time I've done that is in WWE games, but that's because you have to also assign all the moves and animations too unless you want them to just use stock moves, which doesn't work if you're trying to make a particular wrestler. Otherwise I'd say ten minutes is the maximum time to spend so you have time to see all the options and stuff.

When it has direct ties to game mechanics, that's understandable. But you see people spend half a day making a character in games like Skyrim or something and then they just end up playing first-person/with a helmet on the entire game. Props to games that have an option to turn off headgear visuals (thank you Nioh 2 for being one of them). I just find it funny that people spend that much time working on a character and then proceed to either never play the actual game, or spend the entire game without actually looking at your character.

[Moonface]

Props to games that have an option to turn off headgear visuals (thank you Nioh 2 for being one of them). I just find it funny that people spend that much time working on a character and then proceed to either never play the actual game, or spend the entire game without actually looking at your character.

Ooh, that's really neat that Nioh 2 does that. I assume the first one didn't?

I wish more games did that even when you can't customize the playable character like in Ratchet & Clank. I hate the best armor in those games hides Ratchet's entire head even in cut scenes so all the facial expressions just get lost which are sometimes the only communication he makes depending on the situation. Not only should you be allowed to turn things off visually but also let us wear one item for its stats and then have a visual slot for what you want to actually display. The only game I've played that ever offered that level of depth for character clothing/armor is Terraria.

[Dragon Lord]

Nah, Nioh had it too, but in Nioh you play as a set character (William), while in Nioh 2 you create your own character. Nioh 2's CC is also really nice and detailed, so you can make some pretty cute as heck female characters with it, and it's nice having the option to not have their heads hidden by helmets, especially considering the game is in third-person.

[ShiraNoMai]

Before the age of having custom female characters in games, I obviously had to go for the Boy route, which most times I realize I tend to prefer in games. I have a lot more fun creating a character from a guy because I start basically playing doll with them and dressing and styling them to be what I used to think was "ideal" bad boy type or some shit.

The girl route, or games with a 100% customizable character (base and all), I tend to also make them look like me.

[Dragon Lord]

That's another thing I could never get into. Not dogging on anyone for doing it, but I just can't "put myself into the game" as it is. When I play a game that has Character Creation, I don't make characters that look like me and I'm not looking to insert myself into the game. I'm just controlling a character in the game.

Maybe it's from my long history of RPGs, where you mainly just play as the main protagonist of the game, but I just can't view myself in the setting of a game.

Though who am I kidding, even if I could imagine myself being in the game, I'm still going to make cute girls because cute girls trump everything.

Though this brings something to my mind. In Role-Playing Games with CaC and multiple weapon choices, does your choice of playstyle effect your character's gender?

For example, in games like Skyrim or the Souls games, I like to play stealthy and light weight (basically Assassins/Archers/Thieves) and I always went with a female character for those playstyles. Or if my character is going to be a healer, I'm likely to go with female as well. Any time I'd actually pick a male character, was if I was going to have a playstyle of a heavy, slow weapon with heavy armor. Though now days I just go with female characters for everything, because it's always fun to watch this scrawny female character swing a sword twice her body size.

Shira bringing up clothing/armor options is another reason why I tend to lean towards using female characters as well. 99.99% of the time, the female character is going to have much better options for that kind of thing than the male character is going to have. One good example is in Dark Souls. I hate how the Thief Mask headpiece looks on males, it's a complete hood that covers the entire head. Meanwhile on a female character, it's just a mask that covers the mouth/nose, and looks a million times better.

Between better looking armor designs, better customization and my preferred play styles, combined with the fact that I eventually just decided that playing a male character would be boring because I'm a dude in real life, I eventually just go to the point of always playing female characters when I had a choice.

[WR91]

I use to try and create myself as the main character as whatever game. Now I just tend to make someone who's badass looking and what would fit the story of said game.

[Maniakkid25]

I...don't? Like, all of the intricacies of most modern character customization just confuse me, so I just tend to find a preset I like and just go from there. If I make any edits, it's to really large qualities (hair length, height, things like that), or just changing the color of something.