Cosmetics in Games

[Moonface]

We have a thread for customizing characters, and although that subject does kinda cover cosmetics most of the discussion was more focused on the character model itself, and rather than muddy that thread with cosmetic discussion I figured it's better to just make a new thread for all of that.

So, what are some of your favorite cosmetics from video games? What are some of the worst? What games offer some of the best/most diverse cosmetic choices? Do you dislike cosmetics tied to stats?


Since the thought of stats made me think of this first as a cosmetic, I don't like that the one armor you can change into any color in Minecraft is also the worst armor in the game. I understand why leather would be dyable and all the metal armors wouldn't be, but in vanilla visuals I don't really like how diamond armor looks. I use a texture pack that changes how that looks though so it isn't trash, and I guess I shouldn't care anyway since the game is first person and you don't see your armor, but that's the first example I got of a cosmetic tied to stats that I dislike.

Any other games I've played with stats tied to cosmetics are really just Bloodborne and Demon's Souls, but absolutely none of the armor/outfits in those games is memorable to me or looked amazing that I wanted to wear a particular piece.

[ShiraNoMai]

Can't say I have too strong of feelings in cosmetics in games. I enjoy them moreso when they're not tied to stats, though. I like making my character the way I want (doofy or more my style) and having gameplay consequences isn't really a fun result of that.

[Karo]

This is legit my favorite thing about games and it one of the big reasons I enjoy FFXIV & DBD so much. I agree with Nikki I'm not a big fan of them being tied to stats because sometimes you just want to dress your character cute and make them your own instead of having to worry about stats.

Though I do admit I think a game that had various different outfits with their own strength and weaknesses and giving them all unique models would be very cool to play through, but I also would be very annoyed when I had to abandon an outfit I'd like for something that really boring.

I feel FFXIV offers a wide arrange of outfits, but I think MapleStory more, but that cause they were a freemium economy and they all were in the cash shop and were 2D sprites. I feel like Dead by Daylight also has a lot of variety.

[Moonface]

Can't say I have too strong of feelings in cosmetics in games. I enjoy them moreso when they're not tied to stats, though. I like making my character the way I want (doofy or more my style) and having gameplay consequences isn't really a fun result of that.

Since I know you played this game and it has a ton of cosmetics, any from Terraria that you really liked? You could include the paint options too since those are technically cosmetics.

This is legit my favorite thing about games and it one of the big reasons I enjoy FFXIV & DBD so much. I agree with Nikki I'm not a big fan of them being tied to stats because sometimes you just want to dress your character cute and make them your own instead of having to worry about stats.

Though I do admit I think a game that had various different outfits with their own strength and weaknesses and giving them all unique models would be very cool to play through, but I also would be very annoyed when I had to abandon an outfit I'd like for something that really boring.

I feel FFXIV offers a wide arrange of outfits, but I think MapleStory more, but that cause they were a freemium economy and they all were in the cash shop and were 2D sprites. I feel like Dead by Daylight also has a lot of variety.

I honestly can't remember much about MapleStory's outfits, to the point I barely even know what I wore. DbD's cosmetics aren't anything I go out of my way for, but I will pick the ones that I think look the nicest on characters I pick. I tend to try and go for something disheveled since I don't like my survivors looking fresh and fly, considering the situation they're in.
Do you change your outfit often in FF14 @Karo?


I think the one game that has the most cosmetics I like is Mario Odyssey. The main reason for that is because of how many outfits are tied to locations, and I loved picking outfits that match the area of the game I'm currently visiting. I was trying to pick my overall favourite from them all but it's actually kinda hard.

[Maniakkid25]

Do you change your outfit often in FF14 @Karo?

I can tell you right now that Karo does far more than just changing outfits. I'm still working on ways to help her Fantasia addiction...

Overall, I don't have problems with cosmetics, but I actually prefer cosmetics to have some kind of statline or buff, purely because I'm a "function before form" sort of person. In fact, that was my biggest complaint with Destiny when it first came out: none of the races have modifiers to their stats. I immediately saw the race system as completely pointless at that moment, and have been complaining about it ever since.

[Moonface]

Do you change your outfit often in FF14 @Karo?

I can tell you right now that Karo does far more than just changing outfits. I'm still working on ways to help her Fantasia addiction...

Her what now? I don't know really anything about FF14 to know what Fantasia is (other than it being a Disney movie). XD

Overall, I don't have problems with cosmetics, but I actually prefer cosmetics to have some kind of statline or buff, purely because I'm a "function before form" sort of person. In fact, that was my biggest complaint with Destiny when it first came out: none of the races have modifiers to their stats. I immediately saw the race system as completely pointless at that moment, and have been complaining about it ever since.

Not that it relates to this thread but your comment on races having no differences reminds me of how Resistance changed how Chimera worked in Resistance 2's multi-player. In R1, humans and Chimera had different abilities and weapons, but R2 changed it that neither side had any differences in gameplay. To be fair, it was likely because no one used Chimera in R1's MP, but your comment just reminded me of that change.


Going back to cosmetics and stats, since I was just playing it I really like how cosmetics work in Ghost of Tsushima. Not only does each outfit have its own perks, but you can upgrade each outfit to improve both its appearance and perks; however, if you preferred the way an outfit looked at an earlier stage (each outfit has four stages) the game lets you pick an earlier appearance of that outfit without sacrificing the stat improvements to it. The only other game I know of that gives you perks for outfits but doesn't tie them to their exact appearance is Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart, where collecting armor pieces gives you bonuses but you don't have to wear that specific armor to get the bonus. You can wear any pieces you want and the bonus is tied solely to collecting the piece in the first place. That's probably one of the best approaches I've seen to having cosmetics have visual freedom while still giving you access to the stat bonuses.

[ShiraNoMai]

Yeah, the modern take of "you can keep all the stat improvements this specific armor/cosmetic comes with, but you don't have to show it off" is honestly the end game for conversation on cosmetics in games, tbh.

Oh thinking on it, I love when games don't do pre-rendered cutscenes with characters you get to customize. Nothing is more hilarious than seeing your characters dress in the dumbest shit possible in the most dramatic cutscene you can give them.

[Moonface]

Oh thinking on it, I love when games don't do pre-rendered cutscenes with characters you get to customize. Nothing is more hilarious than seeing your characters dress in the dumbest shit possible in the most dramatic cutscene you can give them.

That and I don't think a game should bother doing pre-rendered cutscenes while letting you choose your character cosmetics. If a game is going to decide what a character is wearing in cutscenes and thus declare that as their canonical attire, then it just makes me wonder why I even bother being given the choice to choose my characters appearance because the game will choose to ignore it when it suits the game.

I think some cosmetics are also just pointless entirely. CS:GO has an entire market around gun skins, but I can't say I've ever noticed what skin someone has on their gun unless I pick it up from their dead body. It just feels like a waste of money to buy a cosmetic for such a minor thing, same as paid cosmetics in first person games. I get other players can see it but I feel like it gets used more for flexing than anything else because the player can't exactly appreciate and enjoy a cosmetic they don't actually get to look at in-game.