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Character Customization Discussion.


Misses Elise-chan!
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Discuss things and opinion on character customization. Which games have the best character customization? Which games would you like to have this feature implemented in? Any examples or memorable moments you had customizing? What do you add when making a character?

It can be skills, attacks, stats, or appearance. The world is your canvas.

Edited by Rabbattack
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Dragon Quest IX.

The sheer amount of customizing you can do in that game is incredible.

I second this.

Though I remember preferring the DQVI system myself, due to how you could keep every single combat skill after reclassing (and IIRC DQIX was slightly more restricted on that).

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Agarest.

You can customize 40% of your final moves (to some extent), how your character(s) move, which special attacks you want (in the form of building your team), which map type you want to play, and what status effects you resist. Hell, certain characters have options when it comes to their passive abilities! Zero took it a step further, and introduced a main character who could choose what weapon he wanted, four MORE attacks slots, and his growths (the last two are tied to the first one, to some extent, so no fully magical Sieg with a greatsword).

Tired of the playable cast? You can make a team with monsters on it! Zero's DLC introduces the ENTIRE cast of the first Agarest, meaning that I can run a team of the past and future~! It also means:

I can have Vashtor beat himself up in Zero

Annoyed with the lack of stat points you have? You can use PP, which is basically a party-wide stat point pool. Since you control which stats grow when you level, you can have silly things like Galios the Mage, or a Plum who uses physical attacks. Of course, they're hardly ideal, but if you're bored, it's a possibility~!

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Wrong. The character appearance customize of Sims are simple and bad. It is way worse than Pso2 and also cannot be compared with Saint Row.

Um, no. In recent Sims games, you could create literally any Sim you want by sort of molding them like clay, only virtually. You use the mouse to drag and shape parts of their bodies to your liking. I've seen it in action myself, it's pretty neat.

Also, whether it's bad or good is opinion. It's not wrong.

Edited by Anacybele
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Um, no. In recent Sims games, you could create literally any Sim you want by sort of molding them like clay, only virtually. You use the mouse to drag and shape parts of their bodies to your liking. I've seen it in action myself, it's pretty neat.

Also, whether it's bad or good is opinion. It's not wrong.

"Sims games"? Are you sure you should use the word "games" instead of "game"? The only Sims game I havent played yet is Sims 4. I played all of the previous PC games included most of the DLC. There is nothing like that in 3,2,1 or even in the WII, PS2, PSP, GBA games.

http://youtu.be/6X-ioeltAoM

And if that is what you mean then I am disappointed since I have seen much better char custom system in the older games.

Edited by Magical Amber
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From what I played, I would say Baldur's Gate 2 has the best customization options. I would assume that the really old RPGs like Ultima did offer far more but these were before my time. I guess Icewind Dale 2 offers technically more freedom since that game uses 3rd edition rules so it doesn't suffer from those pesky race, class and equipment restrictions of the 2nd edition but since the engine was clearly not meant for these rules, it's not very elegantly executed. So I stick with Baldur's Gate 2.

There are tons of classes and class kits to choose from and unlike certain other games, these affect far more then a few stat points in one direction or another, being D&D and all. Multiclassing is naturally a thing too. And stuff like Mage/Fighter multiclassing works far better with the 2nd edition rules that this game uses then in 3rd were they are basically just mages with proficiency in swords. ...though there are race restrictions to those again. *sigh*

Unfortunately when it comes to customize the PC's appearance, there is not a lot to choose from since this is a 1998 sprites-based game. Your spriteset is based on gender, race, your first class. And equipment has it's own sprites, so at least there are no invisible plate armors in this game or something like that.

Still, those games at least manage to offer you to choose several colors for your personal palette: Hair color, skin color, primary color and secondary color. I wouldn't mention this but apparently this is such a special and difficult thing to include that games that were made decades later like FE12 and FE13 fail to provide such a feature for your PC for anything beyond hair color.

On the other hand, the game allows players to easily import their own portraits. Though, you have to create two versions of the file: A large one for the status screen and a small one for anywhere else. On the bright side, once you went through that effort, you can also use those portraits in the other Infinity Engine games.

You can also do the same for voice clips but this is obviously a lot more complicated since you need to design an entire set. So I've never actually done it myself.

I don't think anything I mentioned is all that special but I would say that those options really start to shine once one takes into account that it is a D&D based game with up to 6 party members that runs in realtime. The customization options here have a far larger impact then in modern games due to the fact that modern D&D games are made for consoles and are only ported to the PC.

And party based games for consoles just can't compare to PC ones. I mean compare those old PC games to something like KotoR with it's 3 party member limit and far inferior control options that turned combat ridiculously simplistic to the point were you can't even flee from an enemy because you can only ever control one particular character. It's not even possible to tell a character to go to a particular spot. (Also wow, grenades so don't work with that system because you can't aim at a particular spot either, area of effect damage be dammed.). They both use D&D rules and they have the same developers, yet KotoR can't even begin to measure up to Baldur's Gate.

And even other old D&D based games I know only support smaller parties. Which is a problem because you always need to keep certain classes around, so additional party slots make a massive differences in how the party plays. Not to mention that Baldur's Gate 2 still uses 2nd edition rules. Which means that in addition to the 6 members limit, it also has the benefit of far more effective multiclassing. So you can get more out of your slots.

The game is also special in that in order to create a party, Baldur's Gate 2 not only allows you to recruit actual characters but you can also simply create an entire party from scratch. Which is a nice little side effect of the game being designed around multiplayer, btw. But obviously player created characters are rather dull.

You can also export characters and import them into different games. So you could for example create a party that consists entirely of previous player characters.

Edited by BrightBow
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"Sims games"? Are you sure you should use the word "games" instead of "game"? The only Sims game I havent played yet is Sims 4. I played all of the previous PC games included most of the DLC. There is nothing like that in 3,2,1 or even in the WII, PS2, PSP, GBA games.

http://youtu.be/6X-ioeltAoM

And if that is what you mean then I am disappointed since I have seen much better char custom system in the older games.

My mistake, I should have clarified what I meant exactly. By "games" I was referring to Sims 3 and 4 plus any expansion packs since expansions add customization options.

Also, that's a demo. It's going to be missing stuff.

Edited by Anacybele
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Saint's Row I guess, 3 or 4 basically even

Sliders, iirc eight voice options, basically all aspects of combat, clothing... tbh ticks all the boxes.

Edited by Parrhesia
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Sims, MySims, and various action rpg/fighting games.

Agarest.

You can customize 40% of your final moves (to some extent), how your character(s) move, which special attacks you want (in the form of building your team), which map type you want to play, and what status effects you resist. Hell, certain characters have options when it comes to their passive abilities! Zero took it a step further, and introduced a main character who could choose what weapon he wanted, four MORE attacks slots, and his growths (the last two are tied to the first one, to some extent, so no fully magical Sieg with a greatsword).

Tired of the playable cast? You can make a team with monsters on it! Zero's DLC introduces the ENTIRE cast of the first Agarest, meaning that I can run a team of the past and future~! It also means:

I can have Vashtor beat himself up in Zero



Annoyed with the lack of stat points you have? You can use PP, which is basically a party-wide stat point pool. Since you control which stats grow when you level, you can have silly things like Galios the Mage, or a Plum who uses physical attacks. Of course, they're hardly ideal, but if you're bored, it's a possibility~!

Would you recommend this game/series?

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Would you recommend this game/series?

I'm not sure what your idea of fun is, so I'll point out what I liked about it, and you can decide~!

The overall plot is pretty good, and even the characters who fall under "some scrub I picked up along the way" contribute to the story. The characters themselves range from somewhat bland to complicated as all heck. Every character has something(s) that they are good at and something(s) that they're bad at. For example, Ellis (from the original Agarest) is meant to be a mage - upping her physical attack isn't the best idea. Every character has a weapon type that they wield, with certain characters having access to two (best example are the male swordies, who can usually nab greatswords and swords). Likewise, every character has their own set of special attacks (which hit hard), six slots that are predetermined, and will eventually have four latent abilities (stuff that's meant to help out, some of which require certain conditions).

In terms of gameplay, planning is extremely important. If you want to make the most out of your team, you'll need to see how well they work together (this may include changing the map they're on). Most skills have some sort of combination attack, which can have all sorts of effects (example: Ice Needle + Earth Needle is Double Needle, which has a larger area of effect than its two component skills). By positioning your units right, and taking advantage of your skills, you can lay the hurt down on enemies - or a lot of them at once! In turn, the monsters have access to the same basic skills as you do, and may do things like link up and combine skills to lay on the hurt. The boss battles range from sort of hard to SCREW YOU IDEA FACTORY!

For weapons/armor, you'll need to create them. The monsters will drop plenty of materials for you to work with, and the shop offers some basics for you to get started. Each weapon has up to four skill slots - combined with your character's six, and you'll get the full complement of ten, which can be used for all sorts of strategies. Sometimes, it's a question of whether or not it's worth it to take a hit in stats to get the weapon slots you want. Armor also comes with slots - but unlike weapons, you can fill in the slots with things like stat boosting items. Certain armors grant resistances, whether they be elemental (reduced thunder damage, as an example) or status ailments (I'm partial to Resist Death).

There's a skill that will allow you to grab nearly-dead monsters and recruit them for your cause. Their growths are generally inferior to your characters, but they'll make up for it with things like better innate slots or amazing latent abilities (or if you're a Miesha, both). Certain monsters can wield human weapons, too! You can combine two monsters to form a third one, which may be something insanely powerful. . .or a total loser. Fortunately, you can preview the resulting critter before committing to it!

After certain events, you'll earn something called PP - it's a general stat pool that anyone can use, and it's great if you want to get someone into the game - or turn your already broken character into a minor god!

The downside to all of this - it can get pretty grind-heavy, especially towards the end.

So, if you don't mind a game with amusing characters, lots of planning, careful positioning, and quite a few customization options, then Agarest is for you~!

Edited by eclipse
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I'm not sure what your idea of fun is, so I'll point out what I liked about it, and you can decide~!

The overall plot is pretty good, and even the characters who fall under "some scrub I picked up along the way" contribute to the story. The characters themselves range from somewhat bland to complicated as all heck. Every character has something(s) that they are good at and something(s) that they're bad at. For example, Ellis (from the original Agarest) is meant to be a mage - upping her physical attack isn't the best idea. Every character has a weapon type that they wield, with certain characters having access to two (best example are the male swordies, who can usually nab greatswords and swords). Likewise, every character has their own set of special attacks (which hit hard), six slots that are predetermined, and will eventually have four latent abilities (stuff that's meant to help out, some of which require certain conditions).

In terms of gameplay, planning is extremely important. If you want to make the most out of your team, you'll need to see how well they work together (this may include changing the map they're on). Most skills have some sort of combination attack, which can have all sorts of effects (example: Ice Needle + Earth Needle is Double Needle, which has a larger area of effect than its two component skills). By positioning your units right, and taking advantage of your skills, you can lay the hurt down on enemies - or a lot of them at once! In turn, the monsters have access to the same basic skills as you do, and may do things like link up and combine skills to lay on the hurt. The boss battles range from sort of hard to SCREW YOU IDEA FACTORY!

For weapons/armor, you'll need to create them. The monsters will drop plenty of materials for you to work with, and the shop offers some basics for you to get started. Each weapon has up to four skill slots - combined with your character's six, and you'll get the full complement of ten, which can be used for all sorts of strategies. Sometimes, it's a question of whether or not it's worth it to take a hit in stats to get the weapon slots you want. Armor also comes with slots - but unlike weapons, you can fill in the slots with things like stat boosting items. Certain armors grant resistances, whether they be elemental (reduced thunder damage, as an example) or status ailments (I'm partial to Resist Death).

There's a skill that will allow you to grab nearly-dead monsters and recruit them for your cause. Their growths are generally inferior to your characters, but they'll make up for it with things like better innate slots or amazing latent abilities (or if you're a Miesha, both). Certain monsters can wield human weapons, too! You can combine two monsters to form a third one, which may be something insanely powerful. . .or a total loser. Fortunately, you can preview the resulting critter before committing to it!

After certain events, you'll earn something called PP - it's a general stat pool that anyone can use, and it's great if you want to get someone into the game - or turn your already broken character into a minor god!

The downside to all of this - it can get pretty grind-heavy, especially towards the end.

So, if you don't mind a game with amusing characters, lots of planning, careful positioning, and quite a few customization options, then Agarest is for you~!

Sounds like fun.

I like replayability and shenanigans.

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I second this.

Though I remember preferring the DQVI system myself, due to how you could keep every single combat skill after reclassing (and IIRC DQIX was slightly more restricted on that).

Yeah, I prefer the 6/7 system too, but I feel like 9's combination of the 8 and 3 systems required a bit more planning.
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