Playing dress-up is really important to me

[salty]

I either need a character that is fully written (The Nameless One, Geralt) or I need an in-depth character creation system. I'm talking hair, makeup, and clothing. I can't begin to stress how important this is and I know I'm not the only one.

 

When I'm in town, I like to put on my fancy dress of +charisma and persuade the townsfolk to give up all their secrets and pay me to take their goods. When I'm out adventuring, I want to inspire awe in my foes. I want the glare off my armor to blind them for a moment. I want bandits to covet my fine, silken mage robes while I burn them to a crisp. I want to enchant a commoner's tunic with protective charms so that I may go unnoticed in a crowd.

 

And don't forget to accessorize! Jewelry and shoes pull the whole outfit together.

[l3loodangel]

I either need a character that is fully written (The Nameless One, Geralt) or I need an in-depth character creation system. I'm talking hair, makeup, and clothing. I can't begin to stress how important this is and I know I'm not the only one.

 

When I'm in town, I like to put on my fancy dress of +charisma and persuade the townsfolk to give up all their secrets and pay me to take their goods. When I'm out adventuring, I want to inspire awe in my foes. I want the glare off my armor to blind them for a moment. I want bandits to covet my fine, silken mage robes while I burn them to a crisp. I want to enchant a commoner's tunic with protective charms so that I may go unnoticed in a crowd.

 

And don't forget to accessorize! Jewelry and shoes pull the whole outfit together.

 

And for me too . I just love to undress Geralt, so maybe we could ask for a DLC with improved customization features!

[Seagloom]

I was going to tack on a similar comment in a reply to the "Please include women with shirts on." thread before the site borked and ate my post. Le sigh. I may as well reconstitute that bit here.

 

Totally agree--particularly in the clothing department. I'm honestly not expecting a whole lot of attention given to clothes. The old school design influence may mean PE will be limited to ToEE level variations in clothing options.

 

I like throwing clothes on my character that are suitable to the situation at hand. If she is out and about knocking heads, I prefer her in sensible armor. If she is attending an upscale social event I want the option to wear a dress. Sometimes I want my character to look badass and other times I'm shooting for sex appeal. Sometimes I like a character to wear an outfit to fit a background or design concept. In short, more choices is always better here, and this area is often neglected in RPGs presumably due to cost.

 

I'm glad J.E. Sawyer wrote what he did in that other thread; as the depiction of women in games is a concern for me. That doesn't mean I want to be locked into one style, however. The more options there are to portray my character how I envision them, the better.

[AlphaWhelp]

I agree, the more in depth the character creation is, the better a first impression your game makes. Take a look at Skyrim, for example.

[Delterius]

If I remember right, Arcanum's dialogue system had a 'reaction modifier' - a predisposition that NPCs had towards helping your character based on their appearance. Fine clothes improved that modifier.

 

And that's fine with me, personally literally playing dressup is kind of pointless in this kind of game. Just look at PC sprites from Arcanum and Baldur's Gate - character customization (appearance) was reserved for custom portraits.

[Seagloom]

Yeah, it's likely a no-go if we are talking small sprites on a large map akin to Infinity Engine games or ToEE. I'm not expecting clothing options to matter much given that. I'd be happy if I there were simply more than two robe styles for mages.

[Infinitron]

Assuming this isn't a troll post:

 

Keep in mind this is an isometric game. Your characters are going to be too far away to see most of those details.

Edited September 15, 2012 by Infinitron

[Tale]

Hats alone could make this a game of the decade.

 

But seriously, I'm doubtful that we'll get much character detail from it with it being isometric. That said, we may still get plenty of visible customization on paper dolls or character portraits. Though the tier reward of a custom portrait implies static portraits.

 

I do enjoy customization. I think I wasted $10 this past week just on parts for Transformers: Fall of Cybertron. So I support the idea, but I'll be understanding if it's more left to the imagination.

[Littlefinger]

Personally, I don't care much for facial costumization. ~8 preset faces with a few haircuts is entirely enough, methinks. Take Morrowind for example - limited character customization, yet loads better than the hundreds of sliders in Oblivion, Skyrim or, I don't know, Mass Effect (I just used the default maleShep anyway).

 

As far as clothes go... well, it all depends on how close to the character the camera will be. Again, Morrowind is a good example: armors over shirts, separately equiped gauntlets and pauldrons... this allowed for quite some freedom in customizing your character's appearance. So as long as the customization does not go as deep as choosing nail polish, I'm good.

Edited September 15, 2012 by Littlefinger

[salty]

I loved Arcanum despite wearing the same dress through the whole game. Having a wide selection of dialogue is also extremely important for my character and immersion, and that can definitely make up for having less clothes.

 

Graphics have improved and I'm assuming we'll be able to zoom in to some extent. We may be able to see ourselves in the inventory, as well. If fine details aren't possible, there are still shapes and colors and separate pieces (hats, shoes, gloves) to consider.

[l3loodangel]

Hats alone could make this a game of the decade.

 

Dress up is the essential part of RPG genre. I for one don't play games that do not give a lot of customization options.

[The Sharmat]

It's a pipe dream, but I kind of like it when equipment effects character interaction every once in awhile. It was a tiny and almost useless detail, but in Morrowind if you talked to an NPC with your weapon unsheathed their disposition was lowered. Same if you were naked. Stuff like that would be nice, but pretty low on my list of priorities. Perhaps if you obscure your face people won't recognize you on sight? That kind of thing.

Edited September 15, 2012 by The Sharmat

[FivebyFive]

Character cusomization is more or less essential for me in terms of overall enjoyment of a game. It's a simple thing, but it adds a great deal to the immersion and so on. And I'm also one of those who like to actually dress the part and adjust my look to the current situation. It's also important that both genders have the same level of customization.

 

One thing I would certainly love to see is the ability to change your appearance during gameplay. I'm not talking about changing major things here, but changing from a short hairstyle to long, or growing a beard would be impressive to see.

[PsychoBlonde]

Folks, keep in mind your character is probably going to be TINY. As in, an inch high OR LESS. You will probably not be able to customize makeup because the makeup won't even take up an entire pixel.

 

This is not a third-person over the shoulder game where you can zoom in and examine the moles on your character's neck. This is going to be a game like Baldur's Gate. I'd like it if we can zoom in, but even then you're probably going to be looking at a 3" model instead of a 1" model. Only the largest features are going to be visible AT ALL.

[Uomoz]

Good old purple-haired heroes of Faerun. xD

[novander]

I don't care how small the characters will look, any amount of customisation lets me feel more attached to the character. Hell, I was in two minds about buying LA Noire until I heard you had a choice of suits to wear in the game. I'm slighly embarrassed by the fact but that makes it no less true.

 

I just hope there's some play in the customisation that doesn't affect stats. Nothing worse than finding a super cool helmet only to look terrible when you put it on.

[Kana]

I don't think this is the kind of game where playing dress-up can really have a large role, considering it will have an isometric perspective. There are other games that allow for that kind of thing. I hope the focus of this game will be less on superficial aspects of character customization, and more on depth in character development, interaction and problem solving. I care less about what my character is wearing, and more about what he/she believes and wants to achieve.

[Bos_hybrid]

I need an in-depth character creation system. I'm talking hair, makeup, and clothing. I can't begin to stress how important this is and I know I'm not the only one.

 

 

Wrong type of game, this isn't Skyrim or Sims. Customizing though abilities/perks/skills/trait etc, is where the meat is.

[Monte Carlo]

Character customization is important. If the avatars are small, BG-style, then you can still add a reasonable element of customization (look at ToEE for example, that had great character avatars and clothing).

 

I'm liking this idea that was on another thread that cultural styles should work their way in. Armour, helmets, robes etc might be distinctive rather than generic and identify the region or origin of the item. They might, in some instances, even provoke comments. Might it be taboo, for example, for a man in region 'X' to cover his head? Or not cover it?

 

Clothing and items then become part of the game: statements / disguises / deliberate provocations. What if dressing like a prosperous merchant assists your bartering skills or prices in a tavern (a 'Merchant's Hat' becomes a magic item that boosts these stats), maybe wearing clerical garb or items if you're not a priest can lead to serious problems in some areas.

 

I know it sounds ambitious, and I'm mindful of art asset limitations (but you can make it easier, what if the colour red was verboten in a certain region and your best magic item is red?).

 

So, making your character look interesting and adding elements of that as a game mechanic kills two birds with one stone and would make the gamer cooler for me.

[silvercross]

I'm liking this idea that was on another thread that cultural styles should work their way in. Armour, helmets, robes etc might be distinctive rather than generic and identify the region or origin of the item. They might, in some instances, even provoke comments. Might it be taboo, for example, for a man in region 'X' to cover his head? Or not cover it?

 

Oooh, this I like. Reminds me of how the gith would attack you if you had the silver sword.

 

Would love to have an extravangent costume to perhaps go undercover with. Maybe even having a quest about obtaining the costume.

[mickeym]

If Valves TF2 has taught us anything, it's that cosmetic DLC can be a real gold mine. If the developers can find a way of adding some cheap (cheap for them to implement) but cool optional cosmetic crap into the game it could pay for itself multiple times, easy.

[mayfaire]

Character customization is important. If the avatars are small, BG-style, then you can still add a reasonable element of customization (look at ToEE for example, that had great character avatars and clothing).

 

I'm liking this idea that was on another thread that cultural styles should work their way in. Armour, helmets, robes etc might be distinctive rather than generic and identify the region or origin of the item. They might, in some instances, even provoke comments. Might it be taboo, for example, for a man in region 'X' to cover his head? Or not cover it?

 

Clothing and items then become part of the game: statements / disguises / deliberate provocations. What if dressing like a prosperous merchant assists your bartering skills or prices in a tavern (a 'Merchant's Hat' becomes a magic item that boosts these stats), maybe wearing clerical garb or items if you're not a priest can lead to serious problems in some areas.

 

I know it sounds ambitious, and I'm mindful of art asset limitations (but you can make it easier, what if the colour red was verboten in a certain region and your best magic item is red?).

 

So, making your character look interesting and adding elements of that as a game mechanic kills two birds with one stone and would make the gamer cooler for me.

 

Those are some great ideas!

 

And I agree that character customisation (and not just of stats) is really important, even if the models/sprites are small. Helping shape a character's appearance is part of building that character and helps with player attachment.

 

All items showing up on the character model would be nice, too. Well, within reason. Depending on the size of the model, or availabilty of art resources, I'd understand forgoing some items like gloves and boots. Still, one of my biggest disappointments in Arcanum was buying my first top hat, only to discover it didn't change my sprite.

 

I'd also like to stress the importance of gear that looks great, so the shallower players (like myself) don't get punished. I remember hardly ever equipping helmets on my character in Baldur's Gate unless they had a really awesome enchantment, just because the majority of them looked ridiculous.

[Monte Carlo]

Hey a joke Helm that had awesome powaz but looked incredibly stupid would be a funny easter egg. The Banana-Shaped Helm of Utter Valour +5 or something.

[Shadowstrider]

Hats alone could make this a game of the decade.

 

It worked for Team Fortress II!

 

But seriously, I'm doubtful that we'll get much character detail from it with it being isometric. That said, we may still get plenty of visible customization on paper dolls or character portraits. Though the tier reward of a custom portrait implies static portraits.

 

I do enjoy customization. I think I wasted $10 this past week just on parts for Transformers: Fall of Cybertron. So I support the idea, but I'll be understanding if it's more left to the imagination.

 

I don't really care much about face morphing, hair/eye color selection, especially given iso and 2d Portraits.

 

I would like to see body scaling and some really extensive armor/weapon selections though.

[l3loodangel]

If Valves TF2 has taught us anything, it's that cosmetic DLC can be a real gold mine. If the developers can find a way of adding some cheap (cheap for them to implement) but cool optional cosmetic crap into the game it could pay for itself multiple times, easy.

 

We should start an online petition for customization DLC!