Extra Punctuation: Too Many Options in Skyrim
- Thread starter Yahtzee Croshaw
- Start date
I just used the facial presets they have in there, didn't bother mucking about with sliders. Pick a face, pick a hairstlye, pick tats, go. Strangely, the male orc preset facial preset (the default one) reminds me of Vinnie Jones for some reason.
And yeah, you can totally level yourself into an early grave if you don't watch out. I think there's some obscure combat/non-combat line we're meant to level up with, but Bethesda forgot to tell us what it is. I say this because my stealth character quickly got mutilated by creatures he just couldn't cope with, whereas my combat focused characters have found the fights almost underpowered.
And yeah, you can totally level yourself into an early grave if you don't watch out. I think there's some obscure combat/non-combat line we're meant to level up with, but Bethesda forgot to tell us what it is. I say this because my stealth character quickly got mutilated by creatures he just couldn't cope with, whereas my combat focused characters have found the fights almost underpowered.
I like the write-ups where there is a clear point better. You never finished talking about skyrim having too much choice. Is it good? Is it bad? Now I'll never know because we got distracted by nose sliders.
I generally prefer facial presents. I preferred picking one of a dozen caricature heads in Rock Band than the slider overload in Guitar Hero World Tour.
I would like to pick a facial present in BioWare games but I find I don't like any of the presets. So, slider micromanagement it is. But it still doesn't make me happy--BioWare's character creation screen always has a black background and the first time you see your character's face against the much brighter and colourful game scenery, all your slider tweaking turns out to be for naught since their face looks completely different in the light. They must have received complaints about this since Dragon Age 2 lets you change your face if you have the Black Emporium DLC (though you still have to play with it, since it just takes you back to the black background). And The Old Republic's character creation screen has a bright, colourful example of game scenery for your slider tweaking.
If these games weren't so obsessed with photorealistic characters, and trying having more unique art styles, the face tweaking might not be such a big deal.
I would like to pick a facial present in BioWare games but I find I don't like any of the presets. So, slider micromanagement it is. But it still doesn't make me happy--BioWare's character creation screen always has a black background and the first time you see your character's face against the much brighter and colourful game scenery, all your slider tweaking turns out to be for naught since their face looks completely different in the light. They must have received complaints about this since Dragon Age 2 lets you change your face if you have the Black Emporium DLC (though you still have to play with it, since it just takes you back to the black background). And The Old Republic's character creation screen has a bright, colourful example of game scenery for your slider tweaking.
If these games weren't so obsessed with photorealistic characters, and trying having more unique art styles, the face tweaking might not be such a big deal.
I gotta agree with your issue with the sliders. I'm not creative. I have no desire to try and recreate myself or danni devito in a video game. I am the person presets were made for and I'm sure the greater part of the RPG community hate me for my lack of originality. Let me pick a face and play the damn game.
Whatever happened to using a webcam to scan your own face into the game? That and being able to download celebrity lookalikes are the only good uses for this level of customisation.
There are presets too, y'know. You can just pick one of those or use the default face if you don't care.shadowmagus said:
That's my problem with this article, too. You CAN just pick a preset; they don't MAKE you play with sliders. No one's forcing you to use any of the stuff in Skyrim; I didn't even do any quests until like level 16.
Personally, I love playing with the sliders! I wish every game (where you create a character at all) had a character creator as detailed as the ones found in SmackDown Vs. Raw games.
Kinda a shame you aren't playing it computer, Yahtzee! We've got and/or are/will [be] getting/got mods to fix all that within the past/coming month.
Cheers to you though, always fun reading your stuff--you're a brilliant writer!
Cheers to you though, always fun reading your stuff--you're a brilliant writer!
I actually managed to turn a character's face inside out with the Oblivion creator. It was kind of terrifying.
I think this is a case where you could say "this is just not your type of game."
Seriously, nobody forces you to become a werewolf. I didn't. They offered me and with that werewolf standing next to you, as an example of what you would become, I friendly declined. It didn't fit my character to go down this path.
Also, the game auto-saves every time you enter a location. So you could just load from the auto-save just before you entered that location and enter it at a later stage.
And you don't have to spend 30 minutes worrying about how your character looks, that's what the presets are for. Pick a race, choose a preset you like, and you're done in two minutes.
Seriously, nobody forces you to become a werewolf. I didn't. They offered me and with that werewolf standing next to you, as an example of what you would become, I friendly declined. It didn't fit my character to go down this path.
Also, the game auto-saves every time you enter a location. So you could just load from the auto-save just before you entered that location and enter it at a later stage.
And you don't have to spend 30 minutes worrying about how your character looks, that's what the presets are for. Pick a race, choose a preset you like, and you're done in two minutes.
I don't use the sliders much myself but I like having the option should the mood strike me. I do wish there was a second chance at the end of the tutorial to make any changes though, in case my facial changes look ridiculous in different lighting.
As for your dungeon problem, if you're using a shield Quick Reflexes is mandatory. Slows down time considerably and lets you bash an enemy or side-step their power attacks and do some heavy damage. I'm using a fast, runny, jumpy character with a dagger and this still helped me out of many an unfair fight, and looks awesome!
As for your dungeon problem, if you're using a shield Quick Reflexes is mandatory. Slows down time considerably and lets you bash an enemy or side-step their power attacks and do some heavy damage. I'm using a fast, runny, jumpy character with a dagger and this still helped me out of many an unfair fight, and looks awesome!
Wait...how was this about Skyrim having too many options? You talked about being inducted into various Guilds, but joining is a multi-step process. If you want to join the Dark Brotherhood, you have to willingly go along with a mistaken-identity thing and murder someone. If you want to join the Thieves Guild, you have to go through a short 'initiation' and then fight your way through a hobo-infested sewer.
And Jesus, man, how is the werewolf thing is a problem? You're never forced to transform, and the only 'downside' is the loss of a minor and temporary XP gain bonus when you rest in an owned bed. And by that point, it's pretty damn obvious what's about to happen: you find out that the Circle is composed of werewolves, and the guy who considers lycanthropy a blessing has invited you to a ceremony to inducted you into the Circle. What did you think was about to happen? They were just going to give you honorary werewolf status?
The character customization argument is pretty weak, too. Plenty of armor has full-face helmets, yes...but if you don't like that, just wear a hood or something. Hell, I always gave my Battlemage a mana-boosting hood until I got to Ebony and Daedric gear and upped my enchanting skill enough to give them similar enchantments.
And there are presets for each race. Quite a lot of them, too. So does that mean you're just complaining that you can customize your character?
I'm a bit worried about that Saints Row comment, though. Yes, they give you a bunch of voices to choose from, but really? You want to be able to adjust the pitch? They didn't just take one voice and electronically modify it. Each of those is its own voice actor. Any in-game tool that lets you manually adjust how the voice sounds isn't going to make it so you can take the cockney accent and make it region-specific. All it's going to do is push it in the direction of a tape-player with a dying battery (ie, slow and retarded) or the inexplicably-famous Fred (ie, fast and retarded).
C'mon, Yahtzee. If you can't muster good complaints, just focus on making the article funny. This is just boring in the same way that the 'Space Marine' article was just annoying. We're more than happy to listen to you say why you hate something, but for the love of Christ, say it like you're having fun doing it.
And Jesus, man, how is the werewolf thing is a problem? You're never forced to transform, and the only 'downside' is the loss of a minor and temporary XP gain bonus when you rest in an owned bed. And by that point, it's pretty damn obvious what's about to happen: you find out that the Circle is composed of werewolves, and the guy who considers lycanthropy a blessing has invited you to a ceremony to inducted you into the Circle. What did you think was about to happen? They were just going to give you honorary werewolf status?
The character customization argument is pretty weak, too. Plenty of armor has full-face helmets, yes...but if you don't like that, just wear a hood or something. Hell, I always gave my Battlemage a mana-boosting hood until I got to Ebony and Daedric gear and upped my enchanting skill enough to give them similar enchantments.
And there are presets for each race. Quite a lot of them, too. So does that mean you're just complaining that you can customize your character?
I'm a bit worried about that Saints Row comment, though. Yes, they give you a bunch of voices to choose from, but really? You want to be able to adjust the pitch? They didn't just take one voice and electronically modify it. Each of those is its own voice actor. Any in-game tool that lets you manually adjust how the voice sounds isn't going to make it so you can take the cockney accent and make it region-specific. All it's going to do is push it in the direction of a tape-player with a dying battery (ie, slow and retarded) or the inexplicably-famous Fred (ie, fast and retarded).
C'mon, Yahtzee. If you can't muster good complaints, just focus on making the article funny. This is just boring in the same way that the 'Space Marine' article was just annoying. We're more than happy to listen to you say why you hate something, but for the love of Christ, say it like you're having fun doing it.