Best character customization?

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Lord Beautiful

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I suppose Saint's Row 2 wins. I know of no other game where one may play as a naked dancing Spartan with a legion of purple ninjas under his command.
 

Truth Cake

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Pretty much anything by Bioware has good character customization. Saints Row 2 was good too, but the lack of voices (3 for each sex... 2 of which suck/are annoying for each) and GOOD hairstyles kinda ruined that for me.

As for my favorite, I would say Oblivion, even by Bioware standards was exceptionally good among many very good character customizations- you could be a lizardman! Would you prefer green, blue, red, or pretty much any other color of the rainbow for your scale color?

Soul Calibur 4 was very good too, but the stats forced you to choose the worst matching outfits to get the best fighter. On the other hand, you COULD make someone with red skin ^_^ (I think I have a problem with outrageous skin colors...)
 

Nocturnal Gentleman

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I'd have to say city of heroes/villains. It may not have the best when it comes to pure human customization but I have to love a game where I can make a dwarf lizard man-scuba diver- megaman robot villain complete with total back story, special types of powers and power sources, and the most ridiculous battle cry I can think of.

For just humans probably Saints Row 2. I have to check out the one for APB though. It sounds even better in some ways.
 

laststandman

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Apocalypse Tank said:
Rainbow Six Vegas 2

Runner up:
Oblivion
I would flip those two around, but then again I still do have a very special attachment to my Rainbow Six character.
 

Vrex360

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Saint's Row 2. Everything from looks, voice, outfit and even the way you walk is customized. As well as what gestures you use primarily.
 

AvsJoe

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The only reason I play wrestling games is for the character customization, by far my favourite genre of games in terms of customization. I haven't watched a WWE episode in almost 4 years and haven't watched them on a regular basis since they were still the WWF and I was in grade 5, so it's clear I'm not a fan, but damn do I love creating characters in a Smackdown game.
 

Truth Cake

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bl4ckh4wk64 said:
Mass Effect, hands down. You can change everything in that game.
You still gotta be human! and you always gotta be "Commander Shepard" (spelling?), although most games don't call you by your own personalised name but in text (I guess for fear of expletives or something) or by your title ("Grey Warden" from Dragon Age)

At least in Oblivion you don't have to be human! or "Imperial", whatever...

On a side note, ARE there any games out there that actually say your own, personalised name NOT in text?
 

theodosian

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I would have to say Morrowind. For all of its gameplay flaws (absurdly unbalanced combat and the walking speed of sloth on opium) the ability to create essentially potluck armor was impressive as well as the enormous amount of stats allowing for virtually any class idea that could be thought up. Though the faces were somewhat limited, it is one of the few games that allowed a character to travel in heavy armor while hiding it with robes or a cloak, allowing for the possibility to have the secret badass or create that post apoc look that's always floating around but never really allowed for. Regardless, it was pretty bloody time consuming to try to balance everything.

Really, the best all around is still the SPECIAL system, especially when coupled without the Fallout pnp system. Easy to use, thorough enough, highly customizable, and allowed for quick jaunts in the wastes. Big win for the home team.
 

bl4ckh4wk64

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Truth Cake said:
bl4ckh4wk64 said:
Mass Effect, hands down. You can change everything in that game.
You still gotta be human! and you always gotta be "Commander Shepard" (spelling?), although most games don't call you by your own personalised name but in text (I guess for fear of expletives or something) or by your title ("Grey Warden" from Dragon Age)

At least in Oblivion you don't have to be human! or "Imperial", whatever...

On a side note, ARE there any games out there that actually say your own, personalised name NOT in text?
I'd say it makes up for the whole "human thing" with its plot, also there are some mods in the PC version where you can play as Turian and a few other races like the Hanar and Elcor.
 

AugustFall

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I feel like I'm always talking about it nowadays but I have to say Neverwinter Nights. I haven't played every RPG but the even with its dated graphics it still looks good with a huge database of armors and weapons. Most importantly though is the class customisation, it's not an exaggeration to say there could be a dozen different ways to play each class (Quite a few classes too) and the fact that some abilities cross over into overworld play ie. not PvE, is awesome.

I look at customisation in terms of the type of character rather than appearance though.
 

Truth Cake

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bl4ckh4wk64 said:
Truth Cake said:
bl4ckh4wk64 said:
Mass Effect, hands down. You can change everything in that game.
You still gotta be human! and you always gotta be "Commander Shepard" (spelling?), although most games don't call you by your own personalised name but in text (I guess for fear of expletives or something) or by your title ("Grey Warden" from Dragon Age)

At least in Oblivion you don't have to be human! or "Imperial", whatever...

On a side note, ARE there any games out there that actually say your own, personalised name NOT in text?
I'd say it makes up for the whole "human thing" with its plot, also there are some mods in the PC version where you can play as Turian and a few other races like the Hanar and Elcor.
I thought we were talking about the better character customization, not better game overall? I've never played the PC mods, but doesn't playing as a non-human kinda ruin half the plot of both Mass Effects?

*stifled giggle* Shepard as a Hanar? I wonder how he would..? -snip-
 

Nouw

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Not too sure, Saints Row 2 looks to have heaps. Also, Reach looks very nice in terms of customizing your own Spartan!
 

captaincabbage

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sketch_zeppelin said:
Saints Row 2. you can make the character look anyway you want. you can even choose the voice and animations for the character and since the game has no armor you can dress them how you want without robbing them of they're indivuality and its a blast to see your creation during the in game cut scenes
but no matter how you make them look they'll always run like a constipated gorilla.

But yeah, it's an excellent character creator. probably equal to Spore.
 

Zack5777

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Truth Cake said:
bl4ckh4wk64 said:
Mass Effect, hands down. You can change everything in that game.
You still gotta be human! and you always gotta be "Commander Shepard" (spelling?), although most games don't call you by your own personalised name but in text (I guess for fear of expletives or something) or by your title ("Grey Warden" from Dragon Age)

At least in Oblivion you don't have to be human! or "Imperial", whatever...

On a side note, ARE there any games out there that actually say your own, personalised name NOT in text?
There really can't be good in game speaking of character names, it would sound out of place like the computer speech function of computer.
 

dragonslayer32

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Saints Row 2 has an amazing character customization. One minute you could be a huge English bloke and the next a hot Latina woman.
 

SomeBritishDude

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City of Heroes had amazing amount of options. Too bad they didn't have the option to make the model not look like shit.
 

Truth Cake

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Zack5777 said:
Truth Cake said:
bl4ckh4wk64 said:
Mass Effect, hands down. You can change everything in that game.
You still gotta be human! and you always gotta be "Commander Shepard" (spelling?), although most games don't call you by your own personalised name but in text (I guess for fear of expletives or something) or by your title ("Grey Warden" from Dragon Age)

At least in Oblivion you don't have to be human! or "Imperial", whatever...

On a side note, ARE there any games out there that actually say your own, personalised name NOT in text?
There really can't be good in game speaking of character names, it would sound out of place like the computer speech function of computer.
Well someone can at least try >.>

OR even better make the character who is speaking your name a computer! Anyone else thinking Glados?
 

GonzoGamer

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AcacianLeaves said:
Unfortunately I don't think many games have really succeeded in manufacturing a robust character customization system. Many games have a great 'character creation' system, but then you get saddled with a very limited selection of armor, clothing, or weapons. Oblivion and Fallout 3 are great examples of this. Yeah, I could spend an hour crafting an exact image of myself - but very soon into the game I'd be wearing full power armor or whatever the 'nut' item for my chosen specialization is.

....

So my question to you, Escapists, is what is a game that you have played that you feel has the best character customization system in all of gaming? I mean from creation through leveling and into a final 'ideal' character.
You and my wife are the only people I've ever heard of that can make a realistic looking character in a Bethesda game. My wife is also able to craft a pretty convincing double of herself: the only attractive characters I ever see in those games-even the creators can't seem to make the chicks in those games hot.

To answer your question, I recommend Sims 3, if your computer can get it to work properly; it's got more bugs than Fallout 3. You get a lot of customization to start off, then there's expansions and dlc (free and pay-for). The most recent iteration is kind of like a mundane world sandbox rpg. It would be a really cool game if it actually worked properly.

After that I would definitely have to recommend Saints Row 2. I was able to make everyone from Dr Girlfriend from Venture Bros. (complete with voice) to the Comic Book Guy from Simpsons. Physical customization can be done at any time in the game from the Plastic Surgery shop, then there are plenty of clothing stores, costume shops, and even a lingerie store to dress up with. On top of that, it's a really fun game too.