Character Customization and you

[Celtic_Kerr]

I like being able to customize my character, but it all gets overshadowed eventually. Let me explain. You make this character of a certain build, height, and everything right? And then you're forced to put on armor. Not armor you like, but the best armor you have. You can't change the color, how shiney it is, nothing. it's got an appearance. DEAL. You want to wear a helm? Your face disapears. Don't wanna look at a man with a can on his head? DEAL. World of Warcraft did good with this as there is an option to wear a helm, but show your character's face on your avatar, so that he doens't look generic.

Mass Effect 2 was also good for that, as you didn't buy different armors, but upgraded your character as you would upgrade your ship.

 

[zaiggs]

I think character customization has it's place, but more often than not, it serves as nothing more than a little mini game before the game starts. Especially for Fallout 3 and Oblivion, I felt that all that customization was for nothing. You more often than not ended up covering your character in gear of some sort, covering up your character. Also, how many people played those games in 3rd person? I felt that 3rd person looked weird in both games and playing in first person kept me from seeing the character I had created and covered in the best armor I could find.

Character customization can be really interesting though, and I realize for games like Saints row, if there wasn't character customization, the game wouldn't be as interesting.

I still feel in a lot of games it's hard to make a character that isn't at least partially hideous.