Favorite character designs

[Soviet Heavy]

The RX-79 Ez8 upgrade.

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Best looking Mobile Suit ever. I love the head's asymmetry and the all white color pattern. It's simple yet functional and is not weighed down with all the ridiculous fins and wings that came to dominate Gundam for over a decade.

 

[A.K.B.]

Ryu and the Sylvari were already mentioned so I guess I'll go with Raziel from Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver.

Spoiler

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I remember, back in the day, going to a store I haven't been to for a while, to find the good old Soul Reaver 2 box somewhere prepped on the stand... I remember picking it uop and then just staring blankly, in awe, at the cover art for like 3 minutes straight...
Razeil just wins... he just... wins.
his design is, arguably, quite simple, not a lot of intrinsic nor extrinsic aesthetic details to it...
Just a decayed, flayed blue corpse with the abdomen and lower jaw removed...
But it is really admirable how they managed to covey with the design this emulation of piteousness and pride.
And the fact that Crystal Dynamics still managed to make this abomnable idea for a design look hyper cool by the end of it even merits them more applaud.

 

[TheMysteriousGX]

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This and other female designs in Final Fantasy Tactics are what pop up in my head whenever I'm designing a female fantasy TTRPG character.

They're just so... good. Distinct from their male counterparts while still portraying their job class and generally avoiding explicit fanservice junk. These are my bar.

 

[Auron225]

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This and other female designs in Final Fantasy Tactics are what pop up in my head whenever I'm designing a female fantasy TTRPG character.

They're just so... good. Distinct from their male counterparts while still portraying their job class and generally avoiding explicit fanservice junk. These are my bar.

One that came to mind for me was Sabre from Fate Zero, and I was taken aback by how strikingly similar that FF Tactics design is to her! Down to the blonde hair!

Spoiler: Sabre

Having said that, I really like her in her suit as well. I like her actual character but I love her design.

Spoiler: In a suit

 

[The Madman]

I love the character design in the Witcher games, 2 and 3 especially. Practical armour with just a bit of a flair to it that gives it a sort of fantasy vibe without being some ridiculous unbelievable thing. Sort of grim, realistic, slightly sexy fantasy.

The monster design is also brilliant. Everyone does Western European (Arthurian/Lord of the Rings) and Japanese style, but I can't really think of any other games with such heavy slavic influences.

Simultaneously disgusting and terrifying, sexy and beautiful, realistic but fantastical. CD Projekt does character design well!

 

[FPLOON]

Given my contributions to the appreciation of various character designs...

Spoiler: (Some examples...)

Spoiler: ...And to think these ladies were just the icing on the cake throughout Jak II and 3...

[http://s42.photobucket.com/user/xbrokenxmyxheartx/media/6409836_l.jpg.html]

Other than that...

Spoiler: I find them all phonetically pleasing...

http://vignette3.wikia.nocookie.net/hdneptunia/images/c/c9/Neptunia_Mk2_Cast.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20110830235141

And...

Spoiler: The OG hunter herself...

http://vignette3.wikia.nocookie.net/metroid/images/e/eb/Samus_SSBB.jpg/revision/20100215064654

Well, I sometimes secretly go coco for some LuBu...

Spoiler: That face...

http://24.media.tumblr.com/f12fd66f1b27a8601b603695e5f9078d/tumblr_mizb87HVpw1rz4uhto2_1280.png

One of my favorite character designs is Rayman himself:

Spoiler: Which one? ALL OF THEM!

http://img4.hostingpics.net/pics/389871raymanevol.png

A dude with no arms and no legs ends up with more limbs than the enemies he faces... Priceless, yo...

 

[Ihateregistering1]

I've always liked Quan Chi, but I never really liked the outfits they put him in until this one in MK9:

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I mean, he's a Kung-fu fighting Necromancer, so right off the bat he's awesome, but this was the first costume they put him in that didn't either cover up too much of him or too little, so he actually looked like a Sorcerer (plus you could see his great tattoos and what not) who was also a physical bad-ass and could fight.

The Nightmare Cryx Warjack from Warmachine:

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Frankly, I like the look of pretty much all the Warjacks from Warmachine (especially the Cryx jacks) but Nightmare has to be my favorite looking one of them all. It helps that his model includes him finding (and more than likely killing) a kid just to show how crazy vile Cryx is. Deathjack is great looking too, but his weirdly tiny arms are just sort of strange.

The Berserker from Torchlight 2 in full wolf armor (I don't know the exact name of the armor):

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I mean, come on. Just look at it!!

 

[sky pies]

No diss intended, but I don't really like characters who carry massively outsized swords like your 'Fume Knight'...

On to the topic though, I think Link is a pretty timeless character, and I think JC Denton and Adam Jensen of the Deus Ex franchise both get it about right with their aug'd aesthetic.

Hmm, let's see if I can think of one more.. Okay, the Broad Swordsman in Age of Empires 1. In that game, gathering resources in campaign missions and such was often a real chore, and the appearance of the Broad Swordsman really communicated the achievement. Also, the way in which they were drastically superior to the previous unit in the unit chain was a great, if challenging, gameplay feature that has sadly been stricken from today's balanced, homogenous titles.

Spoiler: Age of Empires' Broad Swordsman

 

[default]

Oh boy, character design. One of my favourite topics.

I'm a fan of elegant form, movement and texture. I like slim, stylised figures with interesting, memorable shapes and colours, and I try to work with these ideas a lot in my own artwork. I also have a thing for armour and masks.

For cartoons I'm a huge fan of Finn and Jake from Adventure Time and the gems from Steven Universe. Such simple but insanely memorable and elegant designs with wonderfully complementary shapes and colours.



For games though, I really like the 'fluted armour' from Demon's Souls.

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I also really love Dustman from Dustforce. Dat flow son.

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The drifter from the upcoming Hyper Light Drifter is also beautiful. I am so fucking excited for this game.

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That's about all I can think of for now.

 

[ThereIsNoSanta]

In case my pic didn't make it clear I'm a pretty big TF2 fan. And the designs are a big reason for that.

http://www.wallpaperzzz.com/wallpapers/hd/hires/team-fortress-2-characters.jpg

Something I like is that, even now with all the silly hats, you'll never mistake one class for another. They all have distinct shapes, heights, and weapons. You'll know their silhouette from miles away, and know exactly what you're up against. It's the kind of thing the average player might not notice, but I think it's really well handled.