The Best and Worst Character Designs
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This dude right here.
I'd say nearly everything and everyone in Oddysee and Exodus is incredibly well designed.
As for bad designs... More or less everything put out by Blizzard.
Behold!!!!!
Seymour from FFX!!!! Wrost Character design I ever seen!!!!!
On the other hand his Summon is
F*CKING METAL!!!!!
Seymour from FFX!!!! Wrost Character design I ever seen!!!!!
On the other hand his Summon is
F*CKING METAL!!!!!
I have to say, I agree completely. It was the art style that first drew me to TF2, and it's the mucking up of said art style with the most absurd and dumb hats that drove me away from it. A shame, because that game is a ton of fun.Irridium said:Best character design I've seen is the Team Fortress 2 classes.
I'd say they're perfect. Shame they cocked it up with all the hats and stuff, but still. Their base models are pretty much perfect.
However, I'm severely disappointed that no one has mentioned this beautiful example of perfect character design yet:
I don't know about bad character design... besides the more recent Final Fantasy games, which have already been mentioned, I can't think of anything that stands out as terribly offensive to me.
Whoa. Was she in the first game? That was the only one I played and I remember thinking it wasn't all that fanservicey for a Japanese fighting game, but that pic is... kinda really bad in that respect.The Wykydtron said:
OT: I can't think of one specific person to name as best/worst so I'm gonna go with franchises.
For best I would have to go with either the Guilty Gear series for its unique zany cast, or Dead Space for its for its extra creepy take on "zombies" and excellent armor designs. For worst I think its a hard choice between Guild Wars 2 and basicly every 3D Final Fantasy game. With GW it might just be my fault as I never got very far, but from what I saw it was lacking in the epic armor department, which has always been important to me in MMOs as it both looks cool and serves as visual sign of progress. Much of the armor in GW seemed very plain(except for Mesmer starting gear, witch just looks stupid to me). As for FF games as much as I have loved some of them, I have always felt that the 3D entries had rather silly character design, with X XII and XIII being the worst offenders, and as much as I love it to death you could make the argument that IX belongs on that list too.
You wot guvna?Daystar Clarion said:Blue means Lee is calm? You mean the blue outfit he's wearing to go to prison for murdering someone because he couldn't keep his calm?
Anyway, I always thought a lot of JRPGs just went stupidly over the top when it came to character design.
Well, not all
Man I love
As for OT: Worst? I'm gonna go the easy way out and say that Scarlet Blade game from the other thread....just ugh.
Best? Well I've been playing tf2 heaps lately and I love all the classes and their attire in that. Speaking for just the base gear, none of it is really over the top or anything and it all suits whoever it's on...*shrug*
Oh and Zeno Clash. Zeno clash is fucking ridiculous in this department and I love it.
Holy shit it's like a living Iron Maiden with a monster dick just waiting to fuck you up. How did I forget that this existed?SweetShark said:
More OT: Simple stuff is always nice and cool. Booker [https://encrypted-tbn3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcS2JjwycAohRQlr3pzgt3x19DprL_zsOk58R9qgJiLHNtye61ZVkQ] and Elizabeth [http://images2.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20130402192602/bioshock/images/2/26/Elizabeth.jpg] from Bioshock Infinite look good, as do most of the cast from Persona 3 [http://bulk2.destructoid.com/ul/148150-/vuKv9mYui53P11S4v464uKK4MWUbT7i1-noscale.jpg]+4 [http://fc01.deviantart.net/fs47/f/2009/161/1/6/P4_Persona_Users_by_faustysangel.jpg].
Meanwhile I fucking hate stuff like Dark [http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_1RcvaEDhLZ0/TVFONQpHJ1I/AAAAAAAABmo/MdL3lXDOGYs/s1600/war_armor_newpeek.jpg]siders [http://images2.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20120822015102/darksiders/images/f/f6/Death_darksiders_ii.png]. Over designed unrecognizable horrible looking things that manage to be completely generic yet stupidly nonstandard.
She is in BlazBlue Continuum Shift Extend, the latest one until Chrono Phantasma hits consoles. Whenever that is.major_chaos said:Whoa. Was she in the first game? That was the only one I played and I remember thinking it wasn't all that fanservicey for a Japanese fighting game, but that pic is... kinda really bad in that respect.The Wykydtron said:
The only thing I can think of is that since Mu is the ascended version of Noel Vermillion and Hazama turned her into Mu-12. I'm going give a theory that since Hazama hated Noel so much he just took the chance to design her outfit in the most hilarious way possible after her rebirth. Just for the lolz.
It's the only reason I can think of to be honest. I have yet to find a solid reason from the actual team at ArkSys, the general feeling with Mu's design is that it just... Happened. Then everyone rolled with it.
I'm not complaining really, she's my favourite character to play regardless of the weird costume. Would you be surprised if I told you she has one of the lowest health pools in the game? Shocking right?
I'd imagine they designed it so that if it was a real item of armor it would allow for movement. If the green plates connected to the legs it wouldn't be very flexible. Then you could also argue that because the area uncovered isn't as vital as the chest (not really any vital organs) and a shot to the stomach is less likely to be a kill shot.CloudAtlas said:
OT:
My favourite designs
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Come to think of it I really like pretty much all of the character designs from the Bioshock games.
I can't really think of some of the worst but some mentioned above are pretty bad.
I'm aware this wasn't put up as saying all these characters are poorly designed but while trying to think of one I searched a few sites to get some ideas and one had Star Killer as one of their worst which annoys me for the simple fact that he looks exactly like his voice actor. I mean fair enough if they just designed a random faced, short brown haired male but I feel Star Killer is exempt from this for the simple fact that he looks exactly like his voice actor (this wasn't an attack at you or anything).josemlopes said:
Yeah, that image was just something that was on the internets that showed what I was trying to say in an easy way, still the fact that it was trying to be like the actor doesnt really avoid it from being "poorly designed" in the way that it ends up being bland among all the others.SSJBlastoise said:I'm aware this wasn't put up as saying all these characters are poorly designed but while trying to think of one I searched a few sites to get some ideas and one had Star Killer as one of their worst which annoys me for the simple fact that he looks exactly like his voice actor. I mean fair enough if they just designed a random faced, short brown haired male but I feel Star Killer is exempt from this for the simple fact that he looks exactly like his voice actor (this wasn't an attack at you or anything).josemlopes said:
They could have started the game with him looking like that (since he is jsut a Sith aprentice its obvious that he will probably have to look a bit bland) but at least make him stand out visually by the end of the game too give him some identity (like make him have a piece of clothing that would actually be unique to him, in the way that now everyone associates a white hood with the assassins of Assassins Creed).
In Spec Ops The Line the character is really bland first (just another soldier) and by the end of the game he is all fucked up (like half a face turned into bacon, clothes all messy, etc...), it still isnt exactly a good character design that makes him stand out all that much but it does avoid making him as bland as he was in the beginning
He resonated with me very well, was in one of my favourite games of all time. Just a cool-ass critter. Became my avatar on everything. I get it if other people don't see why I like him so much. He's of essentially no significance.
I've even been personifying the thing this whole post, so far. He's more of an "it". He's hardly even worth being called a character. Well, he's default unlocked on the arcade character select, so...that kinda counts? Anyway, I digress. It's all sentiment. Nobody'll agree.
Okay, maybe it's not TERRIBLE, but the combination of perma-hard nipples, permanent wedgie and special suspenders to gear the breasteses forward make this...not as bad as Ivy, but the perma-hard nips is the nail in the coffin for me.
that could be awesome....Tom_green_day said:
Slender vs aliens
can't think of any large women off the top of my head, but it could still be funny
Off Topic: Odd to say, but I actually don't mind Star Trek uniforms, in terms of design.
Straight forward, looks good, all that jazz.
On Topic: I never understood the character design of these guys.
However these two, I've always liked.
EDITED: Wording more reflects the image displayed.
Straight forward, looks good, all that jazz.
On Topic: I never understood the character design of these guys.
However these two, I've always liked.
I've always liked the Character of these two guys, and the gear they wear are well suited to who they are.
EDITED: Wording more reflects the image displayed.
Ahh, you beat me to it. I suppose all that's left for me to do is to be pedantic and correct Exodus to Exoddus.Casual Shinji said:
So I suppose I just have to pick the worst design now. Well, one nomination would have to be Ulysses from the Lonely Road DLC for Fallout: New Vegas.
Everything from the neck up is great, but that duster really gets on my nerves. It looks pretty impractical since I expect it would leave you with very thoroughly sunburned arms in the desert, and the fact that it has an American flag painted on the back after the US was involved in a nuclear apocalypse just reminds me of all the reasons why I dislike Ulysses as a character.
Hmm... wasn't the picture I actually pasted in, must of miss-clicked. However both are over the top (Original Picture was only the guy on the right)RT said:Actually, those are two different guysMikoi said:On Topic: I never understood the character design of this guy.
Fuck yeah, Legacy of Kain!However these two, I've always liked.
I've always liked the Character of these two guys, and the gear they wear are well suited to who they are.
Yeah, I've just recently replayed the LoK series, as good as I remember it, slightly bad camera controls still, lol. Steam, gotta' love it sometimes for old school gaming memories.
I can still rate the voice acting and even the story (To an extent) to be one of the best still to date.
The problem I'm having is that the number of insanely designed characters kind of out numbers the good ones. Sometimes you end up with good designs mixed in with rediculous ones, especially in the case of Final Fantasy XII. Balthier and Vaan aren't too bad in the clothing design department given the setting, but the women are just super sexualized to the max. Seriously, it would have helped with the character department if Penello and Ashe had clothing that matched up with the setting a bit better.
I actually have less of an issue with fighting game characters dressing weirdly than RPG characters, largely due to the kind of insanity that is typical in fighting games such as energy beams, telekinesis, and super moves. In RPGs on the other hand, there are plenty of conventional attacks thrown in, so it makes sense there should be well designed armor. Unfortunately, it seems like people who do armor design on RPG characters don't get enough inspiration from historic sources, since their are reasons we didn't have knights wondering around with perfectly sculpted abdominal and pectoral muscles on their chest pieces.
I actually have less of an issue with fighting game characters dressing weirdly than RPG characters, largely due to the kind of insanity that is typical in fighting games such as energy beams, telekinesis, and super moves. In RPGs on the other hand, there are plenty of conventional attacks thrown in, so it makes sense there should be well designed armor. Unfortunately, it seems like people who do armor design on RPG characters don't get enough inspiration from historic sources, since their are reasons we didn't have knights wondering around with perfectly sculpted abdominal and pectoral muscles on their chest pieces.
I agree. They are consistent, clear and clean. Anyone can see their role from a glance.Irridium said:Best character design I've seen is the Team Fortress 2 classes.
I'd say they're perfect. Shame they cocked it up with all the hats and stuff, but still. Their base models are pretty much perfect.
In terms of bad design, I hate when people overdue it. My example is
Worst: ACV's characters. In particular RD. He is initially some kind of submissive newbie assistant operator whose sole character trait is worried and whose sole reason for existing is an unexplained psychic ability to sense danger, which there invariably is (and I HATE unexplained psychic abilities in an otherwise logical universe). About halfway through, he betrays your side and joins the Corporation, adopting another 2D personality - he's a crazed killer fighting out of fear (gets an Armored Core by now, you never actually see any characters as humans, you just sort of trust that they exist). This might seem interesting, but it is an unprecedented change and all of his lines are stupid. Furthermore, the other two characters (the boss of the operation whose character arc is that over a couple of missions she becomes more confident in her role, and some kind of pilot whose character arc is that they care about money [why work for the rebels and not the Corporation] and are a little bit more moral-driven at the end) forget that RD was ever on their side and speak for you in saying that you're going to destroy him mercilessly. Which you do.
Also, characterisation is the reason I stopped reading Naruto. By the time I got to the water Hokage and her bodyguards I thought it was getting ridiculous. A character whose only trait is that he is irrationally unsure of himself despite being demonstrably powerful? A character relationship that consists purely of one's dialogue being misconstrued by the other as something disparaging to their image? And the worst part is this is every fucking line we see their one character trait.
Also, Dragon's Dogma. The Princess is ridiculous. It's not just that she's stereotypical, she does nothing that is not stereotypical and is constantly pitiful, and the worst part is she's the default romance to the point where it's hard to both complete her arc and NOT have her as your romantic interest designated by the game, and you're forced to sort of have an affair with her regardless of gender or what your character would do. So really I think I hate her for the characterisation that she foists upon the player character rather than her own, which is merely weak.
As far as best characterisation, Siegmeyer of Catarina from Dark Souls.
Putting on my fanboy hat for a moment, Dark Souls really does have some excellent characters, which is strange because you can't choose how to interact with them beyond saying yes/no and killing or not killing them. I think it's just how well thought-out and affecting when you think about it, but understated in-game they are. Some of the only emotional moments I've had in videogames were simple encounters with old friends gone hollow in Dark Souls.
Also, characterisation is the reason I stopped reading Naruto. By the time I got to the water Hokage and her bodyguards I thought it was getting ridiculous. A character whose only trait is that he is irrationally unsure of himself despite being demonstrably powerful? A character relationship that consists purely of one's dialogue being misconstrued by the other as something disparaging to their image? And the worst part is this is every fucking line we see their one character trait.
Also, Dragon's Dogma. The Princess is ridiculous. It's not just that she's stereotypical, she does nothing that is not stereotypical and is constantly pitiful, and the worst part is she's the default romance to the point where it's hard to both complete her arc and NOT have her as your romantic interest designated by the game, and you're forced to sort of have an affair with her regardless of gender or what your character would do. So really I think I hate her for the characterisation that she foists upon the player character rather than her own, which is merely weak.
As far as best characterisation, Siegmeyer of Catarina from Dark Souls.
An optimistic knight of Catarina who was exiled leaving an ailing wife and child, he constantly comes up against obstacles which you must help him surmount, and you do through just playing the game yourself, thinking nothing of it. What you don't realise is you're stripping him of his honour every time you help him, leading him to eventually recklessly throw himself into danger unnecessarily for your benefit. If you let him die, or die yourself showing his efforts were in vain, he will die/commit suicide, but if you manage to save him one last time, you continue the storyline. Meanwhile you've presumably also helped his daughter by telling her you saw him, as she has also become a knight, and ventured to Lordran to tell Siegmeyer that mother has died. However when you next see Siegmeyer, he is hollowed, the combined news of his wife's death and you having robbed him of his honour leading him to lose hope, and his daughter Sieglinde is forced to kill him, as she has done before, and will have to do many times. She thanks you for all you've done for them.
Putting on my fanboy hat for a moment, Dark Souls really does have some excellent characters, which is strange because you can't choose how to interact with them beyond saying yes/no and killing or not killing them. I think it's just how well thought-out and affecting when you think about it, but understated in-game they are. Some of the only emotional moments I've had in videogames were simple encounters with old friends gone hollow in Dark Souls.
Witcher 2 had phenomenal character design, easily walking that thin line between fantastical and stylish without losing some sense of realism.
Holy crap, practical armour? In a videogame? Is that even allowed?... Apparently so.
Holy crap, practical armour? In a videogame? Is that even allowed?... Apparently so.
Can't help but be reminded of this classic [http://cwsargeras.blogspot.com/2009/03/scourge-chat-log-1.html]:afroebob said:OK, how is this guy
not been mentioned yet?! This is the definition of amazing!
[theLichKing]: Oh but speaking of armor
[theLichKing]: I have skulls on my kneecaps.
[Kel?Thuz4d]: ok?
[theLichKing]: No, it is _not_ okay.
[theLichKing]: I have skulls.
[theLichKing]: On my _kneecaps_.