Character Creation

Final Fantasy 9 had some beautiful characters. I remember them being like nothing I'd ever seen before. As the first RPG I ever got to play, the detail in that game (growing up with the Playstation) blew me away. They all had so much care to their detail, each one very unique from the last.


Often I find myself enjoying games with good character design more than ones with character creation. The simple reason, the limitations when implemented in game make for a much less satisfying character. Usually not meeting the level of creativity my imagination wants to put behind a character. It becomes a compromise when making choices for how to design the character.

The time that someone else has put into the design of a full fleshed out character with the proper style and detail that someone had in mind can often be achieved now a days. Something like this had a whole other level of limitation:

In early games one had to deal with the technology getting in the way of the developers wanted. Now that technology has greatly improved, it seems that the greatest limitation is when someone has to develop user interface that truly gives a person freedom in creature creation.

Many games seem to implement the idea that giving a person character creation options are a way to please the player even if the options are few. It gives a sort of illusion of freedom that a player has control when it's in truth a sort of lazy way out for the developer to just not put effort into designing.

In terms of character design

Good examples:

Bad example:

 I bring this all up because I've been waiting for a long time for a game that can produce a character creation system that matches the quality of characters I'm so used too seeing in pre-designed characters like shown above.

Today I was linked by a friend an amazing video that shows the character creation I've been waiting for. The game is Black Desert and it's the first time I've seen it. I can't wait to see what else comes from this.