Shenmue Dojo

Posted: **Thu Apr 09, 2015 7:39 pm**

Not sure if I'm alone on this (and therefore not sure if the topic is even worth it), but I go nuts whenever I'm given free reign in a game to customize the look of my protagonist. I enjoy making up my own characters, but oftentimes I'll also make my own little in-game homages to other titles, often of the obscure variety.

I figure if anyone else is into this kind of stuff, go ahead and use this topic to post your creations. I'd be really interested to see what others have created in games, whether it's your own original character or a version of a pre-existing one.

I was just messing around in Armored Core V, and spent at least an hour this morning piecing together, picking the right colors, and creating decals for an AC version of one of my personal favorite videogame robots: Robbit from Jumping Flash.
Had to give it reverse-jointed legs to keep its jumping ability high.

Couple more pics in the spoiler tag:

Oddly proud of this one, aesthetically, even though the actual AC setup isn't all that sound.
The "Universal City Hall" decal (first pic in spoilers) is almost identical to the one in Jumping Flash, and the Superman-esque shape of the "R" decal was hard to make, since it doesn't actually exist in the game; had to piece it together with other shapes. Also note the yellow-frosted tips on its "ears"; not a hard effect to do, I just like the detail.

So if you've got any creations of your own you'd like to show, post 'em here. I always like seeing this stuff, whether it's an original character or an homage like this one.
And don't worry about picture quality; if you can't take screenshots, just snap it with your phone or something. It's all good.

Posted: **Thu Apr 09, 2015 8:47 pm**

Very detailed work.
I don't have any pictures myself (or an installed game with character creation so I could take some) but I know what you mean. I always try to get as close as possible to what I envisioned though never tried to recreate characters. Lately, I forced myself to stop customizing a bit earlier though since it's easy to keep on changing and make things worse eventually.

But I remember that between Mass Effect and Mass Effect 2 there was a change in settings so an imported character from the first game didn't look exactly right. I remember looking for (and finding) some patch and tips to make the character look like the one you originally had. It's not important for gameplay but having a different looking character would have bothered me.

You're not alone though since my girlfriend and my brother also spend a while creating characters. And I saw Angry Joe mention liking character creation before now that I think of it ;) I guess that it's not too uncommon.

Posted: **Sat Apr 11, 2015 9:06 am**

This one is my main at the moment.
I call it the Pac-Attack.

Basically just a color scheme and emblem that I can apply to any spec. A little brighter than the paint schemes I usually go for in these games, but I like it anyway.

Posted: **Sat Apr 11, 2015 11:04 am**

I do too. Typically I try to recreate my face n physique with human type characters. If I can't I fall back on a Bruce Wayne lookalike (I always play as Batman styled a playthrough as possible anyway)

When it comes to armour or owt like that, it's either sky blue n white with a sleek/streamlined design or black n silver with an imposing look.

Posted: **Sun Apr 12, 2015 12:12 pm**

I honestly prefer pre-created and designed characters. I like seeing what the games development artists can come up with, and often and usually its better than anything we could ever create. Still though, there are games and circumstances where character creation is great, I think its just usually outside of a single player experience, where you can really show off your creation to other people online in game.

I wanna bring up Xenoblade Chronicles X as a prime example of a game with character creation that im not sure I like in this game. Its for the most part single player, and for RPGs like this, I just prefer a dedicated main character, and not a user generated one. There is also the problem of these characters often being mute or isnt voice acted, and who wants a mute main character or no voice acting for them? We'll see though, im still extremely hyped for that game either way.

Posted: **Sun Apr 12, 2015 1:28 pm**

MyShep > BioShep

Your argument is invalid.

Posted: **Sun Apr 12, 2015 8:02 pm**

AnimeGamer183 wrote:There is also the problem of these characters often being mute or isnt voice acted, and who wants a mute main character or no voice acting for them?

I dunno, that seems like kind of a... well, no offense, but a narrow view of videogaming as a whole.
I agree, yeah, I generally prefer playing as an actual character, with a developer-decided personality and look and all that. But that's specifically in games that truly call for it, for stories that hinge upon inter-character relationships.
Not all games are like that, though. Most of From Software's games, for example, elaborate on a background web of lore, rather than sending you through an A-to-B narrative full of chatty characters. A case like that, the atmosphere would be seriously damaged if you're playing as talkative Mr. Joe Hero.
Videogames, as with any other form of media, should be allowed some individuality, some sense of variety. Not all games should prescribe to the same basic rules of storytelling, and in that sense I don't mind silent protagonists, provided that the situation calls for it (I still don't really understand why Link, for example, still never has any dialogue; it doesn't help the storytelling in the least).

Posted: **Sun Apr 12, 2015 10:23 pm**

Yeah, I get that, games like Fable and Elder Scrolls and what not have silent/mute main characters and its perfectly okay, BUT those games also are heavy on character creation too. it cases like say DQ8 and more JRPGs that I find myself scratching my head about it, seems the western games usually have the mute characters.

Posted: **Sun Apr 12, 2015 10:32 pm**

Yeah, I getcha then. Never really understood why Link, Crono, Serge, Adol Christin, or others like that were never given their own personalities.
Kind of a credit to Naughty Dog that the first Jak & Daxter game had Jak as a mute, but they quickly changed that with the second game, realizing that it only hurt the storytelling if he wasn't given dialogue.

Posted: **Mon Apr 13, 2015 12:13 am**

99 times out of 100 i go with the default character at the character creation screen. i just dont care enough to create one :???:

Posted: **Mon Apr 13, 2015 12:59 pm**

I haven't really created characters in any game since SmackDown! 2 on the PSone..

Posted: **Mon Apr 13, 2015 2:53 pm**

I know this doesn't really count as a "character" but when I saw the screenshots of the custom color schemes on those robots I immediately thought of the liverly editor of the Forza games. So I'll just leave this here.

I didn't do many fancing things with the editor but one time, years ago when Forza 2 came with this brand new feature, I sat down for hours and created the best work of art I ever have in a video game. Making something like this with hundreds of layers of various preshaped stickers is quite tricky.

Posted: **Mon Apr 13, 2015 4:45 pm**

OL wrote:(I still don't really understand why Link, for example, still never has any dialogue; it doesn't help the storytelling in the least).

People always say Link shouldn't speak but he already does, we just don't hear him. Characters in the games always respond and act as if Link has spoken to them, we just don't hear it. I've never understood why people don't want to see what he has to say. I think when most people are against it they're mainly against having voice acting.

Posted: **Thu Apr 16, 2015 4:47 pm**

Figured out a character that would fit with Bloodborne even better than Vampire Hunter D;
Chakan the Foreven Man.
Hell, even Chakan's original game could be thought of as slightly similar to the general concept of Booodborne/Souls, since you can't really die; you just respawn and try again with new knowledge.
My version ain't perfect, but it's almost impossible to get it much closer than this. I rose his nose as high as I could; any alterations (even making it smaller) would drop it lower on his face. And unfortunately it's hard to get a face looking any more skeletal than this, and you aren't allowed to make the eyes a single, bold color (would have been full red if I could).
But oh well, it's as close as I could get it. I still think it's a cool face regardless of the reference anyway.

And I started a new game after creating the character, playing all the way past Gascoigne to the point of having at least 10 insight so I could buy his hat to complete the look (as close as possible, at least).
Dedication.
Now if only I could dual-wield two Chikage swords.

Posted: **Mon Apr 20, 2015 6:26 am**

My dragonball Xenoverse character

Shenmue Dojo

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