04-29-2015, 09:51 AM
(04-29-2015, 02:09 AM)SessionZero Wrote: [ -> ]First of all, you accusing me of condescension is laughably ironic. Second of all, despite your assumptions, I have played every game you listed save Aion and Phantasy Star 2. In fact, Dragon's Dogma is one of my favorite games.
Then why in the world would you make the assertion that a character creator appeals primarily to a minority RPer demographic when so many games include them that do not have anything resembling a large RPer player base (well, actually, as a point of fact we are a tiny minority in every game we play, making the assertion rather absurd on its face)? I just do not understand.
Your point regarding my condescending tone is well-taken, but then, I'm not the one posting things like this:
Quote:>(with a few exceptions)
>a few exceptions
>few exceptions
>exceptions
I can read, thank you very much, and when I disagree with a point and provide inadequate evidence you can do better in pointing that out than posting things like this that better belong on 4chan.
(04-29-2015, 02:09 AM)SessionZero Wrote: [ -> ]That said, a robust character creator does not a good game make. I can forgive FFXIV's comparable lack of options because the rest of the game is fantastic and there's still enough customization that relatively unique characters are a possibility. APB, EVE, Soul Calibur, and BDO can throw all the frilly customization options they want at me, it's not going to make them playable games, or make me think they're worth my time.
Bottom line is, if you don't like the Au Ra, don't make one. It's a simple concept that does not require so much negativity and snark directed at the people who actually like what we were given, or, god forbid, have a favorable/neutral opinion on the whole thing.
Key word: "relative".
Your opinion is noted. It's just, as I have been making very clear, my opinion is completely different. Character creation is absolutely #1 on my list of priorities, above and beyond literally everything else. EVERYTHING else. It's not like I'm in a small minority, either, as a hugely significant proportion of the PSO2 player base plays that game largely for the character creation and customization, and the actual game part is just a nice bonus (particularly as, to be honest, the game itself is not that great and becomes pretty repetitive pretty quickly). There's a reason it has one of the highest fan art counts on pixiv.net.
Part of the reason for this difference in priorities is probably the fact that, as a genderqueer individual who plays exclusively androgynous characters, it is so difficult for me to find games where I can actually play the characters I want to play. For someone who's always being catered to and can make do with whatever options are being thrown their way because they're the default target audience, of course their priorities would be completely different from my own. That difference is to be expected, really. The problem is that I am in the minority group, an extreme minority group at that, and so I get to suffer again and again and again as I am marginalized and ignored and treated as though I don't exist. You don't have that problem. Good for you. Surely you can understand why I am so passionate about this subject now?
So at this point, I have to confess: I consider all fans of the Au Ra to be my enemies. They are pushing the direction in places I don't want to be, so of course I am going to push back, as futile and fruitless as it may be.
(04-29-2015, 02:16 AM)Graeham Ridgefield Wrote: [ -> ]I wouldn't be opposed to a more in-depth character creation but I feel as though it'd be largely wasted on FFXIV's community. You need only look at how rare Elezen and Roegadyn are. I would love more variety in terms of faces though - and more idle poses to help reflect a character's personality better.
Elezen and Roegadyn being rare have absolutely no bearing on the myriad smaller tweaks possible with body sliders. Even if Miqo'te were still the most common race there would be far more variety than we have now. Pear-shaped, V-shaped, rectangle-shaped, all kinds of body shapes that aren't represented in the game as of now, in addition to, say, adding bulk and mass to a character's arms and shoulders to represent that they use those muscles a lot, and so on and so forth. People use these options. They're worth having.
(04-29-2015, 02:35 AM)Hyrist Wrote: [ -> ]Show Contentspoiler'd for length
Square Enix makes no qualms about its style. In many ways, and in many explanations, it has made statements to the effect that it is not in the same league as many of its competitors, and its true when you consider the blow factors.
- The FFXIV Team is an in-house development team with its own Publisher (Square Enix) It is only beholden to its direct investors, that invest in the company, not the project. This allows it to preserve a bit of artistic and stylistic agency. This is apparent in a lot of its development choices, including maintaining its Pay-to-Play model.
- FFXIV host a rather robust back-up system. The character data is backed up to the storage drives at a rate higher than most MMOs on average. The side effect to this, is of sourced the heightened processing load for each amount of character data that's backed up. A lot of MMOs sacrifice that micro-level of stability for the sake of saving processor power.
- FFXIV is one of rare MMOs to ever venture multiplatform. This comes at its own cost - concern for load times on Consoles as well as preserving an equivalent experience across them.
Each game, and each developer and Publisher comes with its Pros and Cons. In terms of Au Ra design, and any design feature in this game, you are going to be dealing with typical Square Enix tropes. Which, in my opinion, happen to be quite better than most companies (Blizzard, EA, NCSoft all come with sticking points with me that push me away from many of their games.) It's a matter of 'what you can accept' as often discussing the issue on a conscious design choice by Square Enix rarely nets change, and airing such reservations habitually only serves to disturb those who find or are attempting to find contentment in the provided content.
It's ok to push for improvements, just be wary of how, and how hard. In Square Enix's case, it's also 'where' that becomes a consideration.
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If I may speak on a matter of personal opinion - I actually find it more enthralling to see what players do with limited resources in Character Creator, than the massive character creation systems on par with Aion.
When there is so much variety, the attention to subtle differences are often lost in favor of something that is extremely variant or referential. Where as with a limited character creation I often find that people focus on trying to create something that is both unique and comfortable, bringing out the attention to detail (such as clothing, accessories, makeup, etc.) that emphasis ownership of the character.
But that is simply a personal impression. Other people's experience may vastly differ. But in spite of the initial thrill of having an extensive character creator to play with (which I often tinker with in single player games a lot) I often feel much more fulfilled and comfortable with the more limited, yet still variant options I get from FFXIV's character creator.
Often when make a character with FFXIV's creator, I'm pretty happy once I've finalized my decision, where in contrast, I've had to go back a couple times in Dragon Age Inquisition because my initially 'unique' face just didn't settle well with me in the long term.
I can respect your opinion, but your latter point is just completely baffling to me.
Look, my problem is that there is absolutely no way for me to create a character that REALLY stands out when her silhouette is exactly the same as every other female 'qote out there, with the only exception of her breasts being slightly smaller. And the silhouette is the single most important thing in character design. I cannot comprehend, nay, refuse to comprehend the idea that compromising that aspect of the character can result in something better. It simply does not compute.
I think what you're getting hung up on is simply the art style of those other games, and that if FFXIV had a stronger character creation suite you would be changing your tune. But that is merely a hypothesis.
(04-29-2015, 03:31 AM)ArmachiA Wrote: [ -> ]Yo, if you don't want SE to make characters that are glorified Miqote, stop rolling Miqote.
There, problem solved.
The playerbase did this to themselves.
This makes absolutely no sense.
Why do they need to cannibalize Miqo'te players with another Miqo'te-like race? Explain that one to me.