Customizable Character

U

uziel

Look, Ma! Two Heads!
I skimmed through the suggestion forum and didn't find any specific thread about this, and rankly I'm surprised there isn't a suggestion like this already...


Anyway, only of the major disappointments in Fallot 2 was the fact I couldn't customize my character. I was hoping for more models in teh second, but it just wasn't to be.

Anyway, I was thinking that perhaps Fallout 3 should have the feature to make your character the way you what him/her to look like, such as hair color, build, clothing, ornaments and decorations on armors and stuff, that sort of thing. Maybe items change you gather change your appearance, which would also allow the game to have more equipable item slots, like gloves, headgear, boots, and belts. These things would influence how NPCs react to you and how combat flows. Heh. Pink gas masks!

Another idea is involuntary customization. Your character's appearance changes when you make them and certain features could be tweaked, like if you get 'Small Build': Your character is a lot smaller than the standard. Also, as your skills increase, your appearance changes. If you enhance in sneak or thief skills your character wears more black and his posture changes. Or doctor skills, in which your character wears more white.

I could go on, and personally I'd liek to make a list, but I have to post the topic now, so...
 
Yeah, that is something I have found amusing in years of CRPGs, the character that looks beefy but has a 2 in STR or something else similar.

If it more or less followed the build of the character, like STR involving muscle form, then it would be a good representation. Perhaps DEX could be how trim the person is, how finely tuned they have their body to be that agile.

Bruiser and Small Frame should have an additional effect with how the character is portrayed, and then neat stuff like make them Japanese if Kamikaze is chosen...j/k :D
 
Nearly pissed my pants when I saw it was Rosh...

Here's a list I've come up:

1) Expert (90+) in Unarmed, nothing else: Wears workout clothing when no armor on. Combat stance changes to a Martial Artist or something like that when not using weapons.

2) Small Guns Expert: Pistol holsters are put at the waists if wearing a belt. If rifles/shotguns are in one of the slots, a rifle can be seen on the back. If pistols are equipped, they show in the holsters.

3) Big Weapons Expert: Rocket Launcher and/or Minigun (If equipped) will be slung over shoulder. Haven't though of what to do for this one...

4) Laser Expert: Metal armors have scorch marks on them if you haven't slept at an Inn for a while. Laser pistols will be shown in holsters. Other laser weapons will be shown like rifles and Big Guns.

5) Doctor (First aid and/or Doctor): Character wears white. If you haven't rested at an Inn for a while, blood will show on teh white and lightly-colored armors. If doctor bag or first aid is equipped, it will be shown.

6) Science/Repair: Metal armors have a more high-tech to them (Science). If you take a lot of hits your armor looks more and more worn, which is reduced or prevented with high Repair skill.

7) Thief (Stealing, Lockpick, Sneak): Character wears black, at least at night, possibly a mask. Lower levels (10-20, 30-40, etc.) could change as this skill improves.

8) Gambling, or if you gamble a lot: Your character wears less and less until they're in their skivies if you lose, you get more bling if you win or are good. I suppose.

9) Outdoorsmen: Pick your stereotype!

10) Barter: If it's good, your character could have jewelry and bling 'n chit like that.
 
Well, your list there is fundamentally flawed. What if you dont want to be a plump business man? And prefer the trim look of a sales person?

Also, its being built on the Oblivion engine, so everything you mentioned in the first post is already going to be put in. Most of the list in the third post would make the game look a little silly (Why would he have high tech armour if he is a laser character? Your armour is what you wear, not what you are.) and also it would be a damn lot of work to implament it, for the gains you would get it simply isnt worth considering.

Besides, you can make your character look how you like anyway in Oblivion, pick what boots, helmet, chassis, knee pads etc that you wear. I would suggest you play / read up on Morrowind before posting such suggestions, as everything you have said is completly possible in the Oblivion engine and infact (unless I am mistaken and the developers decided to cut a huge chunk of the game detail out for no reason) are already a fundamental part of it.
 
I am not assuming that the game is going to be built like Oblivion until it's been officially announced that it will be made like Oblivion, so I'm going to ignore your entire third paragraph and a good chunk of your second.

I suppose you could turn things like that on and off. AS for the metal armor, I suppose you're right. I know! That would go in for Science!
SCIENCE!
 
Re: Nearly pissed my pants when I saw it was Rosh...

uziel said:
7) Thief (Stealing, Lockpick, Sneak): Character wears black, at least at night, possibly a mask. Lower levels (10-20, 30-40, etc.) could change as this skill improves.
Click to expand...
God, no. Let's not create any justification for adding ninjas or anything remotely resembling the stereotype. Also, grey is less visible than black in nearly all instances/lightings. Thief shouldn't really affect anything but their stance in sneaking, as a good thief is good at looking inconspicious, walking into a shop or bank with a mask is a wonderful way to get beat and/or shot as I doubt wastelander merchants have much of a sense of humor regarding people sulking around their wares.


I'm all for a persons appearance reflecting their stats, but adding visual reflections for skill is too much extra design, coding, and general work for the developers and is way to likely to be abused.
 
Very grand idea Uziel! I actually once lamented this, but never thought to post it.

Your character really should be customizable in terms of hair/skin color and size/frame of body.

I mean hair color and skin color would just be done by choice, but the physical changes could be determined by stats.

Strength increases size. (As in big muscles) Higher strength = larger size.

Endurance decreases fat. (As in thin and tight) Higher endurance = more noticable muscles.

A high strength character would be larger. A high endurance character would look just a bit thinner and any exposed areas look very tight.

Maybe if you have high charisma there's a twinkle in your eye?

:wink: ,
The Vault Dweller
 
Maybe he would look liek a 'Pretty Boy' or a really cute girl and a low charisma would call for an ugly person?
 
Rather than having the player's clothing automatically change, why not do the traditional way of allowing the player to CHOOSE what to wear? Besides, most of the time you'll be wearing armor anyway, well before you become an expert in anything, so what's the point?
 
I like the basic idea. I once deliberately picked "Bruiser" just so I could play as the big casino-bouncer guy... turns out I couldn't. Damn. I'd like also to see some options to wear certain items of clothes that give you a charisma boost when dealing with ceratin groups; or a penalty with others. I've posted on this before but that's the basic gist of my ideas. Also your appearance could affect it sometimes too, say for instance someone really likes redheads.... 8)
 
All sounds good, but the real problem is that varying body sizes can cause clipping issues with armour/weapons, and would also make it harder to add player made content featuring these kind of things.
 
Well, seeing as in every fallout to date you pick all your stats at the beginning I think it would be a good idea if your character could perhaps have their apperance choosen for them at the start. Or even easier, just have one apperance / player model. I doubt they will do this, more likly they will have a selection of bodies / looks to choose from. That way the armour clipping bug shouldnt rear its ugly head as the body will be pre defined.
 
Well, keeping your custom character from teh beginning and having him change are both good ideas, you must admit.
 
I agree. You can simplify it by having a few general types of bodies to start with, and a lot of faces. Then later on have a few changes coresponding to the type of roleplaying.

I always thought that such a feature would go without saying into new Fallout.

As would detailed body damage, and critical hits and their efects, and crippled limbs...and many more.
 
Agreed. But pretty much every RPG game these days allows you to customize your character so I wouldnt be suprised if they were already going to impliment this in FO3.

Also curious question...does the development team look at this site for suggestions? Or are we just throwing out ideas to eachother?
 
I doubt you can reliably say that they scan through this site for ideas, though its not inconceivable. The bottom line is while ideas are always helpful in game development, even if they just inspire you, chances are high rolling company like Beth' have already though of it. It is their job, after all.
 
Well if character is customizable, you should have more or less options depending on what stats you invest in.

I vote dread locks hairstyle! And more ethnicity, no offence to the white folken here, but I am tired being a broad shouldered pasty white guy :D
 
The one idea I'm really taken with is the WAY your character walks/moves/fights/talks changing depending on (primarily) your statistics/traits and less so on your stats.

Someone who is a one hander firing significantly different than someone who is merely crippled, a bruiser being clumsier with his punches... These would be great atmospherics to really sell the enviroment and realism of the game. I would love to see it.
 
Re: Skills and traits

uziel said:
Here's a list I've come up:

1) Expert (90+) in Unarmed, nothing else: Wears workout clothing when no armor on. Combat stance changes to a Martial Artist or something like that when not using weapons.

2) Small Guns Expert: Pistol holsters are put at the waists if wearing a belt. If rifles/shotguns are in one of the slots, a rifle can be seen on the back. If pistols are equipped, they show in the holsters.

3) Big Weapons Expert: Rocket Launcher and/or Minigun (If equipped) will be slung over shoulder. Haven't though of what to do for this one...

4) Laser Expert: Metal armors have scorch marks on them if you haven't slept at an Inn for a while. Laser pistols will be shown in holsters. Other laser weapons will be shown like rifles and Big Guns.

5) Doctor (First aid and/or Doctor): Character wears white. If you haven't rested at an Inn for a while, blood will show on teh white and lightly-colored armors. If doctor bag or first aid is equipped, it will be shown.

6) Science/Repair: Metal armors have a more high-tech to them (Science). If you take a lot of hits your armor looks more and more worn, which is reduced or prevented with high Repair skill.

7) Thief (Stealing, Lockpick, Sneak): Character wears black, at least at night, possibly a mask. Lower levels (10-20, 30-40, etc.) could change as this skill improves.

8) Gambling, or if you gamble a lot: Your character wears less and less until they're in their skivies if you lose, you get more bling if you win or are good. I suppose.

9) Outdoorsmen: Pick your stereotype!

10) Barter: If it's good, your character could have jewelry and bling 'n chit like that.
Click to expand...
8)


I think there should be more skills and traits, not a whole lot more, but enough to create more diversity in Player characters, and I liked the individual squad member tweaking that was available in Tactics.

Heres an example; Perception could be divided into Awareness (modifies trap recognition, "hearing" enemies in the next room etc.) and Vision (Modifies the obvious visual actions, Sniper, Scouting, chance of special encounters)

Toughness should be moved to the Traits section, and not be a perc.

How about Reasoning; modifying how quickly you build up more intellectual skills like Doctor, Technician (repair) Barter, use of energy weapons, lockpicking, driving, etc. (similar to Skilled, but a trait)

I'd Like to run across Marcus again somehow, and this time be able to fashion some of the simpler armors into an armor for him IF you ask the right NPC, and Last, I totally agree the player characters appearance should be more customizeable.
 
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