Character Creation Diversity

netch_a_sketch · April 2016

I personally feel as though TESO:U suffers from 'sameface'. People of the same race and gender tend to look identical but with different hair or other markings and it kind of kills some of the roleplay aspect.
For example, I may have a character who is a young, fresh faced adult, but my options are middle aged man with stubble, or middle aged man with stubble.

I think the problem is that the sliders barely do a thing. Ever tried to increase the posterior dimensions on a thin guy? Nothing happens. Try it yourself.
This problem is worst on the face, between the low and high end of the sliders there is rarely more than an inch of difference.
Don't get me started on wonky facial anatomy (which we can't correct because restricted sliders). But I'll let that slide(ha ha), since it seems to be an MMO thing.

Zenimax, it's brilliant that you have so many sliders for customization, but they're rendered useless if they don't make your character look customized at all

Please let us have characters with diverse faces? Hell, I'll settle for remotely distinguishable eye colours.
(but most of all, by the gods, let the men be clean-shaven)

GeorgeBlack · April 2016

Always room for improvement. I would also like some layered hairstyles or fringes. And some more neat sideburns.

netch_a_sketch · April 2016

@GeorgeBlack Agreed. All-unisex hair would be nice, too. But mostly hair that actually looks like hair, and not play-dough.

Abeille · April 2016

ESO could really benefit from more sliders and a bigger and more noticeable difference on the opposing sides of existing sliders, I absolutely agree with you.

Adding sliders for things like mouth wideness and eyebrow angle could help, for example. But mostly I think increasing the limits on the sliders would help a lot with the "sameface" problem.

I would also like to see things like scars, freckles, makeup and warpaint separated so we could have more than one of those at once. Same for different kinds of accessories, Bosmer antlers and beards.

If we could pick the color of accessories and face paintings, that would be great too. And, of course, more warpaint and hair styles (and colors). I want my Orc to have the Morkul Clan face paint, but it isn't available for Orcs - it is, however, available for Bosmer.

MasterSpatula · April 2016

I was really happy with how my female Breton Sorc turned out until I discovered she was actually part of Clone Club.

My Agronians, though. Never seen anyone who looks like either of them.

Caeric · April 2016

Agreed, but considering the recent discussion pertaining to the appearance of armor on females I hesitate to ask that body dimensions be given greater variability (your 'posterior' comment, for example).

Will providing such a change work with current armor models, or will tweaks need to be made to accurately depict the new dimensions? With new dimensions, will Zeni be willing to spend the time to create accurate form-fitting models where proper?

I worry that all armor will start to look like thrown together tin cans rather than the high quality models that are possible.

netch_a_sketch · April 2016

@Caeric Ah, yes. I discovered that shortly after I posted and wasn't aware that they were no longer going to make female armour separate. I find that enhancing posteriors on females is less of a task than on men, it's not really the body that's as much of a problem in the character creator rather than the face.
But if they will ever allow us to have gigantic pointy chins (as many elves must), helmets and face masks may pose a problem.

tinythinker · April 2016

I thought I heard that changes to character creation were being added for the barbershop. But I don't know if those changes will only be features you have to unlock through the cash shop.

MasterSpatula · April 2016

tinythinker wrote: »

But I don't know if those changes will only be features you have to unlock through the cash shop.

I have a guess.

Abeille · April 2016

tinythinker wrote: »

I thought I heard that changes to character creation were being added for the barbershop. But I don't know if those changes will only be features you have to unlock through the cash shop.

Did they say anything about new options? Or will we just get to go back to same old character creator?

I'm hoping for at least new hair styles (and colors!) because of the new ones we can find on npcs in Abah's Landing.

ArchMikem · April 2016

Jazzius wrote: »

I personally feel as though TESO:U suffers from 'sameface'. People of the same race and gender tend to look identical but with different hair or other markings and it kind of kills some of the roleplay aspect.

The thing about Khajiit? The fur colors give an extra layer of diversity. The first time I found my first NPC that looked almost exactly like my character was in Auridon in Cadwell's Gold. The "Merchant" that's really a Queen's Eye. And even then I hadn't seen another player with a Khajiit like mine.

At least Zenimax lets you tweak the jaw, cheeks, chin, nose, eyes, and brow of your face. I think that's enough.

Also this is the first game I've played with character creation where you can make an overweight person. That's astounding to me.

netch_a_sketch · April 2016

@ArchMikem Yes, it's easy to make a beast race look unique because of the fur patterns/colours/horns. I should've been more clear I was mostly talking about humans and elves.

WhimsyDragon · April 2016

I think that if I push the sliders to extremes, there's definitely a difference in a number of them, but most people won't do this because it results in goofy/ugly characters many times. A lot of folks will choose a more middle-ground, a more normal/attractive look. Likewise, the more prominent face paints are often TOO prominent, making them less enticing for many to tie themselves down to indefinitely. But yeah, body shapes are kinda similar in general for each race.

I do wish there was more diversity in hair and eye colors for every race though for sure. And I'm absolutely in favor of more hairstyles -- long ones!!

tinythinker · April 2016

Abeille wrote: »

tinythinker wrote: »

I thought I heard that changes to character creation were being added for the barbershop. But I don't know if those changes will only be features you have to unlock through the cash shop.

Did they say anything about new options? Or will we just get to go back to same old character creator?

I'm hoping for at least new hair styles (and colors!) because of the new ones we can find on npcs in Abah's Landing.

It was some off-hand comment about artists being hard at work (and being really creative) producing barbershop options; what that means in terms of initial character creation is unclear.