At the VERY least, could we get the option to use the "default" Midlander w/ beard?

Even though people hate on ol' Derplander, I honestly think he looks badass in the CGI cinematics. I also remember him being an option for the Shadowbringers benchmark, but there was no option to export him to the full game.

And now, I'm seeing official trailers for the 5.3 patch (please no spoilers!!! I'm ALMOST done with Shadowbringers' main story), and I saw they were using that model as well.

Honestly, why not treat it like a "Commander Shepard" situation, and just say "the default character just gets a little extra love". I know players want more options for *everyone*, but if this option is clearly there and basically usable, why not just make it usable?

To be completely honest, part of me even wishes there was a "default" character and story options. Especially in Shadowbringers, I almost feel like it was "meant" to be experienced by that particular character. (in fairness, I also kind of hate having missed out on 1.0 and the "Legacy" stuff, like the tattoo and chocobo)

I dunno. Like I said, it would be nice to at least be able to choose the bearded Midlander, considering he's basically the face of the game.

Also! In the rare chance this ever reach's a Dev's eyes, I think it would be cool if he got a canon name. I vote "Benjamin Zash" (reference to Final Fantasy Mystic Quest). Or "Terin". Dunno why, I've personally just always liked that name.

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Originally Posted by Terin

Even though people hate on ol' Derplander, I honestly think he looks badass in the CGI cinematics. I also remember him being an option for the Shadowbringers benchmark, but there was no option to export him to the full game.

And now, I'm seeing official trailers for the 5.3 patch (please no spoilers!!! I'm ALMOST done with Shadowbringers' main story), and I saw they were using that model as well.

Honestly, why not treat it like a "Commander Shepard" situation, and just say "the default character just gets a little extra love". I know players want more options for *everyone*, but if this option is clearly there and basically usable, why not just make it usable?

To be completely honest, part of me even wishes there was a "default" character and story options. Especially in Shadowbringers, I almost feel like it was "meant" to be experienced by that particular character. (in fairness, I also kind of hate having missed out on 1.0 and the "Legacy" stuff, like the tattoo and chocobo)

I dunno. Like I said, it would be nice to at least be able to choose the bearded Midlander, considering he's basically the face of the game.

Also! In the rare chance this ever reach's a Dev's eyes, I think it would be cool if he got a canon name. I vote "Benjamin Zash" (reference to Final Fantasy Mystic Quest). Or "Terin". Dunno why, I've personally just always liked that name.

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I could've sworn they've mentioned they wanted to do this but they ran into some trouble with it. (shocker)

I think they said it wasn't just a feature you can click on and off and his face is custom-built with the scruff on, and it's apparently not so easy for them to add stuff to the character creator.

But this was a while ago so feel free to correct me if I'm wrong.

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Originally Posted by Yencat

I could've sworn they've mentioned they wanted to do this but they ran into some trouble with it. (shocker)

I think they said it wasn't just a feature you can click on and off and his face is custom-built with the scruff on, and it's apparently not so easy for them to add stuff to the character creator.

But this was a while ago so feel free to correct me if I'm wrong.

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I feel like ever since 2010, every other thing I've heard about this game is how hard it is to add or change anything. I was there since beta so I get why it was just a disaster that had lasting implications that ripple very strongly even a decade later, but I really hope next time around we just get the MMO they want to build from the ground up without a bunch of weird limitations.

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Originally Posted by Xbob42

I feel like ever since 2010, every other thing I've heard about this game is how hard it is to add or change anything. I was there since beta so I get why it was just a disaster that had lasting implications that ripple very strongly even a decade later, but I really hope next time around we just get the MMO they want to build from the ground up without a bunch of weird limitations.

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Yeah, I won't pretend to fully understand but "technical limitations, please understand" has become a pretty standard response. I'm sure it's true but it's definitely a bummer.

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Originally Posted by Terin

Even though people hate on ol' Derplander, I honestly think he looks badass in the CGI cinematics. I also remember him being an option for the Shadowbringers benchmark, but there was no option to export him to the full game.

And now, I'm seeing official trailers for the 5.3 patch (please no spoilers!!! I'm ALMOST done with Shadowbringers' main story), and I saw they were using that model as well.

Honestly, why not treat it like a "Commander Shepard" situation, and just say "the default character just gets a little extra love". I know players want more options for *everyone*, but if this option is clearly there and basically usable, why not just make it usable?

To be completely honest, part of me even wishes there was a "default" character and story options. Especially in Shadowbringers, I almost feel like it was "meant" to be experienced by that particular character. (in fairness, I also kind of hate having missed out on 1.0 and the "Legacy" stuff, like the tattoo and chocobo)

I dunno. Like I said, it would be nice to at least be able to choose the bearded Midlander, considering he's basically the face of the game.

Also! In the rare chance this ever reach's a Dev's eyes, I think it would be cool if he got a canon name. I vote "Benjamin Zash" (reference to Final Fantasy Mystic Quest). Or "Terin". Dunno why, I've personally just always liked that name.

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Oddly, they basically use this face for a side character in the physical DPS role quests (with different hair, but still the beard and the face are unmistakable), so I really don't see why its not able to be used by players beyond SE not wanting us to.

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Originally Posted by Alleluia

Oddly, they basically use this face for a side character in the physical DPS role quests (with different hair, but still the beard and the face are unmistakable), so I really don't see why its not able to be used by players beyond SE not wanting us to.

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When people have asked for things in the past, this is one of a few things they've said...

https://media.giphy.com/media/QYY4cJ...UtIn/giphy.gif

I don't think they get paid to do easy work. Obviously the vast majority of people couldn't do better, myself included. But man, their excuses kill me sometimes. "It's too hard!" "Server limitations!" "Hardware limits!" At some point they are probably going to have to suck it up and do something major to overcome these supposed limitations if they want this game to remain relevant.

Come to think of it, does this patch even have new hairstyles? Don't recall seeing any.

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Originally Posted by Alleluia

Oddly, they basically use this face for a side character in the physical DPS role quests (with different hair, but still the beard and the face are unmistakable), so I really don't see why its not able to be used by players beyond SE not wanting us to.

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It's still an NPC though, so they can add the custom face to it just like they can for any other NPC face that players don't have access to. And IIRC it was deliberate that the character resembled but wasn't Ardbert so it was sort of a meta joke, I guess.

They seem to be using custom faces for minor NPCs a lot here, and recycling assets where they can. Like, I don't think Moren is supposed to have anything to do with Asahi but it's definitely that same custom face.

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Originally Posted by Iscah

It's still an NPC though, so they can add the custom face to it just like they can for any other NPC face that players don't have access to. And IIRC it was deliberate that the character resembled but wasn't Ardbert so it was sort of a meta joke, I guess.

They seem to be using custom faces for minor NPCs a lot here, and recycling assets where they can. Like, I don't think Moren is supposed to have anything to do with Asahi but it's definitely that same custom face.

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But, what's the difference between using an NPC face and a player face? Its not like we have face sliders or something. His face should be able to rig for as much emotion as a player character than it did when it was used by Ardbert. What's holding it up from being used? The facial hair?

EDIT: I don't necessarily expect you personally to have an answer, Iscah. Just thinking out loud, mostly.

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Originally Posted by Alleluia

But, what's the difference between using an NPC face and a player face? Its not like we have face sliders or something. His face should be able to rig for as much emotion as a player character than it did when it was used by Ardbert. What's holding it up from being used? The facial hair?

EDIT: I don't necessarily expect you personally to have an answer, Iscah. Just thinking out loud, mostly.

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It just seems to be a thing that the developers have a power to do with NPCs when they're setting them up - there's some kind of back-end system that lets them apply a custom face to an NPC that replaces the default model applied in the character settings. Players can't do that and there's no option in the character creator to do so.

Any NPC with a unique face will still have default face settings listed in their character data, but they often don't match up with the character's actual appearance at all.

This is just from observation and seeing which characters are tagged as "custom face" in Garland Tools, but it's clear that it's something that can be done but not by players. A lot of them seem to be derived from existing player-accessible faces - eg. all the Scions are actually custom faces, probably to add their Archon tattoos - but I'm guessing it must be exported and converted into a separate model stored somewhere else, and probably applied as a single piece.

Maybe they can't add it into the character creator as it exists; maybe they just don't want to give us access to those specific faces for recognisable characters.

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Originally Posted by Alleluia

But, what's the difference between using an NPC face and a player face? Its not like we have face sliders or something. His face should be able to rig for as much emotion as a player character than it did when it was used by Ardbert. What's holding it up from being used? The facial hair?

EDIT: I don't necessarily expect you personally to have an answer, Iscah. Just thinking out loud, mostly.

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I think It's simple: most likely current character customization is hardcoded to only accept/show a certain amount of options for each category. When they say it's difficult they probably mean the whole thing needs to be revamped.

Honestly, the only thing I can think is that maybe that Midlander isn't just a "face-option", but is literally a custom model, that cannot be changed AT ALL?

Which, even if that were the case, personally I would still love to have the option to play him.