Character Creation Failure

[Valkyrie_Lenneth]

I mean, I'm pretty happy with my characters appearance. Haven't had the urge to fantasia since i settled on this. Which is a big change, since its been 8 months now. New hairstyles are nice, but I'm happy where I'm at.

[sarehptar]

It's not that we wouldn't like more options. It's just that it's a low priority desire, compared to other things. That's why I am cool with it, because other things I care about more are coming.

But like... the people who develop character customizations aren't the same people as say, those who design new maps, quests, and battle content. This shouldn't be a one-or-the-other situation in which we have to choose between getting a new fight or a new face.

[dragonseth07]

But like... the people who develop character customizations aren't the same people as say, those who design new maps, quests, and battle content. This shouldn't be a one-or-the-other situation in which we have to choose between getting a new fight or a new face.

That's true, they aren't making a boss ability instead. So, what else DO those people do besides faces? It's not like they are sitting there doing nothing. If they got paid to work on SB, it was for something. What would it be?

[Kosmos992k]

I mean, I'm pretty happy with my characters appearance. Haven't had the urge to fantasia since i settled on this. Which is a big change, since its been 8 months now. New hairstyles are nice, but I'm happy where I'm at.

I'm very happy with Kos as well, I spent literally hours and hours on her appearance not including Aesthetician and glamours. But, there are some things I would love to be able to do with her that I can't. Such as give her the round eyes and fangs from Keepers, or use the same face she has from Seekers in the Keeper character creation. It's not even about adding tons of new options so much as it could be about allowing more flexibility in what we have...an of course letting highland males have their eyebrows back.

[Talraen]

So, with each new expansion that supposedly contains a whole game's worth of new content, you're completely content to sit by without expecting any additions to character creation? Whether they've said no before or not doesn't matter. Each new expansion delivers what is essentially a game refresh, that is the perfect time to offer updates and enhancements to character creation.

They told us basically from day 1 that there would never be new faces added to the game. So yes, I am content, because I bought into the game knowing that up front. I don't know exactly why adding character options is such an impossibility, but from the way they discuss it, it appears to be. Why get my hopes up for something they told me I wouldn't get?

People seem to assume that adding new options is as simple as designing them, but there's clearly more to it than that. I can only guess that it might be related to the amount of server data required, or the amount of textures that are loaded, or something I'm completely unaware of. But until they indicate that this is something they might even look into, I am never going to start expecting it.

(Also, as a programmer myself, I am often asked to implement things that are essentially impossible. Trying to explain to a non-programmer why something that seems straightforward to them would require weeks of work or would permanently increase maintenance costs by 100% is not fun, so I have sympathy for others in that situation. Even when I'm skeptical.)

[Kosmos992k]

That's true, they aren't making a boss ability instead. So, what else DO those people do besides faces? It's not like they are sitting there doing nothing. If they got paid to work on SB, it was for something. What would it be?

NPC designs? NPC hair? NPC exclusive gear? NPC exclusive character options - yes I am thinking of a certain mixed Miqo'te child in Idyllshire as an example here...These things are all nice, but there should also be some additions to what players can do.

At this point I would accept letting the Aesthetician darken and lighten your skin - tan in a can kind of thing. Good lord, give us something....

They told us basically from day 1 that there would never be new faces added to the game. So yes, I am content, because I bought into the game knowing that up front. I don't know exactly why adding character options is such an impossibility, but from the way they discuss it, it appears to be. Why get my hopes up for something they told me I wouldn't get?

People seem to assume that adding new options is as simple as designing them, but there's clearly more to it than that. I can only guess that it might be related to the amount of server data required, or the amount of textures that are loaded, or something I'm completely unaware of. But until they indicate that this is something they might even look into, I am never going to start expecting it.

Textures and graphical asset data are not held at the server, that's all generated by the client. Characters consist of model data that defines which design options have been selected. If there are 5 face designs, you have a value of 1-5 for 'face'. Even at 1 bite per design option, the entire character design can be conveyed in a very small amount of data. With 1 byte per option, you can have 256 variations with each, without altering the amount of character data passed.

[TsurugiKoutetsu]

No because I don't spend most of my time looking in the mirror

[Kosmos992k]

No because I don't spend most of my time looking in the mirror

Ooooh that's a first. I've never seen anyone throw a backhanded insult like that about character creation suggesting those who want it are prone to vanity. Well done you.

[Talraen]

Textures and graphical asset data are not held at the server, that's all generated by the client. Characters consist of model data that defines which design options have been selected. If there are 5 face designs, you have a value of 1-5 for 'face'. Even at 1 bite per design option, the entire character design can be conveyed in a very small amount of data. With 1 byte per option, you can have 256 variations with each, without altering the amount of character data passed.

Yes, I understand how data works. For 5 faces, they could use as little as 4 bits, but that would still mean 8 face variations. And based on that, it seems pretty simple. But it might not be. If the game keeps all PC textures in memory at all times, adding more of them will mean an across-the-board increase in used memory. But they added the Au Ra. And they retired the PS3 and raised the minimum specs. Who knows, maybe this is some crazy legal issue. We have no idea!

So like I indicated, I'm skeptical. I can't come up with a reason why this would be so hard. But they will answer "we'll look into it" to basically any request, no matter how silly, except this one. When people ask about character customization options, they always just give a firm no. I have no idea why, but I've taken that to mean this is never going to happen.

So by all means, keep asking for more customization options. Like I said, I'd like some myself. But you specifically asked in this thread if we were disappointed by the lack of new character options. And not to be mean-spirited, but if you were expecting them, you haven't been paying close enough attention. This is clearly not something they are anywhere near willing to give us. To be disappointed, I'd have to have expectations, and I do not. The writing on the wall is clear on this one, sadly.

[Jpec07]

I may be missing something, but did anyone from SE ever say they were improving the character creator in Stormblood?