Larian Studios Forums Divinity - Original Sin Divinity - Original Sin - General Poll: Ultima-Style character Creation?

A dilemma from Larian's Facebook page




So, should Larian do something like that for character creation?

My vote is: "No, which gets upgraded to a 'maybe' ONLY if it's optional". Morrowind and Fallout 3 had this kind of system as well. After about one or two goes through it, I stopped using it.

I had a character in mind already, and I just built the character on the stats screen that way instead of fooling around on the questions and having to correct them if my guesses did not match the developers guesses.

It was fast and easy, and I could get into the game right away with the character I wanted. The questionnaire method starts to feel like waste of time after a few tries. Very rarely do you not have to go back and correct a few things.

Honestly, I think that given the 3 dozen skills, plus Talents and Traits, and attributes, there's no way to make a good questionnaire.

Divinity: Original Sin bears a lot of resemblance to Fallout 1 and 2. What was the character creation system in Fallout? You pick your stuff and go. Quick, simple, and you can be sure you're getting what you wanted to be getting.

You summed up my opinion on this to a tee. While nice in theory, it soon, if not immediately, gets annoying enough. Not worth the effort, me thinks.

Oh, and I somehow managed to forget this: There are TWO playable main characters, so you have to either go through the quiz twice, or else have both quizzes take place at the same time (although that could be done by having one portrait and radio button on the left of the questions, one radio button and one portrait on the right.

I vote manual char creation myself. The Gypsy virtue questions served a purpose because it was weaved in as part of the "Avatar's" story. Starting stats by way of "virtues" which only really applied to Ultima IV. In the later Ultimas, they just continued with the gypsy virtue system.

If doing it just to do it, it might not make any sense as to why you are being quizzed unless you tie it in to the char's backstory. (The angle of death quizzing the female if being played before being resurrected and a judge quizzing the male if being played before being pardoned)

Also, they would have to be separate quizzes for both chars because I know I won't want the same exact starting stats for both chars.

I know in Ultima 6 some people thought it was confusing as you stepped through a moongate from Earth and then saw the gypsy, then magically woke up in Britania in the clutches of the Gargoyles. So it was like "Wait, where the hell did the gypsy come in?"

Lastly, it would be a little annoying because I would just be "Twinking" my char through the system (answering the questions based on what stats I get, not based how I would actually answer the questions.) So for me it would take the whole point of "quizzing 4 stats" out.

And on that note, just in case the guy(s) in charge of inventory system get any bright ideas, please NO Ultima style bag inventory!

-Thanks

I'd like something more along the lines of the Daggerfall intro, so long as it's optional. The reason I like it, is because it adds RP immersion to the game, although I can see it being unwieldy with having to do it for both characters, so I'm thinking just the main character would be built using this system (if implemented).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=coNqRRqUNaI

Be warned, the guy doing the voice over is obnoxious, but it's the only one I could find that used that particular character generator like I remembered. The other videos used a different system I didn't recognize.

Like pretty much everyone else, after the first time going through the questions I just picked the answers needed to give the results I wanted.

IMO you should give the choice, they might be some new RPG players who are not used to think about their avatar in the first place, (how it should look like in few level, the skillpoints etc...) and some other who do not want to inherit some skill points in useless field just because they gave the wrong answer to a question. The choice also gives you a possibility to play the game in a more RP immersion or just replay it with an optimised avatar (meaning in a more "functionnal" way). I personally like those "personality tests" sometimes you end up with an unexpected avatar. And anyway, whatever influence this has in the first place on your avatar, you will evolve during the game !!

It varies by taste, however.
Forming a sort of background for my character is nice and all, but I mostly want to have control over my stats from point 0 onwards. So basically, I prefer the numbers.

I like it if my character evolves with the game. at the beginning with shitty armor no real character and class and in the and a awesome killer with personality. If you have to say from the beginnig my character is this and that etc. and i dont know how NPC might like it. It feels kind of weird to be so determined.

I like it very much to evolve a personality for a character in the game not before i even start to play it. Maybe you can go with backgound = chaotic/evil/good/nice in the beginning. These words give still a lot of room.

I like the character creation of just some stats and looks. The rest should be evolve while playing.

If it doesn't fit the theme of the game; hell no.
Your resources are better spent elsewhere

Long as I can choose a hairstyle and stuff! I support any choice made! <3

had to edit to fix the heart!

I'd rather they'd not.


Maybe let players choose the gender of character 1 and determine the gender of character 2 via Q&A. 8)

I'd vote for optional, but what I would actually like to see would be backgrounds à la Arcanum. Those were nice and added flavor to the characters I think. That could be done in the way of narrative Q&A at the start of the game, I guess. (Even better if they lead to C&C story-wise).

Nothing makes me more excited to play a new RPG like clicking new game for the first time and seeing a giant list of stats/skills/perks/customizations. Character systems are the heart of an RPG, keep it transparent.

I would say maybe, but I skipped them for the most part. I like playing a certain way, and not being able to pick my own path ticks me off. Like I'm a melee guy with a adept stealth skills, but use it only to scout, and the melee is a heavier use, or used in some way to knock people out.

There should probably be an option to answer questions, or manually distribute stat points, and assuming you choose the questions the game should then show you the stats it resulted in with the option to change them if you want, this way everyone wins.