Ok. My hopes for character creation improving have just gone down considerably. DOS 2 custom characters are... Ok... But they're not very diverse in body size, face choices, etc. Hmmm. I was under the assumption that because it's EA we'd get a LOT more choices later especially since we're going to get Half-Orc and such. Bigger body types, etc. Much needed. Now I'm concerned. I will say, at least Solasta and Pathfinder provide larger and smaller body types.
Another interesting thing about character creation... How come elves in DOS 2 look more like elves than BG3 elves? I mean, I will say, I was stunned to see that they looked more elvish because so many have pointed out that elves in BG3 are like humans with pointy ears. I thought that was odd.
One of the most obvious problems with the trend towards photorealism in games over the last 10-15 years is that it has come about through the use of cinematic techniques, rather than algorithmic techniques.
So, for example, artist animation has been replaced by motion capture, and character models now often use facial scans. Both of these lead to higher visual quality, but at the expense of flexibility and choice, as these techniques are labour and time intensive, meaning they are expensive.
If I remember correctly ( and I probably don't, as I am getting old ) Swen said before EA they were using about 20(?) face scans of interesting(!) people, but that they intended to do more before release. He also said that the face scans were processed to produce many more variations ( I think it was over 100 heads claimed ). I don't know quite what Larian consider to be "processing", but to me, the processing does not seem to make enough difference to be worth bothering with, since many of the heads are clearly just minor variations of each other.
As a side note, one of the male heads is suspiciously like Swen, so I wouldn't be surprised if all the face scans are Larian staff members This is also, of course, why all BG3 races look like modified humans, because they literally are. Even worse is having just 4 voices for all races, none of which are particularly inspiring. I can cope with a poorly customizable character model, but I find it less easy ignore a voicing that doesn't "work" for me, which is the main reason I prefer a silent protagonist.
This is what I thought might be the reason initially....but with the Dwarven, Gnomish, and in particular the Gith faces, Larians seems certainly able and willing to tweak the face scans to get them 'right'. So the usage of face scans seemingly unaltered (save for the ears) to use for elves is a bit of a mystery. My only speculation I have for them is that they don't think people would be as receptive to 'alien' looking elves and so decided to go with more conventionally-attractive looking head models.
As for the larger discussion on how good Larian's character creation is....I think It's *OK*. Elves get screwed again with hair options since almost all of them clip with their ears, 2 voices of each type is really unfortunate, and I hope it's not because they are planning to make 'Tav' voiced. Piercings should be available to everyone instead of limited to a specific subclass, etc.
I think it seems underwhelming because of the focus on cinematic up close shots and animated cutscenes etc. The limitations in character creation there make what would otherwise be pretty good look....not so pretty good.
This is also, of course, why all BG3 races look like modified humans, because they literally are. Even worse is having just 4 voices for all races, none of which are particularly inspiring. I can cope with a poorly customizable character model, but I find it less easy ignore a voicing that doesn't "work" for me, which is the main reason I prefer a silent protagonist.
