Yeah it's really hard not to feel a bit down on the lack of progress for this one. Like I keep hoping, basically every patch, that I'll log in and finally see some sweeping changes to the Char creator, since after controls/UI I think it's the most important thing they could be sinking the zots into, but it hasn't really happened. I can't figure why, especially during EA when they're asking everyone to replay the same content over and over again, and most of it already at the level cap. I mean how long does it take to get to lvl 4? Maybe 2 hours of gameplay? But once you're at that point the only thing left is gear progression or the min max at a super low levels trying to bust encounters. They can gather telemetry on the gameplay, but they can't really gather it on the Char art assets, because the options are just too few to discover anything meaningful there. If they instead put the strong emphasis on Char creation (by constantly providing new material there) I think there'd be more of an incentive to keep playing during the EA, even when everything else might suggest just waiting until full release so as not to burn out.

Basically using Char creation as the draw, or as an offset for the fact that the game is otherwise very truncated and incomplete. You have to give the player a reason to come back and keep pressing on right? I think Char Creation is the ticket there, because if you can make the Character/Avatar feel different enough, then the whole playthrough gets that knock on effect.

Also, just because I mentioned it before in a couple places and keep touching on it in this thread, I think what BG3 should try to achieve is essentially a Portrait suite.

If we could animate our Avatar and capture a still using dress up and emotes (control the marionette, the camera, the lighting, and the backdrop etc) within the actual game, then BG3 will have given us what no other D&D crpg seems to have been able to thus far - a proper Character Portrait creator.

They could totally pull this off I think. The modelling art we've seen thus far is at the right level for it. In the "show us your character" thread there are many great character portraits, but they are almost all screens capped during gameplay, not within the Char Creator, because the PC avatar can just do stuff in-game that you just can't achieve in the Char Creator. I've heard the desire for more CC content derided on occasion as fit only for dating sims, but I don't think that's the case here at all. The Character Portrait is a hallmark of D&D going back to earliest days. People want their Characters to have character and to look and feel like unique creations. It's the essence of Dungeons & Dragons, and the beating heart of the thing. Any zot spent here would be a zot very well spent. I just wish the game offered more, like a lot more, hence the feedback hehe.

ps. here I was trying to add this earlier, but for some reason the boards didn't like webp. I wish the forums were more image friendly. Anyhow, just something to try and convey the distinction between the avatar and a portrait, or at least something that captures more the spirit of what a portrait might be...

[Linked Image from i.ibb.co]

I used Gale cause he's everywhere and a good example. He already has a strong character visualization just from the eyebrows and the back combed hair and whatnot, but it's impossible to tell one Gale from the another, when he's just down to that deadpan staring-into-the-void mannequin/headshot where all that is stripped away, like all the character has been scrubbed out basically. And that's what we get for our PC, with no emotive or gestural qualities to play stuff up.

Compared to the Gales, any PC I might make will seem pretty devoid of character. If they went with the emotive marionette route though and gave us a wardrobe, a camera, a light source, and an environment to stage, then the player could just make a portrait for themselves, and have this be the thing that displays rather than the headshot. Give us a Large and Small cap to sub in for the paper doll on the Char sheet screen and for the headshot, and suddenly the player can express way more character at a glance. If that makes sense? Something conceptually more like this...

[Linked Image from i.ibb.co]

A little goes a long way, and even if the character isn't fully visualized like the portrait cap the whole time, at least it gives some expression to what the player wants their character concept to convey. I think they could totally do it, and they basically already have. I mean I'm just pulling up the top line Gale images from a quick search, and you can see the material is there. It's just that the player doesn't have access to the same tools to visualize their PC that the devs have to visualize their Origin NPCs. All they need is a way to build the screencap into the game - into the gameplay I mean. Make that the thing in Character creation, and if we get a cooler look going along the way let us recap again within the portrait suite. Like just have that be a thing we can pull from the "appearance" tab. Get some colored lights and some colored threads and they're right on the money already, but I wish they'd go for broke and really do it up right. That would make the game feel some much more Baldur's Gate to me. Just instantly from that alone. That to me would seem like a real swing for the fences, because it would allow the player to become the artist and really get creative with the posing and the emotes and the dress up.

Last edited by Black_Elk; 26/09/22 08:32 PM.