Larian Studios Forums Divinity General Discussion While Respecting Diversity, Enhance Character Model Aesthetics and Body Customization Depth in game

### Suggestion: While Respecting Diversity, Enhance Character Model Aesthetics and Body Customization Depth in *Divinity*

Dear Larian Studios developers and fellow Divinity series players,

The recent *Divinity* trailer has me very excited about the game's art style. Larian has always prioritized character diversity and inclusivity, which is truly commendable. At the same time, I hope that—while fully respecting diversity—we can further improve the overall aesthetic appeal of character models, allowing more players to experience visual pleasure and deeper immersion.

#### Core Suggestion: Pursue More Refined Appearances and Body Designs Aligned with Mainstream Aesthetics
- **Default Model Optimization**: While preserving racial characteristics and diversity, make the default appearances and bodies of major companions, romanceable characters, and key NPCs more attractive. Examples include:
- More refined facial proportions and expressive, charming facial features.
- Body types that better align with mainstream aesthetic preferences (e.g., more pronounced waist-to-hip ratios, balanced muscle lines, etc.).
- Clothing and armor designs that, beyond practicality, appropriately accentuate character appeal.

- **Advanced Body Customization System**: Give players greater freedom to shape their ideal character appearances:
- Independent sliders for adjusting the size and proportions of key areas such as breasts, hips, waist, and muscle mass.
- Optional detailed genital customization (size, shape, etc.), with the choice to display them only in relevant scenes.
- Multiple preset body templates (ranging from slender to curvaceous, petite to muscular) for quick selection, while retaining fine-grained slider adjustments.

These customization options can integrate seamlessly with the existing character creation system and support saving multiple presets, greatly enhancing player attachment and replay motivation.

#### Balancing Diversity and Aesthetics
- Diversity must never be sacrificed: Retain the wide range of skin tones, body types, ages, and facial features already available.
- Aesthetic improvements should focus only on “default presentations” and popular preferences, without forcing all characters into a single standard.
- All customization features can be toggled on/off, ensuring respect for different players’ comfort levels and preferences.

#### Rating and Implementation Suggestions
- Genital customization options can be placed in an optional “adult appearance pack” or separate DLC, remaining compatible with the base game to avoid impacting the main title’s rating.
- Draw inspiration from the mature yet elegant approaches in games like *Cyberpunk 2077* and the *Dragon Age* series.

Larian team, your expertise in character design is undeniable—BG3’s characters are already outstanding. If you can refine visual appeal and customization depth while maintaining inclusivity, *Divinity* will surely become the perfect fantasy world in even more players’ hearts!

Everyone is welcome to discuss rationally:
- What aesthetic aspects of character models do you think need the most improvement?
- How much depth are you hoping for in body and genital customization?
- How can we better balance diversity with mainstream aesthetics?

Looking forward to your thoughts—let’s make *Divinity* even more beautiful together!

#LarianStudios #Divinity #BaldursGate3 #CRPG #CharacterCreation

One big problem with making the body mesh customizable (changing size and shape) is that it can interfere with clothing/armor and with cutscenes (causing clipping issues, etc.). Some body changes can also cause issues with how the mesh is rigged, causing weird visual errors during animation.

Slider-based customization of meshes can be a huge development cost, which is worthwhile for certain genres (like The Sims, where there are hundreds of procedurally generated characters, there's genetic inheritance, and customization is the whole focus of the game), but probably much less so for a turn-based isometric RPG.

I think this might be best achieved by offering great mod support (which I'm sure Larian plans to do, but the more the better), since it's a lot easier to tolerate visual bugs when it's just a mod rather than part of the base game, and it would mean anyone could make mods to perfectly suit their own tastes.