Downsides to character customization

Draep · 2011-11-04, 03:30 PM

I can think of two.

First. Giving everyone the ability to customize the look of their gear can ruin the immersion of the game. Not every grunt should have the opportunity to dawn a flowing cape, shoulder boards and a chest of medals. Having every set of gear look slightly different may make sense to an NC player, but to the TR, lock-step uniformity is one of our strong suits. As the leader of an outfit, I would like all of my rank-and-file to look more or less the same and since it's my outfit, I would like to have some control over how it looks to the enemy other than being a gorilla and forcing people to stay uniform.

Second. I imagine customization of every individual character (and possibly vehicle) would result in a performance strain. It will obviously be harder to render everything if it all has a different look.

Have a good one,
Draep

MgFalcon · 2011-11-04, 03:53 PM

If I can remember correctly, I believe it was myself who suggested Outfit Leaders designing a uniform look for the Members of said Outfit. I'm not 100% positive but I believe that a Dev commented and said that was entirely in the works (don't quote me on that, I'm trying to draw from an intoxicated memory).

As for the capes.... OH GOD I HOPE THEY IMPLEMENT THESE!!! I have on multiple occasions suggested and strained that "Big-ass capes" be put into the game as a nice cosmetic, even a tactical ploy for snipers (canvas capes to blend in and such, and wraps for their rifle).

For your second point I have one answer that T-Ray has said on multiple occasion: Forgelight!

Xyntech · 2011-11-04, 04:15 PM

The second issue of putting more of a strain on the game has actually already been addressed and you are completely correct. They are currently planning on having your unequipped weapons be invisible, as opposed to being on your back like in PS1. The stated reason being that the wealth of variations was proving too demanding when you had to call up dozens of variations of the same gun for all of the hundreds of players in your area.

As for the customization options breaking immersion, it's hard to say. We've mostly seen TR so far, but I have been pretty satisfied with the overall cohesion in appearance that they have thus far achieved. Obviously we probably haven't glimpsed much of the cosmetic variants that will probably be developed after beta has begun, but as of this moment the TR still strike me as a well disciplined and properly uniformed army.

Taking that a step further and having your entire outfit keep the same style, such as matching gasmasks or no mask at all or whatever, would go that extra step towards uniformity.

I personally hope they keep the customization options a bit more on the subtle side. There is still quite a lot of room for variation without including capes and over sized pauldrons and hood ornaments on top of helmets.

FIREk · 2011-11-04, 05:31 PM

It's "Loyalty and fealty to the Republic, above all", not "we're all identical drones". :P

There's a shitload of stuff for a soldier to customize that won't break immersion.

TRex · 2011-11-04, 05:35 PM

Since theres no 3rd person in the game ,I'm trying to fathom out what the point of cosmetic customisation is . Other than the log in screen .

Its like marrying a really beautiful woman ,then putting her in the spare room while you play with yourself.

Maybe on an outfit level it has its uses if you all wear the same thing , but can't see it being for recognition since you will have a big 'zerg warriors' over your head anyway.

atone · 2011-11-04, 05:39 PM

i'm sure they will keep customization for uniforms within certain perimeters. Though i am all for accessorizing on the battlefield!...uh wait

EASyEightyEight · 2011-11-04, 05:50 PM

body plate, helmet, eyewear, face wear, extremities, then coloration. Beyond that, I don't think much more soldier customization is necessary. Outfits should have more options based on their direction though. I feel it's optimal for airforce outfits to have their own special helmets and masks for example.

Xyntech · 2011-11-04, 05:53 PM

Originally Posted by TRex

Since theres no 3rd person in the game ,I'm trying to fathom out what the point of cosmetic customisation is . Other than the log in screen .

Its like marrying a really beautiful woman ,then putting her in the spare room while you play with yourself.

Maybe on an outfit level it has its uses if you all wear the same thing , but can't see it being for recognition since you will have a big 'zerg warriors' over your head anyway.

I'm the opposite. I never understood putting in 3rd person into PS1 just so that you could see your character.

You get to see how badass your character will look in the login screen and presumably during class selection, isn't that enough? Won't you be too busy playing to be staring at your character?

I always thought providing a cool looking character model should be more for other peoples benefit than your own. Obsessing over staring at your characters in RPG's is half of what leads people to play the opposite gender.

Having things like deployable cameras would be cool for taking screen shots though. You'd even be able to get more interesting shots of yourself than you can in games where you just circle around your character in 3d, where your camera is always centered on your avatar.

TRex · 2011-11-04, 06:23 PM

maybe you're right ,it's not going to get in the way of how i play ,unless they allow me to put a nekked picture of Jessica Alba on my mcg along with some shrunken Vanu skulls.

Zulthus · 2011-11-04, 06:34 PM

I played along with the whole cape thing at first. But really, it's a very stupid idea. Why would soldiers be wearing capes? Keep that crap to RPGs imo...

Death2All · 2011-11-04, 06:36 PM

Who the hell said we're going to have capes and giant shoulderpads?

This just typical pre-release assumptions, taking everything WAY out of proportion. Cool your jets.

Xyntech · 2011-11-04, 07:09 PM

I want a fucking cape with fully simulated cloth physics. Anything short of that will cause me to cancel me pre-order.

No pre-order? The game is F2P? Now how am I going to express my wild and exaggerated outrage?

CutterJohn · 2011-11-04, 08:13 PM

I like that everyone won't be clones. I mean have you ever even been in the military? Sure when everyones on a parade ground they get things looking the same, but once there is an enemy to fight, things get reasonably lax.

Hell, in the navy, there were so many uniforms and various combinations of said uniforms it was almost as if there were no uniform at all.

It would also be nice to get some little bit of height and girth sliders. Not enough to comically deform or even alter hitboxes, but a slight range for cosmetic purposes. I'd even love a small number of different walk/run cycles to choose from.

Crator · 2011-11-04, 10:46 PM

Originally Posted by CutterJohn

I like that everyone won't be clones. I mean have you ever even been in the military? Sure when everyones on a parade ground they get things looking the same, but once there is an enemy to fight, things get reasonably lax.

Hell, in the navy, there were so many uniforms and various combinations of said uniforms it was almost as if there were no uniform at all.

It would also be nice to get some little bit of height and girth sliders. Not enough to comically deform or even alter hitboxes, but a slight range for cosmetic purposes. I'd even love a small number of different walk/run cycles to choose from.

+1

Talek Krell · 2011-11-04, 11:12 PM

Originally Posted by Zulthus

I played along with the whole cape thing at first. But really, it's a very stupid idea. Why would soldiers be wearing capes? Keep that crap to RPGs imo...

I think it depends a lot on exactly what sort you're talking about. Sadly I haven't been able to find a picture of the sort that I'm thinking of.

Somebody also suggested the idea of having dress uniforms for each faction, which sounds kind of nifty to me.