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Author Topic: Custom Character-Type Games  (Read 3595 times)

AzyWng

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Custom Character-Type Games
« on: February 17, 2020, 12:19:22 am »

I've been watching/listening to the archives of Vinesauce Vinny's Tomodachi Life streams, and I've been wondering what games on the PC there are that have a (sort of similar) kind of ability - where you can make your own characters and have them in the world of the game.

NOTE: The games I have in mind are not games with character customization systems like CodeVein, Dark Souls, or the Elder Scrolls series. I'm more thinking along the lines of games where you can have multiple custom characters in play at once.

The games I can think of off the top of my head are:
XCOM 2 (Complete with a fairly in-depth and moddable character customization system, though IIRC classes are randomly determined)
OpenXCOM and its mods (Kind of - you can change faces, give characters armor, and give them custom names, but you can't change much else
Dwarf Fortress (Kind of - you can maybe give characters nicknames I think, but you can't change much else besides)
Rimworld (Similar to the above IIRC)
Death Road To Canada (You can give characters somewhat unique appearances, as well as give them a skill and trait. Probably one of my favorite ones, since you both do and don't have control over who they are.)
The Sims (Put characters of your own design into ordinary-ish life - but I can't attest to the quality of the experience, since I haven't played much of this one)
Darkest Dungeon (Give your characters custom names and cry as the attack that really needs to hit misses)
Disgaea 2 (Give your non-story characters names and watch as they accrue a massive body count)
Into The Breach (You can give mechs and characters custom names, but you can't change much else besides)

If anyone could recommend me a game with similar features, I'd be grateful.
« Last Edit: February 17, 2020, 05:38:21 pm by AzyWng »
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JWNoctis

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Re: Custom Character-Type Games
« Reply #1 on: February 17, 2020, 01:01:53 am »

Not precisely custom -character-, but here they are:
Niche - names, and initial genes with traits determined largely by parents after that, but that was, yes, pretty niche.
Creatures series. You could give 'em names, and breed for coat colours you desire or mix creature parts.
Kenshi, king of squad tactics customisation.
I -think- you could rename citizens/villagers in city builders like Tropico series, Cities: Skyline, Banished or Frostpunk, but it's been a while since I checked.
Field of Glory II where you could give whole -units- nicknames in campaign, but that's it.
Spore, with whole species.
Shadowrun series. I remember them to be XCOM-like in that respect, but that's a while ago.

EDIT: Oh and FTL, which is names only. Or for that matter, Reassembly but with designs that may very well appear in other people's otherwise single-player games.
« Last Edit: February 17, 2020, 01:09:15 am by JWNoctis »
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Ozyton

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Re: Custom Character-Type Games
« Reply #2 on: February 17, 2020, 01:06:58 am »

I am going to assume that games such as RPGs with character creation don't count, such as Elder Scrolls.

Oxygen Not Included: duplicants can be renamed but their stats and appearance are randomly rolled similar to RimWorld.
In Jagged Alliance 2 you can sort of create up to 3 (more with mods) mercenaries, and has a fairly popular mod that make the game more interesting, however I forget the name of said mod.
I think you can rename your crew in Bomber Crew but other than that there's no much to them besides random stats.
Dragon's Dogma... yeah you specifically create your character, but you also create a custom 'companion' character that you don't directly control, which is relatively unique for an RPG of that sort. Also the game is just goddamn amazing and it's on sale during Steam's Capcom sale.
Xenonauts: it's similar to X-com/UFO: enemy unknown

I think you already listed most of the well-known games of this sort, though I'm sure there's tons of games where you can rename chaarcters and such. It's a small feature but it can add a surprising amount of value for the effort it likely requires.

AzyWng

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Re: Custom Character-Type Games
« Reply #3 on: February 17, 2020, 09:48:00 am »

Is the mod for Jagged Alliance the 1.13 mod?

Edit: Also, yeah, Elder Scrolls don’t count, since that’s only one character and they’re an RPG protagonist.
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Robsoie

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Re: Custom Character-Type Games
« Reply #4 on: February 17, 2020, 10:14:31 am »

Elder Scrolls usually comes with construction set that actually allow you to create npc of your designs in the game world.
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delphonso

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Re: Custom Character-Type Games
« Reply #5 on: February 17, 2020, 10:37:09 am »

Icewind Dale, Temple of Elemental Evil or several of those older RPGs.

Also Dragon Quest games usually allow full custimization.

nenjin

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Re: Custom Character-Type Games
« Reply #6 on: February 17, 2020, 11:47:04 am »

Dragonball Z Xenoverse 2.

Monster Hunter World.

Dark Souls series.
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AzyWng

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Re: Custom Character-Type Games
« Reply #7 on: February 17, 2020, 01:31:33 pm »

Dragonball Z Xenoverse 2.

Monster Hunter World.

Dark Souls series.

While those do have good character customization, they’re not quite what I’m looking for. I want multiple custom characters interacting with one another and/or the game world in some fashion.
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Zangi

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Re: Custom Character-Type Games
« Reply #8 on: February 17, 2020, 01:51:51 pm »

Total Extreme Wrestling 2016 (2020 version dropping probably near the end of this year)
World of Mixed Martial Arts 5
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EuchreJack

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Re: Custom Character-Type Games
« Reply #9 on: February 17, 2020, 03:35:41 pm »

Crusader Kings 2 (with DLC): Ruler Designer, create a character to start a new dynasty, taking over from whichever landed character in the default game that you chose.  Fully customizable.  You can also name your kids.

Mount & Blade (all): Create your character, level up, take over

Dominions (any): Create your God and blessing.

Virtz

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Re: Custom Character-Type Games
« Reply #10 on: February 17, 2020, 04:51:34 pm »

Rimworld (Similar to the above IIRC)
With the Prepare Carefully mod you can customize starting characters a lot more thoroughly - background, skills+talents, traits, looks, starting clothes, species (assuming you have mods that add some other than human). Lots of mods expand on the options for these as well.
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AzyWng

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Re: Custom Character-Type Games
« Reply #11 on: February 17, 2020, 05:36:59 pm »

Crusader Kings 2 (with DLC): Ruler Designer, create a character to start a new dynasty, taking over from whichever landed character in the default game that you chose.  Fully customizable.  You can also name your kids.

Mount & Blade (all): Create your character, level up, take over

Dominions (any): Create your God and blessing.

I was more thinking along the lines of making multiple characters and having them all exist in the same game world, interacting with one another.

Also, wouldn't I have to get like 15 DLCs for Crusader Kings?
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IronyOwl

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Re: Custom Character-Type Games
« Reply #12 on: February 17, 2020, 06:20:03 pm »

Crusader Kings 2 (with DLC): Ruler Designer, create a character to start a new dynasty, taking over from whichever landed character in the default game that you chose.  Fully customizable.  You can also name your kids.

I was more thinking along the lines of making multiple characters and having them all exist in the same game world, interacting with one another.

Also, wouldn't I have to get like 15 DLCs for Crusader Kings?
You can "make" them in the sense that you can sometimes influence their upbringing or genetics, and they can interact with each other to a very limited degree (mostly by plotting to murder each other and such). It's not great for what you're after, but it does match some technical requirements.

"Have to" is a strong phrase, but yes.


Thea/Thea 2: Can't customize appearance or class, but you can change the name, set gear, and manage (semi-random) levelups between members of what is basically a seminomadic clan. There's even a tab for keeping notes on them in-game. They don't really interact with each other except to occasionally find a kid, but they're definitely affecting the world together.

Disgaea 5: If you want EVEN MORE SUBSYSTEMS than Disgaea 2 they've got you covered. A bit more customization as a result, at least in theory.

Age of Wonders: Planetfall lets you rename, equip, and select levelup skills for heroes and define custom classes (including the name) for basic units. No real interaction outside combat, though.

Battle Brothers: Grim tactical RPG, customize names, gear, and levelup skills/stats.
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Frumple

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Re: Custom Character-Type Games
« Reply #13 on: February 17, 2020, 07:17:19 pm »

Low Magic Age? It's in development, but it's basically a DND thing with a six critter party. Overworld questing with towns and wandering critters and dungeons and stuff, or sequential fights with some inventory management and whatnot included.

Customization isn't huge, but you got your portraits and avatars and stat blocks and feats and so on, and some multi-person skill interactions. Biggest eh is that it still has a fair amount of content to flesh out, and characters can end up fairly same-y due to how resource scarcity (doesn't) work and how relatively few feats and whatnot are currently available. It keeps going (and/or opens up to modding beyond graphics stuff) and it'll probably be pretty darn neat on the customization front eventually.
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Flying Dice

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Re: Custom Character-Type Games
« Reply #14 on: February 17, 2020, 07:22:53 pm »

I could list off a bunch of titles, but honestly there's one you need to play before any others I might suggest, and that's Kenshi. It's one of those games that's extremely difficult to describe accurately without taking five pages and telling a bunch of stories, but Sseth's review of it is probably one of the better attempts.

Basically: hardcore rust-punk/post-apoc open-world top-down RPG that can be anything from single-character through squad-tactics up to triple digit character count RTS. It's a game where the best default start has your characters enslaved and the worst has you stranded in the desert with a single character missing a limb.
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