Game characters
This post might not interest everyone, but it does have lots of pretty pictures :b
I love video games. I especially love games that have a rich, detailed world which you can completely immerse yourself in. Games which allow you to create, customise and entirely personalise your own character just appeal to me so, so much. Sure, it's fun to play as so-and-so, a character the game designers and writers came up with, but isn't it more fun to forge your own personal, unique character that you can completely relate to and adore? Why would I want to play as a male character? Guys are ugly and smelly! (Haha!) Customisation gives me more motivation to play a game and to get more out of it.
I'm going to share my favourite personal characters from seven incredibly amazing games. Yes, I play all my games on Xbox360 which means no lovely, clean, crisp screenshots; I had to take these pictures with a camera -.-
Images from Wikipedia
Oblivion was my very first fantasy role-playing game. I started playing it many, many years ago and my, I was such a noob when I first began. I used to flinch away from the TV whenever I was attacked, and was killed by a wild boar (twice!!) on my way to the main city! That was when I figured out I could turn down the difficulty, haha! (By the way, I now play Skyrim on Expert difficulty and it's a lil too easy, really should try Master but I'm lazy, so I guess I've learnt a lot since those days). I've sunk hundreds of hours in Oblivion and loved every minute of it.
My character was rather unimaginatively named Tropicana, because I was such a noob back then. Ha. Anyway, she's a really lovely bright blue dark elf. Isn't that a gorgeous colour? She's a bit of a jack-of-all trades but excels in illusion and fights mostly with sword and shield. And just a lil bit of a hoarder...
Yes, that's Umbra and a lovely set of enchanted ebony armour :D
When I first saw the commercial about Skyrim, I cried tears of joy. Literally. The game is just stunningly beautiful and so detailed. I love the people at Bethesda for bringing us such a fantastic game. It just feels that bit more classy, elegant and polished than Oblivion. It's too easy to lose yourself in this cold, harsh world.
My character, Ariane is a High Elf. I did feel a little limited by the customisation for her face, but I do understand that the guys at Bethesda put these limitations in on purpose, to make sure that High Elves have that cruel, aloof look and that they have distinct features which look different from Wood Elves. It did disappoint me a little that I couldn't make a Dark Elf who was the same stunning shade of blue available in Oblivion, but the colour palette in Skyrim is quite subdued so it's understandable.
Here's Ariane with her favourite follower, Aranea - a priestess of Azura (not that you can tell under that amazing Daedric armour *3*), and in her spiffy glass armour. They're in the little garden next to Honeyside in Riften ^^ Ariane specialises in sword and shield, conjuration and restoration magic. And lock-picking *shifty eyes*.
The Fable series is quite an interesting little collection of games. I haven't played the first game all the way through because last time I tried it glitched out so much, should have another go but I have so many unfinished games on the go D: It's been a while since I played the other two, but they were reasonably enjoyable.
Fable 2 doesn't allow you to customise your character at the start of the game, you all start out the same (either male or female) and forge your own path. Your character begins to change as you make moral decisions in the game, and upgrade your skills. The moral decisions are usually no-brainers for me, I can't help but make my character an absolute saint. I just can't be evil in games like this! Even though the NPCs aren't real, it makes me sad to hurt them or make them suffer. Hence the halo on my character :3 You can see her dog in the background!
Ok, so maybe not all the clothes look better dyed black, but whatever! She has glowing tattoos because she's proficient in using the Will - the Fable universe's name for magic.
Fable 3 allows you to eventually become the ruler of Albion. Here's my character in all her Queenly glory.
Since she is so morally good, she gets an angel power while fighting :3 Cool, huh? Despite this, I did enjoy Fable 2 a tad more than Fable 3. They just tweaked things a bit too much in ways I didn't really like. I think the new Fable game coming out soon will be interesting, apparently it's tied in with the Kinect.
After finishing the Fable games, I was in a bit of a gaming slump until my partner bought me Dragon Age: Origins. Dear lord, I don't know how I had lived without playing this game! The story telling in it is phenomenal, I was basically joined to the xbox and TV for the 70 or so hours it took to complete this game. I just love the tactics and strategies in this game, it took quite a while to adjust to this team combat system but wow, was it worth it. I've never felt so attached to game characters before, I think I'm still in love with Alistair o.O
My character Kiri is an elf mage (oh boy, did she get discriminated against). I really want to play through the whole game again, with a different Origin :D I also played Awakening with Kiri and she and Anders make a cute couple :3
Dragon Age 2 was... interesting. There were parts about it I loved. There were parts I hate and still hate. I hated being Hawke - why won't they let me make my own character (please, and an elf?!)? The story in the main game was a bit meh, though I did enjoy the Legacy add-on. How beautiful were the graphics in DA2, though! And the combat is fast-paced and just better than in Origins. It took me a long time to get Talea Hawke to look like I wanted her. Fortunately I have the Black Emporium add-on which allows you to change appearance as much as you want. I settled on this version of her face about two thirds through the game, haha!
Talea's a rogue whose weapons of choice are daggers, but I did spend a lot of combat time playing as Anders because mages are fun xD
The latest game I have been addicted to is Dragon's Dogma. It's just amazing. It's almost perfect, so close to being perfect - if it had a similar team tactics system to Dragon Age it would have been just perfect to me. Regardless, it's a wonderful game and the character cusomisation just made me so happy <3 And SO MANY clothes, weapons, armour, oh the possibilities are endless and I just adore it.
My character, Mirrim, is the Arisen which means she is fated to destroy the dragon which stole her heart from her body. It also means she can have allies from the pawn army.
Lillien is Mirrim's main pawn, her guardian. I was so happy to find out you get to fully customise your main pawn as well! Double customisation is just fantastic :D Lillien is a gentle elf mage who focuses mainly on restoration magic.
In the game, you can also choose two other pawns to complete your party. These pawns can be in-game ones, or you can connect to other players online and borrow their main pawn.
Mirrim is skilled in the sword and shield, daggers and shortbow. Dragon's Dogma lets you, quite easily, change vocation (eg warrior, mage, assassin) and allows you to play around with the weapons and skill sets which best suit you. It's so much fun ^^
And, well, there you have it! I wonder if you can see the similarities in some of my characters? Hex from Good Game once said words to this effect: "I like to create fantasty versions of myself and spend a lot of time in-game just staring at my character". I feel the same way. I like to see a part of myself (even if it's just an idealised version of myself, or just a character who I think is really beautiful) depicted on screen. It just makes the gaming experience more personal and, like I mentioned before, makes it more fun.
Who are your favourite game characters? Do you prefer customisation than set characters? I'd love to see some of your characters if you want to share them :3
I love video games. I especially love games that have a rich, detailed world which you can completely immerse yourself in. Games which allow you to create, customise and entirely personalise your own character just appeal to me so, so much. Sure, it's fun to play as so-and-so, a character the game designers and writers came up with, but isn't it more fun to forge your own personal, unique character that you can completely relate to and adore? Why would I want to play as a male character? Guys are ugly and smelly! (Haha!) Customisation gives me more motivation to play a game and to get more out of it.
I'm going to share my favourite personal characters from seven incredibly amazing games. Yes, I play all my games on Xbox360 which means no lovely, clean, crisp screenshots; I had to take these pictures with a camera -.-
Images from Wikipedia
Oblivion was my very first fantasy role-playing game. I started playing it many, many years ago and my, I was such a noob when I first began. I used to flinch away from the TV whenever I was attacked, and was killed by a wild boar (twice!!) on my way to the main city! That was when I figured out I could turn down the difficulty, haha! (By the way, I now play Skyrim on Expert difficulty and it's a lil too easy, really should try Master but I'm lazy, so I guess I've learnt a lot since those days). I've sunk hundreds of hours in Oblivion and loved every minute of it.
My character was rather unimaginatively named Tropicana, because I was such a noob back then. Ha. Anyway, she's a really lovely bright blue dark elf. Isn't that a gorgeous colour? She's a bit of a jack-of-all trades but excels in illusion and fights mostly with sword and shield. And just a lil bit of a hoarder...
Yes, that's Umbra and a lovely set of enchanted ebony armour :D
When I first saw the commercial about Skyrim, I cried tears of joy. Literally. The game is just stunningly beautiful and so detailed. I love the people at Bethesda for bringing us such a fantastic game. It just feels that bit more classy, elegant and polished than Oblivion. It's too easy to lose yourself in this cold, harsh world.
My character, Ariane is a High Elf. I did feel a little limited by the customisation for her face, but I do understand that the guys at Bethesda put these limitations in on purpose, to make sure that High Elves have that cruel, aloof look and that they have distinct features which look different from Wood Elves. It did disappoint me a little that I couldn't make a Dark Elf who was the same stunning shade of blue available in Oblivion, but the colour palette in Skyrim is quite subdued so it's understandable.
Here's Ariane with her favourite follower, Aranea - a priestess of Azura (not that you can tell under that amazing Daedric armour *3*), and in her spiffy glass armour. They're in the little garden next to Honeyside in Riften ^^ Ariane specialises in sword and shield, conjuration and restoration magic. And lock-picking *shifty eyes*.
The Fable series is quite an interesting little collection of games. I haven't played the first game all the way through because last time I tried it glitched out so much, should have another go but I have so many unfinished games on the go D: It's been a while since I played the other two, but they were reasonably enjoyable.
Fable 2 doesn't allow you to customise your character at the start of the game, you all start out the same (either male or female) and forge your own path. Your character begins to change as you make moral decisions in the game, and upgrade your skills. The moral decisions are usually no-brainers for me, I can't help but make my character an absolute saint. I just can't be evil in games like this! Even though the NPCs aren't real, it makes me sad to hurt them or make them suffer. Hence the halo on my character :3 You can see her dog in the background!
Ok, so maybe not all the clothes look better dyed black, but whatever! She has glowing tattoos because she's proficient in using the Will - the Fable universe's name for magic.
Fable 3 allows you to eventually become the ruler of Albion. Here's my character in all her Queenly glory.
Since she is so morally good, she gets an angel power while fighting :3 Cool, huh? Despite this, I did enjoy Fable 2 a tad more than Fable 3. They just tweaked things a bit too much in ways I didn't really like. I think the new Fable game coming out soon will be interesting, apparently it's tied in with the Kinect.
After finishing the Fable games, I was in a bit of a gaming slump until my partner bought me Dragon Age: Origins. Dear lord, I don't know how I had lived without playing this game! The story telling in it is phenomenal, I was basically joined to the xbox and TV for the 70 or so hours it took to complete this game. I just love the tactics and strategies in this game, it took quite a while to adjust to this team combat system but wow, was it worth it. I've never felt so attached to game characters before, I think I'm still in love with Alistair o.O
My character Kiri is an elf mage (oh boy, did she get discriminated against). I really want to play through the whole game again, with a different Origin :D I also played Awakening with Kiri and she and Anders make a cute couple :3
Dragon Age 2 was... interesting. There were parts about it I loved. There were parts I hate and still hate. I hated being Hawke - why won't they let me make my own character (please, and an elf?!)? The story in the main game was a bit meh, though I did enjoy the Legacy add-on. How beautiful were the graphics in DA2, though! And the combat is fast-paced and just better than in Origins. It took me a long time to get Talea Hawke to look like I wanted her. Fortunately I have the Black Emporium add-on which allows you to change appearance as much as you want. I settled on this version of her face about two thirds through the game, haha!
Talea's a rogue whose weapons of choice are daggers, but I did spend a lot of combat time playing as Anders because mages are fun xD
The latest game I have been addicted to is Dragon's Dogma. It's just amazing. It's almost perfect, so close to being perfect - if it had a similar team tactics system to Dragon Age it would have been just perfect to me. Regardless, it's a wonderful game and the character cusomisation just made me so happy <3 And SO MANY clothes, weapons, armour, oh the possibilities are endless and I just adore it.
My character, Mirrim, is the Arisen which means she is fated to destroy the dragon which stole her heart from her body. It also means she can have allies from the pawn army.
Lillien is Mirrim's main pawn, her guardian. I was so happy to find out you get to fully customise your main pawn as well! Double customisation is just fantastic :D Lillien is a gentle elf mage who focuses mainly on restoration magic.
In the game, you can also choose two other pawns to complete your party. These pawns can be in-game ones, or you can connect to other players online and borrow their main pawn.
Mirrim is skilled in the sword and shield, daggers and shortbow. Dragon's Dogma lets you, quite easily, change vocation (eg warrior, mage, assassin) and allows you to play around with the weapons and skill sets which best suit you. It's so much fun ^^
And, well, there you have it! I wonder if you can see the similarities in some of my characters? Hex from Good Game once said words to this effect: "I like to create fantasty versions of myself and spend a lot of time in-game just staring at my character". I feel the same way. I like to see a part of myself (even if it's just an idealised version of myself, or just a character who I think is really beautiful) depicted on screen. It just makes the gaming experience more personal and, like I mentioned before, makes it more fun.
Who are your favourite game characters? Do you prefer customisation than set characters? I'd love to see some of your characters if you want to share them :3