171 réponses à ce sujet

[fdgvdddvdfdfbdfb]

I'd rather have the ability to pick first, middle and last names and just have everyone call out "Oi, you!"

[AkiKishi]

Wulfram wrote...

It's not just "ownership", it's differentiation. The sense that you're playing different characters, not the same one over and over.

Appearance also makes the cinematics more interesting on replays, since you're seeing something that's at least somewhat new.

I can buy that with regards to appearence,but names which are never spoken? Not so much.

[NedPepper]

BobSmith101 wrote...

nedpepper wrote...

Calling me Hawke or Shepard or Champion or Commander is fine. I don't want first names taken away. Talk about taking away choices...no way.

And besides, when it comes to my friends in my life, we usually go by last names or nicknames anyway. This doesn't bother me at all. To me, this really would lead us away from what makes a "RPG".

Does it really matter ? 

You input a name that has no bearing what so ever on the game, is never acknowledged by anyone and leads to some very strange conversations because everyone must either refer to you by a title or lastname. John/Jane, makes no difference, you can call Male Shepard Sue and no one in the ME world will bat an eyelid.
Same is true of appearence. It has no function outside of giving some sense of ownership to the player and has you can see from these and other boards, that's not always a good thing, especially when the game does not follow through on that theme.

This is one of those little things important to me in an RPG.  You may think a set voice takes away from it, but the way Bioware pretty much gave you three different voice "personalites" helped with that.  I like Deus Ex, but I don't feel very close to Adam Jensen.  (Even though he actually HAS my real life first name....which I never use in RPGs, by the way.) 

One other thing.  I was playing an orc in Skyrim.  And the scrolling dialoge never seemed to fit his personality.  There are always going to be little things that take away from the illusion of role playing.  With both voiced protagonists and even the "silent" protagonists. 

But the one thing that makes Dragon Age great is that every playthrough, my character is, in someways, a new character.  They look different.  They have a differentt first name.  They may sound the same, but that is one of things I can ignore, especially when you a have a voice actor who really tries to make noble, sarcastic, and aggressive all sound very different.

It's always going to be an illusion...but I think taking away the ability to name your character, for me at least, would finally shatter that illusion.  It would a set character.  I'd be Link.  I'd be Mario.  I'd be Max Payne.  And, I hate to say it, I'd be Adam Jensen.  And I just don't feel as connected to himas I do to my Bioware characters.  It's part of WHY I love Bioware.  Just me, though.

[Wulfram]

BobSmith101 wrote...

I can buy that with regards to appearence,but names which are never spoken? Not so much.

Name helps a little.  It wouldn't accomplish much alone, but it contributes along with other features that allow the characters to be different.  Mainly, it gives me a way of thinking about the character as an individual.

If I didn't think Bioware weren't successful in writing around it, I might support removing the choice.  But they've shown they can do that to my satisfaction, so I'd rather keep it.

[Shadow of Light Dragon]

esper wrote...

I don't care. Jrpg are the only one I tolerate male protagonist in. And only to a certain degree.

Hm.

Indeed.

A pity, to be sure, but ultimately your choice.

[Direwolf0294]

As others have mentioned maybe having the choice to choose a nickname or title like you can in Fable would work, but serious names and titles, no chickenchaser or anything like that.

I'd also like to throw it out there that being able to choose both a first name and last name for your character from a drop down list could be neat. You'd also have the ability to opt out of picking the first name from the list and instead come up with a name yourself which if you do do that it would of course mean that characters wouldn't call you by your first name in game.

Hell it would probably just be best if BioWare joined all those thing together. The ability to choose a last name from a drop down list, the ability to choose a first name from a drop down list and have NPCs call you that name in game, the ability to create a custom first name and the ability to pick a title or nickname if you want. They could even make the last name fully customisable as well provided you pick either a first name or title/nickname for the NPCs to call your character.

[Tpiom]

Actually, if anything they should let us choose the last name - as we, the players, address our companions and other people by their first name: Alistair, Loghain (Mac Tir - but only a few know that), Morrigan, etc.

Although, that would certainly remove the barrier that it is your character... Now that I think about it, titles are the way to go. If not, then amnesia always works. He/She doesn't remember, so everyone else make up a name!

Modifié par Tpiom, 28 mars 2012 - 10:57 .

[Achkas]

I support a pre-set first and last name

[esper]

Shadow of Light Dragon wrote...

esper wrote...

I don't care. Jrpg are the only one I tolerate male protagonist in. And only to a certain degree.

Hm.

Indeed.

A pity, to be sure, but ultimately your choice.

I am already spending so much on games, that I can really afford to be picky about what I want since I won't run out of games to play,.

[Ryenke]

What if players still chose the first name, but then had a number of nickname options they could choose from in the CC screen? One of those options could be 'keep it formal, use my title or last name'. Then some appropriate nickname choices based upon the players character choices (like class) and BioWare pre built story.

Then characters you are close to, i.e. love interests, and ones who like you would use nickname when appropriate to story interaction.

But, please keep the pet/intimate endearments from LIs because my heart melted the first time Alistair called my warden 'my love' - it made the interaction seem so much more real that he had chosen to address me that way.

[cactusberry]

I don't mind others using a formal name over the first name, but I also wouldn't mind a first name. I didn't get to pick my first name in real life, did I?

Then again, I might hate the first name the game assigns.

[DannieCraft]

I could see this be done with a short list of standard names to choose from, while if you type your own unique name it goes back to being spoken to with a last name or title. Then it would be more of a win/win situation.

[YooperLaw]

Direwolf0294 wrote...

I'd also like to throw it out there that being able to choose both a first name and last name for your character from a drop down list could be neat. You'd also have the ability to opt out of picking the first name from the list and instead come up with a name yourself which if you do do that it would of course mean that characters wouldn't call you by your first name in game.

I like this idea as it does present the best of both worlds. People who really like to roleplay would still be able to call their character whatever they want and it'd be no different than in previous games where pretty much everyone would address you by your title and/or last name. People who choose a pre-set name would benefit from experiencing more personalized dialogue.

The big issue of course is development cost; a lot of ideas sound great but is it worth spending the resources on a feature that maybe only a handful of people care about? It'd require extra voice recordings, more programming, and even more QA due to all the variables presented that need to be tested. I've been okay with how things have been done in Bioware games for the most part as they do a pretty good job in making sure people not using your first name isn't too jarring, but situations do pop up every now and then in both Mass Effect and Dragon Age where it does seem odd.

Ultimately it's a balancing act. I suspect things will stay the same on this front simply because it's most likely the easiest route to take in terms of development. I am surprised that a lot of people care this strongly about naming their character despite it having no bearing on the game itself ... tricky stuff to consider.

Modifié par YooperLaw, 28 mars 2012 - 03:12 .

[nightscrawl]

David Gaider wrote...

I imagine that while, for some, giving the character a first name wouldn't be a big issue, for others it would be crossing yet another line towards set protaganist. How much that first name is actually used probably doesn't matter so much as the idea behind it. Whether choosing from a list would amerliorate that, I'm not sure. For those who prefer to pick their own name, probably not... and those are the people you'd be trying to appease by creating that list in the first place, no?

I don't know. I find it tougher, in a medieval setting, to justify calling someone by a last name-- titles are easier, when they exist, but with close friends or love interests it seems a bit awkward even then. Nicknames would work, but that's not really very different.

Thoughts on the topic are certainly welcome.

I prefer to choose my character's own first name, even if it brings me trouble because I have a hard time deciding something. It's the "idea behind it" as you say, that's important to me.

I don't think the title option is bad where the situation warrants it. However, in some situations it's just odd. There were people addressing you as Warden in front in Alistair, who is also a Warden. There were also several times in DAO where you could introduce yourself using your inputted first name, even as far as "you can call me <name>" but the title was just used anyway. So, while I like the idea behind picking my own name, the benefits of having more refined conversations in a voiced setting seem to outweigh the smaller detail of picking a name I like. However, I do think it might diminish replay value, and those who play different personalities. "My Jane Hawke is a smart ass, but my Joan Hawke is a pacifist, it's not the same person and they need different names to show that," is an argument I can see happening.

I thought Hawke was well done though. Since Hawke was the elder sibling and representative of the family, it did make some sense to use the family name. I can imagine that your friends/companions start calling you that in year 2, and by the time they know you better, it's a habit. The only exception being with your love interest. I really don't see any of them, except maybe Isabela for some reason, continuing to call me Hawke after the romance is established. In contrast, On the X-Files, Mulder and Scully almost never used their first names with each other, even though they were very close and eventually romantic (I admit I didn't follow the series very closely in the last 1.5 seasons so it might have been presented differently then) because there was still that work barrier.

TheDarkRats wrote...

I don't mind others using a formal name over the first name, but I also wouldn't mind a first name. I didn't get to pick my first name in real life, did I?

Then again, I might hate the first name the game assigns.

For an RPG, I think this is the difference between creating a character, and stepping into a character.

Modifié par nightscrawl, 28 mars 2012 - 03:16 .

[Pzykozis]

Be curious to what people would think about switching it around? Instead of having a fixed second name used for identification, people would use the title as before but instead yu'd have a fixed first name so that people who're closer or less formal can address your character by the actual first name?

I mean fixed names don't really bother me so perhaps it's just something I don't see, but it sounds better to me.

[andraip]

I would like that, if you keep the default first name, that the NPC would react to it (calling you by your first name if you're close to them). If you however opted to change the name they would call you by your last name, title or what ever. It would be the price you had to pay for customizing you characters first name.

[AkiKishi]

nightscrawl wrote...
For an RPG, I think this is the difference between creating a character, and stepping into a character.

While you can create the Warden, you do at no point create Hawke. Once you get to that point things like first names and even appearence having any real value is questionable.

[LolaLei]

I don't mind, I actually dated someone for a while and only ever refered to him by his last name because that's all I'd even known him as. He said he found it kinda weird though lol.

[NedPepper]

LolaLei wrote...

I don't mind, I actually dated someone for a while and only ever refered to him by his last name because that's all I'd even known him as. He said he found it kinda weird though lol.

My best friend is NEVER referred by his first name.  By anyone except  his mother.  Not even at work.  Not even by his BOSS. He's so used to it now, he introduces himself by his last name.  (Altlhough I call him by his first name.  I hate being a folllower....lol....)

[Wulfram]

nightscrawl wrote...
The only exception being with your love interest. I really don't see any of them, except maybe Isabela for some reason, continuing to call me Hawke after the romance is established

I just assume Merrill's missed the bit of human custom which says you should call your lover by their first name.

[Mykel54]

I firmly support making a canon character name for the protagonist and don´t let the player pick the name or surname. In my opinion it is similar as if you were wearing pink underwear, you may feel good knowing that no one else in the room wears it too, but, likely they´re not going to see your underwear anyway (unless you´re in the vestuary).

Something similar happens with Hawke. You can go ahead and pick a cool sounding first name that you like, but then, you´re only going to see it written when you load/save your game. No one in the game will ever call your hawke by your cool custom name, instead they´ll use the boring Hawke, always.

So what is the point of having a choice that is meaningless? You could aswell fill your character name with blank spaces, becasue it doesn´t matter. It´s a choice that is just there to give you the appearance of customization, but you´re only customising your underwear color.

I would suggest picking a first name gender neutral (ideally it would be male or female, but then players need at least to pick gender) and then a surname. The character would still be pretty much the same, with the differene that in-game he/she could have more realistic interactions with close people (like the mother or father). As it is, many times you feel that it is out of place to have hawke´s siblings be called by their names, but not hawke. Giving the character a proper first name would increase coherence within the game, and the choice that is removed from the player is completely irrelevant anyway, because the game won´t acknowledge it anyway.

To make up for it, perhaps what could be done is to have several origins for the character, even if he/she is human. For example not everyone needs to be the a noble of highever like in origins, instead you could have a chasind, or a redcliff villager, etc. Once established it could be used to add some custom content to each character, like custom quests depending of origin (like in mass effect 1, shepard can be colonist/spacer/earthborn, but basically he is a human, it just changes dialogue in quest making references, his/her opinion on things and some quests) or certain options that are open in main quests because of your origin, or make it easier/harder to achieve something because of your origin ties etc.

sorry for the long post

[berelinde]

I was OK with everybody identifying my Wardens and my Hawkes by their surnames/titles... except the LI. There, I would have preferred some kind of nickname tailored to suit the habits of the individual LI. For Alistair, Leliana, or Anders, "sweetheart" or "love" would have made sense. For Zevran, it would have had to be "sexy" or something along those lines. I can't really picture Morrigan refering to the Warden by name at all, but that's probably just me. With Merrill, I could see her getting mixed up with customs and using "Hawke" for everything. With Isabela, I could see her using "Hawke" in an attempt to convince herself that feelings were things that happened to other people. With Fenris, I just never got the sense that he felt any kind of personal connection to Hawke at all, so having him continue to say "Hawke" never struck me as odd. So yay, for 3 out of 4 DA2 LIs, the surname worked. :S

[PinkShoes]

No i dont think we should be given a name. A last name fine but first? No. I really do think that would take away from this is your character thing.

[AkiKishi]

PinkShoes wrote...

No i dont think we should be given a name. A last name fine but first? No. I really do think that would take away from this is your character thing.

But you are passing up the chance to have more natural dialogue and only giving up something that has no actual meaning beyond a sense of ownership it's not even real ownership, or even the illusion of ownership. A pregenerated character is never created by you.

[Blastback]

BobSmith101 wrote...

PinkShoes wrote...

No i dont think we should be given a name. A last name fine but first? No. I really do think that would take away from this is your character thing.

But you are passing up the chance to have more natural dialogue and only giving up something that has no actual meaning beyond a sense of ownership it's not even real ownership, or even the illusion of ownership. A pregenerated character is never created by you.

But that sense and illusion is important to a lot of us.  It's part of why I love RPG's.  I can enjoy a fully predetermined character, but I love Bioware for giving me more control.