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Dragon Age: The Veilguard's extensive character creator has been a hot topic leading up to the RPG sequel's release, but one former BioWare lead has come to the game's defense.
Responding to a tweet questioning the point of character creators in general - which itself was in response to a tweet about The Veilguard - former Star Wars: The Old Republic combat designer and current Boss Fight creative director Damion Schubert argued there's "a sizeable number of players who spend huge amounts of time in character creation... some will spend more than an hour there." He even pointed to the ludicrous Baldur's Gate 3 stats that revealed players spent a collective 8,196 years making their own protagonists.
Hi. Game designer here. I’ve seen the metrics. While it’s not just you, there is a sizable number of players who spend huge amounts of time in character creation. Some will spend more than an hour there.(Thread) https://t.co/cai7tZH7xjSeptember 23, 2024
Schubert explains that character creation tools are actually just as useful for developers as they are for players. In RPGs like Dragon Age and Baldur's Gate 3, you'll come across plenty of quest-givers and townsfolk, and to make sure none of them seem like carbon copies of each other, developers need to make a "wide wealth of options... so the work is not just about appeasing that portion of the audience."
But leaving such tools in players' hands is obviously beneficial in a ton of ways, Schubert tweets. People are often "delighted" when they can make themselves or someone resembling themselves in a game because "it makes them feel seen." Schubert says this is particularly impactful for folks who don't normally have representation in media: "Seeing someone like you hits a lot harder if you’re a woman, or black, or gay, or have vitiligo."
RPG character creators don't just offer us a mirror, though. "Mostly it's just about roleplaying. You know, that thing that’s in the name of the genre? People want to create a character and decide how that character would react to the situations a game throws at it. Part of the fun is choosing a character you think is interesting."
Having said that, Schubert acknowledges that some people will want to jump into the game as soon as possible or will want a recognizable face to latch on to, which is where pre-set characters come in - how many of you stuck with the default FemShep, for example?
A Dragon Age writer revealed you can play The Veilguard without diving into the series’ other RPGs.
