It's OK to just copy the sentences without naming me as the source.

(I might get my username changed at some point, anyway.)

Maybe you could sort the list with the best character customization at the top?

Some games with character customization:

Spore
The only game where you can adjust everything!

Redshirt
You can select name, age, gender, race (Human/Asrion/Geldar/Emoid/Xx'th'xx), hair, face, clothing, face tech and sexual orientation)

Terraria

BTW, you sure the list should include games that only let you select the character's gender? While this is a nice option on its own, I don't think it's enough to count as character customization.

I can try, but sorting GOGmixes is very tedious work, since it seems you have to move every item individually and step by step, no drag and drop. With a long list like this, it becomes more and more of a hassle. :/

And of course, it's a bit subjective what the best options are. I guess the Saints Row games should be at the top, but then should I separate Gat Out Of Hell from them and put it at the end of the list? It might be relevant to people interested in SR to learn in what way Gat Out of Hell is different ...

Anyway, thanks for the suggestions!

It's not, but that's why I didn't name the list "Games with character customization" but "Games with choices on player characters". ;) It includes games with cosmetic customization as well as games with choices between different preset characters.

Okay, guess this is gonna be a very long list! Not worth sorting, then.

One more:

Exanima
You can select name, gender, age, voice, skin color and hair, and the physique can be gradually adjusted. The chosen age affects the character's appearance too. You can also adjust the characters height.

I wouldn't mind splitting it, but that would lead to new problems. It's hard to draw the lines, there's so much overlap. Thanks for the suggestion!

any kind of game, or just RPG'ish games (if the former you will end up with all games on gOg, if the later - where do you draw the line?)

For the "Games with choices on player characters" I decided to allow any game, because it's not all that common outside the genre of RPGs, so I find it interesting to see which non-RPG games feature it, too. Obviously the list has already gotten pretty long, but I think it's still fine.

For the "RPGs with preset characters" I'd like to stick to RPGs because for most other games having a preset character is the default (e.g. almost every adventure game out there). I'm not anal about defining what a "real" RPG is though, I'm pretty lenient with that; I already included Al-Qadim and Entomorph, which I'd actually classify as action/adventures more than RPGs, but they're still close enough (also because they're based on known RPG settings, so they could be easily confused for RPGs).

What did you have in mind?

Mount & Blade: Warband (and maybe others of the series):

You get to choose chick or dude, select your way through some 'origin' questions that determine your starting skills and stats, and can fine tune your appearance. You have complete control with choices as you level, and you also get some leveling of combat skills as you use them.

Your hire-able NPCs are preset when you encounter them (though I think they scale a bit if you hire them on later in the game) and you get to upgrade them as they level.

Some might not consider it to be a real RPG, but I would say in some regards it allows you MORE leeway in playing a role than does your typical RPG.

Doesn't matter; as I told amok, the list with character choices is for all genres, not just RPG, so it fits either way. For this list I'm also more interested in the outward appearances of the characters, not stat and skill customization, but since Mount & Blade offers both, I'll add it. Thanks a lot!

Gotcha. In that regard, I think M&B:W's appearance modification bit was pretty thorough. Not quite as much as DA:O, but you could adjust you character really quite a lot.

I see what you mean, and I agree to exclude action / puzzle games. I was mostly thinking of games where there are no distinct features of the protagonist at all (a complete 'clean slate'), such as in TRI.

Others, such as Ziggurat, has a choice between several characters, both male and female, but there is no customization and playing as Ozuna the Bard is very different from for example Corvus the Vampire, the choice here is purely gameplay / gamemechanics related.

I have not read through your list yet, will do later and see if I can add anything. At a glance, though, I did not see Trails in the sky there, and I know the 3d at least have fixed main protagonist (Kevin Graham). (I have a feeling many of the more story driven RPG's will have a fixed protagonist, to make romance and relations to work).

Hm, tricky question whether games like that should be included or not. :/


I'm not sure those two aspects are actually as related as one would think. Many of the games that give you choices are still story-driven (e.g. Baldur's Gate, Mass Effect), while some others that have preset characters don't really have a good reason for that, at least concerning the story-telling (Nox should work just as well with a female main character, for example; they probaby just didn't have the resources or thought players would not be interested in that at the time; and Revenant, while having a fixed story, is mostly a combat-driven game with very rare story bits strewn in).

But having a fixed protagonist seems to be the default in JRPGs or Japanese action RPGs, and I haven't added any of those yet. Apart from Trails in the Sky, there are a couple more that come to my mind mind that might fit the description (Grandia 2, Gurumin, Chantelise, Recettear etc.). Thanks!

EDIT: I added all the JRPGs and Japanese style action RPG-likes / Zelda clones. I haven't checked out yet who the main characters are, so if anyone spots a game with character choices among them, that should be on the other list instead, let me know!