Rare needs not worry about 1000 Jack Sparrow lookalikes. 8 years of tested proof I have to this.

@wesley-sanguin I don't think that is the main reason of IPG. Players, like me, use to make characters to be good looking, at their taste, like if they all came out from an hollywood movie or from magazines. I would have made an attractive redhead myself if I had the choice, cuz that's what I always do. I'm happy they did it because now I see that's an opportunity to #BeMorePirate with an imperfect character that indeed look like a pirate!

Yeah, we could have made it ourselves on the basis of few selectable elements, but this way challenge us to play a pirate we would never have thought of. You may think "hey, this one is not that bad" and choose it. And there you have your very specific pirate. It's almost like in real life, as you can't choose your genes, you only try to look better other ways.

@wesley-sanguin I'm sorry but that argument only ever came from people defending the IPG system, the closest thing Rare has said is that a big percentage of players (don't remember the exact number) would just customize one or two things and go with their base model.

That said it is true that they're making a trade-off by having unique models at the cost of character investment. I personally believe the concept is fine, give us a chance to lock pirates and choose hair color and there should be no major problems. You could also add a sex or race filter but I do agree that some people might see a pirate they'd never create or conceive from a different race or gender and actually feel connected to them so there might be another trade-off there that Rare would not be willing to give up on

Indeed Captains, I understand the things you’ve mentioned.

A way to avoid the “Default and Go” that Rare seems to have mentioned would be to start every single person’s Character Select screen with one of those random generated pirates or an IPG wheel (but put an option to go to another screen and completely customize your pirate, which would also start with a random generated pirate)

That way people who just care about click and go to game will have a unique pirate Rare gave them and didn’t do any “defaults”, cause they wouldn’t really exist without going out of their way to make.

@wesley-sanguin That would work towards that point, I've thought of that myself early on, but not towards the rest of their intentions. Honestly, there just won't be a creator in this game as Rare wants a certain look and uniqueness to each of their pirates.

@wesley-sanguin I am curious though. Since you seem to feel somewhat strongly about it, would any of my filter suggestions appease a player like you in any way?

@thejolirouge I hear ya on ye concern Capt’n, but as mentioned people who have their mind made up on wanting a “Hollywood Movie/Magazine Pirate” will just spend hours and hours of frustration (bad for game and for word of mouth purchases) until they find said unique character which they would have made anyways with far less frustration and much more happiness, which spreads to the word of mouth love for this game and dedication to Purchasing DLC stuff.

I for one have always made all my characters and avatars look exactly like myself, even Wii Mii, its what I do, it’s who I am as a gamer. All my pirates in all my pirate games look just like me in my RL pictures. The point is, players should get to play immersive games the way they best like to emerge. It really is a win win for Rare to allow fully customizable characters... because the people who don’t want to do that will not care if people get to do it (cause they will have their automatic random generated characters) and the people who do care will be happy, very happy, and all will sing their praises of the game to the masses. The cost/reward for not having customization in hands of player is just too high to negate, imho

@deashkiin I do see what you are saying about Rare’s possible desire... but I am telling you the proof is insurmountably out there that they will have enormous amount of unique characters regardless of letting people customize or randomly select from IPG... what they will find is that those IPG really look like only a select few of their mass options... e.g. “Skinny Muscle Pirates”... but with very upset not fully content players behind them, whereas player control customization would yield the same amount of “Skinny Muscle Pirates” but with Waaaaaaaaaay happier players behind them.

*and honestly the more control and access to switching at any moment the more you will have people doing different variations of pirates; therefore, bringing Much More uniqueness to the game, because with only “one choice one time” you will find much more same “Type Cast” Pirate then if you let people change their look any time any place so they fee more free to experiment with the jollier non-Type Cast pirates.

@wesley-sanguin Sorry, maybe I wasn't clear. I meant a specific kind of uniqueness you know? Like how a cartoon's style is unique of sorts. Hope I'm making myself clearer now.

I do hear you I'm just convinced at this point that that's what they are going for so there's not much to battle there besides adjusting to minimize the impact on creation dependent players I suppose

@amy-gallows too my point above Capt’n Gallows, when people only get “one shot” or even a “small handful” (as per being discussed by Rare) they will still more often then not stick to there “Type Cast Pirate” it is only when you completely free it to be anytime any place that you will find more and more people willing to try something outside their comfort zone and “Type Cast Pirate” selection.

@wesley-sanguin said in Rare needs not worry about 1000 Jack Sparrow lookalikes. 8 years of tested proof I have to this.:

@amy-gallows too my point above Capt’n Gallows, when people only get “one shot” or even a “small handful” (as per being discussed by Rare) they will still more often then not stick to there “Type Cast Pirate” it is only when you completely free it to be anytime any place that you will find more and more people willing to try something outside their comfort zone and “Type Cast Pirate” selection.

That I do not agree with. There's never been a point where I wouldn't have created one of my types of characters while in one of the scale tests I actually was presented with a pirate I'd never create myself but felt surprisingly happy to have. Of course there's also the time where I couldn't find anything at all and had to go with one I hated after 10 spins so..

@submarine It does matter to a lot of players that's why you see so much complaints about it. But I agree a lock function (and an option for hair color even if outside of the generator) would probably solve most of the issue

@deashkiin Capt’n deashklin your post is exactly the thing Rare should sit back and look at if they are indeed thinking the same as you.... their thoughts shouldn’t be “how can we minimize hurting ‘immersive character creation players’?”, when no one needs to be hurt period! Because the game will not suffer if they made ‘immersive character creation players’ happy with allowing them to make the pirates they want to be. It is only Win Win, because of all the above stated posts and witnessing I have seen in games where full customization ‘at any and all times’ is within a game. It truly does lead to more uniqueness character creation from the player base because of the freedom to change at any time.

-Rare, If the goal is to have a lot of “Designer’s Full Range Unique Characters” (old, skinny, fat, tall, short, women and men, etc) running around then I promise that giving “Any Time Anywhere” character customizing freedom is the best way to ensure the seas are full of their full design ranges.... because if players only get a one time choice they will majoritly choose a “Type Cast” character and then all Rare’s designers will miss out on seeing the most of their hard worked range looks being out there on the seas.

@submarine well Capt’n that’s the beauty of having Both an IPG and a Full customization “any time any place” option while in-game... All WIN! The people who don’t care or don’t like lots of options (but maybe will someday), and those that do... All Win with both are implemented. Yaaargh!

In these discussions, I never understand why some take the stance of one over the other.
I mean, aside from what Rare has decided to do, in theory... there could be the IPG, exactly how it is, and if a player wished to do so they could click on another option, from the IPG screen, to customize the character themselves. The IPG, as is, would be the default. And there'd be another (opt-in only) option, for those so inclined.

Anyway, I honestly am not thrilled with the IPG, but I also do understand its benefits. I am a person that enjoys spending hours fine-tuning a character in creation, so the IPG can be a hard pill to swallow. However, I've taken the outlook that it's not 'creating a character', but casting a character.

Of course, I'll hold enormous auditions and re-roll the IPG for hours and hours (may not even get to play the first day - or longer), until I find the RIGHT person for the role I have in mind. ;)

And, I may get lucky and find that pirate quickly. If I do... I just hope I don't skip them over, in case a better one comes up... but I trust I'll know it when I see it.

Of course, to the main point of the OP, it's true, the Jack Sparrow thing is a made-up nonsense argument against free customization. And you're correct that there have already been games disproving that argument.

I honestly suspect the control we'd love isn't an option for how they built and designed these stylized characters. I could be wrong. And it may be to avoid freakish combinations and extremes that they feel would be too difficult to prevent if they did give us the tools to create our own.

Like I said... I'm not happy with the IPG, but I do also find it to be an interesting aspect that could actually be beneficial to the overall artistic design (as well as inspire some of us to break the mold within which we were planning to use, and embrace something very different than what we would have thought of - and, no, not everyone will do so).
(I'd still rather they crafted the options for us to be able to mess with the sliders ourselves, without infringing on the overall design)

I could ramble for days... :D

@spykus aye Capt’n spykus this I be aware of, but to the aforementioned point, that still be a “one shot” ultimate choice scenario and with a “one shot” Rare will most often find that all those “temporary lock-ins” are “Type Casted” Pirates whereas “Any Time Any Place” in-game customizing access will have more and more players building very unique characters from the far ranges of the Rare Designer’s creation options. And people tend to do this far reaches out of “Typecast Pirate” comfort zones when they know their choices will not me permanentl (even if they choose to keep them those out of the ordinary ways forever.)

@submarine said in Rare needs not worry about 1000 Jack Sparrow lookalikes. 8 years of tested proof I have to this.:

@deashkiin seeing as you can customize everything else (literally) besides your face and body.

Don't forget you're choosing hair color too! :P Although your comparison is not the best as an ice cream is not lasting or something you create an attachment to and I do agree with your point for the most part.

@Wesley-Sanguin Having both is definitely an option I would have loved to have seen during the beta as a test and something I personally wouldn't mind but there is still a trade-off in doing so and although I can't speak for Rare I'm convinced their "style" is more important for them

@LogansDadToo There should be a forum section for megathreads... we never know and not everyone is great at using the search option