So I was browsing around a forum about funny bugs and nonsense happening in Skyrim. Then someone linked this picture. Thought I'd share it with you lot because even though it never occured to me, the whole character creation scenario IS kind of awkward.

http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m4qnxwHZhT1qgpl08o1_1280.jpg

Discuss: How long have you fiddled with the character creator? Have you instantly gone for one race with some specific features in mind or took your sweet time with the whole thing, scrolling through most of the options to at least take a peek? How easy/difficult was it to find the right look?

I knew straight away I was going to be a Nord anyway. I'd been planning my character since the game was announced. However I still flicked through all the races for the updated description of them and to see what they all looked like on a big screen.

I spent maybe 10 minutes crafting my appearance, it was remarkably easy (compared to some games) to get the character to look like me.

the character creation is limited (features-wise) ... because of that I have come to terms with what I can create. Not sure if that's a good thing or not

I spent awhile but it was not too difficult to find the right look for me.

Now I fiddle for a while. At first I was mouse clicking through the menus, but since I realized I can navigate with the keyboard arrows, it became a lot more enjoyable.

Much easier than in Oblivion or Morrowind, for me. I made a quick test character (spent less than 5 minutes) the day the game came out, thinking I would play the character a few hours just to get the hang of the game and then make a "real" character. I ended up liking the character's appearance so much I played it for 150 hours, to my surprise. My current character took a bit longer...about 15 minutes, I'd say.

In Oblivion I had to wrestle with sliders for hours to get a face that suited me. In Morrowind all the faces were so horrible (except for one Breton female) that I either played a Breton female or I never got a face I liked no matter how much time I spent on it.

What other game gives you so many features to change your character's appearance (including the mods that are out there now)???

I knew I wanted to do a male Nord. What really took time though was when I tried to make him resemble me. I think I may have had some success, but I know that my character doesn't really look like me, but at least he looks awesome.

I don't think I was completley clear ... the sliders in terms of thing like cheeks, jaw, etc don't change much.

You know, I've really never spent all that much time on my characters. There really isn't a whole lot you can do with them. I generally know what race and gender I want going in. Then it's just picking the right preset and adjusting. I spend maybe 10 or 15 minutes, tops. In many ways, it's a lot more limited than it was in Oblivion. I could spend 70 minutes making adjustments in that game.

Frankly, when I compare Skyrim's character customization options to other games on the market, or http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GYBstCQPcq0&feature=related to be on the market, it feels like it comes up lacking.

Dragon's Dogma....

Since console users don't have mods.


I had an easier time in Oblivion because I do not like presets, I feel that presets are extremely limiting in what I can create. The other issue with Skyrim is the wrinkles, so many wrinkles. All the characters have wrinkles and the complexion does nothing I make it all the way to the left and they still have wrinkles. Where is the age slider in Skyrim?

I've made a few characters good though. Deimos in my avatar looks great, after a few hours of tinkering. I've made a character named Eon, but I'm starting to consider he looks to much like Deimos if I think about it. So I had to edit him around. In the end all my characters kind of have the same look because there is limiting features.

I guess I just lucked out. The Nords in Oblivion looked nothing like me at all, but in Skyrim I actually made a decent replica.

I will admit to spending at least twelve hours when I first played, now getting an attractive (to me) female Nord takes about two minutes.
I hated the way my character would look after exiting Helgen and would restart the game constantly, then play the tutorial... I am just glad I had the week of release as vacation.

also demon souls, fonv, mass effect

and all of those you can make a young looking pc, I'm 24 ... I'd rather my character not look 45

I'm with Pseron, here. On vanilla Skyrim, I've still spent 45 minutes generating my characters appearance. Why? To play one character into the higher levels it generally takes 25 or more hours of gameplay. Here are a couple of screenshots of Female Bretons I've created (vanilla Skyrim):

Here's two of Sévérine ... one alone and another with Silus Vesuius and a Storm Atronach friendly -

http://cloud.steampowered.com/ugc/595841084621935411/739FBA6DCFFE0F83EB9CBBF2A0AB671EA805F730/

http://cloud-2.steampowered.com/ugc/595845079003681152/5AC2422CF569D548E4F28B0B25199A3B3E5981E0/

Here's one of my former character, Belle, standing beside Muiri at the Hag's Cure -

http://cloud.steampowered.com/ugc/505765310767163687/D9509DBCDA80503E8D08CD020719BDBD9B009163/

I'm 19, and wish my characters to not look 45. Early twenties, but not 40s.

I always just pick a preset i like and then change eye and hair color and hairstyle I've never really bothered trying to make faces

I've gotten to where I can make an early twenties female Breton ... but a young male, forget about it

I just RP'd that he was hitting the Skooma

Yeah! Why does every female Bretton have worry lines on her forhead. Every one! I wanted to make her a little more evil and self-serving than my current character but she looks too worried and scared. lol

No wonder Ulfric keeps staring at you. There you were sitting next to him on that wagon, a male Nord (the default preset). Then you walk to the block and has turned into something completely different.

I spend a good deal of time fiddling with the sliders to get exactly the look I want. Then I play until I can zoom out in third person view to see if I got the desired look. If not, I redo the character. Did that last night with my male Imperial, he got way too thin lips the first time and I didn't like the line from jaw to chin. This time I used another preset and managed to make him look good in a sort of sleazy way (think Italian womanizer cliché). Exactly what I was going for. Character creation is fun!

That particular website will rot your brain.

I think it's great fun playing around with the character generator. I've spent way too long tinkering around with chin widths, and cheekbone heights but I don't care.

I wish there were some more part presets and skin types though.

I created a female bosmer yesterday, took me around 30 - 45 minutes to get it right. Then I restarted 10 minutes later after deciding the hair wasn't right. I remembered all the choices I made and redid it in like 5 or 6 minutes with different hair. If I don't get one thing right about the appearance of my character it'll bother me the whole game. It's actually kind of unfortunate, haha.