I'm of the belief that Sam from Death Stranding should've been a customizable character

[Uzumaki Goku]

Like Shepard from Mass Effect, you choose Sam's face, gender, attributes, backstory etc. It would've really helped build on the belief that you were rebuilding the world with other players from the world with their own characters, but I guess Kojima just really wanted to have Norman Reedus be the star in his game. Man loves having Hollywood Talent in his games.... and Troy Baker.

But I think this would've been a better way to suck the player into the world... let it be customizable, let us create our own character, immerse the player into the world. This is something Death Stranding just doesn't quite deliver on.

 

[Platy]

"hey this is me!"
5 minutes into the game
"Oh I apparently hate being touched and have a mother?"

 

[Z-Beat]

It doesn't deliver on it because it didn't try to. Sam's not a character avatar. You can customize his appearance as far as clothing and gear. He's got a past n shit that isn't vague enough for a character creator.

 

[Uzumaki Goku]

"hey this is me!"
5 minutes into the game
"Oh I apparently hate being touched and have a mother?"

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That's the thing, the game doesn't really deliver on an immersive world in my opinion since mostly you can't see other players.... having other players traveling across the world with you would've been a good way to add immersion into the game.

 

[OSHAN]

Nah.

 

[Mirage]

I feel like a custom character face would really stand out in a game full of characters modeled after actors.

 

[Blent]

I strongly disagree.

Sam is a defined character with his own personality, likes, dislikes and characteristics.

You can totally debate how GOOD of a character he is, but he absolutely does not suit being an avatar for the player.

 

[Z-Beat]

That's the thing, the game doesn't really deliver on an immersive world in my opinion since mostly you can't see other players.... having other players traveling across the world with you would've been a good way to add immersion into the game.

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You're connecting an isolated world playing as a character who hates interacting with other people. It's supposed to feel empty. You find structures left behind by other people but not the people themselves. Could you imagine how small the game world would feel if you were running around with hundreds of other porters plowing through mules and giving you rides to places?

 

[Gots]

Nah, having a created character with a noticeably lower quality face wouldn't have worked for many of the cutscenes

 

[Hybrid Rainbow]

You're connecting an isolated world playing as a character who hates interacting with other people. It's supposed to feel empty.

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This. It's not like we are constantly running into other people to make this some sort of pseudo-MMO. It's supposed to be Sam's story.

 

[hydruxo]

The arc with

Spoiler

Sam / Lou / Cliff

is a huge part of the game and would not have worked if Sam was just a custom character. Also there are hours of cutscenes in the game and I think it would've looked super awkward if Sam was a custom character with randomized faces as opposed to Norman Reedus' acting and facial expressions.

 

[NerevaRising]

Only if it's the oblivion character creator

 

[Landford]

Only if it's the Dark Souls character creator

 

[NekoNeko]

anything would've been better than looking at that mug.

 

[808s & Villainy]

He's a defined character with existing relationships. This wouldn't make sense. Just because you weren't immersed doesn't mean other people weren't

 

[Acetown]

Only if it's the You Testament character creator

 

[MrS]

You are mistaken. The game wouldn't have worked if you could make your own character imho. You would be less immersed with a created character as it wouldn't have had anywhere near the number of unique animations that Sam has.

 

[Z-Beat]

On top of that if you were meant to believe that the character was you, it'd make those 4th wall interactions kinda weird

 

[Xelan]

I just wish you had the option to keep Sam's hair out of the ponytail.

 

[BossAttack]

Nope.

 

[Jonnax]

How would the story work at all with a customisable character?

 

[-Pyromaniac-]

Couldn't possibly disagree more about something.

 

[Jon God]

This is an opinion. And it's wrong.

 

[Yuntu]

Nah. Sam is a defined character that honestly is part of why the game works.

 

[Fisty]

Story was WAY too personal for that to work, no thanks

 

[skeezx]

i don't see how that'd be feasible. possible maybe

 

[AgentLampshade]

A postgame option would've been nice. Kojima's done it before with MGSV. And imagine meeting Sam out there and stealing his stuff.

 

[Deleted member 9100]

Absolutely not. Similar to MGS, it's very important that Sam is a very set character.

It also would have been very difficult with all the mocap that went into the game.

 

[FakePlasticTree]

I strongly disagree.

Sam is a defined character with his own personality, likes, dislikes and characteristics.

You can totally debate how GOOD of a character he is, but he absolutely does not suit being an avatar for the player.

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The Boss in Saints Row, Commander Shepard, Robin and Corrin in Fire Emblem, all of them and many other customizable protagonists have pretty definitive characteristics and personalities. Being customizable doesn't automatically negate that.

 

[Saturday]

The Boss in Saints Row, Commander Shepard, Robin and Corrin in Fire Emblem, all of them and many other customizable protagonists have pretty definitive characteristics and personalities. Being customizable doesn't automatically negate that.

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This is a interesting line of thought, and the difference between these characters (avatars, silent characters, etc) are pretty emphasized on their differences in video games if you didnt know already.

So in this vein should every main character in a video game be customizable? What about games based off other media- should Aragorn from LOTR be customizable?

 

[cowbanana]

Nah, I disagree. I like games with a strong story that revolves around a well defined characters as it can be a major strength of the story. Not every video game needs to have blank insert character as it rarely leads to the best stories.

 

[dodo]

what if it was sans from death stranding

 

[lvl 99 Pixel]

One of the games strengths was the actor likeness mixed with the acting. Customization would have just taken away from that for me.

 

[Deleted member 5725]

I think it would've been a worse game with a highly customized character. The story cut scenes wouldn't work the way they did. And Sam's backstory is a major plot device and a theme for the whole game, so players choosing their own backstory would've felt hollow.

 

[Ænima]

Death Stranding is not an RPG and Sam has a very defined personality and background. Reedus fits well in the character.

 

[FakePlasticTree]

This is a interesting line of thought, and the difference between these characters (avatars, silent characters, etc) are pretty emphasized on their differences in video games if you didnt know already.

So in this vein should every main character in a video game be customizable? What about games based off other media- should Aragorn from LOTR be customizable?

Click to shrink...

My point was pretty much that not every character needs to be customizable and vice versa. I understand people's preference for one over the other but I think the argument against customizable protagonists being "they have no personality" is silly.

 

[Nintendo]

I disagree.

 

[Rommaz]

I strongly disagree.

Sam is a defined character with his own personality, likes, dislikes and characteristics.

You can totally debate how GOOD of a character he is, but he absolutely does not suit being an avatar for the player.

Click to shrink...

I agree with this take. You can think he sucks or not but he is defo hes own guy and much of the story would have fallen flat if not

 

[Gunny T Highway]

Nah. Unlike Shepherd, Sam is too distinct of a character that he should not be customizable except clothing.

 

[Saturday]

My point was pretty much that not every character needs to be customizable and vice versa. I understand people's preference for one over the other but I think the argument against customizable protagonists being "they have no personality" is silly.

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Ah my bad, it read differently, but with that viewpoint in mind I think out of your examples commander shep is really the only good example of a custom protagonist having personality outside of player-based decisions.

 

[Zacmortar]

Okay but the game actually should have had a BB character creator where you customize bb's face

 

[FakePlasticTree]

Ah my bad, it read differently, but with that viewpoint in mind I think out of your examples commander shep is really the only good example of a custom protagonist having personality outside of player-based decisions.

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I dunno, I like the boss in Saints Row, and how his and her personality slightly differs depending on which voice you pick. I also like Robin more than Byleth who ironically is not customizable yet has the personality of a tree. Also I like Hawke in DA2 more than Shepard myself.

 

[Zacmortar]

Ah my bad, it read differently, but with that viewpoint in mind I think out of your examples commander shep is really the only good example of a custom protagonist having personality outside of player-based decisions.

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The Boss from Saints Row 3 onward has a completely set in stone personality and character, while also having the most robust character creator last gen.

 

[Saturday]

I dunno, I like the boss in Saints Row, and how his and her personality slightly differs depending on which voice you pick. I also like Robin more than Byleth who ironically is not customizable yet has the personality of a tree. Also I like Hawke in DA2 more than Shepard myself.

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The Boss from Saints Row 3 onward has a completely set in stone personality and character, while also having the most robust character creator last gen.

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Ya'll ain't wrong about the boss but I'm not sure it quite pertains to this thread where death stranding and mass effect both have serious plots in context and as such having a customizable character could undermine the coherency of those plots (though as mentioned it works in ME and DA's case, ymmv.)

And uh I dont really think much of Robin and Corrin, although they're both serviceable.

 

[Khanimus]

Sam is a boring fucking character but there are reasons to not make him particularly customizable.

 

[Thera]

You don't have to immerse yourself, this is not your story, this is Sam's one.

 

[FakePlasticTree]

Ya'll ain't wrong but I'm not sure it quite pertains to this thread where death stranding and mass effect both have serious plots in context and as such having a customizable character would put those plots in risk (and as mentioned it works in me's case)

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If you have a protagonist who is customizable, then naturally the developers would write the character to compliment that so I don't think it's true that it would always compromise a serious story. You don't put things into a game with no care, thought or reason behind it. I'd argue for instance that the protagonist of Jedi Fallen Order could easily have been a woman, a person of colour, and it wouldn't have compromised the character's growth, as I don't think their gender, appearance etc would have changed much with the way he was written. I don't know about Norman Reedus's character though, haven't played Death Stranding, Kojima's writing is not for me but surely the character "Sam Porter" didn't need to look like Reedus himself? Having said that, I don't think any game character could be replaced with a customized character, I do think there are some who could have been customizable and it wouldn't have changed much. Just thought I'd point that out. Also Dragon Age 2 is a pretty serious story too, and I loved Hawke's growth, especially how it continued into Inquisition.

 

[Rendering...]

Disagree. Sam is an established character with a specific history and presence in the world of Death Stranding. His appearance is an important part of his identity.

And for me, part of the strange allure of Death Stranding is how it's filled with familiar faces. I love that Sam looks like Norman Reedus. I love that Deadman is Guillermo Del Toro and Cliff is Hannibal Mads Mikkelsen.

 

[slothrop]

Immersion has to be the most overused criticism angle in gaming nowadays. An author's vision to have a defined character is not necessarily immersion breaking? I really don't see how it could be. Immersion is not self-insertion per se, but your ability to assume the perspective of the games systems for what they are and not fiddle around. For example, Tetris is immersive because you're just all in on thinking of those blocks falling while you play and don't need to think about the controls or the screen or the couch you're on or it's general "gamey-ness". Something like Skyrim, which has self insertion, can certainly break your immersion when you clip through a wall due to a bug or something and are thinking about the experience of the game qua it being a game.

 

[Kyuuji]

Wholeheartedly disagree, wouldn't have been anywhere close to as effective.