Discussion [Kotaku] Pokémon GO's New Character Creator Is Out And Everyone Hates It

[Raccoon]

Miis stay winning tbqh

 

[VolcanicDynamo]

I decided to check out the avatar maker after all the hubbub and it...doesn't seem all that bad?

Like...we had a single hairstyle per gender option. One body type per gender option. Very limited skintone options. Pokémon Go's customization used to be extremely limited and not exactly all that visually appealing, if I'll be honest?

Now I open the game, I check my options, and there's 25 different skin tone options. There's more hair options, including type 4 options (which is sorely underrepresented in games). Both pre-built options for body types and sliders to adjust it as you see fit. That's way more than what used to be on offer, let alone in the core Pokémon games. This on top of including all of the old customization features.

I think there's still work to be done. I'm curious to see more options be added over time, as usual. Additional hair options is a big one, as they are still limited right now. Tuning up the jankier elements to look better is also a key goal, especially with the social media furor about it. The headphones example is a good one where I see what they're trying to do (it's flattening the hair, not squishing down your skull, and your choice of hair definitely impacts how it looks) but it doesn't look quite right. But outside of those experiencing the more extreme glitches, I don't find myself particularly bothered by what we have on offer here, at least in comparison to what we usually see from Pokémon Go.

 

[Aether]

I mean say what you will about the sloppiness of execution, and not maintaining 1:1 with their previous (somewhat insulting) options…

but a character creator that lets me meaningfully adjust my features as a non-binary trans person — and also lets me adjust my fat proportions with more nuance and control than most things I’ve seen — is no small miracle on our faustian social plain

there is an edit option... =P

Yeah, overall it feels like it is better suited for more realistic and nuanced proportions.
Many don't like that and want more out there "idealized" visuals (same as many people are used to fast food).

IF this change reduced the dynamics of possible expression for more fine granulated expression... its a meh in my book.
If it did not, and you can still do exegerated ones, then... i dont see no harm, only more options.

The aspect that old models don't translate well to the new system is a topic in and of itself,
but if they could not have managed that, then at least a hint to maybe somewhat recreate
their model or changes poses or whatsoever would have been nice.

(Also, while im speaking from a position of being catered to more often ... i never understood the wish to recreate oneself, for me personally it was always more interesting to search out looks that visually speak to me in the style presented, especially if they don't represent me at all. But if it opens up for people that usually are struggling to create a character like themselves and its important to them, then i see it as a positive thing. )

 

[Suswave]

there is an edit option... =P

if this is about my triple-post, I stand by it — they’re three separate sequential posts that are all important and broken out in a useful and digestible way

plus even if they had made no sense, I love triple-posting!

as for the rest of your commentary — even if you specifically want character creators to create characters that don’t look like you, why the fuck would you want that limited to the most basic, uninteresting, and ubiquitous options all around? does your imagination not account for the rest of us?

 

[Yavga]

First they do this in order to scare away people other than the HARDhardcore crowd, step 2 is introducing the next level of micro-transactions for the people that STILL remain after fuckup no#78 because they clearly don't give a damn anymore about how they are getting milked dry.

 

[Hailinel]

if this is about my triple-post, I stand by it — they’re three separate sequential posts that are all important and broken out in a useful and digestible way

plus even if they had made no sense, I love triple-posting!

as for the rest of your commentary — even if you specifically want character creators to create characters that don’t look like you, why the fuck would you want that limited to the most basic, uninteresting, and ubiquitous options all around? does your imagination not account for the rest of us?

When I played Pokémon Go, and it's been years since I last logged in, I generally had no specific issue with the limited avatar customization. I definitely don't have an interest in creating myself, either.

What I did put time into though was getting an outfit together for my avatar that I really liked.

I'm honestly a little curious to log in and see if my character still exists, if only to see how the conversion to the new character creator mangled it. And it's great if the creator ultimately presents more options, but I imagine a lot of players are attached to these avatars they've had for years and aren't happy that the conversion is not only mandatory but seemingly risks turning your avatar into a bloated weirdo in ill-fitting clothes.

The least that Niantic could have done was make the switch optional.

 

[Tye]

As much as I dislike Pokémon GO’s avatars (they are a bit better now with the new options provided in this update, but the overall design is still terrible compared to main series Pokémon games—though I’ll give Niantic credit for giving us customizable player characters that aren’t gender-locked before Game Freak, at least, and the weight, muscle, etc. options are definitely a good thing, despite height options being weirdly absent), there’s no denying that they are miles better than the Pokémon TCG Live avatars, no matter how you feel about the changes to GO’s avatars with this update. I mean, just look at these:

Seriously, my TCG Live avatar makes me very uncomfortable, lol. I dunno how anyone could like those monstrosities. As I said earlier:

And hey, at least they’re not quite as terrible as the avatars in Pokémon TCG Live! Those ones are truly horrendous. I like the way my partner described them—“they’ll make you feel dysphoric no matter how you identify.” (It’s so true, though…lol.)

What we have in GO is so much better, especially now that you can actually make an avatar that doesn’t look strictly fem or masc. Now if only they could make the actual character designs at least somewhat as decent as the main series games. Or better yet, I hope that the next main series Pokémon games actually let you have similar customization options as GO does now, not tied to gender or being strictly masc/fem—and actually including a height option, too, unlike in GO.

Miis stay winning tbqh

Miis will always be my favorite customizable avatar, and they certainly have Pokémon GO’s avatars beat in terms of design and customization (you can actually make short and tall Miis, not to mention the vast customization options for face and hair), but sadly Miis are still binary gender-locked. I long for the day when Nintendo finally removes Mii gender…though I worry that day may never come.

 

[Aether]

if this is about my triple-post, I stand by it — they’re three separate sequential posts that are all important and broken out in a useful and digestible way

plus even if they had made no sense, I love triple-posting!

as for the rest of your commentary — even if you specifically want character creators to create characters that don’t look like you, why the fuck would you want that limited to the most basic, uninteresting, and ubiquitous options all around? does your imagination not account for the rest of us?

yeah tripple posts, not about anything else, but youre right that they are seperate enough. i was just trimmed over the years that multiple posts are always bad by moderators in different places ^^"


In regards to the content... did i against it? I've argued against binary gender options (or generally gender options) in this thread, im for more fine granular options so that more realistic body types can be modeled.

the only aspect, where i still haven't gotten an answer (and i haven't had the game installed since a while), if it is now impossible to create the more feminine/masculine variants that people could do prior. If it is, then this change is (except some rendering bugs and bad communication) overall a +, if its not, then i see it as a trade of, but one that should not have been needed (in the sense that both is possible, fine grained more "neutral" and more extreme options).

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Different topic: just from the screenshots, my problem would be:
the shading and faces, the older ones where clearly more cartoony, brighter colors, etc, while all new ones i have seem have more dull colors and are clearly going more in the "second life we want to model real people" vibe, which for me doesn't work that well in combination with pokemon. The mainline games are way better in that regard. ( on the other hand, the player model options are lacking in comparison, so thats in favor to niantics i guess)

 

[Pokemaniac]

The problem in my mind is that the new avatars not only look overall worse than the originals, with weird proportions, some odd coloring, and very bad looking faces, but they also now look very different than all the other human character models in the game, which look a lot more like the old avatars. The human character designs in the game have never been especially great, but Niantic really needs to stop messing with what they have, because some of the results have been baffling. At least the "fashion week" designs for the team leaders were ultimately temporary...

 

[Raccoon]

(wrong thread sorry)

 

[VintoWin]

(Accidental redundant post)

 

[switchum]

Honestly they should just make customizable sprites in the style of DPPt or BW mainline games, I feel like that would look a lot better overall

 

[Michie]

Interesting look behind the scenes of Niantic. In the case of these horrendous looking avatars Niantic knew people didn't liked them. But in typical Niantic fashion they went with it anyway

 

[Linkstrikesback]

Honestly they should just make customizable sprites in the style of DPPt or BW mainline games, I feel like that would look a lot better overall

The mainstream definitely doesn't want sprites. Despite the opinion of people 30+, models are preferred by the majority in almost every context.

And customisable sprites are also a lot more work, so doubly don't expect that from them.