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[ShadowSoldier89]

outside of hairstyles, if you want to shape the face in this game a certain way you can do it

however it is hard as fuck to get it looking the way you want. Obtuse as hell sliders that also often cause you to readjust other sliders

 

[Teknoman]

Well being realistic, there are black people with all sorts of noses and lips.

 

[keeblerdrow]

.1.

 

[ThomasAnderson]

So my girlfriend got me a copy of bloodborne yesterday and im like sweet. I boot it up and i see there is a character creator. Now i usually dont dabble in such things but i decide I want to make a black character to represent myself. A few mintues later i find myself severly disappointed at the options. I cant believe shit like this is still an issue and i honestly have half a mind to return the fucking game. I really dont care in games where the default character is already white. Fine. But how can you have a character creator that doesnt allow you to accurately represent all races?

If anyone has instructions on how to make a decent black character im all ears and i would very much appreciate it.

I was able to get my skin color but the hair options are lacking. I ended up making a female named after my daughter.
If I remember correctly DA:I had the same issue. I made a bald black guy with a beard.

 

[Corpekata]

A lot of the examples people keep posting to refute him are more reinforcing him. Some look Indian, a lot look like your douchey friend's "edgy" blackface Halloween costume. Couple decent examples though. But I think this is just a general CAC problem, only a handful seem to get it right.

 

[jerry1594]

The black guy I made in Dark Souls look better than these, except he's bald (though hair sucks in general in that game). Black people don't conform to a phenotype, but From should give better facial structure options than this.

 

[Toxi]

Playing with the character creator, you can adjust the width of the nose bridge; the problem is that for some reason the nose bridge width adjustor is in the forehead and glabella section instead of the nose ridge section. For those wanting a wider nose for their character, widen the nostrils (Nostrils section) and nose bridge (Forehead and glabella section).

For hair, I got nothing. When the best option is bald, it sucks.

 

[Pinko Marx]

Not being able to make a convincing black dude is one of the reasons why I play females nowadays.

 

[JoseTheTaco]

A lot of the examples people keep posting to refute him are more reinforcing him. Some look Indian, a lot look like your douchey friend's "edgy" blackface Halloween costume. Couple decent examples though. But I think this is just a general CAC problem, only a handful seem to get it right.

The fact theres one proves him wrong

 

[Overside]

I really wanted to make someone like Frederick Douglass, but the hair options are too limited. Instead I ended up with what's basically a Black version of Dumbledore with mutton chops and spectacles. I actually think it ended up being decent, imo.

Frederick Douglass lookalike would have been perfect for the setting/time period though.

I can totally see Frederick Douglass Wherewolf Hunter.

 

[DrkSage]

I made this one. He seemed to turn out okay.

Django!

 

[zma1013]

Get a top hat and then he'll be this guy.

 

[Diablos]

Because we already elected a black President. Twice.

Spoiler

because devs are often clueless

 

[FStop7]

Worked fine for me

 

[Aesius]

Why is this guy not in a video game yet?

 

[Toparaman]

I don't think the character in BB is supposed to look like you or anyone else in the modern world for that matter. If that was their intention, then they failed for everyone, not just black people.

 

[BlackBanditSho]

So my girlfriend got me a copy of bloodborne yesterday and im like sweet. I boot it up and i see there is a character creator. Now i usually dont dabble in such things but i decide I want to make a black character to represent myself. A few mintues later i find myself severly disappointed at the options. I cant believe shit like this is still an issue and i honestly have half a mind to return the fucking game. I really dont care in games where the default character is already white. Fine. But how can you have a character creator that doesnt allow you to accurately represent all races?

If anyone has instructions on how to make a decent black character im all ears and i would very much appreciate it.

Had a similar experience, OP. Chalked it up to a combination of my own impatience and the fact that Japanese developed character creation tools tend to be a little lacking when it comes to nuance.

Then I LoL'ed when I saw somebody point to the Gaf thread that shows examples of decent looking black bloodborne characters...

...and it's identical to mine. Slim pickings = same black guy. Everytime.

 

[RedSwirl]

I looked through that whole hunter thread and really just saw a few characters who looked like white people in blackface, or possibly dark-skinned Indians. The main issue is bone structure and hair options.

I assumed Demon's Souls and Dark Souls did an okay job of this since From Software actually defined different ethnic groups in its own fictional world, but I haven't tried to make a black character in either game yet.

The rest of what I'm about to say is pure speculation, but if you wanna get into the three-race theory (or four), it seems most game developers, particularly Japanese developers, have nailed Caucasoid and Mongoloid bone structures but haven't paid much attention to Negroid. Furthermore, most of the characters I see in the Souls games anyway (and many Japanese games in general) look more like, well, Japanese video game characters than real people. The image those developers goes for seems to fall somewhere between idealized Asian pop stars and anime characters. Do we even know if Square is capable of rendering black hairstyles on its characters other than the box cut, cornrows, and afro?

On the subject, Black Desert has been hailed for its character editor, but come to think of it I haven't seen one black character come out of it so far. I haven't played it, but I didn't see any in any of the screenshots I've seen or the character creator demonstration videos.

 

[IcyBlueStrawberry]

"yup, that's black"



"less black/indian/blackface"

....

explain

The hair and facial features (specifically the nose) of the second character look more Caucasian than black. For those reasons, the character looks Indian or, less tastefully, "like a white guy in blackface" rather than black.

The second character is bald - as opposed to having straight hair - and seems to have "blacker" facial features, although that could be due to the lighting.

In a nutshell, having dark skin and being black aren't mutually inclusive.

Some folks are trying to portray the game in a negative light. Players can obviously create black characters. The character editor is clunky as fuck, but it is very customisable. If you can't make a black character, that's down to your ability, not the game preventing it, or latent racism, or lack of representation.

I love Bloodborne and I'm not trying to make the game seem anything other than great. I'm just agreeing with the OP that the lack of curly hair and "round" noses is a sore omission. No amount of skill is going to give me the ability to craft tight curls onto my character's head

 

[RefigeKru]

The hair and facial features (specifically the nose) of the second character look more Caucasian than black. For those reasons, the character looks Indian or, less tastefully, "like a white guy in blackface" rather than black.

The second character is bald - as opposed to having straight hair - and seems to have "blacker" facial features, although that could be due to the lighting.

In a nutshell, having dark skin and being black aren't mutually inclusive.



I love Bloodborne and I'm not trying to make the game seem anything other than great. I'm just agreeing with the OP that the lack of curly hair and "round" noses is a sore omission. No amount of skill is going to give me the ability to craft tight curls onto my character's head

Both those points aren't really worth discussing though are they? I'm a young black male with a straight nose profile, not very wide nostrils and dreaded long hair. Cut the hair off and age me 40 years I might look like that guy.

I ALSO have indian and asian heritage unlike the rest of my family yet look identical to my fully jamaican brother. He does not look black as a result of not having "classically/typical" black features, and has always identified as and been received as being wholly black, which he is.

It's funny because I feel threads like this almost show how we've come full circle. Make a black chartacter in the editor? Wholly possible; but is he black enough? Then we define what makes a black male/female and ultimately end up homogenising the entire lot to particularly lofty expectations.

 

[Ran rp]

"bald" and """"blacker facial features"""" = black

straight hair and thinnish nose = not black

got it

 

[BabyFaceKillah]

i mean if you want your character to have a perm or be bald i guess you can make an ok looking black character.

a decent fade or some dreads to complement the headwear in the game wouldve been really cool tho.

 

[IcyBlueStrawberry]

Both those points aren't really worth discussing though are they? I'm a young black male with a straight nose profile, not very wide nostrils and dreaded long hair. Cut the hair off and age me 40 years I might look like that guy.

I ALSO have indian and asian heritage unlike the rest of my family yet look identical to my fully jamaican brother. He does not look black as a result of not having "classically/typical" black features, and has always identified as and been received as being wholly black, which he is.

It's funny because I feel threads like this almost show how we've come full circle. Make a black chartacter in the editor? Wholly possible; but is he black enough? Then we define what makes a black male/female and ultimately end up homogenising the entire lot to particularly lofty expectations.

I'm not saying that black people have to look a certain way. Every race intrinsically has a certain amount of variance. The issue is that the character creation tools don't permit making one specific type of person, which happens to be people who are "traditionally black". You can certainly make characters that look black, but it isn't something that's properly facilitated by the options presented within the editor.

 

[IcyBlueStrawberry]

"bald" and """"blacker facial features"""" = black

straight hair and thinnish nose = not black

got it

There's no need to be pedantic.

 

[RefigeKru]

I'm not saying that black people have to look a certain way. Every race intrinsically has a certain amount of variance. The issue is that the character creation tools don't permit making one specific type of person, which happens to be people who are "traditionally black". You can certainly make characters that look black, but it isn't something that's properly facilitated by the options presented within the creator

Again, this thought process is linked with an aesthetic that denotes "black" outside of any talk of melanin.

Once the skin is black, they are black. Why push it further? You probably can't make X white/asian/native-american/south-korean superstar in the Bloodborne editor so why is it an issue we can't make one or two individuals idea of a black person whilst also accepting that those images don't define what a black person can or does look like?

 

[Blu(e)]

Why is this guy not in a video game yet?

Seth from King of Fighters.

 

[Grief.exe]

On the subject, Black Desert has been hailed for its character editor, but come to think of it I haven't seen one black character come out of it so far. I haven't played it, but I didn't see any in any of the screenshots I've seen or the character creator demonstration videos.

Now that I think about it, you're not wrong.

 

[gfdoom]

The thing is all of those examples do not even slightly look african / afro-american in their faces. They look like white people with black skin

glad to see I wasn't the only one who noticed this. All the examples posted look like white people with a really bad tan. A lot of black peoples distinguishing features are mostly in their nose (mainly the nostrils), lips, hair and cheek bone structures.

 

[Ninja Scooter]

There's no black features in the game. Everyone ends up looking like a white or asian with a bad bronze tan. The only way to get it to look even remotely black is to make him bald and cover his face with facial hair and glasses to hide the features.

 

[gfdoom]

I was afraid something like this would be the case with this game
From Software doesn't seem to have the experience with making multi ethnic looking characters. If you're making a game with a character creator in which the characters are human, you've got to at least be able to make characters have the look of the different races. It's not just as simple as changing a skin tone from light to dark.

 

[YoungHav]

I was surprised to find out Frederick Douglass was half-white. Harder to tell mixed folks from black/white photos.

Anyway, I tried to quickly make a black person in Dark Souls and ended up w/an Aborigine looking feller.

 

[Hellsing321]

Its hard to make a decent looking anything in the Souls CAC. You can tweak everything to crazy extremes though so it is possible. It just depends on how much time you actually want to spend doing it.

 

[seat]

edit: let's not rehash The Order here guys, we've clowned the period piece defenders enough already.

You're definitely wrong, but... whatever you say, forum moderator.

Regardless, I think the black hunters show in this thread look cool. Not sure what the problem is. The OP needs to define what his issue is, because he has yet to do so.

 

[IcyBlueStrawberry]

Again, this thought process is linked with an aesthetic that denotes "black" outside of any talk of melanin.

Once the skin is black, they are black. Why push it further? You probably can't make X white/asian/native-american/south-korean superstar in the Bloodborne editor so why is it an issue we can't make one or two individuals idea of a black person whilst also accepting that those images don't define what a black person can or does look like?

The issue I have is that the tools in place for creating a character don't facilitate, in any way, shape, or form, the creation of somebody that resembles the majority of one specific race. There is a difference between being unable to create a specific human being and not having the requisite options to create someone who resembles close to 15% of the population of the planet.

EG: There is no tightly curled hair in the game. While not all black people have tight curls, it's a trait which is both common among and exclusive to black people.

This kind of omission isn't present for any other race. I'm not suggesting anything by this, to be clear, I'm just stating that it places hard limits on the types black characters that can be made with respect to all other races.

 

[Dremark]

It's kind if funny, I could have sworn I saw people in the show off your hunter thread say that they actually got black characters right this time.

And honestly the few I've seen look pretty good, but I suppose it's all subjective.

 

[Not]

Because outside of Bob Makihara, there are no decent black characters in Japanese entertainment

 

[Apoleptica]

I wish all games had significantly better character creators, period. This is the revolution we need in gaming. So much detail goes into a video game but time after time the in game character creator is treated as non important, inconsequential, and overlooked. I want to play games where who or what I play as is completely up to my own imagination. Game developers need to take a better look at the modding community in order to learn what gamers truly want in a game, and try to implement those ideas into their game outright. I want to play Bloodborne as Blade dammit.

 

[thetrin]

Yeah, I tried to make a brown skinned dude in Bloodborne, but he just looks sunburned. Was kinda disappointed with that.

 

[Head.spawn]

The skin is do-able

The hair is a different struggle

I couldnt get anything regular so i went weird

Wes Borland from Limp Bizkit?

yep.

 

[Chastten]

Didn't even know this was a thing.

Whenever I play a game with a character editor I don't even play as my own gender, let alone try to make it look like me :/

 

[jerry1594]

Didn't even know this was a thing.

Whenever I play a game with a character editor I don't even play as my own gender, let alone try to make it look like me :/

What? Not every guy wants to play as a chick dude.

 

[Sparkedglory]

Worked fine for me

This is a brotha

I understand your struggle too OP. I hate when I can't make my character look like me in games. The last time it really got to me was Fire Emblem Awakening. There's no black options at all! I was so sad.

And don't get me started on hair, and how nearly nobody can get black hair right. It's a shame.

 

[kitch9]

What is the op trying to imply, does anyone know?

I feel like punching myself in the face with frustration with what things have become.

 

[Mihael Mello Keehl]

You're definitely wrong, but... whatever you say, forum moderator.

Regardless, I think the black hunters show in this thread look cool. Not sure what the problem is. The OP needs to define what his issue is, because he has yet to do so.

Why would the OP need to define what his issue is? He straight up said it. Do you guys want people to post pictures because thats a bit ludicrous.

 

[Freshmaker]

In before no people of color in Victorian England.

Funny thing is, when I dabbled in creation, I found the presets are pretty much all geared towards making a spindly British kinda dude not far removed from Ichabod Crane and nobody else.

Dark Souls and Demon's Souls both had far less specific presets than BB, and you were better able to quickly generate someone of another race in those games.

 

[Sparkedglory]

You're definitely wrong, but... whatever you say, forum moderator.

Regardless, I think the black hunters show in this thread look cool. Not sure what the problem is. The OP needs to define what his issue is, because he has yet to do so.

You may want to re-read the OP if you honestly don't know what he means.

 

[MightyHedgehog]

What is the op trying to imply, does anyone know?

I feel like punching myself in the face with frustration with what things have become.

Variations of facial features and hair types common to people of color aren't often offered in CAC modes in most games outside of, say, sports franchises. Simply offering other shades of skin color out there while leaving out other physical differences is the sad standard for most games with any character customization, but it often ends up looking worse...like a strange video game version of blackface.

 

[cripterion]

Judging from the pics of the game it seems you cannot even create a decent looking normal human being. The character creator looks way off imo.

 

[jerry1594]

What is the op trying to imply, does anyone know?

I feel like punching myself in the face with frustration with what things have become.

Say what?

 

[SSReborn]

Lol the characters all look generally ugly despite the race thing. You just kinda try to make the best out using what's there. But yeah the hair thing is kinda ehhh if you're trying to make a black character.