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[Sword & Shield] Do you like the character customization in this game?

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    What do you think of the character customization? Are options (clothes, hair, face) better than XY and gen VII to you? What clothing from past games do you miss?
     
    Ignoring varying subjective tastes in fashion, I think that it's better overall than what we got in the past two gens.

    S/M and US/UM had a horribly lacking selection/variety of options, made worse by the fact that colours were split up between the versions. XY had a better selection than the Gen 7 games, but was spread too thinly across the game. The first boutique only sells hats, and obviously not all of the hats. The next shop you run into is the one in Lumiose City, but that has a barrier to entry and the stuff inside is very expensive, meaning it's not an option until later in the game. Though there was at least the hair salon, but two of the hairstyles are not initially available, nor is there a preview for what your hair will look like. It's not until the 2nd badge that you can even begin to try to make something different than the starting outfits, but it'll take more time still to have a lot of options available.

    In SwSh, there's a clothing store in the first town, and one with a decent selection at that. Not long after you gain access to the hair salon and a 2nd boutique in Motostoke, giving you more customization options very early on. The remaining clothing stores (Hammerlocke, Circhester, and Wyndon) are all spaced out well enough (and don't specialize in certain kinds of clothing like in XY) so you don't have to wait ages for more stuff. There's also some new options like outerwear and gloves and such.

    It's not perfect though. Some categories could use more options in general (shoes, dresses--but praise be the ones in Circhester), and there's some missteps like being forced to wear the uniform, even after you become Champion+not being able to wear the other uniforms for Gym Challenges, or having to wear a specific outfit when riding the bike (just slap a helmet and pads on over the character model, it can't be that hard). Then there's the continued insistence that Orange Is Not A Hair Colour. Have all the other natural hair colors, have all these non-natural ones, but no orange, same as last gen. Like does Game Freak have something against gingers or something??

    But, since it's an improvement over the previous games, hopefully it means that we'll continue to see improvements and not regress in this department.
     
    They're definitely improved over the prior games, and I like how I was able to throw together a nice outfit at the very start of the game. The dresses in Circhester are the best, and my outfits revolve around those dresses exclusively now.

    With that said, I'm someone who likes frilly, floral dresses, and wish those were an option too. Also more formal shoes, like dressy flats or even heels.I also wanted to wear the same uniform as the Lass NPC's in the game.

    I didn't play as the guy, but some fancy suits, complete with top hat and monocle would be nice options.

    Overall, though, a pretty solid set of options. Only other wish is that you could wear your normal clothes in the gym and while on the bike. Those supposedly more "epic" stadium battles seem a lot less epic when you can't wear your own outfit and have to wear government-issued garb like prison inmates do.
     
    It was passable, but still ridiculously limited, and there was far too much palette-swapping going on. A better way to do it would have been to have just allowed us to choose our own colours, rather than giving us 5-6 colour choices of the exact same garment.

    Also, where were the boots? The footwear choices in these games were AWFUL. I basically used the black ankle boots for the entire game because there were literally no better choices.

    Kalos had the better customisation options, although that was for one reason only: long coats. Why on earth weren't there any long coats?! The goth subculture originated in England in the early 1980s, and I would have liked to have seen some acknowledgement of that in the fashion choices, rather than a miniscule amount of punk-style clothing and that is it.
     
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    I hated the aesthetic of clothing in Alola so basically anything (including no customization at all) was a step above that for me. Galar started off strong by giving you a TON of options to customize your character early on, which was great game design for right before you get to the Wild Area and start seeing a ton of trainers running around online because it meant you were seeing more than just the default outfits everywhere.

    But then... the clothing just never really had the same options again? I liked maybe one or two pieces per store after the first town, if that. There were some really cute patterns in Hammerlocke, but they just clashed with literally every other clothing item except the super plain things and you could really only wear one without looking like a disaster. Then there just weren't really many style options and when there were. I definitely caught myself thinking, "wow, is this how boys lived in XY????" as I reached Wyndon and found nothing that suited my style. As a girl in XY I felt like I could customize my character in so many different types of fashions and there were so many clothing shops with at least one or two interesting things. It was the big highlight everywhere I went, especially since every few towns I could switch up my fashion with something new. But in SwSh, you basically have 5 chances to change your outfit and that's it. (Especially since the absurd amount of cash you make in the Wild Area means you're loaded every time you get to a new boutique and don't have to oggle things to come back for in the endgame when you aren't pressed for cash.)

    And really? the city that's supposed to be London, one of the biggest cities in the world, at least somewhat known for fashion............ has only one boutique and it's all just a few random punk pieces? I mean, my disappointment with the miniscule size of Wyndon aside, I expected it to have one or two extra boutiques, kind of like Lumiose City. Speaking of, I would be happier, I think, if the big cities had more boutiques and you simply don't gain access to them until you loop through them again. I think that would have made them much more interesting to return to, given you do that so many times and already can't access part of Hammerlocke on your first visit. Or at the very least, maybe they could have expanded the boutique offerings with more badges, like with PokéMarts. I would have liked more interesting hair options to unlock later in the game too, but I basically made my exact irl hair in game and probably wouldn't have changed it anyway, so I guess that's fine.

    Honestly, though, maybe I'm just disappointed because my outfit peaked with the plaid pink skirt in Motostoke and everything I switched to after that felt like a downgrade.
     
    Every piece of clothing was either plain, or reminiscent of some kind of My Coalossal Romance reunion tour, so I'm not the biggest fan of it and wish there were a couple better options. I'm also not a huge fan of how half the clothes are jerseys or sports uniforms, but thats the aesthetic of the games so I guess it's passable in that respect.

    Still a shame that girl options are way better than boy options.
     
    Better than past games (I actually managed to get my character looking close to my TrainerSona, albeit younger), but I really wish we still had access to the items (and hairstyles) from previous games. I want my Vanillite shirt back! T_T

    Still waiting for the day we can customize our age, height, etc. They could at least let us use NPC bases!
     
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    Personally I think that character customization in Pokemon where it didn't really have a presence before in past games is one of the only working features that this game has going for it at the moment.
     
    It's pretty good, but I think it could be better.
     
    Every piece of clothing was either plain, or reminiscent of some kind of My Coalossal Romance reunion tour, so I'm not the biggest fan of it and wish there were a couple better options. I'm also not a huge fan of how half the clothes are jerseys or sports uniforms, but thats the aesthetic of the games so I guess it's passable in that respect.

    Still a shame that girl options are way better than boy options.

    LOL

    Since graphics are not a focal point for Nintendo products, Imo, they should be able to make a diverse character creator. Such as body-sliders as the previous poster was alluding to.
     
    They're definitely improving, there were so many options even early on. But while there were so many options, I think the clothes in XY suited my style more than Galar. Hair and eyes in Galar were super awesome, there were some fun choices. I think Galar did bags really well, and the pleated dress and fuzzy parkers were super pretty, but those were the only things I really loved.

    XY, especially Anistar and Laverre city still have my favourite outfits in the game, the dresses were all really adorable and unique, and the tops and skirts had really elegant and pretty designs. Galar only really had a few different clothing items in each category, they were just available in more colours.
     
    They're great for the region I think! I still haven't bought every single thing yet, but I'm working on it! I've seen some pretty sweet stylin' combinations from league cards!
     
    Oh my gosh - character customization is one of my favorite features, and I'd say Sw/Sh has the best so far. Even better than XY's (and leaps and bounds better than the weirdly regressive version in SuMo).

    Just being able to choose outerwear separately from your top is a massive improvement, and one that I've always specifically wanted; I love the glove selection, as well - such a minor item of clothing, but being able to choose them gives a surprising feeling of depth. And the hair & face options!! The unnatural hair colors (finally!), the awesome artistic eyes, the range of color even for the regular eyes, the ability to change the details of the face - I'm playing my first save file as the boy character, so I'm not allowed access to the eyelashes or lip colors (🙄), but even being able to select the eyebrow shape and color is pretty cool!

    ...Unfortunately, I do have one major complaint (aside from the less-options-for-boys thing): why on earth can't you change clothes in the Pokemon Center anymore?? You were able to do it in XY, and then it just...disappeared forever after Sun & Moon, and I can't see any reason why. It really gets annoying having to take the Sky Taxi to Wedgehurst/Motostoke/whatever random town with a boutique any time you want to change your outfit.
     
    I haven't made it to the last boutique in Wyndon yet but from what I've seen I still think Kalos had the best clothing options. It seemed like most of the clothing options are Sporty in Galar which isn't my thing. I ended up settling on one sporty jacket and then as I'm walking around I noticed it had something on the back. I got a closer look and I think it's Leon and I hate it. Now I know to check the back of every clothing garment before buying
     
    Haven't been in Wyndon yet, but I would say that I'm enjoying the customization. The sports uniforms aren't really my thing, but I do enjoy being able to pick out what I would like. The one compliant I have is that makeup costs 3,000 and you have to do it in the hair salon as oppose to Alola where you can do your makeup for free in the boutique.
     
    I can make my hair red or pink and in my opinion, that makes the game's trainer customization already better. Although, I haven't bought any clothes since I went into my first boutique? Maybe that'll change later, because for the moment I still like the first outfit I bought.
     
    Honestly I love the updated clothing items and I adore the new options to do make-up since my own eyebrows are quite thin and I wear red contacts daily. The only thing that I wish they had added were fur trim coats (for males, not sure if females got one or not, similar to Hop's perhaps?) I spent my entire first play-through wanting to snatch Hop's jacket.
     
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