JRPGs With The Best Character Customization

Many JRPGs see the player taking on the role of a named character, one with a defined design and personality that allows them to appeal to players. Even when games like Dragon Quest and Persona give their players silent protagonists to project their personality onto, they still have generally static designs that aren't very customizable.

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Of course, there are still a few JRPGs that offer the player an opportunity to not just play as a character, but to customize them as much as they want. While it's more common to see them in western RPGs, JRPG fans who want the chance to customize their own character should check these games out.

7 Xenoblade Chronicles X

Customization On Two Fronts

A spin-off to the popular Xenoblade Chronicles series, Xenoblade Chronicles X offers a slightly different gameplay experience, with a stronger focus on multiplayer. Part of this involves creating a unique avatar that can be used in both the single-player campaign and multiplayer missions.

Since players are allowed to have their own avatar, they're given some free rein to design them, though with some restrictions. However, they can also design the Skell mechs they gain access to after a certain point in the game, giving them several options to personalize their gameplay experience.

6 Etrian Odyssey Nexus

A Dungeon-Crawler With A Freely Customizable Party

Etrian Odyssey is a video game franchise from Atlus that evokes the first-person dungeon crawling experience initially pioneered by classic RPGs like Wizardry. Each game sports similar gameplay, with the player taking a party of five adventurers through a series of dungeon environments.

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Like many dungeon-crawlers that take influence from Wizardry, Etrian Odyssey allows players to customize their entire party, allowing swpping out their skills and their appearance. The newest game in the series, Etrian Odyssey Nexus, gives players even more freedom in customizing their party, allowing them to change their hair, eye color, and voice.

5 Dragon Quest 9

A Nearly Infinite Collection Of Character Options And Wardrobes

Dragon Quest 9, like every other main entry in the series, features a silent protagonist that allows players to project their own personalities onto the hero. However, unlike other games, the protagonist is fully customizable as well, allowing the player to give them a variety of hairstyles and facial expressions.

In fact, the player can do this for any playable character, as all of them are blank slates that the player can design and customize as they wish. In addition, every piece of equipment or armor is visible on the character, allowing for even more customization.

4 Final Fantasy 14

A Mainstay Of MMORPGs

Final Fantasy is a landmark franchise in the JRPG sphere, with several of its entries being lauded as some of the most popular games of all time. Final Fantasy 14 is the second attempt by Square Enix to create an MMO version of the iconic franchise, and it has become so successful that it has dwarfed long-time veterans like World of Warcraft.

As an MMORPG, Final Fantasy 14 naturally sports a variety of options for players to customize their avatar. In addition to the usual options to adjust hair, face, voice, and height, players can also choose their character's race, class, and background, staples of a classic MMORPG.

3 Monster Hunter World

A Franchise First

Monster Hunter is a franchise known for allowing players to customize their appearance with the many different armors available in-game, but it doesn't always give players a lot of options to customize the characters themselves. That all changed with Monster Hunter World, which improved the franchise's character creation options by leaps and bounds.

Of course, being a Monster Hunter game, character customization doesn't end at creation. The franchise is known for being able to create unique armor out of monsters, and which armor set players choose to adorn their avatars with helps personalize their experience even further.

2 Code Vein

A Surprisingly Intensive Creation System

Inspired and influenced by the Dark Souls series, Code Vein is a unique take on the Soulslike subgenre. Sporting a more anime-inspired esthetic, Code Vein offers a robust character creation system similar to the ones featured in FromSoftware's games.

Code Vein's character customization is actually quite impressive. Not only does it allow the player to change all sorts of aspects about their avatar's appearance, it also allows them to give their avatar tattoos, markings, scars, accessories, and more.

1 Dragon's Dogma 2

One Of The Most Intricate Character Creators Ever

The original Dragon's Dogma stood out for its epic, large-scale combat mechanics, but also due to its incredibly intricate and precise character creation system. Things like height and weight could affect an avatar's statistics, and players could customize the appearance of characters as much as they liked.

The recent Dragon's Dogma 2 provides a similar level of detail in its character creator, with the addition of the playable beastren race alongside the returning human characters. With more customization options than ever before, it's not a stretch to claim Dragon's Dogma 2's character creator as one of the best in games today.

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