Rogue-Lite Actors - User Created vs Pre-Generated vs Randomised

[aesorian]

I'm a big fan of rogue-lites and have been trying to make one in RPG Maker for a while. With MV i've finally decided to knuckle down and get it done.

While I've (mostly) got the whos, the wheres and the hows down, one of the biggest concepts I've yet to figure out is the characters.

Mainly whether they should be pre-made by me and the player gets a choice of who they want to play, with the player unlocking more as they go through the game. Whether the player should get to create their own actors and they merely unlock parts (i.e Quirks, more stat and class choices etc.) or whether everything should just be randomized and they're stuck with what they're given.

I'd be interested to here people's thoughts on these, because there are strengths and weaknesses to all of them.

 

[Wavelength]

Either of the first two could work well; I'd shy away from "get a randomized character that you have to play".

Premade characters work better if you're trying to give the characters personality or vary scenario play (such as what quests you're given or how NPCs react to you) based on the character that the player chooses; if it's more of a freeform game where every character will be treated the same in scenarios (and just has different gameplay strengths and weaknesses), then letting the player create their own actor and having them unlock traits/specialties/etc. is a good idea.