list of Western Games with good character designs

[JC48573]

good, interesting, etc. Besides Uncharted, I want to know if there are more Western games that really take character design a little more seriously. I've looked at God of War series and it's kinda hit and miss, but still decent. Yea, name some so I could check them out.

[Octopod]

I liked the character development in Red Dead Redemption. Or do you mean visually?

[JC48573]

^both.

[t0yrobo]

I really hope some other people jump in on this because there is no shortage of good character design in western games, despite all the generic military muscle men. I'm mostly drawing a blank on older games, but I know there no shortage there either, especially on pc.

everything by Valve
Rayman
Bioshock
Splinter Cell
Deus Ex Human Revolution
Metroid Prime series
Halo (say what you will about the games, the character design is very good)
Earthworm Jim
Psychonauts
Beyond Good and Evil
MDK
Dead Space
Borderlands

[EvilRyu2099]

Beyond Good and Evil was developed in France unless EU counts as Western development?

[t0yrobo]

I've always understood western as referring to North America and Europe, I could be wrong though. If we're just talking North American games that also takes Splinter Cell, Rayman, and MDK off the list.

[Octopod]

Beyond Good and Evil was developed in France unless EU counts as Western development?

Why wouldn't it? Isn't the West pretty much Europe and North America?

[Meldarion]

Bioware created a lot of stand out characters in its earlier creations. I am not to fussed on their new stuff but I should imagine they are still pretty soild in that area.

Fallout 3 certainly had some characters in it. Vampire: The Masquerade Bloodlines also had a few stand out characters. The main guy from Warcraft 3.

[Menegrothx]

good, interesting, etc. Besides Uncharted, I want to know if there are more Western games that really take character design a little more seriously. I've looked at God of War series and it's kinda hit and miss, but still decent. Yea, name some so I could check them out.

I think it's the opposite, many Japanese games dont seem to take character design seriously anymore and just throw randoms shit at players that makes absolutely no sense (physically impossible haircuts and armor, context of the situation and so on). Just look at Final Fantasy games, the enemy design in games like Dragon Quest and Persona and so on. Imaginative character design isn't worth anything if the characters aren't believable. For example a game like Psychonauts can have some crazy looking characters but you dont question it since the characters have the same kind of art style as the rest of the world, they dont seem out of place. Like I said, context is very important. It's very immersion breaking to walk around in a "realistic" looking game like Final Fantasy 8 then suddenly start fighting against giant teapots or some other very cartoony enemy. If you are given no reason why those enemies exist, and if there is no mentions (literary, dialogue) of them outside the sphere of random battles, they really aren't very well executed.

So I assume you're only talking about physical character design rather than the quality of writing and character depth/development. Pretty much everything that t0yrobo mentioned qualifies, I personally would disregard Splinter Cell though. I'd replace that choiche with the Oddworld-series (Abe's Oddysee, Abe's Exoddus, Stranger's wrath). There are many 1990s PC games, espescially RPGs, with weird looking and imaginative characters. Some Western 3D platformers like Jak and Daxter, Ratchet and Clank, Spyro and Crash Bandicoot are quite popular in Japan and all of those games have weird and quirky characters.
One game above others though is Planescape: Torment. It has not only one of the most intresting video game settings/worlds ever created (although it originates from D&D), but it also has some very weird looking characters. But what makes it so good is the fact that there's lore and excellent writing behind every quirky character, explaining their actions and existence so they are not only believable, but very intresting as a result.

[brunoafh]

Imaginative character design isn't worth anything if the characters aren't believable. For example a game like Psychonauts can have some crazy looking characters but you dont question it since the characters have the same kind of art style as the rest of the world, they dont seem out of place. Like I said, context is very important. It's very immersion breaking to walk around in a "realistic" looking game like Final Fantasy 8 then suddenly start fighting against giant teapots or some other very cartoony enemy.

I don't follow you here. There is nothing "realistic" about any of the Final Fantasy games other than the fact 8 and on tend to have very high quality visuals. I agree with your general point that context is important, but Final Fantasy was a poor example. Unrealistic character designs feel perfectly fine in a high fantasy setting.