Do you name your characters?

[Thin Crust]

Most of the current generation of games have names already preselected because of the use of voice acting. It would be pretty hard to add a custom name to a full voiced game. FF10 did it, but the result was that the main character's name was never spoken once throughout the game.

However, back in the ps1 era and before(along with many recent games), we could choose our own names if we wanted. Did you keep them default, or change them to something else? And if there wasn't a preselected name like Dragon Quest 8, what did you name them?

[Anti-Syne]

For final fantasy 7 and 8 no, probably because my friends also played those so we all just kept the default names so we knew who we were talking about.

But for FF6 and 9 i liked to name all the characters after my friends trying to match them up by characteristics and personality; such as in FF6 i'd name Edgar and Sabin after my brother and I as they too are twins like us (which incidentally is why i have edgar as my avatar WOW!)

[Gollgagh]

so if we ever see a John Lewis with a Sabin avatar he stands a good chance of being your brother huh

[Brandon Strader]

Playing through Final Fantasy VII with Cloud named "Fucker" is a very memorable experience.

[Anti-Syne]

oh no john would be my unknown triplet, but if a sam lewis/sabin ever showed up i'd watch out

I was always Edgar cos i'm the ladies man, clearly...

On a side note my friend used to like calling pokemon 'DICK', so after coming out of the daycare he would be told his DICK had grown alot

[some1namedjeff]

In FF7, renaming characters to have names like "I farted" or "I hate you" was the best experience of my life.

[Thin Crust]

lol. I'm following spoony's example and calling squall "Emo Git" and Rinoa "A whore" You get all kind's of great lines like:

Squall: We need to find a way to bring Ellone and A whore together

Mean Guy: Hey, is there A whore with you?

Rinoa: I'm A whore.

Zell: You're A whore's father?

And don't forget the dog Angelo is named: Anal.

A whore's limit break uses Anal. She can learn abilities like Anal search, Anal reverse, Anal cannon, Anal reverse.

[Gollgagh]

Ass Cannon for best attack

edit: pics from FlankingLine's playthrough a few years ago

[Kenogu Labz]

Generally, for pre-selected names, I leave them the same. That's how they wrote the narrative, that's how I'll read it.

However, names that aren't pre-selected, I'll use one of several names, usually depending on the gender. Kenogu serves as a general-purpose character that doesn't seem too awesome at the moment. Midanya can serve as a woman or an effeminate-looking lead. Darte is usually for a more heroic-looking character.

Doesn't really help that you know nothing about the character you're naming the first time around, though.

[Ferret]

I always liked to name at least one character "pissed" or "going to kill you". And in games in the series that allow names that long, Link gets named "Shut up" sometimes.

[DragonAvenger]

Depends on the game, really. If it's something with a lighter story or something I'm replaying, I like to name characters after friends. It's generally amusing, because I have more friends who are close who are guys, and someone always has to pull the 'short stick' as it were. Poor Stevo lost this time...

[The Vagrance]

I generally name the character the first name I can think up of at the moment, then attempt to play through the game in the same manner I feel like the person named his/her name would. This includes Fifa 11, where I smack talk in a really bad Russian accent when playing as my virtual pro "Vladmir Tolenski".

[The Author]

In Chrono Trigger, I would rename characters using their "real" names. Marle became Nadia, Frog was Glenn, Magus was Janus, Robo had his designation number...

It made sense.

[DarkeSword]

Depends on the game, really. If it's something with a lighter story or something I'm replaying, I like to name characters after friends. It's generally amusing, because I have more friends who are close who are guys, and someone always has to pull the 'short stick' as it were. Poor Stevo lost this time...

[DragonAvenger]

I'm sorry Shariq, you'll be male in the next game, too.

[Murmeli Walan]

I'm boring. I don't think I've ever played a Zelda game where the hero wasn't named Alan.

[TheKrow]

I kind of always enjoyed naming all the characters the name of one character, after the first time through. Such as in FF7, everyone was named Sephiroth. Made for very confusing fun.

[Gollgagh]

SEPHIROTH:

WHY DlD YOU KILL SEPHIROTH, SEPHIROTH

[Damashii!!]

For classic RPG games like Shining Force I usually made up a name ("Max" didn't sound very "heroic" to me)

but I never made up/edited names for simulation or sports games because to me it would just seem cheesy to have my own name on a Chicago Bulls jersey #23 when it is already an inseparable trademark/signature.

If I don't like the names in modern rpg games I usually just skip the cutscenes if I can, but that's only if the names are

.

[Mirby]

Always.

Loved using the code in the GBA Golden Sun games for that.

[kupernikus]

Depends on thebgame and my mood at the time. With games like final fantasy tactics where there are miscellaneous troops I can name I'll name them after me so I can have the look I want in sports I gamesill make one character after myself in a position I actually played in high school.

[The Damned]

I find naming your lead male character "Mr. Bond" makes for some fun dialog. RPGs can take a very interesting tone with that name popping up again and again.

Zelda: OoT is great for this. Villains become cheesey Bond baddies, with lines like "Prepare to die, Mr. Bond!". The female characters magically become Bond girls, with lines that suddenly become double entendres. Even random throw away lines take on new meanings when coupled with a little Agent 007. Pokémon, Golden Sun, Final Fantasy... it all works.

Yes, "Mr. Bond" gets used in a lot of games I've played over the years, and it never gets old.

[relyanCe]

i named every ffvii party member after a megaman x character

i named every summon in ffx after a ffvii party member

i named titus loser

if I could go back and change it all, i would name everyone relyanCe just to be a self-serving jerk

[Gollgagh]

if I could go back and change it all, i would name everyone relyanCe just to be a self-serving jerk

I tried that with Gollgagh once

it was really awkward

something about naming a character after myself (even if it's just a pseudonym) doesn't feel right

[Thin Crust]

I tried that with Gollgagh once

it was really awkward

something about naming a character after myself (even if it's just a pseudonym) doesn't feel right

Well my name is Zack and the first time I played ff7 I named Cloud "Zack". I couldn't understand what was happening when the real Zack came into the storyline and they were all trying to figure out who he was.