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What do you think about faceless MC ?

I personally really dislike faceless or featureless MCs in CGs.
It always breaks immersion for me. A completely blank, expressionless protagonist with no distinct facial features feels empty and unnatural.

I much prefer a main character with clear looks and unique personality. It makes interactions, romantic scenes and the whole story feel more vivid and heartfelt. Having a recognizable MC also helps me get more attached to the story instead of feeling like I'm just looking at a generic mannequin-like placeholder.
 
I haven't played many indie otome games, but is the "gray mannequin" thing like those poseable mannequin apps? Is using mannequins a way to cut down on Drawing cost?I might be surprised if the reward CGs used mannequins. You'd probably need to fill in the gaps in your head—or have the ability to just overlook it.
The impression of "faceless" really changes depending on whether it's a gray mannequin or an obscured-face illustration.I like compositions similar to Kin'iro no Corda or Sympathy Kiss.
 
tf_charge said:
So do we have some good ideas as for why they use the grey, bald mannequin as the MC in otoges? I don't believe this is really all that common for visual novels in general; it's not something you would see in say a galge for example.
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Budget maybe? That sure is a weird choice :Ddd
 
I am used to indie games where you can choose your pronouns so you never see main character anyway and i am fine with that. But i prefer a fully designed MC so we can see her in cgs. Also i find Sympathy kiss protagonist wery pretty even without the eyes haha.
 
Nowadays, some games go for pure immersion by featuring faceless protagonists. Honestly, it feels really awkward and even eerie to see romanceable characters interacting with a faceless player character in the game. I personally don't like this kind of character design at all.
 
Not a fan of faceless mcs, so many games have such wonderfully designed mcs that I love seeing! Having a cg with the mc being eyeless or something like that is very disappointing and you lose out on seeing their expressions and such :(
 
I like both, there's a mood and time for everything. To be honest I started playing dating sims and whatnot because *I* could date handsome guys, hence games with faceless MC don't bother me. It works to think of the MC not as a human, but a character through whom the story is experienced. They're not real anyway.
When I see faceless MCs, I just think the developers want it to be a self-insert game and I play with that idea in mind. For games where established MCs have their own appearance, I read it like a third-person romance story. Whichever fits the situation y'know.
 
I don't mind it that much because normally they either don't show the face much or cover the lack of eyes with hair but in some CGs it can look very nightmarefuellish. Looking at you Sympathy Kiss 👀
The one where MC and Tainaka are playing games together. I actively had to avoid looking at Akari's face because she looked like a horror movie jump scare
 
I honestly don't mind since I was used to seeing no face on mcs with mobile otome games but I can see why many people would prefer a face mc as it does add more emotion to scenes!
 
I personally dislike them, cause the otome I have played with faceless mc, almost every single time mc is kind of, plain? Like she doesn't have that much personality, I think these are more for self insert, though there are exceptions, of course.
 
I hate faceless MCs. They're usually self-inserts and I strongly prefer protagonists with stronger personalities.
 
now that i think about it, there are many replies in this thread that mention "bald faceless" mcs, and im really curious if its actually as prevalent as people say? ive only seen it in one otome and it was a western indie one. are there other games with bald faceless mcs??ww
 
I don't like faceless MCs. The CGs feel a bit silly if the character has no design at all! I think at least some angles that hide their faces or minimal customization can help the design feel less awkward.

ninnikuryona said:
now that i think about it, there are many replies in this thread that mention "bald faceless" mcs, and im really curious if its actually as prevalent as people say? ive only seen it in one otome and it was a western indie one. are there other games with bald faceless mcs??ww
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I think it's more common with western romance games (usually the ones with multiple gender options, like The Kid At The Back or Duality on itch.io), but I've not seen it in actual otome. It's something you'd see in self-insert fanart that bleeds over to those games lol
 
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fr4pp3cinn said:
I think it's more common with western romance games (usually the ones with multiple gender options, like The Kid At The Back or Duality on itch.io), but I've not seen it in actual otome. It's something you'd see in self-insert fanart that bleeds over to those games lol
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huh, just as i thought then. the only actual otome ive seen do this is carved in stone, which i found completely by chance, and since i dont read amare i didnt know this is such a common occurrence in these games haha
 
Same here. I don't mind faceless MCs in general, but when they're completely blank (no eyes, no features), it kind of kills the mood for me. Romantic scenes especially can end up feeling awkward or even funny instead of emotional
 
ninnikuryona said:
huh, just as i thought then. the only actual otome ive seen do this is carved in stone, which i found completely by chance, and since i dont read amare i didnt know this is such a common occurrence in these games haha
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You can probably find it if you look hard enough on Freem though, I have a faint memory about seeing something like that lol

Most people probably consider any romance games with male LIs "otome-adjacent", so I'd say it's a common mix up :b (I'm kinda rigid on my labels though... when will I see an actual dating sim in the Steam tag...)
 
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fr4pp3cinn said:
(I'm kinda rigid on my labels though... when will I see an actual dating sim in the Steam tag...)
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i totally get you though;-; people these days never even heard of tokimemo games, yet they overuse the "dating sim" tag like crazy!! if only people had more respect for the genres overall D:
 
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I am in the middle of the road on "faceless" mc.

I personally detest the eyeless mc arts, everything else is there...just..slap the eyes on. ◉⁠‿⁠◉

As for the VNs having grey character blobs? I kinda like it in some games as they really develop the emotion on blob's face and some are made quite cute! (⁠ ⁠◜⁠‿⁠◝⁠ ⁠)

Customized mcs though? Love, give me the whole stock.
 
Faceless MCs are really boring. Not having a face is one thing, but they don't even have a personality. That's exactly why I don't like faceless MCs. However, if the game's story is good, I'll consider it.
 
i don't mind playing faceless mc but as you said, it can be quite creepy and jaring seeing the CG with LI. i much more prefer defined MCs rather than self-insert. i quite like it though when the devs make it cute or using other representation like obey me!
 
Not a big fan. Makes the protagonist feel like a non-character, and the posing of the CGs to hide the eyelessness is distracting.
 
i don't self-insert unless i am practically forced to by blank slate MCs (whether blank slate personality or faceless) so i much prefer the MC to be her own character with her own appearance, it personally feels so jarring to have a whole roster of fully-fleshed out character designs and then MC is faceless
 
I like looking at a pretty girl that is meant to be me so I don't like seeing no face ... It looks so weird when she has a mouth and nose, but no eyes
 
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