It kinda depends on the story for me. Playing Tomb Raider as anyone but Lara Croft would be really weird, but playing Pokémon as my own character is great.
Depends drastically on the game. I don’t think that it’s possible to give a single answer.
In general, I prefer Western RPG-style games over Japanese RPG-style games, and WRPGs tend to let you craft the main character, unlike JRPGs. And those kind of inhabit the same space. So I guess if you put me in a gun-to-the-head choice between the two, I’d prefer to create the main character myself. I also don’t try to create my real-life self in games.
But, I mean…if I’m playing a Metroid-franchise game, I want to play Samus Aran. I don’t want to play me, and I don’t want to play some sort of character that I craft from scratch.
Depends on the game. I don’t do roleplay much but I min-max a lot.
I prefer a really well told story over a pick your own adventure. Character flaws, growth, emotional connections and situational realities are all able to be masterfully written when in control. But if you can’t write well, just make an interesting playground and leave it up to the player and blame them for a boring game. :)
Depends entirely on the story being told. All can be impactful.
Games where the main character is a blank slate can allow you to build meaningful relationships and aspects to your character, but it takes a lot more work from the devs to flesh out those story branches. When done well, it’s excellent. Mass Effect did a good job with this. Skyrim is an example where it’s well done but with less of a rigid framework and therefore less specific handling by the story.
Games that have a specific character but still allow you to shape their path can be beautiful. The ending of Red Dead Redemption 2 has audio callbacks to important decisions you made during the game that shaped who your version of Arthur Morgan was, and it brought tears to my eyes.
And games where the decisions are set in stone and the character development is entirely in the hands of the writer, director, and actor, like a movie, can still be phenomenal. God of War (2018) and Ragnarok are excellent examples.
