I needed a whole afternoon to create my TDE 4.0 wizard, with lots help from my game master, because all rules, technical things and so on was scattered around 3 or 4 core books. And I'm thankful that I had not to read every single book. So this was an experience I wouldn't miss for drakensang. I'm quite sure, I'm not the only one. Besides that, THIS is a topic TDE fans do not complain about in the official forums. They complain about a lot of things, but simplicifated character creation is not an issue. In this case I trust more in their opinion than in one single hardcore gamer. CRPG is not pen&paper.
I bet if it was on computer instead of an afternoon you could have banged it out in 10 minutes. But it’s not suitable for the PC, right? It’s not an experience I wouldn’t miss. In fact, if I can’t create my character, that indicates I can’t role-play my character. And since I like role-playing games I don’t see a reason to buy this adventure game anymore.
I’m not a hardcore gamer. Some fat prick who lives in his mothers basement playing games nonstop, entering FPS tournaments is a hardcore gamer. I like crpgs, and since no one wants to make those games anymore, I’m not even a gamer. I’m just some dickhead that posts on a site dedicated to a dead gaming genre. You did not simplify character creation, you removed it. It’s gone, left with just a couple superficial choices.
Because from my sight I don't see any sense in this. It's a complicated point-buy-system, that of course offers you a hell lot of options to adjust your character. But a) choosing a certain class always implies choosing a bunch of feats combined with that class, you can only add a few more but at the same time you have to take disadvantages like one-eyed in exchange. b) Not every feat is relevant for a pc game, c) removing unnecessary and adding new feats would need totally new balancing of the character system and would surely make even more TDE fans angry, d) we're talking about Radon Labs and dtp making an internationally unknown TDE game, not BioWare and Microsoft making Mass Effect or Dragon Age.
Also you forgot that only race & class are predefined and you still have the option to adjust your talents after selecting your archetype. Combine this with the fact, that TDE has no class combinations like D&D this should not be the problem. And you can choose at least between 27 character types. That's only 2 less than NWN2 with prestige classes. In the end they reduce the range of possible classes to a small number, but that's something every rpg does.
It does not mean you have no options to adjust your character, you only have less options than P&P would offer.
When has options been bad? If the character I did not create and that I’m forced to play has feats and disadvantages, it means that some were implemented. Why can’t I pick them? Can I even pick my characters name? Adding and removing feats/talents/traits/disadvantages never requires rebalance in a point buy system, unless the combat system has been fucked with, unbalancing the feats/talents/traits/disadvantages.
Not being able to create a character and roleplay that character is the antithesis to a real crpg.
Let me retype what you said in a way that makes sense and is easier for people to swallow, and if was stated this way would still make the game an acceptable purchase for me.
“We have not implemented character creation for a couple of reasons. 1) The majority of the people who will buy our games are not really crpg fans and would not use a character creation system. 2) It would be hard to implement correctly since we drastically changed combat. Considering those two items, taking the time and spending the money to implement it isn’t something we thought would be financially feasible given the current schedule. We are sorry to all those who wore looking forward to this vital function of any real crpg and rpg, and the fans of TDE who would of not only loved and enjoyed to make their own character, but would’ve had an invaluable tool to assist them in the creation of characters will playing pnp TDE, instead of taking whole afternoon to create a wizard.”
That’s how you do it.
Or lie. A good lie is acceptable. You could’ve just said that the creators of the sourcebooks didn’t want too much character generation in the game because that is a big selling point for the sourcebooks. Passing the buck is far easier to swallow than a bunch of nonsense that does not add up or make any sort of sense. The decisions make sense, but the fluff given as the reason for the decisions is just ridiculous and demeaning. But I’m just some fringe “hardcore gamer” so I don’t matter anyways, so who cares? Keep doing what you’re doing, it seems to be working on the people that count.