What is in your opinion the RPG with the best character creation options?

I'm looking for a game that allows for a very rich and varied party, which will allow the deepest and most flexible options.

One of my favorite games for this was Wizardry 8. The game itself was a mixed bag, but the party creation was quite robust.

Wizardry 8 is pretty good, aside from the fact that it's possible to screw up characters (particularly spellcasters) by not going for important expert skills, which the game doesn't tell you about. (Also, the class change system is rather poor here. In other words, when it comes to stat points (but not skill points), the game suffers from what I call the "skill point" issue.)

On the other hand, I think I like the character creation system found in Final Fantasy 1, or in SaGa 1 and 2, where you only make one decision per character at character creation time, and can get into the game quickly. (SaGa 1 and 2 have the advantage that there are diffierent ways to develop characters once the game has started; FF1, on the other hand, doesn't give much choice, the only choices being equipment (which only becomes interesting when you get items that cast spells for free) and spells learned.)

Edit: Why the low rating?

One of the best Character creation ever was Daggerfall but is a non party game. the same for Fallout 2. Other robust Creation System and non party.

Another one is the game you mentioned, Wizardry 8. Try Wizardry 7 as well.

And maybe you could try other game with a robust Character creation in the vein of Wizrdry 7, in fact it was intended as a spiritual successor: Grimoire: Heralds of the Winged Exemplar.

Problem with Daggerfall is that:
* The system isn't exactly what I'd call balanced; there are definitely ways to exploit the system.
* The game is buggy. I believe that some of the options you can choose at character creation don't actually work; the skill that's supposed to help you dodge attacks instead helps enemies dodge your attacks, for example.

edit: Again, why the low rating?

The system is exploitable indeed, some of the talents are not very useful or not useful at all. that's because of its complexity and permutations. And some unfinished things.

Anyway If someone wants to be exploited by itself, (I do not understand those practices or the fun in it), but well, each one their own with his own pseudoautocheating :)

But the fact is that the Character system Creation is able to fine tuning so many things and even create new classes you can save for later uses , that I consider it one of the bests ever. A real game into the game. perfect for experimentation.

And about the well known fame of bugginess, and unstability, it was a reality in the old game, but now people use to play the game via Daggerfall Unity. It solves every problem the same suffered.
But o course if we are talking about the original game pre patches. I agree. It was a funny mess. Victim of its own "Think Big"
EDIT: And maybe deadlines and money. Things were taking longer than expected.

Grimoire looks intriguing. I've been looking into it, and have to say I'm tempted to give it a shot. It appears to have everything I loved about the Wizardry series. Thanks for the suggestion.

I advise you that it is a rougher and harder game than Winzardry 7 itself. And also in the vein of Wizardry 7-8, one of the longests. Very involving and puzzle fest. Its intention is to be Hardcore and Old School.

There's the issue of *accidentally* exploiting something.

Then there are mechanics that are poorly balanced in such a way that, while the mechanic is interesting and could be fun if it were balanced, will break the game if you use it. (The Regeneration effect is one example here; it is way too cheap to cast a custom spell that restores your HP fully every 5 (or is it 25?) seconds after it's cast until it wears off.)

If we could have a game with Daggerfall-like character creation, and that is actually balanced (and reasonably bug-free), then that would likely be an incredible game.

Speaking of bugs, I could point out that the first SaGa has bugs that affect character building in some interesting ways; for example, for every attribute (except HP) there's a disadvantage to having a high score in that attribute.

Edit: Yet again, why the low rating? Could somebody please point out what I said that was inappropriate?

Practically All those issues you are talking about were adressed in the fan made version, it was years of work. Personally I believe tha Playing original Daggerfall is only intended for historians, gaming journalists doing their job and first time players that want to suffer.

It looks like a game I will enjoy very much. I'm looking for other types of games like this, with complex character/party mechanics and deep customization.

Realms of Arkania, the original one.

God I loved to watch Elanarae Let's Play videos of it:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ptioiYrnEzw&list=PL9A67D279BD5C5750&index=1

Other recomendations also available in GOG could be Wizards and Warriors, Wizardry Labyrinth of Lost Souls, Elminage Gothic or Realms of Arkania trilogy.

If you like the kind of games Grimoire or Wizardry 7-8 are, probably you will enjoy all of them. They are party based and the Character creation is very involving and deep in all of them.

Dragon's Dogma had some pretty neat character creation/customization features where even your appearance had meaningful properties. Although it only allowed the creation of two of the four party members.

Any rogue game out there has loads of build options. Really depends on what you want to customise, is it looks, gender, class, race, stats, skills, play options. Do you want a one armed lesbian gnome beserker? I can’t stand parties, and npcs so first customisation is generally their position relative to the base of a cliff (dragons dogma ref), and I tend to find appearance is of little concern to me, though if I am going to spend 40 hours watching a butt wiggle around on screen then I would choose a female character (which may go some way to explain why I never got on with Witcher 3). So I would be more interested in play styles, and how to assign skills/stats to best support that play style be it from choice of weapon, to mode of attack. In elder scrolls I always tend to fall in to rogue style sharpshooter from the dark. Also planning how to develop over time, for baldurs gate it’s good to do the first game as a fighter, then multi class to a thief or mage. So the career path might not be fixed by creation.

For me, good character creation from a gameplay perspective would just involve picking a few starting skills or boosts that won't really have much relevance anymore once you'll start to actually develop the character as you go along and learn what's useful and what's less so for the game and your preferred play style. When you need to put significant development from the beginning, it's like being given the test before the lesson, you're expected to know the game before playing it.

In terms of customizing looks though, remember that brief time when I played PWI. Like so for example.