Are you able to rename Ryder? [Answered: Yes]

It's never influenced anything other than the save file.

I'm of two minds on this. I prefer making a character as much "mine" as possible, and naming the character is a large part of that. While I like voice acting (if done well) text based games did this better, since it's easy to code in a %character-name variable in dialogue output. What name you picked actually affected the way people referred to you. A minor thing, in the grand scheme, but a level of customization that allowed me more agency in regards to the character I was playing.

On one hand, having a character with a first name that will be referenced by other NPC's is a good thing. Having my Hawke in DA2 addressed as "Hawke" by family was offputting to say the least. So using Scott or Sara as my character's name scratches that itch. However, it then locks me into using a pre-determined name, which I'm not a huge fan of. I'd rather have a Fallout 4 style system where a list of names is supported, but I can see why it's likely a bit too intensive, with the amount of dialogue already in the game.

I'll probably play with the default names, because of the mention in conversations, but I wish I could use a custom name and have the same support (within reason.) Cest la vie.

Pity they didn't go the Fallout road and didn't recorded names for a dozen standard most popular ones.

Then again people would moan their super rare name isn't on the list.

We should be able to name both of the kids. We can't go about naming our character a non "english american" name, without it sounding completely out of place when their twin has a bland, boring name.

No gameplay loss?

"OK... i'm naming him Scott, what about you dear."

"Donkey"

"What??? No, you can't it's not f..."

"I'm naming her Donkey."


Works for me. 

There wouldn't be much in the way of gameplay loss if they eliminated the visual customization either, and I would be no less disappointed to see that disappear. The customization options, appearance and names, makes me feel a greater sense of freedom to create a variety of individual characters to play as. Alessandra Shepard was a very different person from Juliet Shepard who was a very different person from Marcus Shepard. That freedom is one of the most fun parts of an RPG for me. Are you arguing my preferences should be different than what they are?

I have a super rare name (Ryder), but somehow it ended up being used anyway  Still can't get over how weird that is.

Depends on how many times Scott/Sara are mentioned by name. Fallout had what, 1000 custom names? Each is only said once, but also once for each gender, so 2000 lines. Not a small investment. If Scott/Sara are referred to by name 100 times, that's 200 lines. So Bioware could have a list of 18 more audible names for the same investment (though most of those probably wouldn't be gender-neutral like "Sam").

Random numbers, obviously. I actually expect them to be referred to by first name less than that. We'll see.

Some people having boring bland names and some having exotic ones reminds me of Star Wars. You have people like Obi-Wan Kenobi, Anakin Skywalker, Mace Windu, and... Luke.

How so? My initial comment was such a brief statement of my preferences, "I would be exceeding irritated," that I can't imagine how you were able to ascertain the rationale behind it to begin with. What did you interpret my rationale to be? 

What's in a name though?

Could we not differentiate your Scott and Sara from mine?

"That which we call a rose
By any other name would smell as sweet."

I could not see your rationale.