So will a custom Ryder look as good as defult Ryder?

In my experience in every Bioware game custom faces always look better, IF you know what you are doing.

Not sure, but I just saw in BioFan 's latest video that the other presets are scanned from models so... hopefully.

However, I'm pretty livid upon discovering (from the same great video) that there is no way to change your character's appearance (face) once you leave the CC.

WHAT IN THE ACTUAL FUCK BIOWARE!?! 2351251 restarts incoming just to get my face right. Sigh... maybe I'll just use default sara. That's probably what they want anyway. Iconic look or whatever. Fuck.

Just because it hasn't ever been a feature in a Mass Effect game, doesn't mean that it should never be a feature in a Mass Effect game. 

Just add a facial surgeon to one of the hubs and require in game currency to access it. There should be NO EXCUSE for an RPG (or whatever they're calling it) that emphasizes creation of your own unique character, to not allow you to tweak them once you leave the CC. 9 times out of 10 the character you think looks amazing, actually looks like a derp face in the actual game. It just turns an enjoyable aspect into a chore. 

Have they said if there will be face codes like in the earlier games? If so at least that will be a small mercy so you can tweak your mistakes without having to start from scratch.

Unfortunately, you won't be able to edit the default faces. This has been confirmed by several devs via Twitter.

When asked about face codes, Ian promised "Something better," was upcoming. It turns out that there will be a website through which we can share faces. No codes, just direct imports, apparently.

I wonder if we can import another user's work and then make edits?

I've beaten the default faces in MET and even DAI. I'm confident I can do it again for MEA no matter how long and restarts it takes. 

And I'll reiterate... that doesn't, and shouldn't, matter. Just because something has been done for however many years does not mean there isn't a better way to do said thing. Hell, bioware themselves have had it in dragon age. 

And it'd be easy to put in...

THIS IS A GODDAMN SCI-FI GAME. Any number of crazy futuristic technology could be used to explain why the main character (and other npcs, should they so choose) could reconstruct their face to their liking or to change identities, etc. So... can't use that as the reason why.

I'm no game developer but surely a mirror/machine/robot/whatever that unlocks the CC wouldn't take all that much resources to implement. Just rip the mirror from the black emporium for all I care and call it space magic.

So what exactly is the reason that they wouldn't do this? Even Fallout 4 does it. It's a great tool for player convenience. Who wants to constantly start the game over and over to get the face they want??

Surely I'm not the only one that wants an in game character editor? lol

Aside from that, there's something very gratifying about participating more in the creation of the protagonist. It came to the point where my Shepard was so familiar to me, seeing walkthroughs and stuff on YouTube was like looking at ImposterSheps lol

sarah is not modelled on a real person, not really. because she looks nothing at all like the actual model. in-game sarah is really ugly

getting back on topic, the default rider is better than any custom rider.

There is perfection in imperfection.

Playing with a " supercute " and/or flawless face breaks immersion for me. I'd rather make a character and retweak them again from the start ( multiple times if I have to ). Really they could have given Dr.Lexi the ability to do facial reconstructive surgery. Perhaps it has something to do with the fact that your sibling and father share your likeness to a degree.

All the faces are scanned from models, but, for some reason (probably marketing/branding whatever) you can't tweak the two defaults that've been used in marketing.