Building a satisfying character in RPGs; how anal are you?

Following a post by natetodamax, I dusted off my copy of Final Fantasy XII and started playing it.  This was my first experience with the game and my first Final Fantasy in a very long time.  I’ve been more of a Dragon Quest fan for a few years now, but I’ve been meaning to refresh my connection to Final Fantasy for a while now.  I know that FF XIII is newer and prettier, but I’ve had an unplayed copy of FF XII on my shelf for a while now.  Plus, I remember hearing lots of comparisons between Dragon Age: Origins’ combat tactics and Final Fantasy XII’s gambits system and I wanted to see it for myself.  I know, some people will say “the game sucks, don’t play it” but I’m playing now and will continue to do so until I get bored or distracted by something shinier.

I'll usually just go with whatever I feel like the first time through without looking at a guide to figure out the best way to optimize characters. The second playthrough, however, it's no holds barred and I'll optimize the hell out of my characters using walkthroughs and FAQs, making sure to do all of the optional stuff that I probably missed my first time through. 
 
If I'm a good 10 or so hours into a game and I'm convinced that I'll probably never play through it again, I'll sometimes pull out the guides then and there, since I may as well get as much enjoyment out of the one time I intend on playing through the game. But this is generally more for finding side-quests or knowing which dialog options to pick from instead of specifically optimizing my characters stats. I generally find pumping everything into whatever Attack Power stat the game offers works well (often I'll just focus on completely decking out one character and making them nigh-invicible while the others just act as make-shift meat shields), and weapons are more of an aesthetic preference. Of course there are games that break this mold, but such games are typically the kind I enjoy playing through more than once. 

I wouldn't say I'm haphazard by any means. 
 
I want to be successful, but I'm not a number cruncher.  I will play a build that I enjoy as long as it's viable.  If it's not viable then I'll switch.  But otherwise, don't expect me to switch just because it's not THE build.
 
I want to figure the game out on my own, not have someone else do it for me.  I figure out points on my own along the way.  And often times later I will check a guide or someone else's build to see how they did it.  I will rarely copy a build. 
 
Also, that skill system you described for FFXIII sounds incredibly convoluted.

I want to be able to create a flawed character.  Like a guy with so little strength, the best way for him to survive is by talking.  You know, hardcore. 

" I'll usually just go with whatever I feel like the first time through without looking at a guide to figure out the best way to optimize characters. The second playthrough, however, it's no holds barred and I'll optimize the hell out of my characters using walkthroughs and FAQs, making sure to do all of the optional stuff that I probably missed my first time through.                                         "

I don't know what RPG's you play because I've never seen a Anal class.

My brain works by grouping things into roles. I build my AoE nuke character to deal with the hordes, my tank/melee scrapper to run in and group everything for my nuke, my healer to obviously keep everyone alive and then I just round them out with a couple chars that I think compliment them in situations I always find myself getting into. If I find I'm losing at bosses because I don't have any good single target DPS then I will try to focus on building something that can do that, or if it's not available or it would cut into one of my other chars powers then a good de-buffer/buffer. 
 
It all depends on the game though, as each one has its own set of rules with its own checks and balances. 
 
EDIT: I min/max with what makes sense for me based on what I know of the games rules at that point, and common sense from my 20+ years of playing RPGs, but I never look at guides to figure stuff out. The whole fun of those games is learning how stuff works and figuring out what works best in what situations. I like knowing that I can build a broken character, because then I learn the hard way why it's broken and what not to do the next time around.

I'm much less anal about character building than I am about decision making. I'll load a save a dozen times just to see all the options play out before I stick to one.
 
However I do tend to hold as many of my unlock/upgrade points as long as I can when playing RPGs. I like to see how far I can get before I actually need to spend those points. And in games like Mount and Blade where you can get more skill points by spending attribute points in a certain way, I'll often do that to pile up as many skill points as I can so I can max out abilities instantly in case I need to.

Since I'm a little too anal when it comes to these kinds of games, I abstain from playing most of them.

" I want to be able to create a flawed character.  Like a guy with so little strength, the best way for him to survive is by talking.  You know, hardcore.  "

I'm not very anal when it comes to maximizing skills and so on. Looks is a different story though. I can spend hours just looking at how badass I can make my character look.

Mess around, reload and level myself in different ways a few times, find the one that I like most and stick with it.  By the time I get to a high level I have a pretty good idea of exactly what I want out of a character.

FF12 you end up with everything in the end, especially using that item that boosts your LP gain.  

I only did serious character stat stuff in WoW.

Not even remotely.

I never look at a guide for games that are like Mass Effect, Final Fantasy, Dragon Age, and all that. I go with what I feel like at that time. And experiment with my points. Or Borderlands. I especially love when a game lets me respec all of my stats if I find the right tome or just buy the restat. I'm willing to start over a game to play a new character and experiment some more. 
 
Although, I do tend to peek at guides for things like MapleStory. >.> I fucked up my bandit and refuse to pay real money to get 5 points back. That was terrible.

How Anal do I get??  Balls Deep Baby.  
 
Honestly though, not too bothered about specs and shit.  Have a fire spec mage in wow with shite damage output but I love the way it plays so not bothered by figures. 

I'm not really picky at first but I suppose it depends on the character.
 
If the character is weak I bump up what they are good at be it magic or attack or sometimes just health.. I'm not to picky at first though I should be!

When I opened this thread and saw the license board, I nearly died. I don't know if that answers your question or not, but please be more careful in the future.

Just the tip.

I always try to specialize my characters--as specialization is typically the key to success in most RPGs. Just started playing Fallout: New Vegas--and I'm making it my goal to max out my non-combat skills prior to anything else. With their companion system, the game is very accommodating, and I still manage to whiz by a bunch of encounters through non-combat options. It works out.

Most RPGs offer respec options so I don't sweat it.

It took me three hours to get past the character creator in Oblivion.

My need to min/max in an RPG is the reason why I fucking HATE ElderScrolls games. 
 
I love DA2 because of the insane amount of transparency they put into their stat/skill system. 
 
EDIT: Oh and are you also a fan of ROD one of the best manga/anime ever created or was the screenshot just a happy coincidence?

I don't worry about stats too much, but I like to see where I'm heading when levelling up.  I usually have a rough idea of my character before I start, and then my decisions are based off of that (character considerations trumping equipment stats etc).  I rarely do the 'What Would I Do?' thing in RPGs anymore, because the scenarios are usually so bone obvious right vs. wrong that it's just more interesting to place a character in those situations.

In an RPG where you level something similar to FF X or FF XII, by progressing across some type of skill board or tree, I'm fine. But, if I play a game like Dragon Age, where I have to distribute attribute points and pick a skill each level, or every other level, I become a complete mess, because I'm always second guessing myself and thinking that I'm ruining my character, therefore ruining my game. Interestingly enough, I have finished FF X, made it fairly far into FF XII before losing interest and made it a few hours into Dragon Age before quitting.  
 
I think I just need a guide to hold my hand on character builds, yet when I played Diablo 2, distributing points wasn't even a sweat, mainly due to the cookie cutter builds.

If i can't make my character look like me i choose the Dark Elf.

I never really see RPGs as competitive so I don't have a problem with cheating a little bit to at least 'know' how the mechanics work on a numerical level so I can craft a character that's fun to play with. What I mean by the cheating aspect - say you cheat in an online FPS or RPG? I find that completely fucking pointless, because the game revolves around everyone's skill levels so everything needs to stay at an even playing field. When it comes to cheating a little bit in single player RPGs, it's just me and myself playing, so the only thing I want is to be comfortable enough to enjoy the game and not be worrying about number crunching.

Thank you for all of your responses so far.  It's provided some good insight into the gaming habits of others relative to my own.  I, too can spend three hours in just designing the look of a character for a game.  I don't know how many times, I've then fretted over each assigned skill point at the start of the game!  I create with a template in mind because I've found that the jack-of-all-trades is rarely as good as a character who specializes in one or two tasks; such as main focus, healer and minor focus, dps.  In games where you're solo for the most or all of the time, I concentrate on survival skills first then killing.  I tend to dabble in "charm", too because it often allows me to avoid some fights.  However, in RPGs where I have a party, I usually spec each with a main focus and a secondary support role.  I'm 30+ hours into Final Fantasy XII now and that's actually paid off.  If you're curious... 

I just go with the flow.

As long as my character(s) work and there isn't anything super flawed about them, I'm not one to get especially anal about min-maxing perfect build kind of stuff. However, in older games or games where character building options are less transparent, I tend to at least glance at a guide so I don't build my characters into a corner and thus screw myself over in the endgame.

Can I put max ranks in shotguns?  What, no shotgun skill?  GTFO of my Xbox. *tosses disk across room*

I was always super picky about where I put my skill points and such in games, but it wasn't until Oblivion that I started worrying about breaking the game for myself and/or looking at a guide online. I had a pretty good Sneaky Archer build capable of taking folks down in one or two stealthy shots, picking any lock, and getting through conversations how I wanted, but thanks to the broken world-leveling system I eventually crossed a threshold where I was being one-shotted by cougars in the wild without any warning. Since Oblivion didn't offer a "respec," I had to start over, and I was a good 20 hours in at that point. I could have reloaded a way earlier save, but the major / minor skills you pick played a big role in how broken or not-broken the game would be. It was an online guide that told me just how wrong I was in picking the skills I did. After looking at the guide, I just made a really good character with that info in the back of my mind. I did eventually try the "perfect" build with the guide at the ready while I was playing, but that was well after I beat the game.

Especially if the game doesn't offer a way to respec, I would encourage people to look at a guide and at least get some basic tips and pointers in. If you're going to be playing a game for 40, 60, or 100 hours, and forced into decisions you make when shaping your character, why not make sure you're going in the direction you want to go? It's up to game developers to make sure you can't break the game by making what seem to be intelligent decisions, but they don't always make it clear how you should be progressing. Oblivion is the only game I know of where you can utterly break it just by trying to make a Mage or Archer class.