Echoes of Aincrad Costume Guide - How to enable fixed costume and color customization

One of the major highlights in the full release of Echoes of Aincrad is the ability to create your own avatar in the Sword Art Online anime universe. It also turns out that you can set not only your avatar's facial features and body mass, but also eventually your in-game outfit with colors of your liking.

However, the costume customization feature is only unlockable via a side quest. So if you are laser-focused on the main story progression, you may miss it until much later. This guide will help you find the earliest moment you can access this feature.

How to unlock Costume Customization in Echoes of Aincrad

The earliest you can unlock this feature will be after you have completed Secret Medicine of the Forest, the second main quest after the Sword Art Online MMORPG has officially launched. You will then notice that a side quest marker has been added in the Town of Beginnings, and you can find the NPC lady giving the quest right near the town's Item Seller. But unlike the usual yellow markers, this one is marked in purple instead, which signifies that this optional side quest has more important rewards.

Once you have spoken with the specially marked NPC, a new side quest named Opportunity will appear in the quest list. It also turns out that clearing this optional quest will let you unlock the costume customization feature.

As a side note, the quest area in the Opportunity quest also mostly overlaps with another minor side quest titled Taming the Wilderness. You can either do the other quest first so you have easier access to the exclusive zone in this quest, or you can instead complete the mapping in this quest first so you can immediately access the boss fight in the other quest.

How to access Costume Customization in Echoes of Aincrad

Simply clearing the above quest will not immediately unlock the feature. Just like any other side quests with in-game NPCs, you will have to first report back to the same quest giver, who will now be marked green. Only after you have spoken to her will the customization feature be available.

You can then access the feature at the Chest inside your bedroom in any town inn. The Equipment/Costume menu will have a new tab where you can set a fixed costume set for your avatar's appearance regardless of the buff-affecting armors being currently equipped.

In addition, you can also change the colors in most of the costume parts. Depending on the chosen parts, there are up to 4 colors applicable to different segments.