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I think some people are confusing what "less defined" means with what "customizable" does (that or I am misunderstanding the purpose of this poll)...
Sadie's dream may have changed based on your options, but I don't think that makes her an "undefined" character. On the contrary, I think that puts her in the first category, "the set personality". What you did, was construct a personality for her, and thus making her more defined. And in a lot of games, this "construction of character" actually means that through your choices, you have selected your preferred type of personality from a predetermined list in the game's script (bossy? kind? cheerful?...). You can always think of those games where you can make your heroine respond in perfect doormat style, or choose to make her actually grow a spine and not take anybody's sh*t :D (guess which I prefer).
No, what I think "a heroine with less characteristics" means, is that your heroine really... doesn't really... respond... in any way... Or that her characteristics are so generic it's really hard to say anything about her besides her gender... -----_____----- Something like: "nice, not really good at studying, but not really bad, not really good at sports but not really bad, not really pretty, but not really bad...". Or even better, they never tell you anything about her and make all her lines like this: "Umm... You see............ Etoo... Maybe... How should I say...." (if she ever speaks).
This should be the perfect type of heroine for those people that love to self-insert in the game, since not having said anything specific about her, it could be anyone, and if that's the way you like to play those games, that's perfectly fine by me. The problem that I have with this is that for this self-insertion to actually work, at least in my humble opinion, you would have to control EVERY choice in the game... Which unfortunately very few games actually bother doing since that would be too much work, really, and hehe, not worth the profit of the company, right? Instead, you often have your heroine forced into ridiculous situations or see her make some really REALLY painfully stupid and easily avoidable mess... were YOU to actually PLAY the game... and not just... read and facepalm... or facewall... >___>
And really, exactly BECAUSE it needs to stay very non-defined (because, what do you know, you can't be too pushy, there are shy girls out there, and you can't be too shy, there are pushy girls out there playing this game), it never actually gets to fit any real girl out there in my opinion... unless you really are... just... this bland and boring... master of so-so "heroine", not really having an opinion, not really caring, but still caring, with no specific hobbies, no specific interests, no specific friends and pretty much no life at all, and occasionally the new girl in town so you have exactly ZERO knowledge in everything... Oh, and every guy loves you, I forgot... for some reason...
"Set personality", now that can mean either that the heroine has a well-defined personality right from the start --she's either a really strong one, or maybe a sweet and kind, soft-spoken one, or really hyper-active etc.--- OR that you, the player, through some choices, depending on the game, decide which personality she is going to have in your playthrough. And that is STILL a set personality, because although you are given the choice, you can only select a type of personality that is already in the script of the game. Now... of course... that also poses a problem... you might not like the heroine and the way she responds... don't worry! You can just repeatedly smash in frustration your keyboard/controller/whatever wishing for her slow and painful death in the pits of the otome games' abyss... hehehe... In my experience though, having a well-rounded heroine also came with greater stories and far more well-written romance (since I guess it's easier when you know what heroine you write for)
I prefer less defined. I want to shape my characters as I like. Example: Sadie in 1931 Scherezade. Her dream changed basing on my choices. I loved that.
Okay, I change my mind to 'not sure'. I think I'm actually fine with both, as long as I get to make the decisions and the personality is good. Set personalities can be very good, but they can be horrid too.
I'm not absolutely sure of these:
Examples of set personalities: Alice from Heart no Kuni no Alice, Yui from Diabolik Lovers, Alice from Essence, Haruka from Uta no Prince-sama, Lucia from Doppelganger: Dawn of the Inverted Souls.
Examples of less defined personalities: Heroine from Amnesia, Chizuru Yukimura from Hakuouki series (I heard her personality changes depending on the route), Mina from Frozen Essence (she doesn't speak much until the endings), all the MCs from Harvest Moon (xD), Cinderella(?) from Cinders (not sure about this, but it seems like it with all the choices you make to shape her personality).
I think I prefer the heroines to be less defined. If she has a set personality, I may not like her personality and she might make the important choices herself, then you'll be stuck with the boring choices like:
Should I go upstairs?
Choice 1. Yes.
Choice 2. Nah.