Now that I stop to think about it, I realize that 90% of the definition of any game character, to me, is always in my own head... but that my BD character is really less well-defined than most.
Me too. But games like Baldurs Gate Shadows of Amn, and many others give you a choice of (unvoiced) reply lines to allow you to develop your character in different ways. Others give a varying amount of pre-set recorded voices, which might be anything from an occasional comment throgh to reams of speech.
Beyond Divinity does seem to take a particularly "el cheapo" approach in giving your own character no options at all!
It seems a bizarre decision to use the soul-forging of two polar opposites as a central plot device, and then settle for the worst possible way of trying to develop the theme. I.e. one character completely mute and the other only able to comment out loud without having any real conversations with anyone he meets. To then miscast that voice seems about as bad as you can get when it comes to bringing the original concept to life! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/puppyeyes.gif" alt="" />
Goodness knows why they didn't pick a single character approach if they weren't prepared to spend the money to get the party idea to work. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/question.gif" alt="" />
The very rough finish of the game certainly suggests a limited budget right from the start. Too many bugs, minor inconsistencies, small nagging features that don't work properly, grammatical errors and clumsy translations, etc.
My favourites include this line from the top of page 7 in the manual. In his welcome foreword Swen Vincke says:
"Don't let the myriad of features you'll see impress you." <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/biggrin.gif" alt="" />
I don't think that's what he really meant, but I'm afraid that, for the most part, they didn't impress me! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/disagree.gif" alt="" />
