Sorry for the Necro of this thread - It's been a few months, and wanted to see what everyone thinks of the tags system so far.
I've played through the EA area several times on both "Generic" and Origin characters, and the only really meaningful change is the story quests specifically tied to your character. You can still create a background for your character, and follow that background - You just don't get some of the competitive questing options - it doesn't seem as "Crappy" as everyone was making out to be.
Also, In regards to romance, I've played through several times on Ifan Ben-Mezd, and there seems to already be roots of romance growing, as the statue of the "Gods" talk about the way he feels about Lohse and the way he Looks at her.
I've played with custom characters a bit, as well, and the majority of it seems rather good, honestly. It'll probably be even better, as well, when you can earn and lose certain tags based on the way you act in-game. The only thing is, on most non-origin characters, I haven't gotten to the Statue, so wonder if there's, say, really unique stuff based on your tags if you're a lizard other than The Red Prince doing that bit / getting Bless.
