I just hope the freedom to choose is there and goes both ways. That is to say, if we want to play as a fully custom character, I hope Larian doesn't remove this option we currently have.
If they go with "the custom PC also has an Origin story", then they are closing doors. As a matter of fact, they are already doing that a bit by giving our custom PC the Baldurian tag. But so far we can roleplay someone not from Baldur's Gate by not selecting the corresponding dialogue options.
Agreed. It would be really depressing if they give in to the unimaginative people and take away our freedom to make anyone we want. I do think there should be a few basic template options that those people can pick from to make it easier for them, in addition to what we have now. Not everyone wants to play an Origin character.
I agree they shouldn't take away the "really custom" option, but I disagree that all people who'd be interested in a "half-origin" system are "unimaginative". It's not a matter of not being able to come up with a backstory. It's a matter of the game world not recognizing it. It's immersion-breaking if the game treats your character as "has no past", reactivity is very important in an RPG. It's a trade-off system: do I care more about freedom in creating my character's backstory or do I want my character to feel a part of the game world (without resorting to headcanon, which sometimes has to go against what the game tells me)?
So again, DA:O-style origins aren't for "thinking for the player" or "making CC easy and quick"; they're for increasing immersion, in short.
Half-agreed. I wouldn't call people who want an Origin story or Origin backstory unimaginative. And if Larian gives 1-3 options, and they are vague enough, and one of them speaks to me, or I can adapt one of my own characters' stories to fit it, I may well try to do a playthrough with with a slightly pre-determined backstory.
I also agree it's clearly a trade-off here. If the game leaves me total freedom on the backstory and makes no assumptions on it, then it cannot use it and mix it with the global adventure.
But that doesn't feel immersion breaking to me. I can envision a character from a faraway place who was in the Sword Coast because reasons, got captured and infected by a tadpole, went through a whole adventure to get rid of it, messed up with Big Picture World Plans along the way (whoever the Absolute are and whatever their plan is), maybe saved the city of Baldur's Gate, maybe found love, and then will go back to their homeland after that. The fact that the game doesn't imbed My Story into The Story is fine, all the more so if My Story doesn't mesh well to begin with, and The Story can be seen as An Unexpected Journey in the life of my character.
I can still roleplay if I can think : ok, given my character's story and personality, what would they do there, what would they say here.
And if the game can minimally react to my story, that's cool. For instance, the Baldurians (Wyll, Shadowheart, Astarion) can give me more advice about where to stay for the night if I've told them I have never set foot in Baldur's Gate before, whereas if my character grew up there, they might check in their favourite tavern and say hi to the barman.
