These are some pretty solid points and I do hope that Larians vision regarding the entire experience of the game will be something similar to what you envisioned here.
Since BG3 seems to focus mostly on FCC and OCs (because I assume that we won't be forced to be from BG at release...), it is a difficult middleground when it comes to "special screen time" since there really is nothing in current BG3 that resembles the OC prototype, and, like many have said before on these forums, it is rather sad that the player would miss out on a lot of special interactions without anything in return to make up for it when choosing FCC.
Anyways, I love your idea of creating tags as we go in the game. Obviously, having everything in Character Select would be a more traditional approach - but that might make the process tiring for those who create a lot of characters. I do believe that your suggestion of specific questions asked through-out the game would be an interesting solution.
HOWEVER, I do see one problem. Imagine if the player is roleplaying as a secretive character, which would include options to lie about origins. The dialogue option list would be... Long, to say the least:
"Where are you from?
- Baldur's Gate."
- [Lie] Baldur's Gate."
- Daggerford.
- [Lie] Daggerford"
Why is it important that the lines that are lies are marked separately? Because if we were to actually create tags in this conversation, having the character select a regular response with the intentions to lie would still result in the character gaining said tag. So, from a role playing perspective; my character lied when they said they are from Daggerford - but the game would still incorrectly register my character as someone from Daggerford unless they are specific options for lying.
Since the Sword Coast is a rather big place, and the West Faerûn is even bigger. staying within the region alone would require a lot of available responses to not limit the character immersion / roleplaying experience. Perhaps anything outside the Sword Coast would have to be labeled as "From outside the Sword Coast" or similar, leaving the tag a little more open for interpretation instead of specifying even further. So, with the Forgotten Realm's map in mind, I would assume that the safest action for Larian would be to establish at least the geographical background in Character Creation. Perhaps with a click-able map so players can click on certain regions to receive more information about the available locations in said region?
Edit: Or perhaps a solution would be that the conversation is multi-layered. Ex:
NPC: "Where are you from?"
- "West Faerûn."
- "North Faerûn."
- "South Faerûn."
- "East Faerûn."
- "The Underdark."
Or perhaps even more accurate by including ex. northeast, southwest, northwest locations. So let's say the character selects "West Faerûn".
"Ah, so you're not very far from home then, are you?"
- "Quite a bit away - I am from Evermeet..."
- "Indeed, I am from Baldur's Gate"
- "Not quite, I am from Moonshae Isles"
Etc, etc.
The biggest issue with this option is that unless the player already has a fair bit of knowledge of the geographical map of Faerûn - these options would only be tiring and confusing. Even if the game were to show information when certain keywords are mouseover'ed (like, let's say BATTLETECH), unavoidably, there'd be A LOT of text to read - which probably would break immersion off entirely for most players if this occurred in the middle of the game.
Soooo... Well. I believe the easiest options for all parts involved would be to include this kind of stuff in Character Selection. It would be fun to have small details added through-out the game though, like more specifics about your chosen previous occupation and/or other fun details - while always leaving a option for the player do "decline" these tags if they don't feel like it matches their character. Example:
At character creation you chose the background "Sailor". While at the Baldur's Gate harbor a man comes up to you.
"Heyyy, I recognize you! Did we not meet in Waterdeep a few years ago?"
- "Sorry, you've mistaken me for somebody else." (Nothing special happens - the NPC apologizes for the mistake and perhaps is left a bit puzzled. If they have a quest, then they ask you about it anyways)
- [Lie] "Sorry, you've mistaken me for somebody else." (opens for a deceptive roll check whenever he'll recognize you or not)
- "Maybe - I have done a fair share of sailing." (The sailor ponders, insisting that he recognizes you. The player gets a second chance to specify "Oh now I remember...", definitely decline "No, I dont think so" or just shrug, saying they don't know. Neutral dialogues open up for the two last options - friendly or hostile depending on what dialogue options the player chose to follow with)
- "Indeed we did, David. Good to see you!" (Opens friendly dialogue and some dialogue options for the player surrounding the specifics - like if they met at a bar, worked together or perhaps saved some cargo from some thieves."
- "Oh right, you were the sailor of <insert random ship name> - are you still mad about that incident?" (Opens hostile dialogue - also with options surrounding the specifics - perhaps the PC did some pickpocketing on him, perhaps they cheated him while playing cards or perhaps PC just made it off with a girl he fancied - idk)
- "We did, and I swore I'd give you a good beating if I ever found you again." (Also opens up a hostile dialogue - with available specifics like a more serious incidents - like the PC attempting to rob him, murder him or something generally evil. Like feeding him to some goblins?).
Last edited by Dez; 30/04/21 11:54 AM.
