Here's an example of a missed opportunity: Everyone's favorite "Meat to the Face" shot right before falling off the Nautiloid. It happens to everyone currently...

Now what if that happened the first time, and you were playing a big hulked out warrior with low Dex. They get smacked in the gob as usual.

But next playthrough the character is a Rogue with high Dex. They dodge the flying meat and smirk before swan diving out the Nautiloid.

Next playthrough after that the character is a Cleric, and some divine light intercepts the flying meat and suspends it mid-air while a halo appears above the Character's head and Gregorian chant starts playing.

Perhaps the Character is a Monk, and they catch the meat with lightning reflexes and crush it with their iron fist Wushu style. Then they backflip off the Nautiloid.

See what I'm saying?

They could be doing things to set up a feeling of unique Character, but they're not doing it. The prologue would actually be a good place to start, since its so repetitive and we are forced to play it out every single time.

Those are bare bones examples too, reducing Character to Class. But they haven't even got that far yet. To say nothing of different backgrounds or alignments or whatever within the same Class archetype. If they can't even make my Warrior feel different than my Rogue, what are the odds they're going to be able to make my Evil Self-Serving Supremely confident Wizard who grew up as a Criminal on the mean streets of Baldur's Gate feel any different than my Goodly Goofy Altruistic Wizard who loves animals and really wanted to be a circus performer, but couldn't because his Noble parents forced him to go to an ivy league Wizard's prep-school? I'd say the odds are basically zero hehe.

I think they have to choose. Either they can have a really spectacular and engrossing but singular performance, or they can maintain the pretense of player character choice and control with some variety. I don't think they can really have both in a game like this. It's probably not impossible to achieve both, but I've yet to see that pulled off in an RPG game, or any game really. The requirements to set that up are so much more demanding than just voice work, once they've decided they're going to show us the Protagonist performance In-Full, as if this was a movie. I think its better not to hold up the mirror in that case, at least not in a D&D game. Like just don't show us, and we can maintain the illusion. Show us and that illusion is dispelled. The player character in the latter case must be content with just fitting the part and playing the role they're given. The player becomes a spectator or voyeur, rather than the one innovating or creating a role of their own. Totally different forms of role play and a very different sense engaging with the idea of performance.

I'm not sure if the OP question was really in reference to the Main Character, but that's how I read it. For the MC the answer is "almost irrelevant" and I think it damages the whole vibe just by existing, but for NPCs the answer would be "extremely important" and the quality of the voice acting is probably the be-all in that case. It works for Morrigan as my companion, but I don't want to be Morrigan as my protagonist, if that makes sense. I think Larian has hopelessly complicated things by suggesting that we should be able to do the latter in a D&D game with their divisive Origins concept. I find the whole concept of a Pre-Gen protagonist anathema to the central project of D&D.

The mise-en-scène for the "Crashing Nautiloid" says so much about what this game is, and what it's trying to be. It's impossible for me to avoid coming back to it, even if I don't really have choice anyway. The fact that they've spent a year on the first Act, and yet the prologue remains largely unchanged (except we can spring Shadowheart from her tank I guess, and now it's night time, sorta?) it just says a lot to me. They need to try a bit harder there, if they want to win me over. Don't make me wait 3 hours to find out what you've been working on lately. The prologue should be a fucking masterpiece by now. They've only had what, like a thousand rehearsals? lol

Last edited by Black_Elk; 20/09/21 07:45 AM.