Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - General Which Origin Character are you looking forward to playing?

You are welcome to disagree with me, but no need to be snide.

The dying frog gasped "Why?"
The scorpion replies: "It's my nature..."

You are welcome to disagree with me, but no need to be snide.

Pre-made characters and conventions go together because convention games are generally sit-down-and-play or at least not signed up for before the con day, and when you've only got a short time to play you don't want to spend the first hour on character creation (not to mention it might not even be a system you're familiar with to begin with). It's not really the same circumstances.

People enjoy playing pregenerated characters. They always have. It seems to me that you just announced a personal campaign to tell those people that they're having bad fun, or rather, that the fun they're having is not what DnD is about, as if you've somehow been granted the objective authority to make such a declaration.

And finally, it is you who are claiming some sort of authority over what and how I am allowed to critique BG3, which I will not abide.

Pregen PnP D&D characters also aren't the same as Larian Origin Characters. Imo D&D pregens are most useful for their mechanics - everything is on the page and ready to be used. This is especially useful for conventions, where if you allowed people to create their own characters, likely you'd either spend 30 min to an hour on character creation and/or people would come with redundant/overpowered/incorrectly-created characters. Also for new players - I'll emphasize an earlier point that only the intro Starter Sets come with premade adventurers, to help new players get into the game without feeling overwhelmed at all the options during character creation.

Whereas Larian Origin characters aren't made to speed up starting the game (they slightly do this, but it's not their purpose) or to make playing the game easier (they don't do this at all). The main point of Origin Characters is to experience that character's story. So even if you argue that premade characters are a staple of D&D, this doesn't necessarily translate to Origin characters. A more apt comparison would be if BG3 provided premade builds and recommended spells/feats to take at higher levels.

There's a long history in DnD of pregen characters with personalities. It's not just limited to starter kits.

Several came with wonderful artwork depicting the characters, along with their backgrounds written out.

I daresay some of the best experiences have come from playing those characters. One of the joys is that the characters tend to be more complete than the typical blank slate a lot of the players come to the table with.

It's like acting. A good actor isn't necessarily a good writer, and so the actor can often bring the pre-written character to life better than they can create a character from whole clothe.

This doesn't really respond to the bulk of my post which focused on the differences between pregens and Origins. Again, even in these PnP pregens, their written backstories aren't as intrusive as Larian Origins who have more of a defined arc during, not just before, the game. Larian Origin characters are made so you play through and experience their story (SH & Shar, Lae'zel and the gith, Gale and Mystra/bomb, Wyll and his devil), whereas pregens typically provide a starting point but then allow freedom during the game.

This is especially true for SH, who has an in-game backstory that you - the player - don't really even get to know. You discover it during the game, but this is again playing through SH's story and learning who she is, as opposed to making her character your own from a set starting point.

I'm not really sure what point you're making that hasn't been addressed multiple times throughout the thread.

If anything, all of this means it's better to play an Origin character. Instead of a typical blank slate with a "chosen one" nod, you get to play an actual character with an actual back story. Sounds exciting!

As for the character's free will, of course you'll be able to make choices for the Origin character during play. There'll still be conversation choice trees, and you'll still be able to pick the option you want. It's not like the whole game is going to turn into a movie once you select your Origin character.

Like I say, I'm not reading anything new here. All of this has been addressed, and I even mentioned how pregen characters are often more complete in my last post, which you quoted.

I find the circular arguing about what is or isn't DnD to be wasteful. Strip the purity arguments away and you find something more compelling - that there are very good reasons why very few developers in the gaming industry are pushing the system as hard as what Larian is trying to do. And it has nothing to do with Larian trying to push any boundaries in this department, as this isn't some budget thing.

The real thing people should be focusing on is that the Origin system simultaneously diminishes the importance of a custom character, AND robs the actual companions/origin characters of their agency. The latter is concerning in ways rarely ever brought up in these parts, indirectly stripping down their characterization due to the idea that they have to remain somewhat open-ended in order to become potential lead characters, instead of actually being allowed to become their own thing. All in the name of dubious 'replay value' that only really translates to maybe 10-20% of the content being changed in any meaningful way. All these development resources sunk into the system and sacrifices being made in other areas, for what in the end?

Someone brought up that the origin system may largely exist for multiplayer, but let's be realistic, the vast majority of DOS2 multiplayer sessions I had participated in had people rolling custom characters, and nobody really gave a shit about the story. The only sessions where origin characters were used were those that weren't composed of full 4 player groups.
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I think your point about it being better to play an Origin character is exactly what people who are against the system don't want. They want their custom character to be at least as satisfying, if not more satisfying than playing an Origin, and I think that that's a very reasonable thing to want here. I don't have an issue with Origins in theory, but I do take issue with the idea that playing them presents a definitively better or more satisfying experience than playing a custom character. I think that for a lot of people, myself included, shaping a pre-planned, fleshed out character simply doesn't present the same satisfaction and enjoyment as creating your own unique character. And given that this is a crpg, and choice and reactivity towards your custom character is more or less a central staple of the genre, I don't think it's reasonable to expect people to just accept the idea that playing a custom character will present a lesser experience. That would be akin to playing a first-person shooter where using guns presents a less satisfying experience than using knives and melee weapons does. It doesn't mean the game is strictly bad, but it does mean that if you're advertising it as an FPS, then uninteresting gunplay will be a valid criticism. Especially since I can't be sure if Larian WANTS Origins to be better or if that happening just ends up being a consequence of their writing process.

The reason I haven't responded in this thread before(I think?) is because I worried it might be rude to say....none of them.