The way it works in Guild Wars 2 is that you get a series of questions, which change slightly based on your race and profession:
1. Profession-specific question (no impact on personal story; determines non-ranger's starting equipment or ranger's pet)
2. Personality-related question (no impact on personal story; determines starting personality)
3. 1st race-specific background question (determines Chapter I of personal story)
4. 2nd race-specific background question (determines Chapter II of personal story for non-charr; determines the NPC story partner for charr)
5. 3rd race-specific background question (determines Chapter II of personal story for charr; no impact on personal story for non-charr)
The chapters are really just a series of side quests. I had a character who never knew their parents, but found a letter with a clue about them and that lead me to meet up with an NPC somewhere who had some information and so on until eventually I found the graves of my parents.
It doesn't have to be as complex as that in BG3, but it would be nice to be able to explore your character a little more. I'm not a fan of the blank slate character that just stands there and reacts to the NPCs.
