On a related note, I remember Swen mentioning that in the full release version of the game, the Custom Character will have a Backstory (thus, it will likely be a Semi-Custom Character, not a Fully-Custom Character). Whether there will be one or more Backstory to choose from, and whether one choice will be "Blank", I don't know. But it seems relatively likely that a Custom Character will be canonically considered to be from Baldur's Gate.
I remember this too, but I always just assumed that Baldurian was there as a placeholder.
For the purpose of receiving more efficient and valuable feedback, I really, really wish Larian communicated. And told us what is Placeholder, what is Bug, what is Working As Intended, what is Not Gonna Change, what is Being Worked On, what is Under Consideration, etc.
I am still not sure how I feel about this. I'd prefer a more of the blank slate character so that like many people here I could create my own background, or at least for the game to acknowledge a background selected at the CC. But for better storytelling I can understand that they might need to stick to some sort of predetermined background and personality to make Tav as engaging as other origin characters - a point that's been excessively discussed here on the forums as well.
I'm not sure it has that much to do with
better story-telling. Rather, I think it's more a matter of "making the PC be as central to the story, important and cool, as the companions". And for this, my general opinion is that people who want their PC to be as special as the other companions can play an Origin Character. Alternatively, if they choose a Custom Character, they can select the/one of Larian's pre-determined Backstories. But even if Larian writes only one, I hope that Custom Character can choose their Backstory between : Pre-written One, and None (i.e. Blank).
