I was actually impressed at how many different characters just four voices suited in DA:I, and how the same voice could feel different just because the face and character were new. Though as I said earlier in this thread, I’d really like six options for BG3.
For me the pc’s voice in DA:I and DA2 was too generic sounding. Still better than no voice, though! I prefer how it is done in Mass Effect.
And even better in WItcher3. The poblem is that neither Shepard nor Geralt are custom characters. I heard them described as "shared protagonist" - mostly pre-defined protagonist with only some player input. Fun formula, adding some player agency to a pre-defined playable character, but hardly ideal material for an RPG protagonist.
DA:I (and BG3 Tav if he/she is fully voiced) run into the problem of not satisfying neither of the goals - they don't allow to create a true "custom" and they fail to provide a compelling protagonist to latch to.
In terms of design It's a simple conncept of a slider and "custom" and "pre-defined" being on opposites sides. The more you slide toward "pre-defined" the more space devs have to create a compelling protagonist to watch and listen to, but the further they go this way the less customisation is left to the player. The closer you go to "custom" though, the more you ask players to bring with themselves to the game. DA:I was actually pretty hard on "pre-defined" side, except it didn't do much with it. I don't think it counts as being "customisable".
