Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - General The Dark Urge and the Future of Origins

So there's a lot of rancour going on in the forums right now and I'd like to redirect some of that energy in another way. So I'm thinking about how Larian could implement future origins like TDU in future games, be they Baldur's Gate or not. Up front I'll admit that I would far prefer TDU style origins over the kind we currently have, hence wanting to discuss ways of using them.

The most obvious way to me is basically using them like Dragon Age: Origins did, having the character start off in a unique place and have a different beginning before entering a basically same main story. Since Larian likes to have companions with deep, integral quests perhaps they take it a step further and make it so that each origin has a companion tied to it. So for example, in an alternte version of BG3 there could be an origin where you're a member of Shadowheart's Sharran suicide squad, or another where you're like... Gale's apprentice or possibly an adventurer he hired to escort him somewhere before he was captured. I think that would be an extremely cool way to promote reactivity and make each run feel potentially special and unique, while also giving you a bit of a tie to one companion. There's a lot of possibilities that I hope they pursue with this new style of origin.

I am guessing that The Dark Urge was introduced as a result of player feedback that people wanted to create their own character but still have a beefy story to compete with the companion ones. Personally, I like the "blank slate" Tav and think there's a lot of potential there for creating smaller points of connection to the world without compromising on flexibility, but I think it's great that Larian seemed to have listened and are now trying to cover all the bases from total flexibility to a predefined character, and now with something in between.

And I agree that it feels like the approach for The Dark Urge could be extended to other origins, to give additional stories players can be part of while still being able to pick their class and race.

As I'm such a fan of the potential of the totally flexible route, personally I'd rather Larian looked at more modular ways to give players options to connect their players to the world (so, eg, as a monk, cleric or even paladin you could choose to be a Sharran and involved in SH's mission as you say, or as a druid you can choose to be from Silvanus' Grove, or a Shadow Druid initiate from Cloakwood, as a ranger you could choose to be hunting down representatives of a strange new cult, etc, but that doesn't necessarily define your whole story and you could also pick, say where you're from, whether you have family, and so on from a menu of options (including "none" if none suited), that then would be reflected in small ways in the world, rather than a few epic tales.

But then I can see epic tales working too, and can understand if that's more to other folks' taste. Feels like definite DLC potential!

I'm mostly thinking about what Larian is likely to do. I do prefer the blank slate that I can put more into, I just don't think Larian has done a great job of giving me opportunities to tie my character into the world, which bugs me when compared to the presence of origin characters. I think that what you're suggesting, letting players pick their ties to the world based on class, would be far better and cooler. But again it's a matter of what I think Larian's likely to do.

I think a big part of "what Larian's likely to do" will depend on usage of TDU. If it's compelling enough to get players taking an evil path when they otherwise wouldn't, there might be hope for non-evil non-companion origins in the future.

Class-based origins is great idea. They could also be tied to backgrounds, giving the background more flavor than just some skills and inspirations.