Since it was revealed on the Panel From Hell 8 (Release Showcase) last Friday, there has been a lot of discussion about the Dark Urge. And a lot of confusion and incorrectness. So I wanted to clarify a thing or two. Actually, exactly two.
The super-short version of this post is as follows.
- The Dark Urge is not an Origin Character.
- The Dark Urge is not a new concept.
The Dark Urge is not an Origin Character.In party-based RPGs, like BG3, characters fall into 3 categories.
- NPC Non-Companions. (Examples : Nettie, Trader Arron.)
- NPC Companions. (Examples : Jaheira, Minsc.)
- Player Characters (PC).
And whether it's in an RPG or another video game, Player Characters can themselves be of at least 3 types.
- Pre-designed characters. Those are characters with a fixed Backstory, a fixed personality, and fixed game stats. (Examples : Lara Croft, Geralt.)
- Semi-Custom Characters. Those are characters with a fixed Backstory, customisable personality, and customisable game stats. (Example : Gorion's Ward.)
- Fully-Custom Characters. Those are characters with customisable Backstory, customisable personality, and customisable game stats. (Example : what we had so far in BG3's EA with the Custom Character.)
A couple of notes :
- When I say fixed Backstory, for the Semi-Custom Character, this can be more or less vague, leaving more or less blanks for the player to fill. But some elements are fixed, and will generally be built upon by the game's story.
- By game stats I mean all the mechanical aspects. Race, Class, powers, etc.
- For the purpose of this discussion, I distinguished 3 aspects (Backstory, personality, game stats), and each aspect has 2 states (fixed or customisable), for simplicity. This would theoretically lead to 8 possible types of PCs. But the 3 aspects are not completely independent, and not all types are relevant. What I call Semi-Custom is just one very particular type of PC between the 2 extremes (full-customisable and full-fixed), and that's the one relevant for this discussion.
To my (finite, limited) knowledge, what Larian does with their concept of
Origin Character is pretty rare, if not unique. I don't know about DOS1, but they used Origin Characters in DOS2 and are using them again in BG3.
Because the concept is quite niche, Larian figured it would be a good idea to explain, in their FAQ, what an
Origin Character is. I wholeheartedly agree.
What is an Origin character?
Origin Characters are pre-designed characters. You can select them during character creation to start your adventure in their shoes (not available during Early Access, but will be added at launch) or you can recruit them during your journey. Origin Characters come with personal backstories, quests and motivations, and have unique ways of interacting with the world, whether you're playing as them or alongside them. If recruited as companions, their previous experiences and attitudes will influence their opinion about what you should do and how you should behave. Everything that you do or say might influence the course of your relationship with them, and determine whether you'll become friends, lovers, rivals, or bitter enemies.
If you create a custom character, you have the freedom to define your race, class and appearance, and you'll still find yourself embedded in the story of Baldur's Gate 3 through personal connections to the events that unfold. Exactly how is something we'll let you discover as you play.
One of the occasional benefits of leaving a near-complete draft of post open in a tab for 4 days is the ability to incorporate new information. So let me add this new explanation, from the freshly released Community Update.
So what is an Origin character exactly? They’re playable heroes, each with their own stories, desires, and attitudes towards the world around you. If you choose to create your own customised character instead, these Origin characters become your companions, who you may (or may not) recruit throughout your journey.
In short, an
Origin Character is the superposition of a
Pre-designed PC and an
NPC Companion.
In BG3, there will be a roster of 6 Origin Characters. When creating your PC, you can choose one of them or create a Custom Character. Then, the 5-or-6 that you didn't choose as PC at character creation spawn in the world as NPC Companions.
One obvious remark, but that I feel needs saying nonetheless, is that Origin Characters are characters. (I said it was obvious.)
Now, the
Dark Urge is just a
Backstory tag, which is available exclusively to a Custom PC. You add it on your character sheet, amongst the other tags that will have been generated by your Custom Character choices (Race, Class, Deity, Place Of Origin, etc). And then, this tag opens up extra content unique to your character. Except that it's a bit of a super-charged tag if you prefer. While tags like your Race or Class typically unlock optional dialogue lines (or special interactions with some Side Quests, like Druid in the Kagha Quest), the Dark Urge Backstory tag will probably unlock a much more significant amount content. And, probably, some unique interactions with the Main Story.
Putting the concepts of
Origin Character and the newly-introduced
Dark Urge tag side by side, it's pretty obvious that the Dark Urge is not an Origin Character.
Indeed, if you don't select Dark Urge at character creation, you won't meet them as NPC Companion in the game world. So it's not an Origin Character.
Or, more efficiently, it's a Backstory tag, not a character, so it's not an Origin Character.
Having explained why the Dark Urge is rather clearly not an Origin Character, I think I see one very likely source of confusion.
When creating a PC (be it for tabletop RPG or a CRPG), we might want to talk about what happened to that character before the beginning of the campaign. To this end, we are likely to use the following words and phrases, which are synonyms or near-synonyms : backstory, biography, past, or origin. And of course, many famous Super Heroes have their own origin story, the one that explains how they came to be who and what they are. (Note the second word, story, in the phrase origin story. It is, importantly, not the same word as character.) And in addition, when creating your PC, you might also want to consider their place of origin.
So, yeah. Used on its own, the word origin sounds a lot like backstory. In view of this, Larian's decision to name their combination of Pre-designed PC and an NPC Companion an Origin Character was probably not the wisest of choices. But it is what it is.
If you write that the Dark Urge is an origin (or origin tag), with lower case o and not followed by the word character, then you're absolutely right. But this is also quite confusing in a BG3 context, where Larian used the phrase Origin Character to mean something very different. If you are talking, the risk of confusion is even higher. Be safe. Don't talk about a character's origin in BG3. Talk about their backstory, their past, or their bio.
This one is obvious too.
From a mechanical point of view :The Dark Urge is a Custom Character with pre-designed Backstory, customisable personality and customisable game stats. It's a Semi-Custom Character ...
Like Gorion's Ward in BG1&2.
From a thematic and narrative point of view :The Dark Urge is an amnesic with murderous urges. I think both trait have been used extensively in fiction, and the combination of the two must have occured a good couple of times.
Focusing specifically on the urges, the Dark Urge is a character who experiences bloody and murderous urges which have a mysterious origin, perhaps even some dreams featuring blood and murder ...
Like Gorion's Ward in BG1&2.
So ... yeah. We've seen this before. The Dark Urge is nothing new.
Now, this lack of novelty in the Dark Urge is not necessarily a bad thing. In fact, given that this game is BG3, one could argue (if this was the topic of this post, and it isn't) that tying back to something we've already seen in BG1&2 is a good thing. But it's still not a new thing.
