To be quite honest, I'm quite baffled that someone should go to all the time and effort to produce a gotcha that really wasn't necessary.
Whether or not some people have been overly happy about this, I've also seen many people quite rightly point out it's not far from Dragon Age Origins. It's not a million miles from Cyberpunk either. I mean were people really going around claiming the wheel had been re-invented here?
I linked to a good video on the origin system before. The guy broke it down well. The origin system is pre determined characters with built in backstory that contributed to extra reactivity and narrative in the game world beyond the default player experience. He said the pros were generally when you played as one, the cons when they became companions, because you either felt content was missing or that the companions became overly mysterious, interesting and tied to the story in a way the default experience wasn't. It's a common complaint on here about them.
I mean if you're sinking to rules lawyering a promo quote from a community update to be a core of your argument, I think you might be taking it a bit too far. Most people have taken it as a new way of doing the origins, not a grand innovation in crpgs.
It really should go without saying though, the default 'bhaalspawn' experience would be the Tav one. The Dark Urge would be like if someone wrote a mod that added more to your character. Furthermore it is clearly more than backstory, because as well the tadpole story, picking this option will clearly add new elements going forward, likely elements in Baldur's Gate city itself which I can't help feel will also be a factor in the origin given the web series thing.
Just to be clear. Tav= backstory
Dark Urge= Backstory, with extra bits of narrative, character and reactivity
