Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - Story & Character Discussion Feedback: Origin chars as MC

Having completed 7 full playthroughs (rather a lot, yes I know), here are my thoughts on origin characters played as main characters:

Having seen them as proper characters beforehand, as the main character they come off as lobotomized and soulless by comparison. Losing their voice acting and animated dialog severely hurts them. As they stand, Dark Urge excluded, they're not really worth playing as a main character. If anything they're a direct downgrade from the same origin character as a follower. So you only lose out on something by choosing them - not to mention they can't even be customized whatsoever.

It does make one realize just how much the main character is hurt by not having voice acting and animated dialog as such, and just how much more they could be if they did.

I realize it'd be quite an expense and will likely never happen at this point. But I must recommend it all the same.

Game's been out for less than three weeks, if you're completing a playthrough under three days, you're rushing the game way too much. To properly explore one playthrough you need at minimum 150 hours...bare absolute minimum. That's at least a week...assuming no sleep or food, which is not how anyone should play...even 12 hours a day is too much to play for extended periods of time.

I don't understand how you have managed to complete so many playthroughs but good for you, that's impressive. And it's interesting to hear how the origins play. However I firmly disagree about giving the MC voice acting. Doing that immediately removes so much of our own ability to characterise them ourselves. The origins lose stuff because they're defined characters with their own mannerisms and backstories and personalities. If they gave Tav voice actig and more animated dialogue then how could they reconcile me playing a curious dwarven bard and then a no-nonsense drow paladin?

Thing is, they did have their own narration and internal monologues, which were cut when people complained and we got Amelia Tyler instead (who is great, but it's a massive change to a core concept of the game.) The unique Daisies are another reason why the origin system seemed to exist, but they got cut, too. The characters making bad decisions (hello, Gale) also seemed to be a point for playing as them to see what'd happen, why they did things, etc... but they cut those, too!

So, ultimately, I agree. It feels very strange to play as Lae'zel if you like Lae'zel because you get... less Lae'zel. I don't really see the point of the whole origin system, as of release.

The problem is they lose content as MC, I played wyll and I still don't know the context that caused him to sign his contract. Or as shadow heart I imagine you never have her little girl flashback as mc

If they completed 7 playthroughs a day, playing 18 hours a day every day, each playthrough has 54 hours. That's enough time to 100% all of Acts 1 and 2, but means they can't even start 3. So skipping is an understatement.

Basically the whole Origin system is flawed. It sounds great on paper, but writing and voiceacting each of the Origin characters for every possible answer in every dialogue would have been a monumental task. Same as with the Custom characters.
If you look at games where the MC is fully voice acted, such as Mass Effect or even the Dragon Age series (except for the first one) the dialouge options suffer for the voice acting, and may only provide you with 2-3 choices instead of 5-7 as this game does. And on top of the Origin characters, for the custom characters you would need at least 2 VAs, one for the male and one for the female versions, and possibly a few for the different races to sound good as well.

I am not sure how are VAs paid, by the words, sentences or the hour, but honestly, beyond the sheer size of this work I think it would also put a ridicculus strain on the developement budget as well and really wouldn’t add that much to the game experience.

I think having non voice acted MCs in exchange for more dialogue options is a good traid off.

The Origins are great as companions, but I am uncertain whether or not that playing them as the MC would be worth it. You miss out on their dialogue, reactivity and interactions if they are just party members. While I can see them as the protagonist of their own stories in a game as interconnected as Baldur's Gate 3 it seems like you are missing out on content, especially when you can keep them all as companions with no cut off point like in DOS2. Provided you make the correct choices.

Yeah, I know I'm old school, but I would much rather have seen the origin companions be developed as NPCs only and use the time/resources spent on their PC versions go towards more companions and/or more Dragon Age type origins ala Dark Urge.

Agreed completely on the not worth playing as origin companions imo. Even DOS2, people say "you're missing out on so much" and then only when pressed do they admit "well, you get more nuance and a bit more lore from playing as an origin", and DOS2 pushed origin companions more than BG3. In BG3 I see almost no benefit, the main story doesn't change at all, at most you get a few slightly different cutscenes and some dialogue options to change the flavour of the game.

I'd actually argue that Dark Urge is the most unique playthrough simply because of the unique mechanics, so if you absolutely wanted a totally different playthrough DU would be where it's at.

I wonder if the Origin system is designed not with single player experiences in mind at all, but to give more flavor to full multiplayer parties.

Origin system is now pretty much vestigial and frankly a failed experiment; EA pushed them into a more standard CRPG format (removing unique narrations etc) and now there really is no reason to play Origin just as people say. it's a shame really.