Originally Posted by JandK
Originally Posted by kanisatha
For starters, it could just have been exactly like it was in the original BG games, made 23 years ago. Charname was a blank slate, and yet was central to the story of those games. That's all I am asking for, though after 23 years surely Larian could've come up with even more than that. But if it had been just like how Charname was done in the original games, that itself would've made me so much more happy with BG3.

Let's say I want to play an apprentice red wizard who was forced to flee my master and now I've just arrived on the Sword Coast ready for adventure.

Then I start the game and learn that I'm an orphan at Candlekeep. It's only a blank slate within certain confines.

It seems that the "blank slate" character typically has to be an orphan or absent memory. That way a background can be snuck in to make the character relevant to the plot.

And, as far as I can tell, that's exactly what was done with the Dark Urge.

I'm not trying to prove I'm right or anything. I can tell that some folks are searching for something else; I'm just trying to understand what that something else is.

I feel like a lot of it comes down to "Larian could have figured out something that I would have liked more, but I'm not sure what that is." Again, I'm just trying to understand. I say that with all sincerity, not in an attempt to be rude.
Well, I would've been okay with a 'limited' blank slate as you suggest here. In fact, I have posted multiple times that what I would've liked is a second Dark Urge, one that was entirely 'good' and a beacon of light. In fact, and I say this in the context of agreeing with a lot of what @Gray Ghost said in the post after yours, the perfect solution would been to have Tav the true blank slate plus multiple Dark Urge Concept options, and no origin companions. Those companions could've still existed, just as non-origin companions. As @Gray Ghost correctly identifies, the main problem here is that Larian was almost-obsessively focused on creating and then pushing us to use their origin characters. And so the whole game is built around the idea that although you can play the game in other ways, the *best* experience within the game can be attained ONLY by playing as one of Larian's Chosen. And not only is this something I refuse to do per personal preference, it also just pisses the hell out of me as a matter of principle.

I will NEVER ever play BG3 as one of Larian's origin characters. Period. Not even if I replay the game a thousand times. So then I am guaranteed to NEVER ever have that *best* roleplaying experience from the game. And *that* is total crap.

Last edited by kanisatha; 28/03/24 01:17 PM.