TL;DR at the bottom. I hope we can discuss story together however.
This is mostly a repost of my post on Reddit, with edits for Larian Forums, but I just wanted to make sure this feedback gets to the right place.
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Having done some research on Divinity, I found out that this game is very... flimsy. To the point where it's melting my brain. In regards of story telling and it's relationship to you, either you play an Origin character, or a Custom Hero, but something is a little off when you start calling things "Canon".
Note that a poll was done by Larian in 2016 -
https://www.strawpoll.me/11084333/rNow this poll, if retaken and reworded might yield different results today, knowing what we know, but overall I am comfortable thinking most people make themselves in these worlds, even without COOP in mind. Aggregate might say it's about half and half. But consider that each of those Origin characters speak to people individually and they gravitate towards them, exactly what a custom Character does by letting you be you.
Now with that in mind, I wanted to discuss how I find each of these Origin characters lesser than themselves when you play as one of them.
For example, every single companion IF you play as one of the Origin character can solve their own personal story on their own.
However, playing as one of them (Co-op doesn't count) the other companions turn to you to solve their quest. Not that they need you to hand hold them, but there is a plus when they involve you in their tale as their support.
Ifan forgives Lucian if you play as Ifan, yet calls you the betrayer for forgiving Lucian if not
Sebille tells you a song that can counter the Master, or resists the Master on her own with no mention of any song.
etc. etc. for each companion.
You know those moments the characters pull you aside and have a chat with you regarding their own personal issues?
You lose those moments don't you? They don't exist anymore and there is no opportunity to get to further know them.
It's partly why I knew to play as a custom hero because firstly, you barely get the Origin voice actor, and secondly, you get the same overarching outcome towards the end of the game and their own personal quest, but miss out on rather significant tales. Sebille having a song that she MUST share with someone or else she can't break free, but somehow can because the narrator say's you're a Godwoken so here's your plot resist, well what about Lohse? That's a major hand wave, and you get to see Sebille become so vulnerable in the hands of her Master and even you to a degree by trusting you, but that kind of emotional moment is gone if you play as her.
Instead of interacting with these characters as people, you have the narrator tell you the story in their heads. It may be an attempt to see their perspective, but with the narrator having his voice as it is, I don't feel as though I'm really getting anything more from their inner thoughts that I could than by interacting with them as a new separate hero. Nor their personal reactions in dialogue, seeing as I can engage in dialogue with them even if they aren't the MC, and they can interrupt me to take the lead in conversation with full VO work.
But the parts they don't tell, when they hesitate to tell or flat out say no to you are just so much better than them monologuing their own thoughts. There's that mystery, that anxiety for the next conversation.
There could be a discussion to be had about how it could have been done better, but you're dealing with 6 origins. Lara Croft can have inner thoughts in her games but she's mostly the sole character that matters, if you want to talk about what's realistically feasible. Try that one, 6 whole stories where each voice actor is doing narration alongside regular VO work, not impossible, but difficult.
Now the only thing missing with a custom hero is that you don't get to define yourself to your companions. You don't get to tell them your own backstory, they don't really ask either. And you should be able to exist within the world, and have a backstory that the other characters find interesting as well and help you with your own personal quest potentially, even demand you solve it their way, the same way you influence them to do things too! That's the main issue here.
I know why they don't ask or even care really, because we partly don't exist essentially. Which is a shame. I feel that our characters, us, we players, humans, are the supreme constant in these types stories, as in, not the Witcher 3 or a more linear example. We are always there and I believe the story is stronger if we do exist as ourselves in canon if we can create custom heroes. Simply calling us "the other adventurer", the missing puzzle piece that is never filled until we start the tale. Not the chosen one or anything, but a distinct variable. Someone beyond a vessel for the companions to vent their problems to, and a real person.
Otherwise you may as well not have the custom hero and opt for a more, Geralt from the Witcher style of storytelling, where it isn't our story, but it is more concise and definitive. DOS2, however, does make it seem like it is about our own stories. We take 4 of the 6 companions making for unique compositions of parties, we can create our own avatars, we can romance who we wish, we can decide what to do towards each goal, even if there is an overarching canon, we can still fiddle with things and not disrupt that predetermined outcome, being "Seal the Veil".
*Witcher 3 Spoilers Potentially*Like how Geralt can romance Triss or Yen, the game ends on that note, leaving it up to you to decide how he ends his journey, there is no "canon" love interest or ending for him in the Witcher 3, although some may Yennefer or the author of the book is of a mind, it won't matter in the future of the games because there are no future Geralt games in that trilogy. It's a satisfying open ended conclusion to an interpretation of the novels.
Not so in DOS2. There is a canon ending, and unlike Geralt, we have no constant being who sat upon the throne if any did, who was in the party if any were, and who solved their companions issues if they did. I wrote an ending discussion about it a few days ago, about why I was so deflated and dissatisfied after enjoying so much of the game up until the problems started to surface.
This excerpt is from the Divinity Wiki, I have no idea where the true codex is for Divinity or if it even exists, or if this is canon anymore with how much time has pass, but it reads as such -
"By 1244 AD Ifan rejoins the Order. With the Commander and Lohse, they embark on a mission to capture Malady, who stole magical weapons from Lucian."
That was the premise for Fallen Heroes I believe. It is on-hold at the moment, it could even be canceled but lets say it wasn't, this was after all in production and they had gotten that far with their plot, being the 6 Origins and Malady returning after two years to the Lady Vengeance, and starting a new journey.
Who's the Commander? In my mind it should just be the Custom Hero from DOS2. How would that work if Fallen Heroes had a narrative and you were suddenly having a dialogue with a character you already knew? But now the game tells you this person is a stranger to you? We already know the Red Prince, why am I learning about him again? And where is my hero? He won't sit idly by while the world is in need. Not when his friends are in peril.
That's pure speculation on how Fallen Heroes would go if it had a narrative, which it seems that it was going to to an extent, but mostly be a pure Tactics title rather than a traditional RPG. Which would be a very disconnected departure from what I think was DOS2's strong point, the storytelling. Or rather, a messy story with really good and interesting concepts in between that were not meshed together well enough.
If all 6 heroes from DOS2 survive, when we can only take 4, if all 6 heroes can potentially solve all their own quests, and forgo all the development, growth, and specific dialogue along the way they had with you, how can one really call anything other than an overarching ending canon? And how can you continue a story with these same characters without consistency? Each one of us had a different experience, if one of us played an Origin character, we define that character. The Red Prince can be far nicer if you play him, but play another character and he becomes his default canonical arrogant self.
If Larian wants to retcon 2 of the 6 dying and having them all return in some way, that's fine. If Larian wants to choose a specific ending, that's reasonable too. If Larian want's to make definitive choices that ensure Lohse isn't a demon, Sebille isn't a tree or bound to any oath, if Ifan forgives Lucian, etc, that's totally within the characters agency to make those choices. But if these characters all can solve their own issues, what is the canon party composition that did that? There is no mention of a canon party composition, yet realistically, I'd find Ifan and Fane to be on their own. But if they never partied together? If they all set out by themselves?
You deflate the entire experience for people who do care about the story. And for me the story should be solid and decisive. But a game allows for that flexibility, so it's generous when the author says "This is what happens, but you're allowed to take different paths before you get to the end, and it's totally valid".
Notice in so much of Baldur's Gate 3's advertising they're constantly talking about how this is your story, that being a halfing or elf won't ruin your story or bar you from certain choices?
I think Larian needs to solidify that and there is no current bar better than that of Dragon Age and Mass Effect (with snarky replies considered, RGB and all, I know). Both of them take the entangled web of decisions and nuance and allow them to thrive in multiple different paths but all eventually leading to the same conclusion, the illusion of choice. All roads lead to Rome, and DOS2 is the exact same, and can benefit with future titles if they adopt that philosophy.
Considering at the time Larian was pretty small scale compared to how they've grown for Baldur's Gate 3, I think they weren't thinking long term. However look at where DOS2 has gone, from board games to comic books, to future titles and expansions, it's obvious that the characters from DOS2 have staying power, beyond the first DOS's cast.
We're seeing further content for the 6 Origin characters in a new series of comic books, so obviously there is a hunger for these 6 characters. Either within Larian or from without here on forums, I think we have come to see these characters as pretty interesting and their potential barely scratched. I can't see the need to head to the drawing board again and try to capture lightning in a bottle again. New characters can exist, but to hit the reset button everytime is so, destructive, throw-away. In an age of Marvel fatigue where I can't get away from Iron Man and Captain America, all the characters and stories I do love seem so fleeting to me. Maybe they're sweeter for it? I refuse.
If we do see these characters again, I really hope that there is space for a seventh hero. You. Me. All of us. I hope that in the future when we refer to "canon", while there aren't going to be any comic books about that 7th hero, the lore won't just dismiss us as not having any part in it. The player, you, shouldn't be a Command Shepard, or Chosen One, but just a variable that is present within the lore, some empty space that the world does recognize as being there and having a presence, and having a distinct impact on the world and her companions.
The ending of DOS2 feels like setting the stage for a new adventure, DOS2 feels like a Part One, and it ended in a way that by the time I felt close to my companions and romances, the game basically ends, being very vague to all of characters futures including yours. I'd love to revisit them in future games, and if we do, instead of learning about their pasts this time, have us all jump in with them, this time going into the unknown together rather than fixing loose ends for a good majority of the game.
I can't imagine my character sitting by while the 6 Origin characters muster to action, and just giving me control of some other person again, telling me these people are strangers.
If you are going to be more methodical, I hope that means you also start treating the player as a person in your world, we do after all willing step foot inside them and want to be apart of it in some way. Open the option to be our own person, our own constant in the universe, like the Hero of Ferelden, the Vault Dweller, the Dragonborn, even if you didn't play them, let the Hero of Fort Joy be that 7th companion. You.
TL;DR - The Custom Heroes should exist in canonical lore as the 7th Origin, a variable that impacts the world as vaguely as the Origin characters can, without being considered non-canon or all important. You, are that variable.
P.S. I only bring up examples in other games to simply put reference to what I'm talking about. I am not of the position to tell any creative person to copy other works or to stay within boundaries predefined. I just express that the current method of leaving the custom hero out of the world doesn't work specifically in DOS2 since the custom hero enables the companions to have agency and expression beyond what we would have them do if we played them ourselves. I believe the custom hero is integral to this game specifically as it stands, not as a cry for more of the same from other sources.