Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - Suggestions & Feedback Playing as an origins character is a bad idea.

I don't know much about any of the characters and it seems like trying to shed their secrets is infinitely more interesting.

When they are NPCs they get voice acted dialogue and interactions.
And little events that just adds so much personality to them.

I am not saying you shouldn't be allowed to play as him or can't have fun if you play as him but you will probably miss out a lot of content Larian developed for him as an NPC.

Given this conclusion... perhaps Larian should invest in bigger party sizes. Let us always have our companions ready in our camp.
And finally give the custom character more story. Even if it kind of hinders their open ended origins.

I think this is the only way BG3 can be best experienced on a narrative level when it comes to the characters.

Super true. I played a little as Astarion and immediately after his first exclusive scene I regretted it and felt like I spoiled his character for myself

No thanks, I don't want someone else defining my Custom Characters.

how did you play as astarion? I can't pick him in the character creation screen

Mods. There are quite a lot of them already

There's a mod that lets you play as an origin character.

Then you will have no story and have to imagine it.

I prefer having something rather than nothing.

There is a reason that the "blank slate" PC is the most popular one for games like this. You can have plot, and a bit of backstory built in, but at this point I flat out refuse to play games that don't let me make a custom character. I certainly don't want to play someone else's D&D character. The whole point of D&D is to build and play a character you've crafted yourself. Emphasizing the "Origin" characters as anything other than companions feels bizarre and backwards to me.

I wonder how they will present the origin characters when the game releases. Maybe there will be a cinematic like they did for each characters in DOS 2. But I would rather play a custom character to discover each companion through the story. I don't know. Have to see how they implements what we know if we take an origin character.

I too prefer to play as custom over an origin and wholeheartedly agree they are a lot more interesting as companions. To me, it kinda looks like Larian is wasting a lot of resources creating these origin characters to be possible main characters rather than having them as companions only. Nobody would complain when you meet all these special dudes and you are just a common nobody writing their own tale, or have the backgrounds in character creation matter more. If they only used these resources polishing out the journey of our main (custom obviously) characters it would be great.

Which is the whole point of Custom Character. I get to decide the things that are open to interpretation, instead of letting someone else tell me who the character is. If I want that, I can play the Origin characters.

Their marketing is really stupid in that regard. Why create a scene where you discover Astarion is a vampire if you pushed this info through every hole you could find for months?

That is the whole point of custom characters, you the player decides what your character is. I would rather have a custom character instead of having someone else telling me what the character is. I will play an Origin Character if I want someone to tell me what my character is and what the background is. Since I do not want someone else to tell me that, I will just play a blank character a custom character and decide for myself what my character is and what his/her background is.

It's not for me to decide for others if "it's a bad idea", but I know it's something I have hardly any interest in.
Even in DOS 2 I vastly preferred when I was playing a custom character and experiencing other characters' stories as companions.

You seem to have missed the point of the whole post.
If I wanted to make the custom character another origin character then what would be the point of this thread?
I would be back where I started.

All I am saying is it would be nice to have something. Anything. That my character would have that connects them to this story and Baldur's gate than a silent observer who is completely detached from anything and everyone in the story.

And hey, maybe if you prefer that its easily implemented.
Select "no custom premade storyline" and then you will have your completely detached experience that you want.

Myself I would prefer to have at least some connection to the game world.
For example in Cyberpunk when you choose your origin it impacts how you start the game. Maybe Larian doesn't need to go all out like CDPR did but a little effort in that direction would be nice.
And for people like you who prefer to not have anything then you just plop into the world and start.

The characters in the game discover that Astarion is a vampire in that scene. The fact that you, the person behind the screen, already has that meta-knowledge doesn't give it to the your character in-game.

All I am saying is maybe it would be better if you kept the origin characters as companions and played custom.
But for someone like me who likes being spoonfed a little backstory drama to experience alongside the other origin characters.

Nothing as elaborate as they have but...

Maybe when you are making your character after "Who do you dream of?"

There is another section that says "What is your quest?"

And there you can choose one of 3 or 4 goals, you can choose a custom storyline. Maybe customize it too... like you pick "someone I loved was kidnapped" and then you can name and make that character and in your BG3 journey you will have to find them and free them.

You know something simple.
And if someone wants nothing then they select nothing.

There is already a fixed something for the custom character related to the Baldurian background (+ probably custom as that is a tag too). We have no idea what it is about, but I sent a tiefling couple to the Elfsong (there was another choice) using it. Who knows what is going to happen to them?

This is funny because I've just posted something related to this as a feedback, I was trying to figure why I have this feeling that this game is more DOS 3 than BG3 (I am not saying the game is bad here):

I think I finally get what is it I don't like in Larian BG 3 and in Larian's DOS games:
The focus is put on characters pre-created by Larian and not on the one created by the player.
It's something I do not like in DOS games but it's OK, It's part of the game. But those pre-made playable character forced on the player in a D&D game,
I really don't like it. It feels like Larian want to force you to play the game in a certain way too much.

It is like playing with an over enthusiastic DM telling you "Hey! i've got this Arch-sorcerer-of-arcanic-double-scythe-master,
He is an Avian Lord with three legs and sharpen arms feathers!" Player: "Yes, cool, but I wanted to play as a Ranger Half-Elf" DM Larian :
"No wait! let's add some horns and he can also be Evil and Hermaphroditic with a cool backstory, what do you say?"
That is what it feels, I know those who likes DOS games seems to like this, but for me, in a D&D Baldur's Gate game, it's a bit too much.

I like that idea. It could give our chosen background a bit more meaning beyond which proficiencies we get. Having a few more options certainly wouldn't hurt the game...