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Just a small note, I didn't use the tadpole's power even once and thus I didn't get the dream squence. It was nice to create his dream girl, but chances are I will not even meet her or have her as obvious tadpole interaction and thus just an enemy to my character. So yeah, if this is all background they are offering for the custom character, I'm sorry, but I'm not playing their 'evil murderhobbo path' and not seeing any of it.

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Originally Posted by EMC_V
right now, it seems, they are working hard on the origin stories, while not doing the same on the custom ones.

Not being cute in any way, but I seriously think they aren't working on the custom characters AT ALL. The origins aren't ready (we can't play them yet without a mod) and the customs have no content of any kind.

I just don't think there are any plans to give content to custom characters. That needs to change.

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I feel strongly disconnected to the main story or DOS2 when I picked custom character. Same here in BG3, I don’t know why I’m here, doing what, huge disconnected to the plot.

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I agree the story is about all of our companions i'm just along for the ride.. Hateful, weird disassociated ride so far..
Its like everyone hates everyone for no real reasons at all and i'm in the middle going WTF!!!

Please just dump the origin characters and focus on the actual game.. Origin stuff is such wasted assets and dev time.
Originally Posted by biomag
Just a small note, I didn't use the tadpole's power even once and thus I didn't get the dream squence. It was nice to create his dream girl, but chances are I will not even meet her or have her as obvious tadpole interaction and thus just an enemy to my character. So yeah, if this is all background they are offering for the custom character, I'm sorry, but I'm not playing their 'evil murderhobbo path' and not seeing any of it.


Same, i didn't even know they existed until i read it on reddit.. I have not once used the worm after the first time "i lost something" on my first playthrough.

Last edited by DanteYoda; 10/11/20 05:05 AM.
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"ONLY YOU KNOW THE ANSWER" DOS2 abysmal ending still give me PTSD.

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Originally Posted by dunehunter
I feel strongly disconnected to the main story or DOS2 when I picked custom character. Same here in BG3, I don’t know why I’m here, doing what, huge disconnected to the plot.


Like DOS2's ending is so bad that if you play anyone not fane it'd automatically go to default ending regardless what character you chose.

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I'm going to be positive. This is an alfa. There is time to add and change things. I imagine that they would add the classes and subclasses from the main 5th edition ruleset. I would like to see diviner for wizards, for example.

And same way they are probably working on that, they might be proving the data to see which features do we want more. Maybe they thought that offering a "blank and bland" custom character would be enough to appease people who like custom characters and for some of them it is. Others like me want a full story arc exclusive for custom character, not origin characters (otherwise, origin characters would have more content always). That is the way to balance choices. You shouldn't be penalized with less content for choosing custom character (no personal story arc and quest). Neither you should penalized with less content if you choose not to use/abuse tadpole powers (with no scenes at all). Diferent scenes and outcomes should be offered. I mean, id your dream person is the way your tadpole manifest and can't when you don't use it, maybe if you don't, you can have an scene where it is a companion the one with dreams. Or where you notice your tadpole getting nervous/weaker.

And what if you equip the ring that block it? Then you get nothing? From metagaming perspective, that is penalizing players who are weary of becoming a mindflayer (which includes all alignments). So my feedback is, scenes are cool, they need to fix triggers and add options/choices for the people who make different choices.

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Lols, I thought the DOS2 story was a train wreck also. These type of RPG's are all about custom "you". I do quite like the origins as that is Larians thing BUT not a BG thing. They could have used the resources for "origins" to build a world so detailed and immersive it would be legendary in 20 years time just like the original. I don't know how BG3 will pan out closer to release but the more I discover the less confident I am this game is directed at fans of BG and D&D and more towards gen z.

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DOS2 was retconned and it made no sense from DOS1. The story was the weakest part of the game, and the things you had to do on Nameless Isle and Arx were just silly.

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Yeah the animations are a tricky one...

We could (potentially) ask for them to give us a form of behavior option during character creation which defines the set of animations you have per standard like smiling vs scowling, being squeamish vs taking pleasure in someone else’s discomfort/pain. It would help but there will always be moments where you wouldn’t want that particular animation...

So do you tie it to dialogue/action choice?

1. [plea] insert dialogue choice
2. [Threaten] insert dialogue choice
3. [Laugh maniacally] etc etc...

It still doesn’t help when something happens and your character reacts if their own accord and thus we get instances of characters acting squeemish or obnoxiously folding their arms and grinning when you’re like “that doesn’t fit who I am!!”.

As for the story, well the more options you want the more generic custom characters will come across. I know people are very divisive on voice vs unvoiced, but that in itself is already a marked difference between the origin characters, who will be fully voiced and us. It’s jarring. The issue is, with so many race and class options, can you please enough with voice options?

Obviously you need as minimum 1 Male and 1 Female full voice option, then with what? Modifications to pitch? Not sure that works. Ahhh waiting for the day they give us a toolkit to record the voice lines ourself for our character lol 😆 (I have all the equipment!!)

But where was I, ah story... it is important that custom characters have a sense of purpose other than tadpole and as others have mentioned that could be tied to Race/Class or both. So if I play a Ranger, I received a summons to a meeting regarding plot McMuffin XYZ, I start with that and then I’m abducted (either en route or at said meeting). You wouldn’t even need to animate it (given character creation starts when it does), it could be partially narrated as you wake up, partially you spout it yourself in dialogue options near beginning or at camp when people are talking. Details can be in a letter or quest item description.

That gives me initial purpose and now I have problem ABC. I need rid of this tadpole so I can get back to (or ignore) my initial quest. Obviously I then get caught up in the actual main plot, but as long as I don’t miss certain milestones, that backstory option is still there and how I complete it depends on who I’ve become over the course of my journey. Maybe that sounds minor and unnecessary, but it gives me a link to the game world, on top of where I’m from etc...

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Exactly, while we can't expect infinite options, we whould expect at least one male/female voice and the option to turn it on/off. That would be fair, considering that each origin character have their own. And then, while I don't expect a complete full story for each race+class combination, I do expect at least one unique story and quest for custom characters that is not available for their precious origin characters.

By the way, Baldurs did allow you to record your own voices in the same way that you could upload your own custom portraits.

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You know what's really funny to me?

IF they pitched this game WITHOUT custom characters, and just started you in the game with a "pick your character' screen, where you choose one of their however many preset well defined, well fleshed characters.... it wouldn't seem so bad. Lots of games, historically, have done that... if that's what it is, and you know what you're getting into, that's okay.

It would also make the game a hard pass for me, and many players like me, who want to play their own character, or to at least design the visuals and somewhat the personality of the role their character then slips into. Even if the 'role' your character is dropping into is preset, being able to define your character and then having that driving element anchor them into the world is important. My concern is that Larian actually don't really grasp how what they are doing currently does not achieve that.

I saw somewhere that there was an official comment to the extent that we'd learn just how important the player character really is, when we're able to play as origin characters... and it kind of puzzled me. It was almost like they were suggesting that, when you play as an origin character, you'll play through feeling like something big and important is missing, that you didn't realise you were getting with your custom character.. and that doesn't sound likely. Even if it were, it would NOT be something you'd want to advertise. I suspect what they actually meant was that, when playing as a custom character, you're missing out on all the stuff that will make you realise how important whichever-of-larian's-characters-you're-playing is... which, again, is not something anyone should be saying to advertise their game. But then, "Every play through will leave you feeling like you're missing huge chunks of the story that you're being prevented from seeing because we forced a choice on you that locked you out of it" is the Larian golden rule, in previous games. We can only hope it changes here, fingers crossed.

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Originally Posted by Niara
You know what's really funny to me?

IF they pitched this game WITHOUT custom characters, and just started you in the game with a "pick your character' screen, where you choose one of their however many preset well defined, well fleshed characters.... it wouldn't seem so bad. Lots of games, historically, have done that... if that's what it is, and you know what you're getting into, that's okay.


No, that would be very bad because D&D offers so much more customization than what origin characters can provide and its also not in the spirit of BG. There would be even more complains than now.

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I think Niara’s point still stands, it’s the difference between the two “as things stand”, that make custom characters look like a bit of an afterthought.

Even more of a shame if it stays this way given that actually the customizable options are a pretty decent baseline to work from. I enjoy character creation and I only hope for more going forward, but to take my cool looking character into a game and act like a mute puppet is a little grating in comparison to the more finely crafted origin characters who are not customizable.

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I think I solved it


Larian's Biggest Oversight, what to do about it, and My personal review of BG3 EA
"74.85% of you stood with the Tieflings, and 25.15% of you sided with Minthara. Good outweighs evil, it seems."
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I don't mind the main character being a blank page I can fill out with my imagination. I did it in so many other games. The issue for me is soley that they put so much time and effort into their characters instead of giving us options to create our own. Like so many say, everybody around the player character has more importance to the story because they feel more experienced, they have a rich backstory and each one of them is something extremely special AND additionally they have everything the main character has - a tadpole storyline - why? Because they can even replace the main character. Even playing the main character I still get their stories to see since they are also companions.


All in all it feels like their story and we are just tagalongs. Like something your DM had to throw in because you didn't want to play his pregenarated stuff and now he has to drag you along while he is telling you his story for his characters. It gets to the point I just don't want to experience their stories at all, just to get some room to breath and experience the story itself without them being snarly towards me as well as pissed off that I don't do what they want and feed them magical items while they are having their adventure.

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I agree with Niara's point. For people who have played pen and paper D&D, the idea if premade characters is contrary to D&D game where you create and play with your own character and the story is about your own custom character.

The origin characters aren't as appealing for people who like not just D&D setting but pen and paper version. It is not just about implementing 5ed rule set, is about that playing freedom that comes from having your own character and that the story is about your character. To me, origin characters are NPC (non player characters) which should made them, by default, secondary. The story is about the PCs (player characters) who should be at the center of the action. The way they are going about the origin characters reminds me about those master with favourite NPCs that must be better at everything and always be at the center of the story to the detriment of the PCs. I didn't like it in pen and paper and didn't like it at a video game.

On the other hand, maybe Larian is going at this like an agile project and they would be adding things and making changes acording to people's feedback (I hope). This is an alfa and they might be trying to decide how to go about this part of the custom characters. And some people have offered good ideas, like the actitude that characters have in Pillars 2 or using combinations of backgrounds, races and classes to offer "stories"/Backgrounds.

I mean, the same way that Astarion label translated to "the pale elf" questline, arcstory and dialog lines, they could create 3-6 stories only selectables by custom characters that went:

"The netheresse relic"
"Betrayed by best friend"
"Criminal lord heir"
"Sole survivor"
"Amnesia"

And that were related to an story arc, some quest and a few dialog lines as appropiate. That would be a middle ground. And sure, it would be more generic than what you can have on pen and paper, but basically would allow you to have some backstory. Add the option to have "none" for those who are happy with "blank/bland" slate and there you go. I mean, it is not that different from DA1, where you were each origin could be translated as a one liner and can be sumarized the same way than the origins. You can even have requisites like "only races with human ancestors, so only humans, halfelves, tieflins and similar". But you need to have at least one available for any combination of races, class and background.

Right now, I find that the origin characters are fine as NPCs, but I don't like any of the to play. And Shadow Heart reminds me too much of Lohe with all the puppet thing. In a way, I see a pattern in the origin characters offered. Like 3 males vs 2 females, one of the females posesed and one male is really undead. And the other female is somehow bloodthirsty. Funily enough, githyanky were former slaves that would do whatever it takes to not be slaves again. And that is similar to the female elf in DOS2. I mean, it is like a pattern on the origins. Not sure if intentional so they can reuse dialogs/ideas or just happened. Anyway, I rather have custom characters more developed and better integrated in the game. Also, almost everything they do to improve certain labels, like "elf" or "wizard" apply also to their precious origin characters.

The other thing that seems not quite working is to not offer something to the people who choose to not use the tadpole powers because roleplay. The people who use the power get good outcomes out of conversations and scenes. Scenes are cool, so they reward players who use the powers. Meanwhile, players who chose to not use the powers have more difficulties in conversations and get no scenes. So you penalize out of game those players. They should add different scenes for the players who chose to not use the powers to balace out the two ways of playing. At least that is my take from a dungeon master point of view. It is like that (fair) complain by people who like to play intelligent evil characters, that all the options offered to evil characters are "dumb". I mean, it is true that an evil character won't help the goblins because they get nothing from doing so. Not only they lost the help of the druid (which at that point seems like the less costly of all to get rid of the brainworm), but it is quite obvious that the absolute thing is about letting the tadpole on your brain and controlling you. Why an intelligent evil character would like to be controled and become a puppet? There is no reason. So they are "forced" to side with the neutral guys.

Balance this kind of things is difficult and takes effort. Which is why I think they are looking at the stats. Except the stats are biased, since players chose between what they are offered, and that might not show their real preffered option. Right now, they might be chosing to romance Gale, because the other options are more difficult/buggy. Anyway, I hope we would see another big patch soon and that they improve on the custom characters.

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If they were only going to pick ONE of these to key your custom character's story off of, would you prefer:


1. Your class.

2. Your race.

3. Your background.


Which one of those would you want the most to be the main determinant of what kind of storyline/origin they make for your character?


For me, it would be background. As I think you could do a lot more interesting things with like Charlatan, Urchin, Criminal, Acolyte, etc. than with the others.

Last edited by Firesnakearies; 11/11/20 05:00 AM.
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Originally Posted by Firesnakearies
If they were only going to pick ONE of these to key your custom character's story off of, would you prefer:


1. Your class.

2. Your race.

3. Your background.


Which one of those would you want the most to be the main determinant of what kind of storyline/origin they make for your character?


For me, it would be background. As I think you could do a lot more interesting things with like Charlatan, Urchin, Criminal, Acolyte, etc. than with the others.


I would say none of the above. Make the PC Origin more general, allowing the player to pick through dialogue what applies to their PC. No need for a dizzying array of options that would take tons of time to code all the permutations. 1-3 solid PC choices for a custom origin would be great (with quests, story, etc...)

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Originally Posted by Firesnakearies
If they were only going to pick ONE of these to key your custom character's story off of, would you prefer:


1. Your class.

2. Your race.

3. Your background.


Which one of those would you want the most to be the main determinant of what kind of storyline/origin they make for your character?


For me, it would be background. As I think you could do a lot more interesting things with like Charlatan, Urchin, Criminal, Acolyte, etc. than with the others.

I would keep it as it is right now or if I really had to pick one it would be race. Too many ways to go wrong with backgrounds, although if they could cover each of the billions of things players would come up with then I would agree with you.

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