[Baldur’s Gate 3] Too Late Now
One of the infographics from Larian regarding Baldur’s Gate 3 (BG3) is how over 93% of players created a custom character for themselves. I… did not. And it is very clearly a mistake. One that I cannot possibly “fix” now that I’m like 45 hours deep into Act 1.
Why did I not create a custom character? I thought that the game was going to be like Divinity: Original Sin 2 wherein there were very specific story beats that would be better with an Origin character. Although, to be fair, I am not exactly certain that was the case even in that game. But it seemed important enough to do there, so I did so here as well, picking Gale.
If you are one of the overwhelmingly vast majority of players who haven’t rolled an Origin character, let me explain why it is a mistake: your character doesn’t speak. Yes, custom characters don’t speak either, but I am assuming that Gale has a lot more to say about things beyond 1-2 quips at the conclusion of side quests. I have no clue how much of his background is normally explained by the end of Act 1 (around where I’m at), but I assume that it’s more than practically nothing. Beyond talking to a cat with wings about my mother – of whom I know nothing and have no reason to care about – all this “origin story” business appears to be about as deep as the blurb you read on the character select screen.
Maybe things open up in the later Acts? But what I’m worried about is how that plays out narratively. Are there exclusive scenes that you only see if you are playing as Gale? That would be the ideal, I imagine. But I’m also worried about how much any of that really matters in comparison to just doing his companion quests. For example, I was all down for smooching Shadowheart until the awkwardly direct Karlach literally stole the show. What about Gale though? What is his personality like? What kind of hilarious banter would he be getting into with my current party? I’ll never know, because I am him, and I don’t say shit, apparently.
Well, I choose all the dialog, but you know what I mean. It’s not the same.
Kinda makes me wonder if this is a uniquely Larian game problem. Most other RPGs don’t have “Origin” characters, right? Or they do, with no option for a custom character, so you’re not stuck in this dilemma. Which apparently is only impacting me and the other 7% suckers. Oh well.
Posted on August 21, 2023, in RPG and tagged Baldur's Gate 3, Customization, Divinity: Original Sin 2, NPC, Origin Character. Bookmark the permalink. 7 Comments.
In An Age 
I am going to guess that a significant number of that 7% who did not customize were either just in a hurry or, like you, thought it was going to be something a bit different.
I had just read so much about people customizing their characters that I went in expecting to do that and found the UI to do so… not awful, but not immediately intuitive either. I had to poke around to get what I wanted out of it.
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Yeah, the whole “it’s just like playing D&D at the table,” minus being able to browse the Player’s Handbook and review what features level 2/3/4/5+ bring, etc. The fact that they don’t even let you know when Rogues get an extra d6 of Sneak Attack damage is baffling.
I should have just picked Dark Urge like I was originally inclined (and then customized it). Oh well.
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I believe Dark Urge is different in terms of story, saw something about it being a good choice for a second playthrough.
Picking an origin character does retain their personal quest from what I’ve seen (later half of act 1), but yea, you lose all their random dialog. I think on a custom character its the same minus the personal quest, but you can find that character to keep at camp (where you still miss most of their dialog).
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That… definitely doesn’t sound great. My natural lean was toward picking an origin character as well, based like you it seems, on my experience with DOS:2. My recollection of that game is that even early on, there were NPCs around who recognised your character and could act to fill in the blanks for you.
I had assumed, therefore, I would get ‘more’ of the story experience by not taking up a slot in the party with some no-name custom ragamuffin.
The only reason I didn’t go down that path is that having started late to the game somewhat, a quick google on opinions revealed a custom character would be the way to go — but also not to worry about overlapping with other classes too much from the NPC roster as you can customise/respec to some degree.
I’ve still not gone incredibly far with BG3 yet, but Gale is certainly chatty enough at camp and the like, can query background and that kind of thing.
From hearing your experience, I certainly does sound like a certain something is missing when you jump into control of one of these characters. :(
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You made the right choice, my friend.
Best case scenario: I get to see some exclusive scenes with Gale that 93%+ of others don’t see during their normal playthrough. Which would imply that the other Origin characters also have exclusive scenes, that I would be missing too. And how many goddamn times will we be playing this game?
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I picked a custom character and while I still haven’t finished that playthrough (just starting act 3!) I did have a poke around with a new game as Astarion. It’s interesting to compare to what you’re talking about with Gale, because I *know* Astarion’s personality and I find myself choosing dialogue options that match it. Perhaps it’s less of an issue playing an origin character after having played custom first.
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That’s precisely it! I cannot even imagine playing Astarion first, not knowing how he is “supposed to be.” Most “evil” party members in games are cartoonishly so, and while Astarion certainly has his moments, the voice acting just sells it so hard. Every time I have him stealthing around and he goes “Just like old times” … *chef’s kiss*.
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