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[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.
Non-Customization
I don’t know if you’ve been following the new ground the developers of Rust have been breaking, but it’s both interesting and hilarious. The short version is that instead of customizing your character, all of your character’s physical attributes are randomly assigned and permanently tied to your Steam ID. This includes race, penis size, and now gender.
As you might imagine, some corners of the internet are melting down.
There are multiple layers of this design which are fascinating to me. The first is the sheer amount of free PR this generates. I mean, when was the last time you actually heard news about Rust that wasn’t about the size, color, and/or existence of the male sexual organ? Last thing I remember reading was from what feels like years ago, when Rust removed zombies… and people were crafting C4 to break into peoples’ shacks? It’s still a crafting survival game, right? I wouldn’t know.
Philosophically, the intended inability to choose your avatar’s features is also interesting. The money quote from the devs is this one:
To clear up some confusion, when we it does go live you won’t get a choice of whether you’re female or male. We’re not “taking the choice away” from you. You never had a choice. A man’s voice coming out of a woman’s body is no more weird than an 8 year-old boy’s voice coming out of a man’s body.
Some of the criticism is coming from people who don’t want to feel restricted in their character creation, or people who want their avatar to look like them (for RP purposes or otherwise). But in a sense… is this any different from, say, Witcher 3 or any other game with fixed player assets? As the dev mentioned, you never actually had a choice at character creation, so nothing is being taken away. Is it about historical gametype precedent? Or about the fact that the devs could have added customization options but have clearly decided not to?
In any case, I like the cut of this dev team’s jib. They are doing bold things that could go horribly wrong, which is the heart of soul of R&D. Plus, listen to this bit:
“We wanted to lock people to an identity so they could be possibly recognized for their misdeeds, just from their avatar,” he explained. “The idea being that eventually we’d take away player names, and emergent stuff could happen like mistaking someone for a friend, impersonations, etc.”
That sort of “reputation” is asinine in a multi-server scenario IMO, but good for them for going for it. And removing character names altogether? That’s a pretty brilliant social experiment.
I’m not invested in the outcome of Rust, but damned if I don’t feel a tiny bit compelled to see what kind of character gets rolled for me. Not going to lie: if I end up getting stuck as generic white dude #476, I’ll be pretty disappointed.
In An Age 
E33: How It’s Done
Feb 16
Posted by Azuriel
I am not particularly far in Claire Obscur: Expedition 33 (E33) – about 12 hours or so in – but I did want to briefly highlight one fantastic customization system that it has in comparison to, say, Avowed, The Outer Worlds 2, or frankly any game that professes to have player agency/customization at all. That system is of Pictos.
In many ways, Pictos feel like OG Final Fantasy 7 Materia: they are an item you equip that grants both stat bonuses plus a passive ability. Once you complete four combats with a given Pico equipped, the passive ability is permanently learned by everybody. Each character then has a pool of “Luma” they can use in a point-buy way to equip the passives. Some effects are cheap, like being able to gain +1 AP on a Perfect Dodge for 1 Luma; more powerful passives can cost 10, 15, or more. Oh, and of course you can freely move Pictos and Luma around at no penalty (there are respec items for base stats though)!
What gets the juices really flowing are the synergies and tradeoffs. Each character can equip three Pictos apiece, and while so equipped, the passive is granted without spending Luma. Thing is, there is usually an inverse relationship between how much Luma it would otherwise take to get the passive, and the raw bonus stats on the Picto itself. A given Picto might have +50 Speed and +15% Crit Chance, for example, but contains a passive that only saves you 3 Luma. Meanwhile, that 20 Luma passive is attached to like a +300 HP brick.
…which can be still be helpful if one of your characters is wielding a weapon that doubles as damage taken in exchange for another bonus. The downside of which you are mitigating with a passive that reduces damage taken by 50% but you cannot be healed by spells. No worries, just stack a bunch of +HP Picos and practice your sweet, sweet dance (dodge) moves.
Now, think about The Outer Worlds 2 in comparison. There is none!
Yeah, these are not the same type of games, so of course they are not set up in the same way. But there will be people who argue that you choosing Engineering and Medical on the character select screen in TOW2 is some deep gesture of customization when it is, in fact, an a priori straightjacket that railroads your entire playthrough. “I’m roleplaying though!” Roleplaying… what? Arbitrary Man?
Anyway. All I’m saying is that I am wherever I am in the game, and already have more than 40 Pictos to choose from. And unlike in TOW2, I am actually choosing builds and testing them out, because I am not expressly penalized for doing so. That’s some good, engaging game design.
Maybe Obsidian should take notes.
Posted in Commentary
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Tags: Armchair Game Development, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, Customization, Game Design, The Outer Worlds 2