this post was submitted on 10 Dec 2023
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Semi related but can I just rant for a second about the fact that Tav is simultaneously the least interesting character and also the glue that holds the party together?
The other characters will straight-up refuse to interact with each other outside of special cutscenes. And even then, they almost always let Tav make their decisions for them. I wish each character could have full interaction with each other character. Like I could switch to Laezel, talk to Karlach, and I'd see a bit of relationship development between the two of them, then switch to Shadowheart and go talk to Gale and have a totally different kind of relationship form
It stems from your character being a blank slate that you act through. They don’t bring much story with them, just your headcanon and whatever you enact. It’s a true RPG in that way. I think that’s part of the reason people end up going the horny route, it’s a means of placing yourself in the story and becoming part of all of these fantastic characters. The main character is only as interesting as you make them.
It's possible to do much more though in terms of giving your character a backstory in a CRPG though.
As an example, Dragon Age Origins had a different solo mission at the beginning of the game for almost each race/class combination, and the choices and relationships you develop during those missions can come up in the main story.
As another example, Tyranny started the character creation process with a brief text-based choose-your-own-adventure story. The choices you made there not only influenced stuff that happened to you throughout the story, it also affected your starting relationship with certain factions.
Edit: like what if they did a small backstory mission depending on the background/class you picked which ended when the nautilus appeared and abducted Tav? That would be great and would make the city of Baldur's Gate feel more like home, which it's meant to.
I’d welcome that. Honestly, something of the sort may eventually end up in the game at the rate updates have been coming out. Feature creep must have been a constant worry given what BG became in the end.
I get the feeling that the level of popularity was a bit of a surprise, and that its warranted expanding some features beyond what was initially planned. I can see a lot of features becoming massive time sinks with diminishing returns otherwise.
It's pretty clear that Redeemed Durge Tav is the canonical Tav and the most interesting. All the other versions are bland in comparison.
But you can definitely get some of the interactions you're looking for by playing an Origin character. Playing as Karlach, I definitely created non-canonical interactions with the other Origin characters.
I haven't actually played DUrge because the elevator pitch in the character creation screens just sounded way too angsty and edgy for my liking. I wish they'd given more flexible origin options like that though.
Honestly, given the heroic / chaotic good slant of the game, it's actually pretty annoying to play the edgy DUrge. Playing it but making all the good choices is heavily scripted and pretty nifty.