Who has played any of the origin characters and would you recommend them?

[Quacksalber]

Title, w/o spoilers would be cool :) Also, how do you think it compares to playing Durge or Tav?

I really liked my Tav playthrough, but I felt he lacked character/relevance or a compelling reason to be "in charge", so I probably will not pick that again.

I'm currently playing as Gale in my coop, and I think it's pretty good overall, but can't say too much as only just hit Act 2.

I'm also considering playing as Astarion, but missing his voice acting is preventing me. I'm intrigued how they implemented him getting the vampire bite thing, and the rest of his story really.

[Nox]

Dark Urge all the way. It's Tav but he actually feels like part of the story.

[Quacksalber]

Originally posted by BananaChumpus:

Dark Urge all the way. It's Tav but he actually feels like part of the story.

I'm doing that currently in my solo game. It's way better than Tav, but since I cannot bring myself to be full evil yet (as in this playthrough), I feel like I'm missing half of it xD I'm still interested in how the other origins play out though, if people consider them worth bothering with, or if they are inferior to Durge as a whole.

Did you try any of the others, or is only Durge appealing to you?

[The 13th Ghost Bunny]

Dark Urge feels like a big part of the story. I dare say it starts to feel more personal even. You even get some fun interactions with returning characters (from previous BG games) even if you embrace your urges; at least, I got a comment from Jaheira after I told her about my urges and killed everyone at the inn. :D

Haven't played as any of the other origins apart from Dark Urge, but I'm kinda tempted because non-Dark urge Tav wasn't very interesting to me.

[Nox]

Originally posted by EH!:

Originally posted by BananaChumpus:

Dark Urge all the way. It's Tav but he actually feels like part of the story.

I'm doing that currently in my solo game. It's way better than Tav, but since I cannot bring myself to be full evil yet (as in this playthrough), I feel like I'm missing half of it xD I'm still interested in how the other origins play out though, if people consider them worth bothering with, or if they are inferior to Durge as a whole.

Did you try any of the others, or is only Durge appealing to you?

Dark Urge only for me.
I honestly think resisting Dark Urge is better than giving in. There are a few cool and emotional moments if you choose to be a good guy and resist all the way.

[Quacksalber]

Originally posted by The 13th Ghost Bunny:

Dark Urge feels like a big part of the story. I dare say it starts to feel more personal even. Haven't played as any of the other origins apart from Dark Urge, but I'm kinda tempted because non-Dark urge Tav wasn't very interesting to me.

Yeah, that's how I feel. It's okay for a first playthrough, but if you take time to think about it, or compare it to how the others play, it's underwhelming.

[Quacksalber]

Originally posted by BananaChumpus:

Originally posted by EH!:

I'm doing that currently in my solo game. It's way better than Tav, but since I cannot bring myself to be full evil yet (as in this playthrough), I feel like I'm missing half of it xD I'm still interested in how the other origins play out though, if people consider them worth bothering with, or if they are inferior to Durge as a whole.

Did you try any of the others, or is only Durge appealing to you?

Dark Urge only for me.
I honestly think resisting Dark Urge is better than giving in. There are a few cool and emotional moments if you choose to be a good guy and resist all the way.

Ah okay, thanks for the tip. I played mostly good on Tav (chaotic good type), so I'm going for the more neutral / self interested character this time round, which I expect is the most boring LOL.

[アンジェル]

Originally posted by EH!:

Originally posted by BananaChumpus:

Dark Urge all the way. It's Tav but he actually feels like part of the story.

I'm doing that currently in my solo game. It's way better than Tav, but since I cannot bring myself to be full evil yet (as in this playthrough), I feel like I'm missing half of it xD I'm still interested in how the other origins play out though, if people consider them worth bothering with, or if they are inferior to Durge as a whole.

Did you try any of the others, or is only Durge appealing to you?

Just to clarify: The Dark Urge is no evil playthrough. It is one of the best stories in particular when you play as good.

[Quacksalber]

Originally posted by アンジェル:

Originally posted by EH!:

I'm doing that currently in my solo game. It's way better than Tav, but since I cannot bring myself to be full evil yet (as in this playthrough), I feel like I'm missing half of it xD I'm still interested in how the other origins play out though, if people consider them worth bothering with, or if they are inferior to Durge as a whole.

Did you try any of the others, or is only Durge appealing to you?

Just to clarify: The Dark Urge is no evil playthrough. It is one of the best stories in particular when you play as good.

I know it's not. I should have said my motivation for picking it was to try to be more evil as I already did a good pt as Tav.

[The 13th Ghost Bunny]

I loved playing the Dark Urge as straight evil, even if the slayer form, while looking amazing, wasn't all that impressive in combat. Wished more people reacted to you in slayer form too, but folk act like it's normal ♥♥♥♥. :D

[Staryu]

I started playing as Astarion, but, like you mentioned, the fact that I am missing out on all of his snarky voice lines makes it a lot less appealing.

[phantommail]

I can recommend Gale but you already playing him.
Dark Urge I didn't like because of certain scripted event in act1 ( and possibly something like it later ) and the whole concept of "kill eat dwarf meat ooo I am so evil" is incrredibly dull. But It's a matter of taste I guess.

[Quacksalber]

Originally posted by The 13th Ghost Bunny:

I loved playing the Dark Urge as straight evil, even if the slayer form, while looking amazing, wasn't all that impressive in combat. Wished more people reacted to you in slayer form too, but folk act like it's normal ♥♥♥♥. :D

Yeah like they act like it's normal if you are half illithid, but go mental if you have a summon xD I dislike shapeshifting of any type in all games, unfortunately. This game has not changed my mind, even if it made me think bards are the best thing ever. Don't actually know what Slayer form is, but I expect it to be some kind of shape shift.

I'm disappointed the butler isn't more of a thing. Seen him once so far.

[The 13th Ghost Bunny]

Originally posted by EH!:

Originally posted by The 13th Ghost Bunny:

I loved playing the Dark Urge as straight evil, even if the slayer form, while looking amazing, wasn't all that impressive in combat. Wished more people reacted to you in slayer form too, but folk act like it's normal ♥♥♥♥. :D

Yeah like they act like it's normal if you are half illithid, but go mental if you have a summon xD I dislike shapeshifting of any type in all games, unfortunately. This game has not changed my mind, even if it made me think bards are the best thing ever. Don't actually know what Slayer form is, but I expect it to be some kind of shape shift.

I'm disappointed the butler isn't more of a thing. Seen him once so far.

Right? I was so hoping for more reactivity to my Illithid form, looking all pallid and black veined and stuff, but no one cared. I looked like an obvious villain and monster at that point. :D

Yeah, Slayer form is a really cool looking form the Dark Urge can assume if you embrace your urges. I loved the lil' butler and wished he appeared far more than he does. Shame really. :(

[Quacksalber]

Originally posted by Staryu:

I started playing as Astarion, but, like you mentioned, the fact that I am missing out on all of his snarky voice lines makes it a lot less appealing.

Would you recommend it otherwise? It's weird how with him playing as him might end up feeling like you are missing out rather than getting more because he's so well done with the voice acting, poses and so on. Can we play as Karlach? I think we can, and I wonder if she can read the stuff on his back.

Originally posted by phantommail:

I can recommend Gale but you already playing him.
Dark Urge I didn't like because of certain scripted event in act1 ( and possibly something like it later ) and the whole concept of "kill eat dwarf meat ooo I am so evil" is incrredibly dull. But It's a matter of taste I guess.

I find some of the lines hilarious as I'm easily amused, and could handle the Act 1 event as part of the story. What bothers me about it is there's obvious evidence and no one cares xD I'm really not keen on the concept of full blown Durge at all - it seems very murder hobo and I prefer manipulative evil types - but I will try it eventually. People seem to like it so it's worth a go, and I can't really have an opinion before actually doing it.

Originally posted by The 13th Ghost Bunny:

Originally posted by EH!:

Yeah like they act like it's normal if you are half illithid, but go mental if you have a summon xD I dislike shapeshifting of any type in all games, unfortunately. This game has not changed my mind, even if it made me think bards are the best thing ever. Don't actually know what Slayer form is, but I expect it to be some kind of shape shift.

I'm disappointed the butler isn't more of a thing. Seen him once so far.

Right? I was so hoping for more reactivity to my Illithid form, looking all pallid and black veined and stuff, but no one cared. I looked like an obvious villain and monster at that point. :D

Yeah, Slayer form is a really cool looking form the Dark Urge can assume if you embrace your urges. I loved the lil' butler and wished he appeared far more than he does. Shame really. :(

I modded the illithid look out. If I'm gonna look like some kind of crazed necromancer, I expect people to react to it LOL.

[Kaiyas Slayter]

I will try to make this a spoiler less as possible (relating to story arcs). This does discuss everything I found in my playthrough as Astarion. Sorry to say, I don't recommend playing AS Astarion if you like his snark, cutscenes, and story arc. A lot of this is cut/paste from my response from a similar discussion on Larion's forums.

Playing as Astarion felt like a LOT was missing. You also get less interactions with your romantic partner than a Tav/Durge has romancing Astarion, which was deeply unsatisfying. You get a cool cutscene in Act 1 near the beginning that leads to biting a party member in the first hour and that's about all you get before it turns into regular Tav dialogue options. You don't even get your origin's camp tent. It's just missing, which made me sad.

You get to choose who you nom nom on in camp the 1st time, but that's about it Act 1. I succeeded my roll (DC 10! Guess Tav really did get lucky waking up!) and never woke up my companion, so no one knew I was a vampire. I was always given an option to come clean to my companions, when talking to them, but no one had anything new to say throughout the act vs playing as tav/durge.

I saved and outed myself to all of them and everyone gave a different "Well, it was kinda obvious what you were, wish you felt comfortable enough to tell me sooner" speech. Yet not one single mention of my "strangely vampiric demeanor" before that. You do start with the option to bite during combat, and doing so "outs" you to the party, but even doing it that way just gets you a single "Gasp! You're a vampire!" line mid battle from random companion, then the "I knew what you were speech" from whichever one spoke during combat. Went back to my 'no one knows" save and I was able to hide what I was until the Gur hunter in the swamp. After he "outed" me, random companion gave the "I knew what you were" speech, same as if I came out to them.

If you elect to feed on an animal that 1st night instead of a companion (it's an option), then you'll find the bloodless pig corpse the next day, but no one comments on it or investigates it further in any way, like Tav/Durge does. So you miss even the foreshadowing of that moment. Would have been nice to have been at least a little worried about someone picking up on what you were.

And that's it, you don't get an option to feed on your romantic partner nightly like TavDurge has with him if they are romancing him, which was disappointing (don't look at me like that, I want to know what the hell the Gyth tastes like!) I romanced Lae and got her intimate scene but didn't get to bite her. You get none of Astarion's scenes trying to entice Tav to trust them or feed on them to use on your romantic partner. I didn't even get to get drunk on eating a bear.

The night of the tiefling party, I didn't get a single invite for anyone's "camp romance" scene. TBF, not sure if it's because I was flirting with everyone. (I didn't imagine Astarion would limit his available snacks by shunning anyone's interest in him. Of course, this was before I knew you can't snack on your romance partner.) Although, I'd already slept with Lae at this point and she was indifferent to me during the party, but flirty before and after it. Felt weird. Broke up with Lae at this point and started romancing Wyll, because why not.

SOME ACT 2 AND 3 SPOILERS BEYOND THIS POINT!!!!!!!!

Act 2, meeting the Oblodra was disappointing because you don't get any of the back and forth about biting her or no, not even with your romantic partner. Even the scar reveal was disappointing since no one said anything about the scars while running around shirtless in camp until Raphael mentions them while offering info in exchange for a dead demon. Got the same dialogue about being a pawn in Cazador's game from everyone in camp as if I was Tav asking them about it.

I played his storyline to the end and ascended. Got a few extra lines from Caz, a decision to either ascend or not, the same lines from companions as if they were there with Tav about not murdering 7000 people, and no one tried to stop the Ascension after it started.
Back at camp, didn't even get the option to make my romance character a spawn, like Astarion has with TavDurge. (A vampire gish Wyll was gonna be awesome! I could fight with Mizora about who get's his soul!) Wyll gave his "I'm disappointed in you" speech if you ascend but you don't lose any approval with him. He doesn't even break up with you! Guess I could always play AS Wyll and romance Astarion to see that, but was sad I couldn't do it as Astarion.

And, since the character you're playing doesn't actually speak much, you missing hearing the snarky ways he says his lines. Even if you pick lines you KNOW are voiced in a TavDurge playthrough.

I think it would be slightly more interesting if you could pick which origin romantic scenes played if you are an origin romancing an origin and at least got to hear them say the lines they normally would when you pick those as your option. So, overall, playing as origin wasn't nearly as much fun as playing Tav or Durge. If you really wanna see their extra dialogue, I'd recommend just beelining to whatever part of the story is crucial to the origin you're playing, and skipping the hours of side quests since there doesn't seem to be anything unique for an origin vs Tav on those.

The coolest thing about playing Astarion though? Letting Volo do eye surgery on me so I ran around with 1 blue eye and 1 red eye. It looked really neat and if I only saw him from the side, I could imagine what he looked like before he was turned. I didn't bother going further/finishing the game after the Ascension since I was already let down leading up to it.

I also played SH and went evil and had more fun with that, since all the Astarion snark was back. Also got all Astarion's romance/dialogue/ascension/spawn choices as SH that was denied to me while playing as Astarion.