Doesn't playing as an origin character kill the immersion?

[Traf]

Yeah, it's another one of those thread, sorry.

I'm about to start my first run as a custom character, but in every thread I see, 90% of people seem to recommend playing as an origin character, and I must say, I'm surprised.
Yeah I know about the extra quests and dialogue, but that's not my point.

I feel like if I play as, say, Fane, I won't be able to roleplay as much; or rather, I will have to roleplay as Fane, picking my answers and making decisions taking his personality and backstory into account.
Every time a line with the [Fane] tag shows up, I will feel obligated to pick it, else it would just feels "off".

Isn't it much more immersive to play as a custom character?

[Cheb]

TBH as much as I like having origin chars in the party I'd vastly prefer an option to create my own party without having to launch 4 different .exes

[Syrris]

An origin character tag indicates that it's something they could say, not that it's something they necessarily would say It's for that reason that you'll sometimes have two different responses with the same origin character tag (and I'm not just talking about yes/no type answers).

[LaserGuy]

Custom characters have all of the same dialogue options as the origin characters except for the tags for the [Fane] type tags. IMHO you miss out on a lot of the story and lore of the game by not using the origin characters, since their stories are integrated into the main plot. But YMMV I guess.

[raubrey]

Some people like more direction in their RPGs. I don't happen to be one of those people. Enjoy your custom character.

[Sephyrias]

Sometimes you get more story-info on the characters or the overall plot from the origin-specific dialogues, so there certainly is an incentive to pick them over the regular ones.
However, if what the origin character would say doesn't suit what you want the character to say, you can still pick something else.
The only downside to it is, that if you play the character yourself, you won't be able to experience the character the same way when that character is an NPC in your party, since you already know what is coming, which makes the character very predictable.

[moonandstar]

when i first started playing i didn't want to play as an origin character because i felt i didn't know about them well enough to be able to know for sure what they would say, and if there was like a [fane] option, like you said, i felt i would need to choose it. now i've done two playthroughs (well i'm in the middle of my second playthrough) with custom characters and between them both i've had all of them as companions. at this point i feel i know the characters well enough that next time around i think i will play as one of them for lore purposes. but 99% of the time i prefer custom characters with backstories i've created for them myself. plus first/second time around i much preferred experiencing them as companions, with my own character getting to know them over time and see what makes them tick that way. it's helped for when i'll actually get in one of their heads and play as them y'know?

[iSnortEridium]

Probably the more casual players rolling with premade characters.
Players coming from DnD type games are always going roll their own character.

[burningmime]

Different people like different things. I grew up on JRPGs like Chrono Trigger, FF7, and Xenogears with great, memorable characters. Also my favorite game ever is probably The Witcher 2, which has a set main character. That being said, the origin characters in this don't have nearly the level of complexity or backstory as in those games.

Your experience with D:OS2 will be pretty much the same whatever you choose, since the characters only have a bit of side content. AFAICT, almost all the character-specific side quests are doable even if the character isn't in your party (ie you can still get involved in Dwarf politics without Beast; Beast just makes a few comments and helps make that story more personal).

Originally posted by GR8T:

Probably the more casual players rolling with premade characters.
Players coming from DnD type games are always going roll their own character.

Yeah, like those filthy casuals who read novels.

[Chaoslink]

The only real difference is that you can control the actions of the origin character in certain dialogues. Not referring to dialogue options marked as that cahracter, but rather, the outcome can be changed from what happens in a particular conversation should you let the companion version do their thing instead of doing it yourself. A perfect example would be Sebille and pretty much her very first interaction with an NPC, Stingtail. He isn't important beyond being a pyro book merchant, but if your follower Sebille interrupts to talk to him, she kills him. Should you play Sebille instead, it is entirely possible that Stingtail does not die. You can choose to kill him, but you can also spare him. While not entirely critical, and not always that significant of a difference, there can be different outcomes playing the origin character that won't happen otherwise.

Does that mean you should play one? No. That just means you have a little bit of control over these things. You'll be spending many hours with these characters. Some people finish the game in 50 hours. Some are barely into act two in 50 hours. Point is, you'll want to play as characters that you'll enjoy. The one you want to play is more important than the one people make you feel you should play since you'll just be wanting to scrap the game to go play the character you wanted but end up having to make the choice of relpaying 20 hours of progress or continuing with a character you aren't enjoying.

[E.Moutaire]

I actually agree. It does hurt the general role play value. That's also why I named them 'pseudo-companions'. I would love to if you could probably avoid those pre-made optional protagonists in game, but sadly Larian couldn't let go & didn't rewrote them to suit role of companion.
What causes gigantic mess.
For example I feel during role play as if game was shoving me up somewhere because "Beast got to speak to this singing dwarf - be off, it's none of your concern", "What's this ? You want to speak to Saheila ?? How about ... you go because Lohse has to talk NOT you, unless you want to be a jerk - you want to be ?"
This is like 2008 abomination 'choice' at ending of 'game' all over again ... You have no choice, and if you object you are a scumbag.

By disclosing my character, at numerous occassions it made me impossible to synthesize with role truly, yet alone to actually bond with Lohse or 'Beast'.
The only one which felt rather ... understanding and often actually involving my character personally and what she thinks was Ifan. And he was the only one I bonded with after entire game - the only one which I learned to care about.
By the end of the game I cared only about Jahan (due to first game) and Ifan. And that was it.
Both Lohse and Beast were 'ok' but that is NOT enough for companion. Npc may be 'ok'.
Not companion ...

I think however that the worst crime Original Sin 2 does to role play is that ... at first it confused me immensly with notion (via Sybille first talk) that my custom character is indeed NOT blank character. Because Sybille if you let her starts telling you something about your background (which you do not have if you play custom character in mechanics) which totally leads to nowhere. The only time past ship wrecking where someone ASKS about it, was with elf on beach. That's it. I don't know whether I searched poorly, but I never in this game past Act I seen evidence that Larian is going ANYWHERE with what it started via Sybille and that second elf.
To me ? That was an irredeemable game crime. It is violation of role play of high degree.
Either you make half-written protagonist OR blank.
NO THIRD OPTION.
And no, companions as necessity are 100% written in any RPG. They have only options to switch in predictable/logical attitude based on your deeds.
You do NOT mix companion writing towards RPG protagonist.
That alone also means that all those pre-made's in DOS 2 are unfit to be role play protagonist. They are 100% written. I don't know how Larian could mess up that badly, after seemingly getting it with first Original Sin.

[Traf]

I did just try and play Fane, and just as I thought, it's not for me.

(Prologue spoilers)
I just can't picture him turning back to save people in the sinking ship, or doing any kind of selfless acts to help humans.

So yeah, I'm going custom, even if that means missing out on some stuff.

Don't get me wrong thought, it's cool to be able to play as one of the companions, I would've liked that in other games!
But it kinda feels like extra stuff to me, so maybe I'll give it a go if I do a second playthrough.

[Raynezazki]

Originally posted by Traf:

I did just try and play Fane, and just as I thought, it's not for me.

(Prologue spoilers)
I just can't picture him turning back to save people in the sinking ship, or doing any kind of selfless acts to help humans.

So yeah, I'm going custom, even if that means missing out on some stuff.

Don't get me wrong thought, it's cool to be able to play as one of the companions, I would've liked that in other games!
But it kinda feels like extra stuff to me, so maybe I'll give it a go if I do a second playthrough.

? Most of that is optional though? I played a douchebag Ifan just fine.

[Syrris]

Fane choosing to relate to people or to ignore them as unworthy nothings? Those are both valid ways to play him, as are various points in between. Not only that, but it's liable to have an impact on how the story turns out.