The Chosen One

[TrashMan]

Looking back at Obsidian games there's a very interesting pattern.

 

The protagonist is practicly always special.

 

 

KOTOR 2 - you have a special apower

PST - you're the Nameles One

NWN - you miracolously survived with the shard. Your'e special and everyone is interested in you.

etc..

 

 

And with the Explanation of power from the soul and reincarnation (which I'm not a big fan off....and is it me or does it resembe the Nameless One with the memory from past lives bit?) I'm beginning to suspect you're going to be an exceptionsal soul or some prophecized champion or something.

[molarBear]

i detest the "chosen one syndrome". too cliche and overused (a bit in fallout 2*).

i disagree that TNM in PS:T was the chosen one. he was "special", yes...but he was just a confusedamnesiac immortal trying to figure **** out!

 

*: in fallout 2 you start by thinking that you are the chosen one but as you venture deeper you realize that you are just another **** in the wasteland.

Edited September 23, 2012 by molarBear

[SirLancelot]

Went for the "Don't care"-option, but I would like to vote "Depending on the circumstances/game." In some games it's awesome to have an epic destiny, fated and intervened by the gods or a higher power, in other games it's preferable to be the right person in the right place. For PE it's still very open, but I'm sure I'm going to like it either way, considering it's Obsidian doing it.

[Volourn]

"i disagree that TNM in PS:T was the chosen one. he was "special", "

 

He very much was a Chosen One. He fits the description to a tee.

 

Nothing wrong with it eince the story should be focused on special chaarcters and 'chosen one' stories fit perfectly. That said, non chosen one stories can be awesome too.

[Sarog]

Eh, chosen ones and destiny and the like are a bit too juvenile for me. They appeal to adolescent notions of inborn specialness and warp our perception of the franchise.

 

Give me characters who aren't special in the least. People who are perfectly typical for their social class, and succeed or fail based on their character attributes interacting sensibly with the world around them.

 

I'm not going to get my way though, because we know that inborn specialness is already a major thing for the franchise, because some people just have better souls than other people. Not my particular narrative preference, but I can live with it. I loved Baldur's Gate after all. I just hope that inborn specialness isn't ramped up too much, with things like a "chosen one" soul or "THE PROPHECY!!" or the like.

 

One of my favourite twists on the chosen one trope was how Arcanum dealt with it. The narrative told you from the beginning that you were the chosen one, the reincarnated second coming of the messiah. Then you meet the guy who you were supposed to have been in your past life, to realize "oh snap, I'm just some dude who was at the wrong place at the wrong time!" That was glorious.

Edited September 23, 2012 by Sarog

[nikolokolus]

Special circumstances or special by nature, either way there has to be some kind of hook that makes the character the central focus of the story and presumably they must have enough innate ability/luck/intelligence to actually be able to overcome the main conflict in the story.

Edited September 23, 2012 by nikolokolus

[C2B]

PS:T and KOTOR II aren't really *chosen one* stories. NWN2 fits a lot more.

 

Then again, you can easily argue *the regular guy* into chosen one as well.

[Elerond]

I want option regular 'but somewhat special' guy in wrong place in wrong time.

Edited September 23, 2012 by Elerond

[faeriehunter]

The Set-Up

The player witnesses an extraordinary and horrific supernatural event that thrusts them into a unique and difficult circumstance. Burdened with the consequences of this event, the player has to investigate what has happened in order to free themselves from the restless forces that follow and haunt them wherever they go.

If I'm reading this right then the player was more or less a regular person until the event. How special they are afterwards remains to be seen.

[dlux]

Where would BG fit. Hmmm. Ah the second option, I'll take that.

 

If the hero in BG/BG2 was just a normal guy, well, then the story would have been totally different and probably not as awesome as in the BG game. The BG games had the best story arc EVER. SPAWN OF BHAAL, THE GOD OF MURDER, YEEEEES!

 

Anyway, Josh was talking about about souls and that some of them are special. The way it sounds they are going for option #2.

Edited September 23, 2012 by dlux

[Syraxis]

I'm against the "chosen one" trope as it is used in pretty much everything, especially in conjunction with some prophecy back-plot.

[Dem]

Either idea is fine, or at least there isn't anything inherently wrong with them, as long as it's thought out and well written (which is a given, as this is Obsidian).

Edited September 23, 2012 by Dem

[greenmonster]

O don't really care. I've enjoyed games where I am the chosen one and ones where I am just a person caught by circumstance. One obvious proviso, being the chosen one does not work well in multiplayer games.

[C2B]

Where would BG fit. Hmmm. Ah the second option, I'll take that.

 

If the hero in BG/BG2 was just a normal guy, well, then the story would have been totally different and probably not as awesome as in the BG game. The BG games had the best story arc EVER. SPAWN OF BHAAL, THE GOD OF MURDER, YEEEEES!

 

Anyway, Josh was talking about about souls and that some of them are special. The way it sounds they are going for option #2.

 

BG was more 1.

[Elerond]

Nowadays when I play game where I am Chosen One, this song starts to play in my head.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6bVVNsrcbeQ

Edited September 23, 2012 by Elerond

[Tychoxi]

I hate destiny. if destiny were to come up to me I'd gut the bastard, gut 'em goooood.

[Starglider]

I like having some unusual ability for the protagonist, even if it isn't terribly practical or useful, just to set them apart from being another race/class combo (it's also a story hook). However this ability doesn't have to be unique in the world; Baldur's Gate was ideal in this respect in that there was a prophecy about 'a bhaalspawn' but it wasn't necessarily about /your/ bhaalspawn. You had to fight against other 'chosen ones' with the same powers as you, with very different ideas for how to use it.

 

PS:T had the same general idea with the incarnations. There were many versions of the nameless one, you were just another in a long line of them, except that your choices made it possible to finally close the cycle (well, practically your ability to not forget everything when dying, but it doesn't /feel/ like that as a player ).

Edited September 23, 2012 by Starglider

[NerdBoner]

even if i'm joe shmuck the farmboy turned adventurer it is inevitable that i WILL become the chosen one...thats what the PC always is, prophecy or not.

[Grimlorn]

Looking back at Obsidian games there's a very interesting pattern.

 

The protagonist is practicly always special.

 

 

KOTOR 2 - you have a special apower

PST - you're the Nameles One

NWN - you miracolously survived with the shard. Your'e special and everyone is interested in you.

etc..

 

 

And with the Explanation of power from the soul and reincarnation (which I'm not a big fan off....and is it me or does it resembe the Nameless One with the memory from past lives bit?) I'm beginning to suspect you're going to be an exceptionsal soul or some prophecized champion or something.

I am special, so I should roleplay someone special.

[-TK-]

Truth be told, I'm sick to death of 'mary sue' protagonists: Chosen Ones, God Spawn, Dragon Born and Special Snowflakes.

 

I like regular ol' grisled, frost bitten, hack-lipped free booters.

[Piccolo]

I hate being the chosen one in RPGs. It worked well in some games, but now i'm just sick of the idea.

 

I'd much rather be an ordinary character caught up in an epic storyline. Let me define who my character is, and if you really feel you must impose super powers, special abilities, or destinies on characters to make the storyline interesting, do it on NPCs.

[NoxNoctum]

Don't care tbh as long as it's well done.

[mkreku]

This is something that has irked me for years.

 

One of my favourite RPG's is called Gothic. In it, you play a nameless criminal that's thrown into a very special prison at the beginning of the game. You never learn what he has done to be thrown in there, you never learn his name and the only thing you learn is that you're nothing special (by getting a beatdown the first thing that happens in the game).

 

Of course, the character becomes special because of what we, as players, decide to do with this character. But I loved playing a nobody that noone expected anything of. It was practically unheard of when Gothic was released in 2001.

 

Enough with the chosen ones.

[TCJ]

I prefer just being some yoho out in a big world. Sure, it's okay to be in the thick of momentous events, and sometimes play a role in something big, but I'd also be completely satisfied with my character just being a major player in a SMALL part of the world. Perhaps known among local loremasters, but in general, unknown to most of the world.

 

Spoiler for those who haven't played Fallout...

 

 

Actually, I kind of like how in Fallout your character ends up wandering the wastes after being the hero. Likely he will be unknown by many still, and people certainly won't think of him as the one who saved Vault 13. After all, who's heard of Vault 13.

 

[begolf00]

I don't really care in all honesty but I generally think games that make the protagonist unique generally give the game a more memorable experience. I know that a lot of people Like Morrowind b/c the character is somewhat unique. The BG series had a very interesting PC. Icewind Dale series I could give two ..... about the PC. Oblivion and Skyrim both sort of have lackluster player characters as well. If the player character can be unique and is just some blow joe then great, If the character is special to begin with but it's done good then that's great to.

 

I just feel that a lot of games have either really boring characters or Super characters. It would be nice to have something in the middle. Since they say Project Eternity is going to be a culmination of some of the Greats, I expect that the Player character is going to be somewhat unique.

 

Could some people here list games with normal characters that had good stories. I cant think of very many.

Edited September 24, 2012 by begolf00