Is the story of the PC character compelling?

I rarely ever come on here anymore, but I thought it would be a good thing to talk about publically without breaking any forum policy because its an important topic.

One of the most difficult things I imagine that a game developer has to do, is to make the PC characters decisions and story compelling. I've heard that the character design process for the PC is especially limited in MMOs becauseuse people have different expectations about what that character will do and how they will turn out. However I think that the issue lies in the constraints of the Living Story's narrative design. When you desire for the outcome to be the same across the board for everyone, then this by nature, adds constraints to the design procedure, which extremely limits how you can construct the player character.

The solution:I think that instead of always having the player character doing and saying the same thing regardless of past actions and a forced personality, I think it would be better to add branching dialogue options that aren't required to be used by anyone. It would definitely be a great way to invest players more in the story, I think even players like myself who just skip through the story as fast as possible would become interested. Not to mention the impact this would have on the role play community.

What is your opinion on this topic, do you think branching dialogue options would be beneficial?

It would be good to have an experienced game developer weigh in on this. @Jessica Price.1649

Thanks to Derior for the inspiration

Personally I'd enjoy more player agency or choice in the game, and as a mechanic, it certainly has worked in other MMO's, such as TOR, but the real question is how difficult it would be to implement and whether or not the effort/cost would be worth the gain in the context of GW2. We've seen small samples of this feature recently, with our choice affecting whether Amnoon remains independent, or joins in an alliance with the Sunspears/Joko, so maybe that's a sign of ANet dabbling into the concept and testing whether or not it's viable. Whether we'll see more choices like that in the future, or how elaborate it becomes, remains to be seen.

The problem with options is that they kill replayability, it's hard to code to "undo" options that change the world in case if the user try to replay the history and choice different options from previous one. That is why Personal History is not currently replayable. By the way, theres somes choices implemented on PoF, like if we align with joko, indepedent amnon or sunspears.

@Zlater.6789 said:I rarely ever come on here anymore, but I thought it would be a good thing to talk about publically without breaking any forum policy because its an important topic.

It would be good to have an experienced game developer weigh in on this. @Jessica Price.1649

Your obvious passive-aggressive attack is honestly kind of pointless. This would be vastly better suited to one of the many other threads complaining that Jessica Price was not interested in engaging in a discussion with someone who assumed that she had not considered the most blindingly obvious, laughed out of a 101 level college course for thinking it was original idea in building themepark MMO lead characters.

@"ugrakarma.9416", this is an exact duplicate of the twitter content, in an effort presumably to "prove" that ANet would not hold their staff accountable to the same rules on the forums as they would when the staff speak on a personal basis, on non-affiliated media.

I liked it in PoF when the player got the choice of how the city of Amnoon should side in the conflict. It was sad to see that decision didn't lead to much in terms of story, but it added flavor into that open world map. I also liked the court scene in the most recent LS4 episode 3, as it had freedom in terms of dialog options even though it didn't impact the story. I would like to see more options like these in the future, even if the story as a whole can't be changed by player choices.Other good things GW2 has already done a little bit are different dialog and mechanics depending on your race or class. I really enjoy the differences in dialog when they happen.I would like to see something like this about the priory/vigil/whispers choice in the future. It's a big choice in the personal story, but in LS episodes and expansions it's barely mentioned. Commanders from different orders are obviously specialized in different things and know different npc characters.I also like whenever current events have something to do with the home instance. It makes me feel more like my character lives there. The main story could also do this to make the home feel more meaningful.

@Tenrai Senshi.2017 said:Personally I'd enjoy more player agency or choice in the game, and as a mechanic, it certainly has worked in other MMO's, such as TOR, but the real question is how difficult it would be to implement and whether or not the effort/cost would be worth the gain in the context of GW2. We've seen small samples of this feature recently, with our choice affecting whether Amnoon remains independent, or joins in an alliance with the Sunspears/Joko, so maybe that's a sign of ANet dabbling into the concept and testing whether or not it's viable. Whether we'll see more choices like that in the future, or how elaborate it becomes, remains to be seen.

I really agree. The story has been getting more and more cinematic as Anet has gotten far better at creating impressive cutscenes (I really liked the end of S4EP3). I think the icing on the cake would be adding more punishment for the actions of the player. As of right now, it feels the commander has so much immortality around everything happening in the world, a bit of a Mary sue/Gary Stu i'd say. Make the threat feel a little more like a threat and less of an inconvenience to the player.

It would already help to reintroduce racial perspective.I can't be the only one shaking his head when my charr was offered a membership in the Shining Blade, right?If anything they would have declared a charr commander an ally, but even that would have had to be done with heavy scepticism from what is essentially her krytan majesty's secret service. Likewise, why would an asura, a sylvary, or a norn be allowed to enter the hallowed halls of the shining blade? If anything Anise would have presented the ordeal as a test whether the commander can work with the Shining Blade for this one mission.No curse, just a blindfold, as the mere mention of such a spell could have caused the vast majority of charr to immediately decline the request. In fact, many human commanders, who value their independance would have declined that.The story has to be on rails to some degree, but they have never been more apparent than LW S3 E6.

On the other hand some of the ambient Dialogue in LW S4 E2 seemed to be on point, so it's not like Anet doesn't already do this, instead there seems to be a flip flop effect depending on the team. In one episode we get class specific interactions, which is great, in another race dependant interaction, which makes sense, given the context of Tyria and sometimes there's both, only to suddenly return to the commander being implicitly human.

!! > @SlippyCheeze.5483 said:! > Your obvious passive-aggressive attack is honestly kind of pointless. This would be vastly better suited to one of the many other threads complaining that Jessica Price was not interested in engaging in a discussion with someone who assumed that she had not considered the most blindingly obvious, laughed out of a 101 level college course for thinking it was original idea in building themepark MMO lead characters.! Yet claiming that it is impossible to even acknowlege some hint of colour on the main character is false.! Even worse, she had made a lengthy post on the topic without anyone asking her to do so. Deroir took interest and wanted to invite a discussion in the most polite way possible. This is consistent with Deroir's interest in the GW2 lore and story, so when he saw a developer writing at length (>10 posts) about narrative design he likely wanted to join a potential discussion. And generally this is a good course of action, becuase usually developers love to share their work with interested individuals.! Not this time, apparently, instead the conversation took a surreal turn. The writer appealed to her authority and claimed Deroir would have never disagreed had it been a male writer.! This was completely uncalled for.! There was room for a civil discussion on whether it was infeasible to give the PC some option to share his opinion on the general state of affairs. Because at the end of the day the players understand that our characters are at the mercy of the narrative team and will have to go along with whatever plan the team decides will be the best one. Therefore, the players want the team to give it their all for the best result possible. If the adoring fanbase is getting on your nerves, you can always choose not to respond, or even tell them you're busy doing something else.

I agree with Jessica, as presumably the entire anet writing team does since that's what they're doing. I want my character to be bland so I make up my own story and I'm not even a RPer. As long as my girl is (edit) bad-butt enough, I'm happy.

Really all they'd need to do is add flavor based on race and class. They've always poked this idea.

To me it makes perfect sense that a Necromancer playthrough in the Palawa Joko story sections should be different from the other classes, or a Warrior might have a different reaction on meeting Koss.It makes sense to me that as a Norn you should have a different interaction with Braham than other races do; and for the other races, the same.They actually went strong on this idea in HoT with a Sylvari playthrough having that different flavor than other races' playthroughs and it was enough for me to want to play through it again as one. From what I understand there are a few Blessed by Balthazar changes as well, but I haven't actually played through to see.There was also the faction choice that really doesn't bear into anything in PoF to the best of my knowledge (maybe there's some Order of Whispers flavor?), but the Mordremoth fight showed what you can do when that choice gets referenced. Getting to see Leftpaw again gave that scene a lot of punch for me.Amnoon's allegiance was also a choice that was made that could have had big impacts, but I haven't played through on Joko or Sunspears yet, only Independence.

The only reason the PC needs to be treated as a 'blank slate' is time & resource constraints. Maybe it'd cost too many resources to have a Sylvari-exclusive bromance between the PC and Canach. Who knows?

@Sarrs.4831 said:

They actually went strong on this idea in HoT with a Sylvari playthrough having that different flavor than other races' playthroughs and it was enough for me to want to play through it again as one. From what I understand there are a few Blessed by Balthazar changes as well, but I haven't actually played through to see.

I wouldn't exactly call it strong, especially considering Colin's suggestion that we all make sylvari characters. You got some extra dialogue but it was entirely forgettable. I'd rather not waste resources on that level of change. I can basically remember nothing about the story as a sylvari character versus a human.

@Fluffball.8307 said:I wouldn't exactly call it strong, especially considering Colin's suggestion that we all make sylvari characters. You got some extra dialogue but it was entirely forgettable. I'd rather not waste resources on that level of change. I can basically remember nothing about the story as a sylvari character versus a human.

The dialogue changes, Bitter Harvest and the Mordremoth fight change. Honestly it's probably more memorable that the mordemoth fight changes based on which faction you choose (or Trahearne's double meme if you never picked a faction).

I would say that the Commander is bland, and should not be.

Overall, when it comes to personality presentation, there are three forms of MCs in games:

• The Mute Hero; heroes like Link in the Legend of Zelda games, or the PCs of Diablo I/II or Path of Exile or Corvo in Dishonored 1, where the most the PC says would be things like a sentence or two when entering specific areas for the first time, or hitting certain levels, and when the player is disallowed to do something (full inventory so can't pick up more items, etc.). Given how much focus GW2 has on voice acting, this doesn't really fit for the Commander.
• The Defined Hero; the most common hero in games, particularly single player, and the one that Anet goes for. These are those with a set-in-stone personality and reaction, where your actions don't alter anything, and there's no dialogue wheel.
• The Customized Hero; BioWare games focus on this, as do most RPGs. The hero where you get set lines, but you get to chose out of a handful whether that be via dialogue wheel or some morality or faction chart.

Guild Wars 2 began its development going towards the third one, with the idea of "This is My Story", the personality system, and biographies altering the storyline. And for RPGs, what I'm dubbing "the Customized Hero" is the most ideal for players, because they get to see the PC get molded and shaped based on some choice made somewhere.

The problem is, it definitely is more difficult to do this. But it isn't impossible, and certainly isn't impossible to do for an MMO. Especially one like GW2, where it's really a single player game done online, when it comes to the main story. It is ultimately not a question of "can we do this" but "can we afford it", and it would seem to me that Anet thinks the answer is "no". Or rather, it's "no, except in a handful of cases like during Small Victories and Seized".

I, for one, do not enjoy my faceless commander of no defined race. Season 3 plays the same whether you're human or not, and it really shouldn't since it deals with primarily human topics (and KRYTAN human topics at that). There's literally no change for Order of Whispers PCs either, when it comes to Demmi. And that is more a slap in the face than having a personality I dislike attached to the PC.

The main problem I see is that the commander is either the right hand man(which I personally found more convincing) or the superhero that can sow fear into the resolve and hearts of even the biggest foes. Whoever comes after Balthazar and the dragons is already doomed to be a minor nuisance. Most people see a figure like Palawa Joko, Caudecus and Lazarus as a secondary antagonist because they did not command world shattering power like Balthazar or the dragons. The story of GW2 is basically already told with PoF, the rest is mopping up the remains.

This is not the fault of the commander, but remember who we faced in GW1 and what kind of opposition the commander deals with today.In GW1 Prophecies, you were awed by anyone who wielded the scepter of Orr. Who wielded it today lately? Livia. I would place the scepter of Orr close to the pinnacle of power a necromancer could wish for, but here it is reduced to a longlivety pill.Ogden was a monumental figure in GW1. What does he do today? Literally collect dust in a library.Saul DÁlessio was reduced to a very minor role as a total pawn.Turrai Ossa was a big hero in GW1, now he is just a fool that barely managed to slow down Joko.

What also turns me off is the nearly total victory of authoritarian and sometimes bluntly fascist forces and the inability of the commander to stand up against these regimes.

@DracTak.1785 said:

I really agree. The story has been getting more and more cinematic as Anet has gotten far better at creating impressive cutscenes (I really liked the end of S4EP3). I think the icing on the cake would be adding more punishment for the actions of the player. As of right now, it feels the commander has so much immortality around everything happening in the world, a bit of a Mary sue/Gary Stu i'd say. Make the threat feel a little more like a threat and less of an inconvenience to the player.

If dying didn't instill a sense of threat into the story of the commander, I'm not sure what could. Barring Anet telling a story where we just lose and the commander as a character dies and is replaced by a successor in some way (almost like a story-mode identity kit, keep the game progress, lose the superficial look and lore backstory), there really isn't any more danger we could have been placed in. We died fighting a god, and we only won that fight on #2 because we used a sword imbued with a god-flame, and had a dragion scion on our side as well.

@Torolan.5816 said:The main problem I see is that the commander is either the right hand man(which I personally found more convincing) or the superhero that can sow fear into the resolve and hearts of even the biggest foes. Whoever comes after Balthazar and the dragons is already doomed to be a minor nuisance. Most people see a figure like Palawa Joko, Caudecus and Lazarus as a secondary antagonist because they did not command world shattering power like Balthazar or the dragons. The story of GW2 is basically already told with PoF, the rest is mopping up the remains.

This is not the fault of the commander, but remember who we faced in GW1 and what kind of opposition the commander deals with today.In GW1 Prophecies, you were awed by anyone who wielded the scepter of Orr. Who wielded it today lately? Livia. I would place the scepter of Orr close to the pinnacle of power a necromancer could wish for, but here it is reduced to a longlivety pill.Ogden was a monumental figure in GW1. What does he do today? Literally collect dust in a library.Saul DÁlessio was reduced to a very minor role as a total pawn.Turrai Ossa was a big hero in GW1, now he is just a fool that barely managed to slow down Joko.

What also turns me off is the nearly total victory of authoritarian and sometimes bluntly fascist forces and the inability of the commander to stand up against these regimes.

For both Zhaitan and Mordremoth, the commander had to find ways to either weaken the dragon, or find a unique way to fight it. For Balthazar, as I mentioned above he had to use a god-imbued sword and a dragon scion. Even his fight with Joko was a loss for him, and he had to have his bacon saved by Aurene again. The commander's reputation is a lot bigger than his real deeds have been, and he does not have a way to currently deal with Kralkatorrik, and he knows nothing of Selbbub, but the nature of dragon traits spreading to the ones left means that the last dragon won't be any kind of an easy target. I also have to whole heartedly disagree with your assessment of GW1 storylines, but I'll do that on a point-by-point.

Scepter of Orr: We were hardly awed by anyone who wielded it, and in fact the PC of GW1 did use it themselves during the Sanctum Cay mission (I think), where they transport the Scepter from Evenia to Khilbron. The last boss of the GW1 Prophecies storyline? An immortal lich (Sound familar?). The last boss of factions? An envoy whose primary threatening ability was creating hordes of mindless monsters out of living people (not unlike Risen/Branded), Last boss of Nightfall? A fallen god, contained (Abbadon) who still possessed his god magic, as Kormir was able to absorb that magic and ascend to godhood from that fight.

Ogden: He was a monk hero. I wouldn't call him a monumental figure. He was even listed in his GW1 biography as being a scholar from his childhood. He belongs in a library.

Saul: He was always a total pawn. That is literally his story.

Turai Ossa: I don't really see where he is made out to be a fool, just because he didn't have a dragon scion around who could eat the magic that powers Joko's immortal body, or a bloodstone that could stop a lich soul from returning to it's body. He did the best he could within his means, but nobody within Elona had the means to deal with a lich. The commander didn't either, it's why we lost in that fight. Aurene is the one who won.

I don't know what a Player Character character is, but compared to single player experiences like The Witcher or Mass Effect it's pretty underdeveloped. But it is okay for an MMO.

@Ceit.7619 said:

@Torolan.5816 said:The main problem I see is that the commander is either the right hand man(which I personally found more convincing) or the superhero that can sow fear into the resolve and hearts of even the biggest foes. Whoever comes after Balthazar and the dragons is already doomed to be a minor nuisance. Most people see a figure like Palawa Joko, Caudecus and Lazarus as a secondary antagonist because they did not command world shattering power like Balthazar or the dragons. The story of GW2 is basically already told with PoF, the rest is mopping up the remains.

This is not the fault of the commander, but remember who we faced in GW1 and what kind of opposition the commander deals with today.In GW1 Prophecies, you were awed by anyone who wielded the scepter of Orr. Who wielded it today lately? Livia. I would place the scepter of Orr close to the pinnacle of power a necromancer could wish for, but here it is reduced to a longlivety pill.Ogden was a monumental figure in GW1. What does he do today? Literally collect dust in a library.Saul DÁlessio was reduced to a very minor role as a total pawn.Turrai Ossa was a big hero in GW1, now he is just a fool that barely managed to slow down Joko.

What also turns me off is the nearly total victory of authoritarian and sometimes bluntly fascist forces and the inability of the commander to stand up against these regimes.

If I remember well, Zhaitan was not really defeated by us but by a super airship and if you are really nitpicking, Mordemoth was killed by the sacrifice of Trahaerne . We were the right hand man at this point, so I am absolutely ok with that.The scepter of Orr was featured as a potent weapon in GW1. And yes, it still is potent with its probably most useful feature, longevity. But it story wise falls flat on the face in GW2 when you compare it to the power of Sohotin. You could argue that it only had a cameo appearance anyway as fan service, but it lost some of its status with that in my opinion. A large number of feats and heroes from GW1 are portrayed as too weak to finally stop Joko, and that irked me right from the start with PoF. Revisionist history is one thing, but Joko actually managed to let his words follow deeds and kill or turn your former allies from GW1 to fight against the commander, negating any heroism in me from the start. This sets him on the same pedestal as the lich you mentioned who also kind of succeeded with something like that(Rurik) but as you already said this was the endgame of Prophecies, not just an easy kill between two dragons like Lazarus or Caudecus.*Later on, GW1 indeed blew in the same horn as GW2, but it did not start out like this already. In GW2, even the Shadow of the Dragon was already said to be unkillable and required special fire to bring him down.

@Zlater.6789 said:PC characters

PC = player character; PC character = personal computer character ;)

The solution:I think that instead of always having the player character doing and saying the same thing regardless of past actions and a forced personality, I think it would be better to add branching dialogue options that aren't required to be used by anyone.

This I have been asking for for years, but the devs have repeatedly explained that the don't intend to dive into that again, due to the additional load of work (and prefer to focus on other things they consider more important). I was sad to hear that, but there is nothing any of us can do about it.

@Ashantara.8731 said:

@Zlater.6789 said:PC characters

Pact commander character.

The solution:

I think that instead of always having the player character doing and saying the same thing regardless of past actions and a forced personality, I think it would be better to add branching dialogue options that aren't required to be used by anyone.

Apparently not repeatedly enough that it had to be dredged up again.

@"Castigator.3470" said:It would already help to reintroduce racial perspective.I can't be the only one shaking his head when my charr was offered a membership in the Shining Blade, right?

Oh my god, that was the absolute worst thing my human character has ever had to do in-game, as far as breaking immersion. Jennah? Sure, decent human, tries to rule right. Anise? Interesting character but I would never willingly ally with her even as a human. I am trying to save the world, and I do not want to be beholden - upon pain of death - to a queen that is in no position to save it. I understand that uncomfortable events have to occur as a trade-off for power or knowledge, but that one is probably gonna come back to bite us in the butt and we're all gonna facepalm and go "I knew this was gonna happen, and I hate it, because I didn't even have a choice as a player."

@foozlesprite.8051 said:

@"Castigator.3470" said:It would already help to reintroduce racial perspective.I can't be the only one shaking his head when my charr was offered a membership in the Shining Blade, right?

Entering the shinning blade, even for humans, was undoubtedly one of the worst ideas in the narrative, simply because I already smelled the discontinuous plot smell, that is, we entered the shinning blade, and to this day, that meant what? nothing, no operation, no mention, as if nothing had happened... more one to the list of discontinued / underused / unmeaningful plots. . It would have been simpler and more polished if Shinning Blad have just sold/traded the secret with the commander.

It does need a bit more branching off. I've only seen very very minor times when this occurs. To name two of them:

1. On Scarlets drill, there was an option that you could activate a button or read something, so long as you fit the requirement (had to be an Engi).
2. Being a Sylvari in HoT's, getting a chance to emotionally bring back some of your people from their tormented state, stopping them from becoming Mordrem slaves.

More could be said, but I have another matter to bring up about the PC.Some people like that the PC's story leaves little time for the character to express themselves or give off too much of a personality.I get that people want to RP in their heads how their characters backstory, is.I agree with it, to a point...I also feel though that the character is a bit bland, and I sometimes don't care enough about my characters journy..... due to the lack of the PC's emotion placed in the story, as well as options that you can say/do that would bring about any sort of change to the story, with a different outcome to each story. (Branching idea, again. but aimed at the PC her/his self).

The storys often feel like they are becoming compellling at certain points, but small aspects of it often break down. They leave plot holes, loose ends, and sometimes just unsatisfactory conclusions.To be fair though, I still enjoy the storys and interactions with my characters within each episode (not so much LWS2 though).

@Torolan.5816 said:If I remember well, Zhaitan was not really defeated by us but by a super airship and if you are really nitpicking, Mordemoth was killed by the sacrifice of Trahaerne . We were the right hand man at this point, so I am absolutely ok with that.The scepter of Orr was featured as a potent weapon in GW1. And yes, it still is potent with its probably most useful feature, longevity. But it story wise falls flat on the face in GW2 when you compare it to the power of Sohotin. You could argue that it only had a cameo appearance anyway as fan service, but it lost some of its status with that in my opinion. A large number of feats and heroes from GW1 are portrayed as too weak to finally stop Joko, and that irked me right from the start with PoF. Revisionist history is one thing, but Joko actually managed to let his words follow deeds and kill or turn your former allies from GW1 to fight against the commander, negating any heroism in me from the start. This sets him on the same pedestal as the lich you mentioned who also kind of succeeded with something like that(Rurik) but as you already said this was the endgame of Prophecies, not just an easy kill between two dragons like Lazarus or Caudecus.*Later on, GW1 indeed blew in the same horn as GW2, but it did not start out like this already. In GW2, even the Shadow of the Dragon was already said to be unkillable and required special fire to bring him down.

• Zhaitan was finished off by a super airship, but it wouldn't have worked if the PC didn't destroy the Mouth of Zhaitan to starve the dragon, weaken it's hold on the land and destroy it's eyes and dragon champions. For Mordy, the PC had to figure a way into his mindscape in order to kill him there, because his body is far too massive for a small group to kill, given how he was the jungle. Trahaerne's sacrifice was more about keeping him dead.
• When held, the Scepter of Orr literally just gave the one holding it some bonus energy regeneration, and being near it gave some extra energy. No skills, no epic destruction. A passive effect like Longevity is pretty realistic for the artifact. Khilbron was able to do more with the staff, but he was a powerful lich from Orr and knew how to make use of it. In his hands, it had the ability to command creatures like Titans, that hailed from worlds other than Tyria. None of which really translates into much for Livia. Sohotin on the other hand, was a mage-kings weapon and has feats tied to it via what happens in the AC dungeon.
• Realistically, heroes like Koss probably ran into the same issue the commander did. They probably put Joko down, and he got back up because of his immortal body. They just didn't have the means to deal with the problem.
• I'm not sure what the 'later on' stuff is about. GW1's third campaign had the PC killing a god. GW2's third campaign had the PC killing a god. It's kind of funny how similar some bits about that are.

My only big issue with it, even if it is/were a compelling story, it is not a compelling player character for me, because the story I play there is completely incompatible with being a player in the rest of the world.Meaning, it is literally impossible that I, and you, and everybody, is the commander. I can't get over that fact. It's not myself I'm playing. Whenever I enter story mode, I switch from being my character to being the commander. I find that rather jarring.
It's like my character got a job as actor in a movie (but I have to press buttons constantly to watch).
And I think that's not good, because while the story is nice, there are better movies out there.

Also, imo, the "you are the heroest hero the world has ever seen!" thing is becoming ridiculous.

I think the whole direction they took after the vanilla story was unfortunate. The PC being a blank slate doesn't even bother me in comparison.

I actually prefer the storytelling of HoT and onward to the earlier way. Up to LW2 the PC often felt disconnected to the world. Especially in LW2 I hated how the PC just stood there silently throughout nearly all discussions. Most of the plot was driven by the NPCs, the PC was, aside from the battles of course, just a bystander? Kind of?I'm willing to pay the price of a pre-defined PC personality if it gets them to actually interact with their guild etc. Even though at times I'm far from happy with the PCs priorities and some decisions, but now at least it does not feel like the PC could just disappear from the story without anything changing anymore.

As for the Shining Blade: Horrible episode. (And yes, human PC. Still horrible. I'd never have joined had I been given any choice.) I sincerely hope this whole affair is over and forgotten by now and maybe we can be excused by having died once anyway. I like to treat this as fanfiction and non-canon and I hope the devs somehow do, too.

It seems odd to me that people would complain about the PC being "bland". For my tastes, the PC is far too defined and disagreeable. I'd vastly prefer to be some nameless helper than to be the brute that the commander comes off as.