Why not keep the game open and everyone play as they like?
I don’t know how successfully I can argue this in a blog thread, but: it’s up to the developer to create a consistent, enjoyable play experience. If the devs attempt to create a game where “everyone plays as they like”, you’re likely to end up with a muddled, unfocused, or at the very least, unbalanced mess.
Creating a game where the player decides who he’s going to start with, how powerful they are, what backgrounds, perks etc. is fundamentally different from what they’ve got now, and 99% of players are going to start with three professional fighters every single time. Overhype has so far developed a challenging, brutal game where the player experiences real consequences. Diluting aspects of that potentially changes BB from a tense, suspenseful experience that people will talk about for years (Dark Souls) to a good tactical combat game that people thought was fun (so what?)
Look at what the devs of Darkest Dungeon are doing. Do you think people would be raving about that game if they could save whenever they want? If they could get a do-over whenever their party was wiped out?
I fully agree with this, particularly if the game is going to stick to the notion that the player is not represented as a brother.
This is not a party based FRPG, where you are likely to retain your created party for the long haul. Here, there is the potential to lose some or all of your men so custom characterisation is not required.
Working on a character generation system is going to take time better spent, IMO, on the areas that the devs have already spoken about.
However, I still think that the player ought to be able to choose the initial three players from the same list that the random picks are made. Why?
Well, a starting captain is more likely to kick off with the best men he can muster at the beginning or the type of men that he prefers to hire. You will still get the negatives along with the positives, so that the underlying theme of the game is not broken.
