SonicMage117

What about narrated bits? And what if you disable text? You draw attention to static background and not interacting characters? I will take screen of text, over Bioware face and PoE doesn’t have even that.To be honest, animations of npc's flailing their arms & hands around would be better than a box of text if the game is fully voiced and one has no desire for the dialogue text. As in real life, some people move their hands alot when talking, giving gestures and we can see sometimes exactly what they mean with their hands even though we cannot clearly make out what they're saying. But that is given that the developer can put in the effort to make body language readable at the distance. Backdrops should be crucial and positive distraction if something drastic is happening within plotline, per usual the dialogue box disappears and the camera pans to said targeted area. There are many options for isometric angle but takes more resources of course. So many opportunities to improve on how Crpg storytelling could be improved and yet to see them being implemented.

Speaking of muting voices and just reading or an option to just turn off voices completely... Personally, I usually disable subtitles to enjoy voice overs in games that have decent enough voice acting. I'm hoping there is an option for us to disable subtitles or that the text deviates from the voiced lines a bit like The Witcher 3 did.

Of course not, and some characters will re-use others' lines... just like any other game on the market. We don't really expect every single character to be viices for the sake of having it. And perhaps there will be a mute or possessed character or two as well. Some story writers are smart enough to see this through and it makes the game more relevant to a modern audience. Also, reminds me of The Witcher 2 when kid girls and boys in the townstead used adult men voice overs, it was extremely awkward but nobody really complained. That was voice overs gone wrong in both production and publishing affect lol

Bottom line: We all agree that it isn't necessarily a mistake for the game, just that some do not agree with it. Must wait for final release, yes the inclusion if full voice overs changes the game's mood 100%. What's done is done, Obsidian just wanted to have fun and make the game stand out even more from its predecessor.

Right you are, Mr. Cotton! I suspect many will not like your comment but it's true. Full vo is and has always been a reasonable way to cleanse the game from filler, streamlining it to the story's simplest and natural form. Some people call that dumbing it down because they feel they need or deserve the filler, it upsets them, I guess. Like sprinkles on a doughnut, so is that of which we desire to be needed in the games.. This is exactly why I consider my 50 hour rpg's (whether full vo or not) to be better lore examples of lore than a 200 hour rpg. No bs, no filler - same story quality and same length otherwise. The big question here is, can we all look forward to Deadfire just the same knowing this? Or will we go into the game with unrealistic expectations and a tainted mindset? Will we love Deadfire just the same or will it become the second favorite automatically? I think we know the answer but this thread has proved very entertaining.... with all the "I don't understand how you like Full VO more" which is similar as saying "I like blue, I don't undrstand how you like red more than blue. I mean, it's red for crying out loud! NARF." Now, did the announcement of full VO make any members here squirm a bit? You bet lol Obsidian trimming the fat for the ultimate steak, I see *Gasp*

Sometimes voice actors can manage to add emotion that text cannot... Period.

I like both Some days I may be in a mood for a more serious tone, another day I might get more enjoyment from a care-free rpg.

Quite happy to read this, having grown up in the golden age of gaming I can agree with this. I put off indies for a while, I thought "There are so many of these small developer games, they must be crap.. what? One out of every ten are actually good?" Then I played a game called Hotline Miami and the fog lifted. We do have more quality games with better story-writing today than we did in the 90-s and early 00's. That said, we don't have more "bad games" which is a myth that people try to press "We have more good games but we have even more bad games" The ratio of good games is more through comparison whilist the ratio of bad games in comparison is less. In other words, the industry is in much better shape than it has ever been. Lower priced indies ($9.99-$19.99) are making more profit and selling more than the highly popular ($60.00 million selling) AAA games according to statistics. Proves that people care about quality over bells and whistles, that developers care more about their games than back in the day. There's that hunger which propels the gaming industry. I, too, spend most of today playing indies rather than AAA and have stumbled on some gems, games made by 3 to 10 people that sell for $14.99 with more depth and lore than an rpg game. What sorcery is this that Hollow Knight a game made by 3 people could possibly dethrone Castlevania: Symphony Of The Night according to the majority of people who play it. Same thing with Shovel Knight overthrowing Megaman 2. Seems like indies are being made with more love and passion than AAA's of today or the golden years and for that, each of us should be grateful. As far as VO, evidence concludes that we have alot more talent now than 15 years ago. Voice actors seem to pop up out of nowhere lately (probably due to people using social media to get themselves in the ring), nobody can deny that it used to be a rare thing to see a game with good voice acting but now it's all too common - which is why people like Troy Baker, Nolan North and David Hayter (undoubtedly the biggest names in vidgy voice acting) stood out but now everyday people want to do it more now than ever before. That most recent strike they had did absolutely nothing for hindering the quality of games because of this. It's really amazing to think about but actually quite impressive and shows how much more people want to be involved in the gaming industry today. Alas, it's hard to imagine a game like The Witcher 3 without voices and I think we all know, there's just as much spoken dialogue there than any text-based rpg out there (including Crpg). Mass Effect'd be another example... Even when the voice acting is bad, can't say that no voice acting or partial voice acting would make it better quality. Some games, especially ones with 3D models just feel better with VO regardless of how terrible one thinks the voice acting is. As you basically said, it's no less common to find bad writing than it is bad voice acting but nostalgia will lie to us and tell us different And then there are anime style fighters/rpg's wherefore the bad English voice acting is part of their charm. It's almost a rule lol and somehow makes the experience more authentic. Why? Because we know that the game was made for Japanese voice actors so when people criticize the American voices and lip-syncing, it is a bit contradictive. So that's a space of genres which should be left untouched. It's almost to where good voice acting would be weird in these genre... Of course I have favorite rpg's that don't have any voice acting at all. Sunless Sea, couldn't imagine it with VO, while Kotor 2 is also a favorite and though voices are sub-par, I couldn't imagine it being better without those voices. Can we just accept that different games call for different resources? Or must it always be one or the other? Things that make you go "Hmmm...." So I personally do not see the need for concern for this development choice. I'm going to wait and see what the game feels like when it releases.

I feel like this is a gimmick for something that shouldn’t require a gimmick.It's like that one game that featured Pewdiepie, Markiplier and other Youtubers. Except it's even more unnecessary to call them by Critical Role, as the majority of Crpg fans/table top players have never even heard of that name, yet alone think to make that connection when the name Matt Mercer (or the other members) when Critical Role is brought up. Other than that, Matt Mercer has been very professional so I'm not worried about his involvement or the involement of other CR members being goofy. I think people are projecting that voice acting or the quality of it will be an issue, it won't. What "might" be an issue is how Obsidian handles story-writing when voice acting was or wasn't in mind. Does anyone know if it was planned from the beginning? This makes a huge difference.

New Bioshock game on the horizon and Watch Dogs 3 to be revealed at E3? Hmmm... not good, my wallet be hurting this year lol Edit: Here's to hoping Aiden will return!

Nobody here does but let's be honest, it will be a heck of alot larger than those who prefer to read. That's just the nature of rpg general audience these days. I don't believe there are reliable statistics for this but sales for such games are any indication, then we have an observative answer. More people prefer to listen instead of read, I, myself am one of those people even though I love reading in general (after a long day at work or when my eyes or tired or have a headache) sometimes it just makes more sense to make the ears do more work. This will surely bring a new audience to the Crpg table, those who skipped out on Divinity: Original Sin 1 and 2 because it was too goofy or Pillars 1 because it had too much reading will have less of an excuse not to try out Deadfire. So what we can say is that even though some of us may be disappointed, we'll still gladly play willingly and those who are getting introduced will now try based on this nostalgic sacrifice. So Obsidian was smart to play a hand at such chance and strategy.

I assume the profits for pc version of the first game were decent enough to do something worthy, whoever is responsible for shelling out on the console versions lost a lot of dough. It wouldn't take a rocket scientist to figure that Pillars 1 is one of the worst selling rpg (or any genre) on console this generation's history. The wholesome definition of a flop (huehue!) I will say that it's strange that smaller 3 person indie teams who sell their games for $14.99 are making more money than Obsidian but then again, different audience ahd different styles. Between spaces, Obsidian has gotten new blood and lost some old blood along the way and "expanded" to 4 (or 5?) different teams who work on projects simultaneously but that literally means nothing since they were one team split into 5. If I remember correctly, Obsidian is roughly 200+ members and just having enough to keep the doors open but this is probably due to them working late hours, etc. I'm not sure what the count is for catagorization purposes (i.e what qualifies a team to be labeled a mid-tier indie dev, high-tier and so on). Level status wise, to people who are heavily into indie games, I know would classify Obsidian as a low-tier but larger indie team due to the fact that Pillars 1 isn't exactly a cult hit among gamers (Crpg fans may disagree, certainly). Without dropping names, I was always impressed by the devs who stay a small isolated unit (1 to 4 person team), make a million and continue to pump out great indie games. Not only is it exciting but there's always a great story behind them and their team. Inspiring really. Some brain-chew for ya

Good call my padawan learner And new member I see, WELCOME TO THE FORUMS! Hope we do nut scare you off lol

Yes indeedy! Yes indeedly-do.... It was absolutely horrid but nostalgia goggles are like a few good beers and a dark room

Yes, Josh said if you played White March dlc of PoE1, your consequences follow over.

Well, at least it's far better than partial voice acting which, to me, makes games feel awkward at times. I have been told all these years that partial (minimal voice acting) in rpg's is the "best" way but it's not. It is a good excuse for a half-arse'd job though. There's nothing quite like the first paragraph of an important npc being voiced and the rest being non-voiced. It's just weird and feels incomplete... I no longer feel like I'm reading a great novel but a novel interupted by someone trying to call me on the phone. It's a....troubling thing. I've learned that partial/limited voice overs can never compare to full voices or none at all because of this. Personally, I love to read (dare I say too much, though it's probably obvious by now), I'd just rather have a game either with no voice overs at all or with full voice overs. The vast majority of rpg's are either fully voiced or not at all and when their writing is centered well around that, it really shines. For Crpg's this is no different. I always did question why my party was able to speak when given a command but then not in general. The "As you wish" and other lines in Baldurs Gate for example felt plastic because of it. What is the point here exactly? Obsidian went bold and all out. Huge kudos for them I can't wait to hear every npc in Nekataka. You would do well to follow my example and support this trend for Crpg's within the industry. We should be more concerned about how messy the balance is and the refinment of combat... Cheers!

"Rip Deadfire Long live Pillars 1. Oh well, Eora was nice while it lasted." Nope. I for one, I am glad to see it is fully voiced. I'm looking forward to seeing how this affects the literature and the world + lore in the game compared to the first abd I know many will be surprised at just how good Obsidian covered it up. Prepare to be annoyed... Just not as nearly as annoyed as we were hearing "You must gather your party before venturing forth".

I'm doing dual-class because I want to experiment

You see, it seems to be another common misconception: The purpose of games like these is to offer table-top pen and paper experience on screen... Which is wrong. That was never the purpose of a role playing video game, even developers in the 90's were smart enough to know this. If it would have been so, then rpg's would have been primarily multiplayer even back then. The truth is, a well crafted single player experience is only hindered by the inclusion of multiplayer modes so I, too, an happy that the game remains single player. So most times it's best to keep a game exclusive to one (master of one vs jack of all trades). I respect devs who only feature one or the other, it reeks of focused and vision whereas both in one game can spell of a confusive scent. By the way, WELCOME TO THE FORUM!

I was thinking that, unfortunately I have no mic but yeah, I can definitely see it being a strong mp game.

This has been officially denied multiple times, it's a PC game first and then the publisher ports it over to console, as stated by Josh Sawyer.Yeah but there were already plans to port it to consoles, unlike the first game which was ported to consoles long after release. I didn't say it wasn't a pc game first, just that consoles were not an afterthought this time. Obsidian obviously learned from past mistake and sees the potential in console market. They want to succeed where Pillars 1 miserably failed with this. The console port to the first game occured post-Fig campaign and was done by Paradox. Following its success Obsidian/Versus Evil looked into doing a port for Deadfire but this is after months of work and as a project that won't even be done by Obsidian themselves but by Red Cerberus. Their focus is still exclusively on the PC version and that is all that was originally planned for. As stated by Josh several times already.That's bad news then for console gamers, I mean. I expect it to do just as poorly as the first and quite frankly am very surprised that it will even be attempted at all. On the other hand, better for pc gamers but we will still complain about the progresses of nature in the development of Deadfire so I'll drink to that at least.

This has been officially denied multiple times, it's a PC game first and then the publisher ports it over to console, as stated by Josh Sawyer. Yeah but there were already plans to port it to consoles, unlike the first game which was ported to consoles long after release. I didn't say it wasn't a pc game first, just that consoles were not an afterthought this time. Obsidian obviously learned from past mistake and sees the potential in console market. They want to succeed where Pillars 1 miserably failed with this.

Keep in mind that Deadfire was planned with console ports/versions in mind whereas Pillars 1, consoles were just an after thought. Unfortunately for Obsidian, this reflected in the ports of the first game but with Deadfire, just as much thought for pc audience also went equally for console gamers. One of the main reasons, I'd suppose, being the majority of backers or fans of the original (like myself) asked for full VO so I'd say overall that is probably the main reason. Also to follow the new set bar that Larian did effortlessly. How will it pan out for Obsidian? I know not but Deadfire has to be better than the first game if not anything, or at least wesa hope

I haven't seen a downfall of the rpg genre, I've just seen a "different" rise... Planescape Torment and Baldurs Gate 2 are definitely over hyped and not in any way better than rpg's today, just different. One misconception among nostalgic rpg-enthusiasts (well Crpg era gamers to be more precise) is that there is less handholding, more difficulty, more strategy and more freedom in IE games than we have now - of course, this isn't true but there's always that gamer's definition of what freedom "should" be. What writing "should" be like or what topics it would touch on. The rpg's especially the 3 person made indie games which I have played easily match the quality of an old IE game but the length may be shorter. Point being, writing hasn't degressed in game, there's only so much you can do when adding full VO, that's a given. Technology still hasn't caught up to where devs can do all and of course budget is another factor. This was definitely a smart move for Obsidian, it will definitely heighten sales on consoles which I believe to be one of the main decisions behind this choice. Especially since console sales for Pillars 1 was deathly abysmal (very VERY shockingly poor). As someone who loves to read, I read a bit too much om screen as it is, at home or at work, on paper too. So this is welcoming for me as my eyes will hurt less. "This is one of those things where everyone wins".

Trying out Wildlands (free weekend on Steam) plus it's Ubisoft so, I know it will be good I've also had the sneaking urge to play Shovel Knight (haven't really dug into the Plague Knight campaign, perhaps it is time). Edit: Wildlands is pretty disappointing lol Just played a bit and uninstalled it... Shovel Knight it is.