No voiced player character

[Draxicus]

Just don't get carried away by all the Cyberpunk/Fallout 4/Dragon Age 2-4 casualization. Dialog enriches with lots of choices and answers, and a voiced character turns any RPG into a movie. Anyone has a suggestion for Obsidian on this?

[Boeroer]

Don't do it?

[morhilane]

First person with voiced protagonist don't work that much for me. It's not even a question of RPG/dialogue choices, it's because of the perspective. I hear the voice but it doesn't feel like it comes from the character I'm playing. It sound like its something beside my character that is talking and pretending to be them.

In shorter words, it breaks my immersion.

[Theonlygarby]

I think obsidian will go non voiced... I can't think of any games of theirs that have voiced protagonists...  Maybe Alpha protocol?  It's been too long to remember... I think that game was voiced.  Also grounded I guess.  Though I don't really count that because it's not a typical obsidian game

[morhilane]

12 hours ago, Theonlygarby said:

I think obsidian will go non voiced... I can't think of any games of theirs that have voiced protagonists...  Maybe Alpha protocol?  It's been too long to remember... I think that game was voiced.  Also grounded I guess.  Though I don't really count that because it's not a typical obsidian game

Alpha Protocol, Grounded and Dungeon Siege III. All games with predefined protagonists.

[Hurin]

On 12/17/2020 at 10:34 PM, morhilane said:

First person with voiced protagonist don't work that much for me. It's not even a question of RPG/dialogue choices, it's because of the perspective. I hear the voice but it doesn't feel like it comes from the character I'm playing. It sound like its something beside my character that is talking and pretending to be them.

In shorter words, it breaks my immersion.

This is my take too. I’m hoping for non voiced. But a little voice in the back I of my mind is saying maybe MS will push them for a voiced protag. Hoping not! 

[Wormerine]

On 12/17/2020 at 10:34 PM, morhilane said:

First person with voiced protagonist don't work that much for me. It's not even a question of RPG/dialogue choices, it's because of the perspective.

ehh... for me it's RPG thing. I mean, Thief1&2 were brilliant, and VO was part of it. Dishonored also worked better, IMO with a voiced protagonist. For the RPG, though... say NO! (eyeing Baldur's Gate3 with suspicion) 

[Clawdius_Talonious]

I'm of two minds about this, honestly. To me it comes down to this, are we playing a blank slate character like The Watcher? Or are we playing a character whose personality isn't entirely ours to shape, like Commander Shepard? I'd prefer the former, and thus no voiceover for the PC, but if it is the latter I don't mind voiced dialog at all. It's a waste of money for blank slates, IMO, and if you're going to spend money on blank slates I'd prefer a variety of voices for barks etc so the player can pick what suits them. For games where you're a specific character, it's not so jarring for them to have their own voice that differs from mine.

[LittleArmadillo0]

I feel like it is going to go one of two ways.

1. The protagonist is going to be completely silent with maybe a specific grunt or injury noises based on the sex and race of the character (depending on if we are able to choose a different race).

2. The protagonist is going to have selected variations of voices similar to previous POE games.

For full voice acting I think that will be out of the question. Everybody is going to have their own version of what their protagonist is going to behave and act like. Having a fully voiced character really only work when you have a clear idea of what the character is going to act like. Obsidian could go that root but I'm doubtful.

[NullandVoid]

Bet it's already been decided, and if you don't like voiced, you probably won't like the decision.

Me, definitely prefer voiced, I just wish there were more voice options in most RPGs.

[Ordo!]

16 hours ago, NullandVoid said:

Bet it's already been decided, and if you don't like voiced, you probably won't like the decision.

Me, definitely prefer voiced, I just wish there were more voice options in most RPGs.

Did you know anything or you are just making assumptions ? Because nearly every Obsidian's RPGs have a non-voiced protagonist, to allow more reactivity.

[Theonlygarby]

23 hours ago, NullandVoid said:

Bet it's already been decided, and if you don't like voiced, you probably won't like the decision.

Me, definitely prefer voiced, I just wish there were more voice options in most RPGs.

You want them to voice the protagonist and also have multiple options for voices?  That is definitely not going to happen.  If it's voiced, you will only get 1 male and 1 female.  It would cost so much money(and time) to have a bunch of voice actors do all the dialog.

Edited May 7, 2021 by Theonlygarby

[Wormerine]

13 hours ago, Theonlygarby said:

If it's voiced, you will only get 1 male and 1 female.  It would cost so much money(and time) to have a bunch of voice actors do all the dialog.

I would argue more among the lines: what's the point of full VO if your don't commit? The benefit of doing VO of protagonist is that you can define him more as a character. 

Then again, it is possible that Larian is going to do just that for BG3 - from some of their early comments it can be understood that the game will have full VO, protagonist included. That means full VO for all origins. It still seems to me unlikely, and misguided, but it would fit what BG3 is doing so far. 

[morhilane]

On 5/8/2021 at 9:00 AM, Wormerine said:

I would argue more among the lines: what's the point of full VO if your don't commit? The benefit of doing VO of protagonist is that you can define him more as a character. 

Then again, it is possible that Larian is going to do just that for BG3 - from some of their early comments it can be understood that the game will have full VO, protagonist included. That means full VO for all origins. It still seems to me unlikely, and misguided, but it would fit what BG3 is doing so far. 

BG3 is fully voiced the same way Divinity Original Sin 2 was: dialogue choices voiceovers are covered by a single narrator, but less text-to-speech than DOS2 was, it's more "dungeon master" in BG3.

[Theonlygarby]

7 hours ago, morhilane said:

BG3 is fully voiced the same way Divinity Original Sin 2 was: dialogue choices voiceovers are covered by a single narrator, but less text-to-speech than DOS2 was, it's more "dungeon master" in BG3.

I was going to bring that up but I couldn't remember if it was true or not... I played for a very short time so I couldn't be sure.

 

As someone above said.  If you are undefined character voiceless is better.  If you are a predefined character then voiced is probably better.  Personally I hope for undefined... though with the title "avowed" I'm less than certain that will be the case

[L3onMEDIC]

I would prefer to have a non-voiced character because the voice in Fallout 4 was a big mistake, and I don't blame the actor/actress. The best part about this is that it also allows you to roleplay and if you choose a specific dialogue you can "say" that line in your head with YOUR tone and not be forced to be "ok" with however the actor/actress decided to deliver that specific line. 

[ComradeYellow]

I will add my voice to the choir of NO PC VOICE ACTING.

Why?  Because it ruins the players internal monologue when progressing and kinda kills the atmosphere.

Now that I think about, this is true for most RPG's with voiced player characters.

[Jozape]

I'm hoping there is no voiced PC too, and more generally that the principle of least astonishment is followed. The voiced delivery is a problem, but so is having the player character do other things I didn't expect. Didn't realize this could be a big problem outside of Mass Effect-style RPGs until I tried Age of Decadence.