Spoken dialogues vs written dialogues

[Orchomene]

Ok, this game has entirelly spoken dialogues. It's really involving and in the mood to hear people instead of reading at the screen. Problem is : it's really expensive in terms of memory and time/money.

Now, just imagine PS:T all spoken. The game would have been impossible I think. There too many lines written, dialogue trees that seem to never end.

In Kotor and Kotor 2, you can at many points see that whatever you say you're endind with the same answer. It's frustrating (at least for me), as frustrating as if I had only one possible choice in an answer. Sure, voices are great to have, but more in some circonstences than other.

 

So, I think a good compromise between spoken and written dialogues would be to let some dialogue not spoken at all to give more freedom when necessary and have spoken dialogues for "key" discussions (romances, plot heavy one...) to preserve the mood.

 

What do you think about it ?

[jaguars4ever]

What do you think about it ?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Right now I'm thinking how on earth did you quintuple post?

 

But in regards to the dialogue, personally I can handle both spoken and written providing their done properly (e.g. KotOR & PS:T respectively). After all, if the story is crap, then it's crap no matter what medium it's delivered with.

 

However, given the nature of modern gamers, I doubt we'll see a PS:T intensive 'written' game in the future.

[SteveThaiBinh]

Ok, this game has entirelly spoken dialogues. It's really involving and in the mood to hear people instead of reading at the screen. Problem is : it's really expensive in terms of memory and time/money.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

It sounds like a step in the wrong direction to me. The voice acting is a real strength of the Kotor series, and it's important to play to your strengths.

 

Problem of space are more an issue on the X-Box, and will hopefully be reduced by the arrival of the new X-Box. PCs can just have more discs or switch to DVD-ROM. Money, yes I agree, it's difficult for LucasArts to justify recording many many hours of spoken dialogue knowing that most gamers will experience less than half the total. But they will, if it's necessary to keep up with the competition. What I mean is that I think Kotor 1 set a new standard in this regard, and if other game developers match or exceed that, then the bar will be pushed ever upwards. But as I don't play that many games, I don't know if this is happening or not.

 

In Kotor and Kotor 2, you can at many points see that whatever you say you're endind with the same answer. It's frustrating (at least for me), as frustrating as if I had only one possible choice in an answer. Sure, voices are great to have, but more in some circonstences than other.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

There are times when, whatever you say to a particular character, you get the same response. Most of the time it was because the character had something to say and was determined to say it regardless. People do that from time to time, just follow their own train of thought without paying too much attention to the others in the 'conversation'. The character Atris is a good example of someone who would probably do that most of the time. But I don't think every occurence of this in the game can be explained in this way - there were some times when it didn't fit, and seemed more to do with saving space but preserving the illusion of multiple paths.

 

So, I think a good compromise between spoken and written dialogues would be to let some dialogue not spoken at all to give more freedom when necessary and have spoken dialogues for "key" discussions (romances, plot heavy one...) to preserve the mood.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I've played games where that happened and it worked fine. But maybe playing Kotor has spoiled me. Not sure if I can go back.

[ShadowPaladin V1.0]

Ok, this game has entirelly spoken dialogues. It's really involving and in the mood to hear people instead of reading at the screen. Problem is : it's really expensive in terms of memory and time/money.

Now, just imagine PS:T all spoken. The game would have been impossible I think. There too many lines written, dialogue trees that seem to never end.

In Kotor and Kotor 2, you can at many points see that whatever you say you're endind with the same answer. It's frustrating (at least for me), as frustrating as if I had only one possible choice in an answer. Sure, voices are great to have, but more in some circonstences than other.

 

So, I think a good compromise between spoken and written dialogues would be to let some dialogue not spoken at all to give more freedom when necessary and have spoken dialogues for "key" discussions (romances, plot heavy one...) to preserve the mood.

 

What do you think about it ?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

It's an approach most console RPGs I play take. Spoken for the dramatic and storytelling and written for the more "mundane" party interaction.

 

There are several negatives with voicing.

 

1. Cost. VOT is a lot more expensive than sitting down and writting lines.

2. Space. BTW how many CDs does KOTOR II come on , on the PC?

3. Ever notice how even your closest friends call you "The Exile". Obviously because the game dosnt know your name in advance to record the lines (not like that would ever happen except in a choose from a list sense) no one can ever refer to you by name is speech.

4. You may have also noticed that games since VO have tended to be shorter than those prior to heavy voicing. I'll leave that one to the individual to reason out

 

Best example let me refer you to two games.

 

Shadow Hearts - even though the character is pre generated you can name him. You can also name the companions you come across on your travels too. No suprise then that the game with the exception of a few high quality cutscenes is not voiced.

 

Shadow Hearts II - first thing you notice, is there is an extra disk in there. You can no longer name your character, the character is called Yuri, and everyone refers to him by that name, or his "title" of Godslayer. If you could pick his name you would be forever refered to as Godslayer (which is rather cool , but anyway..).

Likewise you cant name your companions anymore, they all come with names because the names are used in the pre recorded dialogue.

 

It's progression. Anyone who has followed the FF series will have noticed the same thing. Ever notice how through the entire voicing of FFX you were never called Tidus ? (because again you could change the protagonist name) Yet everyone else, Yuna, Rikku, Auron etc had set names which were used all the time.

 

I think personally having had full VOT for two games, KOTOR would find it difficult to go back. It does raise some interesting implications for NwN II though as VO becomes more common.

[ShadowPaladin V1.0]

Problem of space are more an issue on the X-Box, and will hopefully be reduced by the arrival of the new X-Box.  PCs can just have more discs or switch to DVD-ROM.  Money, yes I agree, it's difficult for LucasArts to justify recording many many hours of spoken dialogue knowing that most gamers will experience less than half the total.  But they will, if it's necessary to keep up with the competition.  What I mean is that I think Kotor 1 set a new standard in this regard, and if other game developers match or exceed that, then the bar will be pushed ever upwards.  But as I don't play that many games, I don't know if this is happening or not.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Not really, if they had wanted to add more they could have just split the game over two disks. It's not at all uncommon on consoles, or even 3 or 4 for that matter. It's what Sqenix did at the point where the PS1 could no longer contain their story on one disk. FF VII came on 3 disks and FF IX which was the last one on the PS1 came on 4.

 

There isnt a great deal of competition. The majority of RPGS are GC/PS2 right now. Though MS have signed up an ex FF designer to create two new RPGs on the next box/Xenon.

Console RPGs have done it for a couple of years prior to KOTOR, but KOTOR I think was the first time it had been attempted with the same sort of choices offered in more traditional RPGs , like being able to create a character (although in KOTORs and to a lesser extent KOTOR II's case it's a bit of a doge).

[Orchomene]

Ok, at first, I'm sorry for the multi-posting. I had errors of SQL codes that told me the post wasn't taken into account, so I tried, and tried... and this is the result.

 

Now, about the subject. I tend to agree it would be difficult to change the choice of all spoken dialogues that seems to be an important part (at least for some players, but not me, each one his own opinion). Just that the choice itself brought many advantages and disadvantages.

 

In my opinion, the mood is important, but I'd rather have answers that correspond to what I say than a general answer whatever the choice I've made in the dialogue. I mean, of course some people can have something specific to say whatever I said just before, but what would change is the way they say it. If someone tell me something kindly or harshly, whatever I have to say, I won't say it the same way.

[phalzyr]

I've played several PC games before KOTOR series that had full voice overs, though I can't recall their names right now, but then I can't remember what I ate for breakfast yesterday either... One in particular stick out in my mind and it had alot more to it than KOTOR and a lot more choice options and such. When I played it I thought "Cool, this is awesome." But KOTORs use of voice overs is limited in the since you mentioned above, they didn't want to pay to have non-common responses. Personnally I think they should of had a checkbox and VO to make aliens speak english. I know it is kinda neat to hear them speak but that wears off quickly and then you have to actually read :D

[ShadowPaladin V1.0]

Ok, at first, I'm sorry for the multi-posting. I had errors of SQL codes that told me the post wasn't taken into account, so I tried, and tried... and this is the result.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

If that happens open up a new window and link directly to the forums and you will most likely see your new post there.

 

Some people get really aggrevated by it for some reason, but few people do it intentionally.

[Orchomene]

problem of multi posting resolved... at least.