[Merged] Voice Acting- Suggestion

[Radres]

Small tidbits of voiced lines are fine to give an NPC a character. You could tell the moment you heard Aerie that she was unsecured. or who could forget Edwin?

 

So, i'm also going with a "No" on full voice acting. Like the dwarves in BG2 said "Your chatter is getting on my nerves."

[Drowsy Emperor]

No full voice acting.

 

Hire voice actors from Planescape Torment and Baldurs Gate II.

 

That is all.

[silvercross]

Hire voice actors from Planescape Torment and Baldurs Gate II.

 

While the original voice actors are quite nostalgic, I would love to see some newer people in the industry. This is a new IP afterall. Wouldn't you like some fresh blood?

[The Sharmat]

While the original voice actors are quite nostalgic, I would love to see some newer people in the industry. This is a new IP afterall. Wouldn't you like some fresh blood?

Jennifer Hale and possibly Steven Jay Blum will be in it. They're in everything. It's a physical law on par with the speed of light or Avagadro's Number.

[Veca]

No voice acting for the main character at all. Partial voice acting for important characters and companions is fine, but absolutely none for the main character. Why? For one, voice acting automatically limits the dialog options, don't say it wont, developers left and right have confirmed this multiple times. You will be limited to stupid dragon age/mass affect dialog options of one liners of good/evil/snarky. Secondly, voice acting is EXPENSIVE and time consuming, the more dialog, the longer it takes to record and the bills start going up. As another pointed out, you have to have the writing locked in place and you can forget any changes later on. Another reason is the characters personality is fixed, again that is because of the limitations of dialog. You will probably end up with a commanding military personality like shepard or hawke, you can forget thoughtfull mage personalities, scared personalities, paranoid..etc. Basically you can forget customizing your personality. Fallout did it correct, it was all dialog except for important scenes and/or characters.

 

Basically this is what happens when you do voice overs.

 

I really hope Obsidian sees this post. This is how I hope they will handle voice acting

[Umberlin]

Honestly while good voice acting can make a game's story and character, bad voice acting or even off voice acting can break those things just as readily. I'm actually all for the days of just text and using my imagination to give the character dialogues voice.

[Tamerlane]

No voice acting for the main character at all. Partial voice acting for important characters and companions is fine, but absolutely none for the main character. Why? For one, voice acting automatically limits the dialog options, don't say it wont, developers left and right have confirmed this multiple times. You will be limited to stupid dragon age/mass affect dialog options of one liners of good/evil/snarky. Secondly, voice acting is EXPENSIVE and time consuming, the more dialog, the longer it takes to record and the bills start going up. As another pointed out, you have to have the writing locked in place and you can forget any changes later on. Another reason is the characters personality is fixed, again that is because of the limitations of dialog. You will probably end up with a commanding military personality like shepard or hawke, you can forget thoughtfull mage personalities, scared personalities, paranoid..etc. Basically you can forget customizing your personality. Fallout did it correct, it was all dialog except for important scenes and/or characters.

 

Basically this is what happens when you do voice overs.

 

I really hope Obsidian sees this post. This is how I hope they will handle voice acting

They've specifically said that they plan to use voice acting sparingly. "Punching up" major lines and what-not.

[Kraidy117]

Really I hope voice acting is like PS:T, there is voice acting for big scenes, long conversations, big moments and during combat but the bulk of dialog is all text and read. Also, we all know Jennifer Hale will be in this game, someway. She is everywhere, I think she rivals Blum.

Edited September 17, 2012 by Kraidy117

[Buddhist]

What might work:

 

Hold what might be a contest. Ask members and backers to submit their whatchamacallits. If they don't suck or, god forbid, prove to actually be competent voice actors, Obsidian brings them in.

 

Just don't guarantee the position. Have it on a basis of competence.

[Tamerlane]

Or just... don't do that.

 

I'd rather they don't do that. I say this as someone who considers himself a half-way competent actor.

[Buddhist]

BUT I HAVE A DEEP AND MANLY VOICE AND I WANT IT IN A VIDEO GAME

[Monte Carlo]

Vin Diesel should VA the brogue companion, if there is one.

 

I can't tell if you're making a portmanteau of "bro" and "rogue" or if you're saying that Vin Diesel would do a good Irish accent. I choose to believe the latter.

 

Anybody using the word portmanteau is a welcome addition to the forum and I salute them.

[Gyges]

No VA for main character. But letting people donate their voices, so to speak, might create an entirely new dimension in the crowdfunding world. You should check it out Obsidian. But as it was said, if its bad, its bad.

[The Sharmat]

Way too much time and money would be spent on such a contest. It'd be a logistical nightmare. Voice acting requires more than a microphone.

[Desmond]

Hello,

 

Voice Acting is a hot topic and we all know that it is freaking expensive. Why not use the dedicated fan base to do the Voice Acting. At this moment nearly 37.000 people are supporting this project and I am sure that with in this group there are some interesting voices.

 

The question is, how to find this voices?

 

Let every one who like to contribute some lines for a minor NPC like a tavern wench, City Guard, Bandit, and so one. This would give us a tone of sounds that could be used to add atmosphere to the game.

 

And then let the community search for the diamonds in all of this and propose them to obsidian. Maybe the will find some one who is perfect to do the Voice Acting for a more important NPC and maybe we hit the jack pot and will find some one who is suited to do the Voice Acting for a major NPC.

 

This would need some effort from the community but it is possible.

 

There are musicians working together that never met in person and they are creating great music. Why should this not be possible with Voice Acting?

 

 

Edit:

This is no proposal for full Voice Acting ! Just for giving some more minor NPC a voice and may be find some new and talented voice actors.

Edited September 17, 2012 by Desmond

[Troller]

Yeah man, could be a good idea, I mean round up some people and have them speak in those sound rooms

[vattghern]

i would be up for it

[Exseed]

They already said they'd be using the patrial VO style as seen in BG 1-2 and PS:T. There is absolutely no need for full voice acting and for the love of God don't voice the main character. Voice overs are recorded in the professional studios, not at home with a microphone.

Edited September 17, 2012 by Exseed

[Desmond]

For the first phase maybe even a high quality micro phone will be enough? But i'm not an expert on this field.

[Hoverdog]

Didn't we have this topic five times already?

 

There will be partial voice-over, like in Baldur's Gate or Torment.

 

There will be no full VO. Thankfully.

[Desmond]

no one is saying that they should do a full voice acting - and yes you are right the main character should be with out a voice.

But the community could give a voice to some of the minor npc, even some spoken words outside of dialogues.

Edited September 17, 2012 by Desmond

[Bos_hybrid]

How is this a good idea? VO takes talent, that's why they get paid. It's like throwing some guy from the street into ManU goals and expecting him to stop shots.

[Kilroy_Was_Here]

This idea would be more trouble than it's worth.

 

If there are mod tools; feel free to release as many self-voiced mods as you want though...

[Exseed]

But the community could give a voice to some of the minor npc, even some spoken words outside of dialogues.

 

Well, that's up to Obsidian to decide. If they get to hear a gem of a voice talent from the community, why not I suppose.

[dlux]

If the game has voice acting, then it has to be done professionally. Other wise it sounds like crap and is cheesy.