Voiced NPCs

[Gezzas]

Hello,

 

Personally I would like to see (or rather hear) voiced NPCs. For me it is convenience thing, because I read a lot of tech literature for my studies and I hate reading from a monitor. This is probably the main reason why I haven't finished Planescape: Torment.

 

Other question would be, does it fit in the budget? I have don't know how much does it cost to voice a game or make it in a first place (It only cost a lot of time in my experience). In case it doesn't fit I wouldn't mind little sacrifices just not in the story department.

 

What is your opinion on this mater? Do you like to see voice-over in Project Eternity? What are your feelings about voice-over in general?

Edited September 21, 2012 by Gezzas

[Pidesco]

It won't fit the budget.

[Manbearpig]

Voice acting is like nutmeg, its nice to have but not necessary. If they got the budget it could make some the more important moments more impactful. I think they've said that there will be some voice acting to spice up moments.

Edited September 21, 2012 by Manbearpig

[Sarog]

We know that the game isn't going to be fully voice acted. Which is a good thing, because that would cripple the budget and restrict the amount of dialogue.

 

So long as there is some voice acting, as there were in RPGs before "fully voice acted" became a thing, I'm happy.

[Piccolo]

No.

 

Absolutely not.

 

Fully voiced dialogue is one of, if not THE worst thing to happen to the RPG genre. At the very most, voice acting should be used for basic greetings and world ambience. Everything else, text.

[Astanas]

Now these answers are pretty limited. How about this:

- Full voice vcting

- Only voice acting for important characters/important lines

- I don't care about voice acting

Because tbh I don't know what to pick in this poll.

Edited September 21, 2012 by Astanas

[Amentep]

I can usually read faster than most Voice Actors can act their lines, so unless I'm feeling particularly magnanimous (or I'm having eye problems), I turn on subtitles, read what they're saying and skip the dialogue.

 

Since VO is rather expensive, I'd rather the money be spent elsewhere for this game.

[Oerwinde]

BG2 used voice acting perfectly. Main villain dialogue, and the first line in companion conversations. Adds character to the major NPCs, without sacrificing story or dialogue.

[dlux]

If the game does have voice acting, then it MUST be done professionally, otherwise it will sound like utter crap - and that is not cheap.

 

Either do it right, or don't do it at all.

Edited September 21, 2012 by dlux

[Tale]

Fully voiced? No.

 

Voiced for major events? Sure.

[timobkg]

Voiced acting is a double-edged sword. Good voice acting can add to a game, but bad or mediocre voice acting will certainly detract from it. If in doubt, not having voice acting is the safer choice.

 

Given the choice between voice acting or more dialog, I'll take more dialog every time.

[Piccolo]

There's a good reason why people usually say the book is superior to the film adaptation. Books are more detailed / descriptive, and also leave a lot more to the reader's imagination. I think the same can be applied to written vs. voiced dialogue in video games.

 

Then of course there's the huge benefit of text being very easy to edit, not just for devs, but also modders...

 

-

 

The only real potential benefit I see from voice acting is greater immersion, and more often than not this goal just gets completely shat on by poor voice actors, or re-used voice actors spouting out the same few lines of dialogue over and over again. Besides, some of the most immersive games i've played have been almost completely text driven.

Edited September 21, 2012 by Piccolo

[Gezzas]

Now these answers are pretty limited. How about this:

- Full voice vcting

- Only voice acting for important characters/important lines

- I don't care about voice acting

Because tbh I don't know what to pick in this poll.

 

Thanks for a suggestion.

Poll updated.

 

Now on topic:

If only key characters was voiced, I would like to see fully voiced companions.

[Nivenus]

I would say "fully voiced," because I do think it adds something to the game, but I also understand that the budget of Project Eternity would make such a goal untenable without severely hampering other parts of development (regardless of what the poll says). So I'm going to have to go with BG2/PS:T levels of voice acting.

[norolim]

The best solution is to do it the way Baldur's Gate did it. A definitive NO to fully voiced.

Edited September 21, 2012 by norolim

[C2B]

Planescape: Torment is my favourite there.

 

But it boils down to: Only important dialog and the first few lines on important NPC's/Greetings.

[dandelion]

Having only first line of a dialogue read (BG) feels weird for me. I'd rather have only battle shouts, greetings and such, so I can imagine them reading their lines. Also, for me, voicing only some of the characters isn't a good idea. I want to feel like I'm reading a book, so no voice acting for me. This money could go somewhere where it's needed.

[hellslayer]

The best solution is to do it the way Baldur's Gate did it. A definitive NO to fully voiced.

I also like the baldurs gate solution

[eimatshya]

A great voice actor can really add to a character. However, voice acting is expensive and it's implementation would restrict the scope of the game's dialogue. If they want to use voice actors for key dialogues, that's fine, but I'd honestly prefer no voice acting at all and having the money for voice actors spent on expanding the dialogue options we get instead.

 

*EDIT*

 

 

Having only first line of a dialogue read (BG) feels weird for me.

 

I agree. I always find it a bit jarring when the first part of a character's line is voiced, but then it suddenly becomes text only. They should either have key dialogues voiced and everything else text only or else have no voiced dialogue at all.

Edited September 21, 2012 by eimatshya

[Monkcrab]

I typically read faster than people speak, so voiced dialogues just usually means skipped/wasted voice acting to me, with the rare and/or Japanese exceptions where the voice is just that good. That said, important characters getting voiced tends to add some gravitas to the scene (with the downside that you might not want to know they're important from the get-go), so I'd like that if it is within budget. Which it won't be.

 

As for EVERYONE getting voiced---there's a lot to say against it. Have you noticed how repetitive and/or bad quality 'generic' dialogue tends to sound? Yeah. Wouldn't want that.

[BSoda]

I rather not have it. It hikes up the costs of adding dialogue to the game...and that's not a good thing in my book.

[Amentep]

As for EVERYONE getting voiced---there's a lot to say against it. Have you noticed how repetitive and/or bad quality 'generic' dialogue tends to sound? Yeah. Wouldn't want that.

 

"I saw a mudcrab the other day, horrible creatures."

 

"I used to be a mudcrab spotter like you, but then I took an arrow to the knee"

[Brishingr]

Vo are want inflates any budget, and that is not counting if its done well or not. Now seeing the amount theyre asking for, well yeah if it fits in limited ways, sure if not, hey reading is good with me.

[Entropious]

I'm not as lazy as to not be able or willing to focus on simpy reading a dialogue. Besides, if fully voiced, no narration will be present and, what's worse, the dialogues are sure to be much simpler and shorter than in the case of written ones.

[machopineapple]

A little bit of voice acting adds to the characters. After awhile though, I'm just skipping through it because I read the subtitles much much faster than the character talks. I can still hear their voice when I read.