About Voice-over

[Sedrefilos]

I know the developers have stated that the game won't be fully voiced-over because of the budget, but it will have voice in some parts, mostly when a major character initiates dialogue or something similar, like the old IE games did. Of course this is reasonable and anyone can understand it.

 

Now; I started playing Divinity: Original Sin, another game I've backed (I believe most of you know about this game), a game with much lower budget and I have to say I loved what they've done with the voice-over.

There is no voice in any dialogue, but every other NPC talking is voiced, and voiced well. This way the game feels so much more alive. You hear the people talking to each other at the market or the harbour, or the enemies saying things before they attack you and nice stuff like that.

 

I think it is a great idea Obsidian can borrow and add it on top of the partial dialogue voice.

[Sensuki]

I think what you're referring to is called "Walla". D:OS actually has too much of it, and the NPCs repeat their lines at much to short intervals.

[Apatia]

Now; I started playing Divinity: Original Sin, another game I've backed (I believe most of you know about this game), a game with much lower budget

Actually in the lastest(?) D:OS livestream (the one with the Eurogamer guy) Swen Vincke said that the overall budget for D:OS was about the same as Eternity and Torment.

 

While I do like the VO in D:OS, I still think the money should be spent elsewhere. And in D:OS it was great at first but when you are hearing the same thing over and over and over and over and over and over, it really did get on my nerves (don't know if it has been fixed yet).

[Kjaamor]

*takes sedatives in preparation for yet another "Hey! What if Obsidian got fans to do the voice acting?" series of posts*

[Nonek]

It is nice but I personally also found the general hubbub of voices used in the Smouldering Corpse was perfectly adequate, and repetition is less of a problem because of the indistinct nature of the sounds.

[Quadrone]

I think it is a great idea Obsidian can borrow and add it on top of the partial dialogue voice.

 

Oh, nice! You're paying?

[rjshae]

What I wouldn't mind seeing is the Tim Allen approach to dialogue; various vocal utterances indicating the mood of a response, such as hmm, err, uhuh, or ohohoh...

[Lephys]

*takes sedatives in preparation for yet another "Hey! What if Obsidian got fans to do the voice acting?" series of posts*

Well that's just silly. All the voices would just be wooshy air.

[Bryy]

To be fair, Original Sin has a metric boatload of recycled dialogue.

[Lephys]

At least their virtual carbon footprint is drastically reduced.

 

Dialogue pollution is the leading cause of death amongst unimportant, nameless NPCs. u_u

[Namutree]

At least their virtual carbon footprint is drastically reduced.

 

Dialogue pollution is the leading cause of death amongst unimportant, nameless NPCs. u_u

Ha! I approve.

[Elzarath]

I liked the background voices in BG2 populated areas and markets, i.e. Waukeens Promenade and I think Trademeet. They were random lines you could sometimes make out what they were saying.

 

I think they were like '(man shouting) careful with that barrel' and 'apples, apples, one copper'. Haha I also could have completely misheard these and they said something completely different.

[Hiro Protagonist II]

Yeah. really gave it some atmosphere with the background voices in the BG games. I'm hoping they do the same with PoE.

[Helz]

The less voiceover the better.  Reading is fundamental.

[Gromnir]

is always surprising to us, as a literary snob, just how much difference good voice acting can make when storytelling is involved. chrisA, as much as we like him as a crpg writer, can indulge in the kinda tedious exposition that makes us wonder why nobody at obsidian is willing to do an intervention. we bet if he were ridiculous drunk, his coworkers would prevent him from driving himself home, but they didn't stop him when he were doing some o' kaelyn's dialogues? as a friend you gotta duty to stop a guy before he causes a car wreck. that being said, there is voice actors that is capable o' making the most tedious dialogues... sing. get good vo and chrisA can indulge himself without hurting nobody. 

 

that being said, significant vo puts limitations on a development. vo is not done near completion o' the project, and once vo is complete, changes to the game that would otherwise require new vo becomes largely impossible. the developmental flexibility sacrificed to make considerable vo possible is not negligible. the expenses related to vo is also a bit shocking as far as Gromnir is concerned.

 

HA! Good Fun!

[Namutree]

If they did fan voice work; it would be fantastic.

[Lephys]

If they did fan voice work; it would be fantastic.

*Namutree gains +15 reputation with the PunForge faction.*

Edited July 4, 2014 by Lephys

[ashtonw]

chrisA, as much as we like him as a crpg writer, can indulge in the kinda tedious exposition that makes us wonder why nobody at obsidian is willing to do an intervention. we bet if he were ridiculous drunk, his coworkers would prevent him from driving himself home, but they didn't stop him when he were doing some o' kaelyn's dialogues? as a friend you gotta duty to stop a guy before he causes a car wreck.

 

Fresher in my mind is the 30 minute conversation with disembodied brains in Old World Blues, complete with ejaculation and **** jokes. But the VO was good so that's okay. For PoE, I'm not expecting much with the budget they're working with, so I hope the characters will be as quiet as possible. I get second-hand embarrassment from listening to bad acting.