Too much VO

[Noin]

I turned the voices off completely after playing for 20 hours. The reasons are: no pauses so reading the descriptions is really difficult, the voices are kind of bland and there is just too much VO in a game with so many dialogues. Even about the companions it's one of the biggest complains for me: the Dwarven hunter from the far north speaks like American girl from New York or something, it's really immersion ruining to me. Everyone speaks the same, with the same accent, there are next to none emotion...

Just read these phrases:

 

You will suffer! You will ALL suffer!

 

Beware! Your knees are mine!

 

Don't touch me! Speak and be done with it.

 

When you've read those lines, have you heard the VOICE in your head? That's what I am talking about.

Just an example: 

Jan Jansen, Keldorn and Korgan compilation. I just love them all. And now compare to how the companions in PoE sound.

 

My advice: reduce the amount of VO for the expansion or sequel, but make EVERY phrase matter. 

[dirigible]

the Dwarven hunter from the far north speaks like American girl from New York or something

Well... that IS the far North for a lot of people. I'm assuming you'd prefer the devs treat the game like it's set in London, and have dwarves from the far north sound Scottish?

[endruwiggin]

Your voice is ambrosia!

STOP TOUCHING MEEEEE!

Tell me bout the waaaaaaaaabbits!

MONTERON! I.... I never loved you!!!!

 

 

Yes indeed I missed some of the spicey voices from other games, but hey, nobody's perfect :D

[k1rage]

I would have preferred the had voice acting for everything, save me from having to read lol

[TheUsernamelessOne]

I don't really agree with the OP or anything, but it is too bad we couldn't get some celebrity with a cool voice for the villain, at least. I think John Doman or Rene Auberjonois could have done a lot to make him more compelling. Or David Warner, if your mind is still on Baldur's Gate 2.

[rjshae]

Au contraire mon ami, there is not nearly enough voice acting. It's like a sweet swig of spring water in a dry desert of text.

[ToolofIsis]

Agreed. Too much VO ruins the descriptors and makes me confused as a player as to what I should be doing. Should I read this? Do I just listen? But then I miss The descriptors, and I prefer to read anyway. So I try to do both and it just doesn't work.

Edited April 3, 2015 by ToolofIsis

[Snoozer]

...

 

Seriously?

 

There are people who had complained there wasn't ENOUGH voice overs yesterday.

 

No, Obsidian should not reduce or increase the VO work. You don't like it? Turn it off. You want more? Why don't you pay the VOs for additional hours of work.

 

Obsidian can choose to switch voice actors, spruce up the scripts, etc.

 

I hope they don't factor any future decisions on the mewlings of brats. For the love of god, you are belligerent twats with entitlement issues.

Edited April 3, 2015 by Snoozer

[Cryptomancer]

I agree completely. I also turned the voices off. It makes getting through the dialogues much slower as you have to wait for the VO to finish. They're also just not very good. Sorry, but it's the truth. Reading long dialogues was an IE game trademark and it should have been maintained. Would have saved on costs too. Remember how much reading there was in Planescape: Torment? Ahh, those were the days.

[Messier-31]

The only problem I have with VO is the bloody American accent. Sorry, but it doesn't fit at all.

[RedSocialKnight]

Hee hee. Those old BG1 voice sets were wonderful.

 

It's true there's nothing similar in PoE, but I don't think it's a weakness in the writing. Spiritual successor or no, PoE have their own tone, and the humor is lower-key.

 

Although they could have had Durance shout "For the whore!" at the beginning of every combat and I wouldn't complain.

[Tartantyco]

Noin, you're fired.

[mrmonocle]

Elminster this, Elminster that, give ME a thound years and a pointy hat and I'll kick his arse.

Edited April 3, 2015 by mrmonocle

[Noin]

...

 

Seriously?

 

There are people who had complained there wasn't ENOUGH voice overs yesterday.

 

No, Obsidian should not reduce or increase the VO work. You don't like it? Turn it off. You want more? Why don't you pay the VOs for additional hours of work.

 

They can switch voice actors, spruce up the scripts, etc. But for the love of god, you are belligerent twats with entitlement issues.

 

 

How does an advice and a feedback make me a "billigerent ****"? And why shouldn't Obsidian decrease the VO work if a lot of players agree such an amount is not necessary? After all, cutting on VO frees additional budget to spend on other, more important things. After all, in most cases, less VO = more dialogues.  

[GreyFox]

I think you may be mistaking quality for quantity...if the QUALITY of the voice acting was as good as the BG games then it wouldn't be an issue.

 

The problem is the budget...if they had more budge perhaps they could have hired better voice actors but the amount isn't anything too much it's just the actors aren't nearly as good.

[LadyCrimson]

I agree completely. I also turned the voices off. It makes getting through the dialogues much slower as you have to wait for the VO to finish.

People/NPC dialogue's? No you don't. You just click the next option in the list that you want or Continue and it cuts them off in favor of the next. Click lots of times, and it's over in a flash. But I think the Act ones or a few others aren't skippable until you've listened to them at least once, maybe.

 

My main issue is still reading speed vs. vocal speed. So I click Continue etc. a lot. I don't mind the voices/accents however - there's the occasional personal preference or dislike for certain chr. voices, sure, but that happens any any game, even the old BG games. Imoen's VO always made my ears hurt, for example. I much prefer laid-back, mellow voices.

[Fuz]

no pauses so reading the descriptions is really difficult

I agree on this point.

[GreatBeyonder]

I actually rather liked the voice actors, especially Maerwald. The villain was fine, and gave the right sense of dignity without going Doctor Doom. I kind of think Durance is a bit hammy for his character, though. 

[LadyCrimson]

I kind of think Durance is a bit hammy for his character, though. 

^ The chanter companion falls into this category as well, imo, but at least he's a little amusing. My fave is Eder and Aloth, probably because they make me laugh. I think they were voiced by the same VA? If so, that's always amazing since they sound nothing alike.

[Snoozer]

 

...

 

Seriously?

 

There are people who had complained there wasn't ENOUGH voice overs yesterday.

 

No, Obsidian should not reduce or increase the VO work. You don't like it? Turn it off. You want more? Why don't you pay the VOs for additional hours of work.

 

They can switch voice actors, spruce up the scripts, etc. But for the love of god, you are belligerent twats with entitlement issues.

 

 

How does an advice and a feedback make me a "billigerent ****"? And why shouldn't Obsidian decrease the VO work if a lot of players agree such an amount is not necessary? After all, cutting on VO frees additional budget to spend on other, more important things. After all, in most cases, less VO = more dialogues.  

 

 

Because your feedback is nonsense that dribbles between VO quality versus quanity of VO work. You want less VO work but higher quality? Baldur's Gate 1 did that. But wait, players complained they wanted MORE VO work because they liked it so much. You are one side of a pointless argument where one clamors for more VO for every line of text (because reading is SO difficult) and VO work for one or two sentences (because the developers choice of VOs is SO bad).

 

Just turn off the audio. Problem fixed.

 

I will agree that not everyone will enjoy the quality of the voice actors, that can be rightly debated because you can't functionally change the audio without recording new lines and modding in the newer ones. But complaining about quantity straddles the line of incredulity.

 

 

A lot of players agree? Yes, all 5-6 of you agree. My what a throng of erstwhile allies clamoring for less content because it offends their ears. And thank you for insulting voice actors, audio personnel at Obsidian stating that their work isn't as important as the writers. Less VO =/= more dialogue, ever.

 

So yes, I think those who complain about too much VO work are a bunch of entitled brats. I stick by that statement wholeheartedly.

[MachoGrande]

The problem is the descriptor text, as others have put it. You can completely ignore that and miss out on almost nothing, they shouldn't have added that in. There's plenty to read without that, this is a video game after all. There's too much reading and not enough doing sometimes. Hopefully someone will do a mod and remove it so this confusing effect of the VO skipping it will go away.

[LadyCrimson]

The problem is the descriptor text, as others have put it. You can completely ignore that and miss out on almost nothing, they shouldn't have added that in. There's plenty to read without that, this is a video game after all. There's too much reading and not enough doing sometimes. Hopefully someone will do a mod and remove it so this confusing effect of the VO skipping it will go away.

I'd guess it's a nod to the old text games of yore (and maybe some early graphic ones too).

But yeah, I don't find the action-descriptors engaging myself - doesn't bother me personally, but I can see why some would find it distracting combined with the VO.

 

What I found most distracting is when someone, a companion say, has a VO for all these bits you're clicking on, and suddenly you hit one within a thread that doesn't have a VO, and then it goes back to VO. Like some dialogue bits/options along a path were added in after the VO was recorded.  Feels weird.

[Noin]

 

 

...

 

Seriously?

 

There are people who had complained there wasn't ENOUGH voice overs yesterday.

 

No, Obsidian should not reduce or increase the VO work. You don't like it? Turn it off. You want more? Why don't you pay the VOs for additional hours of work.

 

They can switch voice actors, spruce up the scripts, etc. But for the love of god, you are belligerent twats with entitlement issues.

 

 

How does an advice and a feedback make me a "billigerent ****"? And why shouldn't Obsidian decrease the VO work if a lot of players agree such an amount is not necessary? After all, cutting on VO frees additional budget to spend on other, more important things. After all, in most cases, less VO = more dialogues.  

 

 

Because your feedback is nonsense that dribbles between VO quality versus quanity of VO work. You want less VO work but higher quality? Baldur's Gate 1 did that. But wait, players complained they wanted MORE VO work because they liked it so much. You are one side of a pointless argument where one clamors for more VO for every line of text (because reading is SO difficult) and VO work for one or two sentences (because the developers choice of VOs is SO bad).

 

Just turn off the audio. Problem fixed.

 

I will agree that not everyone will enjoy the quality of the voice actors, that can be rightly debated because you can't functionally change the audio without recording new lines and modding in the newer ones. But complaining about quantity straddles the line of incredulity.

 

 

A lot of players agree? Yes, all 5-6 of you agree. My what a throng of erstwhile allies clamoring for less content because it offends their ears. And thank you for insulting voice actors, audio personnel at Obsidian stating that their work isn't as important as the writers. Less VO =/= more dialogue, ever.

 

So yes, I think those who complain about too much VO work are a bunch of entitled brats. I stick by that statement wholeheartedly.

 

You, however, can't explain your position without insulting whose whom you find wrong. And this behavior makes everything you write carry very little weight.

I am pretty sure Obsidian doesn't have voice actors and invite freelancers. The last thing you don't understand is: imagine, you have two weeks to do a project. You have to record 200 lines. So it's a lot of work and you have to hurry to complete it in time. However, if you have 20 lines and your mission is to voice them as good as possible and you have enough time to actually make a research first (what is the full context of the dialogue etc.), you will probably be able to make a better and more quality job. However, seeing as you regard any opinion other than yours stupid and unacceptable, I suppose my explanations are lost on you.

 I believe Oblivion had an idea, that modern players are too lazy to read and so je more VO there is desto better. And in the end it wasn't thought through.

[Noin]

 

 

...

 

Seriously?

 

There are people who had complained there wasn't ENOUGH voice overs yesterday.

 

No, Obsidian should not reduce or increase the VO work. You don't like it? Turn it off. You want more? Why don't you pay the VOs for additional hours of work.

 

They can switch voice actors, spruce up the scripts, etc. But for the love of god, you are belligerent twats with entitlement issues.

 

 

How does an advice and a feedback make me a "billigerent ****"? And why shouldn't Obsidian decrease the VO work if a lot of players agree such an amount is not necessary? After all, cutting on VO frees additional budget to spend on other, more important things. After all, in most cases, less VO = more dialogues.  

 

 

Because your feedback is nonsense that dribbles between VO quality versus quanity of VO work. You want less VO work but higher quality? Baldur's Gate 1 did that. But wait, players complained they wanted MORE VO work because they liked it so much. You are one side of a pointless argument where one clamors for more VO for every line of text (because reading is SO difficult) and VO work for one or two sentences (because the developers choice of VOs is SO bad).

 

Just turn off the audio. Problem fixed.

 

I will agree that not everyone will enjoy the quality of the voice actors, that can be rightly debated because you can't functionally change the audio without recording new lines and modding in the newer ones. But complaining about quantity straddles the line of incredulity.

 

 

A lot of players agree? Yes, all 5-6 of you agree. My what a throng of erstwhile allies clamoring for less content because it offends their ears. And thank you for insulting voice actors, audio personnel at Obsidian stating that their work isn't as important as the writers. Less VO =/= more dialogue, ever.

 

So yes, I think those who complain about too much VO work are a bunch of entitled brats. I stick by that statement wholeheartedly.

 

You, however, can't explain your position without insulting whose whom you find wrong. And this behavior makes everything you write carry very little weight.

I am pretty sure Obsidian doesn't have voice actors and invite freelancers. The last thing you don't understand is: imagine, you have two weeks to do a project. You have to record 200 lines. So it's a lot of work and you have to hurry to complete it in time. However, if you have 20 lines and your mission is to voice them as good as possible and you have enough time to actually make a research first (what is the full context of the dialogue etc.), you will probably be able to make a better and more quality job. However, seeing as you regard any opinion other than yours stupid and unacceptable, I suppose my explanations are lost on you.

 I believe Oblivion had an idea, that modern players are too lazy to read and so je more VO there is desto better. And in the end it wasn't thought through.

[rf5111918]

My personal opinion of the voice acting is that they were all outstanding. I was very, very impressed.