The reason why a lot of va isn't voiced?

[redneckdevil]

I'm not really complaining, but was the reason why a lot of va wasn't voiced and seemed to jump from voiced to having to read the lines, was it something to die with something I read from from one of the obsidian employees about they only booked for a single session and only was able to get thru half the lines for va by chance?

[physicalist]

1) It is the same in the old IE Games, therefore PoE is "true to its roots".

2) Contrary to what some people believe, $4+ million is not that much money for a game in 2015. They had to cut corners somewhere and voice acting is actually pretty expensive.

[Althernai]

Indeed, in the past they've mentioned that the game has roughly the same fraction of voiced lines as the IE games and that seems about right. They did say that they'll consider slightly increasing this fraction for the sequel and paying more attention to the awkwardness sometimes resulting from a single conversation making too many transitions between voiced and unvoiced lines.

[BAdler]

This is incorrect. Due to the limited funding the project had, we were unable to fully voice the entire game. There were close to 25,000 lines of dialog written for the game. Our original VO budget was for about 6,000 lines. We went over budget a bit, but not by a large amount.

 

To fully voice everything we would have needed about four times the original budget. To do that we would have needed to reduce scope in other areas to make up the cost.

 

That said, in the future we will probably try to do what we can to get more voice acting budget.

[redneckdevil]

This is incorrect. Due to the limited funding the project had, we were unable to fully voice the entire game. There were close to 25,000 lines of dialog written for the game. Our original VO budget was for about 6,000 lines. We went over budget a bit, but not by a large amount.

 

To fully voice everything we would have needed about four times the original budget. To do that we would have needed to reduce scope in other areas to make up the cost.

 

That said, in the future we will probably try to do what we can to get more voice acting budget.

Makes sense and just to clarify, I'm not complaining as it didn't ruin immsersion or whatever for me, it's just I've seen a few posts complaining about it and I remembered reading something about not getting all the lines voiced in that session and thought the 2 might have been related. All good though.

Tbh I think u could cut back a lil on the va and instead focus on giving us more of those old dnd chose ur own adventure book type scenarios hehe Maybe enough to give each character their own voice and use it in the first couple of lines and then switch totally to full on reading their lines and let us use our imaginations to continue hearing the lines in our heads with the characters voice.

Edited April 30, 2015 by redneckdevil

[Dadalama]

The voice acting was really good but I could stand a lot more of it shaved off. Maybe down to just command voices and the character's intro/inter party banter.

[majestic]

This is incorrect. Due to the limited funding the project had, we were unable to fully voice the entire game. There were close to 25,000 lines of dialog written for the game. Our original VO budget was for about 6,000 lines. We went over budget a bit, but not by a large amount.

 

To fully voice everything we would have needed about four times the original budget. To do that we would have needed to reduce scope in other areas to make up the cost.

 

That said, in the future we will probably try to do what we can to get more voice acting budget.

 

Add as much voice acting as you like but please, please, pretty please do not sacrifice dialogue options and diversity on the altar of voiceovers. That's one thing I found noticably better in PoE than newer cRPGs, like Dragon Age: Inquisition, where dialogue variety was greatly reduced to minimize the amount that the voice acting costs while still being able to claim that it is fully voiced (curiously enough that didn't seem to be a concern when Bioware made Dragon Age: Origins, except for your player character never saying anything).

Edited April 30, 2015 by majestic

[McMayhem]

From a personal standpoint, I muted voice pretty much from the start. I could never get used to hearing the voices and then having to go back and read the exposition. It's weird to hear a character say something first, and then read that they were tapping the floor impatiently with their foot while saying it after the fact. For some reason, this didn't bother me much in PS:T, which was wrought with exposition in-between the dialogue lines. I have no idea why it bothers me in PoE when it didn't there, but alas, I don't feel less entertained by the story or dialogue in spite of it.

 

Honestly, as the poster above me said, I would much much rather you guys go nuts with your creativity than to feel stifled into a corner by a voice acting budget. The SAG/AFTRA people are horrendous in how they charge for contracts. They're perfectly fine having a tiered contract system for independent films by budget category, but video games all have the same flat rate. The contract cost for a <$150,000 budget indie game is the same as Blizzard. Mandatory 4 hour minimum wage pay, plus benefits, plus paying into the union's pension.

 

Great system, those unions. Really help the little guy out, don't they?

[Maximvs]

Dragon age managed to voice it all. And their games must've cost a lot more to produce than this.

[Nakia]

I like voice overs but I consider it icing on the cake.  It can enhance the game but it is not the game.

[Bryy]

This is incorrect. Due to the limited funding the project had, we were unable to fully voice the entire game. There were close to 25,000 lines of dialog written for the game. Our original VO budget was for about 6,000 lines. We went over budget a bit, but not by a large amount.

 

To fully voice everything we would have needed about four times the original budget. To do that we would have needed to reduce scope in other areas to make up the cost.

 

That said, in the future we will probably try to do what we can to get more voice acting budget.

Just for the uninformed, that is $24 million. Just for VO.

[redneckdevil]

 

 

This is incorrect. Due to the limited funding the project had, we were unable to fully voice the entire game. There were close to 25,000 lines of dialog written for the game. Our original VO budget was for about 6,000 lines. We went over budget a bit, but not by a large amount.

 

To fully voice everything we would have needed about four times the original budget. To do that we would have needed to reduce scope in other areas to make up the cost.

 

That said, in the future we will probably try to do what we can to get more voice acting budget.

Just for the uninformed, that is $24 million. Just for VO.

Damn! Tyvm for the info. Yeah next game cut the va back a bit to only the starting of certain dialogue trees. Just give us more dialogue and those pick what u wanna do screens.

[Bryy]

 

 

This is incorrect. Due to the limited funding the project had, we were unable to fully voice the entire game. There were close to 25,000 lines of dialog written for the game. Our original VO budget was for about 6,000 lines. We went over budget a bit, but not by a large amount.

 

To fully voice everything we would have needed about four times the original budget. To do that we would have needed to reduce scope in other areas to make up the cost.

 

That said, in the future we will probably try to do what we can to get more voice acting budget.

Just for the uninformed, that is $24 million. Just for VO.

Damn! Tyvm for the info. Yeah next game cut the va back a bit to only the starting of certain dialogue trees. Just give us more dialogue and those pick what u wanna do screens.

 

Well it sounds like they are doing more VO in more places. This could be due to the ExPack's size. 

[cctobias]

I don't think the game really needs more voice acting.  VA is nice and all but its not the core game, its just nice to have.  Any case where VA cuts into real content is a mistake as far as I am concerned, at least in this particular genre.

 

 

[Nedzzo]

 

This is incorrect. Due to the limited funding the project had, we were unable to fully voice the entire game. There were close to 25,000 lines of dialog written for the game. Our original VO budget was for about 6,000 lines. We went over budget a bit, but not by a large amount.

 

To fully voice everything we would have needed about four times the original budget. To do that we would have needed to reduce scope in other areas to make up the cost.

 

That said, in the future we will probably try to do what we can to get more voice acting budget.

Just for the uninformed, that is $24 million. Just for VO.

 

I don't know about that. I read it as they would have needed 4x the voice over budget (a number we don't know), not 4x the whole games budget.

[cctobias]

Dragon age managed to voice it all. And their games must've cost a lot more to produce than this.

 

Its true, and while I really like some of their voice actors (Steve Blum is a great Spike Spiegel in cowboy bebop), I don't think that VA makes the companion experience all that much better than POE.  The return on investment in this genre is pretty low IMO.  The exception there is probably for certain "cinematics", that is in quote as these could just be scripted things in the engine, involving the protagonist/antagonist etc.

 

I am not sure if you mean DA origins or DA inquisition, but I would have preferred if they took all the money they spent on VA in DA:I and spent it on making the game feel less like a grindy MMO, but that is probably more about design than money.

[Bryy]

I would have preferred if they took all the money they spent on VA in DA:I and spent it on making the game feel less like a grindy MMO, but that is probably more about design than money.

 

That was 100% a design call. Mark Darrah wanted a game that could take "20 to 200 hours to complete". 

[sp3cw4r]

 

 

This is incorrect. Due to the limited funding the project had, we were unable to fully voice the entire game. There were close to 25,000 lines of dialog written for the game. Our original VO budget was for about 6,000 lines. We went over budget a bit, but not by a large amount.

 

To fully voice everything we would have needed about four times the original budget. To do that we would have needed to reduce scope in other areas to make up the cost.

 

That said, in the future we will probably try to do what we can to get more voice acting budget.

Just for the uninformed, that is $24 million. Just for VO.

 

I don't know about that. I read it as they would have needed 4x the voice over budget (a number we don't know), not 4x the whole games budget.

 

 

Yeah that's how I took it as well. Say they set aside 1M for VO's well they'd need 4M just for VO if they wanted to do every line.

[apolloooo]

game doesn't need voice acting anyway.

[Matt516]

This is incorrect. Due to the limited funding the project had, we were unable to fully voice the entire game. There were close to 25,000 lines of dialog written for the game. Our original VO budget was for about 6,000 lines. We went over budget a bit, but not by a large amount.

 

To fully voice everything we would have needed about four times the original budget. To do that we would have needed to reduce scope in other areas to make up the cost.

 

That said, in the future we will probably try to do what we can to get more voice acting budget.

 

I'd personally say: don't worry about it. This level of VO is just about right, even on the high side for this kind of game. If you can get more funding, put it into more quests/abilities/areas/QA instead!!

[Bryy]

game doesn't need voice acting anyway.

You're right, doesn't need music either. Or ambient noise.

[Dadalama]

This is incorrect. Due to the limited funding the project had, we were unable to fully voice the entire game. There were close to 25,000 lines of dialog written for the game. Our original VO budget was for about 6,000 lines. We went over budget a bit, but not by a large amount.

 

To fully voice everything we would have needed about four times the original budget. To do that we would have needed to reduce scope in other areas to make up the cost.

 

That said, in the future we will probably try to do what we can to get more voice acting budget.

Fully voiced would be awesome but I'd rather have a bigger game than more voices. 

[apolloooo]

 

game doesn't need voice acting anyway.

You're right, doesn't need music either. Or ambient noise.

 

you must be illiterate or something

[majestic]

game doesn't need voice acting anyway.

 

Yes, it does, in certain locations and for certain things, voice acting can prove to be a massive boon, especially druing cinematics, even if it is just two lines out of a larger dialogue:  TTO and Annah in the Fortress of Regrets - two short lines having a great impact on how the whole scene is perceived, or do you honestly think reading "THEN... DIE..." would be anywhere near as awesome as having Tony Jay spit it out with all the contempt and loathing of TTO? In fact this entirely lives by his delivery, because "Then, die!" is pretty, well, lame on its own.

[Ramireza]

I realy like VO. It COULD help to picutre npc´s better.

 

But tbh : I would prefer ZERO VO if this means that you have more rescources to expand other things even more.

 

More complex quests, better writing, better area design, more puzzles are much more important then VO.