PoE didn't need more VA budget, it needed more of those picture-book sequences

[AndreaColombo]

I agree with more scripted interactions.

 

The game doesn't really need more VA. What VA is there is enough. This is an IE spiritual successor, not a mass-appealing, modern shooter-with-swords that needs voiced one-liners as an excuse for dialog.

[ChipMHazard]

Yep. No matter what the budget of your game, even if the budget is over a hundred million, having lots of VO has always meant having less dialogue, having dialogue that is less editable (and thus plot / writing of a lower quality). 

 

Agreed. It also makes it harder for modders to put in new dialogue, well I write harder but I really mean that when people are used to every line being voiced then it becomes rather noticeable when new lines aren't. Not really noticeable in games like this i.e. IE style games.

And it's a very good point that you can't really edit dialogue once it's in, if it's voiced. At least not as easily.  

 

In regards to the OP: Aye, it's baffling that they didn't make more use of this proven concept. It gave the game more of a PnP feel. Perhaps they were worried about "less is more"?

Edited May 3, 2015 by ChipMHazard

[Adragan]

I guess I'm the only Planescape:Torment liker that actually has a little something against the picture book sequences (see my first post in this thread for argumented opinion)

 

I was rather thrown out by the game's first use of the picture book, but like music and voice acting, there are places where it is a precious tool.

Edited May 3, 2015 by Adragan

[nipsen]

What am I missing here. Is there a trade off between those scripted sequences and VA?

..There is now, I guess.

 

Why is everyone against all the voice acting.   I enjoyed Calsica's, Durance, Eder, Aloth's VO, I thought they were well done.

There's also the typecasted shopkeeper guy with the permanently bored voice. I'm sure he's an ok person in real life, but I really hate that voice - and it's the most common line in the game. Or, the same jaunty quip every time you select one of the characters, over and over again. Etc. Could be the best voice-actor in the world, but it would still be grating.

 

I mean, there's a good reason why Planescape Torment worked so well. It had few distracting repetitive voice tracks (...outside Morte's "hey, you're back again", which probably was intentional). It didn't pester you with an epic story-teller voice. And the voice-acting that was there was simply put in to present the type of character you're seeing. Ignus' voice (almost just sfx) probably stands out to me, because it's so otherwordly. And the voice-acting strengthens that impression with.. just a few lines, in a way that text alone wouldn't allow. But which a full voice-over would sabotage. The cutscenes as well actually don't have talking, even though they have sound effects.

 

It's the same with the parchment scrap scenes - if they had a voice-over, the focus would be the voice, not the actual event. So having those with sound effects and silence actually is a better choice than having a full voice-treatment.

 

And if you think it would be a good thing to have the entire game read out as a radio-play or an audio book, on every possible quest, with the same total engagement, every time. Every villager you run into engages you in a huge tale of epic proportions, etc. If you really think that's a good idea - then I have this test for you: Go and listen to.. I don't know.. f'ing Coehlo reading his own trilogy about pilgrimage to ego-heaven on an audio-book. Or better yet, go and listen to Jasper Ffforde reading his own fording books. Do that. Listen to every single line, and how passionate and meaningful all of the single words are. And how clever they are. And how enjoyable they are. How colourful and magnificent - like a sequence of letters placed on the sky, and the rainbow underlining them - over bloody Freudian slip County. And it doesn't drag on at all, I promise you. Oh, no, it never drags on.

 

And if your brain hasn't actually spontaneously died at some point during the trial, come back and tell me, honestly, that you want Durance to voice ALL his lines in the game.

 

 

Every post is pretty much an opinion. It doesn't need to be written.  Nobody in this thread has a humble opinion though so don't lie.

Well, maybe at least some people should bloody learn to have humble opinions? And some tact, you berk!

[Volourn]

"There is a big difference in saying "This feature is s***" (it implies that the feature is bad for everyone or at least for the most of people and in most circumstances, also it implies you have an authority or expertise to make such a statement) and saying "In my opinion, this feature is s***". The difference is HUGE, actually. In the second instance you don't sound like an I-know-better prick, for one. "

 

Look in the mirror.

 

 

"Well, maybe at least some people should bloody learn to have humble opinions? And some tact, you berk!"

 

L0L, You tell me to 'learn some tack' than call me berk. HA!

 

 

On topic,  all those picture-book sequences do is give you pretty pictures.  Otherwise, everything they do can be done during 'normal' dialogue.  They pull me out of the game. But, hey, it gives more work to the artists so good on 'em.

[Ieo]

What VA work there was already stellar and imo the game didn't need more of it if it didn't have the luxury of an AAA budget.

 

Instead, I found that the picture-book scenes that represented action sequences to be also very immersive and felt that the game could have used them a-lot more, especially at some of the key points of the game; for example during the key plot sequences/reveals of NPC companions and most importantly 

when you met the Gods during the quest Council of the Stars

. That sequence could have been much enhanced if there was some visual representation to work on rather than just the Adra stones.

 

There's definitely too much VA since Pillars is supposed to pay homage to PST/BG/IWD, and none of those games had full VO. Reading rates are usually much, much faster than listening (and I'm not even talking about skimming/speed-reading), but my problem is that with full voice, I had to slow my reading down to match, which is awkward and only appropriate when reading a book aloud to your 2-year-old child. In the old IE games, the initial "flavor" sentence meant I could extrapolate that voice acting onto the rest of the dialogue text but without slowing down my actual reading, but Pillars-style got so distracting that I've muted VA completely, which is a shame.

 

Given what we had been told since 2012 (and see sig links), I'm under the very distinct impression that we could have gotten more branching text content if the full VA was dialed back. :/

[b0rsuk]

It's probably because I'm a freak, but these drawings are just vague enough to tickle my imagination. I wish there were more. They're cool and underused cutscene substitute, too.

[Junker]

They were a welcome feature in my eyes, harkening back to old school RPG scenarios in a good way. I just wish there was more to them. Maybe a greater cause/effect dynamic that considered individual party member traits rather than "highest applies". Highest applies works for some scenarios but not others.

 

Overall I feel like they were too limited and resulted in black/white decisions. It would be cool if they considered more aspects of the character (class, traits, stats, equipment, etc.) so the results would be less predictable and more dynamic.

[Katarack21]

Every post is pretty much an opinion. It doesn't need to be written.  Nobody in this thread has a humble opinion though so don't lie.

Most people don't go onto a thread about that is about a specific feature which the poster enjoyed just to talk about how it sucks and everybody in the thread is wrong. I understand that you don't like the feature; the thread isn't about whether this feature is good or bad. The thread is about the enjoyment of this feature and wishing for more.

[nipsen]

It's probably because I'm a freak, but these drawings are just vague enough to tickle my imagination. I wish there were more. They're cool and underused cutscene substitute, too.

That's like.. the fifth poster on this forum. This imagination thing is taking off, isn't it?

[archangel979]

I also want more of them and better. After prologue I was giddy with excitement, expecting those everywhere and then that didn't happen

[Bryy]

Yep. No matter what the budget of your game, even if the budget is over a hundred million, having lots of VO has always meant having less dialogue

No it doesn't. That's straight up untrue. In fact, I'd put that up there with "Multiplayer Always Makes The Game Suffer". You can't say ridiculous lines like "it doesn't matter the budget" that conjure up images of infinite amounts of money only to follow it up with "this feature limited by nothing but money would always be true".