Dialogue in Obsidian Games

[captainfish]

Playing all the previous Obsidian games, one thing that is painful.... partial audio recording of in-game dialogue.  It is VERY PAINFUL to have a dialogue that is only partially recorded.  I just went through one set of dialogue actions and only the VERY LAST line of dialogue was recorded.

 

Please, either do not record any dialogue for your new Deadfire game... or record ALL OF IT.

[Wormerine]

I personally do like partially recorded audio. It gives a taste of someones voice and personality without being too much.

Deadfire will have much more voiceacting. In one of recent streams Josh suggested it really will be much more. The impression I got (and full disclaimer it is my impression) is that he was hinting at a possible full voice acting without commiting to it. Divinity did that, so Obsidian might feel like they should reach for that as well.

Whatever, they do I hope they do the writing first and they decide how much they can record. Wouldn't want to see dialogue getting limited due to need of reaching full-voiceacting standard.

Original PoE had an issue with how recorded lines were mixed up with voiceacted ones, meaning that what you heard and what you read wasn't the same. It was a mistake which was noticed too late into the game developement by devs. They didn't do the same mistake for White March and they are avoiding it for Deadfire as well.

[blotter]

I personally do like partially recorded audio. It gives a taste of someones voice and personality without being too much.

 

Deadfire will have much more voiceacting. In one of recent streams Josh suggested it really will be much more. The impression I got (and full disclaimer it is my impression) is that he was hinting at a possible full voice acting without commiting to it. Divinity did that, so Obsidian might feel like they should reach for that as well.

 

Sawyer's exact words were:

 

We're going to have a lot more voice acting than Pillars 1. Can't say right now that it's going to be fully voiced, but we are committing to doing much, much, much more voice acting; far more characters voiced, far more lines of dialogue. That is something we are absolutely committing to.

 

Before they were pretty specific about the VO being doubled, so this may indicate some expansion beyond that (though I personally would prefer that not all dialogue is voiced). Then again, I've been guilty of reading more/less into Sawyer's words than was actually there in the past, so I'm not particularly sure of anything here.

[Baltic]

I like the partially recorded dialogue. Yes it can be jarring, epecaially since you can end up trying to wait for it to start playing, but it gave the impression that Obsidian had the freedom to change and add bits of dialogue if they needed to.

[Sedrefilos]

 

I personally do like partially recorded audio. It gives a taste of someones voice and personality without being too much.

 

Deadfire will have much more voiceacting. In one of recent streams Josh suggested it really will be much more. The impression I got (and full disclaimer it is my impression) is that he was hinting at a possible full voice acting without commiting to it. Divinity did that, so Obsidian might feel like they should reach for that as well.

 

Sawyer's exact words were:

 

We're going to have a lot more voice acting than Pillars 1. Can't say right now that it's going to be fully voiced, but we are committing to doing much, much, much more voice acting; far more characters voiced, far more lines of dialogue. That is something we are absolutely committing to.

 

Before they were pretty specific about the VO being doubled, so this may indicate some expansion beyond that (though I personally would prefer that not all dialogue is voiced). Then again, I've been guilty of reading more/less into Sawyer's words than was actually there in the past, so I'm not particularly sure of anything here.

 

Larian showed them the way

[Wormerine]

Larian showed them the way

I wouldn’t be surprised, if it was a big part of it (if full VO really is a thing). If they decide they can go for it, than it’s great. My only reservation, is that such commitment will have repercussion going forward. Once they do full VO there is no coming back and I would hate, if expectation of full VO would again begin to undermine interactivity and complexity of cRPGs.

[TheisEjsing]

No voice acting simply won't fly. Even thou everyone here wants it, this isn't a tripple A budget game, and full VO would imo be great, but also very expensive. I was wondering aboutt Josh's words too. Personally, I hope they'd rather voice the narrator than doing all the characters if the budget is limited. 

[Guest 4ward]

 

if i'd be Obsidian i‘d rather do partially-voiced game in several languages than fully-voiced English only.

[Messier-31]

The title of this thread is kinda misleading.

 

I don't care about full VO in PoE, because I hate it when so many characters have the same voice actress/actor.

 

This isn't Skyrim, a 3D sandbox where full VO is justified.

[Sedrefilos]

No voice acting simply won't fly. Even thou everyone here wants it, this isn't a tripple A budget game, and full VO would imo be great, but also very expensive. I was wondering aboutt Josh's words too. Personally, I hope they'd rather voice the narrator than doing all the characters if the budget is limited. 

DOS2 wasn't a AAA game but Larian put full VO there. Also, Pillars doesn't have a narrator (unfortunately) just descrptive filler text which I don't know if it would sound good narrated. In DOS2 worked because the narrator was a character with personality.

 

Now, I feel more confident with the ammount of VO that'll be in the game since I heared Josh commenting about that in the Q&A and I have my hopes up for full VO.

 

@Messier-31, Pillars 1 also had same actors voice multiple characters and it wasn't a fully voiced game. You could clearly listen the same actors trying to color their voices differently each time

 

If the cast is good, even if they take on multiple roles, it works. DOS 2 was proof enough for me. Its cast was great. Pillars' cast was ok.

Edited December 11, 2017 by Sedrefilos

[KDubya]

I'd rather read great writing than listen to good voice actors talk like idiots.

 

Look what happened to Fallout 4, a fully voiced protagonist just resulted in idiotic conversation choices that all ended up saying the same thing. Four different ways to say yes  

 

I like reading, when i read my mind can fabricate whatever accent best fits a character. This makes the story mine in a way that a voice actor just can't unless they are just the perfect fit. Sometimes games get it perfect like Danny Trejillo as Raul the Ghoul in Fallout new Vegas, or the guy who does the orc voices in Skyrim "Pray to Stendarr while you still can". Many times they are forgettable and the money spent could have been used for something better.

[Sedrefilos]

I'd rather read great writing than listen to good voice actors talk like idiots.

 

I like reading, when i read my mind can fabricate whatever accent best fits a character. This makes the story mine in a way that a voice actor just can't unless they are just the perfect fit.

Thst's why a speech on/off (or even volume slider) can be handy.

[TheisEjsing]

 

No voice acting simply won't fly. Even thou everyone here wants it, this isn't a tripple A budget game, and full VO would imo be great, but also very expensive. I was wondering aboutt Josh's words too. Personally, I hope they'd rather voice the narrator than doing all the characters if the budget is limited. 

DOS2 wasn't a AAA game but Larian put full VO there. Also, Pillars doesn't have a narrator (unfortunately) just descrptive filler text which I don't know if it would sound good narrated. In DOS2 worked because the narrator was a character with personality.

 

Now, I feel more confident with the ammount of VO that'll be in the game since I heared Josh commenting about that in the Q&A and I have my hopes up for full VO.

 

@Messier-31, Pillars 1 also had same actors voice multiple characters and it wasn't a fully voiced game. You could clearly listen the same actors trying to color their voices differently each time

 

If the cast is good, even if they take on multiple roles, it works. DOS 2 was proof enough for me. Its cast was great. Pillars' cast was ok.

 

D:OS II had a way larger budget than PoE II has, so that's not a logical comparison. 

[Wormerine]

D:OS II had a way larger budget than PoE II has, so that's not a logical comparison.

 

We don’t know how much budget Deadfire has. Fig isn’t the only funding that goes into it, Obsidians money is there as well. I don’t think Deadfire needs full VO but if Obsidian feels like they need to compete with Larian they might invest in it.

 

I find it funny how people bring Bethesda “RPG” against voice acting. You can bring those games against anything - using open world, quest design, writing, voice acting. They are just sloppy games. Voice acting there is horrible because characters aren’t defined at all.

Edited December 11, 2017 by Wormerine

[Sedrefilos]

 

 

No voice acting simply won't fly. Even thou everyone here wants it, this isn't a tripple A budget game, and full VO would imo be great, but also very expensive. I was wondering aboutt Josh's words too. Personally, I hope they'd rather voice the narrator than doing all the characters if the budget is limited. 

DOS2 wasn't a AAA game but Larian put full VO there. Also, Pillars doesn't have a narrator (unfortunately) just descrptive filler text which I don't know if it would sound good narrated. In DOS2 worked because the narrator was a character with personality.

 

Now, I feel more confident with the ammount of VO that'll be in the game since I heared Josh commenting about that in the Q&A and I have my hopes up for full VO.

 

@Messier-31, Pillars 1 also had same actors voice multiple characters and it wasn't a fully voiced game. You could clearly listen the same actors trying to color their voices differently each time

 

If the cast is good, even if they take on multiple roles, it works. DOS 2 was proof enough for me. Its cast was great. Pillars' cast was ok.

 

D:OS II had a way larger budget than PoE II has, so that's not a logical comparison.

As far as their campaigns go, both have the same budget plus Obsidian is a way larger company with AAA titles on their back, multiple successful projects runing at this moment etc and Pillars 1 was far more successful than DOS1.

 

But the most important is that Larian was not going to voice DOS2 at all and they were adamant about it, saying "no way's gonna happen, too much dialogue lines" etc

but, at the end thay said "ok fakk it, we're doing this". And they did it really good imo (british voices > american for me so that mighty be an extra plus in my book ).  And of course there are options to mute various  "layers" of voice, like narrator, characters, background voice etc. Like from one point they were completely opposing the vo idea and at the other they embraced it and gave all the love it could get - they didn't half-arse it.

At the end it payed off, 'cause the feature is mentioned as a big plus to every single review out there.

Note this down: although I'd hate to see it, I'm sure that, if Deadfire isn't fully (or at least hugely) voiced, reviewers will point that out and compare to DOS2 inevitably since both projects are of same scale and genre.

 

Whether one likes full voice or not, having it even optionally raises the bar. I'd much like to see Obs does the same with Deadfire. It will be a great plus for me personally but definately not a deal breaker.

Edited December 11, 2017 by Sedrefilos

[Messier-31]

@Messier-31, Pillars 1 also had same actors voice multiple characters and it wasn't a fully voiced game. You could clearly listen the same actors trying to color their voices differently each time

 

I know. Imagine the horror of listening to the same voice even more

[Guest 4ward]

 

as far as i‘m concerned pamela anderson and george clooney can voice the entire game, would be the sexiest games ever.

[Sedrefilos]

 

@Messier-31, Pillars 1 also had same actors voice multiple characters and it wasn't a fully voiced game. You could clearly listen the same actors trying to color their voices differently each time

 

I know. Imagine the horror of listening to the same voice even more

 

Well, there are actors and actors

[Guest 4ward]

man, those were the times when actors were versatile

 

[Wormerine]

 

@Messier-31, Pillars 1 also had same actors voice multiple characters and it wasn't a fully voiced game. You could clearly listen the same actors trying to color their voices differently each time

 

 

I know. Imagine the horror of listening to the same voice even more

Matt Mercer can voice entire game for all I care. I am horrible in recognising voice actors. I wouldn’t notice that McRee, Aloth, Eder and PC voice are the same person if I wouldn’t read it on IMDB. :-D

[Wormerine]

man, those were the times when actors were versatile

 

https://youtu.be/CDSXCk5HSlo

You mean those were the times when actors were actors, not models put in front of a camera.

[Sedrefilos]

Or...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=prdIqvrtZjw

[Guest 4ward]

 

man, those were the times when actors were versatile

 

You mean those were the times when actors were actors, not models put in front of a camera.

 

yes

it's from the film 'court jester', there's more:

[tinysalamander]

I know. Imagine the horror of listening to the same voice even more

 

As long as they are all Edérs… ツ

[Julle1990]

Full voice acting would be nice, but I'd also be fine with only main characters being completely voiced. This would make big difference to PoE1, since sometimes the first lines were voiced and the rest was text, and frankly that was a little annoying sometimes.