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Posted

It depends on a number of factors.

 

1: Budget.

2: Theme of the game.

3: Just how much dialog is there?

 

Deadfire makes no sense to be fully voiced cause they don't have the budget, the theme of the game is slower paced story/exploration heavy RPG, and there is a metric crap ton of dialog.

 

Notice how Original Sin most dialog was short and to the point?  The game was not that story/exploration focused, all the effort went into the multiplayer and combat?  Notice their budget was a lot bigger?

Sorry this just does not compute. The writing/narrative styles and delivery are certainly different, but content/size wise and how that translates to cost of VO is pretty much irrelevant.

 

D:OS2 has over a million words and 80K lines of dialogue recorded, FONV for comparison had 65k recorded lines of dialogue and at the time it set a record for VO. And the best I could find is that PoE has 700k words requiring translation, no breakdown of what is dialogue and what is the likes of books, items descriptions, journal entries, bestiary, etc. But suffice to say dialogue is likely much less than that 700k total.

 

Budget is certainly the greatest factor in all this, but we have no idea what the budget for either game was, at least from what I can find, let alone the cost of VO for such large projects. All we know is that both games began development well before their crowdfunding campaigns launched and that D:OS2 raised a little over 2 million on Kickstarter and Deadfire raised 4.7 million on Fig and through Slacker Backers. We also have no idea what the publishing deal with Versus Evil entails.

Posted

Karkarov what are you talking about man? DOS2 had an enormous ammount of written content. Maybe because most of it wasn't as boring as much content in Pillars was you thought it was "straight ot the point"? I don't know.

 

We can't know the exact budgets of either game and how each company spends it. We only know Larian did it, Obsidian might. Larian was also aware of people not liking VO so they put various mute options. Obsidian can do the same so everyone is happy as I see it.

Posted

 

That'd be because their dialogue is usually boring and even a great va can't make "and here's why I need ten xaurip anuses" interesting.

 

Not really no. I'd prefer to read most the dialogue regardless of how well written it is because, as I said in my post, I read faster than voice actors speak.

 

Terrible voice actors then.

Posted

Karkarov what are you talking about man? DOS2 had an enormous ammount of written content. Maybe because most of it wasn't as boring as much content in Pillars was you thought it was "straight ot the point"? I don't know.

 

We can't know the exact budgets of either game and how each company spends it. We only know Larian did it, Obsidian might. Larian was also aware of people not liking VO so they put various mute options. Obsidian can do the same so everyone is happy as I see it.

You did play Original Sin and it's sequel right?  Those games are both stupidly boring unless you are a munchkin who only likes RPG's for character stats and combat, or you have a buddy to play with.  Probably comes from that lack of a strong story, or rewarding exploration.

 

That said rewarding exploration is kind of a weak point for most RPG's these days.

  • Like 1
Posted

 

Karkarov what are you talking about man? DOS2 had an enormous ammount of written content. Maybe because most of it wasn't as boring as much content in Pillars was you thought it was "straight ot the point"? I don't know.

 

We can't know the exact budgets of either game and how each company spends it. We only know Larian did it, Obsidian might. Larian was also aware of people not liking VO so they put various mute options. Obsidian can do the same so everyone is happy as I see it.

You did play Original Sin and it's sequel right?  Those games are both stupidly boring unless you are a munchkin who only likes RPG's for character stats and combat, or you have a buddy to play with.  Probably comes from that lack of a strong story, or rewarding exploration.

 

That said rewarding exploration is kind of a weak point for most RPG's these days.

 

Whatever the case, the writing quantity was huge; and they voiced it. I don't think it was less that Pillars.

Posted

divinity OS2 was entirely voice acted.

 

If they want Deadfire to be a genuine contender with with DOS2 they should have alot of voice acting

 

that was one thing i noticed in the BETA was that there was alot of non voice acted boring script that I usually just skipped through because i couldnt be bothered reading it

I just started playing the Divinity games for the first time this past month. As an old school gamer who has played all the Baldur Gates and Icewind Dales, and Neverwinter games, I have to say, that reading the dialogue/script was never a bother for me, until I played Divinity. The narrator in Divinity 2 is so so good.

 

I do believe Obsidian had said they would have a LOT more VO in this game, but not all of it. We will see how it plays out.

Posted

Yeah, I'd prefer Obsidian doesn't take any examples from Larian and the Divinity games. They're pretty boring games, and not a good example of what the genre should strive for.

  • Like 6

"Wizards do not need to be The Dudes Who Can AoE Nuke You and Gish and Take as Many Hits as a Fighter and Make all Skills Irrelevant Because Magic."

-Josh Sawyer

Posted

 

 

Karkarov what are you talking about man? DOS2 had an enormous ammount of written content. Maybe because most of it wasn't as boring as much content in Pillars was you thought it was "straight ot the point"? I don't know.

 

We can't know the exact budgets of either game and how each company spends it. We only know Larian did it, Obsidian might. Larian was also aware of people not liking VO so they put various mute options. Obsidian can do the same so everyone is happy as I see it.

You did play Original Sin and it's sequel right? Those games are both stupidly boring unless you are a munchkin who only likes RPG's for character stats and combat, or you have a buddy to play with. Probably comes from that lack of a strong story, or rewarding exploration.

 

That said rewarding exploration is kind of a weak point for most RPG's these days.

Whatever the case, the writing quantity was huge; and they voiced it. I don't think it was less that Pillars.
Respectfully, quantity != quality
Posted (edited)

 

Terrible voice actors then.

 

Or perhaps, unlike you presumably, I prefer reading in most cases.

 

I read books. Video games are a different medium. Even if I read the text faster than a VA could ever say it, if the voice work is good, I wait and listen to it anyway. If that doesn't hold your attention, then it can only be because the writing or the voice work, or both, are lacking.

Either that or you mute your TV and keep it on closed captioning whenever you watch it. Which is weird, but whatever floats your boat.

 

EDIT: On reflection this probably comes off as insulting and presumptious, what with telling you what you do and do not enjoy. What I'm getting at is I suspect if you really do this with every single game that maybe you've just been misfortunate and never played something with good voice work.

Edited by The Sharmat
  • Like 1
Posted (edited)

master guardian made a D:OS2 comparison and the thread hasn’t recovered

Edited by Achilles
Posted

To be honest this whole 3 DLC thing and what Obsidian was doing with DLC in PoE1 in general is why I didn't back Deadfire. To me, you either make a complete masterpiece and your expansion expands it and I mean that literal, as in more content after the end, or you make episodic content that is each self contained. But what the heavens am I supposed to do with DLC that integrates into the linear progression of a linear game somewhere in the middle? I play game and complete it, and then I don't replay it just to see 8 new maps with zero relevance to the actual story. Since obviously if they had relevance then they would have been included from the start and the game would lack an ending.

 

Either way, White March Part1/2 lowered my opinion of Obsidian + DLC so substantially that I didn't back Deadfire over it ;( even though I really wanted to what with the discount 5$ pledge amount and all that.

 

And voice acting? If it's well written you read it faster than any voice can speak, and if the voice is well done then it adds to the immersion. But BG2 showed that only relevant lines voiced is enough to get a feel for the characters demeanor which is the ONLY purpose of giving them fully voiced dialog. Text will always be you reading meaning into words, and when it's voiced that level of subjective meaning is lost. So to me, both are equally valid approaches to a game. When you voice irrelevant dialog then you also need to understand that I will skip over it like a bouncing castle on the moon.

 

Anyhow ;) Back to derailing the topic I guess

Posted

I get you on the expansion stuff but unfortunately the state of the market right now is just that making DLC that way is a sure path to losing money. I still liked White March and the improvements it brought to the game even if I'd have rather had something more traditional for a 90's/early aughts style expansion.

Posted

To be honest this whole 3 DLC thing and what Obsidian was doing with DLC in PoE1 in general is why I didn't back Deadfire. To me, you either make a complete masterpiece and your expansion expands it and I mean that literal, as in more content after the end, or you make episodic content that is each self contained. But what the heavens am I supposed to do with DLC that integrates into the linear progression of a linear game somewhere in the middle? I play game and complete it, and then I don't replay it just to see 8 new maps with zero relevance to the actual story. Since obviously if they had relevance then they would have been included from the start and the game would lack an ending.

 

I assum you didn’t play White March. Your loss. In addition, you don’t have to replay PoE1 to play WM. Reload pre-sun in shadow save and play WM as a standalone adventure (though thematically and even storywise ties to base game). As someone who replays games he likes, i prefer if expansions expand the base game, not add additional dangling threads. Firaxis style expansions are my thing. New dues ex really frustrated me with weird dlc which could be integrated into the base game and one which just didn’t have anything to do with base game. It’s like releasing directors cut or a movie but adding stuff afterward which have nothing to do with film... you either have stuff to expand on, and add, or you don’t.
  • Like 3
Posted

 

To be honest this whole 3 DLC thing and what Obsidian was doing with DLC in PoE1 in general is why I didn't back Deadfire. To me, you either make a complete masterpiece and your expansion expands it and I mean that literal, as in more content after the end, or you make episodic content that is each self contained. But what the heavens am I supposed to do with DLC that integrates into the linear progression of a linear game somewhere in the middle? I play game and complete it, and then I don't replay it just to see 8 new maps with zero relevance to the actual story. Since obviously if they had relevance then they would have been included from the start and the game would lack an ending.

 

I assum you didn’t play White March. Your loss. In addition, you don’t have to replay PoE1 to play WM. Reload pre-sun in shadow save and play WM as a standalone adventure (though thematically and even storywise ties to base game). As someone who replays games he likes, i prefer if expansions expand the base game, not add additional dangling threads. Firaxis style expansions are my thing. New dues ex really frustrated me with weird dlc which could be integrated into the base game and one which just didn’t have anything to do with base game. It’s like releasing directors cut or a movie but adding stuff afterward which have nothing to do with film... you either have stuff to expand on, and add, or you don’t.

 

 

Quite so. Alas I 100% completed PoE 1 in .. March 2015 version 1.03 and to me that's closure with a game that had lackluster combat and in some places not so great writing and many many many many many bugs. If you were trying to sell me the 2 DLC with your post you need to work on your salesman skills ;) The experience wasn't that great that I would replay PoE1 anyhow. DLC or no. And thanks to the savegame issues they only fixed fully with 2.0 none of my savegames convert to a working state nowadays either. Which is of course AWESOME FUN. /s

 

Just saying, if Obsidian makes 3 DLC's for Deadfire that's 3 DLC's I will happily wait to release and be patched before buying Deadfire. I will not repeat my PoE 1 experience, and maybe then I will have a better opinion of the DLC's, we will see.

  • Like 1
Posted (edited)

 

2018-04-10 - Removed from Store   Seems they are trying to hide it again ;P

 

So Is it correct to assume that Scavenger Hunt is #1 of #3 DLCs?

 

Eh, I just realized nobody is gonna know the answer to that anyhow :D

Edited by eRe4s3r
Posted

 

2018-04-10 - Removed from Store Seems they are trying to hide it again ;P

 

So Is it correct to assume that Scavenger Hunt is #1 of #3 DLCs?

 

Eh, I just realized nobody is gonna know the answer to that anyhow :D

I highly doubt it. Those all some like one item cosmetics.

We have been piling up those codes which are posted all over place. Maybe that’s them?

https://forums.obsidian.net/topic/95782-worldofeternity-funny-business-speculation/page-1

  • Like 3
Posted

 

 

2018-04-10 - Removed from Store Seems they are trying to hide it again ;P

 

So Is it correct to assume that Scavenger Hunt is #1 of #3 DLCs?

 

Eh, I just realized nobody is gonna know the answer to that anyhow :D

I highly doubt it. Those all some like one item cosmetics.

We have been piling up those codes which are posted all over place. Maybe that’s them?

https://forums.obsidian.net/topic/95782-worldofeternity-funny-business-speculation/page-1

 

 

Ah, yeah that makes more sense ;)

Posted

Nice find!  Did you happen to see any others?

 

One of the best theories concerning all those codes we've been finding is that they're redeemable for items in-game.  That theory got a big boost in the latest beta with a bunch of unfinished references to "Scavenger Bundles", which are redeemed and granted to the party.

 

That steamdb screenshot you took just adds another ray of hope that those codes we've piled up are indeed redeemable, somehow, for something.   :)

  • Like 3
Posted

not to sound negative.. but that huge amount of "mini" DLCs kinda worries me. i hope the planned DLCs/expansions are big "meaty" and proper expansions instead of these item DLCs.

  • Like 1
Posted

not to sound negative.. but that huge amount of "mini" DLCs kinda worries me. i hope the planned DLCs/expansions are big "meaty" and proper expansions instead of these item DLCs.

Sure, but they might have looked at CD Project and introduced bunch of tiny free DLCs to keep people preoccupied before expansions come out. The big issue is, that in order to sell meaty expansions you need keep people engaged. Even if they like the base game there is a big danger that your player base will move on. CD project decided to release bunch of small DLC which maybe didn't make people come back to the game, but kept the game in news. Maybe it is a similar approach?

 

I cenrtainly wouldn't be too happy with bunch of items as one of the "expansions". 

  • Like 1
Posted

They are already basically selling a load of tat DLC items with the different edition's of the game. Isn't there about 20 quid difference between them? For some stupid items and a soundtrack you'll be able to hear on youtube for free within a day.

nowt

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