The voiced narrator is really distracting.

[Multihog]

I like all the voices *except* the narrator. I don't think she's bad per se, or has an unpleasant voice, it's just the cadence is too weighted with pathos, and I find it extremely distracting, to the point that when she talks, it's all I can think about and in spite of hearing AND reading it, I still don't know what was said xD

Yeah, that's it. Almost every line she delivers sounds overly emotional towards the end of the sentence. I can't quite describe it, but "cadence weighted with pathos" seems right. 

 

Agreed that the rest of the voices are great, though. I used to be against full voice acting due to reading faster than the voice acting, but I've grown to enjoy it quite a bit. 

Edited May 13, 2018 by Multihog

[xzar_monty]

Geez, I really can't believe there is this much dislike for Ashley and her performance. I just got to one of the first long narrated portions in the game (just set sail) and I had no problem with it at all.

 

For me, it has nothing to do with the actress. The problem is in the implementation. Personally, I got completely fed up with the narrator in the introduction. (And given what I have since learned about the rather serious difficulty and save import problems in the game, I have not even tried to move further.)

 

If a narrator comes along every once in a while to describe a scene, a chapter start or whatever, that's perfectly fine. But this is not what happens in this game. The narrator speaks. You must click to move further. The narrator speaks again. You must click to move further. The narrator speaks again. You must click to move further. And so on.

 

This simply does not work. The reason it doesn't work is that the narration is so much slower than anyone is likely to be reading the same stuff. Now, if you want to follow the narration, there's nothing wrong with that. But if you wish to proceed at your own tempo, like I want to do, then the narrator is a terrible distraction, because you can't turn it off. While you're reading the material, there is someone speaking that same material aloud, only a lot slower than you're reading. It's an utter mess. It absolutely doesn't work. There most definitely needs to be an option to turn it off.

[Kapten Teo]

I understand why they chose to have the prose narrated during the critical path, but it is obviously subjective whether you personally like it or not. I love it and I also loved the reason why it's there, but others might not like it. Making it an option to switch it off would make sure everyone is happy, but like I said, I also understand why they might not want to do that. :/

[Wynne]

I really like Ashley Johnson normally, but the pacing is awful. It's like someone was standing over her shoulder yelling "SLOWER! PEOPLE ARE TOO STUPID TO UNDERSTAND IF YOU READ FASTER THAN A SNAIL COULD SPELL THE WORDS!" I think Obsidian fans are a clever lot, actually, so that's a misplaced sentiment, wherever it might've come from.

 

Beyond that, though, she sounds a little too... something. I don't know. Too American? (I am American, so that's weird to say; maybe it's a specific accent or inflection, possibly not even to do with being American.) It's distracting. Her voice is too distinctive to work very well for a narrator. That's a great thing for NPCs and companions, but not so great for this. 

 

I'm biased as hell, but I think they should have hired me. I'm kinda narrating on my Twitch channel anyway, for the protagonist and the flavor text. I tell myself I sound nice and generic. *lol* 

Edited May 15, 2018 by Wynne

[KDubya]

I also find the narration annoying.

 

When I read something my mind puts the pieces together and I get engrossed in the story. When the voiced narration happens I don't get that same immersion, in fact since I read faster than she speaks its just distracting and makes it harder for me to appreciate what I'm reading.

 

Maybe we can get an option to turn it off?

[Tarlonniel]

For the most part, I think the narration is... okay. It does seem rather slow, though the only time it truly irritates me is during the conversations with the gods when, for some reason, it keeps adding "[God] said" after a god says something. I do wish there was an option to turn it off.

[Purudaya]

I loved the fresh sound and approach of the new narration...but even if I didn't, a few lines of audio making up far less than 1% of the game's VO seems like such an odd thing to ALT+F4 over.

 

I would get it if she was narrating all the expository lines in the game, but it's literally only during act transitions. In Baldur's Gate, the actor who voices Sarevok was also the voice of the narrator. Used to bother the hell out of me... for about 2-3 combined minutes of the game.

Edited May 15, 2018 by Purudaya

[E.RedMark]

I like the narrator . 

[Selky]

Please for the love of god let me turn her off. I've had enough of her overdramatic reading of descriptive text about golden cords and "THE PALLID KNIGHT SAYS" every five seconds. She is literally ruining every main plot scene for me.

[Jayngo]

I really don't get these arguments. Everyone keeps saying: "I can read faster than she does the narration." Well, of course you can. I can also read faster than the characters speak the dialogue in conversations. Yes, you have the ability to click "Continue" or your response, but if most are doing this, then what's the point to having ANY of the game VO?

 

Here's what I do: When it comes to voiced dialogue or narration, I fight the urge to read along and force my eyes on the scenery at the moment (this really helps with the narrated parts). The whole point of VO is so you don't have to read what's on the screen and if the VO is done correctly, adds emotion to the scene/dialogue.

 

I just don't get all the hate for this when there are bigger problems that need fixing.

[rthemis]

The consensual fix would be to have an option to turn off the voiced narrator. It really breaks the immersion for me too.

[Jayngo]

The consensual fix would be to have an option to turn off the voiced narrator. It really breaks the immersion for me too.

I get that, but we all know Obsidian has limited resources and this really isn't something that should be worried about right now IMHO.

[Ninjamestari]

Worst narrator ever. They should've stuck to a male voice instead of a female voice desperately trying to sound like a male voice.

[E.RedMark]

Worst narrator ever. They should've stuck to a male voice instead of a female voice desperately trying to sound like a male voice.

but male voice are so..been there , done that a thousand time over...

[CAlmond]

For the most part, I think the narration is... okay. It does seem rather slow, though the only time it truly irritates me is during the conversations with the gods when, for some reason, it keeps adding "[God] said" after a god says something. I do wish there was an option to turn it off.

 

though I generally don't mind the narration, I do agree with that, it just seems like a really weird thing to add. Reminds me of my writing for english class back in highshool where I try to pad everything with "he says" and "she says" to increase my word count.

[xzar_monty]

 

The consensual fix would be to have an option to turn off the voiced narrator. It really breaks the immersion for me too.

I get that, but we all know Obsidian has limited resources and this really isn't something that should be worried about right now IMHO.

 

 

Adding the option to leave the narrator out sounds approximately the easiest and quickest fix imaginable.

 

Like, you add a tickable "Skip narrator" option, and if it is ticked, the narrator's sound files won't be run.

[Slotharingia]

I find it pretty funny that even "You must gather your party before venturing forth" sounds like a priest offering condolences for a deceased relative.

[lsojj]

Solved the narrator issue! 

Just go into your PoE 2 folder 

Pillars of Eternity II Deadfire\PillarsOfEternityII_Data\StreamingAssets\Audio\Windows\Voices\English(US)

And then Move or delete the "narrator" folder! Solved!

 

Unfortunately it's only a partial solution, the narrator can still be heard interjecting the gods conversation with descriptive lines such as "Ondra says...". Hopefully someone will make a mod to fix that, or at least find a way to locate all audio files associated with the narrator outside the "narrator" folder.

[Ryz009]

While I'm perfectly fine withe the narrator her being toggable would be best.

[Ninjamestari]

 

Worst narrator ever. They should've stuck to a male voice instead of a female voice desperately trying to sound like a male voice.

but male voice are so..been there , done that a thousand time over...

 

 

Of course it has been done a thousand times over; male voice simply sounds better as a narrator. Only an idiot wants to be original for the sake of being original. An idiot, or worse, a freaking hipster.

[E.RedMark]

 

 

Worst narrator ever. They should've stuck to a male voice instead of a female voice desperately trying to sound like a male voice.

but male voice are so..been there , done that a thousand time over...

 

 

Of course it has been done a thousand times over; male voice simply sounds better as a narrator. Only an idiot wants to be original for the sake of being original. An idiot, or worse, a freaking hipster.

 

not true . 

[CENIC]

Just a reminder that if you go into

 

Program Files > Steam > steamapps > common > Pillars of Eternity II > Pillars of Eternity II_data > StreamingAssets > Audio

 

you can delete any/all WEM files in there without harming the game. The specified audio just won't play.

 

Unfortunately, cutscenes are separate files, so you have to listen to those (or skip them)

[Meepichi]

Yeah we all have our own opinions of course, mine is I don't like her voice and much preferred the narrator from the 1st game.  I'd probably prefer no narrator actually but it's not that big of an issue.

[Wynne]

I really think a woman can narrate just as well as a man, or a man as poorly as a woman. It's not the gender, it's the--mindset. The way you're thinking at the time you're reading and how well your voice serves the text, blending in enough to make the story itself pop more, but standing out enough to keep the listener interested in the meaning of the words. 

 

This is a highly imperfect example, since it's done in realtime as a person playing the game instead of someone thinking like a narrator in a nice studio without any noisy computer fans around, but take it as a hint of what could be. 

 

https://clips.twitch.tv/SpineyWimpyMarjoramCoolStoryBob

[warbaby2]

To each their own. I liked the narrator voice as soon as she began to speak. But you do not hear it all the time, unfortunately.

That's kinda the actual problem for me, to be honest... either have it fully voiced all the time, and let me ignore the text window until I have to react to something, or don't do it at all. I know, would be more expensive, but other games did it on a similar budget.

 

Also, and I know that's rather petty of me, but her voice grates on me somewhat... I liked the male narrator with his low, less "intrusive" tambre way better. I mean, her voice would be ok for a character, but for the narrator?

Edited May 15, 2018 by warbaby2