Full voiceovers ruin text-heavy RPGs for me

[JarlFrank]

No, I think there is just an issue with you in particular, or perhaps for people with limited reading comprehension (in the relevant language).

I guess it could be a bit distracting if the game was truly text heavy, with each line in a conversation being a A4 page of text, but as far as I'm aware such games do not exist. A line is usually limited to 1-4 sentences and that is perfectly manageable to read while it is being narrated imo.

Do you think this would have been an issue if the text and narration was in your native language?

That said, I don't feel like there really is a purpose for full narration unless it's part of a cinematic cutscene. An opening line + something more for emphasis is enough to establish character and mood.

I'm highly fluent in English even though it is my second language, and use it everyday in my work. I even think more in English than in my native language. Yet reading text while also hearing it spoken is distracting and pulls me back to the sentence currently spoken rather than the later one I'm already reading. I have the same issue with my native language, because it occupies my brain with two parallel lines of thought at the same time.

It leads me to not pay attention to the dialogue as much as I just quickly skim through the text and click onward, whereas if only the first line is voiced and the rest isn't, I spend more time reading the text and getting into it. The voice acting just distracts me. It's detrimental to the experience.

I barely paid attention to the dialogues in Divinity Original Sin 2 because of that. I switched off the narrator voice because that was just ridiculous but for some reason kept the character voices. When I played Pillars 2, I just switched it all off. MUCH better experience.

What confused me here is that I have never ever heard this particular complaint before, despite voice overs being a thing for decades. Which leads me to believe that it might be something specific to the very special demographic of people on the codex that post in this thread complaining about this issue.

Another thought is that it might be due to growing up in a country where subtitles are unusual. You are from Germany where most things are dubbed, right? I'm from Sweden and most media I've watched is subtitled.

Still doesn't explain why there isn't any complaining from American gaming communities though.

I don't watch dubbed movies, I watch them in their original language, with subtitles if I don't understand it. And here's the thing: the subtitles are to a language I don't understand. So whatever is being said doesn't distract me from what I'm reading. But when I understand what is being said AND am reading subtitles/text at the same time, the spoken text distracts me from the text I'm reading because my brain picks up the meaning of both.

I can't properly focus on a task when the radio or TV is running in the background and the news are on, for example, because the people on the radio/TV will keep talking and talking and I understand what's being said. Even if I only catch snippets, they intrude into the thing I want to concentrate on. But if there's, say, an interview with a foreign person speaking in a foreign language and it's subtitled, it doesn't distract me because it's just random babbling to me. I don't get snippets of meaning intruding into whatever I'm currently thinking.

EDIT:
While I like watching foreign movies with subtitles, if something I watch on youtube in English or German has automatic subtitles to it, I IMMEDIATELY switch them off because when I understand what's being said, having the same thing repeated as subs is annoying.

 

[Jack Of Owls]

I'm both hot and cold on audiobooks, but it might come down to the VA. My last attempt at listening to an audiobook was Lem's The Invincible. Even though it was the good translation of it (not the one by Uncle Forry's wife), the no-name actor was so slick and generic in his delivery I just couldn't go on. On the flip side, I listened to the whole audiobook of Ballard's High-Rise because I felt Tom Hiddleston got the tone down right. I wish the movie version followed suit but only Vaughn's character (Luke Evans) felt correct.

 

[Jack Of Owls]

Off topic slightly but regarding subtitled movies vs. dubbed audiotracks, sometimes I much prefer the dubbed versions, ie certain Kaiju or Japanese monster/horror movies. There can be no doubt that the dubbed version of War of the Gargantuas is superior to the original Japanese crap track which turns the whole thing into a silly shitfest mentioning Frankenstein monsters and giving the gargantuas cutesy jap monster names like in every other Kaiju so kids can identify, gush and clamor for the merch. Fun, fairly well-known story about actor Russ Tamblyn: he knew no one on set spoke english so he improvised all his own dialog during production pretending to adhere to the script. So we got the line about how his scientist character never believed in abominable snowmen and that those that saw them in the mountains were probably just having a really bad LSD trip.

 

[Voids]

The old IE games had it right. Occasional voice acting, feedback lines, reading the first sentences, quips, etc. The occasional monologue. It gives the characters a little flavor without hitting you over the head with some bad writer's interpretation of the character and lets your brain fill in the gaps that need to be filled in. It also gives the ability to, yknow, actually roleplay a little. This isn't a huge deal to me, but I think full voiceovers leads to flat characterizations and makes you have to live with the focus group approved version of a character and world. Making everything voice acted heavily limits the amount of total dialog that you can have. It also severely limits the ability to do rewrites.

There was one PoE2 character that was just super obnoxious.. I forget the character's name. They wrote him to be foul mouthed and obnoxious, and while I don't mind foul language at all, it just seemed so over the top and silly. The voiced dialogue with this character was also ridiculously bad and was a major reason why I just stopped playing. Full voiceovers are usually so bad that many players just skip through them. I also think that because of full voiceovers the writing quality has dipped immensely, and dialog menus are formulaic and laughably bad. Take, for example, the old dialog trees/menus of something like PS:T. In a modern RPG you might have 2 to 3 choices, all organized so that the first option is the "good" option, the second option is the "edgy" option, and the third is neutral. It's designed this way so that your average dope can just click his way through dialog and not really pay attention - and honestly, who blames him? The writing is bad and the full voiceovers are incredibly banal and have no importance. In PS:T the dialog choices are mixed. You have to read carefully and actually roleplay. You can choose the "wrong" dialog option. Of course not every game has to be like PS:T. The BG games were much more simply written, but they had a similar design. You have to read what you're choosing, and having a full voiceover simply doesn't allow for any sort of real depth to the writing or the characterization.

Full voiceovers have helped to ruin modern games.

 

[Azdul]

Just imagine that during a movie or play you would realize that you would rather be reading the script. Actors and director would have to do pretty terrible job if they cannot deliver the lines in a way that offers somewhat better experience than reading the text.

However, Obsidian somehow achieved it. I guess cutting the costs means that any person that does not stutter or lisp will do.

At least Polish voice overs in RPGs are consistently great, and listening to them is a pure joy. I guess classically trained actors are dime a dozen around here.

 

[Nifft Batuff]

What confused me here is that I have never ever heard this particular complaint before, despite voice overs being a thing for decades. Which leads me to believe that it might be something specific to the very special demographic of people on the codex that post in this thread complaining about this issue.

Another thought is that it might be due to growing up in a country where subtitles are unusual. You are from Germany where most things are dubbed, right? I'm from Sweden and most media I've watched is subtitled.

Still doesn't explain why there isn't any complaining from American gaming communities though.

What do you mean with demographics? Do you mean that VO complaints are more frequent from old people that were used to read books printed on paper while youngsters are more used to listen to e-books with VO or text2speech?

I think that VO issues can be also more frequent for non native English speakers. I don't think that subtitles are a problem per se. I have always subtitles on when playing games or watching English movies. However, if I need to process lot of text (without the need to synchronize it with some action movie), I am much faster just reading the text. If I have to read & listen to VO, It is like I need to process two asynchronous "tracks" (one fast and one slow) and this is taxing or at least distracting.

Furthermore, I think that English in particular has a problem in this respect, since spoken English is a relatively phonetic rich language and quite uncorrelated with its written counterpart. Basically spoken English and written English are almost two different languages (I have read a study that identify this as the main reason why relatively many English people suffer from dyslexia). This aspect is obviously exacerbated for non English people that need to process the English language.

 

[Jack Of Owls]

The old IE games had it right

I felt Fallout did it right too though it's not by any stretch of the imagination "fully voice acted" but it really started to pay when companies stopped using annoying adenoidal game developers for voice acting and started using professional actors.

 

[octavius]

What I don't understand is how in these times of instant gratification the kids have the patience to sit through those slow recitals that one can read much quicker.

I think games like the Baldur's Gates and Morrowind did it right: voiced greetings and combat lines which helps enhance the mood, but doesn't slow down the game play.

 

[Falksi]

I prefer both text and fully voiced games to be bitesized anyway. Keep the player interacting.

Dragon Age: Origins did it the best for me with full voicework.

Text wise Shadowrun: Dragonfall struck a good balance.

Walls of text or vocals are dull as fuck, simply coz I'm not doing owt & I'm a twitchy cunt.

 

[Doktor Best]

I played both Pillars with voice turned to 0 in the settings. Highly recommended.

That is the overkill approach. But this would kill the mood of the game. I want a few words or a sentence to be fully voiced, to get the feel of the character. Like, Planescape Torment wouldn't be the same without the Dieonarra monologues, so I welcome a few voiced lines. But fully voiced is terrible. So for me there is no win-win situation. I guess I just skip the game, it's not like there aren't a lot of good games to play in my backlog.

Would you avoid playing a game if it had no voice over at all? Why care so much about VO, its not like there are that many CRPGs out there that follow EXACTLY your favored approach. Just turn down the voice volume to zero and enjoy a game you appear to like, i really don't see the problem?

I knew full voice acting for every NPC was not The Way as far back as King's Quest V with my first CD-ROM game for DOS. It was jarring to have to hear all voices done by some developer or intern sounding like your reedy-voiced daddy reading you a bedtime story and trying to do different voices for each character. I can still hear the horrendous hoot of that horrible owl going, "Hooo, hooo! hooo, hooo!" What is heard cannot be unheard.

Maybe its a nostalgia thing but i actually really like SOME of the cheesy VO. It reminds me of the times computer games weren't taken so goddamn serious all the time. Deus Ex Voice Over for example is a clear bonus to me. I wouldn't ever want to play through the game without it.

 

[Luckmann]

Anyone else experienced similar thing?

I've been playing Deadfire recently too, and while this isn't on my top line of grievances, I've been experiencing the exact same thing. It throws me off when everything is voiced, and skipping the dialogue just feels wrong, but it's been necessary to preserve my sanity. It just creates this choppyness where I have to sorta tune things out, but it gets annoying, especially in longer conversations.

I honestly don't understand why they did it. It's a humongous waste of money, and just to add insult to injury, it makes the few dialogue snippets that aren't fully voiced stand out as sore thumbs.

Unsurprising that ESLs hate voice acting. "yech, vy does ee not sound like zee fegot like i??"

I am technically ESL, and I fucking hate that so much of the dialogue does sound like that. Deadfire is littered with some ESL scandinavian trying to sound like he's a Frenchman trying to speak English. It's infuriating.

Edit: There is also a woman doing the exact same thing. It's really, really bad.

 

[Gilius Thunderhead]

I dislike VOs too, but unlike the OP I don't feel any qualms about turning Voice volume off. In fact, I feel a perverse satisfaction in doing so, as I sometimes wish I could do the same in real life.

I find voices distracting and would never replace voice for text, unless I'm watching a movie where the actor's voice is essential to the performance. Some action and third person games may benefit from voice acting for the same reasons. For example, Metal Gear Solid had great voice acting which matched cinematic cutscenes or codec conversation between expertly drawn, dynamic character portraits. VtM was able to use rendered characters to the same effect, which was remarkable, as what you normally get in such games is a feeling of dissonance.

In text heavy isometric or top-down RPGs, voice acting detracts from the experience as you're better off using your imagination. Some may object with Fallout, which used both, but here voice acting was only used sparsely and served to highlight special characters. It was a way to reward the player. Would you have liked to have every junkie and mercenary given a VO?

Sure, my autism may play a part in my preference for text over voice acting. People who listen to audiobooks or prefer dubbed fiction are like aliens to me. It might be OK for some pop fiction, but how would you even be able to appreciate serious literature that way?

Americans are a culture of salesmen and evangelicals, of course they love to hear voices in their heads. Their opinions should be taken with a grain of salt.

 

[Zboj Lamignat]

they were typical fantasy voiceovers (not particularly good or bad)

101% agree on PoE2 voice overs not being bad. They are fucking horrible.

And yeah, they're one of the things that do a good job at making the game feel worse than it really is. The opening narration alone would probably make obsidian go bankrupt on game's release if they promoted it with it.

Funny thing is, FNV also had full voice overs with like 4 actors that didn't act at all, but with FPP it never really annoyed me much. I guess it's another thing that Fallout 1-2 did the best, written dialogue most of the time, but also cool talking heads that give lots of mood and personality where it matters.

 

[V_K]

I have embraced VOs because without being constrained by the VO budget, contemporary RPG writers would just churn out three times as much terrible text.

 

[taxalot]

The question is very simple to answer.

1. Why would wait for the actor to finish his line, if I am done reading what he has to say ?
2. If I do not want him to finish his line, why allow him to start it ?

Put voices to 0.

 

[Takamori]

I dont mind having some VO, but usually full VO will harm the game in some shape or form, even if is after the game was done because is still resource that could be used to do more content, that could be QA that could be well paid to avoid having a fucking bugfest and so on.

 

[JarlFrank]

Just imagine that during a movie or play you would realize that you would rather be reading the script.

Just imagine that during a leisurely session of reading a book, some dork stands behind you and reads out every line of dialogue while you're trying to read at your own pace.

That's what full VO in isometric RPGs feels like.

 

[JarlFrank]

Furthermore, I think that English in particular has a problem in this respect, since spoken English is a relatively phonetic rich language and quite uncorrelated with its written counterpart. Basically spoken English and written English are almost two different languages (I have read a study that identify this as the main reason why relatively many English people suffer from dyslexia). This aspect is obviously exacerbated for non English people that need to process the English language.

Agree with your post except for this part.

My issue with full VO in games with lots of text isn't because English is teh hard so having text AND voice at the same time makes reading the text harder.

I have the same issue with my native language, because having a voice slowly narrate parts of the paragraph that you've already read while your eyes are already a full sentence ahead messes with your attention. I read much, much faster than anyone can voiceact, but I don't want to wait for the voice actors to finish their lines, especially in a game with lots of text like Pillars, cause I consider that a waste of time and it interferes with my natural pace of playing through dialogue sections. Having constant voice acting for each and every line makes the experience less pleasant overall.

 

[J_C]

Furthermore, I think that English in particular has a problem in this respect, since spoken English is a relatively phonetic rich language and quite uncorrelated with its written counterpart. Basically spoken English and written English are almost two different languages (I have read a study that identify this as the main reason why relatively many English people suffer from dyslexia). This aspect is obviously exacerbated for non English people that need to process the English language.

Agree with your post except for this part.

My issue with full VO in games with lots of text isn't because English is teh hard so having text AND voice at the same time makes reading the text harder.

I have the same issue with my native language, because having a voice slowly narrate parts of the paragraph that you've already read while your eyes are already a full sentence ahead messes with your attention. I read much, much faster than anyone can voiceact, but I don't want to wait for the voice actors to finish their lines, especially in a game with lots of text like Pillars, cause I consider that a waste of time and it interferes with my natural pace of playing through dialogue sections. Having constant voice acting for each and every line makes the experience less pleasant overall.

This sums up the experience perfectly. It's not about not understanding the VO or the written text. It's that when you read fast, and the VO is lagging a few sentences behind you, it messes up your attention and it feels disjointed. In the end, I don't fully feel neither the text nor the VO.

And as many suggested, the only solution is to take down the voice volume to 0. My only problem with that is I really want the IE experience from this game - and losing the few voiced lines, which give some character to the NPCs - is really a bummer.

 

[luj1]

The old IE games had it right. Occasional voice acting, feedback lines, reading the first sentences, quips, etc. The occasional monologue. It gives the characters a little flavor without hitting you over the head with some bad writer's interpretation of the character and lets your brain fill in the gaps that need to be filled in.

Nwn 1 was like that too. It had the right amount imo

 

[Tim the Bore]

I had the exact same issue. Eventually I managed to train my brain to listen to the sound of voice without actually listening to the words themself, while simultaneously reading lines in my own pace - but to certain extent it was always a source of irritation and distraction (I'm playing P: K right now and holy shit, it's so much better without this - BTW, do we already know anything about the amount of voice acting in Wrath of the Righteous? Are they gonna pull Larian on us?).

The old IE games had it right. Occasional voice acting, feedback lines, reading the first sentences, quips, etc. The occasional monologue. It gives the characters a little flavor without hitting you over the head with some bad writer's interpretation of the character and lets your brain fill in the gaps that need to be filled in.

It also meant that if the line was voiced, it was important and therefore - you should be paying attention right now. It was a very effective way of communicating with players that something important is happening.

It's really fucking depressing that majority of fans prefer isometric RPGs that are fully voiced, whether it makes sense or not. So much money is being spend on something unnecessary and disfunctional.

 

[octavius]

Just imagine that during a movie or play you would realize that you would rather be reading the script.

Just imagine that during a leisurely session of reading a book, some dork stands behind you and reads out every line of dialogue while you're trying to read at your own pace.

That's what full VO in isometric RPGs feels like.

Heh, that reminds me of many YouTube Let's Plays where some dork will slowly read the in-game text.

 

[luj1]

I noticed that people who usually defend voice acting started playing RPGs during the Dark Age (2004-2012) when all this started. Moreso, these individuals seem incapable of imagination and depend on voice acting to spell everything out for them.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

Just imagine that during a movie or play you would realize that you would rather be reading the script.

Just imagine that during a leisurely session of reading a book, some dork stands behind you and reads out every line of dialogue while you're trying to read at your own pace.

That's what full VO in isometric RPGs feels like.

If you want to read a book maybe you should do that instead of playing video games

 

[Skdursh]

Complaining about this is literally retarded when you can just turn off the voiced audio. For me, I heavily prefer games to be fully voiced, minus the player-character, it's more engrossing and less tiring than having to read pages upon pages of dialog when I'm just trying to play a fucking game. It's way more immersive as well; I mean, you don't read conversations when you chat with someone in real life, you hear them.