Main Character in Rpgs: Voiced or Silent?

[DraQ]

@topic:
It depends on other factors. If player is given a lot of freedom when it comes to character creation, both stat- and personality-wise, PC voice overs are more likely to hurt than help. If player's choice is restricted in one way or another it might be workable. Wizardry 8 approach is also interesting, but obviously limited to dungeon crawls, and the likes, with player-created party.

Or is entirely absent, given that there is not much reason robots would need crude voice communications.

Would work for any case where protagonists use non-verbal communications like radio-based infolinks, telepathy or even gestures. Hmm...
I want an RPG where you'd take a role of a powerful AI and inrteract with other powerful AIs. Or one with dragons, dragons are cool.
*train of thought meanders away*

 

[Radisshu]

When it comes to voice acting I prefer quality over quantity, and no voice at all for my PC.

 

[Nael]

Voice acting can irritate me as I read faster than lines are spoken. Sometimes it even throws up horrid scripting that would otherwise pass under my radar. It's not high on my list of priorities for buying a game. Give me a nice screen of text. That will keep me happy.

Though I'll admit KOTOR was better for giving HK-47 a voice. HK-47 makes me laugh.

I was just gonna say that. The KOTOR games were an example of full voiceovers being effective and not as annoying as something like Oblivion. I liked how Baldur's Gate II and Planescape did voice acting as well. Main encounters and characters would recite a couple of the phrases for effect, and it never detracted from the writing. Full voiceacting should never be required in a roleplaying game. Leave that overworked and overhyped bullshit to action/FPS/"next-gen" games.

 

[Imbecile]

Good voice acting is really worthwhile and can add quite a lot to a game. Silent films have had their day, and I suspect thats largely the case with games too.

Text is the safe option though, that avoids the perils of bad voice acting fucking up a half decent script. The only other issue is that full voice acting is likely to restrict dialogue to some extent.

As to the PC being voiced, I think its best that he/she isn', as its easier to imagine your own characters voice in its place. Having someone else speak your lines is somehow wrong

 

[Shagnak]

I mostly find that voices are just a distraction from reading the dialog.
Away with them, I say!
(especially for the PC)

Gothic is a prime example of the PC being unnecessarily voiced. I already know what he's going to say, I read it and selected it FFS. Waiting to have it repeated by some shitty voice actor is just a waste of my time.

 

[Kingston]

Voice acting can add a real flavour to a character. Take anyone from Bloodlines, say Lacroix. Would he be quite as awesome without voiceacting?

The PC doesn't need to be voiced though. Its just a waste of time and resources.

 

[Jasede]

People ranting against voice acting need to play Kotor 2. Kreia is -perfect-.

Also, Thief (all games). Incredible.

That said, voicing the main character is a bad idea unless you make a story-driven JRPG like RPG, like Torment or Gothic.

 

[Mefi]

So in most Japanese Erotic Games aka Hentai Games the main character's face is usually hidden.

Some say its so the player can better imagine himself in the characters shoes. I personally believe thats baloney and the dev's are trying to save some $$$ on art design. I think all Hentai Games should include full facial expressions for the main pc (s). Furthermore they should try to offer variety on the heads.(kind of like in wiz8, but more detailed since wiz8 was hack and slash while I am talking about full blow sex-based JEG)


Thoughts?

Higgerty-jiggerty.

 

[Andhaira]

Legacy of kain games are good examples of voice acting.

 

[fastpunk]

People ranting against voice acting need to play Kotor 2. Kreia is -perfect-.

Also, Thief (all games). Incredible.

True, Kreia rocks but she's not the main character (yeah, it's debatable), The Exile is, and he/she is silent.

Thief is a valid example though, and one of the best. Actually, we should have a thread about the best voice actors in gaming, might be fun.

 

[Nameless0ne]

Well in my opinion it all depends on how the Voice Acting is done. For example I really get involved with certain characters (PC) when they are voiced! This is true for games like PS:T and Vampire: Bloodlines, as they have marvelous PC voice overs

It is not a question of keeping Voice Over mandatory, but to do it right, it has to be done with quality or else, its all gone. Instead of putting crappy and dull voice overs, better keep it silent!!!

 

[Thalkirst]

Also, NWN 2's Torio Claven and Sand were also very well voiced and added a lot to the atmosphere.

 

[Radisshu]

Also, NWN 2's Torio Claven and Sand were also very well voiced and added a lot to the atmosphere.

Both Sand's and Torio's voices were perfect, but there were cases in NWN where the voice acting ruined immershun (lulz) for me. For example, NONE of the dwarfs from Khelgar's clan shared his accent. So where the hell did he get it? Did he just think it sounded cool, or did they have a huge accent reform just after he left?

 

[Tagaziel]

People ranting against voice acting need to play Kotor 2. Kreia is -perfect-.

This.

Also, Thief (all games). Incredible.

Flames around you, flames, nothing but flames, burning your flesh... join us, join us, join us now!

 

[Longshanks]

I already know what he's going to say, I read it and selected it FFS. Waiting to have it repeated by some shitty voice actor is just a waste of my time.

Yeah, I find this really annoying, it makes the voice over entirely superfluous, for PCs and NPCs. Maybe changing selection text to a small description (Mass Effect), or using response stances (Alpha Protocl) is the way to go.

On games with great voice acting, The Last Express is one of my favourites. Quality voice work and writing, expressive graphics, and 5-6 different languages.
This game and VtmB have convinced me that good voice acting, or character interaction in general can greatly add to my enjoyment of a game.

However, I prefer a silent protagonist for an RPG (mostly because I see VO as unnecessary, and much prefer there to be a focus on variant dialogue), unless it is mostly linear and strongly story focused (particularly with a pre-made character). I think the GTA games made the right decision in going from a silent to a fully-voiced protagonist as they increased their focus on story.

 

[Andhaira]

Wait,mass effect had voiced pc?? *shock!!*

 

[Norfleet]

Both Sand's and Torio's voices were perfect, but there were cases in NWN where the voice acting ruined immershun (lulz) for me.

Sand's voice was hilarious. Torio's voice was unexceptional. Not bad, but nothing really memorable, unless I missed something. But Sand? Oh, man, that guy was a riot.

For example, NONE of the dwarfs from Khelgar's clan shared his accent. So where the hell did he get it? Did he just think it sounded cool, or did they have a huge accent reform just after he left?

Maybe he picked it up on the road.

 

[Suchy]

What about about games, where you choose a topic, then the PC says the full text regarding that topic? Like in Betrayal at Krondor. IMO in this case good voice acting for PC would help a lot.

 

[Woohoo]

There's room for voiced PCs but, until we get some serious GIGAHURTZ behind voice generation technology, it's strictly for pre-existing characters. Well, if there were a company crazy enough to shell out the cash for ten or fifteen GOOD voice actors to voice every single line, maybe. But that's not going to happen.

Garrett's voice acting was possibly the best part of the Thief games(and certainly the best part of, bleh, Thief 3). A lot would be taken away from the games if we couldn't hear those snide, cynical quips. But in a game like Vampire: Bloodlines or Fallout 2, not so much.

 

[deuxhero]

Good VAing has always made some characters memorabal (I can guarantee you that Deus Ex wouldn't be as quoteable without VAing)

 

[mjorkerina]

If you need voice acting to make the NPC memorable your writing sucks.

 

[Heresiarch]

I always listen to full voice speech while I'm playing English games, and mostly skip the voices while playing hentai stuff. Even though professional hentai VA's moaning is way hotter than all those English VAs' with their silly accents.


But voices done well is good addition though, HK-47 would lose 70% of the humor if he's silent.

 

[afewhours]

If you need voice acting to make the NPC memorable your writing sucks.

A big problem is that writing prose to be read, and writing scripts to be heard are two different disciplines. Naturalistic dialogue can look horribly contrived on a page and writerly dialogue can sound completely unreal coming from your TV set. It's a little unfair to say screenwriters fail as writers just because they write in a different medium. But I think I know where you're coming from...

I worry that devs jot down dialogue without much thought as to whether it's voiced or not: 'tis a question that's answered by time and budget constraints rather than deliberation. Not good.

Take a look at Oblivion ferchrissakes. I know Morrowind's wiki dialogue caught a lot of flak, but for the game, it kinda worked. It was acceptable for a hiking simulator with no focus on character. Now with Oblivion, it's like Beth took the same dialogue style, bolted VA arbitarily on top and scratched their heads when it failed. The only concession to the VA was that they shortened the paragraphs to sentences.

 

[mjorkerina]

The only concession to the VA was that they shortened the paragraphs to sentences.

This "only" concession changes everything. In Morrowind NPC were useful to learn about the lore, the customs of the land and so on. In Oblivion all they can do is gossip day and night. See that mudcrab that other day ? i heard the mages guild is recruiting again.

It's a little unfair to say screenwriters fail as writers just because they write in a different medium.

I like the text medium better because it leaves more to your imagination and mind. The blocks of text in Planescape Torment are the perfect example for this.

But then I cannot say I like movie type dialogues much. One of my favorite movie doesn't have much in the way of dialogues (2001 space odyssey).

 

[don_tomaso]

Silent, ´cause the PC is ALWAYS voiced by some young brat, and it annoys me to hell. Can´t think of that many examples on the fly, but uh Gothic 3, X3.

Haven´t played mass effect though, maybe it´s different there. But 90% of all games with voiced PC has him sound like a retarded schoolboy.