Editorial On FemShep's Popularity In Mass Effect

Annie Mitsoda · Sep 12, 2010

One big thing I learned about writing dialogue: it is ENTIRELY DIFFERENT writing something being voiced as it is something being read. I know that sounds obvious, but really - the eye needs to see commas and periods in sentences (which can read comfortably far longer than one can speak in a single breath), where we actually speak with dash/hyphen style pauses in-between thoughts, and add little breath/thought breaks that make spoken dialogue sound natural but look very odd when written out. Really good voice actors (and I've had the pleasure of working with several) can look at a line that's written to be read and tweak it - just through delivery - into something that makes sense when spoken, but admittedly they can only do so much.

SO. I actually rather like voice acting, but it really works when writers know from the beginning which lines will be voiced and which lines won't be. I think there are many writers in the industry who are used to writing for either spoken or written and not as much for both, and it's reflected in the end product. When VO works, though, I think it's a joy to listen to. When it DOESN'T, however, I'm with people who hiss and wince and turn the sound off.

Grunker · Sep 12, 2010

CK, it wasn't in response to you, it was in response to:

Jack said:
If you ask me voicing has no place in RPGs.

Freelance Henchman · Sep 12, 2010

Annie, will Dead State have any voice acting or is it text only? Will it have any video at all for that matter?

Achilles · Sep 12, 2010

In an ideal world, RPGs would be fully voiced by great voice actors and still retain all the depth and different dialogue choices. In reality, I'd choose more options over VO every single time.

I'm also not a big fan of the "some voiced, some not" approach. I find that it breaks immersion when I expect my character to talk and he doesn't or vice versa. If the devs want to give their characters a voice, I think it would be best to use voice actors for the intro sequence and use text for the rest of the game. In my opinion, consistency is more important than voiceovers for some quests.

PorkaMorka · Sep 13, 2010

Alexandros said:
In an ideal world, RPGs would be fully voiced by great voice actors.

Nope.

Imagine a fully voiced version of Planescape Torment.

You'd be sitting there literally for hours just listening to Master Thespian's dramatic reading.

Reading is a lot faster than listening to a guy reading it aloud.