Editorial Voice acting in RPGs - yay or nay?

[SCO]

There is still the problem of lag. I guess voice recording should be one of the last things you do at the very end of development, when the text is finalized and the writers satisfied. Actors have to get into the feel of a character - it's probably best to record a session in one-two days. If there is a large gap of time between recordings, i expect discrepancy.

It's probably a nightmare for the 'DLC' model too.

 

[Stelcio]

voice overs are not a major design decision and the pretty much only system they affect in ME are dialogues and there is no connection between dialogue system as such and the popamole linear corridor shooter gameplay, ergo no way voice overs or their absence would have any influence whatsoever on the latter.

That's correct and that's why you have to think the other way. The corridor shooter gameplay have influence on decision over VO. Full VO is just the only viable option for story-heavy action RPGs (or whatever action games). That's how ME was done, that's how Gothic was done and that's how Bloodlines was done. Only by changing the whole concept of a game you can change the decision over full VO.

 

[GarfunkeL]

Newfags gonna newfag. That is ridiculous.

 

[Cabazone]

Is VO really that expensive ? Lucas art's adventure games in the late 90's have great VO and tons of lines (more than a lot of RPG, even without branching). They probably have some money, but nothing to be compared to modern AAA games. Anybody have some kind of number to work with ?

 

[Jaesun]

Some thing's I don't understand, development wise is that VO's are recorded FIRST. Then as the game progresses, you realize that is a bad idea. I have never understood, logistics wise, why this happens. One would think after the game is almost finished, THEN the VO is recorded.

 

[SerratedBiz]

I'd imagine the point is to start recording VO as early as possible so it doesn't delay the game's release once everything else is finished.

 

[GarfunkeL]

Indy 4 didn't have voice acting. And that's a good thing. Who could imitate Harrison Ford properly?

 

[Infinitron]

Indy 4 didn't have voice acting. And that's a good thing. Who could imitate Harrison Ford properly?

If you're talking about Fate of Atlantis than the CD version absolutely did have voice acting (the voice actor didn't really sound like Harrison Ford at all)

 

[Grunker]

I'm actually playing Cyanide's Game of Thrones right now, and surprisingly, the voice acting is quite good. Even has a lot of actors from the show's cast. Maybe I overvalue it because I expected quite the contrary (horrible voice acting, that is).

Even so, it still adds no where near the value that Bloodlines had. But it's still OK, and it doesn't get in the way like in many other games.

 

[Ulminati]

The CD version of FoA was a re-release. The original didn't have - and wasn't meant to have - VA. The CD-ROM version was released a little over a year after the diskette version, with the voice recording segment taking place over 4 weeks.

 

[GarfunkeL]

Thanks Ulminati, I thought for a while that I'm going crazy. I don't even know if they ever released the CD-ROM version in Finland. I can only remember the diskette version.

 

[Daemongar]

So I kicked him in the head 'till he was dead, har har har!

Whoa! Now that was a stinker. Heh heh heh.

Get me out of this hell hole!

 

[Daemongar]

I think that BG2 had the right amount of VA. While I don't mind VA for every line, like in games where they have a huge assortment of colorful voices and characters (Oblivion), what breaks immersion is when a game is patched or updated, then suddenly someone is saying something not in his lines, or just moving the mouth to some new text. For making patches easier to implement and apply, I'm going to say NAY.

 

[Grunker]

So I kicked him in the head 'till he was dead, har har har!

Whoa! Now that was a stinker. Heh heh heh.

Get me out of this hell hole!

Draw your daggers and spells and let's have at 'er!

 

[SCO]

'The day comes when Tiax will point and click!'

 

[Infinitron]

So I kicked him in the head 'till he was dead, har har har!

Whoa! Now that was a stinker. Heh heh heh.

Get me out of this hell hole!

Draw your daggers and spells and let's have at 'er!

Time to fillet some meat!!! Gyaaaaaaaah

These lulzy one-liners are something Bioware copied from the RTS games of the time (including annoyed reactions when you clicked somebody too many times).

Today they take themselves too seriously to put stuff like that in their games.

 

[epikitscheesy]

Why generalise about the media of elaboration of single gameplay aspects?

 

[waywardOne]

a huge assortment of colorful voices and characters (Oblivion)

 

[markec]

I can live without voice acting, I even prefer no VO if they are not done good. But there are many examples of great voice acting making game a class better, games like Bloodlines, System Shock 2, Zork Grand Inquisitor...

 

[DraQ]

Your run of the mill action heavy FPS would sound weird now without voices though, and the ever-present lipsynching technology doesn't make them any less mandatory.

You mean like S.T.A.L.K.E.R.?

Switch player over to separate dialogue window, or at least one that obscures the view of the gameworld and you will separate your conversations from the kind of presentation that demands full VO.

As for VOs themselves, they are but a tool. You probably can't go wrong with partial VO giving you a gist of how character sounds like (Morrowind, IE games), but whether or not full VOs are worth it depends on what you're trying to achieve.
They are an enormous resource sink, though (both in terms of funds and media capacity) so if you don't have any clear reason why you should go with full VOs, then it's probably not worth it.

 

[LeStryfe79]

1. Sparse voice acting for minor characters and events
2. Full VO for major events and main character intros
3. Cinematics comprised solely of in game graphics and/or hand drawn motion comic style

These things can add a lot of emotional heft whilst only creating 1/10 the baggage of full VO/ lip syncing/ Hollywood cg.

Of course, for me personally, I could give less than a shit about these sorts of things.

 

[Kane]

There is nothing in favor of voice acting but also nothing against it. It's just one of those afterthoughts that by recent events have been put into the prime spotlight. TORtanic made pretty clear that they don't belong there. Why we have to discuss these trivialities on the codex is beyond me.

 

[shihonage]

The problem with voice acting in RPGs can be solved by this new software-as-a-service trend.

Whenever you choose a dialogue line that has no predefined voice line, a voice actor somewhere will say it in realtime and stream it to you through the NPC.

Of course, this will require pools of similar-sounding voice actors covering a single NPC.

BUT! A perfect excuse for always-on DRM!

 

[DraQ]

There is nothing in favor of voice acting but also nothing against it.

How about cost? Both in terms of them bucks not spent on stuff that matters and in terms of disk space not crammed with stuff that matters.

 

[Kane]

There is nothing in favor of voice acting but also nothing against it.

How about cost? Both in terms of them bucks not spent on stuff that matters and in terms of disk space not crammed with stuff that matters.

good point. but with recent prices for disk space i think that one at least is forgiveable.