Do games with no facial expressions bug you?

[archaicmalevolence]

Just wondering as i've played through half-life 2 and all the expressions were amazing. Then i saw some other games like GTA and am playing dragon age origins and found the facial expressions to be a bit lackluster. This kind of bugs me when characters in games don't show any expression and only their mouths move. So what do you think?

 

[Drakmeire]

I do have that problem but it's even worse when they have moving mouths that don't match anything and everything just feels out of place. happens during a lot of early cutscenes in KHII
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the referee is the worst offender.

 

[katsumoto03]

I hate a lot of the dubbed JRPGs that have horrible lip-syncing. It kiss any and all immersion.

 

[Vault101]

Really? I find facial expressions in Dragon age and other Bioware games to be pretty good

Most people think the worst one is Oblivion or fallout3, yeah they are not great but I got used to them...Its a little bettter if you get rid of subtitles for some reason

 

[archaicmalevolence]

Really? I find facial expressions in Dragon age and other Bioware games to be pretty good

Most people think the worst one is Oblivion or fallout3, yeah they are not great but I got used to them...Its a little bettter if you get rid of subtitles for some reason

probably right there, guess for one bit spoiled but half-life and also haven't played very much of the game only like an hour in.

 

[Skorpyo]

Urgh, now I can't stop thinking about Deus Ex.

 

[Tallim]

In the old game Granstream Saga they didn't even bother to give people faces. Sure it was a psx title so wouldn't have amazing facial animations or anything but at least some small indication of how they were feeling would have been nice.

The whole game came across as rather unsettling seeing those blank spaces where your eye naturally wanders.

 

[badgersprite]

A little bit, yeah. Especially if the voice acting is lackluster. Poor facial expressions or bad voice intonation really scramble my social-cue-reading radar and puts the characters in the uncanny valley.

Don't think I ever really noticed this in more cartoony old school games though.

 

[Ashcrexl]

remember the dudes in deus ex? yeah, that was horrible, though slightly charming. metal gear solid was even worse, though also charming. and anything is better than having faces with only eyes. pretty creepy.

 

[Au Naturel.]

Ohh, Lost Planet 2, you silly game you. I love you.

Even though everyone looks like porcelain dolls, unblinking and lifeless, I truly do love you.

 

[Taunta]

I guess this doesn't really bother me, and maybe this is too "back in my day", because the game that comes to mind is Goldeneye, where people were excited to have this:

Spoiler

But I think technology has advanced to a point where diving headfirst into the uncanny valley is a very real possibility, so I can cut teams a little bit of slack.

Then again, I mostly play WoW, a game where characters have very few facial expressions, a handful of speaking animations, and no lip-syncing as far as I can tell, and it works fine for me.

 

[Taunta]

Especially if the voice acting is lackluster. Poor facial expressions or bad voice intonation really scramble my social-cue-reading radar and puts the characters in the uncanny valley.

You mean like

 

[PunkRex]

0 0
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Affirmative.

 

[badgersprite]

Especially if the voice acting is lackluster. Poor facial expressions or bad voice intonation really scramble my social-cue-reading radar and puts the characters in the uncanny valley.

You mean like

GAH WHY! Why would you do this to me? Ugh, this cutscene is going to haunt my nightmares forever, isn't it?

 

[eylkkyle]

In my playthroughs of Dragon Age, it seemed like the happy/excited faces were just fine, while the sad/angry faces weren't nearly as good. The voice acting more than made up for it, though.

More on topic, having bad facial animations won't detract from a game too much, but having great ones can add a lot to the characters.