Is voice acting a must in story driven games?

[Gotham Soul]

Voice acting tends to set the atmosphere for me much better, but the only genres I find it essential for are RPGs.

Great acting by people with great voices is also good. A wide range of voices tends to enhance the experience for me.

 

[Ace of Spades]

Yes, yes it is.

 

[Baby Tea]

No! Ask around: what is the best RPG? What is the story-based game? You'll got a lot of flame wars, but they'll almost inevitably boil down to a list of games without voice acting.

I agree, actually.

I mean, great voice acting goes a long way (I really enjoyed Mass Effect's voice work). But my favorite RPGs of all time (Baldur's Gate Series) had minimal, to NO voice acting. And the voice work that WAS there (Very minimal) was good!

Look at Morrowind! Practically ALL reading! Great game.

Voice acting MUST be done at least 'well' in order to help the game at all. Anything less makes the game less and less enjoyable, even if the gameplay is good.

So devs: Either do it well, or don't do it at all. My imagination is better then $5 voice actors.

 

[Kintarius]

No, anything but a must.

Planescape: Torment was a fantastic game with very little Voice acting..

Terrible voice acting will murder even the best of stories, sadly.

 

[Milkatron]

My favorite story-based games have no voice acting. I find voice acting can ruin a gaming experience (Oblivion, not to be a Yahtzee fanboy. I hated it before the review). If done well, voice acting can be absolutely fantastic (I'm sure there's something).

 

[Mr. Fister]

To answer the original question: No, voice acting is not a must in a story-driven game. Look at Twilight Princess. No acting, but the story is still very engaging. It can help, but only if it's very high-quality acting in a high-quality storyline. Otherwise, don't even bother.

 

[cptbeaver]

Some of the best games ever were made without voice acting, the Old LucasArts (LucasFilm Games) adventure games. Monkey Island, Monkey Island 2, etc. I still play these games today, so voice doesn't really bother me, music and atmospheric noises are a must however, without them then only does the game sound eerily quiet. Indeed, some games would also be better off without their voice acting.

 

[hellthins]

It's not required, but good voice acting helps.

 

[dcheppy]

Some of the best games ever were made without voice acting, the Old LucasArts (LucasFilm Games) adventure games. Monkey Island, Monkey Island 2, etc. I still play these games today, so voice doesn't really bother me, music and atmospheric noises are a must however, without them then only does the game sound eerily quiet. Indeed, some games would also be better off without their voice acting.

The only thing better than the old lucas arts adventure games are the new(relative term)LucasArts Adventure games. Monkey Island 3&4, Grim Fandango, and of course the original example of great voice acting, Full Throttle.

I miss LucasArts adventure games. The New Sam & Max's have some of that charm but its not quite all there.

 

[Clampdown79]

It isn't, but good voice acting is definately a plus.

 

[Liminal Dusk]

I think something we all might be able to agree with is that immersive games, like Story-driven FPS' require voice-acting to keep you in.

Imagine Half-Life 2 in all text at the bottom of the screen.

As for *all* voice-acting, I think that some games CAN'T have it and some games NEED it. Most nintendo-backed games classically have little-to-no voice acting, while certain RPGs like Persona 3 can mix V.A. with text and be effective.

Interestingly, FFX is the first FF to have Voice Acting, and its quite possibly (not exagerating) my favorite game of all time.

 

[y8c616]

In my opinion no voiceacting is better than terrible voiceacting.
Of course truly great voice acting can make a good game great.

Agreed. Resident evil 2's only bad point in my opinion is the lack luster voice acting. David Hayter's performance as Solid Snake is an example of how its done!

 

[ZenMonkey47]

Another thing about voice acting, the less voice acting there is the easier it is to find player made mods.

That's mostly what makes the Baldur's Gate Series so appealing

 

[Kuropan]

You cannot escape it, it's much like dubbing in anime - and in many cases the same voice actors are used for both entertainment categories.

Pretty much. (Yuri Lowenthal is especially prominent... thank god he's a good VA.)

i think that good voice acting can add a lot to a game (MGS4) and terrible voice acting subtracts (FFX), but it's never quite that clear. Most games with voices have some great VAs, and some horrible ones. Case in point, right now i'm playing Persona 4, and while i love the voice selection for several of the characters, there are two who are really, really, REALLY annoying. But to turn off the sound means to cut off the VAs i enjoy. kind of a lose-lose.

 

[Quaidis]

You cannot escape it, it's much like dubbing in anime - and in many cases the same voice actors are used for both entertainment categories.

Pretty much. (Yuri Lowenthal is especially prominent... thank god he's a good VA.)

i think that good voice acting can add a lot to a game (MGS4) and terrible voice acting subtracts (FFX), but it's never quite that clear. Most games with voices have some great VAs, and some horrible ones. Case in point, right now i'm playing Persona 4, and while i love the voice selection for several of the characters, there are two who are really, really, REALLY annoying. But to turn off the sound means to cut off the VAs i enjoy. kind of a lose-lose.

That's why I love what they did with the Growlanser Generations package (two games, I forgot which had the option): You had the option to turn individual voices off. It was godly considering that one female voice made your ears bleed. I wish all games did that.

 

[Kuropan]

You cannot escape it, it's much like dubbing in anime - and in many cases the same voice actors are used for both entertainment categories.

Pretty much. (Yuri Lowenthal is especially prominent... thank god he's a good VA.)

i think that good voice acting can add a lot to a game (MGS4) and terrible voice acting subtracts (FFX), but it's never quite that clear. Most games with voices have some great VAs, and some horrible ones. Case in point, right now i'm playing Persona 4, and while i love the voice selection for several of the characters, there are two who are really, really, REALLY annoying. But to turn off the sound means to cut off the VAs i enjoy. kind of a lose-lose.

That's why I love what they did with the Growlanser Generations package (two games, I forgot which had the option): You had the option to turn individual voices off. It was godly considering that one female voice made your ears bleed. I wish all games did that.

Yeah, that would be freakin' awesome. Too bad game designers don't bother with that.

 

[Introspective]

Yes. Nothing kills my story driven boner more than bad voice acting. It's like, anti-Viagra.

 

[JonasBrothersSuck]

While voice acting is a nice add-on, I can still say I prefer the text-deiven games of the olden days. That way you can imagine the voice in your head and tweak it to your heart's content. Remember Fire Emblem? (The original Gameboy Advance ones?) Those are the kind of games in which voice acting just wouldn't fit.