Poll: For RPGs what voice acting system do you prefer

[BloatedGuppy]

Having a voiced protagonist does not marry you to the worst excesses of voiced protagonists from the past. Cherry picking a nadir moment from Dragon Age 2 of all games as an argument for why voiced protagonists are bad is just ludicrous.

If you're going to invest in voice acting at all, and everyone BUT the protagonist is talking their ass off, it begins to feel very awkward. Particularly if your game employs a lot of cinematic angles and cut scenes. If you're doing the uncanny valley zoom-in on a gormless talking head ala Fallout 3 you can get away with it easier, but games are moving past that. Skyrim felt very awkward at times, and Bethesda games rank "narrative quality" pretty low on their totem pole of concerns.

 

[veloper]

What I do know for sure is that no voice-acting, but a decent writer, is better than bad voice-acting and terrible lines,
but just having one protagonist or a customized PC with recorded lines, can both work very well.

 

[someguy1231]

I assume that the OP is only referring to single-player RPGs. In MMOs I prefer character creation with no voice.

In single-player RPGs, though, I prefer pre-made characters with their own lines, ie "The Witcher" type. Far too often, whenever I create a character in a single-player RPG, I become some sort Messiah-like "Chosen One" and it feels very obvious that the whole game world revolves around me. What I loved about the Witcher 3 is that I feel like part of the game's world. Geralt may be a badass, but it's clear that he has his limits in terms of influencing people and the world as a whole.

I also don't like that creating my main character forces NPCs to refer to me as vaguely as possible, like "Hero" or "Champion". In some cases they can't even use gendered pronouns to refer to me, which makes dialogue sound incredibly clunky and unnatural.

Spoiler

In Knights of the Old Republic, I actually saw the "big plot twist" coming very early on because of this.

 

[Longing]

I much prefer having no spoken lines at all. Skyrim is a bad example because you often only get the choice between 2 different lines, but games like DA:O or Fallout give you a much bigger chance to roleplay and much more nuanced dialogue options.

The Mass Effect way was fine for that particular game because I tremendously enjoyed Jennifer Hale's performance, but you can run into the problem of not liking the protagonist's voice and starting to resent them for it (ie. Dragon Age 2).

Having a fixed character is definitely not a main selling point for me in rpgs, but playing the Witcher 3 has been incredibly fun so I'm not as bothered by it as I once was... still much prefer creating my own character however.

 

[Phasmal]

While I do like `set` protagonists, they all tend to be the same type of dudes, and I don't really like that much. I like being a girl in my RPGs.

So I went for the Mass Effect-style one, but I'm also partial to the Skyrim-style on occasion.
Thinking on it more, I think if it's a game like Mass Effect where there is a lot of dialogue and it's kinda word-heavy, I like my protagonist having a voice, and I like having some idea about how they're going to say it.

But if the main focus is on the action, give me a silent protagonist. I don't remember chatting much in Skyrim. It was more `Okay who do you want killed?` and then going on my merry way.

So I think there's room in RPG's for all three systems, but I'd prefer more diversity of set protagonists (but with developers afraid to alienate their straightwhitedude demographic, I think that's a little unlikely).

 

[Mikeybb]

I personally prefer the no voice acting aspect as it allows more user input on the character.
With the other two options, there is a limit on how much creativity and customization you can apply to the character.
Dragon age Origins style always appealed to me the most.
Almost complete control over the creation of the character is placed in the player's hands, but the character never becomes a complete cypher like freeman as the dialogue has still been fully scripted out.

That said, the other systems listed have their own merits and their inclusion in a game sometimes enhances the story they're telling.
With Geralt and Shephard, it's possible to keep the dialogue very snappy as in a branching conversation you can put the general 'feel' of your response or statement instead of the whole dialogue, allowing the player to select without having to pause and read through the full response.
It keeps some of the exchanges flowing more nicely.

Therefore, while I do personally prefer the Dragon age: origins method, it's a close thing and I still love the other two methods when it is done well and attached to a good game.

 

[Danbo Jambo]

Old school (no voice acting or voice acting by specific characters only) or New Vegas style (voice acting for every character but the PC). Every fucking time.
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-QUOZYFi6wts/UXWGM9xmD6I/AAAAAAAAAPM/sLf1EPO1_Ek/s1600/original.jpg
Look at the left side of that picture, that's no less than 18 different choices. Contrast the three on the right which all lead to the same thing. And even worse, those options aren't what the character actually fucking says, BY MAKING THE DIALOGUE PART OF THE GAMEPLAY AND FAILING TO SAY WHAT THE DIALOGUE WILL ACTUALLY BE, YOU ARE MAKING THE GAMEPLAY DELIBERATELY OBTUSE FOR IT'S OWN SAKE. IF YOU CAN AFFORD A FUCKING VOICE ACTOR YOU CAN FUCKING AFFORD TO WRITE PROPERLY.

Lol, bang on.

I like voice acting IF it's done to portay a set character ala Geralt, and still gives you plenty of options in the process.

But for a character you create yourself it's no voice ALL THE WAY. Not only does it immerse you more as YOU speak the lines in your head, but you generally have more options as said above, and one thing it doesn't do is detract from the game ala schizophrenic Hawke.

So what if all the dialogue options are an illusion? If they immerse you it works. All gaming is as a whole is an illusion anyway.

And as for the dialogue wheel it's outright fucking backwards. What one person may see as "good/bad/etc." someone else may see entirely differently. The dialogue wheel doesn't allow for any interpritation of motivation behind the choices - i.e. if I say "kill him" I could be intending it honourably, I could be intending it viciously, all that really matters is the concequences and options presented there.

 

[The Wykydtron]

I kinda like the semi voice acted stuff, AKA Fire Emblem: Awakening style. Mostly not voice acted aside from the occasional cutscene and most importantly select battle lines.

I just love the hype behind every single crit in the game, you get a special animation and cool little voice line for every character before basically oneshotting any non boss enemy in the game.

"IT'S TIME TO TIP THE SCALES!"

Yeah i'm sort of easily pleased...

After playing a few things like Umineko No Naku Koro Ni, I find myself not liking the DA:O style as much. I can't get over the lack of voices now, granted that may be because the voice acting in Umineko is fuckin' God Tier.

I find it a bit off putting when there's a scene going on and it's just silence that the guy is talking to. It's not bad, just a bit weird

 

[Chaos Isaac]

I'd take the Commander style from Mass Effect. Where my Title/Last name refers specifically to me, by I still get to be my own woman/man due to character creation/gender choice.

Considering I think Geralt is a boring mary sue, who may or may not be super special awesome by my confused understanding of the lore, I don't want a set character that I may end up hating. (If you're curious, I thought the Witcher process was supposed to dull your emotions or whatnot, and Geralt is like not really affected by that.)

Also, I thought Tidus was a massive twat too, but they never say his name, so he's a mix of Geralt and Commander, as they talk to him, but never by name, even though he's set.

Then in Skyrim, well, I hate it when I don't talk in a world of talking people, unless my character is actually mute. Which, as far as I know, hasn't been done yet. However, if I get a lot of dialogue options and intriguing bits due to my dialogue options, hell yeah.

 

[Casual Shinji]

I like the implied personal voice acting of a non-voiced RPG protagonist, assuming ofcourse you can create your own character. I usually tend to dub along with most of my RPG characters anyway. Bethesda games don't do a great job with this, but I'd imagine that even with a voiced protagonist those conversations would remain dull.