Poll: Really Need The Voice?

[Jordi]

I want games to have both. Voice acting with subtitles. And I want to be able to skip over the voice acting.

I think that in general, it improves the experience for me, since it seems more "real". I also want the subtitles so I can read ahead, or back if I misheard something. The dialogue should be skippable though, because sometimes I just want to get on with the action.

 

[AngryMongoose]

The characters voices are more fun if I can make them myself. Especially if they just say half a phrase (ala wind waker). I always burst out laughing everytime I talked to beedle because of what I imagined his voice sounded like.

 

[eelel]

It depends on the system. On the DS I want text because more often than not I am playing with no sound. On the consolds like the 360 it depends on how well it is done

 

[Hellion25]

I actually tend to turn off voice acting, especially in JRPGs. While its cool in cutscenes and the like, I get really impatient when I'm having reams of poorly acted text read out to me, so I prefer to just read it myself.

I loved the idea of full voices back when Shenmue and the like were really cracking on with it, but nowadays, if there's a lot of dialogue, I'm turning the voices off. I have yet to find a game where the voice acting was of such quality that I felt the desire to keep it on even for less important bits of text.

 

[Rewold]

The parts in the Yakuza 3 demo where the voice acting was replaced with text were really annoying. Atleast make the text appear soundlessly and put some backround music. Otherwise it won't work.

 

[TheJakester16]

I do not think that voices are essential to a game, but i do think that they can help build up characters.

 

[mrfusspot]

Kinda.

I mean, I have no problem with reading in a game, but it just reminds me I'm playing a game and breaks immersion.

But then again, when there's shit voice acting, that can be just as bad, if not worse as broken immersion caused by reading dialog.

This. When I'm reading, it reminds me that I'm not in the game, which isn't a feeling I enjoy.
At the same time, horrible voice acting does the same thing, and I enjoy it even less.

I don't think it should be standard, but it really should be in most games. Its just very nice to be able to play a game, and hear all the dialogue rather than read it all.

 

[Dexiro]

Depends on the game. Both are good, sometimes just having text is preferable because it's easier for voice acting to be done badly.

I think voices suit more serious-face games like GTA and CoD though. It'd be weird playing a really realistic game that just throws it all out the window when you talk to some guy and a dinky text box comes up with no voice

 

[Stormz]

I like voice acting if the actors are good. But if it's a Jrpg chances are they won't be. So if it's a Jrpg I usually prefer text (there are exceptions)

 

[JokerCrowe]

good voice acting can really cement the experience and help bring life to characters.

Yes, but then again, if the voice acting is bad...
if you have to have a voice, the acting is make or break really. At least to me.

I just think we've gotten so used to the "talkies" that a game consisting completely of speech bubbles would feel like a step backwards. But then again there are great games that doesn't have any vioce acting or human-beings at all. Like Peggle, or Flower. And I guess you could have made LittleBigPLanet without Stephen Fry, I mean sackboy doesn't talk. But that would have really deminished the experience of friendlyness by like 80 percent. I don't think there's any talking in Plants Vs. Zombies either. But Peggle and PvZ are both casual games...

Ah dammit! I think I confused myself. My point is that voice acting isn't really necessary in making a good game. But it can really help bring the experience to life, if the voice acting is good.

EDIT: But there are games that (good) voice acting really helped. Like Bioshock. But that whole game relies on conveying Altas and Ryan's different points of view, and almost the only way to communicate that is through talking.

 

[Phase_9]

good voice acting can really cement the experience and help bring life to characters.

Yes, but then again, if the voice acting is bad...
if you have to have a voice, the acting is make or break really. At least to me.

I just think we've gotten so used to the "talkies" that a game consisting completely of speech bubbles would feel like a step backwards. But then again there are great games that doesn't have any vioce acting or human-beings at all. Like Peggle, or Flower. And I guess you could have made LittleBigPLanet without Stephen Fry, I mean sackboy doesn't talk. But that would have really deminished the experience of friendlyness by like 80 percent. I don't think there's any talking in Plants Vs. Zombies either. But Peggle and PvZ are both casual games...

Ah dammit! I think I confused myself. My point is that voice acting isn't really necessary in making a good game. But it can really help bring the experience to life, if the voice acting is good.

EDIT: But there are games that (good) voice acting really helped. Like Bioshock. But that whole game relies on conveying Altas and Ryan's different points of view, and almost the only way to communicate that is through talking.

Never said it was integral, just said that GOOD voice acting helps create a connection with the character. I know bad voice acting can ruin it, that's why I specified good and did not say that crap voice acting was better than none, which it is not. Please read my post more carefully if you plan on refuting it.

 

[JokerCrowe]

good voice acting can really cement the experience and help bring life to characters.

Yes, but then again, if the voice acting is bad...
if you have to have a voice, the acting is make or break really. At least to me.

Never said it was integral, just said that GOOD voice acting helps create a connection with the character. I know bad voice acting can ruin it, that's why I specified good and did not say that crap voice acting was better than none, which it is not. Please read my post more carefully if you plan on refuting it.

I never said that you were wrong. I just elaborated on what you had written. I didn't mean to upset you or refute your post. I just like discussing things more closely. And I completely agree that good voice acting can cement the experience. I'm sorry if you took it personally. T'was not my intent.

 

[Onyx Oblivion]

They don't NEED it. The DS has fantastic games, even without any VA/very limited VA in a majority of the titles.

 

[300lb. Samoan]

Some games have it and don't need it (like OBLIVION, which clearly doesn't even want it), others are sorely missing it (Borderlands, I like the voice actors in it so much I wish they had read all the quest sheets and not just the snappy one liners.) As long as the voice acting, direction and assignment is good then I'm all for it.

 

[Richard Hannay]

I prefer having both, even if the voice acting's lousy (that can be fun too, after all, in a hilarious way [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NG1qKzIsisU]). I always turn on subtitles when the option exists though.

 

[Marter]

Seeing as how my favorite couple of video game series are Pokemon and the Mario RPGs, I can safely say I'm fine without voice acting. I do enjoy it, but I don't require it to have a lot of fun in games.

 

[real life potato]

When I found out that Sean Bean and Patrick Stewart were in Oblivion, my mind exploded. Anyways, I think good voice acting plays a respectable part in video games. Seth Green made Joker's role in Mass Effect so much better, because Green can SAY the snide remarks that Joker has.

 

[Robert632]

I think both can be good, but I probably will always have a preference to reading. It's just my perfered way to get a story.

 

[---]

It's not necessary for a game, but it depends on the type. I'd hate to play a DS/casual game where I was required to listen to everything acted out when I could be blasting through text boxes three times as fast.

But the games that go more in-depth and need characterisation, yeah, it's a plus. I don't think it matters whether it's spoken or not, it matters how well integrated the information is and whether it disrupts the flow of gameplay. In, say, Half Life 2, everything you need to know is spoken and they never halt your progression in order to do it. That's something I love about it.

Then you've got Final Fantasy games, which have always been text heavy, but ever since they started using voice actors I've found the experience of playing one worse and worse. IX was my favourite - I could read a lot of emotion into their lines, and as an added bonus you don't have to put up with listening to any teenage whining. Which is exactly what you have to endure in X. Longer cutscenes where they started drawing out the script and taking themselves too seriously. I can't count how many times I've sat there staring at someone's tightly clothed ass, mashing the X button, just trying to get another diatribe over with. XIII took this to ridiculous extremes, there's a cutscene every 2 steps so everyone can recap, and they made a huge point out of not integrating fucking anything.

If games hadn't started using voice acting, we would never have been subjected to FFX's Laughing Scene. And that is the only reason you'll ever need.