Poll: Voice Acting for Protagonists in RPGs - More or less immersive?

[Afterglow-]

I personally find it to be less immersive. I don't know why, I've never played any RPGs where the protagonist was badly voiced. I thought Hawke in DA2 had a kickass voice and that both Shepards in the ME games are moderately well done. But I never seem to like them more than the silent ones. I find myself far more attached to the Warden in DA:O than either.

EDIT: Ah, misspelled protagonist in the poll title. No matter.

 

[ms_sunlight]

I haven't voted, and I'll explain why. My answer would be, "it depends".

In games where you roleplay a preset character, a fully voiced protagonist can be really, really good. I'm thinking of JC Denton in Deus Ex, Jade in Beyond Good And Evil, Commander Shepard in Mass Effect, Geralt in The Witcher (either game) or even The Nameless One in Planescape: Torment. (I know that wasn't fully voiced, but the point is, it would have worked great if it had been fully voiced.)

In games where you roleplay your own character, choosing from options means you can be your own individual in your head. I'm thinking games like Neverwinter Knights 2, Skyrim, Dragon Age: Origins or Arcanum.

The reason for this is, when you roleplay a set character, the voiced dialoge and the acting can actually help you get into character and learn about the role. I mean, the voice acting in Deus Ex was crap, but I really felt like I knew JC by the end of it, which I loved.

 

[Aircross]

It depends.

If you're taking the role of an already established character with a developed history then I wouldn't mind voice acting.

If you actually ARE the character, then voice acting would make it less immersive. I can't imagine my Warden from Dragon Age having full voice acting.

 

[JET1971]

I find voice acting for protagonists to be less immersive in any genre really. I prefer to make up my characters personality and voice rather than be told what those are.

 

[gmaverick019_v1legacy]

pretty well defined character that has lots of story already developed and is driven by that? then voice acting i probably will prefer

a character that is entirely my own? probably prefer it to be not voiced (like DA:O, i actually liked how you could choose your war cry/pre battle phrase kind of thing and what not.)

 

[Lightslei]

It depends.

Not having voice acting initially pissed me off because I'm screaming at him/her the whole time what I'm thinking, first initiation of this was Dragon Quest.

Over the top voice acting or forced also makes me just say "No."

 

[Crazedc00k]

I agree with whats expressed here, that already established characters are great with voice acting. That said, I feel like DA 2, and to a less egregious extent Mass Effect, didn't really have "established characters." The history provided was respectively really weak or player-generated, so personality and outlook was anything but already established.

 

[octafish]

I haven't voted, and I'll explain why. My answer would be, "it depends".

In games where you roleplay a preset character, a fully voiced protagonist can be really, really good. I'm thinking of JC Denton in Deus Ex, Jade in Beyond Good And Evil, Commander Shepard in Mass Effect, Geralt in The Witcher (either game) or even The Nameless One in Planescape: Torment. (I know that wasn't fully voiced, but the point is, it would have worked great if it had been fully voiced.)

In games where you roleplay your own character, choosing from options means you can be your own individual in your head. I'm thinking games like Neverwinter Knights 2, Skyrim, Dragon Age: Origins or Arcanum.

The reason for this is, when you roleplay a set character, the voiced dialoge and the acting can actually help you get into character and learn about the role. I mean, the voice acting in Deus Ex was crap, but I really felt like I knew JC by the end of it, which I loved.

Good points. I cannot imagine what a completely voice acted Planescape: Torment would have been like. However I can tell from modern games that the game would not have been the same.

The big problem I have with a voice acted protagonist is that the bottom line always wins and we get only a few dialogue options. There aren't any voiced games that give you a lot of dialogue options.

The big killer for me is the ME effect where you have either good, evil, or indifferent options, but no large dialogue trees. Not much happens differently no-matter what you say, it seems to be either the Paragon outcome or the Renegade outcome. That isn't to say it can't work, Alpha Protocol took this basic system, removed the idea of a morality meter, and actually had you dialogue and choices mold the game around you. That was pretty immersive.

 

[NerfedFalcon]

If there's any part of the character creation you don't get to manage, or there isn't any at all (i.e. most JRPGs) then giving them dialogue besides "Ask about Grey Fox" is probably a good idea. Bad example: Knights of the Old Republic. Sure, it gives you full conversation options, but it'd probably help a lot if the main character actually said them out loud like everyone else instead of just skipping to the response.

 

[DustyDrB]

I don't think it makes a difference one way or another as far as how immersing it is, at least for me. But I do prefer a voiced protagonist in RPGs. Even when it simplifies the dialogue a bit too much, I prefer to actually hear my person speak. I like the give and take.

It's not a big deal to me if they don't speak (evidenced by the fact that I'm currently playing KotOR 2 for about the dozenth time). I prefer voiced, but I'm flexible on this.

 

[RedEyesBlackGamer]

I like silent protagonists. It is more immersive and allows for more dialogue options.

 

[Vault101]

Id say its personal taste

if they dont talk you have more options

if they do then it feels like a real charachter I can get attatched too "imersion" has nothing to do with it

 

[SoranMBane]

While both types can work perfectly well depending on the amount of choice the game wants to give you, I'll personally always be more attached to an unvoiced RPG protagonist. They just feel more personal, like something I've created all on my own and whose story I've crafted largely through my own creative efforts. Even if it's just within the constraints of the game, I won't feel those constraints as much. For example, in the Fallouts, you're always going to have two characters with totally different personalities (maybe one helpful and heroic, and the other cruel and petty) who will end up having to use the same lines on occasion when talking to the same NPCs. But they're unvoiced, so you can choose precisely how they say their lines to better fit the personality and motivations you've built in your head. Contrast this with Commander Shepard in Mass Effect, who, while awesome, is always going to be more-or-less the same character regardless of player choice; it's only their methods that can change between playthroughs. There can be depth there, but it simply doesn't feel as open or as relatable as having an unvoiced character. Hell, I'd even count Zero, one of my Couriers from Fallout: New Vegas, as one of my favourite video game protagonists ever because he ended up being just that amazing.

 

[Exius Xavarus]

I haven't voted, and I'll explain why. My answer would be, "it depends".

In games where you roleplay a preset character, a fully voiced protagonist can be really, really good. I'm thinking of JC Denton in Deus Ex, Jade in Beyond Good And Evil, Commander Shepard in Mass Effect, Geralt in The Witcher (either game) or even The Nameless One in Planescape: Torment. (I know that wasn't fully voiced, but the point is, it would have worked great if it had been fully voiced.)

In games where you roleplay your own character, choosing from options means you can be your own individual in your head. I'm thinking games like Neverwinter Knights 2, Skyrim, Dragon Age: Origins or Arcanum.

The reason for this is, when you roleplay a set character, the voiced dialoge and the acting can actually help you get into character and learn about the role. I mean, the voice acting in Deus Ex was crap, but I really felt like I knew JC by the end of it, which I loved.

This I agree with 100%

I prefer the character to stay silent, if said character is a creation of all my own. But if the character in and of itself is a character created by the developers, or has a "canonical" appearence, so to speak, like Hawke or Shepard, I want them to be voice acted so I can play and be THAT character.

 

[IamSofaKingRaw]

No voice acting means more quests and such because you don't have to have VA's in to say every line of dialogue. It doesn't matter either way, but most non voice acted RPG's are great

 

[RedEyesBlackGamer]

I haven't voted, and I'll explain why. My answer would be, "it depends".

In games where you roleplay a preset character, a fully voiced protagonist can be really, really good. I'm thinking of JC Denton in Deus Ex, Jade in Beyond Good And Evil, Commander Shepard in Mass Effect, Geralt in The Witcher (either game) or even The Nameless One in Planescape: Torment. (I know that wasn't fully voiced, but the point is, it would have worked great if it had been fully voiced.)

In games where you roleplay your own character, choosing from options means you can be your own individual in your head. I'm thinking games like Neverwinter Knights 2, Skyrim, Dragon Age: Origins or Arcanum.

The reason for this is, when you roleplay a set character, the voiced dialoge and the acting can actually help you get into character and learn about the role. I mean, the voice acting in Deus Ex was crap, but I really felt like I knew JC by the end of it, which I loved.

This I agree with 100%

I prefer the character to stay silent, if said character is a creation of all my own. But if the character in and of itself is a character created by the developers, or has a "canonical" appearence, so to speak, like Hawke or Shepard, I want them to be voice acted so I can play and be THAT character.

What about the Shin Megami Tensei games? The character's design is preset, but you determine everything the character says and does.

 

[AD-Stu]

N'yeah... it really does depend on how it's done.

For the most part I've come to prefer full voice acting - I was disappointed when I found out my characters in Dragon Age: Origins were mute, for example. It can lead to some difficulties too though, like in Alpha Protocol where sometimes you'd select a dialog option and the stuff Mike said something opposite to what you were expecting, a problem that fully text-based systems didn't have.

 

[Afterglow-]

Ah, how could I have forgotten the 'It depends' poll option? Thanks for the responses guys.