Sorry if this subject turns up twice "I hate internet explorer and it did something weird" but I am a student at univeristy doing a dissertation on voice acting and I wanted to know what you all think about it, does it make you love a game? Or long for the old days when men were men and men spoke in letters.
Poll: What do you think of voice acting in games?
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Voice acting for NPCs or main character? I'm all for it for NPCs. It adds to immersion. For main character, not so much.
At least in RPGs, I mean. When you imagine a character, it's completely unique. Then the game gives it a generic voice, a voice that two or three of your characters have, even if they look and act differently. Also, the voice might not fit for both a barbarian dumb-dumb and a sophisticated mage. So, yes, men speaking in letter for me. It also allows for more potential replys since writing many lines and voicing them all is expensive.
If the main character is established (Geralt, Batman etc.) then voice acting doesn't bother me.
At least in RPGs, I mean. When you imagine a character, it's completely unique. Then the game gives it a generic voice, a voice that two or three of your characters have, even if they look and act differently. Also, the voice might not fit for both a barbarian dumb-dumb and a sophisticated mage. So, yes, men speaking in letter for me. It also allows for more potential replys since writing many lines and voicing them all is expensive.
If the main character is established (Geralt, Batman etc.) then voice acting doesn't bother me.
There are some games where the voice acting can make the game for me, other where i dont really notice it, and some that are better for the lack of voices. It really depends on the game itself.
Bad voice acting is worse than no voice acting in my opinion.
Bad voice acting is worse than no voice acting in my opinion.
It can improve a game if done well but if done atrociously it can be ignored. I hold certain games voice acting though as very good. Batman Arkham City was very well done and Brutal Legend chose very good actors(Tim Curry as Doviculus was amazing).
Just Cause 2 however has some of the wost accents I've ever heard. It was terrible.
Just Cause 2 however has some of the wost accents I've ever heard. It was terrible.
Voice acting can improve a game, or make it crappy. It all comes down to how its used really. Imagine Fallout 3/New Vegas without voice acting, it would hinder the game. Now imagine a Sonic game without voice acting, the game has been improved double fold right there.
What about voice acting? its general quality? its immersion factor (which is dependent on its general quality)? how much there is? how little?
Anyway...
Voice acting is a great feature, but also a double-edged sword. It can greatly improve immersion, and give the sense of a living world. It relates to the old screenwriter's axiom "show, don't tell". And as Yahtzee pointed out in his review of Final Fantasy XIII [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/zero-punctuation/1569-Final-Fantasy-XIII], "you're supposed to weave exposition into the narrative, not hand everyone a fkng glossary...". On the other hand, bad voice acting can ruin an experience. When the voice doesn't match up, or the dub is just bad, or voicing is completely irrelevant, all of that shatters what voice acting is supposed to create. Taking other examples from Yahtzee: Metroid: Other M [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/zero-punctuation/2015-Metroid-Other-M], and LA Noire [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/zero-punctuation/3347-L-A-Noire].
Anyway...
Voice acting is a great feature, but also a double-edged sword. It can greatly improve immersion, and give the sense of a living world. It relates to the old screenwriter's axiom "show, don't tell". And as Yahtzee pointed out in his review of Final Fantasy XIII [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/zero-punctuation/1569-Final-Fantasy-XIII], "you're supposed to weave exposition into the narrative, not hand everyone a fkng glossary...". On the other hand, bad voice acting can ruin an experience. When the voice doesn't match up, or the dub is just bad, or voicing is completely irrelevant, all of that shatters what voice acting is supposed to create. Taking other examples from Yahtzee: Metroid: Other M [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/zero-punctuation/2015-Metroid-Other-M], and LA Noire [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/zero-punctuation/3347-L-A-Noire].
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Depends on the game type. Take all voice actors out of GTA4 and there's not much left. DUnno why but the feeling i'm having a conversation while driving to the next location is exactly why GTA feels different from other games.
For me, importance varies from game to game based on the kind of atmosphere they build. Of course, an improvement in a fames voice acting would never be a bad thing, but for a game like dark souls, which has perfectly fine voice acting, an improvement would not improve the entire game much, given that there is relatively little dialogue. And likewise I doubt my enjoyment would be effected much if it was worse. However, for other games like uncharted or mass effect, a change in voice acting quality would have mire noticeable effects.
It's a little bit like graphics; it can't make a game, but it can certainly break it.
It's a little bit like graphics; it can't make a game, but it can certainly break it.
This is completely personal to me, but I can't help but feel your question is the same as asking 'Are films today better than silent films where everything was spoken in titles."
Yeah, OK. Games are not film, and I certainly wouldn't want all the incidental lines ("you acquired a gun") read out to me. But where a game is trying to tell a story, yes, hire some decent voice actors so that I can watch the action happening in the main screen rather than just the subtitles in the bottom fifth. Even in RPG's, unless the option is there to manually type in your responses, I think there's not much excuse these days unless the budget runs out early.
Yeah, OK. Games are not film, and I certainly wouldn't want all the incidental lines ("you acquired a gun") read out to me. But where a game is trying to tell a story, yes, hire some decent voice actors so that I can watch the action happening in the main screen rather than just the subtitles in the bottom fifth. Even in RPG's, unless the option is there to manually type in your responses, I think there's not much excuse these days unless the budget runs out early.
I like GOOD voice acting, like Half-life level of voice acting (so I wont be getting any of that till ep3 comes out). Otherwise, text is best. Altho i didnt mind Oblivions voice acting....
EDT: before i get attacked, more like half-life 2 voice acting. It was good, had emotion, and only made you want to kill the character if they were saying "Reload, Dr. Freeman!"
EDT: before i get attacked, more like half-life 2 voice acting. It was good, had emotion, and only made you want to kill the character if they were saying "Reload, Dr. Freeman!"
I believe good voice acting is almost esential for building immersion, if the voice acting can convey emotion and suits the charecter it can really improve the game, but if the actors speak in a way that doesn't suit the charecter or the acting is dull then you can stck to text.
Good voice acting > reading > bad voice acting.
Really though it's horses for courses. For example, after getting used to games like Mass Effect and Alpha Protocol I was initially disappointed that there was no protagonist voice acting in Dragon Age: Origins. I quickly got over it though and enjoyed the game regardless.
Really though it's horses for courses. For example, after getting used to games like Mass Effect and Alpha Protocol I was initially disappointed that there was no protagonist voice acting in Dragon Age: Origins. I quickly got over it though and enjoyed the game regardless.
I'm a fan of the latter rather then the former. I'd rather have only a few choices, with them being fully acted out, then a lot of choices as text. Without a voice there to give context, emotion, and such, text feels hollow to me.bussinroundz said: