Do you prefer Text or Audio in your RPGs?

[New Frontiersman]

I could go either way really, I like text in some games and audio in others. Sometimes being voice acted adds a lot of life to the characters, other times I like to imagine how the characters might sound in my head. Although I have to agree with the OP, it can get kind of annoying when I've already read the entire text and the voice is struggling to keep up, in that case I just tend to ignore the voice actor and read the text.

 

[Someone Depressing]

Both, really. Quite a few parts of the English language depend on tone of the voice. So audio is a huge part in human expression.

 

[Zeras]

Both, though it does depend on the company, the setting, and the game mechanics. I couldn't see Jade Empire with the protagonist being voiced, but I much prefer Mass Effects' decision to have a voiced PC.

 

[kaizen2468]

Depends on the game. If a game as very good graphics, I expect good voice acting. However, if it's old school, I prefer reading.

 

[kazekagesama23]

I prefer text because coming from someone who had Final Fantasy 10 pretty much taken off the table because of the obnoxiously terrible voice acting, text lets you voice your own characters.

Bad text won't break a game for me because you can read around it, your mind is funny like that.

Bad voice acting makes me quit immediately, because I'll be damned if I'm going to listen to this assault on my ears for 10-15 more bloody hours.

 

[Mrkillhappy]

For me it depends I like the protagonist to be done with only text options. I enjoy hearing other characters talk if and on if the voice acting is good. Though I would like subtitles and voice volume control to be present just encase the VA is bad.

 

[SteveTR]

I like text accompanied by voice acting. It makes it easier for me to get through the dialogue without skipping any lines, or, if I don't understand what the characters are saying (since I'm not a native English speaker), I can read it.

 

[blackrave]

Both?
If that's not the option, then text.
You just get much deeper dialogues that way.

On a side now how well software can modulate voice nowadays?
Because it would be awesome if majority of characters could be modulated.
Maybe game based in machine civilization, where only few organic characters get voiced by actual people.
This way game could get best of both worlds.

 

[duwenbasden]

Text for player character. For NPCs, I prefer voice for over the shoulder / 1st person games; text for others. If I am in control, voice because text takes away screen space.

 

[TehCookie]

I like a mix where important scenes are voiced, but talking to NPCs and such is not. It has the benefits of hearing the emotions and tone to the important scenes, but when talking to minor characters like in the city you get a large variety of things they say and they don't all sound the same (unless you lack imagination).

As for the player, if they have a preexisting character I prefer voiced. If it's a premade blank slate I have no preference (though that's partially because most are male and I can't self insert into a male character I can only roleplay as one), and if it's customizable character I like mute.

 

[Mikeyfell]

BOTH! Yeah I went there.

Dragon Age Origins is the best RPG ever and that has VO for all the supporting characters but the main character is just text.

I like that system.

But... If I had to go one way or the other I'd say Text offers more options for less overhead. 'Cause... If you have 80 thousand lines of dialog and you need to pay actors to read all that... there's a little part of your brain that goes "Maybe 40 thousand lines is good enough..." And then there's that retarted part of your brain that goes "Let's just do what Mass Effect 3 did and strip out ALL THE RPG PARTS!!!!!!" and then your brain self destructs out of sheer stupidity.

 

[JasonKaotic]

I'm not sure why but I've noticed I really prefer just text. There's probably a good reason for it but I can't think what it is.
Although it might be down to the fact that I'm god-awful at paying attention and when it's just text I can read it at my own pace.
I hate it when games sometimes do just text and sometimes voice acting though. Makes the scenes where it's just text feel really awkward. Except for when you're talking to minor NPCs, 'course.

Also when there's no voice acting it means there's no chance of terrible voice acting that makes the game impossible to get into.

 

[An Individual]

For the NPCs, audio is definitely better. Although for them you can have both audio and subtitles with a skip forward button to get the best of both worlds.

For the player, neither option is distinctly better than the other so it all comes down to personal preference. I prefer voiced as long as it's done well but I've really enjoyed some stories that used text as well. In general, voicing results in a more cinematic experience while text allows for more choices and more complicated conversations.

 

[Ipsen]

Teeeeeeeeext. So much in favor for text. Text-based delivery hasn't found its niche of originality (not that it has to, story serves the gameplay), but it can still tell a good story. Vocal audio...usually do not.

Not to say I'm actually against voice acting. I'll put it this way; It's usually great for a character to have a voice, but that voice shouldn't tell the story. I also think we proportionally find with extended voice acting more of the awkward deliveries.

Long story short, take the Etrian Odyssey Untold method. Story is exposed bulk text, but certain situations and events can trigger the voices of your party members or important characters. This way, you get the exposition AND the characterization, without one overshadowing the other, and you getting tired of the one overshadowing.

Both.

Try more content, friend, unless you're fishing for low-content warnings.

 

[Directionless]

But if we are playing a game like Dragon Age where we are completely deigning the character sex/race/size/ethn/age then text is better because I would hate to hear my 50 year war vet dwarf talk like a young human.

That right there is why audio is, under cirumstances of infinite budget, still not objectively the better choice.

The character you design may completely conflict with the voice over, severely limiting your freedom in respect to roleplaying.

Now, under more realistic cirumstances, audio still isn't always the best choice because there just isn't enough money for talented voice actors to provide audio for a game like Torment. When a game just has that much literary depth, voice overs are unfeasible.

 

[likalaruku]

I was just thinking of this yesterday. I prefer both actually. The voices break up the silence (& if poorly acted, add a little comedy), & the text is because I have ADD.

 

[FPLOON]

I rather have a mixture of both... To me, it just makes certain moments have more impact than if it was done one way or another... (And, yes, this does apply to both on-the-go and home RPGs...)

Then again, options to turn audio and text off and on are never something I think about... though they can solve something a trivial as to not listen to "bad acting" or "having to read subtitles" basically...

 

[DementedSheep]

Hmmmmm... Depends. There are sooo many RPGs with terrible voice acting, Western and Japanese alike. For the WRPG, I must go with audio. It just enhances the game so much for me to hear the voices of the characters I interact with. Text does have its place since it provides the opportunity to add far more dialogue without the concern for recording. Morrowind is an example of this where does add a little more flavor to the dialogue, but ultimately 90% of Morrowind's NPCs say the same useless copy/paste bullshit that everyone spouts.

For the standard JRPG, I must admit I prefer the text.....
..... For reasons I hope are obvious.

I've not played that game but it appears every time this question is asked. Maybe I'm miss interpreting it but looks like that scene was suppose to sound awkward and fake so it's not really a fair example. Is the rest of the game that bad?