Just putting something out there about fallout 4 and protagonist voice acting.

[Genocidicles]

I dislike it. It makes every playthrough feel very similar and it ends up limiting the amount of dialogue options.

 

[AlouetteSK]

Not sure why folks are complaining. I think it'd be fine to have Voice Acting. If you don't like it, I'm sure a mod will exist within the week that force-mutes the player's dialogue.

 

[Pseudonym]

2) Its more expensive, which leads o less branching dialogue paths and less choices in the conversation overall.

This gets brought up a lot. I do not precisely know what goes on over at bethesda but fallout 3 and NV had voice acting, just not of the main charactar. So at least 50% of the dialogue in previous games was already voiced which makes the and difference in costs and limitations smaller. I understand the general arguments for written text over spoken text in games but in the case of fallout the discussion is more a discussion between a mostly voiceacted game and a completely voiceacted game.

 

[Flames66]

I don't care about the self-insertion aspect. In fact I think I prefer the idea of the protagonist having a set backstory.

I don't, in fact I despise the idea. To me, coming up with my own story is the main thing I go to the Fallout and Elder Scrolls games for. It is very rare these days that I play games with predetermined protagonists and I don't want them encroaching on my open playground.

EDIT: I just want to mention that I'm not going to sign the petition regardless of what I said above. I'm still looking forward to the game, and despite my preferences I don't feel that strongly about it.

There's a petition? I need to get my name on it.

 

[Seanfall]

Need to see how they put it into action. He's said only like...3 words and people are already in an uproar.

 

[JohnZ117]

I have a question to those against the v.o. protagonist, is one of the reasons because you like to do self-insertion? I have no significant problem with that, but I prefer to see my self as the "director" and see the p.c. as a character in the story unto him/herself.

The main problem I do have with the o.p.'s petition is that you seem to be saying that the people of Bethesda should not be doing what they want to/choose to do with their project, and the most power you should have in that is whether or not you buy the game. Video game are an art-form and what happens with each work should be up to the artists themselves. If they choose to ask for input, give it to them respectfully, never say "But Thou Must!," and respect that the developers (should) have the final say, and that no outsider should threaten with anything but a respectful "No sale."

(edit) p.s. I know you typed that you want it as an option, but that will still require an additional expense of work time, loss of personal time, additional money expended, and, if additional choices are added, effort into integrating the options seamlessly into the conversations and story.

 

[Flames66]

I have a question to those against the v.o. protagonist, is one of the reasons because you like to do self-insertion? I have no significant problem with that, but I prefer to see my self as the "director" and see the p.c. as a character in the story unto him/herself.

Fair enough. My character is a digital representation of myself. I generally come up with a back story about how I am in the universe of the game and then play it as I would react.

The main problem I do have with the o.p.'s petition is that you seem to be saying that the people of Bethesda should not be doing what they want to/choose to do with their project, and the most power you should have in that is whether or not you buy the game. Video game are an art-form and what happens with each work should be up to the artists themselves. If they choose to ask for input, give it to them respectfully, never say "But Thou Must!," and respect that the developers (should) have the final say, and that no outsider should threaten with anything but a respectful "No sale."

(edit) p.s. I know you typed that you want it as an option, but that will still require an additional expense of work time, loss of personal time, additional money expended, and, if additional choices are added, effort into integrating the options seamlessly into the conversations and story.

There's a simple solution (the one I'm going for). Wait until there is a mod. I was going to sign the petition, but the beauty of Bethesda games is how easily modifiable they are.

On a side note, I looked for a similar mod for the Mass Effect games to no avail. If anyone knows one please let me know. I might be able to finally finish any of them if I can play them as myself.

 

[JohnZ117]

I have a question to those against the v.o. protagonist, is one of the reasons because you like to do self-insertion? I have no significant problem with that, but I prefer to see my self as the "director" and see the p.c. as a character in the story unto him/herself.

Fair enough. My character is a digital representation of myself. I generally come up with a back story about how I am in the universe of the game and then play it as I would react.

I am of the opinion that that actually takes away from the story, and may limit the player from seeing interesting parts if they limit it to only self-insertion. I also use r.p.g.s as a way to gain perspectives different from my own. It is interesting (for example) to try to imagine how a woman would feel about the other characters in the world, like how annoyed she might be walking around The Tops in New Vegas.

 

[Tayh]

I am of the opinion that that actually takes away from the story, and may limit the player form seeing interesting parts if they limit it to only self-insertion.

As opposed to limiting it exclusively to a single pre-set personality/voice? That seems to be the more restricting option.

 

[JohnZ117]

I am of the opinion that that actually takes away from the story, and may limit the player form seeing interesting parts if they limit it to only self-insertion.

As opposed to limiting it exclusively to a single pre-set personality/voice? That seems to be the more restricting option.

The catch there is that is already part of the story. No additional dialogue means no additional story. And, yes, I know that voice-acted p.c.s can limit story telling in some ways, but I prefer it balancing this way.

 

[Flames66]

I have a question to those against the v.o. protagonist, is one of the reasons because you like to do self-insertion? I have no significant problem with that, but I prefer to see my self as the "director" and see the p.c. as a character in the story unto him/herself.

Fair enough. My character is a digital representation of myself. I generally come up with a back story about how I am in the universe of the game and then play it as I would react.

I am of the opinion that that actually takes away from the story, and may limit the player from seeing interesting parts if they limit it to only self-insertion. I also use r.p.g.s as a way to gain perspectives different from my own. It is interesting (for example) to try to imagine how a woman would feel about the other characters in the world, like how annoyed she might be walking around The Tops in New Vegas.

It's possible, but it's how i have the most fun. I often do later play throughs as different characters with traits, goals, attitudes and backgrounds other than my own (I still prefer to come up with my own voice).

As opposed to limiting it exclusively to a single pre-set personality/voice? That seems to be the more restricting option.

I don't play vary many games with pre-written protagonists for this reason, I find them limiting.

 

[Tayh]

The catch there is that is already part of the story. No additional dialogue means no additional story. And, yes, I know that voice-acted p.c.s can limit story telling in some ways, but I prefer it balancing this way.

I don't think the word "balanced" can apply here, since a voiced protagonist pretty much cements your character's personality in stone.
I don't know. To me, it just seems like you're arguing that less is more.

 

[Sir Thomas Sean Connery]

As Gopher said in his review video, I think my one huge problem with it isn't the fact that it's voiced or that it has the Deus Ex dialog options, but that it uses the system where the character says way, way more than what you pressed and often changes the meaning to something else.

That sort of system makes me feel like I have so much less impact on the character and the world.

The thing that would solve ALL of the complaints is if they simply announced the option to turn off player voice acting. They probably included it, and if they didn't, mods will fix it, but it'd be nice if they'd just come out and say it.

 

[JohnZ117]

The catch there is that is already part of the story. No additional dialogue means no additional story. And, yes, I know that voice-acted p.c.s can limit story telling in some ways, but I prefer it balancing this way.

I don't think the word "balanced" can apply here, since a voiced protagonist pretty much cements your character's personality in stone.
I don't know. To me, it just seems like you're arguing that less is more.

I didn't see my p.cs in Mass Effect 1-3, nor DA:2 or Inquisition as set in stone.

Spoiler: For Example (Dragon Age 2 spoilers)

One of my femHawkes was a semi-serious rogue (I know, shocker.) who romanced Anders but ordered him to leave after the explosion. Another (who had anger issues) didn't have interest in him romantically, and killed him for his terrorist attack. And, another p.c. supported Anders' actions whole-heartedly.

Also, by balance, I mean between the developers' freedom to tell the story, and the players' freedom in how they experience it. As this video shows, too much player freedom can hurt a game as much as too little.

 

[Tuesday Night Fever]

I'm going to be really disappointed if a voiced protagonist means there won't be special dialogue options for a low-INT game.

Some of the funniest stuff in the Fallout franchise comes from "dumb" playthroughs. Like getting a chocolate chip cookie and a hug from First Citizen Lynette.

 

[The Almighty Aardvark]

I have a question to those against the v.o. protagonist, is one of the reasons because you like to do self-insertion? I have no significant problem with that, but I prefer to see my self as the "director" and see the p.c. as a character in the story unto him/herself.

I have never once made a self insert character of myself. I find the notion that people do it kind of perplexing. I spend 90% of my life playing myself, I like to try someone else in my fantasy worlds.

However, most of my fun in games like Fallout, Skyrim, etc... is that I'm able to make my own character, and decide what they're like. And it bothers me when the game decides things about my character that is contrary to how I want them. I found Guild Wars 2 absolutely painful in this regard. I spent a good 30 minutes to an hour designing my character, choosing his background, etc... only to find that in the cutscenes my Sylvari presented himself like a posh and cocky aristocrat.

That's probably the worst example, but I've had it to varying extents with other games. When they give your character a voice, they're taking away some of the freedom you have in defining your character. The manner in which they speak, their accent, etc... is decided for you, and it's very easy for it to be at odds with the way you imagined your character.

My big beef is that while this three/four option dialogue wheel has been shown to work, its only really been in well-defined protagonists. If Mass Effect was designed like Fallout, you could join Saren and aid the Reapers. These dialogue options are usually comprised of dozens of lines of long text, many of which with a fair amount of nuance. Thats becomes very, very expensive. Projection onto the protagonist aside, you lose options, period. You can argue if the trade-off is worth it, but you lose options. Options are one of the things that really separate Fallout from other RPGs, so thats why I'm so worried.

I can kind of agree with you here. When I play a game like Mass Effect I feel like I've been handed a character, and I get to give them a face and make their choices. It doesn't feel like I'm actually putting my own character into the world, and that can be fine for what it is. There's some games though where I want to feel like I'm making the character. Ironically, in Planescape: Torment when your face and name are set, I feel a lot more like The Nameless One is my character.

 

[Flames66]

Well it's a straight forward problem, the casual consumer demands it, casual consumer is the majority vote, and casual consumer will not miss what is lost.
{SNIPS!}
But since that is taken as the most desired conversation system this shit was inevitable, my only remaining hope is they don't stick a camera up everyone's badly modelled/animated/lip synched nose while they speak.

That does seem to be the problem. While I am interested in the game, I personally won't play it until there is a mod to fix the conversation system. While this won't repair the damage done by cutting down dialogue options to accommodate it in the first place, it will at least prevent it from breaking my immersion constantly.

Yep it's those filthy causals fault which anyone who doesn't agree with you certainly must be.

Please stop wasting everyone's time with your obnoxious non-arguments.

I didn't see my p.cs in Mass Effect 1-3, nor DA:2 or Inquisition as set in stone.

True, but I found I couldn't become immersed in those mostly already written characters as extensions of myself. It felt more like watching a film than creating my own experience. There is nothing specifically wrong with that, but it is not what I want from a Fallout game (or almost any other game).

 

[DEAD34345]

It's pretty depressing to me, it just means Fallout (and presumably Bethesda in general) is moving away from what I want it to be. I get that this was pretty much inevitable, and that most people probably think this is a great improvement, but I certainly don't have to be happy about it.

To me it means I'll get less choices and less ability to choose who my character is going to be. In exchange I get voiced lines which don't fit with what I want the character to say and which I will likely skip past most of the time anyway. I don't need to hear some guy say the words after I've already read them and picked them out for him to say, either he'll do what I wanted him to do and I won't care, or he'll do something different and I'll be annoyed. The voice acting will also have to either be so bland it can apply to every kind of character, or horribly inappropriate if you try any kind of character the voice wasn't designed for. Or worse, you just won't be able to play different kinds of characters at all.

It's just all downside and no upside as far as I can see. With Bioware it was at least kind of a tradeoff, since giving Shephard a voice sort of allowed them to inject some emotions and character into him to begin with and for other characters to interact with, but Bethesda simply doesn't make that kind of game.

 

[Flames66]

Haha, your calling me obnoxious? Please remove the stick from up your ass and stop finding any excuse to dismiss opinions you don't like as "casual". If you can reach that far of course.

I was referring to your comment, dismissing someone's well thought out opinion without making any form of counter argument, as obnoxious. I have not labelled anyone as a "casual", as it is not a term I think has any meaning.

It's just all downside and no upside as far as I can see. With Bioware it was at least kind of a tradeoff, since giving Shephard a voice sort of allowed them to inject some emotions and character into him to begin with and for other characters to interact with, but Bethesda simply doesn't make that kind of game.

That is my assessment as well. I didn't like it in Mass Effect either. It was one of the reasons (though not the main one) that I didn't finish the first game.