Poll: Voice Overs for RPG Main Characters

[BrotherRool]

If it's a character I can customize or create then I prefer the option for multiple voice overs or no voice at all.TBH having the player character voice in a RPG series that's all about freedom and choice like DA,Fallout,or the Elder Scrolls series just feels limiting to me,

This so much. It was so irritating spending half an hour planning out a character and look for Shepard only to find out in the next cutscene that the VA had decided she was going to be a Badass Space Marine, regardless of my choice.

I eventually realised that despite appearances Mass Effect isn't a game for roleplaying, it's a linear story to enjoy watching multiple times (with options to skip scenarios you don't like) and made amends, but in a game like Fallout VA's ruin the ability to create a character whose a cowardly merchant, or a psychopathic ex-NCR etc. It also reduces the designers ability to give you highly customised dialogue choices.


On the other hand, for games not about choice it can be weird sticking a silent protagonist in there and have them not interact with the world properly.

 

[TehCookie]

If I'm suppose to be able to create the character from the ground up and have it be me I want the character to be mute. If I am only shaping how an already made character acts I don't mind voiced.

Though a lot of it depends on the world as well. If unimportant NPCs are mute having my character be mute doesn't seem strange at all. If every character is voiced except MC it stands out more.

 

[CloudAtlas]

Yes please!

I remember my experience of Dragon Age Origins and KOTOR being significantly diminished by the fact I was playing a walking fence post in a world of chatterboxes. I'd pick some cool line from the options provided and my character would just stand there, stiff faced and completely non-emotive. Then everyone else would react with their best-in-the-business voices as if I'd said something awesome.

If you're an indie game or something and you can't afford fancy pants voice overs then fair enough. Otherwise, I want my characters talking.

So do I. I can see a silent protagonist working for the first-person perspective, but even there... playing a mute character, in 2013, was a bit weird. But a mute protagonist for a game like Dragon Age: Origins, with (supposedly) dramatic dialogue cutscenes... that just doesn't work at all.
A well-written well-voiced character can add quite a bit more emotion to the experience, and while that emotion might not always be equal to your own, it's definitely worth the trade-off in my book.

 

[CloudAtlas]

If it's a text-based game without voiceovers or with limited voiceovers (such as Penny Arcade 1+2 games), I'm fine with that.

But I think silent protagonists are just stupid. Yes it worked for one game in 1998. It doesn't work today.

Fallout,Elder Scrolls,Legend of Zelda and many more say otherwise.

Those games were certainly successful, but that doesn't necessarily mean that they were better for it.

 

[Grottnikk]

I would rather have all games let you choose the style of voice you prefer, like Saints Row 3

Yeah that was a funny little tool to mess with, allowing a female voice that sounded like a bloody fog horn . THey have it in SR 4, too.

Tool? What tool?
I only remember the 7 pre-sets (which were mostly fantastic by the way. The eastern-european female voice was the best female voice. Other 2 not so much)

There's a slider bar ( I THINK it's in SR3, I KNOW it's in 4) where you can adjust the pitch/timbre of the voice. It makes the voice sound incredibly wierd in some cases. Hilarious .

 

[BloodSquirrel]

There are two awful effects of having the protagonist voiced:

1) Since people don't want to sit through the voice acted response after already reading it while selecting their option, the tendency is to give a summary of what the player will be saying. Cue selecting "I love puppies!" and hearing our character say "Puppies? I love eating puppies! There's this one restaurant that lets you pick your puppy out of a row of cages, and kill it yourself with a hammer!"

2) A text response can be a lot more ambiguous. Two players might see the same text response as being said in two very different tones. Voice acting destroys a lot of this ambiguity, making it more the developer's character than ours.

 

[MysticSlayer]

If you're going to spell out everything the character says (ex. Dragon Age: Origins, Fallout 3, Skyrim, The Witcher), then I would prefer that the protagonist remains silent. Having them speak after you just selected the exact text they say (ex. The Witcher) just feels awkward. However, if we are simply given a general option that leads to more fleshed out dialogue (ex. Mass Effect), then I don't mind them being voice acted. However, what they say better be very close to what you would have said yourself, or it will have the same awkward, distanced feeling of having them speak after selecting the exact text. Mass Effect generally got very close, so I never felt like I was being cheated. L.A. Noire on the other hand...yeah, that game had more than a few problems with its dialogue options.

 

[chainguns]

MONEY.

As a lead designer you have $100k and can either spend it on:
A) Your writer to come up with 90,000 lines of different MUTE outcomes, questions, permutations OR
B) Your writer to come up with 20,000 lines and and then have them VA'd for the remainder of the budget.

Simply put - with a finite budget - the more VA the less story and fewer options. So what's more important - substance or style?

 

[Eclectic Dreck]

I think I prefer a silent protagonist in this regard as it leaves me free to interpret the specific tone used in the conversation. I prefer that NPCs be voiced assuming that expansive dialog can still be possible with such a system because the actor's performance can add a great deal to an otherwise bland and boring set of cliches. Claudia Black's performance as Morrigan is what saved that character from being a generic evil witch.

 

[sXeth]

I guess it really depends on your definition of RPG.

If you are actively playing the role of the character, and determing their outcomes, projecting yourself, or your own creation into the game, some random voice is probably a barrier.

If its an action/adventure with a predefined story (including cases like Mass Effect which let you choose between predefined stories to some extent), with a set character outside your choices, the voice is probably better suited.

 

[Kaymish]

well i find it really incongruous when all the NPC's are voiced and the PC is mute its just weird to me so i prefer voice acting even if its crap though obviously i enjoy good acting better but so long as it doesn't weird me out as much as the Mute PC i can live with it and i really liked the way saints row did the bosses voice with 3 choices for each gender and i found it hilarious that we could use male voices for female characters and vice-versa

 

[Dandark]

I don't mind having a voiced character especially if its an already made character your playing as but for a lot of RPGs I actually prefer they are mute. I like being able to see and choose exactly what they will say and then just imagining the voice and tone myself. Voice can be okay sometimes but I generally prefer mute protagonists in RPGS and that's not even getting into the argument that with less voice acting you will get more lines of dialog and options.

Just look at dragon age and dragon age 2. In dragon age you usually had four different things to say in response to everything and could direct the conversation almost freely, these responses could be anything and were not limited into good, evil or neutral . In dragon age 2 you were usually limited to three saying three things. The first was good, the second was sarcastic or neutral and the third was being a dick.
Conversations were much more limited and I never enjoyed talking to party members as much as I did in the first game despite liking some of the characters in dragon age 2.

 

[CloudAtlas]

If it's a text-based game without voiceovers or with limited voiceovers (such as Penny Arcade 1+2 games), I'm fine with that.

But I think silent protagonists are just stupid. Yes it worked for one game in 1998. It doesn't work today.

Fallout,Elder Scrolls,Legend of Zelda and many more say otherwise.

Those games were certainly successful, but that doesn't necessarily mean that they were better for it.

How so?Would giving a voice to someone like Link who is supposed to be the player's avatar into the world of Hyrule make the Legend of Zelda games better?Would giving the player characters of Fallout and Elder Scrolls voices make the experience better?

Imo it would'nt and if Link becomes voiced then it would be weird considering there are different incarnations of him throughout the series and not all of them can have the same voice so it means extra work that could be used for other things

Voice acting is counter intuitive in games where the character is supposed to be the player's avatar because it limits the character so to speak.

Link is hardly an empty avatar, a blank slate. He has pretty much a pre-defined look, pre-defined outfit, pre-defined weapons and pre-defined accessoires. And you can't influence the world and how the story unfolds that much either. But a pre-defined voice, really, that's where you draw the line?

 

[CloudAtlas]

Just look at dragon age and dragon age 2. In dragon age you usually had four different things to say in response to everything and could direct the conversation almost freely, these responses could be anything and were not limited into good, evil or neutral . In dragon age 2 you were usually limited to three saying three things. The first was good, the second was sarcastic or neutral and the third was being a dick.
Conversations were much more limited and I never enjoyed talking to party members as much as I did in the first game despite liking some of the characters in dragon age 2.

If I compare Dragon Age 1 and 2, the first thing that comes in my mind with regards to voice acting is how incredibly awkward dramatic dialogue cut scenes are where the main protagonist doesn't ever say anything.

You could have a fully voice acted RPG with a satisfying choice of dialogue options as well. It just costs a little bit more money.

 

[RedEyesBlackGamer]

If it's a text-based game without voiceovers or with limited voiceovers (such as Penny Arcade 1+2 games), I'm fine with that.

But I think silent protagonists are just stupid. Yes it worked for one game in 1998. It doesn't work today.

Fallout,Elder Scrolls,Legend of Zelda and many more say otherwise.

Those games were certainly successful, but that doesn't necessarily mean that they were better for it.

How so?Would giving a voice to someone like Link who is supposed to be the player's avatar into the world of Hyrule make the Legend of Zelda games better?Would giving the player characters of Fallout and Elder Scrolls voices make the experience better?

Imo it would'nt and if Link becomes voiced then it would be weird considering there are different incarnations of him throughout the series and not all of them can have the same voice so it means extra work that could be used for other things

Voice acting is counter intuitive in games where the character is supposed to be the player's avatar because it limits the character so to speak.

Link is hardly an empty avatar, a blank slate. He has pretty much a pre-defined look, pre-defined outfit, pre-defined weapons and pre-defined accessoires. And you can't influence the world and how the story unfolds that much either. But a pre-defined voice, really, that's where you draw the line?

The Shin Megami Tensei series has pre-defined appearances for characters too, but they aren't voiced because they were meant to be an avatar for the player. You would be surprised at the amount of ownership fans have of silent characters. Look at the uproar over Other M (though a big part of that was the story being garbage and the voice acting sucked).

 

[Dandark]

Just look at dragon age and dragon age 2. In dragon age you usually had four different things to say in response to everything and could direct the conversation almost freely, these responses could be anything and were not limited into good, evil or neutral . In dragon age 2 you were usually limited to three saying three things. The first was good, the second was sarcastic or neutral and the third was being a dick.
Conversations were much more limited and I never enjoyed talking to party members as much as I did in the first game despite liking some of the characters in dragon age 2.

If I compare Dragon Age 1 and 2, the first thing that comes in my mind with regards to voice acting is how incredibly awkward dramatic dialogue cut scenes are where the main protagonist doesn't ever say anything.

You could have a fully voice acted RPG with a satisfying choice of dialogue options as well. It just costs a little bit more money.

I'd say it depends on the game. I'll admit that dragon age had its moments when it was supposed to be a dramatic moment and the PC just stood there all dopey not saying anything and looking silly. Dragons dogma did this as well.
I think it can work but it depends on the game. If everyone else in the game can is voiced and its full of cutscenes revolving around the main character then them not talking doesn't work as well.

However if it doesn't use normal cutscenes then I prefer it. Games I really enjoy such as STALKER, Mount and blade or even Half life don't use a voiced PC and they work well enough.
I'll admit though that a voiced PC is preferable sometimes though.

 

[CloudAtlas]

The Shin Megami Tensei series has pre-defined appearances for characters too, but they aren't voiced because they were meant to be an avatar for the player. You would be surprised at the amount of ownership fans have of silent characters. Look at the uproar over Other M (though a big part of that was the story being garbage and the voice acting sucked).

You didn't answer my question. Do you think pre-defining a character in all these ways is fine, but through his/her voice is not? Pre-defining a character in all these ways doesn't prevent people from self-insertion, but a pre-defined voice does?

Edit: I don't play Japanese games so I'm afraid I can't say much about any specifics of these games that go beyond "educated general gaming knowledge".

 

[bluegate]

I much prefer they have a voice, even though I will only hear half the dialogue and skip to the next part when i finish reading.

While we are on the subject though..

No, no, no, no, no... Bad person, bad person, off to the naughty bin with you, leave poor Tidus out of this.
That laugh is meant to sound weird and awkward and well.. kinda bad.

OT: I quite enjoy voice acting in RPGs, my prime example is Final Fantasy X, the lips might be out of sync and some parts are awkwardly translated ( eg Auron's: "It comes!" ), but the voice acting in that game surely increased my enjoyment of it, it made the world and the characters more lively.

On the subject of bad quality voices

Spoiler: Baten Kaitos

 

[conmag9]

I usually prefer non-voiced. Allows more flexibility of tone, WAY more potential lines, and avoids the possibility that I just don't like the voice actors. Case in point: the first time I played Mass Effect as male Shepard, I did a double take. "What terrible space monster ate your soul, man?!". Sure, devs try to get voices that most people will like and many of the games I play do at least decently in that aspect, but it takes away more than it gives in my opinion.

 

[RedEyesBlackGamer]

The Shin Megami Tensei series has pre-defined appearances for characters too, but they aren't voiced because they were meant to be an avatar for the player. You would be surprised at the amount of ownership fans have of silent characters. Look at the uproar over Other M (though a big part of that was the story being garbage and the voice acting sucked).

You didn't answer my question. Do you think pre-defining a character in all these ways is fine, but through his/her voice is not? Pre-defining a character in all these ways doesn't prevent people from self-insertion, but a pre-defined voice does?

Edit: I don't play Japanese games so I'm afraid I can't say much about any specifics of these games that go beyond "educated general gaming knowledge".

Yep. A voice adds definitive character. Each line is a voice actor's take on it, not your own. Fine for characters with some established background (Jensen, Shepard), but not for blank slates.