Fully Voiced, or Texted?

I don't know if it was mentioned, or not, but the question remains. Will this be fully voiced, partially voiced, or just texted? There's pros and cons to all, and was wondering what we maybe expecting.
I think a good comparison to this would be the difference in The Elder Scrolls series. Morrowind had more conversations and deeper dialog, thx to just text. However, it's voiced sequels had more immersion and connectable characters.

 

I expect no voices. It's tremendously expensive and difficult to scale, change, internationalize, etc.

 

I expect key NPCs will be voiced at best. Fully voiced games are REALLY expensive. That is a large reason why SWTOR cost $200 million to develop.

 

VO was cool in SWTOR for about a day, then people just ended up hitting the space bar to get it over with.

You could have a few voiced areas (key moments in the story etc).

The cost of VO is something we can't afford and I don't mind reading conversation.

 

I'm with PrimeRib. I would rather them spend the money making an awesome game than add voice to the characters. Let there be text bubbles.

Without voices I think we can have very interactive NPCs anyway. Like PrimeRib said "scale, change... the ability to change what an NPC says can be done nearly instantly by adding or editing text for that particular NPC, and maybe a small patch if the text is on the local installation. Why need the actor to come in and speak every time you change or add dialogue to an NPC?

Also I would rather it be all text rather than having verbal dialogue for important NPCs. It's just odd to see text for most people then all of sudden it starts talking at you when you speak to Lord British's NPC (unless it's the real Lord British's voice in real time. that would be cool). However certain narration at key points does sound cool.

 

2nd on no or little voice work. First off, if you have voice work you need to have good actors to do it well; Otherwise, its a waste of money. I am fine with Voice Acting during any Cutscenes, which I assume there will be very few in SOTA.

In NWN, most NPCs and players would have voice sets which would be simple greetings and goodbyes with some "help me", "yes/no" stuff sprinkled in. This allowed you a macroed way of responding to people quicker than typing. It added a nice atmosphere to the game without full voice overs; however, it was annoying when people would spam it (well sometimes is was comical too). For example, entering a conversation with a merchant would get you a spoken phrase "Hello Traveler!" and then be following by full text conversations.

 

A way they could cut some cost for voice actors is by using staff, and the community. I would prefer the money be spent in other ways than voice acting, except in cutscenes, spoken phrases can get very annoying when their is just a couple, an ex. skyrims vendors.

 

No offense, but I would rather have no voice than staff voice. Not to knock the staff, but voice acting is a special skill and probably not the reason most were hired.

 

Also, its easier to add adaptable conversations using text vs VO. There is more flexibility and its easier to modify later if needed.

If you used VO, you would have to keep bringing back the same actors to make changes or add options. That is gonna cost quite a few $$$$$.

SotA may run some event that takes place in a particular area. Maybe you have done some quests there before, but now the NPC's have different dialog related to the event. Overall, its just easier and makes for a better gaming experience.

 

Just put in Richard Garriott's voice all over SotA and BAM! we have it made for voice overs.


LordG

 

Full voice is a terrible idea. Not only does it limit how much actual dialogue you can put into the game, but its extremely expensive, you can't change it after the fact without a very high cost, and it inflates the actual MB size of the game greatly.

EXTREMELY expensive.

 

@LordG - You did play Serpent's Isle didn't you?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F4iz0JTukC0

I would listen to RG talk about gaming all day long, but keep that guy away from a script.

 

I completely with you on this (1) Gunga Din. Full voice overs become way too tedious, and unnecessary. Some scenes with voice overs are great and add a sense of "this is important". I see no reason for any game to ever do full voice overs...

This game if I remember right was fully voiced (and video-recorded)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Beast_Within:_A_Gabriel_Knight_Mystery

from 1995...back then i was amazed.. now.. it doesn't make me think it's anything special or better... it's just there..

I believe in one of the interviews the Dev's said they intended to have "some" voices. a little bit.

 

@Umbrae: Gearbox does a good job with it on borderlands 1 and 2, with many voices coming from staff

However I would rather have the money spent elsewhere, would be funny if they made a teaser video with everyone's voice as RG and Tracy Hickman.

 

Thx for your impute, everyone. I was, personally, hoping for full text. I'm glad everyone seems to feel the same. I'm just a tad worried that it would turn off so many of the 'future' generation.

 

Tis my worst fear!

 

In my mind, voice over work would drain funding from more critical aspects of the game. Text is better, include an Ultima VII style font with some ol'e English i.e. "thou", "thou art", "hast thou", etc and its great. Poorly voiced dialogue completely destroys immersion. Also, I don't think the dialogue should be too dumbed down. It should include uncommon words for players to look up in a Dictionary/Encyclopedia.

 

I think some of the characters like David Watson and others will be lending their voices for their characters, that is why RG asked them to work on his game, other than that I am in the dark, I really think Richard Garriot aught to do Lord British and Shamino though.

 

I also hope it is text only. I see no need for VO.

 

@Umbrae I see your point. I totally forgot about that, but I thought it was not too bad. Thanks for bringing it up.

LordG