Quality voice acting for major bosses/characters!

[Anarkopsykotik]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RaJ9RI1xDDU
Voice acting can be awesome.

IMO it has never been the case in cRPG's. Quite the opposite!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LjSnjKheGHg
If neither of links moved you, there is nothing else I can do to change your opinion!

[Balls Out 3]

Many of us are familiar with the VO's from Black Isle games, so I won't bother bringing those up here. I will however mention a lesser known bit of great CRPG voice acting: the character Gary Golden from Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines. Check it out (and don't forget to raise the bitrate on the video so you get the best audio quality): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wfT7Bj0Zk7w

There are other characters in that game with great VO's too. Smiling Jack comes to mind. Some were terrible though.

[jmesch04]

I don't think you need voice acting. Let's look at PS:T for example, when remember the best parts of the story or most memorable parts. Was it the voiced parts or the parts you read? For me it's the parts that I read.

I would rather have the writing be the focus, the people on this staff are all proven excellent writers who understand timing and depth. As long as there is good music, both ambient and cued, we should really avoid voice acting. If we were going to have it, I would say keep it to the combat only sequences with people yelling things like "AHHHHHH YOU SPLIT MY SPLEEN IN HALF" if might make the combat for interesting when you got criticals if your chars yelled stuff or enemies did as well.

[Gizmo]

What if the major boss had an injured neck, and used an electronic voice box, or speech synthesizer to communicate?

(They could use Microsoft Sam. )

[Infinitron]

Of course good voice acting is good. That's a tautology.

The question here is, "is this worth the money and effort?", not "is this good?"

[Gizmo]

Of course good voice acting is good. That's a tautology.

The question here is, "is this worth the money and effort?", not "is this good?"

I never thought EOB could be ruined...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KZOardmJFLM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5NIRIVQWPnc

Assuming it's good voicework (and they afford what they can within reason), I think it's usually worth it; but if the scope of the game is vast, then it mustn't limit the dialog. I liked how Fallout only voiced the principle NPC's, and even included a "speak to my assistant" line as a hook for expanded dialog.

[astateofmind]

One of the things that made Fallout 1/2 for me the best RPG ever were the talking heads.

Example: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EkKkHmFOfKE ... you can't argue with the drill sergeant!

[Prometheus]

I'm quoting this since I think it's been lost in the thread (emphasis mine):

I would rather no voice acting. Simply because the cost is too high.

That is my one and only reason for not wanting voice acting. I want them to spend the budget on other stuff.

Now IF they had already committed to voice acting, then sure, I'd love for it to be quality.

What other stuff? You do realize that it is only 18 months development time? What do you want? An even bigger, hollow world for the sake of bigger?

They are going to have at the very least 2.5M for this game. I was hoping some of that could go into better fleshing out some major characters/bosses in the game to make them truly memorable.

So, getting straight to the point: I'd rather have some voice acting (ala Fallout 1 and 2) even if that means a slightly smaller world. Furthermore, given an ample enough budget, I would consider it a standard element of a game and it should be present.

It's not a vital make or break feature -- it's not something that should be worked on immediately -- but as the raised funds increase and as the game development progresses, it is something that I think (and obviously, the author of the thread) should be seriously considered. I don't know what magic number works for ensuring voice acting -- but what I'm arguing for is if that magic number is hit, I'd rather have the game more polished than adding new things or more of the same. Maybe a surgery simulator would be cool, but I'd pick full voice acting long before that. Similarly, adding more to the world beyond what is necessary for a full and complete game experience -- doesn't appeal as much as polishing what they already have. They have a setting where they can keep adding more and more to the world -- so you can't ever win that battle anyways.

Beyond that, if you really hate voice acting, turn it off. I'd rather have a more polished and "full" game than just "more" of the world and so on. I'm not looking for a 100-hour gaming experience -- I'd be plenty happy with 50, or 25 -- as long as that gaming experience was fulfilling and good.

TL;DR: If they have the money, I want voice acting.

[Clockwork Knight]

You can't skip ahead a line? I do that all the time in modern Bethesda games. I let them talk until I've finished reading and then force-advance the dialogue. Unless I really enjoy their voice, or want a specific pronunciation.

Yea- bu- then you hav- to choo- betwee- waiti- for them to fini- speaki- or list- to truncat- dialo- lik- this.

It's why no amount of dramatic writing could save this embarassment from becoming comedic gold.

Bad writing doesn't become better when accompanied by good VA, either.

When it comes to drama, the written word is weak. That doesn't mean every trivial NPC needs a celebrity voice actor- but when it comes to important characters and plot critical moments, voice acting is just as important as good writing or art.

Sorry, you don't need voices. VA is a nice extra to have if done well. Again, I wish I knew who decided it was a necessity, and how he managed to convince everyone else of that fact.

[TwinkieGorilla]

When it comes to drama, the written word is weak. That doesn't mean every trivial NPC needs a celebrity voice actor- but when it comes to important characters and plot critical moments, voice acting is just as important as good writing or art.

[Grotesque]

Key characters quality voice acting is a must.
I keep hearing about money and other priorities.
Fallout had a budget of 3 millions and had 21 characters with talking heads and QUALITY voice acting.
They asked for 900 k and they got over 2 millions so I think SOME voice acting is required for this game to be truly memorable.
Who does care that some skip the voice acting in other games because you read faster?
Is that a reason not to have it altogether? Maybe you do that because nowadays voice acting its too overdone and not memorable at all.

[Infinitron]

Personally, I think there's a good chance the game will have a little bit of voice acting, for main characters, etc. However, it will probably only be added very close to the release of the game, as a kind of last minute embellishment. At no point will the development of the game rely on it.

At least, that's how I hope things will be.

[udm]

Voice acting can be cool. It can help set the mood better, help certain characters stand out. But, it is not a must-have, especially if the resources can be better spent elsewhere in making the game better.

[ffordesoon]

You can't skip ahead a line? I do that all the time in modern Bethesda games. I let them talk until I've finished reading and then force-advance the dialogue. Unless I really enjoy their voice, or want a specific pronunciation.

I can't, to be honest. More to do with my OCD than anything, but I genuinely feel like I have to listen to the whole spiel even if I've read it. I'm always afraid I'll miss some amazing bit of a performance otherwise. Yes, even when the makers of the game have shown clearly that they didn't put a whole lot of effort into the voice acting.

I know, it's weird.

As to the topic, I think no voice acting is better than the level of voice acting we'd get with this budget. There are some truly remarkable voice performances in games, but so, so, so many more are just dismal failures. If voice acting isn't already in the budget (which it might be, since Fargo's been somewhat cagey about it in interviews), I'd rather see it not become a part of said budget. I have nothing against great voice work - I think it's miraculous. But like miracles, it's also exceedingly rare.

Whatever Fargo wants to do is fine with me, though.

[Zigmar]

Can't say it is must, but I would really like seeing (hearing) as much voice acting as budget allows. I would also prefer having no translation (and English isn't my native language) to having no good voice acting or no voice acting at all. BTW, speaking of voice acting in a context of localization, one possible option would be text-only translation while leaving original Engish voice acting. If subtitled movies are acceptable to most people (or even preferred to dubs by many including me), why computer games can't do it?

[abdiel420]

I think SOME voice acting is required for this game to be truly memorable.

Are you kidding me? Some of the most memorable games I have ever played don't have a lick of dialogue. Seriously, you can really tell which gamers started playing after the year 2000 and which ones started before. Fully voiced RPG's, while entertaining, are usually very shallow because of the limitations budget and time wise. Voice acting takes a tremendous amount of time and money. Having no voices allows for a much more complex dialogue system. Having certain key characters voiced is totally fine, as long as it doesn't limit dialogue in any way. The point is, games don't need voice acting to be good or memorable. That's what people thought about films and then The Artist was released.

[Prometheus]

As to the topic, I think no voice acting is better than the level of voice acting we'd get with this budget. There are some truly remarkable voice performances in games, but so, so, so many more are just dismal failures. If voice acting isn't already in the budget (which it might be, since Fargo's been somewhat cagey about it in interviews), I'd rather see it not become a part of said budget. I have nothing against great voice work - I think it's miraculous. But like miracles, it's also exceedingly rare.

Whatever Fargo wants to do is fine with me, though.

I'm with you on this.

Also, I think good music is way more important than voices. Thankfully, Mark Morgan is on board, so that should really help set the mood.

[Kris]

I think, that it is a very enjoyable feature to have voices in the game. For instance, in Dragon Age 1, i loved to lean back, listening to the conversations. Id love to have at least some conversations fully voiced, it just makes it a better game!

[Balls Out 3]

A lot of people are mentioning the talking heads from the original Fallout games. Is this what we want implemented into WL2? Personally, I think a better option would be to make it more like PS:T. Instead of talking heads with fully voiced dialogue, do it with no talking heads and only certain lines are voiced. This would ensure virtually no restrictions on dialogue, be much cheaper and easier to implement, and can still bring a lot to the table. It's a better "bang for the buck" if you will.

[Bozar]

This is exactly why there needs to be a new poll made around this issue after kickstarter ends. While some of you say "I would rather not have money spent on any voice acting, if they can rather be spent on improving game in other areas". Well yes cash can be spent on making even more NPC's and areas, or spent on more in-game artwork or prettier graphics. But I would rather have more fleshed out characters with _some_ voice acting, than another cave or two to explore. It's all a matter of opinion, some people here may deem "prettier artwork" as the best way to spend extra funds, and some don't.

Fallout had, as previously mentioned by another poster over 20 awesomely voice characters, and with a similar budget (remember Fallout had to spend money on cinematics etc.) as Wasteland 2 is likely to land when all is said and done.

Voice acting, done right, makes great characters into legendary characters. I believe that if they choose to do voice acting in _some_ capacity, and with Brian Fargo and Chris Avellone on board, I believe they have enough experience to tell apart shitty voice acting from quality voice acting.

I swear, I can have whole WL2 community against me on this subject, I'm still gonna push for it and hope for the best.