Originally posted by Keogh

Not that the original poster really cares. They are doing nothing more than forum trolling.

Yes, I was looking forward to SWTOR professional voice acting story driven idea, and I am still enjoying it.

Comparing SWTOR to any other online game, is like comparing a modern (sound/color/sfx) movie to the early black and white silent movies.

 

I would say that voice acting every line of dialoque is more like 3D being added than being so dramatic changing from black and white and silent movies all the way to modern movies.

The voice acting was there before just not for every line.

MY TAKE:

I think that each character should greet you with a voiced line. I am not talking about the simple "How are you?" or "Zug zug." from WoW but a line that introduces that character with either a unique or a rarely used or somehow masked to seem individual voice. That would allow you to read the rest of the lines with that voice in your head and do the job of he voice actor yourself and more quickly.

The problem is that we are not dealing with infinite time and resources, so something (gameplay, graphics, content, etc.) is not going to receive the same amount of funding and time it could if the resources are going to instead go into the voice acting.

It depends on what the trade off is to being voiced.   Yes there is a trade off in terms of money and development resources spent.   If voicing the game is going to costs a lot of money and time that could have been otherwise spent on adding massive amount of content or system to bolster the gameplay elements, then I'd rather have that over voices.   Voices are cool, but a novelty when the game is designed around masking the same type of quest over and over again.    At that point it's not really worth it to me because there are only so many ways you can dress up a kill quests before it gets tedious. 

To really understand if it is worth it, I'd like to know how much of their budget was spent on this feature.   Only then can we say whether it was worth having in the game.   TOR is lacking badly in a lot of critical areas, and most people I know would have traded the voice overs in a heartbeat for more meaningful content and system to add longevity to the game.

READING MAKES YOU SMART!!! :p

Originally posted by Raijukin

READING MAKES YOU SMART!!! :p

This I can agree, also CAPS makes you feel important.

Voice acting can be great, but in the end, it's only as good as the script.  If you have a fantastic or memorable script, then an excellent voice over can really take your game to the next level.  But if you have a boring script, then no amount of VO is going to make it better.

IMO, the paragraph above describes my experience with SWTOR.  When I'm doing an interesting class quest, or one of the decent side quests, I loved the VO.  But when I did a boring sidequest, it was spacebar all the way.

Unfortunately, IMO the majority of side quests were fairly boring, and some of the class quests were dull as well.  I think VO should have been used more "strategically" in SWTOR.  Don't use it if you know the quest is bad.

Also...there's opportunity cost to consider.  If so many resources are being spent on VO, then they can't be spent in other places.  Once again, if a game is great, VO can enhance the experience.  But if a game is poor, then no amount of VO can save it.

Sometimes I felt that SWTOR's focus on VO cost the game in other areas.

I enjoyed the voice acting. But I also feel it caused there to be alot less content for as many years they put into this game andI feel it might slow down future content if they feel the need to add it in the future.

The voice acting is the least of TOR's problems. So to answer the question yes, I do think it was a good idea.

Originally posted by Normike

Originally posted by Methos12

Like I've said before, VA is just window dressing and nothing relevant gameplay-wise, but I think the problem lies with abysmal fan fiction level of writing present in TOR that we're somehow still supposed to take seriously. This was personally my reason why I skipped through a good deal of the its voiced dialog, something I would never do in, let's say, Legacy of Kain games despite them being verbose like hell. Why? Mainly because they actually feature GOOD writing.

I disagree here. The voice acting is gameplay. If it wasn't part of the gameplay then I would probably have skipped most of it. If you are playing an MMORPG with your character in mind then the things that they say are actually a little important to you. There's also the light side and dark side points that can alter your appearance and gear appearance. And third the social points gained in dialogue give the character access to items, gear, and customizations. These are some parts of gameplay that people may or may not be interested in but it's still gameplay. I don't think SWTOR would be as fun for me without those parts of gameplay.

Exactly.  For me, this is the first time actual ROLE PLAYING has been incorporated into an MMO's quest mechanics(save for, maybe 2 missions in Tabula Rasa). 

Before this point, your options for role playing were, do the quest, or don't.  That's NOT role playing.  And sure, having just a few options to choose is still somewhat limiting, but it's at least finally close to the standard in most RPG's, excepting maybe Witcher 2.

As far as VO being in almost every mission, I do think it can get tedius at times, particularly when you're advancing class and world missions, then have 2-3 sidequest dialogues waiting for you. 

Thing is, I think they were a bit stuck in an "all or nothing" situation.  It wouldn't feel natural to have voice in class and world missions, but then have text in sidequests given by a living being.  Unless they had ALL sidequests come from a mission terminal, it wouldn't seem right, IMO.

Originally posted by baritone3k

Originally posted by Keogh

Not that the original poster really cares. They are doing nothing more than forum trolling.

Yes, I was looking forward to SWTOR professional voice acting story driven idea, and I am still enjoying it.

Comparing SWTOR to any other online game, is like comparing a modern (sound/color/sfx) movie to the early black and white silent movies.

 

I would say that voice acting every line of dialoque is more like 3D being added than being so dramatic changing from black and white and silent movies all the way to modern movies.

The voice acting was there before just not for every line.

 

MY TAKE:

 

I think that each character should greet you with a voiced line. I am not talking about the simple "How are you?" or "Zug zug." from WoW but a line that introduces that character with either a unique or a rarely used or somehow masked to seem individual voice. That would allow you to read the rest of the lines with that voice in your head and do the job of he voice actor yourself and more quickly.

 

The problem is that we are not dealing with infinite time and resources, so something (gameplay, graphics, content, etc.) is not going to receive the same amount of funding and time it could if the resources are going to instead go into the voice acting.

That would depend on the size of the development team.  The more resources a company has, the more employees that are hired and can be applied to the various systems being worked on.

I love the style of game play found in Bioware games and as far as I'm concerned, it translated well into an MMO.  There are a lot of power gamers out there and they despise that kind of game play and more power to them, but why do you guys need to whine about this being in a Bioware MMO?  You did the same thing with Blizzard when they implemented so many features that were prevelant in their RTS games into their MMO.  We got your points a long, long time ago.  Move on please, you're starting to really show your psychotic natures and it's embarrassing.

They said it from the very beginning when they first announced the game.  This is a Bioware MMO and it's primary target is Bioware gamers first, then MMO fans second.  It's not their fault nor Bioware fans' that you didn't or wouldn't pay attention to those details.  It's not like vairious other game systems weren't already giving you apoplexy, yet like a moth to flame, you buy and play the game anyway.

Waste of money.  Those cutscenes are interminable.  Within a few days I had turned on the subtitles and started space barring through them since I could read them faster than they were speaking.  I don't log in to stand around watching cartoons all night; I log in to actually do something.  The gameplay really suffered from all the resources blown on VO, and it seems gameplay lost out to story every time they had to make a choice in design.  That's another thing that hurts the game: the VO would at least be tolerable if the stories weren't so mundane.  They are so intent on forcing it down everyone's throat that it becomes oppressive.  Why not an option to simply take a quest with a second option to get more details that expands into the current cutscene format for those who want to experience it?  And this game is not fully voiced despite Bioware's claims.  There are a number of quests on every planet that come straight from a terminal that are text-only.  There's no reason many of the side quests couldn't have been handled that way.

Originally posted by arieste

First of all - if you're like me and you've always thought that wasting most of the game's budget on voice was a terrible idea, then you need not reply, i already know your opinion :) 

 

What I'm curious about is the updated opinions of the folks that - prior to the game's launch - thought it was going to be a game-changer and the greatest thing since leia's slave outfit.  

- *laughs* Not sure anything can top that outfit. Never thought it would be a game changer. I really wasn't sure how I'd feel about it but have to say I'm surpringly happy it is implemented in this game. Only now do I realize how many times I have skipped through text dialogue in other mmo's and feel I lost a sense of the story. Not the case now.

 

I'm seeing more and more people - people who're avid fans of the game - admit that really, having every single dialogue voiced gets to be a bit of a drag (at best) or downright annoying (at worst).

- Not myself. Still enjoying every moment of it so I definitely give a thumbs up to this feature.

 

So, to you that were excited the voicing, are you still excited about it?  Are you looking forward to LISTENING to 200 more "kill 10 rats" quests with generic dialogue that is fully voiced?   Or would you rather see the dialogue scaled back to the more important & interesting areas of the game, parts that actually have interesting story and characters whose names you might actually remember?  

- Hmm, maybe I am wrong and there are some but I have never had a quest that was voiced over that was a 'kill x many'. That is generally a bonus quest and just dialogue on a screen. So honestly I say they already have voice overs for storyline, important themes of the game. It's not just about your main storyline but the depth of the world that you are existing in. You have to know what is taking place around you after all and (for me at least) the voice overs give me the immersion.

 

 

 

 

 

yeah i hate to say it but definitely. i have found myself actually caring about whats going on in the quest instead of just clicking the NPC and getting through the written down story to click "accept"

I know its probably just that i am lazy but i have NEVER read any of the stories in other games.

Full voice acting can do little to cover up generic quests that you find at every turn. Eventually as you play, after first being blown away by "the richness of story", you find that engaging in the dialogue is a chore just to get to the "kill 10 this" or "collect 10 that" quests. In light of the waste of time, even if you haven't heard this guy's shpiel, you feel compelled to just skip all the dialogue and get on with the questing. After playing through some few hours completely hyped up, it's a disappointment; I'm thoroughly dissapointed. The money and effort put into voicing every character for every interaction should've been put to better use; such as adding newer, better content.

I've realized, despite my possitivity for this game before, that SWTOR has just become another MMO clone in several of the worst ways and few of the best. I've unsubscribed weeks ago and only plan on getting dragged back once my friends make me, but right now, I'm playing games that hold my interest in gameplay and not necessarily quality of story or voice acting.

 I don't really have a huge problem with the voice overs themselves. What I think got old was having conversations for every single friggen quest and knowing it meant absolutely nothing on how I carried on said conversations only made them more annoying after seeing them more than once. Also making each one a cutscene was not that great either. Then again I am not the type that now says I can never go back to reading the text either. VO in and of itself is nice, the implemintation in TOR was bad.

Originally posted by smh_alot
Lol! OP, if you REALLY thought LotrO questing was so much better than TOR questing in this, then I'm going to laugh very hard at you. Ah well, to each their own I guess, although I myself found most quests in LotrO after a while become boring as hell.

 

I agree though that there's a difference in attraction in the class storylines, with the Jedi ones usually to be considered bland and the Empire class ones like IA or Sith more entertaining.

 

But generally, voice acting + cutscenes > textbased presentation

 

There's a reason that it's being used in singleplayer games above text, and there's a reason that not only TOR uses it, but that also GW2 and TSW will have extensive voice work.

 

BW only should have used more voice in general in the world itself, more ambient voice and noise.

 This post alone kinda reinforces my point and I'll add to something he said. Yes VO is better than text base and it is being used more in single player games but there is some glaring problems comparing the 2 to say VO is better. In a single player game and we can use Skyrim since it can be argued as one of the best examples, you don't do quest grinding nearly to the extent you did in TOR so the CS and VO wasn't nearly as bad. Throw in that your choices actually had more meaning in Skyrim and you can see where this is kinda showing the point I was trying to make when I posted.  In a MMO and especially a thgemepark that was as linear as TOR was and this becomes and issue for some. It becomes very repetative and tediouse to the point that I started to wish I could just read the shit and move on. It was overdone and comes off as gimmiky because of it.

Originally posted by smh_alot
Lol! OP, if you REALLY thought LotrO questing was so much better than TOR questing in this, then I'm going to laugh very hard at you. Ah well, to each their own I guess, although I myself found most quests in LotrO after a while become boring as hell.

 

I agree though that there's a difference in attraction in the class storylines, with the Jedi ones usually to be considered bland and the Empire class ones like IA or Sith more entertaining.

 

But generally, voice acting + cutscenes > textbased presentation

There's a reason that it's being used in singleplayer games above text, and there's a reason that not only TOR uses it, but that also GW2 and TSW will have extensive voice work.

 

BW only should have used more voice in general in the world itself, more ambient voice and noise.

I think they're referring to LotRO's epic quests.  I still enjoy them, but after TOR questing, it becomes clear that in LotRO, you are, and always will be an observer, and don't really participate in the dialogue at all.  Things happen in front of you and you watch them, then on you go to the next fight.

With TOR, you can react to things.  The best part of the system isn't picking up or turning in the quest; it's when you're out in the field doing the quest, and you trigger a scene where you have to make a decision.  THAT is the bit that pulls me in.

Personally, I love it.  Honestly, I've never paid much attention to quest details in other games.  Just tell me what I have to kill and what I'll get as a reward.  Story in an MMO has always been irrelevant to me.  The same goes for my characters.  They have always been just an assortment of stats and cool looking gear.  Characterization and motivation have never meant anything to me.

With SWTOR, I find myself actually paying attention to the story.   Moreover, I find myself becoming engaged in my character as their personalities and motivations evolve.  I care about them, whether it's my cocky, good natured smuggler or my bloodthirsty, power-hungry sorcerer, the characters are interesting and their relationships are meaningful.

If you don't care to sit through the dialoge, you can just skip through it.

So yes, I think the VO is a good idea. 

Originally posted by FlawSGI

 This post alone kinda reinforces my point and I'll add to something he said. Yes VO is better than text base and it is being used more in single player games but there is some glaring problems comparing the 2 to say VO is better. In a single player game and we can use Skyrim since it can be argued as one of the best examples, you don't do quest grinding nearly to the extent you did in TOR so the CS and VO wasn't nearly as bad. Throw in that your choices actually had more meaning in Skyrim and you can see where this is kinda showing the point I was trying to make when I posted.  In a MMO and especially a thgemepark that was as linear as TOR was and this becomes and issue for some. It becomes very repetative and tediouse to the point that I started to wish I could just read the shit and move on. It was overdone and comes off as gimmiky because of it.

I will start off by saying I never was excited about Star Wars: The Old Republic because of the voice over work, I was excited because I finally get to play a new Knight's of the Old Republic game and see what has happen in the universe since I last played. In short (and I have said this ad nauseum since the MMO was announced) I was looking for KoTOR with multiplayer features and that's just what I got.

With that said, yeah I like the voice over work to the point that I now find it difficult to play other MMO's that don't have it. Honestly this is just the next evolution as we are seeing more future MMO's doing the same, SWTOR was just the first to be fully voiceover. Basically it's like this, voice over in MMO's is the like having sound in movies. Back when we were use to silent films no one saw the need for sound, however once they started having sound it was hard to go back to the old style.

In the end games like SWTOR, GW2, TSW and others will help to pave the way for future MMO's with voiceovers.

So do I skip the voice overs, sure if I have done the quest already but more often then not I am compelled to listen to the NPC were as in other MMO's I could not care any less about their story I just want to kill the rats and get my loot. That was most likely the biggest surprise to me though looking back I don't understand why it was a surprise, when I play Skyrim I listen to the NPCs so why not in an MMO. The quests are just as predicable in Skyrim as they are in any game, kill, minigame, fedex, etc but how it's delivered is what makes them fun.

Another example is with Star Trek: Online. Most of the episodes I played were silent, sure I read some but for the most part I just clicked. Then one day an episode pop-upped up and NPC started talking, however my reflex was to click “F” and I missed the dialogue yet I was curious “What did they have to say” (go figure) so I canceled the mission and restarted it just so I could listen to what they had to say. Simply put it added another level of depth to the game and I hope they continue to add more voiceovers in the future.

So do I think it was a great idea? Sure. Is it a revolution? Hell no. Is it an evolution? Naturally (yes the pun is intended.)