Morning fine folks of MMORPG -

I was chatting with my wife this morning re: GW2, and discussing this feature and that. She mentioned something that hadn't dawned on me but I think has some validity, at least for me.

I think the current method in which the voice-acted quests are presented, with a nice backdrop and one character on each side at a time, is actually a hindrence to immersion. I would have liked to see a SWTOR stile voice over, where the camera adjusts and you appear to still be in the world with the character talking.

I am curious what made them choose this style, and what your thoughts are on it?

Originally posted by voxnor

Morning fine folks of MMORPG -

 

I was chatting with my wife this morning re: GW2, and discussing this feature and that. She mentioned something that hadn't dawned on me but I think has some validity, at least for me.

 

I think the current method in which the voice-acted quests are presented, with a nice backdrop and one character on each side at a time, is actually a hindrence to immersion. I would have liked to see a SWTOR stile voice over, where the camera adjusts and you appear to still be in the world with the character talking.

 

I am curious what made them choose this style, and what your thoughts are on it?

I like it, it reminds of me old single player RPG's. 

I agree that SWTOR's story presentation is better.  But I think they chose the backdrop style because it is zounds cheaper to do than making a custom animation for every cutscene.

I really think that, that is a large reason why SWTOR is in trouble.  The story content was just too expensive to sustain.

In the end, I'm really not thrilled about single player story inside of an MMORPG...and if an MMORPG is going to have one, I would rather it doesn't dominate the game.  So I'm actually happy that the story didn't receive a huge amount of the game's budget :).

Originally posted by kartool
The voice acting itself is terrible and the presentation doesn't help. I would have liked to see more TSW style cutscenes for the main quest, but keep the rest as it is. I have a hard time getting over how terrible most of the voice acting is, it really is awful. TSW showed how voice acting and cutscenes can be done right. Oh well, it's not a game breaker in any way.

I agree with this statement.

GW2 Voiceacting and the CS certainly are not terrible if you measure them by MMO standards but coming out right after TSW the difference in quality is pretty obvious.

I also agree that it is not a game breaker.

Originally posted by Creslin321

 

I really think that, that is a large reason why SWTOR is in trouble.  The story content was just too expensive to sustain.

Not necessarily, TSW proved that it was possible to out-do SWTOR's writing, cutscenes and voiceover with a fraction of its budget. I still have no idea where the 300 mil went to be honest.

TSW doesn't have branching dialogue or famous VAs. It also has a silent protagonist, not much variation between factions and no variation between classes (because it doesn't have any) storyline wise. So, in the end, it doesn't have anywhere near as much voice acting as TOR does.

I think GW2's dialogue sequences do their job quite well. They tell you what the world is like, show you where to go next, etc. They're also (usually) not awful and the backgrounds are pretty. I don't think they're supposed to be "immersive" and don't know what's so immersive about TOR's wooden dialogue or TSW's disturbingly silent protagonist, anyway. Sure, TSW has a vastly superior story, but its lackluster animations aren't much better than GW2's talking heads IMO.

I really like the game, but boy do I hate my character's voice.  I stopped playing the human male because he sounds like buzz lightyear ot me.

That being said I do like how people yell out when they are hit.. when they get snared they say "ahh my leg!"

Originally posted by voxnor

Morning fine folks of MMORPG -

 

I was chatting with my wife this morning re: GW2, and discussing this feature and that. She mentioned something that hadn't dawned on me but I think has some validity, at least for me.

 

I think the current method in which the voice-acted quests are presented, with a nice backdrop and one character on each side at a time, is actually a hindrence to immersion. I would have liked to see a SWTOR stile voice over, where the camera adjusts and you appear to still be in the world with the character talking.

 

I am curious what made them choose this style, and what your thoughts are on it?

 I don't care for it although I've gotten used to it. Can't say I'm a fan of it though.

Voice acting for the most part in GW2 is very good, but falls short of great or excellent.  The Norn stroyline is the one that seems to be subpar voice acting wise, but Asura, Charr and Human are all above average quality.  

I absolutely hated the presentation at first, but have grown used to it.  I think i would just rather it be done in game, but I can live with whats there.  Personal story takes up maybe 1% of my playtime anyway.

Cut scene and VO would have to be really bad in order for them to be a game breaker for an otherwise decent game.

Yeah the Voice Acting in GW2 sucks. But the cut scenes while different, kinda work for me.

Originally posted by Creslin321

I agree that SWTOR's story presentation is better.  But I think they chose the backdrop style because it is zounds cheaper to do than making a custom animation for every cutscene.

I really think that, that is a large reason why SWTOR is in trouble.  The story content was just too expensive to sustain.

In the end, I'm really not thrilled about single player story inside of an MMORPG...and if an MMORPG is going to have one, I would rather it doesn't dominate the game.  So I'm actually happy that the story didn't receive a huge amount of the game's budget :).

  This pretty much.

ArenaNet went for the stylistic approach to the cutscenes, not only because it goes with what they are trying to do with the rest of the game's asthetics, but also because it is a hell of a lot cheaper than what SWTOR & TSW went for. It is also why the rest of the game, beyond the personal story, doesn't feel severly lacking.

Sure the voice over ranges from OK to awful, I personally think that where GW2 excels (in regards to VO) is with the sense of immersion in open world. From the ambient environmental noise, to the thousands of lines of random NPC & PC chatter that you'll come across, along your journey. That's where the true immersion lies in GW2. Not in some cutscene.

Originally posted by Master10K

Originally posted by Creslin321

I agree that SWTOR's story presentation is better.  But I think they chose the backdrop style because it is zounds cheaper to do than making a custom animation for every cutscene.

I really think that, that is a large reason why SWTOR is in trouble.  The story content was just too expensive to sustain.

In the end, I'm really not thrilled about single player story inside of an MMORPG...and if an MMORPG is going to have one, I would rather it doesn't dominate the game.  So I'm actually happy that the story didn't receive a huge amount of the game's budget :).

  This pretty much.

ArenaNet went for the stylistic approach to the cutscenes, not only because it goes with what they are trying to do with the rest of the game's asthetics, but also because it is a hell of a lot cheaper than what SWTOR & TSW went for. It is also why the rest of the game, beyond the personal story, doesn't feel severly lacking.

 

Sure the voice over ranges from OK to awful, I personally think that where GW2 excels (in regards to VO) is with the sense of immersion in open world. From the ambient environmental noise, to the thousands of lines of random NPC & PC chatter that you'll come across, along your journey. That's where the true immersion lies in GW2. Not in some cutscene.

Interesting thoughts. I guess I am unclear as to how its much cheaper? The voice acting is done in each case - the characters are mouthing the words in 3D in both cases - what exactly is cheaper? (Note that I am not doubting you, I am just curious).

I like your thoughts about the other styles of immersion - I hadn't considered those. I think I am still caught up in launch fever and perhaps now slowing down enough to see things like that.

Swtor's was good.

TSW's was ok, but i hated the fact that the player character didn't talk at all. (from what i remember)

GW2's is ok, but they didn't have a huge budget to hire pro voice actors.

It's good for what it is.

I'm not a fan of voice acting and/or cutscenes in mmorpgs at all. I didn't like it in TOR, TSW and I dont really like it all that much here either.

But out of all of them, I like it here the best. Not the voices but the delivery method with the two characters in an old school style conversation.

Still though, I'd prefer my mmorpgs to have no voice work and no cutscenes.

Originally posted by observer

 

TSW's was ok, but i hated the fact that the player character didn't talk at all. (from what i remember)

 

I prefer the silent char to my Human Gw toons voice acting .. each to their own I guess