No Voice acting is a good thing IMO

Arkay Firestar

Arkay Firestar

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You know, a while back I was very pro-voice acting. When games were poorer in the graphics department (and because I'm a bit of an audiophile), I always clamored for voice over work in adventure and roleplaying games.

But after getting a few hours into Zelda, which is so far turning out to be one of the best games I have ever played mostly because of the mind-blowingly good camera work, cinematic direction, pacing, writing, and surprisingly good graphic effects, I think voice acting would have ruined this game. Can you imagine if a squirrel or chicken were voiced? What would it sound like? The artists have already put enough communication in the facial animations, which are also mind-blowingly good, so I am content.

I hope all Wii games of this ilk continue to get the silent treatment. Focus on the rest of the audio and on making lovable characters, stories, and settings, and I can live without the voices.
 
I couldn't agree more. How many times has a game had good voice acting? Not just passable, but good. I think one hand could count my votes (and only Halo 1 is coming to mind at the moment).

The Zelda method of doing it is perfect I think. Have a few quick little snips, "HEEEEEEEY!" or laughs, or groans, or something to given an idea of the tenor of the voice and then leave the rest to text. The player has the concept of the sound of the voice, without the danger of certain lines being horribly delivered.

I'd rather have text than have game studios spending money that should've been spent on gameplay, content, and graphical improvements wasting it on trying to do good voice acting. Voice acting isn't cheap. Quality voice acting is really not cheap.
 
Disagree. No poor voice acting is a good thing, and not all games need voice acting - sounds like Zelda TP may be one of those - but good voice work just adds to the game.

The Sly, Ratchet + Clank, and Jax series all have great voice work.

All dialogue being fully voiced in KOTOR and Jade Empire really add to the experience. Those games simply wouldn't be as good if the written dialogue just had some grunts or laughs over them.

Fable and Armed & Dangerous both have some humorous stuff that wouldn't work without the good VO.
 
Sometimes works, othertimes it makes games lack.

Yu Gi Oh:Tag Force for PSP had voice acting for the Japan version but not the US version. I think it kinda lacks something from the translation. The duels are still good, gameplay good, graphics cool. But it could have had a complete package with voice acting. Metal Gear Acid 2 would have been much cooller if it had the voice acting to go with the cut scenes, kinda made the cut scenes dry without them.

Final Fantasy III was good, and did not really need the voices.

Really, if the right voices are there it works. Phantasy Star Universe and Final Fantasy X, I thought it had good voices that matched the character so it made the overall game better.
Enchanted Arms on the other hand made me turn the game off 12 minutes in because of the voices(WHAT the characters were saying was pretty stupid too though).
So sometimes the voice acting kills the game, other times just makes it better.
 
While voice acting is nice for some games, most of the time I find that I can read about 2x as they speak. But voice acting portrays something that simple text cannot: emotion.

I still think voice acting is overrated though. If a developer can show emotion without voice (like Wind Waker or Super Metriod), then they're damn talented.
 
[quote name='wubb']

All dialogue being fully voiced in KOTOR and Jade Empire really add to the experience. Those games simply wouldn't be as good if the written dialogue just had some grunts or laughs over them.
.[/quote]

My only gripe about the VO in the KoToR games was that there was only one Alien language. Twi'leks, and Wookies, and Hutts, and every single alien that didnt speak english all used the same alien VO lines.
 
Metal Gear Solid without voice acting? SNAAAAAAAAAAKE! I don't know. It would probably speed up the game a bit though! I think it works in Zelda TP but I'm not sure it would work for everything.
 
Until John O' Hurley is the voice of a major video game character, my opinion of voice acting is that it sucks 99% of the time.
 
Voice acting isn't bad when it's done right, my beef is with overly long, drawn-out, never-ending cutscenes.

I second the Ratchet and Clank and Jak games are examples of excellent work. The recent Spyro game, while having top-notch talent, was a bore.

C'mon, can you guys imagine a recent Mario game without, "it's a me, Mario!"
 
[quote name='jkam']Metal Gear Solid without voice acting? SNAAAAAAAAAAKE! I don't know. It would probably speed up the game a bit though! I think it works in Zelda TP but I'm not sure it would work for everything.[/QUOTE]


I think that is why the Acid series seems weird, after playing all of the Solid games. The gameplay is fun and the other sound effects are good, but the no voice acting make the story segments seem off.
 
All depends on the game. Only examples coming to mind where voices were done well as in "less is better" are Planescape Torment and Fallout. PT had a few clips here and there, but otherwise they left most of it to the imagination, which IMO helped the game make it so good. Fallout had some characters fully voiced, and those that did, their personalities were done well enough that it really helped out, and wasn't overdone with everyone having voices.

I also welcome bad voice acting if needed, Dynasty Warriors being king. Surprisingly, I thought Castlevania Curse of Darkeness had really good voices, they sounded true to the time period.
 
This thread needs more Spider-Man. ;)

Puffa - Never noticed that about KOTOR, but I never really paid attention to the alien VO since it was gibberish to me. Agreed that if they had used the real language from the movies (is it fleshed out enough to do that?) it would have been even better.
 
Ya I've always hated voice acting...usually I turn off my volume cause its so bad.

I'm surprised some complained about it for Zelda of all things though...it would make the game a bit suckier for me if there were voice acting. Not too much suckier tho
 
I'm too impatient for voice-acting. I usually hear the first two words and by then I've already read the text so I skip to the next paragraph.
 
[quote name='jkam']Metal Gear Solid without voice acting? SNAAAAAAAAAAKE! I don't know. It would probably speed up the game a bit though! I think it works in Zelda TP but I'm not sure it would work for everything.[/QUOTE]That's definitely the first game I thought of that I couldn't imagine without it's voice actors.

I like voice acting when it's good and when it can be skipped (if it can't be skipped, it's gotta be REALLY good). I'd prefer no voice acting over bad voice acting. I think I wouldn't have minded Zelda TP w/voice acting; the only person I'd object to having a voice is Link, but he never says anything anyways.
 
Some games work with voices, some don't. Zelda is one of those games that should NEVER EVER EVER EVER have voices. It just wouldn't be right.

I mean, for one thing, the characters would logically be speaking in Hylian, wouldn't you think? The only way it would be any sort of tolerable is if the voices were in spoken Hylian. That'd be amusing. But aside from that, GOD NO.
 
Voice acting has it's perks. Some (not me personally because I'm used to watching Eastern films and anime) seem to think that reading text takes you out of the story. I don't think it does, but I can see it taking a little getting used to. I do think VA can lend a nice effect to realism or cinematic feel if that's something the developers want to accomplish. The big con to VA is that there is so much room for error. Bad VA can take you out of being immersed in the world of a game much, much faster than reading any kind of text can IMO. So when done well I think VA can be an amazing thing to have in a game, but it can often times be an unwelcomed downer to many games. And there are a handful of games where VA just won't fit (the Marios of the gaming world and so on), but in short, they do often need to hire better people to direct and act these sequences.
 
No voice acting only works in Nintendo games because in their games, story and cutscenes take a backseat to gameplay. But games where storylines are the most important (Metal Gear Solid, Final Fantasy, KOTOR), voice acting truly makes the experience (it breaks it without it in my opinion).
 
I'm definitely pro-voice acting, but there are times when it's best left out. I think too many companies try to cut costs when it comes to the VO budget, and it shows.

Oblivion has a ton of voices, and by and large, I'd say it's better off for it and lends to immersion. I'm sure it cost them quite a bit to get Patrick Stewart to voice the introduction; would it have felt as epic with a less talented voice? Probably not. Would you be better off with the cheap VO or just text? That depends on how well/poorly the voice fits and a whole load of other factors; it's a tough question to answer ;)

Enchanted Arms springs to mind as a mixed bag. Makoto's over-the-top homosexuality would not be nearly as absurd/funny if it wasn't voiced, but like Rags was probably referring to, the main character's voice is really hard to listen to.

On the other hand, Okami has no "real" voice acting at all, replaced instead by it's own "fake" language. I thought this was kind of annoying at first, but I just can't see any English voices fitting the game's setting very well :lol:. I prefer the gibberish over silence though, since each character does have a varying pitch/tone.
 
SF_Falco.gif


"Dub dub dub daaaab dub."

We know, noble Falco. We know. A fine "dub dub dub daaaab dub" to you as well.
 
the Rockstar game have really good voice acting. I dont think Bully would be as fun without any voice acting.
 
[quote name='botticus']I'm too impatient for voice-acting. I usually hear the first two words and by then I've already read the text so I skip to the next paragraph.[/QUOTE]

Same here. I am definitely against Zelda ever using full voices because I just can't imagine them having decent talent. But for the most part I don't really care because I tend to just read through and skip the voice (Grew up on Nintendo and Super Nintendo RPGs so I'm use to it.) The one time I tried to stick to the voices was FFX, which in my opinion, had the worse voice acting/directing ever. Listen to Tidus talk, he's the exact opposite of monotonous, he uses every pitch his voice is capable of producing. Tidus alone takes me out of any situation of that game because he's laughable. Also, most of the other VAs just sound plain bored in that game.
 
[quote name='daroga']I couldn't agree more. How many times has a game had good voice acting? Not just passable, but good. I think one hand could count my votes (and only Halo 1 is coming to mind at the moment).

[/quote]

Just a few I can think of...

Halo
Halo 2
Snatcher
Metal Gear Solid Series
Prince of Persia: Sands of Time
Star Trek Voyager: Elite Force
Star Trek Elite Force 2
Star Trek Invasion
Battle Engine Aquila
Fear Effect (series)
Indigo Prophecy
Jade Empire
kill.switch
Parrappa the Rapper
Def Jam Fight For NY
Def Jam Vendetta
 
The Ubisoft games tend to have good voice acting, as well as the aforementioned KOTOR games.

Good voice acting, IMO, can do more to create an immersive, cinematic experience than almost any type of graphical whizzbangery.
 
I think Trauma Center (a great game!) could be even better with more voice acting. It would up the tension level to have the nurses quickly yelling all sorts of instructions to you during the operation.
 
[quote name='Yoohoo1231']Same here. I am definitely against Zelda ever using full voices because I just can't imagine them having decent talent. [/quote]
I think Zelda could be really sweet fully voiced, but I also think they're wise to stay away from doing it :). The Zelda series has been around for so long (well before voice acting became feasible, much less common) that everyone has their own idea of what Link, Zelda, etc. should sound like. I doubt there is any way they could please everyone, even if they used great voice actors... so why would they bother? Everyone is still going to buy Zelda; besides, they don't seem to have anyone clamoring for them to voice it.
 
I disagree... Voice Acting adds so much to the game, if done right. Having to read in a video game was ok in 1992, but I'm looking for something a little more immersive.

I usually turn the subtitles off of VO games.

Would I rather look at the bottom of the screen and pause every 10 seconds? Or instead of having tingle (or whatever zelda character) tell you what to do while you do it...? I'd go with the latter.

Did the VO in Final Fantasy-or-Fable suck? I didnt think so, so in a fantasy rhelm it should work alright. But I could see how some games it wouldnt work, but if any Zelda was the one to go all the way, it would of been this one, it was in development longer than Halo 2.
 
[quote name='GuilewasNK']Just a few I can think of...

Halo
Halo 2
Snatcher
Metal Gear Solid Series
Prince of Persia: Sands of Time
Star Trek Voyager: Elite Force
Star Trek Elite Force 2
Star Trek Invasion
Battle Engine Aquila
Fear Effect (series)
Indigo Prophecy
Jade Empire
kill.switch
Parrappa the Rapper
Def Jam Fight For NY
Def Jam Vendetta[/QUOTE]


Parappa the Rapper would just be weird if the Karate Onion or the Jamaican Frog did not talk.

"Kick, Punch, it's all in the mind, if you want to test me, I'm sure you'll find"

Try reading that and try the pushing buttons needed at the same time.

By the way, I played Genji for the first time last week. Did anyone else think it was stupid that you have to read the subtitles AND read stuff everynow and then when it said stuff higher up on the screen at the same time? Maybe just me...
 
[quote name='Arkay Firestar']You know, a while back I was very pro-voice acting. When games were poorer in the graphics department (and because I'm a bit of an audiophile), I always clamored for voice over work in adventure and roleplaying games.

But after getting a few hours into Zelda, which is so far turning out to be one of the best games I have ever played mostly because of the mind-blowingly good camera work, cinematic direction, pacing, writing, and surprisingly good graphic effects, I think voice acting would have ruined this game. Can you imagine if a squirrel or chicken were voiced? What would it sound like? The artists have already put enough communication in the facial animations, which are also mind-blowingly good, so I am content.

I hope all Wii games of this ilk continue to get the silent treatment. Focus on the rest of the audio and on making lovable characters, stories, and settings, and I can live without the voices.[/quote]

It's not as if you have a choice with the wii. I own one, but I think taking realism out of games is a bad thing. But I'm in the wrong forum with this opinion.
 
I can't imagine a game like Grand Theft Auto without voice acting, but then again, it is trying to be an interactive movie. There is just a storybook quality to Zelda games that would be tarnished with a VO. I still couldn't dream of a game like Gabriel Knight Sins of the Fathers without voice acting, but there are definitely games I do not want my characters speaking in (Metroid, Mario, etc)
 
oh ya forgot about MArio Sunshine...I take back what I said about always hating voice acting, I liked it in this one xD. Baby Bowser was awesome lol, funny part when he revealed who he was haha
 
Some games NEED voice acting. If they were forced to record voices in every Pokemon and Mario game, they'd realize they were putting too much freaking incipid text across the screen and taking away from the gameplay with idiotic and unnecessary dialog.

My kid (myself included) doesn't want to read eighteen pages of text just to see two characters say hello to each other and prepare to battle. These are fucking games, not a john grisham novel.

Paying $50 bucks for the same Pokemon game over and over again makes me want more for my money than the cheap, text only presentation. They OWE me fraking voices, damnit !
 
[quote name='Kendro']No voice acting only works in Nintendo games because in their games, story and cutscenes take a backseat to gameplay. But games where storylines are the most important (Metal Gear Solid, Final Fantasy, KOTOR), voice acting truly makes the experience (it breaks it without it in my opinion).[/QUOTE]

I whole-heartedly agree. I can't imagine Grand Theft Auto, Max Payne (even the GBA game had voice), Jak, Splinter Cell, Resident Evil 4, Prince of Persia, Half-Life 2, Chronicles of Riddick, The Punisher, and countless others without voice, it adds so much to the experience. I've played old adventure games with and without voice (some times the same game) and generally get bored of them fast without voice. I tend to skip most of the dialogue in games without voice, it's just so essential.
Now that I think about it, that's probably one of the reasons I got bored of the DS, Phoenix Wright, Trauma Center, and Mario & Luigi all could've benefited greatly from voice. I just can't play old RPGs anymore either.
 
[quote name='derder']I think taking realism out of games is a bad thing. But I'm in the wrong forum with this opinion.[/quote]

That's for sure. I want to *escape* the real world not bring it home with me.

That's why I hated Driver 4 Parallel Lines.
It recreated New York City traffic.
So it took half an hour to go anywhere.

So it felt like I was reliving my daily sucky commute!!! :roll: It's bad enough I have to waste an hour in the car every day; I don't want to do the same in a videogame! :bouncy:
 
Never had a problem with voice acting in games. Ocasionally it sucks, but usually I just ignore poor acting.

As an example, I'm playing NWN2 at the moment, and the voice acting adds to the game. The cut scenes are exellent, and would feel empty with out voice.

Another game that has superb voice acting - Psychonuats. The game would be totally different without it.
 
Sorry folks but Zelda NEEDS voice acting and we have a "gots to situation" with the dialogue boxes. I don't think Link needs to speak though... I just think it would immerse you a lot more...
 
[quote name='javeryh']we have a "gots to situation" with the dialogue boxes. [/quote]
What's "gots to situation" mean? What's wrong with reading dialogue? I'm reading some right now! :bouncy:
 
[quote name='daroga']I couldn't agree more. How many times has a game had good voice acting? Not just passable, but good. I think one hand could count my votes (and only Halo 1 is coming to mind at the moment).
[/QUOTE]

I kinda agree. Quality voice acting in games tends to be very few and far between. Last gen, I'd say Halo & Riddick were the only quality ones, possibly Prince of Persia and Beyond Good & Evil. There are others that are "passable" but not top notch.

This gen there are a few that are better than passable, but still not perfect. Games like Splinter Cell, Tomb Raider and Gears of War are great, but still have their flaws. So far this gen there is only one game that blew me away in the acting department... Dead Rising. Every character was excellent. There weren't any drops in quality throughout the game. Probably my #1 pick for voice acting in a game ever. Yeah, it's that good.

When it comes to Nintendo I tend to prefer reading. Not sure why. Zelda would be awkward with voices. For one, millions of fans already have it built up in their mind what Link or Zelda would sound like. Casting it would ultimately disappoint the majority. With a newer franchise like Trauma Center, I would be open to it, but an existing franchise would be walking on thin ice trying to cast existing characters.

Lastly, even with voice acting I still read the damn text on the screen, and 2-3x as fast at that so I at least like having the option to skip ahead if the acting is bad.
 
Completely agree. There should be the option to turn off VA and add subtitling wherever VA is present.

Hell, do it for deaf people.

If no VA is good enough for every Final Fantasy prior to 10, Xenogears and Chrono Trigger, and those stories came out well, then its good enough for me.j
 
[quote name='fred_h_haddad']What's "gots to situation" mean? What's wrong with reading dialogue? I'm reading some right now! :bouncy:[/quote]

Oops... that should have been a "gots to go situation" :oops:
 
Sorry, but "HEY!" and "LISTEN!" are annoying enough for me.

Is someone going to post a "I love it when the main character doesn't talk" topic too?
 
Some games I can actually think of where voice acting rock... like Sly Cooper, Murray was hilarious in the second one. Others, like the Jak series, I hated the voice acting cause half the time I couldnt understand them unless I cranked up the volume, and there were no words to go with the what the characters were saying... Ratchet is alright in terms of voice acting, but I'm glad they have words.
 
[quote name='javeryh']Sorry folks but Zelda NEEDS voice acting and we have a "gots to go situation" with the dialogue boxes. [/quote]

Disagree. I like dialogue boxes. Helps me pas my English exams. :lol:
 
As the OP put...how would voice acting in TP work, with all the animals talking? I can't imagine a scenario that wouldn't detract from the experience, in my opinion.


I'm of the opinion that Zelda should have fleshed out what they did with the voice work and gone the ICO route...all the dialgue is voiced, but in a language (Hylian?) we can't understand. Then you dont have some awkward silences, but you largely avoid crappy voice acting. This would have been perfect for Zelda.

Not every game would benefit from this, obviosuly...I can't imagine MEtal Gear SOlid games being any different from how they are. Likewise to more "mature" games, like Halo or Gears of War. But if you're not going for hyper-realism (which Zelda is not), I like the ICO method.
 
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