Rampant Games - Opinion On Voice Acting

DArtagnan said:

I don't think reading = depth or intelligence.

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Well, I dont claim its equal. But from my experience with other people and myself reading is big plus. It helps you undestand how things and history "works", motivation, differencies, it makes you more open, more inventive… many things you can relate to depth and intelligence. It also demands something from reader - patience, thinking, basic insight etc. Note - lore is mostly presented in books so you need to read and to have some patience and basic undestanding to grasp it. So if someone HATES reading its strong sign he avoids this depth or thinking or imagination… It upsets him for some reason and this reason is definitely not the atmosphere or love for voices. Maybe he is able to overcome it with time… but until that he wont probably pay much attention to these things I mentioned in my first post.

You are partially right that different presentation may help. But as I said to prefer VO (or different presentation) for whatever reason is NOT the same as hate. For me its very different group. And I doubt that these "haters" are in fact inventive or thoughtful people if they watch attractive movie for example. These things are related.

It still seems to me that you think I wrote about all people who prefer VO. It wasnt really my intent.

DArtagnan said:

but things are looking much better these days, because of the way the Kickstarter model has taken off.

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Agreed.

Farflame said:

Well, I dont claim its equal. But from my experience with other people and myself reading is big plus. It helps you undestand how things and history "works", motivation, differencies, it makes you more open, more inventive… many things you can relate to depth and intelligence. It also demands something from reader - patience, thinking, basic insight etc. Note - lore is mostly presented in books so you need to read and to have some patience and basic undestanding to grasp it. So if someone HATES reading its strong sign he avoids this depth or thinking or imagination… It upsets him for some reason and this reason is definitely not the atmosphere or love for voices. Maybe he is able to overcome it with time… but until that he wont probably pay much attention to these things I mentioned in my first post.

You are partially right that different presentation may help. But as I said to prefer VO (or different presentation) for whatever reason is NOT the same as hate. For me its very different group. And I doubt that these "haters" are in fact inventive or thoughtful people if they watch attractive movie for example. These things are related.

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I think my point is that there aren't many of those haters, and I'm not really familiar with them, myself.

I know there are people who play games for very different reasons than myself, and who're not passionately invested in them or how they're made. They just want to get home from work and shoot things, because that's enjoyable to them.

Those people are probably not too keen on deep lore or reading endless text - but I don't confuse that with their general position on depth or reading. It's a matter of investing differently in different things.

But it's just a difference in perception, and you see haters where I don't. No biggee.

It still seems to me that you think I wrote about all people who prefer VO. It wasnt really my intent.

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I still didn't, and I can actually read

I play to get lost in a game. Therefore fully reading or listening to dialogue is not a problem for me. The only problem would be poorly written or voiced dialogue, such as the first 'Two Worlds'. That dialogue was downright painful. The Gothic series was good, same with 'Bard's Tale'.

I've never been in such a hurry in a game that I've skimmed through either written or voiced dialogue. Speed runs aren't my thing.

I just read. Voice acting is much slower, and not always done well. Even when it is, after a few hours I'm over it.

I love to read in my games and generally don't experience this break in immersion when I'm gaming unless the writing is particularly bad or somehow incongruous with what I'm playing. (Fallout 3 is a great example).
A fantastic example of writing and lore from in-game texts positively affecting immersion would certainly be Ultima VII. I remember relishing every possible moment of text in that game, whether it be in dialogue or books.

I've always made the point that imagination can often compensate for what voice acting attempts to do. I agree with greywolf; voice is often too slow and if given the option to have subtitles in a game (as in Dragon Age) I will use them and skip ahead when I've finished reading a particular segment unless a voice is exceedingly charismatic or fun to listen to.

Having said that, I still enjoy some voice acting as much as the next average gamer - but sparingly and in context, rather than obnoxiously overdone.
Just give me subtitles as an option and I'll be fine.

I agree with most of what Farflame has written in the thread, and I also honestly believe there are a huge amount of gamers who would be upset if they had to read in a game. I've actually read alot of comments stating exactly that on other forums, though never on this one.

Dart, as usual, has valid points and I have full understanding for the reasons he prefers full VO, but to me it's a total waste of time. I'm 33 and have a family to care for, and my gaming time is severely limited. To me playing a computer game, escpecially an RPG, is like reading a good book. I do it to relax and let the worries of everyday life fade for a while. The hours I can spend on it are severely limited, and I would never ever finish a dialogue heavy game if I had to LISTEN to all the dialogue. And since I like my games dialogue heavy text is a much better option for me. If I want to enjoy cut scenes I'll just watch a movie instead...

I love text and prefer it over voice acting. Why? Because for one, it allows me to absorb and digest the dialog at my own pace and really delve into the dialog. It also allows me to better use my imagination as to what these characters sound like in my own mind, the inflection on words, etc. It's like reading a good book. Dialog becomes more personal when you get to use your own imagination while reading it.

Voice overs are not the worst thing to happen to video games, but I will always prefer text if given the choice.

I think Morrowind had the right idea. Voiced greetings and phrases with mostly text dialog. I loved that system. Baldur's Gate is nice, too.

More than a sentence or two of voice acting gets annoying.

I have no problem with with just text or voice overs.

In the last ten years almost all major RPG releases have had voice-overs so I got used to them. I also have no problem with just reading text if I have to from past experience.

I do agree with him about a segment of gamers who don’t like to read at all. I feel like the kid back in school who said I read a 500 page book, and get asked why.

That look always amazed me in school.

Text only is better because you must use your imagination to give the characters a voice.

Couchpotato said:

I do agree with him about a segment of gamers who don’t like to read at all. I feel like the kid back in school who said I read a 500 page book, and get asked why.

That look always amazed me in school.

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I can relate to that. "What, you read because you like it???"

I never liked reading books, but I find text-heavy games to be a lot of fun. Age of decadence is a good example.