Should your character have a voice? (possible spoiler)

[Tusck]

So I saw this quote from Bethesda:

22) Will your character have a voice? So that you can hear yourself having a conversation with other people?
Todd: You do have a voice, but you only hear it in grunts and shouts. So we have recorded for each race and sex you can play, all the different combat grunts, as well as the dragon language shouts.

So your main character does not have a voice actor, does this bother you? Dragon Age Origins was a great game, but after playing Mass Effect, having your main character not speak was a huge turnoff. Now you even have mmos like SWTOR that are fully voiced. Do you think Bethesda is dropping the ball on this part of the game?

IMO, I think they are missing out on the new trend in games. I actually pretty surprised that they didn't follow this path as other games are doing.

Thoughts?

 

[hexperiment]

Nope. It doesn't bother me at all because you never really have a voice in any games from TES and even Fallout. I think it would ruin the RPG experience if they gave me a voice like I can hear my character talking during dialogue. It's an RPG game that lets you be whoever you want. Having a defined voice would ruin it for me. It's nice for games like Deus Ex or Mass Effect but definitely not for Skyrim. In Deus Ex and Mass Effect, you play as a defined character, the one with a specific background story and personality (maybe not for ME but you only have two to three options anyway). In Skyrim, you are a prisoner being lead to execution and you happen to be a dragonborn for some reason. You'll find out why you're dragonborn through the quest I guess but your character's background story, personality and appearances is your choice.

 

[Tusck]

Good points. I agree that there are some differences, but overall, I prefer to be in the environment and without a voice, how can you do that? Although I hated that Bioware gave you choices of things to say, but the words you picked where not always what was said. That always kind of got on my nerves. So I guess it's a double edged sword.

 

[Demut]

So your main character does not have a voice actor, does this bother you?

No, not at all. fluff “the new trend”. A voiced character can ruin the immersion so in an FPS that could be lethal.

 

[Tusck]

Interesting pints of view. I actually expected more people to like main character voice acting.

I would be interested in hearing why you both think it breaks immersion.

 

[hexperiment]

Well, a part of it has to do with immersion. In Half-Life, you play as a silent protagonist, Gordon Freeman. People around you will talk to you but you never talk back. But it doesn't feel awkward at all. The world is interacting with you and presenting itself. It really feels like I am that character and I can imagine whatever dialogue that could've been there. You feel like you're Gordon Freeman even though he probably doesn't have your thoughts. No voice makes it more immersive.

If Gordon Freeman began talking, sure we'll get more personality out of him but you'll be put into third-person perspective, even if you're looking through the eyes of Gordon Freeman. That's how I feel about it, anyways. In TES games, you are a prisoner. Your character has no background story. You are already stranger to this world. Giving them voice would kill the immersion. Even if I can choose which line to say, it's still not 'me'. Before you know it, your character would start having his own opinions. That eliminates the whole theory of 'you can be whatever, whoever you want'. The only time I want a character to have its own voice is if the character is well-defined and like-able, and his or her personality would play a very strong role in the story.

I'm doing a diary project for Skyrim and if my characters have voices, I would just scrap it off since it would be pointless.

 

[Demut]

Because it reminds you that you are not really playing the game but only in place of another character. That would be fine if the role that you are playing is someone else but if you try to play yourself it sucks. This is also one of the reasons why I prefer FPP over TPP.

 

[Tusck]

Even if I can choose which line to say, it's still not 'me'. Before you know it, your character would start having his own opinions.

I agree with this. I always hated choosing something for shepard to say, or Hawke in DA2, but then what they actually say is completely different than what I thought I was choosing. It killed a few major conversations for me.

 

[Demut]

Indeed. The options in the dialog wheel were sometimes really misleading and had me facepalm when they did not express what I thought they did.

 

[Tusck]

Yep, I think that's a huge problem. I played in the last 3 beta builds for SWTOR and they had the same problem. It's all great that it's the first fully voiced mmo, but if it doesn't say what I'm trying to say, it's a bust. Actually I just got the e-mail for the next build a few minutes ago, but I don't know if I want to play again.

 

[Hellfire]

Nope not a problem, but daaamn that would be awsome though

 

[Demut]

Oh, a proponent! So why exactly would you like the player to have a voice?

 

[Hellfire]

I just love voice options, sometimes it makes you sound badass and sometimes crazy or funny, like in dragon age, made my character sound badass

 

[Hellfire]

Oh wait i if u mean like in dragon age 2 the character has only 1 voice i dont like that but for example if any of you played def jam on the ps2 i remember 6 different voice options

 

[Tusck]

Well 6 different voices would probably be a lot to ask for a game this big and in depth. Even asking for one is a challenge. I guess when I play a character with a voice, I just imagine it as my voice and it never really creates less immersion, except when it doesn't say what I want it to say, as explained above.

 

[Jeruhmi]

I was expecting it to be voiced. That's a shame :/

 

[Tusck]

I was expecting it to be voiced. That's a shame :/

That was exactly my first reaction, considering the trend. So obviously you prefer the voice acting on the main character. Any particular reason?

 

[Demut]

None of their previous had that feature, right? Why would they do it now? Just to follow the latest craze? It’s not like it suddenly became much more feasible or something like that.

 

[hexperiment]

I never really thought of voice-acting as a trend. I mean, Skyrim has 70 voice actors compared to 17 from Oblivion but voice-acting the 'main' character (you) doesn't seem like a trend.

 

[Tusck]

Mass effect, Mass Effect 2, Mass Effect 3, Dragon Age 2, Star Wars The Old Republic.... It's definitely trending in the big name RPG series, with the exception of TES. Dragon Age origins received a ton of negative reviews in regards to not having a main character voice, although it was one of the only negatives about the game.