Should your character have a voice? (possible spoiler)

[sticky runes]

I like RPGs where the hero/main character has a voice, because it actually allows them some sort of character development. It's nice to hear your avatar's input on situations, and helps make it a bit more believable why you have been chosen to save the world/liberate the country or whatever... Versus RPGs where you say nothing accept "yes" or "no", and listen to your supporting cast giving all the deep, meaningful speeches and showing how important they are, while you take all the credit. Which I am used to seeing in a lot of RPGs, but it does kind of suck compared to games where the main character is able speak for him/herself.

I understand it would have required loads of data for a game like Skyrim, where you create your main character from scratch, and it's not just male or female, you have different races to choose from, so that would have meant a lot of different voices speaking all those dialogue options, but if it had been done, I do think it would have enhanced the experience tremendously. Especially if you play multiple games with different characters you've created - hearing them speak in their own voice would have offered a much more unique experience every time.

 

[Chowder138]

I like RPGs where the hero/main character has a voice, because it actually allows them some sort of character development. It's nice to hear your avatar's input on situations, and helps make it a bit more believable why you have been chosen to save the world/liberate the country or whatever... Versus RPGs where you say nothing accept "yes" or "no", and listen to your supporting cast giving all the deep, meaningful speeches and showing how important they are, while you take all the credit. Which I am used to seeing in a lot of RPGs, but it does kind of suck compared to games where the main character is able speak for him/herself.

I understand it would have required loads of data for a game like Skyrim, where you create your main character from scratch, and it's not just male or female, you have different races to choose from, so that would have meant a lot of different voices speaking all those dialogue options, but if it had been done, I do think it would have enhanced the experience tremendously. Especially if you play multiple games with different characters you've created - hearing them speak in their own voice would have offered a much more unique experience every time.

I can imagine what it would be like.

It would be two options, basically:

A) Every time you say something, it cuts to third person at a weird angle to show both of you for the rest of the line, or

B) You sit there awkwardly listening to your character talk without seeing any of it.

Both options are kind of pitiful.

 

[sticky runes]

I can imagine what it would be like.

It would be two options, basically:

A) Every time you say something, it cuts to third person at a weird angle to show both of you for the rest of the line, or

B) You sit there awkwardly listening to your character talk without seeing any of it.

Both options are kind of pitiful.

not really. Even if it was just voice acting for generic quotes like when you give commands to a follower, you'd still get more of an impression that you're character is interacting with the world, and that you're not just walking around hearing people talk to themselves.

 

[theoperation]

I tend to think in Skyrim's case it would be better not to have a voice for the main character. There is a lot of freedom when it comes to creating your character, not just with race, sex, look, but also play style, ethical choices, for example whether to be an assassin, daedra worshipper, divines worshipper, thief, honourable warrior, necromage, honourable mage, the list goes on.

My point is that it is more than a case of hiring an actor for each race and sex. The human voice is really complicated, and you can't really have the same voice actor play their parts like an honourable warrior but have the player playing like a back-stabbing daedra worshipping thief.

I love having a great voice actor for a character I didn't create, but for one I did, I dunno. It'd have to be really, really good.

 

[Cave]

wasn't there a mod for Morrowind where you could record your voice as soundbites and use your voice ingame

 

[Punz]

I was never bothered by the lack of voice acting by the main character. I guess playing Zelda trained me not to care so much about that. Also, since I role-play my characters, it helps that they don't have voices. It allows me to better mold my characters the way I see fit, if that makes since.

 

[Minstrel]

I think this would only really work in a 'perfect' world. Sadly, we won't ever live in a perfect world. If Bethesda could record hundreds of different voice options for every single race and sex in Skyrim, that would be fine. But obviously that will never be able to happen.

Say I had created an Argonian thief in Skyrim who had a certain tone to his voice. Say a really deep and creepy tone, but I could only choose from the 2 voice options for Argonians, that would completely ruin the whole game for me. Similarly, if I created a Nord warrior who was actually really shy and there were only these big powerful voices to choose from, it would ruin the game.

There are simply too many things to consider with voices in a game where you create the character. In your head, you character speaks how you want. They will have attitude when speaking certain lines and speak sarcastically in others. Even if we had all of the voices we wanted in Skyrim, they still wouldn't speak lines in the way we wanted to.

Maybe it would be a good idea to have a few different voice options for each race for you to choose from, but you had the option - if you wanted to - to have voice-overs. That way the immersion would not be ruined if they didn't have the voice you wanted.

 

[Cave]

Also, sometimes when no--one can hear me i say the dialouge option

 

[samgurl775]

I'd rather have more dialogue options than a voiced protagonist (like Dragon Age Origins).

 

[sticky runes]

I'd rather have more dialogue options than a voiced protagonist.

It's a shame you can't really choose an attitude that affects your character's dialogue in this game. I've created a khajit who has become leader of the assassins and thieves' guild, so I meant for him to be a bit devious and a bit sinister and cold-hearted, but for other quests I still get given lines where I can only give a gentle or sympathetic response. It feels kind of like he has a split personality. So yeah, if having voice options would be too complicated, surely different dialogue options would help our characters feel a bit more unique and individual.

 

[Minstrel]

It's a shame you can't really choose an attitude that affects your character's dialogue in this game. I've created a khajit who has become leader of the assassins and thieves' guild, so I meant for him to be a bit devious and a bit sinister and cold-hearted, but for other quests I still get given lines where I can only give a gentle or sympathetic response. It feels kind of like he has a split personality. So yeah, if having voice options would be too complicated, surely different dialogue options would help our characters feel a bit more unique and individual.

Maybe just something simple such as having a set number of different ways to respond to other npc's that reflect different personalities. Maybe one of them can be angry and another can be cheerful and so on. Something that annoys me is that no matter how you respond to most npc's, you will always end up in the same place. If I give attitude to a Jarl I would like to see some consequences for it really.

 

[i K33L n0085]

I would rather have them work on more quests than more voice acting. It's not really necessary.

 

[Minstrel]

It adds so much immersion though. I agree that working on bugs on quests needs to be fixed though.

 

[Dagmar]

....Necropost of a thread that actually died pre-release...

Congratulations. You've set what will probably be the all time record.

 

[sticky runes]

obviously, the game has hundreds of other things missing that are more important than giving your main character a voice, but this is a topic specifically about the idea of the main character having a voice.

 

[Medea]

I find myself, sometimes to my embarrassment, talking for my character when I get into game dialogues with NPCs, whether there is a dialogue option for you to choose or not. It's all part of the role-playing experience.
If they voiced your character's dialouge, it wouldn't make to much of a difference for me. I'm just glad that your not watching a cut-scene for every interaction, with a scripted outcome and no choice of your own on your character's response.... <coughs...final fantasy....coughs>