Is the voice acting worth it?

[Nighthawked]

In terms of getting the recording of the voice-overs and then animating, including the lip-synch, the writing is merely the tiniest blip of the workload. You're seriously underestimating the amount of extra work and resources that has gone into moving from text based to fully voice acted, animated quest givers.

 

It's great to have, but if new content is released roughly on the same kinda timescale as other mmo's, really, how worthwhile is it to have every single quest done in this way when for the most part you're just seeing the same ones over and over while you do your daily's?

 

Class quests, brilliant, Over-arching planetary quest, maybe. Side quests, absolute drain on resources that could have been spent innovating more long-lasting aspects of an mmo.

 

Like I said many times before, if you do not want to listen to everything, then you can skip it. If they never included it in the first place, many people would not be given a choice.

 

And how do you know if they removed the "useless VO" that we would get more content? It could be just that, the same game with less VO.

[lordCriper]

That is my point. This game is the same genre as WoW, Rift, LotRO, .... There are bound to be lots of similarities because this is the same genre.

 

Similarities there are and will always be, but it does not have to be an exact copy...

 

And sadly no effort to be different gameplay wise (other than voice overs which does not effect gameplay the slightest) was made with TOR. I remember they talked about moving away from the holy trinity mechanics and i was thrilled back then. That would have been something innovating in an MMO...

 

Anyways, this is becoming a bit off topic, sorry about that.

[Cormey]

Absolutely worth it and i think in some places they've even skimped a bit on voice overs.

 

The quests you get from the terminals that are just text don't interest me at all and are really the only bits i fly by without even bothering to read, they could have been done via some sort of holoprojector with voice acting.

[BlakeTheDrake]

I feel genuinely sorry for those 'most people' who just skip all the conversations and cutscenes. Honestly, I don't understand what you're doing here - why don't you pack up the rest of your 'mostness' and roll on back to Azaroth, where the quests are all generic and not one single NPC gives a damn what you're doing.

 

The VA is a big part of what makes this game so engaging - it's not perfect, sure, but it strikes a good balance between effort and result. The fact that the NPC have actual CHARCTER makes their quests a hundred times more engaging. If they were just generic walls o' text, I'd skip half the sidequests - instead, I find myself trying to complete every last quest on every last planet (with two different characters so can do it both Lightside and Darkside), just so I can see their reaction to my success.

 

Without the VA, this wouldn't be a Bioware-game, which is what I came here to play - not WoW In Space With Lightsabers.

[Kitten]

I feel genuinely sorry for those 'most people' who just skip all the conversations and cutscenes. Honestly, I don't understand what you're doing here - why don't you pack up the rest of your 'mostness' and roll on back to Azaroth, where the quests are all generic and not one single NPC gives a damn what you're doing.

 

The VA is a big part of what makes this game so engaging - it's not perfect, sure, but it strikes a good balance between effort and result. The fact that the NPC have actual CHARCTER makes their quests a hundred times more engaging. If they were just generic walls o' text, I'd skip half the sidequests - instead, I find myself trying to complete every last quest on every last planet (with two different characters so can do it both Lightside and Darkside), just so I can see their reaction to my success.

 

Without the VA, this wouldn't be a Bioware-game, which is what I came here to play - not WoW In Space With Lightsabers.

 

This.

[Alohen]

I feel like they should have done MORE Voice Work, the current situation is good.. but Lazy compared to what they should have done.. Each Race should have a different voice.

[Nighthawked]

I feel genuinely sorry for those 'most people' who just skip all the conversations and cutscenes. Honestly, I don't understand what you're doing here - why don't you pack up the rest of your 'mostness' and roll on back to Azaroth, where the quests are all generic and not one single NPC gives a damn what you're doing.

 

The VA is a big part of what makes this game so engaging - it's not perfect, sure, but it strikes a good balance between effort and result. The fact that the NPC have actual CHARCTER makes their quests a hundred times more engaging. If they were just generic walls o' text, I'd skip half the sidequests - instead, I find myself trying to complete every last quest on every last planet (with two different characters so can do it both Lightside and Darkside), just so I can see their reaction to my success.

 

Without the VA, this wouldn't be a Bioware-game, which is what I came here to play - not WoW In Space With Lightsabers.

 

Agreed. I love both Mass Effect games because of the same style we find here in this game. This type of style is to be expected from a BW game.

[OriginSucks]

Yes, it is absolutely worth it.

 

Voiced characters take the tedium out of leveling up.

 

Other developers should take note.

[lordCriper]

Why is it that as soon as a person questions one aspect of the game, omeone seems to take it personally and suggests the first person should leave or shut up or such?? The community sometimes itself sometime makes me not wanna play...

 

Yes voice overs and cutscenes and story is part of Bioware games. And as a story driven single player game i find TOR excellent. It's just the MMO part that's lacking. But again, that's a whole other discussion.

Edited January 11, 2012 by lordCriper

[Tesia]

I feel genuinely sorry for those 'most people' who just skip all the conversations and cutscenes. Honestly, I don't understand what you're doing here - why don't you pack up the rest of your 'mostness' and roll on back to Azaroth, where the quests are all generic and not one single NPC gives a damn what you're doing.

 

The VA is a big part of what makes this game so engaging - it's not perfect, sure, but it strikes a good balance between effort and result. The fact that the NPC have actual CHARCTER makes their quests a hundred times more engaging. If they were just generic walls o' text, I'd skip half the sidequests - instead, I find myself trying to complete every last quest on every last planet (with two different characters so can do it both Lightside and Darkside), just so I can see their reaction to my success.

 

Without the VA, this wouldn't be a Bioware-game, which is what I came here to play - not WoW In Space With Lightsabers.

 

I'm yet to skip voice acting other than the repeated flashpoints and dailies that I'm doing.

However. I still think the voice acting was not worth the amount of hype and money. As my previous post states and some other people have stated.

 

• Fed up of hearing the same alien voice on multiple races.
  
• Annoying that the alien language is the same over and over. I've heard "WOMPA" more than anything else.
  
• Annoying that each class shares the same voice. It doesn't look right.
  
• My character repeats the same statements over and over and over.
  

 

Those are just a few of the gripes. They could have added a lot more and gone into more depth. Even given us the choice of voice for our character.

Edited January 11, 2012 by Tesia

[DLWhite]

Define 'Most people'. It seems to me that there are lots of people saying they never skip the dialogue. Personally, I never skip it.

 

Personal choice. Skip it if you want, but you shouldnt attempt to have it removed based on your own feelings.

[Halphas]

It's a complete waste for 80% of the quest content which is just generic collect this kill this. I'd suggest keeping it for class content and some of the planets "main" storylines, like alderaans house thul vs organa.

 

It would free up alot of resources and get us some overall better quality.

[Flowerslayer]

No it's definitely not worth it. It could have been a nice touch, but they overdid it. Spending whole sessions of just watching a movie play out is not exactly what I would call gaming, especially not in an MMO. Edited January 11, 2012 by Flowerslayer

[keldare]

i listen to every quest even on my third alt trough same zone i think its whorth it i used to do quests whitout reading what they were about now i can sit back chill and listen to the npc telling me his problems the voice acting is huge plus for me in this game.

[Tesia]

now i can sit back chill and listen to the npc telling me his problems

 

Not when most of it is an alien language with translation subtitles..

[Chromiie]

No. The game clearly has suffered because the voice acting had priority over everything else.

 

I do worry that this was the case.

 

 

That is what it feels like to me. I like the voice acting but questing is finite. When it's over we are left with not much to do. There is no progression pretty much. Pvp armor isn't hard to get. I don't care for pvp much but I almost have a full pvp purple set. Crafting which I really thought was going to be great isn't. This quote is so wrong and I really hope it's change because I like crafting and it was my favorite thing about SWG. Don't mention Eve because I'm not one for forced Pvp.

 

 

The best stuff is always going to come from other players, and then be made by other players. There will be stuff that you can craft that is among the best stuff in the entire game. So very close to the top tier that you could get for anything.

 

http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/11/12/massively-interviews-bioware-on-swtors-crafting-and-pvp/

Edited January 11, 2012 by Chromiie

[Kitten]

Why do you guys play this game, if you're going to complain about voice acting?

 

The whole IDEA for the game, was to bring Bio-Ware Storytelling to the MMO Genre. That means 100% VA, awesome stories, and deep immersion.

 

Sure the VA is a little repetative at times, and we could do with an option @ Ilum to turn VA off for Repetative Dailies, but that's an optional thing.

 

If you don't like the VA'ing, Space Bar is your friend, or just go back to a Generic Wall-Of-Text questing series, which every other MMO has.

 

SW:ToR is different, won't be for everyone, but gives the Genre something new and fresh, and also sets another baseline for other new MMO's to follow. Hopefully we'll see some new MMO's with a little Quest VA'ing, instead of just walls of text.

 

Just my 2cents.

-Kit

[flipper]

Like I said many times before, if you do not want to listen to everything, then you can skip it. If they never included it in the first place, many people would not be given a choice.

 

And how do you know if they removed the "useless VO" that we would get more content? It could be just that, the same game with less VO.

 

Well if they weren't able to come up with anything interesting to add in that scenario, then I wouldn't really hold up much hope for them adding anything interesting in the future.

[Cylluz]

Totally worth it.

 

I'm playing with a small group of friends and we love the voice acting and social aspect of the game. Would I read the conversation text if it wasn't voiced? More than likely no. The voice acting draws me into the story and that is something I enjoy.

 

I've played a few mmo's and I can't remember the storyline to even one of those quests.

(Ok, that's not true... Poor Manrik has lost his wife. We need to find her. /zone 'Where's Manriks' wife?!' ) I'll take the voice acting.

Edited January 11, 2012 by Cylluz

[Eegorr]

This has been mentioned before, but I'll mention it again.

 

I am not at all convinced that the absence of voice-acting would have led to a better game. You are making a lot of assumptions (like the VA-actors being good programmers if we put them there *joke*).

 

To begin with. A lot of you say that you want VA for the main quest-lines. Fine. Good. Let's think about that for a while. This means that the game engine has to be able to handle VA pretty much the way it does now. Time and resources have to be spent getting there, and they have been.

 

Now. With all of this machinery in place. How much extra work is it to actually have the actors read the lines and incorporate it into the other quests as well? No new functionality needs to be added to the engine, it's just a matter of actually making the cut-scenes. How much does that cost? I don't know. Would the money saved had made a better game? I seriously doubt it .

 

The arguments here are the ones thrown around in politics all of the time -- not one cent to anything until X works. The world has never worked this way.

[Palenen]

I like it. More so when I am solo'n because it's my time. When I am in group with four, it really seems a bit cumbersome. When you with your friends in a four man, it doesn't seem all the bad due to the conversation factor.

[keano]

Here's another annoying thing I've just found, people keep talking about the main story lines on each planet, other than the class quests. I probably would've found these quite interesting, but I've missed them because of all the other useless drivel making me spam my space bar. Voice acting everything, takes emphasis away from the interesting bits.

[Eegorr]

Here's another annoying thing I've just found, people keep talking about the main story lines on each planet, other than the class quests. I probably would've found these quite interesting, but I've missed them because of all the other useless drivel making me spam my space bar. Voice acting everything, takes emphasis away from the interesting bits.

 

You skipped the cut-scenes and you are annoyed that you missed content???

 

I don't know what to say......

[Deonnyn]

I am shocked people are skipping the Voice Acting, how do you even get into your quests? Or is it just go where the quest helper marker is and click stuff until it turns blue?

 

I think the issue might be that the people who are skipping over it to "Just get back to questing" are the ones who are trying to rush through levels instead of enjoying the game. Unfortunately most games have taught us that the leveling is the price of admission for the cool end game stuff. SWTOR is meant to change that. To make the journey more interesting than the end game. Unfortunately those who rush to the end will be disappointed when they find only 1 easy to do Raid, and limited end game PVP opertunitys. This is not like other games where the game starts at level 50, 60, 80, 100. The game starts at level 1.

Edited January 11, 2012 by Deonnyn

[MustrumRidcully]

Yes, it's worth it.

Yes.

 

I wouldn't hate that Sith Academy instructor as much as I do with my Sith Inquistor if he didn't have a voice. It just doesn't transport as well in mere written dialog. I was immediately emotionally engaged by the game.

 

I also play Startrek Online, and voice acting is a rarity there. But it was introduced for some later, featured episodes, and it vastly increased the quality of the experience.

 

Maybe you end up clicking over it, I do not. It works for me. Even for the side quests. Each of the NPCs becomes more alive with his own voice.