Restepor Posted February 1, 2012 Share Posted February 1, 2012 Yeah, not really a fan of them. If they were some awesome catch phrase from some 80's action flick, they would be better. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Norumaniac Posted February 1, 2012 Share Posted February 1, 2012 inb4 "its called immersion" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GalacticKegger Posted February 1, 2012 Share Posted February 1, 2012 (edited) I think my trooper has said "Dangerous jobs are what I do best. I'm in!" about 30 times now. Likewise, my smugger has said "You're about to see a real live hero in action!" more times than I can count. In a game that touts full voice acting, this is heavily immersion-breaking. Every time one of my characters reuses a "catch phrase" like these, I cringe. Why is my character resorting to catch phrases? I don't recall Han Solo saying "I have a bad feeling about this..." 30 some odd times... They could solve this by tossing out the "catch phrases" and use sentence splicing. For example, record a voice actor saying: okay, sure, fine, that works for me, I'll do it, I can manage it, that's doable. Then, splice the replies so the character says, "Fine (pause), that's doable." If done properly, it won't sound unnatural, especially since they already do this with the huttball announcer. Your character doesn't need to belt out a "catch phrase" every three minutes and they sound idiotic for doing so.Reminds me of those repetitive Warlock pet phrases: "Thcht . . . oooooo!" "I don't like this place..." "'What you can't handle this on your own?" Could always turn the dialogue sound off I suppose until a companion volume control slider shows up. I mean I don't know, it's no worse than any other game really. Edited February 1, 2012 by GalacticKegger Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Felioats Posted February 1, 2012 Share Posted February 1, 2012 Is there anything I can do to help? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chunkie Posted February 1, 2012 Share Posted February 1, 2012 You guys are the definitely of ingrates. Bioware has done what no other game has and given us an MMO with compelling stories and full voice-overs, and you whine and complain about recycled response lines? There are far more important issues than this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luca Posted February 1, 2012 Share Posted February 1, 2012 I quickly read through the pages of this thread and I'm surprised I haven't seen mentioned the "You have my gratitude" of the male Jedi Consular Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Weioo Posted February 1, 2012 Share Posted February 1, 2012 You definitely get sick of hearing the same crap over and over. I agree with the OP. Do it right the first time, and....Go big or go home in this business. Seriously. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AcousticColors Posted February 1, 2012 Share Posted February 1, 2012 (edited) You guys are the definitely of ingrates. Bioware has done what no other game has and given us an MMO with compelling stories and full voice-overs, and you whine and complain about recycled response lines? There are far more important issues than this. Who said this was the most important issue in the game? It's a very minor thing, but still, it does break immersion. Those more important things, yeah, there are already dozens of threads about those. And given the fact that Bioware put such an emphasis on the voice acting, it seems like a discussion on where they went right or wrong or how this is being received by their customers is a discussion they'd like to hear. And of course I can't say for sure, but an issue that effects one of their 4 pillars (story) is probably considered important to them, then it stands to reason that discussing where the storytelling can use some improvement is a relevant discussion when it's talking about an aspect they consider to be 25% of gamemaking. Edited February 1, 2012 by AcousticColors Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DeathDiciple Posted February 1, 2012 Share Posted February 1, 2012 I think someone isn't watching enough CSI Miami.... Hahahaha so true. Seriously, should've put some variety/random factor between a few possible responses instead of (what it seems to be) just one 'filler' for 1-50. Or change them lvl-based or something. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ArmchairMagpie Posted February 1, 2012 Share Posted February 1, 2012 (edited) Immersion is not about efficiency. Agreed, however production overall is and that was the angle I was arguing from. /sigh I give up, internet. It's totally impossible to make a point without somebody trying to reduce your argument to reductio ad absurdum. Say you have an issue with part of the game, and you get accused of whining about every single aspect. Give an example you think might help one or two issues, and you get told the devs can't change the whole game for you. Say maybe they should have recorded only the CATCH PHRASE lines 3 - 4 times for variance, and somebody starts saying it's ridiculous or inefficient to record 100 variations of things like "yes" or "I will do it." And for reference, the only reason why that is even a suggestion is BECAUSE of the high production value of the voice acting, not in spite of it. Or maybe I am just playing advocatus diaboli. If I wanted to oppose it outright I'd have argued differently like "Deal with it!". There wasn't a numerical equivalent asked for specifically just the fact stated that it is annoying, so 100 was just a synonym for an indefinite number of phrases as it wasn't clearly whether every phrase or only the catch phrases should have more variance. Effectively it doesn't matter even 4-5 variances would in the end if repeated often enough seem like quite too few but it may be a start since all the responses are known now and they have entered post-production phase they always could add more for later if the demand is big enough. PS: Also let's not forget some phrases just aren't material for popularity, the phrases on my Sentinel make yawn sometimes, on my Juggernaut I clearly can never stop promising the impending cessation of heart-beats. If you get to hear the same boring phrase over an over it has an exponential effect. You want to wish to hear something new and refreshing for sure in that case. Edited February 2, 2012 by ArmchairMagpie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SentinelBorg Posted February 1, 2012 Share Posted February 1, 2012 "Helping others is both a duty and a honor." "I'm always happy to work on my lightsaber techniques!" Both Jedi Knight and they are used very often. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AcousticColors Posted February 1, 2012 Share Posted February 1, 2012 (edited) Or maybe I am just playing advocatus diaboli. If I wanted to oppose it outright I'd have argued differently like "Deal with it!". There wasn't a numerical equivalent asked for specifically just the fact stated that it is annoying, so 100 was just a synonym for an indefinite number of phrases as it wasn't clearly whether every phrase or only the catch phrases should have more variance. Effectively it doesn't matter even 4-5 variances would in the end if repeated often enough seem like quite too few but it may be a start since all the responses are known now and they have entered post-production phase they always could add more for later if the demand is big enough. I apologize for assuming you read my post earlier in the thread. Edited February 2, 2012 by AcousticColors Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OkuKeelus Posted February 1, 2012 Share Posted February 1, 2012 (edited) "... then I took an arrow to the knee". Oh wait.... "What's in it for me?" ( Smuggler ). Edited February 2, 2012 by OkuKeelus Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yuuj Posted February 2, 2012 Share Posted February 2, 2012 I agree. I mean, on a day to day basis I probably say... forty-seven different variations of 'Okay' to my boss so why shouldn't a game? I mean, it isn't like we have phrases we use often in the same situation (For instance, when someone ask you to do something you don't always say "Of course" or "Sure", you have about a thousand different ways of saying it.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ArmchairMagpie Posted February 2, 2012 Share Posted February 2, 2012 I apologize for assuming you read my post earlier in the thread. My response was primarily at the thread's initial posting just like yours. You made a good point about it later but it was just of many responses like mine actually. Considering it is the first time that voice acting has been implemented as feature I'd venture a guess that there is also an iterative process happening which involves learning from shortcomings and mistakes. If they're planning to add more phrases later and/or avoid repeating the same ones over and over then it's already an improvement. For now it is entirely possible that they feared redundancy at cost of more space used - which I might add could be wrong but it seems plausible. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheRealDestian Posted February 2, 2012 Author Share Posted February 2, 2012 Effectively it doesn't matter even 4-5 variances would in the end if repeated often enough seem like quite too few but it may be a start since all the responses are known now and they have entered post-production phase they always could add more for later if the demand is big enough. As long as each time a character says a catch phrase, it would be different enough in timing, annunciation and pitch from the LAST time they said it, I think that alone would be enough. Like Accoustic said, "The problem is that during dialogue it seems like natural conversation, natural conversation, hold up a micro-recorder and play back a response I recorded earlier, natural conversation...". Though, what kind of guy is my smuggler? He keeps saying "You're about to see a real-life hero in action!" like he heard it from some cheesy 80's action flick, adopted it as his own and for the life of him cannot come up with anything NEW to say. If Han Solo had bragged about himself relentlessly like that, the audience would've hated him to the point Harrison Ford would've never found work again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheRealDestian Posted February 2, 2012 Author Share Posted February 2, 2012 I quickly read through the pages of this thread and I'm surprised I haven't seen mentioned the "You have my gratitude" of the male Jedi Consular I think it's not overt enough to register. The real problem lines are the ones that sound like cheesy one-liners that get said again and again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mezlabor Posted February 2, 2012 Share Posted February 2, 2012 Murder and Mayhem await! I really am the best! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheGreatEski Posted February 2, 2012 Share Posted February 2, 2012 You would be surprised at how often you repeat yourself in real life . . . but I agree. I'm sure that a greater variety of responses is on their "to do" list. They just have more important problems at the moment. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheRealDestian Posted February 2, 2012 Author Share Posted February 2, 2012 You would be surprised at how often you repeat yourself in real life . . . but I agree. I'm sure that a greater variety of responses is on their "to do" list. They just have more important problems at the moment. It's not so much the repetition as it is the recurring lines that most people wouldn't say more than once. "You're about to see a real hero in action!" is something I could forgive someone saying ONCE in a moment of zeal. More than once and it gets silly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ArmchairMagpie Posted February 2, 2012 Share Posted February 2, 2012 (edited) As long as each time a character says a catch phrase, it would be different enough in timing, annunciation and pitch from the LAST time they said it, I think that alone would be enough. Like Accoustic said, "The problem is that during dialogue it seems like natural conversation, natural conversation, hold up a micro-recorder and play back a response I recorded earlier, natural conversation...". Though, what kind of guy is my smuggler? He keeps saying "You're about to see a real-life hero in action!" like he heard it from some cheesy 80's action flick, adopted it as his own and for the life of him cannot come up with anything NEW to say. If Han Solo had bragged about himself relentlessly like that, the audience would've hated him to the point Harrison Ford would've never found work again. Classic quests in MMOs have this format: <lengthy text> <tl;dr> [Accept] [Perhaps another time] [Rewards here] Basically the end of most quests in SW:TOR seem to follow the same basic setup. Accept [Version 1] Accept [Version 2] (mostly to add some RP-style variation) and Reject [Not now] So what they was providing the same template for the latter and for that they have reserved these catch phrases. Up until then the conversation is (semi-)natural - there are plenty of quests with a rather static PC<->NPC conversation setup as well. The Accept/Cancel part seems to follow the same 2-3 templates. Basically going from there I am thinking it's more a production thing still, you just have to primarily provide the VO'd part for the body text the rest is following the same template otherwise you'd have to put up double amount of the efforts. Which may work for a singleplayer game but for a MMO where streamlined processes for production are more important it is not feasible. Hence why I agree to adding more catch phrases later might be a better compromise rather than a customized Accept/Cancel part for every single quest in the game. I mean as noble as their original intent is there are limits eventually and this seems to be one of those. Edited February 2, 2012 by ArmchairMagpie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gerrard_Ennui Posted February 2, 2012 Share Posted February 2, 2012 Moral of the Story: Spacebar. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Akkalevil Posted February 2, 2012 Share Posted February 2, 2012 Agreed, however production overall is and that was the angle I was arguing from. The entire reason why everything is voiced is supposed to be immersion. As such, it's both egregious and irritating when it works counter-productively like in the case that is discussed in this thread. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nytak Posted February 2, 2012 Share Posted February 2, 2012 Doesn't bother me that much.. I mean, how many different ways can you say Yes and No?? It's not like I come up with a different witty remark as an answer for each and every situation in life. Sometimes Yes and No work, and I use those words rather often. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JeremyDale Posted February 2, 2012 Share Posted February 2, 2012 I think my trooper has said "Dangerous jobs are what I do best. I'm in!" about 30 times now. Likewise, my smugger has said "You're about to see a real live hero in action!" more times than I can count. In a game that touts full voice acting, this is heavily immersion-breaking. Every time one of my characters reuses a "catch phrase" like these, I cringe. More to the point, it's quite obviously the same audio clip each and every time. Why is my character resorting to catch phrases? I don't recall Han Solo saying "I have a bad feeling about this..." 30 some odd times... They could solve this by tossing out the "catch phrases" and use sentence splicing. For example, record a voice actor saying: okay, sure, fine, that works for me, I'll do it, I can manage it, that's doable. Then, splice the replies so the character says, "Fine (pause), that's doable." If done properly, it won't sound unnatural, especially since they already do this with the huttball announcer. Your character doesn't need to belt out a "catch phrase" every three minutes and they sound idiotic for doing so. EDIT: AcousticColors said it best with this: I agree with you. Making long dialogue lines on daily quests that you have to repeatidly smash your space bar through is tedious and unnessassary. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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