Voiced Missions not Worth It in the End

[Zataos]

When you space-bar through, what is your ultimate goal? To get to 50? Why? We know there's only so much content there. This game is about the journey, it is about the deep immersion you get from having a character that speaks and interacts and isn't a silent protagonist.

 

If that's the way you want to play, that's cool, but for my money I'm glad the VO is there.

 

Well, if all the players that purchased this game were told those exact words by Bioware BEFORE they spent their money, this game would have sold 10% of what it did. Most players play for endgame, end of story.

Edited May 12, 2012 by Zataos

[xorcist]

Well, if all the players that purchased this game were told those exact words by Bioware BEFORE they spent their money, this game would have sold 10% of what it did. Most players play for endgame, end of story.

 

I wouldn't exactly agree with that. It would be safer to assume that most players play for the story during their class quests while leveling. End game is just a bridge that needs crossing when you get there.

[Arkerus]

Totally worth it. I re-roll more alts in this game than any other MMO I've ever played. I really enjoy the immersion.

[Darchaos]

Love the VO, but they failed hard when they just focused on that and forgott about gameplay and to make this a living and breading world. Its to linear, small and dead. But as i sad, loves the VO and i hope to see it more in future MMO:S

[Gungan]

Totally worth it. I re-roll more alts in this game than any other MMO I've ever played. I really enjoy the immersion.

 

Another reason why there aren't enough people to do any high level flashpoints with.

[vfrost]

When you space-bar through, what is your ultimate goal? To get to 50? Why? We know there's only so much content there. This game is about the journey, it is about the deep immersion you get from having a character that speaks and interacts and isn't a silent protagonist.

 

If that's the way you want to play, that's cool, but for my money I'm glad the VO is there.

 

O'Rly? At second run to Esseles im turn my sounds off... on 6 month and stop running FP in any cases only Ops and some PVP. Ususaly your choice in quests didnt make anything now or in future(LS/DS usles), this work like usual text quests but pick some more time for blabing. Waste of time in short version.

[Kaphik]

The problem isn't the voice acting. The problem, if it could be called a problem is the reason a person plays the game. Many people find quests, any quests to be just means to get rewards to improve their character. Be it with gear, experience, money, whatever. That's the type of person who wants to speed through quest text and skip the dialog. There's nothing inherently wrong with that attitude and there are plenty of times I myself have that same attitude when playing. I want to get through something quickly to get to something I may find a bit more fun at that time. You just have to realize and accept the fact that voice acting is a core feature of this game and you chose to play that game.

 

There's nothing wrong with the voice acting, and nothing wrong with people who want to skip it. This is the game we play, and the voice acting isn't going away, it isn't affecting development of anything else in the game because it's how the game was designed.

[Cerion]

If any future themepark MMO lacks excellent VO and story, I will not subscribe. Period. It's one of the reasons I'm not going to buy GW2 which seems as though it simply brought its office workers into a recording booth and told them to read the script, lol.

 

Voiced mission are worth it in the end. If I want to read text, I'll grab my Kindle or a book.

[SentinelDranoel]

voice overs are Awesome, we need more dialogue choices IMO

[Gerandar]

I find the voice acting to be bland. its okay in the class story area's but I dont need to have the NPC tell me why they want those guys dead or want me to gather X amount of boxes frankly it was a waste of time and money they could have used to make the game a much more thrilling gameplay exp.

[Jagrevi]

the only ones i space through are the dailies i do everyday.. which i think should be given to you from a terminal after you do them once with voice overs.or atleast have the option of getting them from a terminal, or go to the person .. it seems logical since they are redone daily

 

I think there's an incredibly important point here.

 

I love Story in the game - but I do not want story in the content I'm suppose to repeat again and again and again!

Even if I space-bar through the whole thing (which is hassle enough), I then have to swallow my roleplaying/story focus and pretend this whole thing isn't happening again.

 

Why can't HM's be "simulation themed" like some of those warzones? Or at least WRITTEN to make sense to be repeated? The appeal of this game was pitched as story, and the very nature of how the repeatable content is set up actively goes against this.

[Cerion]

So if VO missions aren't worth it, why is GW2 doing it? Why is TSW doing it? Nearly every themepark/hybrid MMO coming out has VO.

 

The OP is way out in left field if he thinks the game industry will turn back now, lol.

[Cerion]

I think there's an incredibly important point here.

 

I love Story in the game - but I do not want story in the content I'm suppose to repeat again and again and again!

Even if I space-bar through the whole thing (which is hassle enough), I then have to swallow my roleplaying/story focus and pretend this whole thing isn't happening again.

 

Why can't HM's be "simulation themed" like some of those warzones? Or at least WRITTEN to make sense to be repeated? The appeal of this game was pitched as story, and the very nature of how the repeatable content is set up actively goes against this.

 

I think BW learned this lesson, as you see it with the Black Hole dailies. They have a VO and cinematic to introduce the dailies, but the dailies themselves come from a terminal.

[rjkishida]

Voice acting is good the first time, after that... meh. I heard it before. I don't need to hear the same thing again.

[hulkweazel]

So if VO missions aren't worth it, why is GW2 doing it? Why is TSW doing it? Nearly every themepark/hybrid MMO coming out has VO.

 

The OP is way out in left field if he thinks the game industry will turn back now, lol.

From the amount that I've played GW2, while VO is in the game it's nowhere near as extensive as in SWTOR. It was added for immersion, not as the main draw of the game.

 

Which is the problem with SWTOR. With that much invested into the story, people that have already completed the story have very little to do after that. BW seemed to expect that people will be leveling alts all day, but grinding through the same quest areas and same area story arcs just to see another story is not really fun.

 

I agree with the OP. Extensive VO is fine for a single player game, but for an MMO it just doesn't work.

[Skizzik]

Bioware made the decision to make Story/VO their top priority. By doing so, the actual game play seriously suffered. Without the story at this point in the game, there's no reason to play. The combat mechanics are just that bad. The only way that BW is going to continue to make this game profitable is if they continue on with making great VO work to cater to the people that desire that type of thing. Sure they'll lose the crowd that's just in it for the game play itself, but that crowd, for the most part, has already left. They now need to cater to their base.

[Cerion]

I agree with the OP. Extensive VO is fine for a single player game, but for an MMO it just doesn't work.

 

Extensive VO, quality VO, is the only thing that will work for Themeparks going forward. The hold-over of text from MUDs is gone.

[Gungan]

So if VO missions aren't worth it, why is GW2 doing it? Why is TSW doing it? Nearly every themepark/hybrid MMO coming out has VO.

 

The OP is way out in left field if he thinks the game industry will turn back now, lol.

 

GW2 isn't putting VO on every side quest, just the personal story.

[Cerion]

GW2 isn't putting VO on every side quest, just the personal story.

 

I said 'going forward'. Which means games that are in development, and not a few months away from release with features locked.

[Gungan]

I said 'going forward'. Which means games that are in development, and not a few months away from release with features locked.

 

And I disagree with that assessment. There's no reason to voice generic side missions other than "it's nice". It's also a total waste of money.

[Star-ranger]

While the voice overs are sorta fun, I've always thought they were just a gimmick. They did a great job of it but it's totally unnecessary for the story. Text works just fine...unless you're blind in which case you won't be playing a graphic MMO anyway.

 

My feeling is that so much more could have been done with this game for the investment of the dollars they put into the voice acting. Moreover the voice acting drives up the price & development time of future content.

 

One of the things that bugs me about it is my character rarely says something even close to the conversation choices I pick. Like my choice is: "Your foolishness will get us all killed!!" what the character says is: "May the Force be with you". [the above quotes are for illustrative purposes and not intended to be a direct quote of actual dialogue]

Edited May 12, 2012 by Star-ranger

[Drebs]

I think it's pretty clear at this point. As nice as it is to have the voice acting, it does little to create community. If more focus had been put on designing systems to sustain multiplayer experiences, the game wouldn't be in the awkward place it is today, with some of the most devoted and prominent guilds experiencing huge downturns in activity.

[Thondan]

I disagree. The best part about this game is the immersive atmosphere and the depth of the storytelling. If I wanted to scroll through quest text and then run off to kill ten droids or kobolds or or whatever, I would just go play another game that is no longer going through the growing pains this one is experiencing.

 

The voice acting is an enormous part of what makes this game so enjoyable. When I explain to people why I like this game so much, it is the first thing I tell them about; the interactive voice-acted cut scenes give it the immersive feel of a single-player roleplaying game, but set in a massively multiplayer universe.

 

If you take away the immersive atmosphere and the storytelling, it is really just WoW in space. Why would anyone ever play that game rather than just playing WoW?

 

Except you ARE killing 10 droids and gathering 5 hides. It's just with voice acting at the beginning and end.

[Januaria]

Honestly, I've played so many alts that when one of my toons gets to a new area (already played on another alt) and I see a bunch of hollow yellow triangles, I say out loud, "Jeez, I have to listen to these blabber-mouths again!"

 

Peeps, I have places to go, people to meet, appointments to keep; I simply do not have time for all this jibber jabber and lolly gagging...

[Persephonee]

Well, to the OP, you are 100% correct, if any company was thinking about doing voiceovers in their MMO, SWTOR will make them rethink doing so. Just so much WASTED budget on a feature that I would estimate 75% of their player base "space bars through", not to mention the corner that they have painted themselves into in the way of expansion missions, just a horrible feature and a shame that BW pissed so much money away on it.

 

How did you come to this percentage?

 

I ask because in the group that I play with there are certain things that we actually play over and over again specifically because we like the voice acting part of it. Yea we space bar through most of the dailies we do but while we are in vent all too often someone will say, "sorry guys this is my favorite part i can't spacebar though this I just have to see it" and someone else will be like, "that's kool because I was watching it anyway, i like it too." or whatever..

 

Also I have too many alts to admit too and I rarely spacebar because the story part of the leveling is an experience in itself that I only get from swtor and why I love the game.

 

Idk maybe I am in the 25% that doesn't spacebar... just really curious on where the number came from. I'd be interested on reading what was done to get to the 75% spacebar and if that encompasses all of the story. part of the story, just repeatable missions or if the number was picked out of thin air.