Voice overs potentially ToRs downfall?

[SNCommand]

For me having a voice for my character is important, I wouldn't enjoy the game as much if everyone was as quiet as in those other MMOs

[Aelther]

FULL voice-over is what defines this MMO. And honestly I can't even imagine a modern game without full voice-over. If they ever decide NOT to voice-Over some conversations or side quests, it will just become another WoW... in space. I'm really tired of having to read all those lame text boxes, if i want to enjoy the story.

If I wanted to read the story I'd go get a book, or play Old-School Fallout again or something...

Edited September 3, 2012 by Aelther

[Hessen]

Voiceovers are a nice bonus, yes. But not the reason why people play a MMO.

 

I disagree.

 

I believe that the class stories, and the way they are played out with voice acting and dialogue choices, is a feature that is helping SWTOR retain a large amount of subscriptions.

[RickShan]

I'm here because of the story and especially the voice overs, if that ends, me and A LOT more people will quit.

Remove that and not even F2P will be able to save this game. TOR will just be another generic Sci-Fi MMO out there.

Edited September 3, 2012 by RickShan

[kevlarto]

No voice overs are one of the great things about this game to me, and the great class stories, strip away everything and we have a copy and past mmo like every other mmo out there with a different skin, We have a great Themepark but after you ride the rides a few times the park gets old, scripted content can only go so far.

 

Whats killing this game and all thempark mmo's is the lack of diverse game play, nothing to do between content updates, daily's and pvp can only get you so far.

 

Our toons need to feel like they live in the world and not just playing though it, we need elements of sandbox play and anyother type of game play that might fit, things to do outside combat, some free flowing dynamic player driven content anyting to open up the world.

 

I think going f2p is not addessing the main issues people are leaving this game, just adding more war zones and op's is not new content it is more of what we already have, I wonder how long the f2p players will last until they get bored. New to mmo's players will love the game but us veterans that have played since the days of eq the new formula for making mmo's is not all that new we have seen it since the late 90's../sigh

[Master-Nala]

Well, from my standpoint.. Im not talking about taking the voice overs away from the game. I just think they should leave it to the class quests and major world arcs. I dont think its necessary for every single side quest. I just think they could utitlize resources elsewhere and produce different types of content and at a faster rate.

 

I also think they could use it for introductions of content, like with the Black Hole. To be honest, I think that's very well done. I don't spacebar cutscenes for the most part, but being able to just grab dailies is very good IMO.

[xorcist]

I love the Voice Overs. However, like many people on here, I agree that it should've been a part of the Class missions only. Even the Flashpoints, and Ops are only good for a first timer, then everything becomes a space bar fest. It's not worth the time, effort and money put into those resources creating all that for a one time thing, regardless of how awesome the experience was.

 

Sometimes I wonder, what if they went the KOTOR way and had only the NPC's talk while you had 5 or 6 responses via text. Maybe not as satisfying as watching your character speak, but would've removed the restrictions during Character Creation in regards to species who only speak basic etc. Then there would be plenty of more time and money for more planets, species, character creation features, more content and polish.

 

Unfortunately i think the only way for any of this to happen is to start over with SWTOR II

[Valkirus]

Which is something this game does not facilitate. More than 20 and it becomes a lag fest. I think he was trying to indicate that if they spent the money on core development and not on voice overs, the results would have been an MMO, and not a single player online RPG.

 

Exactly. The voice overs are a great initial attraction for the game at the start and is a great experence enhancer as you level. But has no holding power once you finish your class story for most. Spending the money more on the things which make for a great MMO would have been better than all they did to make the game a great single player RPG.

[Kubernetic]

The best part of the game. Also could potentially be TORs biggest problem. We all know that leveling was the best aspect of the game. I think everyone could agree it was enjoyable, atleast the first time through. I think its going to hurt the game in the long run.

 

Reason 1... Voice overs are too costly to make. It takes a lot of money to not only pay the actors, for all the voice over work, but to also code everything and design cutscenes for it. The game is not doing as well as they had hoped it would do. F2P may turn that around and it may not. The funding may not be there for future voice over work.

 

Reason 2 ... Time it takes to create. Voice over work takes time. Not only in recording and editing but also, like above, in coding and cut scene design... syncing etc. I think that BW was pretty ambitious about future content and what they thought they could do.

 

I believe that because voice over work is both time consuming and costly, that it may not be that often. I dont think we will see the qaulity or quantity, of the leveling game, in the future. I think the past products are showing this already. We have had no story updates. The new dailies are all from a terminal, instead of quest givers with voice over. The planet Makeb has said to have world arc stories but no class stories and no companion stories, even though there will be a level cap increase. Sadly, I think the best part of the game is going to fall to the wayside for quicker and cheaper content. I also believe that this will turn away those that play the game for that experience alone. If that happens it will only get worse.

 

I think they would have been better off using voice over work for class story and companions as well as major world arc stories. I think all the side quests they should have just been like a terminal or the standard text box. This would have saved them in budget and time and those resources could have been allocated elsewhere. I dont expect to see the same quality as we had at launch, in the future.

 

I think this is just another of your threads trying to bash the game and talk it down. But opinions may vary.

[Evensong]

I would not enjoy this game as much if not all quests VO while leveling. I think that leveling 1-50 is the best from any MMOs. I have 5 level 50 toons and few in 40s and I am still not bored.

As of endgame, they should give us daily quests on every planet, so you would have a reason to go back to every one of them... maybe one or two introduction quests... I think it would be cool. The rest of them could be mission boxes.

[Petnil]

class stories are worse than voiceovers imo. All content we only play once is costly. And class story is a thing we play 1 maybe 2 times only. Also class story is making this game kinda linear. And playing the same class twice is creating RP issues. i cant have 2 leaders of havoq squad f.x.

 

I think it would have worked better with a faction story, and more normal quests while leveling so you can stay longer on the planets you like, and skip more of the planets you dont like. With only 2 storys instead of 8 it would have free´d up a lot of resources. Resouces that could have been used for better GTN search functions, better character customisation, a few minigames like podracer and pazzak f.x.

 

I fully enjoyed my class quests, all 4 of them (rep ftw) but i cant help but think the game is missing something when i complete my classquests. F.x on troopper, i havent heard from garza in months, and while i was leveling whe wouldn´t give me a break, allways sending me on new missions.

 

One more thing in favor of Faction story instead of class story. Adding to story is alot less costly since it´s only 2 stories instead of 8 you need to add.

Edited September 3, 2012 by Petnil

[Etheric]

I can't help but agree with the OP, even though i don't want to. I personally believe the only way we'll see the continuation of the class stories, full voiced, is through a paid expantion or maybe per class through the store. How else will they see a return on investment ? Currently the plan is to give the fully voiced class stories away for free, are they going to invest hundreds of thousands if not millions of dollars just to give it away too ?

 

The best laid schemes of Mice and Men

oft go awry,

And leave us nothing but grief and pain,

For promised joy!......Robert Burns

[Tordos]

Ideally, there is nothing wrong with voice-overs (story) but when most of this effort can only be appreciated one time through i.e. class quests, at least for a single character, then is it worth the investment? This is a highly subjective topic. Decisions were made, story was emphasized, and the aftermath is the current state of this game. I would not say voice-overs are the downfall of SWTOR, or even a mistake, indeed much of the discontent towards this game involves many facets and it is hard to single out one cause of misfortune, but to each their own. This is a classic example of 'having cake and eating it too'. It is nearly impossible to balance the game in such a way that all aspects are evenly developed and even harder to all be made enjoyable. Perhaps if story was not the main focus and the game mechanics had highest priority, we would have a more enjoyable gaming experience but who knows, SWTOR may have turned out to be... not so unique, and lacking some of the good qualities we do have in the game. I suppose what I am trying to say is it could have been worse had they not gone with some of the decision they made so far in this game. Edited September 3, 2012 by Tordos

[Anti_Bodies]

You don't need much VO for warzones... give us more warzones!

[Etheric]

if you are going to say it's a single player game then so is wow, tera, eve, aion, dcuo, and all the rest because every single one of them you can solo easy, no problem.

 

MMO is = having hundreds or thousands (considered massive) of people all online at the same time playing with each other in a world/universe. That's an mmo.

 

While i could in essence agree with your definition of "MMO" is that really the case with this game ? Having spent time on 3 different servers, besides Heroics, Flashpoints and Ops, I don't see alot of "with". Yes people play "around" other players, but not so much "with" and to me thats a big difference. This game does not necessitate the "with" aspect. Humans are opportunistic by nature and like water, gravitate to the path of least resistence. No sense putting myself out there if i don't need to, is there. Companions push it more toward SPG as well. While i enjoy their quest lines and appreciate the work put into their various personalities, now i have a questmate who will do what i want , when i want, where i want. I never need to consider their feeling or desires at all.

 

I have tried to group with other and the 2 general responses i recieve are 1) They just ignore me, 2) "why what would be the point". Maybe its just me, i don't know, do i smell:D

 

As to the games you mentioned, no clue are they SPGs never played them so this play style is new to me, but getting old very quickly ( i did try EVE but the more i read the more i felt i was preping for finals and i'm too old for that)

[Talahar]

To me it would feel really disjointed and wrong if voice overs were only used for class missions and nothing else.

I remember some quests in WoW that had voice over dialogue, and some only for certain characters.

Even occurences of a voiced character talking to another character that only hat chat bubble dialogue.

It felt strange, wrong, unfinished. Also a big no-no: being the silent protagonist.

I had the pleasure of participating in a free weekend of the secret world. They also have cutscenes for their

quests, but your character is silent. So you sit there, getting talked at, and no possible way to tell the quest

giver that he's a moron and a coward.

Bioware did it right with SWTOR, and you'd feel it if they did it differently.

[Liquidacid]

I love the voice overs... if I wanted to read I'd log out of the game and pick up a book

[Naholen]

I have played SWTOR since the beginning. I love most of BW's games and the idea of having companions that aren't just pets it is probably one of the major plus in this game for me. I love Star Wars and the storyline of each of the eight classes and the voice overs are amazing, it gives a wonderful immersion in the game and it makes it more effective and emotional. Quinn's betrayal broke my heart... and I did enjoyed telling Aric Jordan off... still I do have to agree with the OP.

 

Even if I really love the voice overs and the cut scenes, I do feel that because of that, the game outside of the storyline has been underdeveloped. Although for me it is for a different reasons. It is not the lack of content that bothers me. It is the bland, static world.

 

Walking around Coruscant apart from the Senate tower.. there isn't really anything. unless you count the view from the taxi shuttle around the different spots. The only world that I think is the most thought of is Corellia with its dilapidated buildings and destroyed sections, but nothing more other than that. We have the same set of vendors in every place. No real sense of discovery. No city to get lost into, no shops to explore, not chairs to sit, or beds you can really lie in. You walk in an area and see the same 30 clones look-alike humanoids placed around doing their thing...walking. It wouldn't be so bad if it wasn't just everywhere. I guess I want a sense of awe when I explore around the planets. Not just a location to kill, or encounter someone. I know, not everyone players the game for the same reason. Some people only care about topping PvP charts, others only getting the best gear, but there is also a good subset who want to play in a living breathing world.

[Jett-Rinn]

Repeating this tired canard (especially while maintaining a sub) shows how little weight anyone should give to your ideas.

 

Very true.

 

But getting back on topic, the developers at least on twitter still seem confident that they can continue to provide VO story to the game after they address the PVP , crafting and endgame issues; I'll give them the benefit of the doubt until the two year mark.

[Taleek]

I don't think it's going to be that much of a problem for them. If they really wanted to cut costs,they can recycle old voice overs adding bits and pieces to cover new content. As well as recycling alien voice overs, it all sounds the same just different sub titles lol.

 

They already do this, you can tell at like endgame dailies, for instance. Lots of your character's responses are just lines they say a lot.

[Jett-Rinn]

Also we know that they have recorded a lot more VO post launch as several of the actors commented about spending a lot of time back in the studio for SWTOR, I think they are for at least the foreseeable future stick with the original premise.

[Vicen]

Plenty of other MMO's have failed and they did not have full voice overs for everything...(Warhammer - Age of Conan - Aion etc )So while not the downfall...I reckon it did at least make a dent in the armor...

[Saiaku]

If I had that much money to spend on voice, I wouldn't use actors. I would rather have a professional team of programmers to make a voice-speaking program that sounds good and can be used with any voice type by code.

[GalacticKegger]

Having enjoyed KOTOR, voice overs are a main attraction for me. When I play LOTRO (my sword & board MMO ... I left WoW) I miss the VA & quest dialogue interaction, as well as having companions to micro. Voice acting is one of SWTOR's niches, and puts the "RP" in RPG like no other MMO imo.

[Kophar]

I agree with both you and the OP.

 

The fact that the voiceovers make it harder to add levels, does indeed make the expansions more expensive. But that is a problem for long-term planning.

 

It's not the reason why most people left the game already. They got more problems with short-term fidelity that should be adressed. But those problems aren't being adressed at all.

 

Voiceovers are a nice bonus, yes. But not the reason why people play a MMO.

 

You guys do know that BW allready have the content for the next 5 years made right? They said that in the prelaunch interview.