menofhorror Posted October 22, 2015 Share Posted October 22, 2015 It`s beyond silly to me that out of everything this is what many throw a tantrum about. The player voice will still be there for the main chapters but for the alliance system which simply gives so many dialog options with varios contacts and companions (and more to come later on) the amount of player voice work would be insane. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iryfindel Posted October 22, 2015 Share Posted October 22, 2015 (edited) The player voice will still be there for the main chapters but for the alliance system which simply gives so many dialog options with varios contacts and companions (and more to come later on) the amount of player voice work would be insane. Companions have always been a major part of the original class stories and BWs intent with KotFE was to give them back this position again. That was a large part of their pitch for 4.0 and just as central to this update as improved cinematics and storytelling. Distancing all the conversations with companions from the main story by chosing to implement such a different format for it is not the way to achieve that. I would take 5 fully voiced companion stories over 20 of these one-sided conversations. It is so strikingly dissimilar that it breaks immersion, breaks with the main story arc and therefore feels like it is not an integral part of it. BW is simply not delivering on their promise with this one and "KOTOR throwback" is nothing but a PR-pitch to salvage what is ultimately a departure of the game's core feature and a decade back in game development. There is a reason this was not known earlier... Edited October 22, 2015 by Iryfindel Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sith_Ravager Posted October 22, 2015 Share Posted October 22, 2015 If you want Bioware to spend more time and resources to have your player character VA, Then what feature(s) from the expansion/patch would you like to have cut? Or would you rather have the expansion/patch delayed? Or would you rather have the expansion storyline shorter? Lets see I would like the to cut: Making all companions cookie-cutter copies of each other, whos only difference is how I dress them up like Barbie dolls. If I wanted a Dress Up game, Id play one of those on Facebook... Mandatory Level Sync...dont like it, dont want it...only reason to put it in a game is because whiners are crying that High Levels come to the planet and kill stuff faster than them. Who cares...level up...its not that hard... Expansion Delayed: Yes delay the game, if that means that one of the only things that sets this MMO apart is continued. VO work and the Star Wars property are the only difference to all the other MMO's out there...but if your gonna back to the mid 90's with no VO then youre not doing your job. You can say "Homage to KOTOR" all you want, anyone who isnt a fanboi, pretty much realizes thats a load...( and before aforementioned Fanboi's come screaming that I have no proof, wheres yours...not some Dev Blog or Post, I want to see an actual internal memo between EA and BW that states nostalgia is the reason this was done. Otherwise Im gonna say EA = Cheap and Greedy) Storyline Shorter : Youre joking...its been completed in under 8 hours (possibly 6)...so for 4 to 6 months depending on when the next expansion comes out, all it is "Lets Grind stuff, to get back what we had before this expansion". Eight Hours is not an expansion, its a small DLC, maybe medium sized if you take it slow...but honestly thats not an expansion... So yeah, sure why not...Id rather have a smaller Alliance intro this "expansion" with full VO, compared to this lazy programming, lack of VO due to wanting to save money... This was not an expansion, this was mostly changing the core of the game...Companion Changes, Level Sync, general dumbing down of the game...but whatever they arent gonna change it, and EA isnt gonna get any less greedy, so if you wann play a Star Wars game your just gonna have to suck it up Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Codedrago Posted October 22, 2015 Share Posted October 22, 2015 The various story elements on Taris, various other planets, and the entire Revan arc (arcs?) are all KOTOR throwbacks that no one ever complained about. ...What part of the fourms have you been looking at then!? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
menofhorror Posted October 22, 2015 Share Posted October 22, 2015 Companions have always been a major part of the original class stories and BWs intent with KotFE was to give them back this position again. That was a large part of their pitch for 4.0 and just as central to this update as improved cinematics and storytelling. Distancing all the conversations with companions from the main story by chosing to implement such a different format for it is not the way to achieve that. I would take 5 fully voiced companion stories over 20 of these one-sided conversations. It is so strikingly dissimilar that it breaks immersion, breaks with the main story arc and therefore feels like it is not an integral part of it. BW is simply not delivering on their promise with this one and "KOTOR throwback" is nothing but a PR-pitch to salvage what is ultimately a departure of the game's core feature and a decade back in game development. There is a reason this was not known earlier... Ehm yes but you do realize they couldn`t just randomly pick a few companions and let the others just dissapear? It sounds simply in your words but do you realize the uproar if Bioware Austin would have just killed off over 15 companions and focused entirely on the others? How are they not delivering? They allow you to do what they said you will be. Recruit companions from other classes and other recruits. How is this now what they promised? Lol of course this is a way to cheapen costs lol. Do you seriously expect them to have the same budget now as they did for the launch of the game? And the main chapters still have the player voice. It`s just the alliance side missions. And I take such side missions HEAPS AND BOUNDS over the stuff in SOR and Ziost. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gokkus Posted October 22, 2015 Share Posted October 22, 2015 (edited) It`s beyond silly to me that out of everything this is what many throw a tantrum about. The player voice will still be there for the main chapters but for the alliance system which simply gives so many dialog options with varios contacts and companions (and more to come later on) the amount of player voice work would be insane. Exactly this. And the self-rightiousness with which the first post is written is appaling. OP they should fire people because you dont like something they did? That seriously calls for a reality check because it shows a gross overestimation of your own importance. Unsub and BW wont even notice it. Except maybe for the forums being a better place. Edited October 22, 2015 by Gokkus Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Codedrago Posted October 22, 2015 Share Posted October 22, 2015 SWTOR was the first MMO that changed the world. /QUOTE] I love SWTOR, Voice acting wasn't new in MMO's at this point, it defiantly wasn't something revolutionary. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
menofhorror Posted October 23, 2015 Share Posted October 23, 2015 I mean I understand frustration and ranting ( I did myself) but to rant that side missions aren`t up on par with the main story chapters? I am honestly really happy that we get this entire side mission system as I thought old companions would be pretty much irrelevant in this new content. And honestly it`s really like the vanilla content without the player voice but we get a more detailed response options and we KNOW EXACTLY what out character`s saying. Of course it would be great if the player voice would talk too during cutscenes but not having them to me is slightly annoying. Some people seem to be so frustrated by that though, It`s insane. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Max_Killjoy Posted October 23, 2015 Share Posted October 23, 2015 If you want Bioware to spend more time and resources to have your player character VA, Then what feature(s) from the expansion/patch would you like to have cut? The multi-million-dollar trailer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sith-Viscera Posted October 23, 2015 Share Posted October 23, 2015 These are an awesome homage to KOTOR roots, and the character they are talking to is fully voiced. That we don't have voice isn't a big deal really, its just a bit of fun. Everyone involved in the decision to do this should get a raise an promotion. What he said. I take my Hat of to BW i am Loving this EPIC new STORY LINE. It is like playing KOTOR but being voiced and the game play and graphics are superior and it is down right FREAKING FUN as HELL again. It feels more realistic do to the fact there are other players running around as well. There are always going to be people that will not be satisfied how BW does things. Mainly because they want to base SWTOR on other MMOs like WoW. THIS ISNT WoW, i am glad it isnt WoW. This is STAR WARS THE OLD REPUBLIC and this is BW trying to keep it fresh and still sticking to what this was based off of, which were the original 2 Single player games. They have combined the Single with the MMO and that is FRESH and these story lines are Epic. At the same time we all have our Opinions and likes and dis-likes, but if you dont like it at all. Then go play another game of some sort if that is what makes you happy. Take Care and Be Well......... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iryfindel Posted October 23, 2015 Share Posted October 23, 2015 (edited) Ehm yes but you do realize they couldn`t just randomly pick a few companions and let the others just dissapear? It sounds simply in your words but do you realize the uproar if Bioware Austin would have just killed off over 15 companions and focused entirely on the others? Now you are putting words in my mouth. You made the point that the current Alliance conversations would have been almost impossible to fully VO due to the shere number of different conversations that would have to be recorded. In response, I merely stated that I would have preferred less options over fully voiced over content. This does not surmount to the random selection of chosen companions that get to live to fight another day. Given the cataclysmic events of the KotFE story however, I feel that limiting companion choices could have been a very real possibility. Have you ever heard of a war without casualties? Moreover, by restricting cross-class companion recruitment and introducing less new ones they could have ended up with the same amount of conversations to record with minimal extra VAs on the payroll. Yes I understand that BWs budget is not the same as it was at launch, nor am I expecting the same amount and type of content to be delivered. I am merely saying that I am of the personal opinion that the current format for Alliance conversations was a poor choice and I would have preferred less companion options with higher quality content (i.e. fully voiced conversations) through more strategic allocation of resources. That way, companions outside the main cast would have felt more integral to the story to me, rather than window dressing in "side-missions" that lost a significant chunk of their emotional attachment to the story and your character. Edited October 23, 2015 by Iryfindel Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Going Posted October 23, 2015 Share Posted October 23, 2015 Completely disagree with op This brings me back to kotor and it makes me happy. Sorry you feel the way you do. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
menofhorror Posted October 23, 2015 Share Posted October 23, 2015 Now you are putting words in my mouth. You made the point that the current Alliance conversations would have been almost impossible to fully VO due to the shere number of different conversations that would have to be recorded. In response, I merely stated that I would have preferred less options over fully voiced over content. This does not surmount to the random selection of chosen companions that get to live to fight another day. Given the cataclysmic events of the KotFE story however, I feel that limiting companion choices could have been a very real possibility. Have you ever heard of a war without casualties? Moreover, by restricting cross-class companion recruitment they could have ended up with the same amount of conversations to record with minimal extra VAs on the payroll. Yes I understand that BWs budgets is not the same as it was at launch, nor am I expecting the same amount and type of content to be delivered. I am merely saying that I am of the personal opinion that the current format for Alliance conversations was a poor choice and I would have preferred less companion options with higher quality content (i.e. fully voiced conversations) through more strategic allocation of resources. What I am saying of course is left to speculation and I can`t confirm my beliefs and guesses since I am not a dev. However I do believe that with the addition of more recruits and companions the amount of work for player voice(for all 8 classes) would have been insane. And you did say "I would take 5 fully voiced companion stories over 20 of these one-sided conversations" and sure maybe that would have been bettter but on what criteria would you choose which companions you are going to focus on for the story? Sure a war without casualities is unheard but can you imagine the uproar if some companions would be actually gone for good? I like the Alliance conversations. Sure the player voice is missing but everything else works fine for me. Of course I too would love if the player voice would be in the classic conversations. But I really don`t see it as a big of a deal to me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kiesu Posted October 23, 2015 Share Posted October 23, 2015 Haha here I am happily playing away and maxing alliance reps without giving two thoughts about some VO. I'm one of those people who need to read every note and mail and lore and codex I come across anyway so not having a voice for this part is really no big deal at all for me. I'm used to playing text-based games, some years ago those were the only types of games we had anyway. These days people apparently want even text read to them outloud which i find extremely hilarious. I would disable my characters voice and imagine him a voice of his own if I could. I'm one of those people saddened by Fallout4 pc suddenly having a voice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coremar Posted October 23, 2015 Share Posted October 23, 2015 And you did say "I would take 5 fully voiced companion stories over 20 of these one-sided conversations" and sure maybe that would have been bettter but on what criteria would you choose which companions you are going to focus on for the story? Maybe just the ones who are relevant for your class? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LordArtemis Posted October 23, 2015 Share Posted October 23, 2015 Those of you saying you like it because it reminds you of KOTOR I have a few points to bring up... 1. This is not KOTOR. It has a completely different style, set of expectations, and player base 2. Just because you played KOTOR and enjoyed the conversation system does not mean that -a) anyone else has played it -b) anyone else enjoyed it. -c) it belongs in this game 3. The KOTOR system in general is not bad, merely the lack of VO on the part of the character. 4. Immersion-breaking: KOTOR had no voice for Revan, this game gives each character a voice. Had Revan been given a voice for everything up to the last few key quests, and then the game just gives up and robs him of his voice for almost the entire rest of the game you'd be pissed too. That is what is happening here. 5. There are already a host of homages and tributes to KOTOR throughout this game. Companion system? Taris? Revan? Rakata Prime? Mannan? Various Mandalorian quests? That is just scratching the surface... To argue that this was their way of honoring the old game, give it up they've done that. Time to move on, not backwards. These are a few of the key points. There are of course more, but my intent is to show that "honoring KOTOR" is in no way an excuse for them to pull a stupid stunt like this. I know there are also those who argue that it was cost of Voice Actors... yeah that doesn't matter either for points made explicitly and repeatedly throughout this and the other half-dozen threads about this issue. I will speak to your points. 1) Of course this isn't KotOR. That much is obvious. However, you are speculating with respect to the playerbase. I would speculate that there are many fans of the original games here. 2) Fair enough. But it is an odd point to make, since a person that expresses the fact that they like this system is likely not going to be swayed by your point. 3) Again, fair enough. That is your opinion, and others have expressed otherwise. 4) The most reputable point you make IMO. Yes, this is an odd fit in a fully voiced game. Though I find it fine, I am sure others would find it a bit of an odd duck in this game. 5) The prior existence of nods to KotOR does not preclude the addition of future nods to the game, nor should it IMO. I dont think it is a matter of needing an excuse. IMO this is a valid complaint, but it is not as serious as some folks make it out to be. Just my view of course. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brodoin Posted October 23, 2015 Share Posted October 23, 2015 (edited) Haha here I am happily playing away and maxing alliance reps without giving two thoughts about some VO. I'm one of those people who need to read every note and mail and lore and codex I come across anyway so not having a voice for this part is really no big deal at all for me. I'm used to playing text-based games, some years ago those were the only types of games we had anyway. These days people apparently want even text read to them outloud which i find extremely hilarious. I would disable my characters voice and imagine him a voice of his own if I could. I'm one of those people saddened by Fallout4 pc suddenly having a voice. It's called advancement, not being read to. Games have gotten to the point where we can have hundreds of thousands lines of dialog in a single game. An unvoiced game is fine. A fully voiced game is fine. An unvoiced game that becomes voiced is advancement. A voiced game that has unvoiced parts is backwards. The opposite of advancement. I honestly question how people can't see that, even if they're fine with this change. Edited October 23, 2015 by Brodoin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vadess Posted October 23, 2015 Share Posted October 23, 2015 I take my praise back actually, as a lot of the conversations are done in KOTOR style... And that's not what SWTOR was originally advertised as. SWTOR is supposed to be a fully voiced MMO... Why is my character not voiced on planets outside of the Alliance HQ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Birtram Posted October 23, 2015 Share Posted October 23, 2015 (edited) We have to keep in mind that the Alliance system brings a lot of new followers and eventually lets your recruit all companions from all classes. Fully voicing player responses from each VA for the 8 classes (male and female) for all those conversations has to cost a lot of money. Why does everyone seem to willingly ignore this? That's a LOT of dialogue for something that isn't part of the main, big story chapters. Hell, it would be a significantly bigger amount of recorded dialogue that what we get in the chapters themselves! I'm ok with cutting costs there and putting the money where it really matters (the main story). I'm actually surprised that we do get voiceovers for those characters we talk to in such convos (although they cheat a bit by making all planetary contacts aliens who don't need proper VA). And I have to say that I do dig the KOTOR vibe and the extra choices we get since they don't need to be voiced. I think that it's a good spin and the best way they could have done it without the VA. This really, really, really isn't that big of a deal. Edited October 23, 2015 by Birtram Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Foxmalice Posted October 23, 2015 Share Posted October 23, 2015 I don't mind it much but does anyone else have a glitch where the words/choices are blacked out unless you hover your curser over them then you cant sort of read the lines? this is quite annoying never had that problem before Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mieeka Posted October 23, 2015 Share Posted October 23, 2015 i don't mind the changes when I'm playing Solo. What i do mind is doing these quests with a group of friends and not knowing what choice they picked. There's nothing worse than having half a conversation! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
menofhorror Posted October 23, 2015 Share Posted October 23, 2015 Maybe just the ones who are relevant for your class? But they are all relevant for me. :=) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JourrnoRush Posted October 23, 2015 Share Posted October 23, 2015 If they would have done this from day one, ZERO whining I bet. Since they started doing this, people are going to whine because they want to hear their characters speak. Personally, I don't care. It's not like what I picked matched to what I actually thought my character was going to say to the NPC lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kiesu Posted October 23, 2015 Share Posted October 23, 2015 (edited) It's called advancement, not being read to. Games have gotten to the point where we can have hundreds of thousands lines of dialog in a single game. An unvoiced game is fine. A fully voiced game is fine. An unvoiced game that becomes voiced is advancement. A voiced game that has unvoiced parts is backwards. The opposite of advancement. I honestly question how people can't see that, even if they're fine with this change. VO costs a LOT of money. Voice actors are expensive, especially on the level BW wants them. This makes restraints on the amounts of writing and lines that can be put to work= less content with greater expense. I honestly question how people cannot see that, or do they honestly want less content just to hear their character speak, in which case I facepalm after all the whine about not-enough-content. Edited October 23, 2015 by Kiesu Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sindariel Posted October 23, 2015 Share Posted October 23, 2015 Biggest bummer with those new so-called "classic style" dialogues are those stupid black bars and the fact that you can't see the chat windows during conversations. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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