mikebevo Posted October 23, 2015 Share Posted October 23, 2015 To all the people freaking out over this, have you all never read a book? Your imagination is meant to be used to give the characters a voice. In the case of the Alliance system you already know what your characters sound like, so it is a very small imaginative leap to fill in the gaps. If I wanted to read a book, I would read a book. If I wanted to play a outdated 12 year old game for nostalgia reasons, I would play KotOR. I want to hear my smart aleck smuggler, not read about it. The female smuggler voice is one of the things that have kept me playing since beta. Oh no new operations because we are going to concentrate on story. Well this to me is part of the story and it looks like a huge step backwards not forward. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nightblazer Posted October 23, 2015 Share Posted October 23, 2015 I personally like this change. It pays homage to how KoTOR and KoTOR2 were done. It's to honor those games which had an influence on this game and it was done intentionally for that reason. I don't feel like it should be changed. I think it's an awesome feature, brings back memories of those games and is a great way to show appreciation for what came before. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ImmortalLowlife Posted October 23, 2015 Share Posted October 23, 2015 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?..... Uhh because even BW has stated that VO cost are not as much as people think..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
otterscrubber Posted October 23, 2015 Share Posted October 23, 2015 Disagree with the OP, i like the new conversation style and the throwback to KoToR dialogue, there is still plenty of cinematic conversations, just when they need to be. To me this streamlined the quest process which frankly I found quite tedious having to sit through a cinematic even for a relatively minor quest lines. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mmmbuddah Posted October 23, 2015 Share Posted October 23, 2015 If I wanted to read a book, I would read a book. If I wanted to play a outdated 12 year old game for nostalgia reasons, I would play KotOR. I want to hear my smart aleck smuggler, not read about it. The female smuggler voice is one of the things that have kept me playing since beta. Oh no new operations because we are going to concentrate on story. Well this to me is part of the story and it looks like a huge step backwards not forward. THIS so much! I loved the trooper voice, kind of a roughneck type voice, and the female commander shep! Now it is like : I am a husk of nothing , woo hoo : Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheSeventhJedi Posted October 23, 2015 Author 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? Or would you rather have the expansion/patch delayed? Or would you rather have the expansion storyline shorter? How about the completely worthless crafting overhaul? Level sync? That trailer, which looks to have cost more than this entire expansion combined? 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. Thank you! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kiesu Posted October 23, 2015 Share Posted October 23, 2015 If I wanted to read a book, I would read a book. Text in game =/= book. LOL. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikebevo Posted October 23, 2015 Share Posted October 23, 2015 Text in game =/= book. LOL. Funny you couldn't even read what I was replying too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nightvale Posted October 23, 2015 Share Posted October 23, 2015 I relate people saying "this is a nice throwback to KOTOR" to buying a new car and being told it's only equipped with an AM radio, and then replying "Wow, this is great, what an homage to the 'olden days' of cars!" If this was done for cost savings, actor strikes or whatever reason, that's fine. I can understand that. Just don't skimp on something and then try to tell me it's a feature. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Taramayne Posted October 23, 2015 Share Posted October 23, 2015 (edited) It is possible they did it this way because we will be returning to these alliance contacts many, many times. If we had to do voiced cut scenes with the exact same conversations each time we came to turn in lockboxes it would get old very fast. Even with spacebar, the list option is much faster than repeating the same cut scene over and over and over. While it is less immersive than full VA, I think it serves the purpose better for the sake of game play. Perhaps, a better option would have been to use VA for the FIRST conversations with the contacts, but then switch to the list for any repeat visits. But it is what it is. I personally can live with it. Edited October 23, 2015 by Taramayne Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Olixander Posted October 23, 2015 Share Posted October 23, 2015 That trailer cost a pretty penny, several million I think we've been informed. That would pay for a lot of voice acting, I think. Sadly, there really are people who are hook-line-and-sinker buying, I mean completely eating up, this nonsense about a "homage to KOTOR". This. To point out the obvious -- since some people need it pointed out -- SWTOR isn't KOTOR. To point something else which should be obvious but which, yet again, some people apparently need to have shown to them, it is not immersive to have to read my character's dialogue and stare at his static, un-animated back, rather than see and hear him take part in a conversation as he normally does. I've read numerous comments in this thread about how the Alliance dialogue conversation system is so immersive, but no, it isn't. Unless, of course, you find staring at the back of your character's head while you read several lines of text immersive. Let's all just be honest and admit the truth: The Alliance conversation system was simply thrown together lazily at the last minute. It sucks, along with the rest of this so-called expansion, which took about four hours to complete. That's not an expansion. That's not even an adventure pack. That's a demo. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tashia Posted October 23, 2015 Share Posted October 23, 2015 agreed -- awful decision -- biggest disappointment of the new expansion .... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fardarter Posted October 23, 2015 Share Posted October 23, 2015 it's a way to get more content into the game quickly without calling in dozens of voice actors. It's a tradeoff for sure. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Inzuher Posted October 23, 2015 Share Posted October 23, 2015 I LOVE the alliance conversation and if you think about it it's really smart too. This way they can spend money on one voice actor rather than several, providing us with more content and deep companion conversations. Also it's very nostalgic for people who played Kotor. I'm all for it! The things I don't like are things like the Forced level sync, removing the planetary equipment vendors and so on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ghoste Posted October 23, 2015 Share Posted October 23, 2015 I Think its a way to slow phase out the main character voice actor. So that they don't have to rely on those voice actors anymore to do the voices. With npcs it can be random voice actors and they aren't stuck with a voice actor anymore. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VitalityPrime Posted October 23, 2015 Share Posted October 23, 2015 (edited) 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. I have a feeling that even if they came out with future content that had no voice over at all... ...people would be saying "It's an awesome homage to all the old games...that didn't have voice over" I completely understand if they needed to cut back on the budget, so they had to do the Alliance thing this way...but to act like the only reason they did this was because it's a "homage to KoToR" is absurd. Edited October 23, 2015 by VitalityPrime Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Transcendent Posted October 23, 2015 Share Posted October 23, 2015 (edited) If they want to pay tribute to KOTOR with this then it's their game and you're just going to have to deal with it or else. That's all well said and done, however what about the players that never played KOTOR? The draw for some players stems from other BioWare games (for me it was the Mass Effect series), which use the conversation wheel. Harking back to a game that players haven't played and deviating from what more "recent" BioWare fans are used to isn't consistent with the overall approach by "BioWare" (I know, different studios). The point being on this one (just for me personally) was it was so jarring going from the conversation wheel (regardless of my character talking or not), to a letterbox format with naff text formatting? It really did completely deviate from a consistent UI throughout the rest of not only SWTOR, but other BioWare games in general that use a similar system. I can live with BioWare wanting to pay homage to any previous games they have made, put in easter eggs and such like - that's paying homage. To do what they did though? It really does mean that if I choose to resub in the future to see the rest of the main story (it's debatable currently) then I'll never ever run anything even remotely related to Alliances for two reasons - primary being the conversation UI used, secondly being made to go back to other planets with the other thing I don't like in it's current form. That locks away a lot of content behind, what is essentially, a UI choice that doesn't remain consistent throughout the game (regardless of which aspect of the game it ties specifically too, it's still all part of the same game). Edited October 23, 2015 by Transcendent Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reno_Tarshil Posted October 23, 2015 Share Posted October 23, 2015 That's all well said and done, however what about the players that never played KOTOR? The draw for some players stems from other BioWare games (for me it was the Mass Effect series), which use the conversation wheel. Harking back to a game that players haven't played and deviating from what more "recent" BioWare fans are used to isn't consistent with the overall approach by "BioWare" (I know, different studios). The point being on this one (just for me personally) was it was so jarring going from the conversation wheel (regardless of my character talking or not), to a letterbox format with naff text formatting? It really did completely deviate from a consistent UI throughout the rest of not only SWTOR, but other BioWare games in general that use a similar system. I can live with BioWare wanting to pay homage to any previous games they have made, put in easter eggs and such like - that's paying homage. To do what they did though? It really does mean that if I choose to resub in the future to see the rest of the main story (it's debatable currently) then I'll never ever run anything even remotely related to Alliances for two reasons - primary being the conversation UI used, secondly being made to go back to other planets with the other thing I don't like in it's current form. That locks away a lot of content behind, what is essentially, a UI choice that doesn't remain consistent throughout the game (regardless of which aspect of the game it ties specifically too, it's still all part of the same game). To the players who have never played KOTOR? I say oh well, this was a decision BW made in regard to a side system for their current game that they thought would be a nice tribute to a previous game withing the Game Series Universe. It doesn't lock it away. It's very much open to anyone who wishes to attempt it. And the content that it produces encourages both Solo and Group play to achieve goals. Level Sync has made every planet that was already easy even easier. Heroics on Nar Shaddaa that I could solo before at level and I'm talking Complete all the objectives that show up by myself are now faceroll easy. If a player decides that because of a UI that they're not going to do content then that's on that player and that doesn't make the content locked because it still remains very easily open to them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheSeventhJedi Posted October 23, 2015 Author Share Posted October 23, 2015 I Think its a way to slow phase out the main character voice actor. So that they don't have to rely on those voice actors anymore to do the voices. With npcs it can be random voice actors and they aren't stuck with a voice actor anymore. I'd unsub the day we got that announcement (which means we'd probably find out when it actually dropped.) As it stands, I'm debating about how long I want to stay. I was all for the return to story. I enjoy ops, but I was never hardcore, and I missed a lot of the launch ones because I took my sweet time leveling. I'd go as far as to call the new story content pretty dang great. HOWEVER, almost everything else has me scratching my head and wondering why I should do anything but the story. They removed sidequest immersion entirely. The new crafting is nonsensical. The new grind is on its way to Korean proportions. I finished the story with my main, started doing the companion stuff, and then realized I didn't care and moved on to see the story with a new character. It's so similar that I just don't see the point in doing it with 14 alts who have had so much effort removed. Debate pros and cons all you like, I don't feel happy when I think about the changes, I'm not dying to log in and do that fresh return to story where your choices matter (haha, I know,) and I no longer talk about the future of the game as something that's definitely going to include me. That's bad. I'll play just about any game that has a lightsaber in it, but this game is losing its value to me. The "go play something else" argument is bad - because I absolutely will. This xpac is absolutely a gamble, and if it doesn't pay off, you may have to "go play something else" too - whether you want to or not. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NovusRex Posted October 23, 2015 Share Posted October 23, 2015 I don't think it's a budget issue. More a time pressure/get it out of the door issue. They had money for a trailer (which looked great, but cost ridiculous much), so I doubt they had to cut the budget for our 16 voice actors/actresses. The Alliance convo's are..... I hate it. I usually don't use the word 'hate', but it feels so out of place. I hate to play silent characters a lot, I can't stand it, it's as simple as that. That's why I liked the Bioware games (I started with ME2, ME3, DA2, DAI (which sucked btw), and not the Elder Scroll games for example. ME2 was great, because of the conversations and the dialogues. With Alliance they are kinda using ME2's concept, except they forget to implent the most important thing: have your character interact/chat with the companions you're meeting again after so many years. Example: Compare the ME3 "meet Grunt again" scene with the *meet old companion in Alliance* scene. It's so lifeless, it's not funny. I wanted to hug Talos or flirt with him again, but it's like I was never gone. No emotional impact. Same with Xalek. It's all feeling empty, for what is supposed to be the most emotional thing in the game: meet your friends back after 5 years. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kai-Sun Posted October 23, 2015 Share Posted October 23, 2015 I really enjoy it, I don't mind the dialogue wheel or talking but I think this helps tie it to old games and gives them an easier time adding stuff besides the main story. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JattaGin Posted October 23, 2015 Share Posted October 23, 2015 I just remember something (I hope my memory serves me well): In "Day of the Tentacle" you could use a computer to play the full game of "Maniac Mansion" (the predecessor of DotT). That's what the alliance conversation reminds me of. A great easter egg, but it also shows you how advanced and much better the new game (DotT, Swtor) is compared to the original. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikebevo Posted October 23, 2015 Share Posted October 23, 2015 That's what the alliance conversation reminds me of. A great easter egg, but it also shows you how advanced and much better the new game (DotT, Swtor) is compared to the original. Just reminded me why I don't play KotOR or TSL anymore. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VitalityPrime Posted October 23, 2015 Share Posted October 23, 2015 (edited) I don't think it's a budget issue. More a time pressure/get it out of the door issue. They had money for a trailer (which looked great, but cost ridiculous much), so I doubt they had to cut the budget for our 16 voice actors/actresses. The Alliance convo's are..... I hate it. I usually don't use the word 'hate', but it feels so out of place. I hate to play silent characters a lot, I can't stand it, it's as simple as that. That's why I liked the Bioware games (I started with ME2, ME3, DA2, DAI (which sucked btw), and not the Elder Scroll games for example. ME2 was great, because of the conversations and the dialogues. With Alliance they are kinda using ME2's concept, except they forget to implent the most important thing: have your character interact/chat with the companions you're meeting again after so many years. Example: Compare the ME3 "meet Grunt again" scene with the *meet old companion in Alliance* scene. It's so lifeless, it's not funny. I wanted to hug Talos or flirt with him again, but it's like I was never gone. No emotional impact. Same with Xalek. It's all feeling empty, for what is supposed to be the most emotional thing in the game: meet your friends back after 5 years. Ouch...it's like this for your class story companions as well? I assumed it was only like this for when you go to recruit companions from other classes. Edited October 23, 2015 by VitalityPrime Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheSeventhJedi Posted October 23, 2015 Author Share Posted October 23, 2015 Ouch...it's like this for your class story companions as well? I assumed it was only like this for when you go to recruit companions from other classes. Yup. Your choices totally "matter." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts