Jump to content

Quarterly Producer Letter for Q2 2024 ×

No more Chapter IX style dialog.


BelthezorX

Recommended Posts

Although I didn't dislike it as much as most of the others who didn't care for it, the classic Kotor style dialogue system in chapter 9 does feel a little disjointed from the rest of the game. I think they went with this route because of the nature of the quests, the number of variables used and the raw storage needed for the dialogue to be voiced.

 

I think a better solution is to present it in a way that requires no player voice acting; such as within a library of some kind and viewing holo-recordings.

 

Considering this style of interaction may very well become the bulk of the content for alliance based activities and army building as the chapters in KotFE progresses on, it's probably best to make the change sooner rather than later.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

yeah I loved kotor , but i didn't enjoy the classic dialog in this, it didn't fit in with the rest of the game. I prefer it with voice acting, expecially since i am down right lazy and don't read The dialogs unles i missed something someone says. When an alien is talking i don't even read if its not part of the game story.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I do agree. A brief flashback was nice, but I got this game for the "voice over" acting. And that was severely lacking for alot of Chapter 9 and the companion/alliance missions.

 

I'd be content with recycled voice content over no voice content at all for our characters. Considering the NPCs are fully voiced, this just seems like a lazy attempt to save a few dollars, and I am greatly disappointed, considering I've been subbed basically since day 1... :(

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Indeed, if the old voice actors arent available I would even go with a slightly different voice. Still better than this. I'm really disappointed. One of the main big pluses this game had is kinda gone...

 

professional voice actors can do a lot of the voices to a point where it might be hard to tell if its a new actor or not. But overall I don't think I ever really became super attached to a specific voice in this game, minus Steve Blum as Andronikos and Tara Strong as Risha (i'm just fans of both of those actors). The voice acting has been outstanding quality for all aspects within SWTOR, its a shame they phoned it in at the end.

 

Oh well - still great expansion though but yeah to the OP /signed

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Its not the main storyquest though, I see little harm in alliance conversations.

They were going to this direction already on Rishi and Yavin dailies where you didnt enter a conversation upon accepting non-main quests but rather it just flapped open a window with accept button while NPC gave a little dialog.

 

If you ask me this expansion conv is far better than if they would have gone with the same formula as on those planets.

Edited by Kiesu
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Its not the main storyquest though, I see little harm in alliance conversations.

They were going to this direction already on Rishi and Yavin dailies where you didnt enter a conversation upon accepting non-main quests but rather it just flapped open a window with accept button while NPC gave a little dialog.

 

If you ask me this expansion conv is far better than if they would have gone with the same formula as on those planets.

 

Those still had voice-over content from both of us. Our character, and the other NPC. That's why I was able to tolerate that. And those convos didn't usually involve a back-to-forth with choice. These involve choice and influence, and it just seems like they got cheap/lazy on the vocals in this case.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Those still had voice-over content from both of us. Our character, and the other NPC. That's why I was able to tolerate that. And those convos didn't usually involve a back-to-forth with choice. These involve choice and influence, and it just seems like they got cheap/lazy on the vocals in this case.

You didnt pick anything to reply to them to though. You could not get a different response. I'd rather pick a different option to hear them say different things to me depending on what character I'm on and what his/her personality is.

 

Always hated it when my DS Jedi was forced to reply like the valiant pure pure jedi.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yea I agree with Kiesu. I'm sure as new chapters are released you'll find all the main story line content is fully voice acted. This alliance stuff is more filler/side content so I don't mind the lack of player voices.

Also, I think it's a bit unfair to call them cheap in this regard, as any time they need player dialogue voiced they need to do so with 16 different actors.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I am really disliking the lack of voice acting done in the Chapter IX daily missions. Chapters I-VIII were very awesome and I loved them, and then suddenly I am taken back to KOTOR style text. It just feels off.

 

I could not agree more. I really prefer the original dialogue.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Part of it too is the "new" letterbox styling, it is kind of jarring. But I agree completely, the old style KOTOR one-sided dialogue is just annoying. It pulls you completely out of the story, and then to add to it, now with the black bars top and bottom, it just looks like the Devs got slammed for time, and just threw that together at the last minute.

 

A really cool feature of SWTOR before chapter 9 WAS the 2 way conversations.

 

I do hope this was just a "get it out the door" solution, and not the shape of things moving forward.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

You are all confusing the Alliance System with Chapter IX.

 

The Alliance System is a throwback to the old KOTOR style of Dialog, with many more options than the conversation Wheel can Support. These conversations are 1 sided so that they can easily add to the Alliance System without having to record new lines with the 16 lead voice actors.

 

I quite like the Alliance system the way it is and don't see any need to change it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

You are all confusing the Alliance System with Chapter IX.

 

The Alliance System is a throwback to the old KOTOR style of Dialog, with many more options than the conversation Wheel can Support. These conversations are 1 sided so that they can easily add to the Alliance System without having to record new lines with the 16 lead voice actors.

 

I quite like the Alliance system the way it is and don't see any need to change it.

 

Actually the wheel can easily support more options. Like in other Bioware games that use it, simply have a "left" option that will open up more "right" choices.

 

I agree 100% with what everyone said here, the new conversation UI is just bad. Who thought this was a good idea to do it this way? You don't change something that has been working well for years drastically like this overnight. I expect not-well-thought-out changes in WoW (is why I left) not here.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

You are all confusing the Alliance System with Chapter IX.

 

The Alliance System is a throwback to the old KOTOR style of Dialog, with many more options than the conversation Wheel can Support. These conversations are 1 sided so that they can easily add to the Alliance System without having to record new lines with the 16 lead voice actors.

 

I quite like the Alliance system the way it is and don't see any need to change it.

Mass Effect [investigate] says hi.

 

If that's too high tech, you could also always use the other side of the wheel. I admit I haven't explored Alliance in its entirety yet but I doubt I've seen more than 6 options anyway.

 

And even if that's too much, and it has to be like this visually, that doesn't mean it shouldn't be voiced. This completely breaks the feature for me.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

You are all confusing the Alliance System with Chapter IX

 

Not really, the Alliance System is Chapter IX, otherwise chapter IX is pretty much non existent. One cutscene is no way near enough to be the whole chapter.. Besides the quest log says explicitly: Chapter IX: The Alliance...And quest I have is already this letterboxed crap part of the Alliance system

Edited by coremar
Link to comment
Share on other sites

not really the Alliance System is Chapter IX, otherwise chapter IX is pretty much non existant. One cutscene is no way near enough to be the whole chapter.. Besides the quest log says explicitly: Chapter IX: The Alliance...And quest I have is already this letterboxed crap part of the Alliance system

 

^This. And I agree with the OP, the Alliance system's use of KOTOR style is not fun and should be fixed.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I am really disliking the lack of voice acting done in the Chapter IX daily missions. Chapters I-VIII were very awesome and I loved them, and then suddenly I am taken back to KOTOR style text. It just feels rushed.

 

Fixed. You were just too polite :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Part of it too is the "new" letterbox styling, it is kind of jarring. But I agree completely, the old style KOTOR one-sided dialogue is just annoying. It pulls you completely out of the story, and then to add to it, now with the black bars top and bottom, it just looks like the Devs got slammed for time, and just threw that together at the last minute.

 

 

This!!!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

love the new dialogue system, dont need to hear voice from every npc. Only the important Dialogues are enough so i dont care if the alliance dialogues will continue in chap 10 or the old one appears.

 

It's not that you're not hearing the voices from every NPC. You're not hearing Your Character's voice. At All. It's annoying and feels like they went the cheap route rather than making it a fully-immersive experience.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I can even live with not hearing my char.

 

But the biggest problem is that this design completely breaks with everything we have had previously in the game.

 

It looks like something completely different and that's why people get confused (plenty of threads about it).

 

They said this is only for the Alliance system and I understand their reasoning.

 

I nonetheless think that they should adjust this design to actually match the rest of the game somehow. Their hommage to KotOR is much appreciated, but it is too difficult imho.

 

For example, half of the screen (top and bottom) has now a black overlay. This looks horrible if you take videos or screenshots (which many players do).

 

Also, all our previous dialogs have been centered (the "wheel"). Now it is on the left. That doesn't make any sense from a design point of view. It should be centered as well.

 

And finally, the replies of the dialog partners shouldn't go from the left end of the screen to the right. The bigger the screen, the more difficult it gets to read, especially if you have, for example, Yuun whose voice over lasts 5 seconds, but you need 10 seconds to read the whole thing he said.

 

I don't think it is necessary to change the whole Alliance dialog system (although I wouldn't mind), but a couple of tweeks would make a big difference. Best idea: Add it to the UI editor and let us choose how it looks. :)

 

As for the voice overs: Maybe some generic samples from our voice actors could be added. They often say other things than presented in the text anyway. ;)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue.