Honestly, the VO has been fun to me up to level 35, from which point it became an annoying experience and after level 40 I decided to just skip dialogues. It was refreshing indeed, it made me go way further than I would if the game featured traditional quest text.
its dissapointing even the writers on this site who adore the game even now complaint about the main aspect of it, sometimes the quests stop being awesone and whatnot but its normal as normal as click 5 buttons over and over its, its a video game it will be repetitive, more important its a MMO it will be 10th times more repetitive than a comsole game, so my point?...complaint about these things its useless sometimes u will get bored and drool all over the next quest dialog 3 days after...you should just let it pass and continue you journey, thats and advice and take it for what it is
One of the most discussed features in Star Wars: The Old Republic is the voice over quest dialogs. Not only is the main storyline quest arc voiced, so are ALL quests. Today we discuss the pros and cons of the voice acting in SWTOR. See what you think and then leave your ideas on the subject in our comments.
For me, Star Wars: The Old Republic has exceeded expectations. Any doubters out there can say what they want but it has for this gamer. It’s had a very smooth launch; it plays well and has enough to do in it to keep me interested. If I get bored with leveling I go play PvP. If I get bored with PvP I go play space missions, and I’m always bossing around my companions for crafting. Overall it’s a good solid game. There is one area however that I feel like Bioware has gone too far, Voice Acting. There are elements of voice acting that I do love in the game and having VO in your main class story line is fantastic. However I do think Bioware should have been more strategic in their placement and not used it in every quest.
Perfect article! :-) Though IMHO the game plays good only untill you hit 50 cause after that it is a stub. Actually I would love to see an MMO without side quests at all (well without this type of side quests where you have to go kill 20 of those). I am fine with like 30 quests instead of 100 but all of them being meaningful in some way and having some deep story + some choices (the 3 alternatives in swtor aren't really alternatives at all - just some player reactions to what comes next). While less number of quests might shorten the game and leveling it would keep players really engaged rather than rushing to the end ('I have to kill 20 of those and destroy turrets.. oh no - not again") and would make players really want to go through histories for several classes. In swtor I don't feel like rolling another character to the level 50, I don't feel like winning the war for Corelia all by myself once again (really - every turret and every soldier on Corelia had to be killed by the player being a sith lord by the time - what's the hell? Sith lords don't fight at the frontlines). Actually the main story line takes only about 15-20% of time or less, the rest is absolutely the same for all classes and completely linear -only one planet for each level range - no choice at all. Also most of the side quests were completly irrelevant for the sith lord - "uhm ok - you are the sith lord and our superior, but we have no men so you will have to go kill all the rep scums by yourself, as we failed to come with something force/sith relevant and the only thing to do out there is combat". Vader would have killed half of the side quest NPCs just for talking to him like that ))) While leveling is easier and more entertaining vs. WoW - it is not the best leveling experience I had - the best one being in DCUO as I ENJOYED leveling 2 character back at it.
I'm very happy with voice acting just as it is. Never boring, incredibly well done, all with "soul" of voice actors, .... only I admit that with 8 alts I'm playing I may be pressing space after have read quest test even if voice acting is not yet over.
In general i think will have very hard time to return back to wow and rift that do not have it. Here I feel like being in movie that is influenced by my decisions. Feeling in incredible.
For me swtor is best thing happened to (at least) mmo industry. And best fluid release (althrough rift for sure was also a blast and i will return there also for sure).
So far for me there are only 3 games in the world worth paying sub: wow, rift and now swtor.
.... Actually I would love to see an MMO without side quests at all (well without this type of side quests where you have to go kill 20 of those).
You are completely ignoring the fact in swtor mobs are usually in groups of 3 to 4, so is at all not same as killing 20 mobs in other games (except CO that have similar mechanics). Here is more like killing 5 mobs in other mmos (where on the other hand one have to kill at least 10 of them, meaning effectively double then in swtor).
I have to agree, Bioware went way over the top when it comes to voice acting. While nice, it had to cost a fortune and how many people just ignore it by getting the quest and leaving the npc. Personally I prefer the way Lotro did it, using it strategically in some spots.
If you want to throw money at a MMO, throw it at more content, voice acting should be way down the list of things needed.
I love the voice acting. It really allows me to stay interested in the story line without boring me with of texts. The only issue I see right now is the sudden mood swings from npcs based on your responses. Plus you can always skip them
The voice acting is fine it's the rest of the game that suffers. I would trade VO for open space combat, housing, and improving the rest of the game. Without a polished game in all areas VO is not enough to hold me.
"You CAN'T buy ships for RL money." - MaxBacon
"classification of games into MMOs is not by rational reasoning" - nariusseldon
The voice acting is fine it's the rest of the game that suffers. I would trade VO for open space combat, housing, and improving the rest of the game. Without a polished game in all areas VO is not enough to hold me.
Absolutely agree with this ^
Currently playing SWTOR and it's MUCH better than it was at launch.
I mean I think the voice acting was alright, but it didn't go with the character looks (well since its player created, they never look right for the part :P)
The huge problem is that, THEY DON'T MOVE XD, minimium hand gestures as well
How much WoW could a WoWhater hate, if a WoWhater could hate WoW? As much WoW as a WoWhater would, if a WoWhater could hate WoW.
I mean I think the voice acting was alright, but it didn't go with the character looks (well since its player created, they never look right for the part :P)
The huge problem is that, THEY DON'T MOVE XD, minimium hand gestures as well
It's not just the lack of animation. If only it was that. lol The dialogue seems to have been written by a 13 year old.
I mean I think the voice acting was alright, but it didn't go with the character looks (well since its player created, they never look right for the part :P)
The huge problem is that, THEY DON'T MOVE XD, minimium hand gestures as well
It's not just the lack of animation. If only it was that. lol The dialogue seems to have been written by a 13 year old.
"I might just once accept payment in kisses?"
Compared to that, "Twilight" is a masterpiece.
Have you read twilight? I heard they are worse than that. :P
Well I was commenting on the overall dialogue, which wasn't too bad. So I don't want to say the entire VO was terrible just because of one line. But the character animation were terrible throughout the entire scene. I mean they kiss and go back to their standing spot, which guy will do that.
How much WoW could a WoWhater hate, if a WoWhater could hate WoW? As much WoW as a WoWhater would, if a WoWhater could hate WoW.
Voice acting at first in game fun some of the acting is cheesy after a while it all seems to be the same to me somtimes seems to drag on forever. Game really needs a option to have have old fashiond you have to read option for those that dont like the voice acting.
Fully agree here. I felt the same. I just didn't need the life story of every small Trooper or Rebel, err Republican guy. It feels much like a waste of time and money. Also, it only barely masks how menial and mindless many quests actually are and not on par with the most recent standards. More like from the EQ2 days with a pretty coloured ribbon aka VO.
People don't ask questions to get answers - they ask questions to show how smart they are. - Dogbert
I completely disagree with the author and the trolls and haters here that most likely never played the game.
The voice acting is enjoyable and what sets this game apart from the pact.
The author showed his ignorance of the game by mentioning the power of hitting the space bar to avoid the voice acting. There is a box in preferances that allows you to completely turn off cut scenes. The its the same boring type of MMO that you all say is better.
{mod edit}
"Don't corpse-camp that idea. Its never gonna rez" Bladezz (The Guild)
I completely disagree with the author and the trolls and haters here that most likely never played the game.
The voice acting is enjoyable and what sets this game apart from the pact.
The author showed his ignorance of the game by mentioning the power of hitting the space bar to avoid the voice acting. There is a box in preferances that allows you to completely turn off cut scenes. The its the same boring type of MMO that you all say is better.
{mod edit}
I've played two characters in SWTOR before I got bored with the game. One was a sith socrcerer who I got to level 43 and the other was a imperial operative who I got to level 25.
The voice acting for both characters was great and the personal stories were pretty good too. Inquisitor's story starts out pretty fun but becomes more and more boring as you progress. Imperial agent's story is one of the better ones and I really enjoyed it.
What really got to me were the voice overs for the kill/collect x quests. You spend 5 minutes listening to some random imperial who basically tells you to go and kill 20 rackghouls or 10 space pirates. I never once skipped the story voice overs because I did enjoy them but the rest felt pointless and dragged out. Not to mention, most of the time your character's response was reused. I've must've heard "time to show you was a sith can do" and "there will be no survivors" at least 20 times. That's when I started "space barring" through the voice overs...
Comments
Honestly, the VO has been fun to me up to level 35, from which point it became an annoying experience and after level 40 I decided to just skip dialogues. It was refreshing indeed, it made me go way further than I would if the game featured traditional quest text.
its dissapointing even the writers on this site who adore the game even now complaint about the main aspect of it, sometimes the quests stop being awesone and whatnot but its normal as normal as click 5 buttons over and over its, its a video game it will be repetitive, more important its a MMO it will be 10th times more repetitive than a comsole game, so my point?...complaint about these things its useless sometimes u will get bored and drool all over the next quest dialog 3 days after...you should just let it pass and continue you journey, thats and advice and take it for what it is
If u liked all these u havent played enogh games in your life for sure
If you don't like the voice, just hit the space bar or something. I mean, really. It's not that hard.
Oh, no, they promised me champagne mimosas with brunch and look what I got, champagne mimosas! But I wanted WATER!!!
Perfect article! :-) Though IMHO the game plays good only untill you hit 50 cause after that it is a stub. Actually I would love to see an MMO without side quests at all (well without this type of side quests where you have to go kill 20 of those). I am fine with like 30 quests instead of 100 but all of them being meaningful in some way and having some deep story + some choices (the 3 alternatives in swtor aren't really alternatives at all - just some player reactions to what comes next). While less number of quests might shorten the game and leveling it would keep players really engaged rather than rushing to the end ('I have to kill 20 of those and destroy turrets.. oh no - not again") and would make players really want to go through histories for several classes. In swtor I don't feel like rolling another character to the level 50, I don't feel like winning the war for Corelia all by myself once again (really - every turret and every soldier on Corelia had to be killed by the player being a sith lord by the time - what's the hell? Sith lords don't fight at the frontlines). Actually the main story line takes only about 15-20% of time or less, the rest is absolutely the same for all classes and completely linear -only one planet for each level range - no choice at all. Also most of the side quests were completly irrelevant for the sith lord - "uhm ok - you are the sith lord and our superior, but we have no men so you will have to go kill all the rep scums by yourself, as we failed to come with something force/sith relevant and the only thing to do out there is combat". Vader would have killed half of the side quest NPCs just for talking to him like that ))) While leveling is easier and more entertaining vs. WoW - it is not the best leveling experience I had - the best one being in DCUO as I ENJOYED leveling 2 character back at it.
I'm very happy with voice acting just as it is. Never boring, incredibly well done, all with "soul" of voice actors, .... only I admit that with 8 alts I'm playing I may be pressing space after have read quest test even if voice acting is not yet over.
In general i think will have very hard time to return back to wow and rift that do not have it. Here I feel like being in movie that is influenced by my decisions. Feeling in incredible.
For me swtor is best thing happened to (at least) mmo industry. And best fluid release (althrough rift for sure was also a blast and i will return there also for sure).
So far for me there are only 3 games in the world worth paying sub: wow, rift and now swtor.
You are completely ignoring the fact in swtor mobs are usually in groups of 3 to 4, so is at all not same as killing 20 mobs in other games (except CO that have similar mechanics). Here is more like killing 5 mobs in other mmos (where on the other hand one have to kill at least 10 of them, meaning effectively double then in swtor).
I agree with the article. I also whished that the daily missions would be given by terminals.
I'm surprising they didn't include the witty combat voiceovers from Dragon Age Origin lol
How much WoW could a WoWhater hate, if a WoWhater could hate WoW?
As much WoW as a WoWhater would, if a WoWhater could hate WoW.
I have to agree, Bioware went way over the top when it comes to voice acting. While nice, it had to cost a fortune and how many people just ignore it by getting the quest and leaving the npc. Personally I prefer the way Lotro did it, using it strategically in some spots.
If you want to throw money at a MMO, throw it at more content, voice acting should be way down the list of things needed.
You do know that there is a very nice option to "skip the videos" right. Try it and see if you like that better.
The voice acting is fine it's the rest of the game that suffers. I would trade VO for open space combat, housing, and improving the rest of the game. Without a polished game in all areas VO is not enough to hold me.
"classification of games into MMOs is not by rational reasoning" - nariusseldon
Love Minecraft. And check out my Youtube channel OhCanadaGamer
Try a MUD today at http://www.mudconnect.com/Absolutely agree with this ^
Currently playing SWTOR and it's MUCH better than it was at launch.
Its quite funny considering the Jedi Knight is voiced by Solid Snake, however all i hear is negative things about it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xoOQdU3zMzM
jesus.
Horrible...
Possibly the most unromantic scene ever lol
They just stood there :P
I mean I think the voice acting was alright, but it didn't go with the character looks (well since its player created, they never look right for the part :P)
The huge problem is that, THEY DON'T MOVE XD, minimium hand gestures as well
How much WoW could a WoWhater hate, if a WoWhater could hate WoW?
As much WoW as a WoWhater would, if a WoWhater could hate WoW.
It's not just the lack of animation. If only it was that. lol The dialogue seems to have been written by a 13 year old.
"I might just once accept payment in kisses?"
Compared to that, "Twilight" is a masterpiece.
Have you read twilight? I heard they are worse than that. :P
Well I was commenting on the overall dialogue, which wasn't too bad. So I don't want to say the entire VO was terrible just because of one line. But the character animation were terrible throughout the entire scene. I mean they kiss and go back to their standing spot, which guy will do that.
How much WoW could a WoWhater hate, if a WoWhater could hate WoW?
As much WoW as a WoWhater would, if a WoWhater could hate WoW.
David Hayter was spot on for the Knight voice in my opinion.
Voice acting at first in game fun some of the acting is cheesy after a while it all seems to be the same to me somtimes seems to drag on forever. Game really needs a option to have have old fashiond you have to read option for those that dont like the voice acting.
Fully agree here. I felt the same. I just didn't need the life story of every small Trooper or Rebel, err Republican guy. It feels much like a waste of time and money. Also, it only barely masks how menial and mindless many quests actually are and not on par with the most recent standards. More like from the EQ2 days with a pretty coloured ribbon aka VO.
People don't ask questions to get answers - they ask questions to show how smart they are. - Dogbert
I completely disagree with the author and the trolls and haters here that most likely never played the game.
The voice acting is enjoyable and what sets this game apart from the pact.
The author showed his ignorance of the game by mentioning the power of hitting the space bar to avoid the voice acting. There is a box in preferances that allows you to completely turn off cut scenes. The its the same boring type of MMO that you all say is better.
{mod edit}
"Don't corpse-camp that idea. Its never gonna rez"
Bladezz (The Guild)
I've played two characters in SWTOR before I got bored with the game. One was a sith socrcerer who I got to level 43 and the other was a imperial operative who I got to level 25.
The voice acting for both characters was great and the personal stories were pretty good too. Inquisitor's story starts out pretty fun but becomes more and more boring as you progress. Imperial agent's story is one of the better ones and I really enjoyed it.
What really got to me were the voice overs for the kill/collect x quests. You spend 5 minutes listening to some random imperial who basically tells you to go and kill 20 rackghouls or 10 space pirates. I never once skipped the story voice overs because I did enjoy them but the rest felt pointless and dragged out. Not to mention, most of the time your character's response was reused. I've must've heard "time to show you was a sith can do" and "there will be no survivors" at least 20 times. That's when I started "space barring" through the voice overs...