A fair comparison only if you acknowledge that movies are passive entertainment, whereas the point of an MMO is to be a participant.
You can be a participant in an all text MUD. Why is it important to add quality visuals, but not important to add quality audio?
Peace is a lie, there is only passion. Through passion, I gain strength. Through strength, I gain power. Through power, I gain victory. Through victory, my chains are broken. The Force shall free me.
When you watch a movie, do you turn on the subtitles and turn the sound off so you can give those characters the voices you think they should have too?
A fair comparison only if you acknowledge that movies are passive entertainment, whereas the point of an MMO is to be a participant.
Amazing how that statement also works perfectly for the exact opposite argument.
Originally posted by ThomasN7 The Old Republic had a good voice over crew and well we all know what happened to that.
We do. It became extremely successful and is making EA buckets of money.
Peace is a lie, there is only passion. Through passion, I gain strength. Through strength, I gain power. Through power, I gain victory. Through victory, my chains are broken. The Force shall free me.
I'm definitely excited about it. There's a bunch of my favorite actors on that list.
So much so that I accidentally started a third thread on the topic.
My SWTOR referral link for those wanting to give the game a try. (Newbies get a welcome package while returning players get a few account upgrades to help with their preferred status.)
Absolutely giddy with excitement! Love all the actors chosen!!!
And if you don't like voice acting... why are you playing an Elder Scrolls Game? You will miss most of the enjoyment if you skip the dialogue (though I can say that about most games).
Originally posted by ThomasN7 The Old Republic had a good voice over crew and well we all know what happened to that.
We do. It became extremely successful and is making EA buckets of money.
I know right lol. Honestly, the voice acting/ overs was one of my favorite things about that game. The story's were awesome... It was the confined dead zones that killed it for me. I still play from time to time though...and the fact that it's Star Wars and the voice acted questing I are the only reasons.
Originally posted by ste2000 Waste of money. I Space Bar all the dialogues.
And yet people keep asking what's wrong with Mmo's lol. I give you.... Exhibit A.
Personally, although i do enjoy playing SW;TOR, i do have text turned on, and although i do read everything, i do skip through the dialogues, occasionally i do listen if its something new, but usually only for the class missions. It doesn't imo break immersion if you don't have the volume on, which i often don't. Voice overs arent a replacement for gameplay, never have been, their nice 'fluff' but i'd rather have decent background music instead, which is something that FFXIV;ARR most definitely has, the music/soundtrack of the opening screen is probably one of the best i've ever heard, and one of the most moving, i'll choose that over voice overs any day.
Originally posted by ThomasN7 The Old Republic had a good voice over crew and well we all know what happened to that.
We do. It became extremely successful and is making EA buckets of money.
Even though it's probably sarcasm... yes, as a matter of fact the game did earn them quite a bit of money.
Did you see the 200+ million from just microtransactions alone over the last year? Now add into that all the subscriptions since the game launched and all the box sales before it went F2P.
EA themselves said that they are quite pleased with it now that they have adjusted their expectations and business plan (AKA have accepted it won't be the big WoW killer they wanted, with 10 million subs).
My SWTOR referral link for those wanting to give the game a try. (Newbies get a welcome package while returning players get a few account upgrades to help with their preferred status.)
I appreciate good voice acting in an RPG (particularly a single player one) but frankly in an MMORPG if SWTOR taught me anything, it's that myself and everyone else want to skip the cut scenes and get on with the game play. It's their budget but as a potential player I will always look at that kind of thing and wonder if that big actor pay check cost me, the end user, a dungeon or a nifty mount or what have you because I only listened to the work they did one time while I played the dungeon a hundred.
They could just hire a "non-all-star-team" and save a ton of money or get more voice-actors to do the voice-overs.
Ratero.
My thoughts exactly.
Hire some student actors or something. No need for an " all star cast" of voice actors.
The full voice overs is very nice tho, just dont see the need to have highly paid voice actors in a video game. That extra money could have been saved or gone into other areas of development. IMO hire students or people trying to break into the industry, having heard the VO I doubt the all stars did any better than most random joe's off the street could.
Sadly, as cool as having big names voicing the game, the quality of the voiceovers isn't the feature that will keep people subbing to the game. Devs need to understand in 2014 that it's not the sound or graphics (though they are important too) but the gameplay that matters, especially in a MMO.
I'm not saying ESO is lacking in gameplay since I haven't got the chance to try it yet... But hearing that developpers are putting hundreds of thousands (probably) in voiceovers just doesn't sound right to me when the genre is having such a hard time these days..
The all star cast is nice, but ultimately what does it really matter? Will the game being voice by many talent people really make gameplay better? Will it improve combat mechanics, pvp, crafting, etc? If a game has excellent mechanics that make playing the game very enjoyable, then an all star cast of actors voicing the game is icing on the cake. If the game doesn't play well, then that all star cast of actors isn't going to mean squat.
A mediocre game voiced by an all star cast is still a mediocre game.
I am not really excited or happy. I was assuming the quality voice acting was going to be there. However, I don't think Zenimax will use the big names for all the NPCs. Probably they will use them for main storyline and key NPCs only.
From developer's perspective, it is a good allocation of resources due to the fact that people tend to be attracted to other individuals whom they know...whom many people know. People like to call them celebrities or even stars. Something I personally despise, but most people are like that because It is probably something we primates have in our genes. Consequently, it is a good marketing action which will likely increase demand for their product.
Yep, all the big names will help to fuel the hype machine as launch draws closer.
Blizzard did something similar with all their tv commercials where they have famous people like Chuck Norris and Mr T "sell" the game on tv.
My SWTOR referral link for those wanting to give the game a try. (Newbies get a welcome package while returning players get a few account upgrades to help with their preferred status.)
I'm rather hard of hearing so voice overs mean nothing to me. I pretty much 'need' to have subtitles or I get the whole 'charlie brown experience'.
As long as they can measure the money spent on the all star voice casting in the tens of thousands of dollars I'd be okay with it. In either case, ESO's problems are going to be found more in gameplay and content, rather than who they chose to do their voice overs.
Stars are talent that cost big bucks. There's plenty of great voice talent out there. The animation industry is chocked full of experienced voice professionals.
On the other hand, if stars will attract more players, I understand why they would spend the money.
Considering that I'm seeing this news about the voice cast on a lot of news media outlets that don't usually even cover video games - seems the highlighted comment is likely.
It seems it has attracted the attention of "non gamers" as one of my friends sent me the link last night. He doesn't even play video games, at least not role playing games (plays mind teaser type games).
Like Skyrim? Need more content? Try my Skyrim mod "Godfred's Tomb."
Even though it's probably sarcasm... yes, as a matter of fact the game did earn them quite a bit of money.
Did you see the 200+ million from just microtransactions alone over the last year? Now add into that all the subscriptions since the game launched and all the box sales before it went F2P.
EA themselves said that they are quite pleased with it now that they have adjusted their expectations and business plan (AKA have accepted it won't be the big WoW killer they wanted, with 10 million subs).
Not sarcasm at all. Every time somebody mentions TOR's"failure" in a completely unrelated thread, I try to gently point out that most companies would be perfectly happy to "fail" that way.
Originally posted by cura
Yeah, people are playing SWTOR for its incredibly deep gameplay and outstanding engine...
So much this. I actually like TOR better than any other currently released MMO, but it is not because it is some kind of technical masterpiece, it's because the narrative presentation is good enough that I am willing to put up with the rest of the game as the price of access.
Originally posted by jdnewell
My thoughts exactly.
Hire some student actors or something. No need for an " all star cast" of voice actors.
The full voice overs is very nice tho, just dont see the need to have highly paid voice actors in a video game. That extra money could have been saved or gone into other areas of development. IMO hire students or people trying to break into the industry, having heard the VO I doubt the all stars did any better than most random joe's off the street could.
You must not have played Skyrim, or at least not paid much attention. Bad voice acting can severely detract from a game. Bethesda's approach with Skyrim seemed to be "grab random schmucks off the street" to voice most of the NPCs, and it went horribly. Would have been better to have no voice acting at all than to have that games voice acting.
Peace is a lie, there is only passion. Through passion, I gain strength. Through strength, I gain power. Through power, I gain victory. Through victory, my chains are broken. The Force shall free me.
My opinion is that I like good voice acting in a game, but to be honest I think good or even great voice acting can be achieved without big name celebrities. I've seen a few people post that are in the business that apparently big name voice acting doesn't cost nearly as much as a lot of people seem to think it does though - since often times it's very short term work (couple days or a week at most apparently). So maybe it really isn't as much of the budget that people assume.
Personally I think it's more in the benefit of the developers and Zenimax. Because while we as players will be content with voice acting as long as it isn't terrible usually, the news about this voice cast has put a spotlight on the game in news sources you almost never see video game related news about. So while they may be dropping an extra dime on it, they are getting way more exposure for it. So for those of us who are already on mmorpg.com and other sites - it's no different. But if you think hitting mass media outlets all over the place isn't going to increase their box sales by a lot, you're dead wrong.
I don't care too much about whose voice it is, but it would be way more awesome if they had the ability to let you open up a book, and have the book read aloud to you while you were doing something else. The voice would be similar to the character who wrote the book.
Comments
You can be a participant in an all text MUD. Why is it important to add quality visuals, but not important to add quality audio?
Peace is a lie, there is only passion.
Through passion, I gain strength.
Through strength, I gain power.
Through power, I gain victory.
Through victory, my chains are broken.
The Force shall free me.
Amazing how that statement also works perfectly for the exact opposite argument.
You stay sassy!
We do. It became extremely successful and is making EA buckets of money.
Peace is a lie, there is only passion.
Through passion, I gain strength.
Through strength, I gain power.
Through power, I gain victory.
Through victory, my chains are broken.
The Force shall free me.
------------
2024: 47 years on the Net.
I'm definitely excited about it. There's a bunch of my favorite actors on that list.
So much so that I accidentally started a third thread on the topic.
My SWTOR referral link for those wanting to give the game a try. (Newbies get a welcome package while returning players get a few account upgrades to help with their preferred status.)
https://www.ashesofcreation.com/ref/Callaron/
And yet people keep asking what's wrong with Mmo's lol. I give you.... Exhibit A.
Absolutely giddy with excitement!
Love all the actors chosen!!!
And if you don't like voice acting... why are you playing an Elder Scrolls Game? You will miss most of the enjoyment if you skip the dialogue (though I can say that about most games).
I know right lol. Honestly, the voice acting/ overs was one of my favorite things about that game. The story's were awesome... It was the confined dead zones that killed it for me. I still play from time to time though...and the fact that it's Star Wars and the voice acted questing I are the only reasons.
Personally, although i do enjoy playing SW;TOR, i do have text turned on, and although i do read everything, i do skip through the dialogues, occasionally i do listen if its something new, but usually only for the class missions. It doesn't imo break immersion if you don't have the volume on, which i often don't. Voice overs arent a replacement for gameplay, never have been, their nice 'fluff' but i'd rather have decent background music instead, which is something that FFXIV;ARR most definitely has, the music/soundtrack of the opening screen is probably one of the best i've ever heard, and one of the most moving, i'll choose that over voice overs any day.
Even though it's probably sarcasm... yes, as a matter of fact the game did earn them quite a bit of money.
Did you see the 200+ million from just microtransactions alone over the last year? Now add into that all the subscriptions since the game launched and all the box sales before it went F2P.
EA themselves said that they are quite pleased with it now that they have adjusted their expectations and business plan (AKA have accepted it won't be the big WoW killer they wanted, with 10 million subs).
My SWTOR referral link for those wanting to give the game a try. (Newbies get a welcome package while returning players get a few account upgrades to help with their preferred status.)
https://www.ashesofcreation.com/ref/Callaron/
My thoughts exactly.
Hire some student actors or something. No need for an " all star cast" of voice actors.
The full voice overs is very nice tho, just dont see the need to have highly paid voice actors in a video game. That extra money could have been saved or gone into other areas of development. IMO hire students or people trying to break into the industry, having heard the VO I doubt the all stars did any better than most random joe's off the street could.
Voice Acting doesn't matter to me, until I experience really bad voice acting in a game. Then all of sudden it's important.
So while it's not one of my personal top features, I see value in having quality actors do voice over work.
for an mmo ,it is waste of money
Sadly, as cool as having big names voicing the game, the quality of the voiceovers isn't the feature that will keep people subbing to the game. Devs need to understand in 2014 that it's not the sound or graphics (though they are important too) but the gameplay that matters, especially in a MMO.
I'm not saying ESO is lacking in gameplay since I haven't got the chance to try it yet... But hearing that developpers are putting hundreds of thousands (probably) in voiceovers just doesn't sound right to me when the genre is having such a hard time these days..
Just my thoughts...
The all star cast is nice, but ultimately what does it really matter? Will the game being voice by many talent people really make gameplay better? Will it improve combat mechanics, pvp, crafting, etc? If a game has excellent mechanics that make playing the game very enjoyable, then an all star cast of actors voicing the game is icing on the cake. If the game doesn't play well, then that all star cast of actors isn't going to mean squat.
A mediocre game voiced by an all star cast is still a mediocre game.
Yep, all the big names will help to fuel the hype machine as launch draws closer.
Blizzard did something similar with all their tv commercials where they have famous people like Chuck Norris and Mr T "sell" the game on tv.
My SWTOR referral link for those wanting to give the game a try. (Newbies get a welcome package while returning players get a few account upgrades to help with their preferred status.)
https://www.ashesofcreation.com/ref/Callaron/
I'm rather hard of hearing so voice overs mean nothing to me. I pretty much 'need' to have subtitles or I get the whole 'charlie brown experience'.
As long as they can measure the money spent on the all star voice casting in the tens of thousands of dollars I'd be okay with it. In either case, ESO's problems are going to be found more in gameplay and content, rather than who they chose to do their voice overs.
It seems it has attracted the attention of "non gamers" as one of my friends sent me the link last night. He doesn't even play video games, at least not role playing games (plays mind teaser type games).
Godfred's Tomb Trailer: https://youtu.be/-nsXGddj_4w
Original Skyrim: https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/109547
Serph toze kindly has started a walk-through. https://youtu.be/UIelCK-lldo
Not sarcasm at all. Every time somebody mentions TOR's"failure" in a completely unrelated thread, I try to gently point out that most companies would be perfectly happy to "fail" that way.
So much this. I actually like TOR better than any other currently released MMO, but it is not because it is some kind of technical masterpiece, it's because the narrative presentation is good enough that I am willing to put up with the rest of the game as the price of access.You must not have played Skyrim, or at least not paid much attention. Bad voice acting can severely detract from a game. Bethesda's approach with Skyrim seemed to be "grab random schmucks off the street" to voice most of the NPCs, and it went horribly. Would have been better to have no voice acting at all than to have that games voice acting.
Peace is a lie, there is only passion.
Through passion, I gain strength.
Through strength, I gain power.
Through power, I gain victory.
Through victory, my chains are broken.
The Force shall free me.
My opinion is that I like good voice acting in a game, but to be honest I think good or even great voice acting can be achieved without big name celebrities. I've seen a few people post that are in the business that apparently big name voice acting doesn't cost nearly as much as a lot of people seem to think it does though - since often times it's very short term work (couple days or a week at most apparently). So maybe it really isn't as much of the budget that people assume.
Personally I think it's more in the benefit of the developers and Zenimax. Because while we as players will be content with voice acting as long as it isn't terrible usually, the news about this voice cast has put a spotlight on the game in news sources you almost never see video game related news about. So while they may be dropping an extra dime on it, they are getting way more exposure for it. So for those of us who are already on mmorpg.com and other sites - it's no different. But if you think hitting mass media outlets all over the place isn't going to increase their box sales by a lot, you're dead wrong.
I don't care too much about whose voice it is, but it would be way more awesome if they had the ability to let you open up a book, and have the book read aloud to you while you were doing something else. The voice would be similar to the character who wrote the book.
that would make a difference in my book.