Voiceovers Are Now Paywalled

TheDalaiBomba

https://www.pushsquare.com/news/2023/04/the-lord-of-the-rings-gollum-studio-clarifies-paywalled-voice-acting-dlc


Expect more stupid shit to get paywalled until gamers wake up and realize you don't get a free pass just because it's you.  Every dime you spend on dumb shit like this, is a dime you are using to encourage more dumb shit like this.  And it doesn't matter if you tell yourself "Just this once, because it's my favorite IP/Studio/Game!"  You still encouraged the market getting to this point.  Period.

Maybe we can reverse course before the entirety of a new game's side story content is quarantined behind a second paywall.

Adamantine

I almost like it though.

I rather hate voiceovers. So - getting rid of them ? Great !

I can usually read about twice as fast as the voiceover takes.

The exception is if its a really good speaker, but thats kinda rare.

Kyleran

PS exclusive, doesn't affect me, PC Master Race forever.

Iselin

God, I hate websites like the one on your link where the only options before you can see anything are to agree to cookies or customize where some cookies still have to be accepted.

Nilden

This is pretty pathetic and hilarious considering there are mods for other games that voice every NPC for free.

Cash shops in general just piss me off because I realize they are creating the problem to sell you the solution. 

I remember when you used to PLAY the game to earn all this stuff or it was just included at no extra charge. Now you have to PAY the game for more inventory, cool looking items, and even the ability to auto loot and it doesn't stop there. Makes me really appreciate games without a cash shop where you just purchase, maybe have to subscribe and play them and they are not trying to monetize every aspect of it.

Tiller

Technically taking a shit is pay-walled so this is right in line with rl. 

OldKingLog

Iselin said:

God, I hate websites like the one on your link where the only options before you can see anything are to agree to cookies or customize where some cookies still have to be accepted.

Nilden

Iselin said:

God, I hate websites like the one on your link where the only options before you can see anything are to agree to cookies or customize where some cookies still have to be accepted.

Ditto. Instantly hit the back button. Do the same thing with sites that complain about my ad blocker. Pop ups or crap that opens another window can also die in a fire. I don't even care what else is on the website when the first second I'm their it does that crap.

TheDalaiBomba

Adamantine said:

I almost like it though.

I rather hate voiceovers. So - getting rid of them ? Great !

I can usually read about twice as fast as the voiceover takes.

The exception is if its a really good speaker, but thats kinda rare.

It's not that it gets rid of them.  You'll hear them speak in English without the pack.  The studio went out of their way to record this dialogue twice specifically to upcharge you for the more authentic version.

Kyleran

TheDalaiBomba said:

Adamantine said:

I almost like it though.

I rather hate voiceovers. So - getting rid of them ? Great !

I can usually read about twice as fast as the voiceover takes.

The exception is if its a really good speaker, but thats kinda rare.

It's not that it gets rid of them.  You'll hear them speak in English without the pack.  The studio went out of their way to record this dialogue twice specifically to upcharge you for the more authentic version.

As explained so far it sounds if they decided to do extra voice over work which unless it offered an opportunity to make the company more money likely would never have been created.

If so, I've got no real problem with it, but then again, voiceovers are not something I look forward to in my games, usually more of an annoyance.

TheDalaiBomba

Kyleran said:

TheDalaiBomba said:

Adamantine said:

I almost like it though.

I rather hate voiceovers. So - getting rid of them ? Great !

I can usually read about twice as fast as the voiceover takes.

The exception is if its a really good speaker, but thats kinda rare.

It's not that it gets rid of them.  You'll hear them speak in English without the pack.  The studio went out of their way to record this dialogue twice specifically to upcharge you for the more authentic version.

As explained so far it sounds if they decided to do extra voice over work which unless it offered an opportunity to make the company more money likely would never have been created.

If so, I've got no real problem with it, but then again, voiceovers are not something I look forward to in my games, usually more of an annoyance.

Aye, it's exactly what happened.


The concern isn't about it being VO, specifically.  It's about cutting up whole experiences into smaller and smaller pieces to upcharge you for them.  The same evolution as the cash shops, only now it's just core pieces of the experience being withheld, such as IP-accurate dialogue.  It won't stay restricted to VOs unless gamers make it clear they find this sort of nickel and dining distasteful.

They could have done solely the Sindarin VO and not spent money on doing English VO for background characters that wouldn't be speaking English anyways, but they chose to spend extra to do both simply to withhold the more authentic version for more cash.

KnightFalz

If you don't want it, don't buy it. That's the only impact you're going to have as collective action isn't going to happen here. There isn't the will for it.

TheDalaiBomba

KnightFalz said:

If you don't want it, don't buy it. That's the only impact you're going to have as collective action isn't going to happen here. There isn't the will for it.

Not buying it is really all the collective action that's needed.  If the underlying game is worth the box, there's not problem buying it.  But buying the VO pack encourages more carve-outs.

Any big Tolkien fan can tell you how important languages are to the series.  It wasn't an arbitrary carve-out.  Tolkien was literally a linguist before becoming a novelist- the languages of Middle-Earth are a core part of the IP.  Imagine a Witcher game where half the game's monsters are carved out into a separate pack.  Unless you pay the extra, expect to fight only ghouls, drowners, endregas, and harpies.  That's where I don't want this to go (though I expect CDPR to be one of the last to do this), so I definitely think consumers should avoid spending cash on this.

Gorwe

TheDalaiBomba said:

https://www.pushsquare.com/news/2023/04/the-lord-of-the-rings-gollum-studio-clarifies-paywalled-voice-acting-dlc


Expect more stupid shit to get paywalled until gamers wake up and realize you don't get a free pass just because it's you.  Every dime you spend on dumb shit like this, is a dime you are using to encourage more dumb shit like this.  And it doesn't matter if you tell yourself "Just this once, because it's my favorite IP/Studio/Game!"  You still encouraged the market getting to this point.  Period.

Maybe we can reverse course before the entirety of a new game's side story content is quarantined behind a second paywall.

People are dumb. What else is new? Your outlined case is EXACTLY when a person should say "no, fuck off". Because big studios use your feelings against you. Why do you think that EA started the 70$ price increase with the likes of FIFA or Star Wars? By chance?

The only problem is that I have to suffer due to that idiocy. If it didn't concern me? Fine, eat yourselves alive, what do I care.

Kyleran

TheDalaiBomba said:

Kyleran said:

TheDalaiBomba said:

Adamantine said:

I almost like it though.

I rather hate voiceovers. So - getting rid of them ? Great !

I can usually read about twice as fast as the voiceover takes.

The exception is if its a really good speaker, but thats kinda rare.

It's not that it gets rid of them.  You'll hear them speak in English without the pack.  The studio went out of their way to record this dialogue twice specifically to upcharge you for the more authentic version.

As explained so far it sounds if they decided to do extra voice over work which unless it offered an opportunity to make the company more money likely would never have been created.

If so, I've got no real problem with it, but then again, voiceovers are not something I look forward to in my games, usually more of an annoyance.

Aye, it's exactly what happened.

The concern isn't about it being VO, specifically.  It's about cutting up whole experiences into smaller and smaller pieces to upcharge you for them.  The same evolution as the cash shops, only now it's just core pieces of the experience being withheld, such as IP-accurate dialogue.  It won't stay restricted to VOs unless gamers make it clear they find this sort of nickel and dining distasteful.

They could have done solely the Sindarin VO and not spent money on doing English VO for background characters that wouldn't be speaking English anyways, but they chose to spend extra to do both simply to withhold the more authentic version for more cash.

Yeah, I get it, might start off at first being additional content never previously envisioned but if it sells well what do you want to bet some future game won't have any voice overs unless you purchase the premium pack.

Look at cosmetics, seems like these days some games put zero effort adding attractive outfits you can get from just playing the game, all of the best looking ones are usually cash shop exclusives (looking at you Bethesda) so the choice is, pay up, or look like a murder hobo.

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OG_Solareus

If you read the article and not the clickbait.

"Daedalic went the extra mile here and hired professional voice actors, who were trained in Sindarin by our lore experts. It is a DLC for the real Tolkien devotees who want to immerse themselves even more into the world of Middle-Earth."

It's lore specific, not the entire game. Elves will simply speak english if you don't buy the DLC.

TheDalaiBomba

OG_Solareus said:

If you read the article and not the clickbait.

"Daedalic went the extra mile here and hired professional voice actors, who were trained in Sindarin by our lore experts. It is a DLC for the real Tolkien devotees who want to immerse themselves even more into the world of Middle-Earth."

It's lore specific, not the entire game. Elves will simply speak english if you don't buy the DLC.

This article actually clarifies that where previous reporting implied the VO simply wouldn't exist if the DLC wasn't purchased.

I would hope they hired professional voice actors for both versions.  The only real difference is the training in Sindarin.  Considering they knew exactly what lines they needed to record, I'd be willing to bet those actors learned the sounds, not the language.  I wouldn't be surprised if it's the same voice actors doing both versions.  That would actually be ironically fitting.

OldKingLog

templarga said:

I am in the minority but I am fine with this. If you read the article, the studio went out of their way to find actors schooled in Sindarin and hired them and probably paid them a handsome sum of money to record the dialogue in elvish. So if having Sindarin fully voiced is important to you, then you buy it. If not, then don't.

I see it as like ordering in a restaurant. I order the ribeye and the guy next to me orders the ribeye with the lobster tail addition for $19.99 more. It does not detract from my steak at all and he can enjoy his upgraded meal.

And let's be honest, had it been fully voiced in Sindarin, the game would have to have charged everyone for it and people would be raging at the base cost.

I will agree its a slippery slope though. I am okay with it in this instance but it could get out of hand.

While I agree this is actually a nice touch that I feel should earn them a little extra cash, I also deeply agree other shite companies could use it poorly. Looking at Bethesda and their goddamed horse armor oblivion DLC that started this whole ugly mess.

Also while a big part of me is thinking gosh wow keen about the whole Sindarian thing there is another, angrier part of me running around and kicking over the mental furniture while screaming ....

FrodoFragins

This is really a borderline issue to me.  It always looks bad when a company makes day one paid DLC.  And so the optics aren't great for this to be honest. 

But it's such a minor addition that I can't really be too bothered by it.  If I bought the game I seriously doubt I'd pay to get the DLC.

TheDalaiBomba

OldKingLog said:

templarga said:

I am in the minority but I am fine with this. If you read the article, the studio went out of their way to find actors schooled in Sindarin and hired them and probably paid them a handsome sum of money to record the dialogue in elvish. So if having Sindarin fully voiced is important to you, then you buy it. If not, then don't.

I see it as like ordering in a restaurant. I order the ribeye and the guy next to me orders the ribeye with the lobster tail addition for $19.99 more. It does not detract from my steak at all and he can enjoy his upgraded meal.

And let's be honest, had it been fully voiced in Sindarin, the game would have to have charged everyone for it and people would be raging at the base cost.

I will agree its a slippery slope though. I am okay with it in this instance but it could get out of hand.

While I agree this is actually a nice touch that I feel should earn them a little extra cash, I also deeply agree other shite companies could use it poorly. Looking at Bethesda and their goddamed horse armor oblivion DLC that started this whole ugly mess.

Also while a big part of me is thinking gosh wow keen about the whole Sindarian thing there is another, angrier part of me running around and kicking over the mental furniture while screaming ....

Nice touches are why Elden Ring sold over 20 million copies at one full box price.  Kotaku even did an article on it: https://kotaku.com/elden-ring-sales-figures-20-million-god-of-war-jedi-1850147702

In fact, Kotaku notes how the dominant GOTY contenders tend to be single player games sold as complete experiences that don't try to turn the title into a Frankenstein monster full of Battle Passes and Microtransactions.  That says something about this specific case.  It says that folks will endure poor monetization, but they tend to hold it against the quality of the experience.


Nice touches shouldn't be monetized like this.  The quality of the experience should be what we're sold *on*, not what we're sold.  This reminds me of how electric car manufacturers are testing out "subs" that increase electric car performance simply by altering code.  You don't pay the sub on top of the full car price, they make your car more sluggish.

Iselin

TheDalaiBomba said:

 It says that folks will endure poor monetization, but they tend to hold it against the quality of the experience.

Exactly. Hence the love/hate relationship we have with most cash shop games.

It also doesn't help when the studio head buys their 4th Lambo. That really exposes the apologists' typical excuses that "games are expensive to make," "If we want more content we have to pay more," and "But inflation" for the naive rationalizations they are. 

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KnightFalz

TheDalaiBomba said:

KnightFalz said:

If you don't want it, don't buy it. That's the only impact you're going to have as collective action isn't going to happen here. There isn't the will for it.

Not buying it is really all the collective action that's needed.  If the underlying game is worth the box, there's not problem buying it.  But buying the VO pack encourages more carve-outs.

Any big Tolkien fan can tell you how important languages are to the series.  It wasn't an arbitrary carve-out.  Tolkien was literally a linguist before becoming a novelist- the languages of Middle-Earth are a core part of the IP.  Imagine a Witcher game where half the game's monsters are carved out into a separate pack.  Unless you pay the extra, expect to fight only ghouls, drowners, endregas, and harpies.  That's where I don't want this to go (though I expect CDPR to be one of the last to do this), so I definitely think consumers should avoid spending cash on this.

Yes, it is the only collective action that would be needed. The will isn't there for even that much.

TheDalaiBomba

blueturtle13 said:

There is no issue here.
It is $10 USD extra for Sindarin VO pack but it also includes a soundtrack, art exhibition and alore compendium.
The VO is just one of the things included in their 'deluxe edition' 

This is not a story and once again, people are overreacting. 
 

It's a new type of thing that (afaik) has not been reserved for such an edition for any other major game release, so it's worthy of note even if you don't care.  I redirect you back to the post about it being an essential part of the IP in the way the numerous monster types in the Witcher are essential and would be distasteful to reserve for an upcharged price.