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AAA mmo, filthy rich IP, and still uses speech bubbles with zero sound -_-
Masterfuzzfuzz
Member Posts: 169
No voices for anything?
Comments
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/a/ab/Norsefire-logo.png
They said in several letters and discussions that adding voices for everything, in every language would push back the 2-3 month planned patches by another 5 to 8 eights if they went that route. Therefore they are only for main story cutscenes and the like.
Suits me just fine personally, as it reminds me of old school RPGs and may scare away some people who have little to no patience (the type that spam "go go go" and not the good people who just may not like such).
Yea i kinda like it that way too, there are just enough event for me to watch them all.
I loved it in SWTOR at first, but I ended up spamming "space bar" to skip WAY before level 50
IRC the higher ups at square enix said another failure like FF14 could crush the company. I believe it was on IGN in an interview but I dont have any links to it. But it leads me to believe the IP isn't as loaded with cash as some believe. Maybe ambiant convo's in the background or emotes like WoW I could get behind but the only game where I really enjoyed all the voiced convos was TSW.
Playing: TSW, D&D NW, Defiance (more the tv show than game >.> ) LotRO, DCUO
Heck, I've already got music from my own soundtrack and guild voicechat to deal with, I turn of all in game music and reduce game sounds more than 50%.
In fact when playing SWTOR I became annoyed having to try and listen to it since I had other audio activities going on.
"True friends stab you in the front." | Oscar Wilde
"I need to finish" - Christian Wolff: The Accountant
Just trying to live long enough to play a new, released MMORPG, playing New Worlds atm
Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV
Don't just play games, inhabit virtual worlds™
"This is the most intelligent, well qualified and articulate response to a post I have ever seen on these forums. It's a shame most people here won't have the attention span to read past the second line." - Anon
Can people like the OP please...can you guys just read the patch/dev notes?
They specifically stated only some of the main story line CUT SCENES would have voice acting. And the one I came across so far was very well done.
Nothing kills a mmorpg faster for me than voices. The less, the better, imo.
Does the game need voice acting? No
Would it benefit from it in terms of experience? Yes
Well executed voice acting brings an extra dimension of life to an NPC. MMO or not there's a benefit to that.
Reading dialogue is fine from time to time, but the longer I play/read, the more my eye's glaze over and the sleepier I get. This doesn't happen when there's voice acting. I'm much more engaged in the story.
For every minute you are angry , you lose 60 seconds of happiness."-Emerson
You forgot...
"What? I have to pay for something that other people work on so I can have fun. They should just be happy, that I am playing their game."
Well first I don't feel it's as black and white as that. As the first question is, what are they trying to accomplish? Second, what is needed for what they're trying to accomplish?
TSW as an example would not have been nearly as enjoyable without it's VO/Characters. They're telling a story, they created personalities, and they brought them to life as much as possible. Same goes for TOR and AOC.
As for FFXIV, as I said it's not needed, yet it would heighten the story experience they're presenting. SE basically said it's an issue of time, it would add extra time to the release of content. I doubt it was an issue of money.
As for your closing, there's plenty of fluff in any MMO that could be cut down to pave the way for VO. I'd much rather have VO than numerous dancing or kissing emotes.
For every minute you are angry , you lose 60 seconds of happiness."-Emerson
well, i am an old timer.. since release EQ, and when you have stories to tell in an MMO, or what ever other game, voice chatting is the only way to go... Its just so much more immersive..
Has nothing to do with old timers or new people, its all about preferences.. Games like SWTOR, Skyrim, The withcer TESO, Guild wars 2, and espescially TSw have shown me how much voice acting adds, its pretty much incredible..
Best MMO experiences : EQ(PvE), DAoC(PvP), WoW(total package) LOTRO (worldfeel) GW2 (Artstyle and animations and worlddesign) SWTOR (Story immersion) TSW (story) ESO (character advancement)
I agree that it has nothing to do with generational views, and more so it is just aimed at the group of players demanding change because they are bored with said systems. And fully agree that vo's can be done right, but it is usually at the cost of game play. it is not free, and it takes time to encode so for a little convenience would I rather the developers set aside time and money that could be better used enhancing game play. Hells no.
Btw you forgot farcry 3, the writing and acting in that was damn good, my personal favorite part was Einstien's definition of insanity.
It would be nice to have a voiceover for the wagon scene to kick off the game IMO. They could then pick up with the dialogue boxes with the first guy you talk to in your home city. I seem to recall them saying they would do this for launch, but I might be wrong.
I think the main story being voiced while the ordinary quests retaining the dialogue boxes is a good compromise given the tradeoffs. Personally I don't have any problem reading quest text. I read the full text for every quest on my way to Loremaster in WoW ... twice. But I suspect many people insisting that good voiceovers don't bring anything to the table probably wouldn't feel that way if FFXIV:ARR had more of them.
:insert obligatory oldtimer rant:
Self-pity imprisons us in the walls of our own self-absorption. The whole world shrinks down to the size of our problem, and the more we dwell on it, the smaller we are and the larger the problem seems to grow.
I see its in vogue to bash on SWTOR now...
Well not all of us hated the game. I enjoyed my time with it for the most part. I felt like I got my money's worth from the game. I only played for about 4 months, which was enough for me to cap my Jedi Consular and see most of the end game content. Fairly cheap entertainment for what little money I spent on the title.
As for the voice work, I enjoyed it in SWTOR... that and the very well done cut-scenes that flowed from quest to quest are what made the game good to me.
SWTOR was a solo game for me and I treated it as such... with some MMO trappings added on. I would have preferred they made KORTOR3 and re-made Star Wars Galaxies type game.. but nobody asked me.
As for voice in FFXIV... I hope they at least voice the major quests/story - but the regular stuff is fine for reading. A good mix of both is fine IMO.
"Youre in our world now!"
Voice acting is a great idea for a single player game, the only story there really they have is what the dev's create, the player is just along for the ride, sort of like reading a book or watching a movie.
In MMO's there's an opportunity for the players to "be" the story, if only the dev's invest their dollars in creating game mechanics that enable them to do so.
Each of the MMO's highlighted above might have been decent "games" from a single player, story perspective, but they all fell far short in being good MMORPG's and their longevity has been suffering because dev created stories can't go on forever, but player stories can last indefinitely given the right tools.
The resources spent on their voice acting could have been better spent elsewhere. (IMO)
"True friends stab you in the front." | Oscar Wilde
"I need to finish" - Christian Wolff: The Accountant
Just trying to live long enough to play a new, released MMORPG, playing New Worlds atm
Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV
Don't just play games, inhabit virtual worlds™
"This is the most intelligent, well qualified and articulate response to a post I have ever seen on these forums. It's a shame most people here won't have the attention span to read past the second line." - Anon