The two options you give are just bad. Yes, voice acting makes a game better. Obviously. Anyone who diagrees is full of it. Now, is that enough to make a game good? Not even close. Look at SWTOR, tons of voice acting and beyond the singleplayer story the game was pretty boring.
Classic example of an unreasonable opinion that added zero to the discussion .
My biggest problem with voice acting is that rarely does the voice sound like what I expect my character to sound like. For example, in GW2, playing a human male means sounding like some overly polite doctor, rather than a battle-hardned warrior. The male Norn is just as bad. Or should I say "good" because he too sounds like someone trying to sell you some cupcakes, but with an accent.
I swear I think they just had the programmers all draw straws to decide who had to record the VO's.
Voice acting, IMO, is a waste of delopment time and money. Moreiver, it locks the quest into place. For instance, if a dev wanted to add to it or change it later, he would have to start a whole new acting scenerio.
Also, it makes the game disk req so much more.
Questing in general needs to be revamped. Atm, it's boring. People just speed right through it, hit "M" for map, follow the arrow, pick up the item or kill goblin, return the item, and omve on to next quest. All of it is boring
Voice acting, IMO, is a waste of delopment time and money. Moreiver, it locks the quest into place. For instance, if a dev wanted to add to it or change it later, he would have to start a whole new acting scenerio.
Also, it makes the game disk req so much more.
Questing in general needs to be revamped. Atm, it's boring. People just speed right through it, hit "M" for map, follow the arrow, pick up the item or kill goblin, return the item, and omve on to next quest. All of it is boring
I think the problem isn't questing, but the way maps have become an overly powerful crutch. I'd love to play an MMO that didn't include a mini-map, and maybe not even a map at all. You could buy a map, but it wouldn't tell you where you are on it or anything; you'd have to figure it out based on landmarks.
It would be great:
"Where's Mankriks wife?!"
"Find Crossroads, and head south along the road until you cross the second bridge. Look for some burned down huts on your right..."
That's much better than hitting "M" and running to the big blue circle.
Voice acting is only important for people that are playing the game for the story. It's much more important, if it in fact used at all, in single player RPG's. Too many people that play MMO's click through that kind of stuff, and view it to inhibiting to their gameplay. As in they have to wait for the "asses" that want to hear it.
In posting that thought, I am thinking back to GW1 where I went through all the storyline quests and you had the option to click through them, yet usually half the group didn't care and cussed out everyone who didn't click out afterwards. I played it as much for the story as anything else, and those people could do a certain thing with their opinions.
I voted no, but not because I hate voice acting. Like some others mentioned I think SWTOR went overboard with the voice acting. I liked it for the class story sequences, but having it in all of the side quests was more an annoyance than anything. Most people I know just skipped through all of the conversations/cutscenes anyway.
Ultimately I think it is better to not have voiceacting in games since those resources can be focused elsewhere. It also doesn't help that most MMOs(and games in general) have awful writing and when they have voice acting it is normally cringeworthy. I would rather just read the text myself and use some imagination than listen to sub-par acting.
voice acting is not critical for mmo. it won't make or brake it.
imo, i find main character's voice acting detracts from role-playing (either single player or mmo). it's simply too limited in expression. while text-only allows imagination to fill in, voice makes it set in stone. perhaps, future will bring different voices and tones, just as we have different faces and body shapes now.
Originally posted by Ortwig TSW has some of the funniest and best cut scenes I've seen.
This is exactly why I will be back to TSW one day in the future. It will be a good while before I have my Rift chars to 60 *and* have exhausted end-game. This is compounded by the fact that I don't have as much free time as I used to.
Voice acting isnt used just for the story sequences in MMOs like SW:TOR and GW2 there is also a lot of voice acting when interacting with the NPCs in the world which adds a lot of immersion.
An NPC running up to me with a text bubble that says "Centaurs are attacking! Please help." wont draw much attention but if that NPC literally yells "Centaurs are attacking! Please help." it will be impossible to ignore.
It's a nice fluff feature, but otherwise no. If anything I think it ends up being one of the reasons the quality of storywriting might have degraded in recent games/certain series.
I prefer my RPGs to involve some RP, in general. But not terribly fond of bioware's implementation of it.
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.
Originally posted by Ginaz For an important storyline, like your class quests in SWTOR, then I would say yes. For the more mundane and generic quests, I would say no. Text only would be fine for those.
This would be my answer. IF the poll had a yes and no option that would be what I would have picked. Too much of a good thing can ruin it.
The ADHD twitchy types would still hit the space bar.
Kyleran: "Now there's the real trick, learning to accept and enjoy a game for what
it offers rather than pass on what might be a great playing experience
because it lacks a few features you prefer."
John Henry Newman: "A man would do nothing if he waited until he could do it so well that no one could find fault."
FreddyNoNose: "A good game needs no defense; a bad game has no defense." "Easily digested content is just as easily forgotten."
LacedOpium: "So the question that begs to be asked is, if you are not interested in
the game mechanics that define the MMORPG genre, then why are you
playing an MMORPG?"
I find that my attitude to voice acting and cutscenes is very much like my reaction to quest text. It's entertaining at first, but once the novelty wears off, I start wanting to skip through it and get on with the game.
Originally posted by Ginaz For an important storyline, like your class quests in SWTOR, then I would say yes. For the more mundane and generic quests, I would say no. Text only would be fine for those.
I would agree with this.
Sandbox means open world, non-linear gaming PERIOD!
Subscription Gaming, especially MMO gaming is a Cash grab bigger then the most P2W cash shop!
Bring Back Exploration and lengthy progression times. RPG's have always been about the Journey not the destination!!!
I say the last thing that should be done is making it half-way voice acted. I'd hate to run into something that seems awesome, and then the quest isn't voice acted, which screams "unimportant, boring, most likely no time effort is put to this quest." and I'd skip it. In addition, it feels stupid if half of the stuff is voice acted, and the other half isn't. If its voice acted, it needs to be fully voice acted.
A good mix is always great. Games ONLY with text are kind of out-dated. Games with a HUGE emphasis on voice acting get redudant real fast (like SWTOR). A good balance is nice, like skyrim or WoW.
I am a fan of voice acting, but question if we need to hear our own toon talking. Also voice overs just like graphics are not good gameplay; a great looking NPC who talks to you does not disguise a mindless quest.
Voice acting is not only for dialogs... If the screams, grunts and chants of every character sound ridiculous, they can repel the players.
The "one-liners" most of the times, are very silly and if they aren't just wait until they get repetitive, also when they give human voices to other species, voices that could improve the way that humans sound but instead deteriorate the whole image of those other species, it can be a disappointment.
If the voice acting is good enough it should be able to fool you irl (now imagine the effect it has in the game).
I find that my attitude to voice acting and cutscenes is very much like my reaction to quest text. It's entertaining at first, but once the novelty wears off, I start wanting to skip through it and get on with the game.
I think that's where swtor lost the plot. They did so much voice acting it started to piss people off that wanted to continue with the game. I remember the developers touting it had 200 hours of gameplay obviously hey meant if you watched every second of every story but who the hell did that.
Comments
Classic example of an unreasonable opinion that added zero to the discussion .
Express your opinion
http://www.mmorpg.com/discussion2.cfm/thread/371172/Poll-Most-hated-MMORPG.html
i agree ^
My biggest problem with voice acting is that rarely does the voice sound like what I expect my character to sound like. For example, in GW2, playing a human male means sounding like some overly polite doctor, rather than a battle-hardned warrior. The male Norn is just as bad. Or should I say "good" because he too sounds like someone trying to sell you some cupcakes, but with an accent.
I swear I think they just had the programmers all draw straws to decide who had to record the VO's.
You make me like charity
Voice acting, IMO, is a waste of delopment time and money. Moreiver, it locks the quest into place. For instance, if a dev wanted to add to it or change it later, he would have to start a whole new acting scenerio.
Also, it makes the game disk req so much more.
Questing in general needs to be revamped. Atm, it's boring. People just speed right through it, hit "M" for map, follow the arrow, pick up the item or kill goblin, return the item, and omve on to next quest. All of it is boring
I think the problem isn't questing, but the way maps have become an overly powerful crutch. I'd love to play an MMO that didn't include a mini-map, and maybe not even a map at all. You could buy a map, but it wouldn't tell you where you are on it or anything; you'd have to figure it out based on landmarks.
It would be great:
"Where's Mankriks wife?!"
"Find Crossroads, and head south along the road until you cross the second bridge. Look for some burned down huts on your right..."
That's much better than hitting "M" and running to the big blue circle.
You make me like charity
Voice acting is only important for people that are playing the game for the story. It's much more important, if it in fact used at all, in single player RPG's. Too many people that play MMO's click through that kind of stuff, and view it to inhibiting to their gameplay. As in they have to wait for the "asses" that want to hear it.
In posting that thought, I am thinking back to GW1 where I went through all the storyline quests and you had the option to click through them, yet usually half the group didn't care and cussed out everyone who didn't click out afterwards. I played it as much for the story as anything else, and those people could do a certain thing with their opinions.
I voted no, but not because I hate voice acting. Like some others mentioned I think SWTOR went overboard with the voice acting. I liked it for the class story sequences, but having it in all of the side quests was more an annoyance than anything. Most people I know just skipped through all of the conversations/cutscenes anyway.
Ultimately I think it is better to not have voiceacting in games since those resources can be focused elsewhere. It also doesn't help that most MMOs(and games in general) have awful writing and when they have voice acting it is normally cringeworthy. I would rather just read the text myself and use some imagination than listen to sub-par acting.
voice acting is not critical for mmo. it won't make or brake it.
imo, i find main character's voice acting detracts from role-playing (either single player or mmo). it's simply too limited in expression. while text-only allows imagination to fill in, voice makes it set in stone. perhaps, future will bring different voices and tones, just as we have different faces and body shapes now.
This is exactly why I will be back to TSW one day in the future. It will be a good while before I have my Rift chars to 60 *and* have exhausted end-game. This is compounded by the fact that I don't have as much free time as I used to.
Voice acting isnt used just for the story sequences in MMOs like SW:TOR and GW2 there is also a lot of voice acting when interacting with the NPCs in the world which adds a lot of immersion.
An NPC running up to me with a text bubble that says "Centaurs are attacking! Please help." wont draw much attention but if that NPC literally yells "Centaurs are attacking! Please help." it will be impossible to ignore.
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.
This would be my answer. IF the poll had a yes and no option that would be what I would have picked. Too much of a good thing can ruin it.
The ADHD twitchy types would still hit the space bar.
Epic Music: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vAigCvelkhQ&list=PLo9FRw1AkDuQLEz7Gvvaz3ideB2NpFtT1
https://archive.org/details/softwarelibrary_msdos?&sort=-downloads&page=1
Kyleran: "Now there's the real trick, learning to accept and enjoy a game for what it offers rather than pass on what might be a great playing experience because it lacks a few features you prefer."
John Henry Newman: "A man would do nothing if he waited until he could do it so well that no one could find fault."
FreddyNoNose: "A good game needs no defense; a bad game has no defense." "Easily digested content is just as easily forgotten."
LacedOpium: "So the question that begs to be asked is, if you are not interested in the game mechanics that define the MMORPG genre, then why are you playing an MMORPG?"
I find that my attitude to voice acting and cutscenes is very much like my reaction to quest text. It's entertaining at first, but once the novelty wears off, I start wanting to skip through it and get on with the game.
Well you can have the best voice acting in the game industries but if your gameplay sucks,
you will have to opt to F2P and charge extra for action bar /sigh.
I believe everything should be in moderations to balance out.
Skyrim voice over is just nice, not too heavy and not too little.
Pardon my English as it is not my 1st language
I would agree with this.
Sandbox means open world, non-linear gaming PERIOD!
Subscription Gaming, especially MMO gaming is a Cash grab bigger then the most P2W cash shop!
Bring Back Exploration and lengthy progression times. RPG's have always been about the Journey not the destination!!!
Voice acting is not only for dialogs... If the screams, grunts and chants of every character sound ridiculous, they can repel the players.
The "one-liners" most of the times, are very silly and if they aren't just wait until they get repetitive, also when they give human voices to other species, voices that could improve the way that humans sound but instead deteriorate the whole image of those other species, it can be a disappointment.
If the voice acting is good enough it should be able to fool you irl (now imagine the effect it has in the game).
I think that's where swtor lost the plot. They did so much voice acting it started to piss people off that wanted to continue with the game. I remember the developers touting it had 200 hours of gameplay obviously hey meant if you watched every second of every story but who the hell did that.
Express your opinion
http://www.mmorpg.com/discussion2.cfm/thread/371172/Poll-Most-hated-MMORPG.html
Any feature, when well-implemented makes a game better.
Any feature, when poorly - implemented makes a game worse.
With voice acting you need two factors to be well-implemented; the acting itself but also good dialogue.
Peter O'Toole was lawrence of Arabia. He was also in Supergirl. There is quite a difference when given a good script.
So to sum up:
Good voice acting with good dialogue, implemented well can make a game better.
Competent voice acting with bad dialogue and a cliche story poorly implemented can kill a game. I.E. SWToR and GW2 for me.