[Column] Elder Scrolls Online: Voice and Choice

BillMurphy · February 2013

We're discussing Zenimax Online's decision to implement full voice acting and give players moral choice in The Elder Scrolls Online in this week's TESO column.

The latest Elder Scrolls Online ‘Ask Us Anything’ was especially revealing. In fact, a recent thread right here on our forums would have you believe that the news would have fans shocked. What’s the big deal, then? Well, it appears that Zenimax Online has confirmed that The Elder Scrolls Online will be fully voice acted. I’m not so sure why this would be shocking to anyone given recent trends, but I can tell you that I find myself reassured by this news. Additionally, and no less important, the blog entry confirms that the moral choices that are often part and parcel of the Elder Scrolls experience appear to be alive and well in MMO version of the series.

Read more of Michael Bitton's The Elder Scrolls Online: Voice and Choice.

Nanfoodle · February 2013

As long as its not over done like SWToR I am happy to hear this. I did enjoy VO in SWToR and would have liked ited it more if it was more impacting what you decided.

Silverune · February 2013

The voice Acting in Skyrim was very good indeed, if Teso continues along those lines and employes decent voice actors and stays away from the voice actors that did GW2 then I have nothing to fear.

I cannot think who would like to read a wall of text instead of hearing it voiced, (Ahem... unless you are playing GW2 that is .

Bicknell55 · February 2013

We will for sure find out as more is mentioned in the next few weeks. With Beta around the corner, looking fwd to learning more of this game. So far, I am thrilled

velmax · February 2013

Originally posted by Nanfoodle
As long as its not over done like SWToR I am happy to hear this. I did enjoy VO in SWToR and would have liked ited it more if it was more impacting what you decided.

I have to disagree with you, you had the power of life or death in your hand, thats pretty impacting.

Ryowulf · February 2013

I'm all for VO and moral choices.

My worry is there is only so much money in the pot. If every quest and every npc is talking what is being neglected? I know players think games should have everything and all of it perfect, but a Dev has to focus on some things and let other things fall by the wayside.

How often have we heard in beta, "Oh this is just a filler. We will be putting a much better X before going live.", but they don't. Because they have run out of money and time.

Let me ask you all, if you had to pick full VO (which you will probably only listen to a few times) or good fun combat (something you will be spending hours and hours doing) which do you choose? You can't have both.

How about months after the game goes live and people want more content. How easy/fast is it going to be to give that to players if it has to be VO'ed?

It great to be happy about added features, but after seeing so many flops, shouldn't we be asking "What are we losing by gaining this?"

I want solid fun gameplay with things to do that keep me interested. I don't need all the bells and whisles if the core game suffers.

Nanfoodle · February 2013

Originally posted by velmax
Originally posted by Nanfoodle
As long as its not over done like SWToR I am happy to hear this. I did enjoy VO in SWToR and would have liked ited it more if it was more impacting what you decided.

I have to disagree with you, you had the power of life or death in your hand, thats pretty impacting.

My wife and I played the same class in SWToR and did our best to pick different options to try and get different outcomes. It was rare when it did. Going to top level it only happened twice.

Maephisto · February 2013

I kind of feel VO's are a huge waste of resources. For those who find lore and story important, they would always take the time to read the content available.

For those who dont find the story/lore important.....they just follow the mini map icons to the next objective.

I dont believe the VO's in SWTOR were all that appreciated. Few talk about the great voice acting or the mediocre story......we all joke about breaking our space bars.

I wish the resources and time were allocated elsewhere.

sk8chalif · February 2013

did you know that a bunch of guild wars 2 voice action in gw2 did swtor too and most of them are the best around, the only reason why its looked bad its the way they implemented it in the game.

Steve blum is like the best u can have or even troy baker ,ellen dubin and 1 of my favorite Nolan north,

azzamasin · February 2013

Great article and wholey agree with your advice but sadly it will fall on many deaf ears especially those with an agenda to drive away players because of their unadultered hatred for the game.

darkhalf357x · February 2013

Without understanding the financials and the (complex) structure of MMO game development we cant say what is possible. So I give Zenimax the benefit of the doubt that they CAN deliver VO as well as fun, engaging combat. Its on them to fail, but I would never limit it.

I agree with Ryowulf, my concern is content updates. SWTOR still leaves a somewhat bad taste in my mouth in the form that they cant update the content of the same quality as often. If VO means I only get a TESO update every 18 months but without I get it more frequently I say remove as well.

FromHell · February 2013

First I went like "OMG this will be just like SWTOR all over again" but then I took an arrow to the knee

Tibbz · February 2013

Originally posted by FromHell
First I went like "OMG this will be just like SWTOR all over again" but then I took an arrow to the knee

lmao...

The cutscenes in GW2 drove me crazy... they were not bad, I just didn't like getting pulled out for the cutscene so to speak. If they do the VO a la Skyrim or even old EQ2 stlye (didnt they start the whole VO thing with thier "when adventure comes alive" deal) i will be happy. well maybe a bit more back content variety than vanilla skyrim.

NobleNerd · February 2013

No shocker here. It would not be an Elder Scrolls game without voice acting and moral choices. GW2 did a great job with their voice acting, I stood around at times in cities just to enjoy the random npc voice chit-chat and the cutscenes did not bother me. I look forward to see more info on this news as the game ramps up into beta.

bcbully · February 2013

It's not the V/O's that bother me, it's the word "Choice." then left unexplained.

Can we get some nuts and bolts details on this thing you call "choice" Too many buzz words too many ads for my liking, without ANY gameplay or system details.

edit - Does this mean are charater will talk too? If so are there like 500 voice types? If not, make a voice off option.

JeffSpicoli · February 2013

VO in MMO's is such a complete waste of recources by Devs . MMO's are all about making your OWN epic story not listening to some lifeless hollow NPC ramble on about theirs.

Yamota · February 2013

Originally posted by thunderC
VO in MMO's is such a complete waste of recources by Devs . MMO's are all about making your OWN epic story not listening to some lifeless hollow NPC ramble on about theirs.

Agreed. Just some useless bling bling instead of trying to create an immersive world.

Moral choices would be interesting but I doubt very much it will have much, if any, lasting impact. In SW:TOR it slightly changed your appearance and unlocked some gear, which were mirrored on the "other" side. Pathetic.

rygard49 · February 2013

It's very 'damned if you do and damned if you don't' in today's MMO market, and this site's forum community highlights that concept perfectly. Thread upon thread has been created about how ESO won't be true to the SP games, and then when features are announced that have a direct influence from the SP games all of a sudden it's a major flaw in their budget/design decisions and should have been spent developing something else.

PyrateLV · February 2013

Originally posted by thunderC
VO in MMO's is such a complete waste of recources by Devs . MMO's are all about making your OWN epic story not listening to some lifeless hollow NPC ramble on about theirs.

Especially when once you finish that NPCs story line they wont speak to you ever again. Even though you spent hours doing tasks for them.

Yamota · February 2013

Originally posted by rygard49
It's very 'damned if you do and damned if you don't' in today's MMO market, and this site's forum community highlights that concept perfectly. Thread upon thread has been created about how ESO won't be true to the SP games, and then when features are announced that have a direct influence from the SP games all of a sudden it's a major flaw in their budget/design decisions and should have been spent developing something else.

Except voice overs is not what made the Elder Scrolls games stand out, anyone can rent some second rate voice actors. Heck it is only the later titles which had any of it.

GwapoJosh · February 2013

Originally posted by FromHell
First I went like "OMG this will be just like SWTOR all over again" but then I took an arrow to the knee

You took an arrow to the knee while stting at your pc? That's hardcore!

Fusion · February 2013

As long as it doesn't take away from the actual game mechanics, features and longevity, i'm all for VO.

Ryowulf · February 2013

I'd like to give Zenimax the benefit of the doubt, but most of the recent big mmos failed to not only live up to their own claims, but felt half finished.

Wasn't there a rant video on this very site talking about not blinding believing what the devs tell us before they actually show their cards?

I want ESO to be a great fun game or I wouldn't bother to post. Maybe its to late. Maybe the development of the game is to far along. Or just maybe these devs have managed to catch lightning in a bottle.

jbombard · February 2013

You often run into 1 of 2 problems. Either the voice over is really generic and overused, or it becomes a bottleneck for development and hampers the quick release of new content.

I would rather see mostly voice overed. Use it for main quest lines and stories. Granted if they can afford to keep content coming with 100% voice over, high quality, and non-repetitve I'm all for it. But if they have to sacrifice any of those things, I'd rather they just trim the amount of VO they do and keep the quality high and content flowing.

Orthelian · February 2013

Originally posted by Nanfoodle
As long as its not over done like SWToR I am happy to hear this. I did enjoy VO in SWToR and would have liked ited it more if it was more impacting what you decided.

How do you ‘overdo’ voice acting? Do you mean that it was very hammy?

jtcgs · February 2013

"Voice acting has been a major element of The Elder Scrolls series for quite some time now."

So has the ability to chose and even change your faction at will andhave any race/faction combination, not be locked into closed zones, have content that levels with you so it stays 100% viable and you werent funneled into some far off PvP lands behind an invisible wall that magically kept the enemy from entering your lands even though you are at war.

Sure isnt stopping them from not doing those TES staples and instead spending how many thousands of man hours on voice that should be used to make sure the game has depth, something every single other MMOs with full voiceovers LACKED in.

Howdy, Stranger!

[Column] Elder Scrolls Online: Voice and Choice

Comments

Aloha Mr Hand !

Howdy, Stranger!

Quick Links

[Column] Elder Scrolls Online: Voice and Choice

Comments

Aloha Mr Hand !