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Story telling must be voiced

Will this be the FIRST MMO with FULL VOICEOVER?

I have high hopes this MMO will have full voiced NPC's. Its a BioWare game, and the recent ones all have voice overs. This is a different game, an MMO is massive, so it will be a great feat if they tell us the stories not from text reading, but with emotion NPCs that tell us what to do/How to do/Why should we do anything.

And then we take the action we think its better, real choices for the players, with real consequences.

For a game like this to work we must have voice on everything, its not fun to read walls of text, all MMO's do that and most of us just scroll down to see the rewards.

In Wow for example, we just read the name of the creatures to kill and the rewards for killing them, we dont even realize or care that we are saving some farmers from the wolfes we kill, we just want that green sword and the 1 gold they give us for doing it.

Bioware has a chance to make history in ths MMO market, story driven MMO + Star wars + Companion Characters + Full voiceover = MASSIVE WIN.

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Comments

  • RaizeenRaizeen Member Posts: 622

    the only mmo worth waiting for

  • John.A.ZoidJohn.A.Zoid Member Posts: 1,531

    Yeh but then you need all content to be voice overed and that would take too long so you'll then have that thing like EQ2 where alot of the new content isn't voice overed and everything is very inconsistent. If that is the case then I'd rather have WoW like voice overs where the main characters and important stuff is voiced and then you have the other things like when you click on people they say something random.



    Characters like R2D2 and Jabba (I know arn't in the Old republic) would obviously have to be voiced as they are main characters.

  • loyaltrekieloyaltrekie Member Posts: 105

    Full voiceover = waste of space/time

    Voiceover for critical story components = Yes

    Voiceover for random NPC telling me to kill a rat = No

     

  • Darth_OsorDarth_Osor Member Posts: 1,089
    Originally posted by loyaltrekie


    Full voiceover = waste of space/time
    Voiceover for critical story components = Yes
    Voiceover for random NPC telling me to kill a rat = No
     



     

    One of the many flaws of AoC was every NPC in Tortage being fully voiced, then you leave Tortage and it stops.  All that did was add to the feeling the game was incomplete.  I'd be fine with just your companions and main quest line NPCs being voiced.

  • ElikalElikal Member UncommonPosts: 7,912

    I agree with the OP. One of the best things about EQ2 was they had a big part of their game with voiceover right away and had patched more in later on. Lipsynch voiceover! Its one thing I am just spoilt with, and for me a major feature. All those soulless textboxes just bore me to death. So I think a game like TOR aiming for story as important part MUST have a bigger part of their game with voiceover.

    People don't ask questions to get answers - they ask questions to show how smart they are. - Dogbert

  • TillerTiller Member LegendaryPosts: 11,125

    the voice interactive NPC AI in TOR is what I think will be cool

    SWG Bloodfin vet
    Elder Jedi/Elder Bounty Hunter
     
  • Proximo521Proximo521 Member UncommonPosts: 283
    Originally posted by Elikal


    I agree with the OP. One of the best things about EQ2 was they had a big part of their game with voiceover right away and had patched more in later on. Lipsynch voiceover! Its one thing I am just spoilt with, and for me a major feature. All those soulless textboxes just bore me to death. So I think a game like TOR aiming for story as important part MUST have a bigger part of their game with voiceover.



     

    I completely agree, if they want more immersion they are going to have to apply voice overs. I just remember the feeling I got on Mass Effect when playing. It was an amazing game!

    image

  • MiklosanMiklosan Member Posts: 176
    Originally posted by loyaltrekie


    Full voiceover = waste of space/time
    Voiceover for critical story components = Yes
    Voiceover for random NPC telling me to kill a rat = No
     



     

    !!!

     

    However, I hope that the voice of characters won't be as annoying as this example: (00:50-03:30) 

    "-chinga chi kun dunga kon baz ala mone chinga dinga donga blaaaaaaaaaaaaH

     

     

  • miagisanmiagisan Member Posts: 5,156

    i agree, voice over in all the game's stories will be nothing more than a hog on resources...imagine a game like eq2 or wow or any other quest based game if every npc had a voice over...your are talking about gigs and gigs of sound, not including the fact the Bioware said no two stories will be the same, thats a ton more sound files....critical story line missions only would be best.

    image

  • DraenorDraenor Member UncommonPosts: 7,918
    Originally posted by loyaltrekie


    Full voiceover = waste of space/time
    Voiceover for critical story components = Yes
    Voiceover for random NPC telling me to kill a rat = No
     



     

    This is more or less how I feel...but I would also like for all interactions with companion characters to be voiced, with the exception of MY character, which will of course, sound like me!

     

    I'll sit in front of my computer and read all of my dialogue choices outloud, my roommate will want to punch me in the face :)

     

    No, I won't actually do that, but it was a funny thought.

    Your argument is like a two legged dog with an eating disorder...weak and unbalanced.

  • AuzyAuzy Member UncommonPosts: 611
    Originally posted by miagisan


    i agree, voice over in all the game's stories will be nothing more than a hog on resources...imagine a game like eq2 or wow or any other quest based game if every npc had a voice over...your are talking about gigs and gigs of sound, not including the fact the Bioware said no two stories will be the same, thats a ton more sound files....critical story line missions only would be best.

     

    ....Hard drives are so cheap now i have 400gigs spare in my comp! Bring on full voice over imo! Adds immersion and honestly is the only way i read the quest!

    Uhh... what?
    image

  • mr138mr138 Member Posts: 65

    Even if this game hits 30gs, who cares? By the time it's released harddrives would be so massive it wouldn't make a dent.

    edit: bah auzy beat me to it.

  • Warshack1337Warshack1337 Member UncommonPosts: 39

    Voice overs are not a complete waste of time.. it gives the player a sense of realism. Rather then reading everything which 99% of the time people do not like to do. It also gives the player a sense that they are having a real conversation. This is what TOR is all about giving the users a real feel into the Star Wars universe.

  • Lord_DaemusLord_Daemus SWG CorrespondentMember Posts: 28

    Voice overs for critical plot points and storyline quests would be great. Gives a sense of realism and the sense that bioware understands what the player wants. Like was said before, not everyone wants to read all the time. Hell, with most quests on SWG  I usually just follow waypoints. Only sidequests should be text only.

    And as was said, 30GB game would be acceptible. With the price of Blu-ray drives coming down and 1.5-2TB HDDs on the market now, theres little to no reason to inhibit the size of the game. One blu ray disc could handle the game easy. Two or three DVDs would work as well.

    Ex-SWG Correspondent
    Currently playing: FFXI, SWTOR
    Awaiting: FFXIV 2.0

  • ToxiliumToxilium Member UncommonPosts: 905

    What the heck is with this 30GB stuff you people are talking about?

    (a) The graphics are far below AoC's (which is only about 25GB). Graphics (textures/models/etc.) take up like, 85% of the game's size.

    (b) Mass Effect and KOTOR were massive games, and less than 10GB + full voice acting.

    It can, and probably will be, done.

    image

    image

  • FikusOfAhaziFikusOfAhazi Member Posts: 1,835

    I think full voice acting NPC's would be really cool. I woulndt play or not play a game because of it though. If bioware doesnt think spending the resources on it would increase profit enough to justify adding it, then I doubt we'll see a total voiced game. Which I would agree, the only time I hear people talking about voice overs are when they are bad. I have no idea what bioware thinks though and I could be completely wrong.

    Voices for companions and the "story" is a gaurentee IMO. Also questing may be totally different in TOR, so there may not be 1000 different quest dispenser npcs. Be nice to have some info, but nothing we can do about that.

    See you in the dream..
    The Fires from heaven, now as cold as ice. A rapid ascension tolls a heavy price.

  • MykellMykell Member UncommonPosts: 780

    Well Mass Effect had the best voiceovers i have ever seen in a game (felt like i was playing a movie at times) and i imagine that Bioware will want to kick it up a notch for TOR so there will probably be more voiceovers than anyone expects.

  • gekkothegreygekkothegrey Member Posts: 236

    When EQ2 first came out they had lots of voice over, and it really brings mmos alive imo. I can not wait for this game this is at the very top of my wish list!

  • lornjlornj Member Posts: 334

    they can fart in a can as far as im concerned for the voice overs. ill still play the game!!!!!

  • craynloncraynlon Member Posts: 255
    Originally posted by loyaltrekie


    Full voiceover = waste of space/time
    Voiceover for critical story components = Yes
    Voiceover for random NPC telling me to kill a rat = No
     

    i disagree and agree with the op

     

    in aoc the point where the game lost a lot of immersion for me was when the voice over stopped around level 20. vo is one aspect everyone praises the tortage levels.

    i stated bevore that vo (and cutscenes) is especially helpfull in telling a story to a group where in other games people click away the dialog and rush you to move on and get their precious xp instead of enjoying atmosphere and story

    if your bored, visit my blog at:
    http://craylon.wordpress.com/ dealing with the look of mmos with the nvidia 3d vision glasses

  • mr138mr138 Member Posts: 65
    Originally posted by D3mis3


    What the heck is with this 30GB stuff you people are talking about?
    (a) The graphics are far below AoC's (which is only about 25GB). Graphics (textures/models/etc.) take up like, 85% of the game's size.
    (b) Mass Effect and KOTOR were massive games, and less than 10GB + full voice acting.
    It can, and probably will be, done.

    By that reasoning WoW looks almost as good as AoC since it's over 3/5ths it's file size now (15g). But seriously, I had a nice reply regarding how massive the files for thousands of quests fully voiced would be, and how much larger this game would have to be then ME or KOTOR (who wants to finish an mmo in 40-80 hours), but it's just easier to call you ignorant.

    30g was just a shot in the dark, it's anyones guess how large this game file will be.

  • LocklainLocklain Member Posts: 2,154

    Meh, bring on full voiceovers!  EQ2 was 12 CDs (if I remember right, not DVDs) so now let TOR be the record holder for most DVDs in a case! I just got my terabyte drives in on Friday so I am good to go.

    It's a Jeep thing. . .
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    |X| \*........*/ |X|
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  • shedaoshaishedaoshai Member Posts: 5

    Wanting an entire MMO to have voice-overs is just wishful thinking.

    However, that is one of the things that made KOTOR so awesome. Going to an MMO, it's bound to lose some awesome qualities like that, while gaining others.

    I feel that it will definitely have a decent amount of voice-overs, but by no means will the entire game be.

  • mefistofelismefistofelis Member Posts: 14

    If you put 500 npcs talk for 2,5 minutes each you will spend about 31gigabytes of space (in wave form)that is without compresion and lowering the quality of the sound to mp3 or any other protocol...you can easily drop that space to half  (15gigs) and even more,like 8 to 10gigs and still maintain a good professional level of quality sounds.

    So no,it is not science fiction anymore to create an mmo with full speech dialogues.

    disclaimer:Numbers are not 100% accurate but close enough(90%) i've made a quick calculation any fellow sound engineer feel free to corect the numbers aproximity

  • alakramalakram Member UncommonPosts: 2,301

    I am more of a text man. I prefer taking my time to read the text, but I know Im getting old. ;)



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