Putting briefly the Replay Game stuff aside, I think the most interesting notion I've heard lately is this "voice pack" vs voices in your head kind of appreciation. Some people like voice packs and characters, some people prefer designing the voices of characters in their head. So where do you feel voice acting is appropriate, what is okay with you for the text to be on its own and you decide who sounds like what? I don't know. I feel it's a kind of unexplored territory of adventure games, because we've all played a talkie yet we've all no doubt played one that didn't require it. Comments? Thanks :)
Voice wins.
Voice does win. But I did rather enjoy the voices in my head when playing the original Journey Down.
Personally, I think voice acting can be a double edged sword. Done well, it can only enhance the player's experience, especially in a genre such as Adventure Games, where you're trying to create a world in which someone can become immersed. But done poorly, and well... you get something like this... (HOW DARE YOU DISTURB MY FAMILY VACATION! GWAAAAAAARG!!) (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TlzPoXCFWAQ) (perhaps an extreme example). I'd say it's easier to get good voiceover work in lighthearted, more cartoony games (provided the voices aren't annoying, that is) than more serious games where the immersion can be broken more easily. But overall, there's really no middle ground with voice acting: If you're going to do it, do it well, otherwise don't waste the time and effort.
I think I generally prefer voice, but it couldn't hurt to put it in the user's hands. That's one thing that AGS makes very easy. In fact, if they don't want the voice pack, you could even offer it as a separate download (that is, the game without the speech.vox).
I agree with what Jaffles said.
I agree that good voice acting is good, and bad voice acting is really, really bad. We had to play The Whispered World with the voice switched off because the player character's English voice was unbearable.
I wonder if that may be more common with German/Non-English-Language games, because there isn't such strong directorial control over the English voice acting. Or is TWW still awful Auf Deutsch?
I just found a clip of my favourite worst voice: the Scottish/Irish farmer from Return to Zork. The actor is so awful it makes me wonder if he just worked in the office.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1o1z1Q0K4tY (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1o1z1Q0K4tY)
TWW is awesome in German (I just didn't like the ending, it almost ruined the whole game for me)
Quote from: Ali on Sat 21/07/2012 11:17:54
I wonder if that may be more common with German/Non-English-Language games, because there isn't such strong directorial control over the English voice acting. Or is TWW still awful Auf Deutsch?
TWW is very decent Auf Deutsch. The Germans tend to dub almost everything into their own language (most video games and movies), and their experience shows. I'm actually quite attached to German versions of Broken Sword 1 and Syberia (especially the great voices of Nico and Kate).
Quote from: cat on Sat 21/07/2012 11:48:01
TWW is awesome in German (I just didn't like the ending, it almost ruined the whole game for me)
I only meant the voices were awful in English, most of the game was lovely. The illusion of choice in the end was annoying, but I liked what they were trying to do with the ending.
In light of the thread I'm replying in a stupid piratey voice thing!
http://snd.sc/OORaMh
What Jaffles said, really. It can make or break a game (but if you at least have the option to turn voices off, I guess that kind of solves the problem).
A weird addendum to this is in something like The Silver Lining - on the whole I enjoyed the voice acting, but the narrator voice drove me round the bend. Fortunately by episode 2 you had the option to turn that off if you wanted.
Quote from: CaptainD on Sat 21/07/2012 14:15:16
What Jaffles said, really. It can make or break a game (but if you at least have the option to turn voices off, I guess that kind of solves the problem).
A weird addendum to this is in something like The Silver Lining - on the whole I enjoyed the voice acting, but the narrator voice drove me round the bend. Fortunately by episode 2 you had the option to turn that off if you wanted.
+1, have the option to turn off the voices.
Personally, I always feel like the game is on mute when there are no voices, but I agree that sometimes they can be annoying when not done right.
Aside from what people have already said how badly done voice acting REALLY REALLY ruins a game, to make it worse than no voice acting at all, there is also the point where if you're making a remake or a sequel or a reimagining, people probably already have an opinion on how that person would sound in their head, or even if they don't, they have an idea that "This sounds totally wrong", so you'd have to be careful to not ruin that (especially if you are not the original creator of the character).
Al.
Emmo.
...
Yeah.
I also agree with TWW's English lead being unbearable.
Regardless of quality, though, I usually click past voices if I'm reading ahead of them.
EDIT: As a side question, if there are no voices, do people prefer dialog that silently appears on screen, or dialog that's accompanied by an audio cue (such as the beeping trill heard in 16-bit JRPGs)?
Personally I prefer not to have the voice acting, Mainly because I am quite a miser with my hard drive space and feel that digitized voice over inflates a games size, though I have nothing against making them available as a separate download. However if you do have digitized voice then you must also have an option to display captions. That was a major problem with the games "return to zork" and Myst. If you were a deaf player the games could be unwinable since some of the puzzles were dependent on sound.
Heh. I hate how they dub the voices in russian localizations. Those so called "professional actors" seem to not pay any attention neither for the context nor to the character, and prefer to read everything in such manner that sounds like they are reading a fairy tale book for kids in kindergarden. Sometimes makes me laugh, but usually bores to hell. Hence I prefer to play english versions of the games when possible.
I remember only one game I played back in 90-ies which actually had better voice-over in russian than in original english. But.... that localization was made by pirates! oh, the irony :)
On topic. Well, what can I say, except for obvious? If the acting is good I vote for the voice. Otherwise better not. I remember I disabled voice in Laura Bow 2 because some of the actors just pissed me off (sounded too much off-character).
Regarding giving your own voice to characters. That's the same problem as when making a movie based on a novel - if you read a book before you will always be dissapointed a bit because some characters are not like you imagined. On other hand, if your imagination has a right to give character a voice, why game creator's shouldn't? And how can one say that it is their imagination that has higher priority on doing that? I suppose it is rather a matter of getting used to something.
Subtitles is a must have regardless of anything. Even if your game is translated to hungred languages there are still people who prefer to listen to original acting and check text when they do not understand something. I do :).
Surely the BEST voice acting ever goes to Eric Idle in the Discworld series? Discworld would have lost some of its amazing humour without the hilarious comments in Idle's accent. Amazing. You've just got to make sure you get the right voice, otherwise it's just going to be annoying. We have to voice a ten year old girl as one of our main characters, I'm dreading trying to get that right!
I think a perfect example of the RIGHT voices are TellTale's Sam & Max - all the voices are great, but the lead duo are absolutely perfect.
On the other hand, the English versions of Secret Files had some pretty bad voice acting.
Ceville had some really fun voice work.
Are they different voice actors than who did the original Sam & Max?
One thing I liked about the old games was that I could imagine how the voices sounded in my head. As VO became expected, I found that I liked it better if I could click through dialog I found grating (I don't like not being able to click through text I already read.)
It can really add a whole new dimension to a game, but can take away from it if not cast well.
Quote from: Nix on Mon 23/07/2012 19:48:13
Surely the BEST voice acting ever goes to Eric Idle in the Discworld series? Discworld would have lost some of its amazing humour without the hilarious comments in Idle's accent. Amazing. You've just got to make sure you get the right voice, otherwise it's just going to be annoying. We have to voice a ten year old girl as one of our main characters, I'm dreading trying to get that right!
If I ever meet Eric Idle I'll ask him to say "That doesn't work", then punch him in the face.
The weirdest bit in Discworld 1 was trying to give Rincewind's pouch to the Luggage. Then (I think) you got Rob Brydon doing an unusually poor impersonation of Eric Idle saying "I'll hang on to this myself". Rob Brydon went on to do Lewton's voice, and then become properly famous on TV.
Quote from: Ali on Tue 24/07/2012 00:02:53
The weirdest bit in Discworld 1 was trying to give Rincewind's pouch to the Luggage. Then (I think) you got Rob Brydon doing an unusually poor impersonation of Eric Idle saying "I'll hang on to this myself".
Strange, in my version of the game you can put it in the luggage like every other item.
Thank you for your views. It'd be interesting to 'study' if there is perhaps some developer bias behind voice acting in games, but that's really cos of some non-developer friends who seem comfortable with no voices, rather than you guys challenging good & bad voice acting (you're obviously taking into focus the production quality, whereas I feel non-developers wouldn't worry about that so much). But there are definitely some worthwhile comments here, even some supporting the "no voices needed" aspect (and for interesting reasons such as game size!) and even with the debates outside of AGS forums, the opinions still indicate a resounding "yes" to VA in games. I'm definitely on that side of the fence, I'm just compelled to know more about why voices wouldn't be required for some players.
Quote from: m0ds on Tue 24/07/2012 08:11:48I'm just compelled to know more about why voices wouldn't be required for some players.
I know this would be the minority among today's gamers, but some just prefer to imagine a voice however they want to and would get dismayed when a sequel or reboot comes out and the voice ends up being different from their vision.
If someone is deaf/can't hear too well I guess VO wouldn't be a big priority either.
Quote from: Ascovel on Tue 24/07/2012 00:45:39
Quote from: Ali on Tue 24/07/2012 00:02:53
The weirdest bit in Discworld 1 was trying to give Rincewind's pouch to the Luggage. Then (I think) you got Rob Brydon doing an unusually poor impersonation of Eric Idle saying "I'll hang on to this myself".
Strange, in my version of the game you can put it in the luggage like every other item.
Are you saying I invented a story as pointless, tedious and obscure as that! How dare you, sir!
Voices, but only if done right. Only problem is I imagine they're difficult to get right.
If you're able to produce decent voice packs for your game, you should do it (unless you're going for the retro/nostalgic route).
The exact same can be said for including graphics, or keeping it text only.
I dislike most voice acting and generally turn it off. This is in part because I read text faster than most people speak it. For me, if a game doesn't give you the option to turn voices off, that's reason to stop playing it (and for that matter, so is having any message speed other than "click for the next line").
Quote from: Radiant on Mon 30/07/2012 10:15:55
I dislike most voice acting and generally turn it off. This is in part because I read text faster than most people speak it. For me, if a game doesn't give you the option to turn voices off, that's reason to stop playing it (and for that matter, so is having any message speed other than "click for the next line").
I'm exactly the opposite - I don't mind hearing a line performed after I've already read it, but I do hate excessive clicking and avoid it where I can.
Why would I rush anyway? To miss important clues and have to go through the lines again? Better to get everything memorized well the first time. And any message delivered via a voice actor's performance sinks in much better than plain text. Not to mention bad/bland writing + no voices is a particularly dreadful mix. It's like digging through pure dirt. I prefer good writing + weak voice acting by a mile. Or even bad writing + bad voice acting - at least someone was really committed to their brand of tastelessness.
That said, I always preferred Gabriel Knight: Sins of the Fathers text-only, without the terribly inconsistent voice recordings. That game is just too immersive to have it ruined by those.