Voice acting for the main character | Is there any place for text-only in new RPGs?

[Eternal]

Let's do a poll, shall we?

The modern game industry is so varied, it has already got out of its cradle and now offers us a great wealth of destinations. If a few decades ago the lack of voice acting for the main character was by default, now we have a whole palette of RPG games, from nostalgic ones, where the text field is the only way for your main character of communicating with the outside world, to ultramodern ones, with mock-up recording and voice acting from the world’s best cinema stars.

Many companies are moving towards higher dynamics in games, more entertainment and more drama in cutscenes. They use character dialogues to act out impressive interactions and, naturally, provide your character with a voice.

But this differs so much from the classic approach of old-school RPGs where you, as a player, could act out the character with your own voice, reading lines aloud. Some players love voiced protagonists, some believe that someone else's voice can be foreign and even annoying. Some are convinced that a lot of text on the screen is a relic of old times and has no place in the modern gaming industry.

Do you still like reading text in games? And if so, why? What advantages do you think a silent main character has?

*** I don't mean character lines when you select them ("As you wish") or combat voices ("Atttaaack!")

 

[mlnevese]

I like both when done well, meaning the text is not sacrificed for the voice. Having the written dialog on screen gives me time to think about what is being said, checking for clues, for instance.

 

[Antimatter]

I like voiced characters.

Even in old-school RPGs, it's probably the voices that played a big part in why I've fallen in love with those games. Male2 and Male3 in BG2. HoW voice sets in IWD for both genders. Even the selections lines. My affection for Jaheira started with her voice and her accent.

Brent Knowles, the lead designer on Dragon Age: Origins, has said recently: "We didn't end up with a voiced protagonist, which would have radically shortened the game - that was something that was on the table late in development". So it shows they wanted to do voiced main characters in 2009, just didn't have time and resources for that.

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Thinking about this, of course, they wanted to do them. Mass Effect has amazing voice-overs, and I'd taken them in a heartbeat even if the main character in ME was fully customized.

To me, this is not a question anymore, I want the main character to speak. This is why I hope Baldur's Gate 3 will have a fully voiced main character (currently in the Early Access build they don't speak). I think it makes the game more immersive. I remember reading how players didn't like Fallout 4 and its choice of a voiced main character. I think the problem there was probably in the lack of choice between different voices. For example, Dragon Age: Inquisition lets you pick either a British voice or an American voice. Both female and male British voices in DA:I have melted my heart.

Just listen to this (2 mins):



Would you have been able to feel the same emotion without that voice of the main character? I doubt it.

The most immersive game I've played is Cyberpunk 2077. And the main character's VO there is probably the strongest performance I have ever heard-- for a fully customized character I mean. That performance is one of the biggest reasons I felt so much connection to the story and other characters.

Disco Elysium: The Final Cut added voices to the game. While the main character still isn't voiced there, these voices have been so good and helped me understand people I have met in that game.

It doesn't mean that I can't enjoy a game without a fully voiced main character, I can. But I would prefer to have them fully voiced, even for games such as The Elder Scrolls or Bethesda's new project Starfield.

 

[alice_ashpool]

I like to read.

I also like voiced MCs but the voice options are usually restricted to Standard American and Received Pronunciation, maybe Midatlantic - what if I want to play as a crusty dwarf rather than the presenter of BBC news?

 

[WiseGrimwald]

When I play I usually play on silent anyway so that I don't disturb others in the room, so for me text is everything.

 

[WiseGrimwald]

I can't play with speakers either, with very rare exceptions, but what about headphones? I always use good headphones when I can't disturb anyone but can disappear, and simple earphones to plug in only one side if I need to hear "alarm" by the phone/door/family at the same time.

I could, but then I can't hear too well when my wife is speaking to me.

 

[Nimran]

For me, it’s basically a give-and-take thing. There are generally less dialogue options to choose from in games where your main character has a voice, as the developers then have to pay the VA for every dialogue option you do have. This can limit the roleplayability of a game for me, but I have grown so accustomed to it that it’s rarely a big deal anymore. I guess I’m in the neutral camp, leaning towards a preference for written dialogue choices only.

Oh, there’s also the occasional disconnect between the line that is written and what is actually said by the VA. There were several times in DA:I for instance where I found myself saying “That’s not what I wanted to say.”