Dragon Age: Inquisition (Plot Details in Spoilers!)
- Thread starter Eonan
- Start date
Well, there is something to be said for having more than one option. Many Options/Silent vs. Less Options/Voiced, Solo vs. Group, and so on. All the developers making only one style is kind of a bummer.
iannis
Musty Nester
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I've never had a problem with a silent hero, but I don't expect my video game to be some kind of interactive choose-your-own-adventure movie either.
The problem I find with the voiced hero is that the guys who write video games seem to honestly just fucking suck at stories. It's a problem for the silent hero as well, don't get me wrong, it's getting to the point where video games could use writing teams like television shows have. But in the silent hero games there tend to be other areas of focus as well. In the voiced hero style -- the shitty story is the focus because all this money and effort went into voicing him/her to begin with. That's the central premise of the thing. Your dude talks.
Voiced or silent... the way the games seem to need to grow is in story components. It seems like sparkly new graphics and sparkly new mechanics are tapering out. They hire professional animators and codemonkies for these things rather than amateurs, they may need to start hiring professional writers. But I mean good ones. Not like Tyler Perry.
I can think of 5 or 6 silent hero games off the top of my head that I thought were pretty good as games, and either acceptable or kind of neat as just stories. I can only think of ME2 for the voiced hero. And even that wasn't great, I just thought it wasn't insultingly bad. Some companions were better than others.
Oh, Alan Wake. I actually thought that was pretty good for what it was.
The problem I find with the voiced hero is that the guys who write video games seem to honestly just fucking suck at stories. It's a problem for the silent hero as well, don't get me wrong, it's getting to the point where video games could use writing teams like television shows have. But in the silent hero games there tend to be other areas of focus as well. In the voiced hero style -- the shitty story is the focus because all this money and effort went into voicing him/her to begin with. That's the central premise of the thing. Your dude talks.
Voiced or silent... the way the games seem to need to grow is in story components. It seems like sparkly new graphics and sparkly new mechanics are tapering out. They hire professional animators and codemonkies for these things rather than amateurs, they may need to start hiring professional writers. But I mean good ones. Not like Tyler Perry.
I can think of 5 or 6 silent hero games off the top of my head that I thought were pretty good as games, and either acceptable or kind of neat as just stories. I can only think of ME2 for the voiced hero. And even that wasn't great, I just thought it wasn't insultingly bad. Some companions were better than others.
Oh, Alan Wake. I actually thought that was pretty good for what it was.
j00t
Silver Baronet of the Realm
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i think there's definately still room for silent protaganists. it's just a completely different angle on the narrative. if the protaganist is silent, then the viewpoint is that YOU are experiencing the world and the story first person. if the protaganist talks, then you are watching a character experience the story. not that either one is better or worse. They are just different. some games, you really need a voice to go with the character. Saints Row is one of them. partly because Troy Baker does a friggen amazing job as the default voice. that series would just be... a whole lot less fun without a voice to your character. Then there's Fallout... the idea is that YOU are the vault dweller, YOU are the wanderer... putting a voice to that character would be jarring because it's not YOUR voice.
while i agree entirely that better writing all around is needed, a good voice actor paired with a good director can make up a lot of ground when it comes to mediocre writing. Saints Row and Deadpool are perfect examples of this. the stories in those games? they serve as a vehicle to get from one place to another and that is about it. but the voice acting for the characters make ALL the difference
while i agree entirely that better writing all around is needed, a good voice actor paired with a good director can make up a lot of ground when it comes to mediocre writing. Saints Row and Deadpool are perfect examples of this. the stories in those games? they serve as a vehicle to get from one place to another and that is about it. but the voice acting for the characters make ALL the difference
Yeah, exactly.
I mean hell - look at DA:O vs DA2. DA:O noble origin and DA2 haveverysimilar basic themes but Origins does it so much better - partially because of pacing but also because it'syourcharacter losing their home/family/etc and being forced to escape to a (dubious) santuary rather than Bioware's Hawke.
I mean hell - look at DA:O vs DA2. DA:O noble origin and DA2 haveverysimilar basic themes but Origins does it so much better - partially because of pacing but also because it'syourcharacter losing their home/family/etc and being forced to escape to a (dubious) santuary rather than Bioware's Hawke.
bixxby
Molten Core Raider
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Yeah, I never really felt connected with Hawke at all. Even ME2/3 gave me the same connection feeling as DA though, so who knows. DA2 felt a lot more like going through the motions. DA1 was EQ/WoW for me, game changer and got me into bioware games. DA2 felt like the Rift version of Dragon Age.
Joeboo
Molten Core Raider
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- 140
In every single RPG that allows the option, I always just turn on subtitles and skip the rest of the spoken dialogue as soon as I'm done reading the subtitles. I can read the information probably 5x faster than a character is going to speak it. I'd rather do that and then hurry up and get back to the action. I'm playing a game to actually play it, not listen to some character ramble on forever in a cutscene. If given the choice, I'd much rather see the budget for voice acting put towards the actual gameplay/content than voice actors.
Just look at the direction that RPGs have taken since voice acting has become standard. Baldurs Gate or Planescape easily had 100+ hours of gameplay(closer to 200 if you did every single side quest), probably enough text to fill a small novel too. Today, you're lucky to get 1/3 of that length of gameplay out of a game with thorough voice acting (ME3, DA2, etc). Give me the epic 100-hour RPG where I have to read every day of the week.
Just look at the direction that RPGs have taken since voice acting has become standard. Baldurs Gate or Planescape easily had 100+ hours of gameplay(closer to 200 if you did every single side quest), probably enough text to fill a small novel too. Today, you're lucky to get 1/3 of that length of gameplay out of a game with thorough voice acting (ME3, DA2, etc). Give me the epic 100-hour RPG where I have to read every day of the week.
I can understand that point of view and it's because voice acting is handled cheaply currentlly. It's boring as fuck to watch a scene where two characters just stare at each other and talk, and that's where I'm hoping next gen improves greatly. They need to move towards movie style dialogue where interesting things are happening at the same time.
I think that is exactly what they were aiming for in ME2 with those Paragon and Renegade interrupts during dialogues
also Jennifer Hales voice performance as Female Shepard is just incredible and she delivers her lines perfectly, especially if you go the Renegade Spacebitch route
I think the problem is with the pacing differences between films and a video game. In a video game you are prompted for a choice then the game waits for your input. This interrupts the dramatic flow which wouldn't happen in a film since everything is edited together after fliming is complete. Aslo during cutscenes in DA2 you will notice the pauses in dialogue where the game, depending on how you playe hawke, slots in your caring/sarcastic/asshole response.
eXarc
Trakanon Raider
- 1,605
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What about quick time responses to dialogue with single and more complex emotions assigned to buttons for specific parts of the storytelling part of the game? Is this feasable? I don't know much of game design technicalities.
I think it would make the immersion much more intense as well.
Also I wanted to add, you could perhaps choose a general disposition for your character at game start and since there are only so many buttons on a controller for the entire spectrum of emotion, think of the buttons assigned to emotion that develop over the course of the game.
For instance, let's say the X button on a PS3 is a basic quick time reaction for your character's display of approval. Over the course of the game, X wouldn't always be the same exact display of approval, it would develop based on what or who your character has approved of and how often, etc.
I think it would make the immersion much more intense as well.
Also I wanted to add, you could perhaps choose a general disposition for your character at game start and since there are only so many buttons on a controller for the entire spectrum of emotion, think of the buttons assigned to emotion that develop over the course of the game.
For instance, let's say the X button on a PS3 is a basic quick time reaction for your character's display of approval. Over the course of the game, X wouldn't always be the same exact display of approval, it would develop based on what or who your character has approved of and how often, etc.
Sulrn
Deuces
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- 360
You mean combining AP's time relevancy and conversation time urgency with DA2's "tone evolution". It could have been done last generation, no reason for it not to be done this gen (outside of resource focus on "the shiny").
Read they are going to allow you to select a race again. Pretty sure the races will all share the same female/mail voice and story. Just the skin and some extra voice flavor depending on your race choice.
