Larian Studios Forums Beyond Divinity (English) Suggestions Thoughts about the Death Knight

Knowing that you probably can't redo the voice acting at this late date, I was wondering if there were some easy things you could do to spruce it up without that much work. For example, why don't you pass all of DK's voice recordings through a filter to make them deeper. That will definitely make him sound scarier, like he should be. If he doesn't sound quite human after the filtering, that's fine. He's a knight from a realm of despair, so he shouldn't sound like my next door neighbor.

If not better voice acting, more dialog could also help set the tone with DK. What makes a great plot is the drama and the human interest. This unlikely combination between a good human and a Death Knight isn't played up at all, at least not in the demo. I should be made to feel how strange and uncomfortable this makes the characters with a little extra dialog at random spots. For example, 10 minutes into the game the following conversation could be triggered:


DK: I don't know if I can take this much longer. To be so close to a miserable human and not be able to cleave his flesh. My sword hand quivers at the thought of freeing your soul from that miserable carcass you call a body.

Character: Say it, don't spray it, Death Knight. This will be a very long journey if I must wipe your saliva from my face each time you start feeling hostile.

DK: Watch your tongue with me, human! I would feed you your own liver just to ask you how you like the taste, were it not for this petty curse that binds us. Just remember that.


The full game might already have this, but some occasional attempts to get DK to open up would also be cool. Just as an example:


Character: What do you like to do with your time, Death Knight? I mean, before we got bound up together?

DK: I serve at the bidding of my masters. That is all you must understand.

Character: Would sharing a detail or two kill you? Does conversation have to be a walk through mud with you?

DK: Fine. This one time, at death camp, I tore apart a newborn baby in front of her parents, at the bidding of my masters who thought they needed to be taught a lesson. Is there naught else you wish to know?

Character: No, um. That'll be it. Thanks.


Atlas

Quite like the ideas. It's kind of strange that there's no way to intiate an interaction between the Death Knight and the Riftrunner, perhaps something like what you can do with henchmen in NWN. But in the demos the Death Knight do offer bits and comments about various things in the dungeon, such as the painting of the Damned One, the hanging skeletion, the talking skull - with all this, the Death Knight may end up more memorable than the Riftrunner himself...

Say, is Beyond Divinity a tale about a Death Knight seeking redemption from being soul-chained to a weak human being?

Good Idea! (héh Death Camp <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" /> )

Hahaha, Death camp. Awesome.

<img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/up.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/up.gif" alt="" /> nice ideas!

I agree. The most irritating thing about the demo is the voice and voice acting of the Death Knight. No voice would be a better alternative to me.

I have to agree on that. If I hadn't played Divine Divinity, I'd have not bought the game based on the demo.

( sorry my thoughts on this are spanning about 6 threads now)

Anyhow, yes, no voice acting would be a great improvement.

Ok other than suggesting you rerecord the entire death knights part my next suggestion is :

Remove the voice acting from all bit parts. Or at least almost all. Sort of like the first game.

Ok you have a voice recorded for the imp in the kitchen. All it says is " me clean this very soon"
Well, do you think it sounds professional quality? No? -Can- it, it does you no good.

Neverwinter nights does not have inclusive voices for all the characters I dont think its that important. It would be cool if they all were professional quality... but lets be frank here... the voices in the demo are from someone who never read a script in an acting class in their life. SOme of the parts sound good. Some dont... have QA pick through each character and just remove a lot of it.

i wish DK's voice would be that of the Black Knight in Monty Python's Search for the Holy Grail.

Hi -

I was thinking about this while falling asleep the other night <g> for some reason ... and I had a total epiphany about it!

Have any of you ever played Ultima VIII: Pagan? It came out about 10 years ago, I think. It was generally a very hard, very confusing game, but I thought it was also ahead of its time and had a lot of good points - most people hated it though. Anyway - remember the voice of The Guardian? During the game intro the hand comes through the pentagram and he starts speaking to the Avatar ... THAT voice would be PERFECT for the Death Knight's voice.

Incidentally, has anyone ever thought that Divine Divinity would have been the sequel that Ultima 9 could have been? What I mean is because of the isometric top-down, bird's eye 3rd person view that was so popular in the middle Ultima titles, 6-7-8 ... it seemed like DD took right off where U8 stopped, graphically speaking.

Arya

Thanx. Acually we would feel honored if that would be a general opinion. Most members of the <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/div.gif" alt="" /> development team loved the later ultimas and we indeed tried to recreate the freedom and immersion Ultima VII gave us.

Btw i liked Ultima 8 too. After installing the Jump patch the game was great imho.

Good guy (carnt remember name): "look you stupid [email]b@s*erd[/email] you've got no arms left!"

Black Knight: "Yes i Ave Loook, its just a flesh wound.."

a realy great film and i agree the Dk needs a scarier, deeper, phychotic and evil voice

FWIW I really did not like the voice of the DK either and it was not even the worst one, but since he is the one with the most lines...

I hope there is a way to turn out all the voices, I'd much rather read my way through.

The thing about the Death Knight, or at least how I crafted him, is that he is more a 'servant' of evil rather than being intrinsically evil to the bone himself. He's not a particularly nice guy granted, but his tone is far more of a world-weary grouch with a large mean streak rather than "I am evil here me roar". His darker side is revealed more in how he treats other characters rather than the hero. He can't kill the hero...obviously as that would mean his own death...so there is no point in random threats, so instead he tends to opt for sarcasm and general moaning. It's bit like The Odd Couple <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

Hm, your description meets fairly good my own view on the DeathKnight's voice - the one in the Demo. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/winkwink.gif" alt="" />

As long as he will be killing some filty humans It's all good <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/biggrin.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/up.gif" alt="" />

he must wave his blade around and call himself king of the hill..the death knight should be emotionless and sarcastic yes...there should also be good set of irony in his texts..

Irony doens't go far enough. Sarcasm and cynicism

example:

child get run over by a horse wagon.

DK: Aw look It takes 4 ever to get that blood out. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/devil.gif" alt="" />


Now thats Evil <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/devil.gif" alt="" />

lol..that line would be a bit too human though...

Or after a battle of monster our hero stand in a bloody mess with blood dripping in his clotes.

Hero: How come you don't have any blood on you.
DK: My armor is impervious to filth

Morbo Is a great fan of dark humor <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/devil.gif" alt="" />