Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - Suggestions & Feedback Very little distinction between the two female Tav voices

I'd really love to see some additional voice options in the full release, since I really don't find either of the female voices very fitting for my characters. Both seem to have a very similar tone and I find myself often thinking that they're just the same actress. Since our characters are expected to be more vocal in the new patch I'm even more hopeful for additional options. Since most of the game has our protag being silent, it's hard to find myself enjoying the occasional moments when they speak up. I hope I'm not the only person thinking this, especially since the two male options are so different!

For what it's worth, the same (fairly minor) problem goes for the two male voices. They are so similar in tone/vibe that it's only from time to time I was able to recognize which one of the two I picked.

It's the same accent, but with a class distinction. The first Tav is common and the second Tav is posh. It's not a strong difference though, you could have both in the same family.

I’m reasonably confident this is an EA thing. I seriously doubt they would go into full release with just those 4 voices.

I mean you can’t be a sequel and have fewer than the base games from over 20yrs ago!

That's not a hard guess to make. There are already four more voices datamined in the current build.

Though, if our two current choices are 'vaguely posh brit' and 'vaguely city brit' ... I'm not sure how optimistic I'm feeling that getting two more feminine-tones ones will actually have a good chance of offering one I might like to use for... er... any of my characters.

In particular, they should supply at least a positive-geared accent neutral choice, and a dark/selfish geared accent neutral choice in both masculine and feminine types. Fingers crossed I guess.

What is "accent neutral", please, Niara?
There is no "default" accent to the English language... and if anything, the British accent is closest to making that particular claim.
English has many accents - American, Canadian, Australian, Scottish, Newfoundland accent... etc, just to name a few. I don't think there is such a thing as a completely "neutral" accent.

Accent neutral, in this case, are voice sets that embody archetypes, without displaying any overt or obvious hallmarks of real-world national/cultural accents. Most video games attempt to get as close to possible to this with at least a few of their voice sets. Voice coaching for VAs is a thing precisely for that reason (amongst others, of course) - They'll take a set of lines or barks, listen through, note the sounds and inflections that have strong signifier factors for particular languages/dialects, and smooth them down on subsequent takes until they're mostly unnoticeable, and the voice coach can no longer say with any clarity what sort of an 'accent' the line has at all.

I have feeling that BioWare would disagree with you. :-/

Dragon Age provided 6 voices per gender AND race ...
Dragon Age II. provided single voice per gender ... there was no races to pick. -_-
Dragon Age: Inquisition provided only two voices per gender ... and even there none was properly dwarvish. :-/
(very dissapointing for myself)

Oohhhh okay, thank you.
Usual fantasy RPG voices sound mostly British to me, still, but I didn't know that.

That's because Dragon Age dwarves sound American in Bioware's world. I think this was by design.

Ah ok, I hadn't been following the datamined stuff.

Im not talking about accents here, i barely understand english as it is anyway.
I was more talking about tone ... Dwarves usualy have harsh voice, maybe even hoarse ... and that is what i would like to hear. :-/

Also i was comparing it to Dwarven voices from Dragon Age I.

Yeah, a known problem. I really hope that they will add more voices, for more evil characters. I don't care about the accent at all, I don't even see the difference, because English is not my language, I only see the tone of voice.

This, by the way, is another thing that I don't like about DAI, there was also a difference only in the accent. Many foreigners do not notice this accent, looking at the character we rather think about the tone of voice. A rough voice, a ringing voice, a sweet voice, etc. Dont care about accent.

It harkens back to playing through repeatedly hearing things like "Kill them. Kill them All!" and "There will be such... suffering." I really miss those days.

Yeah same for me. Only the Irish and scotish accents are the ones I recognize straight away cause it really sounds like someone got insanely drunk and forgot how his native language is supposed to sound.

As someone who dearly misses her ability to actually talk aloud, and of an even split Irish and Scottish heritage... The scot in me says you're kind of right, and the Irish part of me, where my accent properly lay, says that the thing to remember is that English is not our native language, not truly. Our own natural languages got driven out by english control - with kids punished in school for speaking them, and worse; there were even laws passed banning their use with the active intent to 'extinguish their sinister laws and customs'. They didn't fade away naturally, they were actively killed, or a good attempt made thereof...

Er, ahem, sorry. At any rate...

Different tones and timbres are the things that should differentiate voice sets, as others are saying. That was kind of what I meant (though I probably chose the wrong word) when I mentioned archetypes before; the bright and bubbly, the rough and gravelly, etc.

Yes I agree more voice types are definitely needed. Imagine a strong Scottish brogue on a Dark Elf saying "Git oot o' 'ere ye howfin goblin!" <grins> It could add some humor as well.

Yeah, I agree. They sound really similar. I would love for a more butch voice, or maybe a more raspy or creepy one. Dialiects would be cool too.

infinite +1