Larian Studios Forums Beyond Divinity (English) Suggestions Simple suggestion for voice acting

Women! - Can't live with'em, can't swap'em for a Sword. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/tongue.gif" alt="" />

The majority of games palyers are males, this is why (and quite rightly) most games are usually aimed at males. There are some good examples of women being included though:

Unreal 2k3/4 and Baldurs Gates are the ones that spring to mind. They do an amazing job of including the ladies, as they fit their roles perfectly.

Divine Divinity-it had make whores in the house too.

There is a big difference between games being not being marketed at women and female characters within a game not being voiced by actual females!

All I'm saying is it's unimportant. So they don't bother.

Very true!

I'm used to being in the minority in pretty much everything I do. Most people in comic book stores, most people buying PC games, and so on and so forth -- male. That's fine by me. But that doesn't mean that female NPCs sound good being done in poor falsetto!

Quite right.

I thought we where talking about females taking user roles though, not NPC's, sorry.

really!! i thought this thread was about suggestions for voice acting... <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/tongue.gif" alt="" />

I think there's still plenty of room left for more female voice actors and better roles for women all round in games.

There does seem to have been a trend in RPGs to cast women as either housewives, helpless, witches or whores, which does get a bit monotonous. I've lost count of the number of games that insist on including a brothel. Even the great Planescape Torment which had some good gutsy female characters insisted on having the street scenes crowded with an extraordinary number of 'harlots'.

It seems as if game makers assume that their target audience is all spotty sex-crazed adolescent boys. Yet polls on forums always seem to show a strong older demographic with the average age being something in the high twenties.

(Apologies to any resident spotty, sex-crazed adolescent boys on the forum - I do understand that your cravings are real and not to be made fun of. However, the satisfaction level afforded by tiny pixellated boobs is exceptionally low..... <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" /> )

It's coming, just more slowly than some would like (better roles for women in games, I mean... )

alright, then. u're forgiven. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/tongue.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/silly.gif" alt="" /> anyway, quite a number of us are moving on to another level; dirty old men. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/evilgrin1.gif" alt="" />

right. back on topic. if the women characters are voiced by males on falsetto made, it could've comedic element, much like monty python's. example; in life of brian, brian's mom was a dude in falsetto. so are the three gangster grandmas in something completely different. better yet, give them unique accents. british accent & a witty dialogue are the best combo. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/up.gif" alt="" /> of course, IMHO. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/winkwink.gif" alt="" />

maybe next time, larians can develop new game(s) which have unique storyline for female character(s).

kris, apart from prevalent brothel scenes in games, let's not forget vestal virgins & scantily clad priestesses. how can there be RPG without them? <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/rolleyes.gif" alt="" />

You're right! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

Another prevalent feature of RPGs is the astonishingly different responses to choosing cold weather clothing that male and female characters have.

Whilst the men stomp warmly around in long cloaks, full armour, and frequently favour furry accessories, the average female fighter often has to tiptoe through the snow in something that looks like it was made out of a pair of hankerchieves, or a couple of leather bootlaces... they must all drink anti-freeze potions... very mysterious.. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/biggrin.gif" alt="" />

At leaast the brothel in Divine Divinity was chock-full of NPCs of both sexes... and it didn't matter which your character was or which it picked. But that's a different story!

One of my favorite features of the Divinity games is that the hero character is pretty much exactly the same, whether you pick a male or female avatar. Also, the villians are reasonably well mixed. I'm only in act IV of BD, but it does seem to me that DD was much stronger at giving a healthy balance in the NPCs. (2/5 or 3/7 or whatever of the Black Ring was female, if I remember rightly... though it's been a year since I played).

Better roles for women -- and the treatment of women and of female characters and players in the world of geekery, sci-fi, fantasy, and video games -- interest me, but honestly I'm expecting things to change extremely slowly on that front, because the demographic changes slowly. And I'm okay with that. As I mentioned before, I think any girl who grows up with Star Trek and Star Wars and comic books and PC games really gets used to being "one of the guys" early in life.

But now, back to my original point: Larian is well ahead of the curve by actually writing in the female NPCs and the female hero option. So when giving voice to female characters, why not use a female voice actor? Had the voices in BD taken the Monty Python route, it might have worked. (Hell, I'd love it if they hired Eric Idle, John Cleese, et. al to do the voices, but that's neither here nor there.) But they didn't, and it didn't.

I'm amused and pleased that my "simple suggestion" has spawned such a complex thread!

What about Baldur's Gate 2? My party which I controlled (levelled up and so on) had 3 females in it, with female voices. These are playable characters.

And... Things don't change much for young lads. They may be getting excited about the pixels on-screen in games, but when they're older, they'll just go to porn sites, and look at the pixels there <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/tongue.gif" alt="" />

Boys will be boys!

The only way to do it right is to hire real actors for the roles. Otherwise dont even do it. If you arent going to do it right just save teh money and have it text.

So many games get their friends and family and unprofessionals to do the voice acting and you can really, really tell.

<img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/biggrin.gif" alt="" />

What makes you think Larian hired their friends?
Have you read the credits? The actors are courtesy of Digital Jesters.

I've heard a couple of female voices in BD.

One was being put through some sort of speech pitch changer, which actually kept varying her voice part way through the sentence, presumably unintentionally. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" /> Maybe it was happening on my system??

There is a Sarah Hileman credited in the manual, plus an Ellyn Eaves-Hileman (who I guess might be either sex??).

Does anybody know who voiced what?

There was one guy who seemed to be doing just about all the NPCs in Act 3 (and not doing a particularly good job of any of them, alas), but I also heard a voice that I'm sure I recognised from the castle sim Stronghold. Whoever that was he at least sounded like an experienced voice actor.

I wonder if there are any voice actor sites on the net? I tried searching for a few of the names from BD, but haven't found anything yet. One name - Justin Toland - belonged to a guy involved in the technical side of sound recording. Maybe he does a few voices as well? Could be a completely different person of course. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

The witch was female voice. act 2

Ok, this topic heading should change.... NOT so simple suggestions for voice acting... <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/stupid.gif" alt="" />

Yes i agree that there should have been more female NPC's in BD... unfortunately the fact that Men (yes i know you ARE the market we the games are aimed at) still just cannot resist a seductive (yet elusive) female in a game...

Its been proven, time and time again....

How many people played Tomb Raider (with or without the nude patch)... the playability of the game was not the best by any standard, yet its sales rocketed.

In the same athmosphere, how many people went to watch tomb raider (both movies)... even if they afterwards complained about the storyline (i never heard of a male that doesnt find something to complain about). Yet doesnt matter if they disliked the first tomb raider, they were STILL the ones with premier tickets to the 2nd movie.

And while pixels dont do much in reality.... its still gets the "instinctive brain" working. You are also not limited to pixels. Most men will agree, the female that gets them going, isnt always the one wearing only a blindfold. Very often its the female that gives them a level of competition or keeps them in check, the "touch cookie" so to speak... or the one that very subtly lure them out. All in all, it almost doesnt matter how you present a female character, men will be interested in them.... especially if they are not pictured as the hag, whore, whitch (well that one is a border line, you can do LOTS for and against this one) or a poor weasel in destress.

As i worked in Casinos for a lengthy time (and no not a croupier), my tips were dependent on my ability to lure money out of men... and BOY did we have strict rules... we were NOT allowed to ask for tips, offer any "services" (as if i would - YUK) or in any way hint that we want money from the guests... we were left on skill and favourability alone. It doesnt take any female long to learn the art of skillful seduction (just to get their "minds" working) and yet being skillfully out of reach to even the most persistent male. Ask any East Asian person exactly how fine the art of female seduction can get...

So yes to get back to the point, a do agree that more work should have been done on the voices of female NPC's. It would have made the game much more attractive on the shelf if all your buddies were ranting and raving about the sexy character somewhere in the game....
(Completely off topic)

can you immagine most men's reaction if there was a scene where a very sexy and seductive female(probably also of evil nature - and possibly 100% negative towards the hero) NPC made moves on the DK and totally hated the Hero??? I can immagine quite a few laughable comments between DK and hero regarding "lovers"

I can also immagine it the other way around. A Very sexy and seductive Character (male or female depending on the Hero's gender) making moves on the Hero (giving you a dialogue choice of things to say or do to the "lover" and then listening to the DK's comments when you are "passionately kissing" the NPC???? or telling you what a weakling you are and how this soppyness makes him sick... or the DK betting you that you wont be able to win the love of a NPC, you prove him wring and him commenting on what poor taste the NPC has... you can take this LOVE-HATE relationship to very comical levels.

I have one suggestion though about the voices. What about later getting a bonus voice pack(like a expansion pack) that you can add onto the game? Maybe have a couple of options in the installation like : a stereotype Evil (which is what they tried to do i suppose), or totally sadistic type voice, or the funny (and i can only immagine the comments about this one) the Humerous and Essentric (almost aiming to the drag-queen humerous style of talking) DK.. can you immagine the amount of giggles you will have in the game if this queeny DK makes a comment??? I am not saying make the DK a "queen" (no offence meant at all, but they are still one of the more funny lifeforms on this planet), but just to bring the essentric aspect into it. I do think that some of the lines in the game will go down SOOOOO hillarious if said by a Essentric and maybe even slightly crazy DK.

(Shoot me if i went tooo far off topic) <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/stupid.gif" alt="" />

There might be another way to solve this "problem" aswell, what about bringing out a editing pack (similar to map editors in strategy games), where you can re-record your own voices for certain characters. As far as i can see that wont affect anyone other than yourself, and maybe even have a section online where you can submit your "work of art" and some of the best ones can be made available for download. I am sure that will bring out a VERY new perspective to the characters and their voices"

Yes i know its a lengthy process, but i am sure there will be some of us nutcases out there, that will take the couple of hours to "train a new voice"
All that is needed to make this work is a small basic program that gives you the text line and the max time of the recording. You can use your computers basic recording functions to record this and save each line's voice to file. When the whole set of lines are completed the program can compile the recordings into the used format in the game.

The only snag (not that i think its a big one) is that you will have to do it 1 NPC at a time, take all the DK's lines, or all of a certain other NPC's voice...

I know someone that will do the DK voice like a absolute insane essentric evil person (that about sums up the person too), but one voice at a time, the arguments about the voices not being what everyone wants, can be thrown back into the players' court. get them creative instead of them being critics.

There is a good point in the old saying: "if you want to complain, YOU try and do it better." yes some people will be much worse, but there will be the few that comes out a roaring success. SO give them the chance to "personalize" and "better" their own game characters. And if they want to, they can compile it and have it online for download, just to impress us all.

If there is a brilliant voice artist for a certain character, i am sure that later on Larian can approach them for later games and characters. There are soooo much hidden potential in the world, who knows some of us frequenting the forum, someone just browsing the site and downloading the "voice editor" . If they dont come forwards, no one will ever find them.

***** Another great idea would be to when you create your char in the beginning of the game, being able to not only choose from the predefined facial characteristics they give for your char (yes that is nescesary for the char in the game), but to add a place where you can either create your own face, or load a jpg/bmp (just for the pic on your char at the top right of your screen). Its a small thing, but when you personalise the game for you, it still makes you feel special to see your "own" pic there (yes i also picture myself as one of borris' artworks - i dont know many people that will put a photo in.) <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/offtopic.gif" alt="" />

BAM BAM!


heh, just joking. its all suggestions for voice acting! So no worries, eh? Its all XXXX and mad kangero drawings. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/silly.gif" alt="" />


Good ideas, I want Larian to get me do to the innocent child voice <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/biggrin.gif" alt="" /> or the CHILD charater's voice if they need one. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/biggrin.gif" alt="" /> larian, just email me the scrip, then call me up and I'll read it!


* I can imagine Lynn shaking her head as she reads this and saying 'The day Lews does anything in a game will be the downfall of humanity.'

Lews says 'man, te day I do something in a game will be the greatest day ever!'


<img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/tongue.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/puppyeyes.gif" alt="" /> I wish.

Hey, in it's days Tomb Raider 1 had a remarkably fresh and new style of gameplay, combining several aspects -- besides two triangle-formed breasts -- such as action, puzzles and even a bit of a nice storyline! What really made Tomb Raider stand out for me was the clever level design - rarely seen anything like it before or after Tomb Raider.

Not saying though you're wrong in your statements about how easy most of the target audience can be seduced, but although Lara Croft has become the cliché example, I do feel the need to say I disagree that the game(s) had little more to offer than Lara's pretty (?) [nocando] to stare at! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/winkwink.gif" alt="" />