Larian Studios Forums Beyond Divinity (English) Suggestions Voice acting!!

Something that bothered me about Beyond Divinity was the voice acting for the characters. *Cough*DEATHKNIGHT!*Cough* In fact, my game came to a halt when the posessed paladin practically said 'What are you doing?! Oh- but now I know better!' It may just be me, but awkward phrasing and too much emphasis in speech kills a game. I mean, it gets the point across... but couldn't they do it in a more realistic way..?

Some people complained about the voices in the demo (and a few complained a lot), particularly for the DK, so Larian had them redone for the full game. That triggered a new round of complaints from (mostly) different people (some of whom were previously silent on the matter) that the original voices were better.
In any case, the DK's voice gets better as the game progresses, and he does not talk that much after the first act.


Welcome to the forum. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wave.gif" alt="" />

I always thought that there should be a voice for the hero as well...a calm sort of voice..it would balance the speech of the DK nicely.

I don't know, I kind of like most of the voice acting. I thought most of it was well done, actually. Adds to the fantasy feel of things with some of the slight over-acting. The one that really grates on me is the Death Knight. Don't get me wrong, I think the actor did a fine job, all things considered, but the actor's voice itself...I don't know, it kind of sounds like an angry Jim Carey, or maybe Kermit the Frog on 'roids. For someone who is supposed to be serving the "Damned one", and is all evil, and so on, he sounds like a nice guy trying to sound mean, you know?



Woo Hoo!! With this post, I am no longer a "stranger"!! I am now an "apprentice"! Oohh, aaah...

Congrats on your apprenticeship <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/winkwink.gif" alt="" />

I must confess to never having found anybody who could act a terry pratchet (or in this case his daughter rhiana) type of character and get the voice right.... its a very difficult level of sarcasm, humour, wit and emotion to add into ONE voice.....

But thats my opinion...

I liked the voices.... the DK was supposed to work on your nerves in anycase....

I just started playing BD again, and I must say most of the voice acting is pretty horrible. Not the Death Knight though, he's ok.

Also, I'm very confident there isn't a single female voice actor in BD.

Anyway, I think the main reason the voices sound so bad is because they use alot of special effects. I know the intent was good, but the effects on the voices (especially imps) make the whole thing sound strange. There's a limit to how much you can digitally modify a persons voice before it starts to sound unnatural.

haven't heard any female voices, yet, either, but then again, I am only in Act I <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/biggrin.gif" alt="" />

I still like the campy voices, it gives the game a fun feel. And as for the imps, I, personally, haven't ever heard an imp in real life, so I am not sure that the imps in BD don't sound like a real imp. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/biggrin.gif" alt="" />

Ok ok, so the voices aren't "horrible". Most of the main characters have decent voices. Like the necromancer, and the demons. But alot of the less important characters have sub-par voice acting.

Oh, and I just got to a part in Act 3, in which the Death Knight has 2 lines in which he sounds completely different. I'm guessing this accedentally got left in somehow.

Or maybe he has split personality <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/silly.gif" alt="" />!

Übereil

<img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/offtopic.gif" alt="" /> welcome back, Tovi!! haven't seen u for quite some time. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

I got the impresson that 1 actor was voicing many others...

The necromancer and keeper of ranks sound awfully similar.....

Im wondering if Larian need vioce actors...i myself can do many accents. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

The whole point of a professional voiceactor is that he can do different voices.

Take the simpsons for example. Don Castellaneta does the voices for Homer, Grampa, Barney, Krusty the Clown, Goundskeeper Willie, Mayor Quimby, Hans Moleman, Sideshow Mel, Itchy, Kodos, Gil, Bill Clinton and Burn's Lawyer.

In fact, all of the voices are done by about 8 people in that show, with the exception of guest voices who are usually celebrities voicing themselves.

Oh i can do that too <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

You do realize that you'd have to prove yourself right? Cause no one believes you. Right?

Ok. Go for it. And if you want, I'll give you feedback, but I'm warning you, if you're not good, I'll tell you right away.

Still up for it?

Why would anyone beleive me? No-one knows me so of course i would have to prove myself. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

Oh yes...how would i record my voice...would a tape and tape recorder do?

Yeah i know im in the stone age but what can i say.

I hope theres no time limit for this..i have some suff to do in RL.

Also once i finish..if the above method is acceptable where can i send it to?

Oh yes...but seriously dont you think that the keeper of the ranks and the necromacer was voiced by the same person with very similar accents and tones of voice?

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

The easiest way to record your voice would be to use a cheap microphone plugged into your sound card. A tape recorder would have to be plugged into the line in jack of a sound card to record from the tape to get into a format you could post. Either that or you could mail the tape to someone to verify.

As long as proof is an issue, how are you planning to prove it is your voice on the tape, and you didn't just go out and hire 15 people to read a couple lines each? <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/silly.gif" alt="" />

Your own voice is also "heard" through particular bones in your skull; that's partially the reason why the "real" voice often sounds so much different when heard through tapes.

By the way, I found the German accent of the skull early in Act I absolutely horrible, and it was definitively changed from the Demo. I still don't understand why.

Raze and Alrik raise intresting points.

For fun...i am going to do a couple of accents in the method i have described..hopefully in the same tone of voice...then i am going to (hopefully) vary the tones of voice. That may prove it hopefully. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/biggrin.gif" alt="" />...i am going to copy the tape and send it to someone who is interested when im ready.

BTW: Thanks for the vote of confidence Raze!!!!!! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

While Raze is right about the microphone/sound card thats just too technoically advanced for me <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/biggrin.gif" alt="" />

Alrik is right when he says then we hear different from otherrs when we speak.
That may prove my downfall cuase when i do accents/varying of vioce..i usualy do it to myself..yes i know im mad taking to myself but there you go <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

The skull was a German/slightly Dutch/ type of accent..well in my view ad was a bit too high pitched.

The skull's voice was bad, and sounded like it was based on an Arnold Schwarzenegger imitation. Actually, IMO that was the main problem with some of the voice acting, that you could tell the voice was based on a specific person, character or (stereotyped) region.

What I couldn't understand was that everyone only complained about the DK's voice in the demo, but every voice from the demo was changed for the full game.

I thought the ghost and the skull sounded better in the demo.

Anyway, most of VO work was ok except for one guy who played lots of npc characters, various guards and other minor roles. I can't think of any specific person he played, but his voice and terrible acting really drilled into my head.

Oh, and I think there's one real female voice somewhere in the game. But her acting is atrocious. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/tongue.gif" alt="" />

omg, this topic saves me alot of ranting lol.. but since i'm so upset I'll add my ranting in here anyways <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/biggrin.gif" alt="" />

I downloaded the BD demo just three weeks ago and played through it. It reminded me alot of my ol' fave baldurs gate.. different, sure.. but still, interesting enough =)

I must say I for one loved the DK, even his voice.. IMO his voice in the demo is just right.. it has just the right mix of metallic evilness a'la darth vader-ism.. while keeping some intelligence and sarcastic witt..

When I bought the full game, just two weeks ago I was shocked when the DK walked up to me with the line I'd heard so many times in the demo "Ah, you are awake human" Instead of the cool darth vader I find they've switched the voice actor to some washed up death metal singer who grunts out the words.. seriousely, the new take on the DK is horrible.. its like larian wanted him to sound more "evil" but all they accomplished with that voice was to make him sound like a big stupid grunt. or an ogre, a troll.

I was happy with the old one thankyou very much.. perhaps listening to your fans isnt a good thing all of the time? You scored the first time larian.. you should'have trusted that and kept it.


oo and btw, I have a theory why they changed the skull's voice from the perfectly usable old one from the demo to the weird arnold one. This should teach larian never to have a booze night at the office with a recorder nearby, *and* the power to add recordings into the game (whilst drunken still)!! lol, seriousely.. it couldhave happened right? <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/biggrin.gif" alt="" />

hey man, you should try out divine divinity too, much of us say its a lot better and there is no problem with voice actting there.
Beyond divinity has quite lineair gameplay, DD has total freedom and so on.

I agree the voice acting is bad in BD, yes...at least the first three chapters...i didnt play further...

The voice acting isn't great in Beyond Divinity, but it doesn't bother me anymore, in fact it never really did. Not all of it is bad I thought. The voice of the ghost of Edmond was very good in my opinion: it feels ghostlike and at the same time he seems exhausted and sad. The whole atmosphee around him is just right.

Anyway, @ Kite_Summers: Welcome to the forum <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wave.gif" alt="" />

Thank you for the welcome =)


Acctually, I just installed divine divinity this morning :P haven't started playing yet though, I always rack my brains for several hours before I can find a name for my damn character! lol

I've played thru the DD demo before, so I know abit about it.. the voice acting in the first village is miles ahead of most of the BD stuff...

But anyway.. some of the voiceacting wasn't too bad in BD.. the remake of the ghost was so good I almost forgave them for screwing the DK..(almost) the old ghost sounded like the sound file had weird errors and static on it.. hehe.. the new one really sounds exhausted.. almost like the voice is fading away into nothingness..a very ghostly quality indeed <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/winkwink.gif" alt="" />

anyways, the voiceacting shouldn't deterr people from at least finishing the game.. its still a solid and interesting game IMO <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

Hear hear.

Sorry a lot of fans enjoyed the DK's voice in the demo and they were against any change.
But the fans who did not like the DK's voice in the demo complained so loudly and Larian changed the voice.
Finally the new voice was worse than the old one. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/silly.gif" alt="" />

@ The Divine


I agree with you Divine Divinity is a great game but Beyond Divinity is also a great game.
A different game but a great game.
If you didn't like it and if you stopped playing it, it's your problem.
Your taste about games is not a reference.
I think everybody should play the 2 games and should make his own opinion.

Barta

I agree, as do most people here I should say.

No. A lot of people are too confident about what the other people say in the forum. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/disagree.gif" alt="" />
And i am getting mad when i read posts from people judging badly a game without having ever played completely this game.

Barta

yeah, you're right. Its just my opinion, I'm not trying to prevent him from playing the game...

It's not perverted to play BD <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/eek.gif" alt="" />! Oh, you mean prevent... <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/shame.gif" alt="" /> Forget I said anything...

Übereil

Then that is too bad. You can't judge the game unless you have played it yourself. And I am quite confident that those who did will find very little fault indeed in Beyond Divinity.

Judging these two games seems to be very much like the ol' "bg 1 or bg 2 rules the world question", bg1 offers alot of freedom and that wonderful feeling of noobness.. (wander aimlessly.. get eaten by a lvl 1 wolf, etc) whereas in bg2 theres much more linearity, and your character definately leaves the noobness stages of his/her career to become a real force to be reckoned with... ofcourse no game can ever be as good as the bhaal-saga again but.. larian actually comes closer than most imo <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/biggrin.gif" alt="" />

Anyways. I found my char name some time back, and have been playing divine divinity ever since, a couple of days now. Think I'm somewhere, early to mid-game at a level 25. Impressions so far is: I'm impressed! The game is extremely fun.. the quests hold high quality, and the style suits me very well! My favorite moment in-game so far must be the boxing ring under the blue boar inn.. I came there with my weak little level 15 survivor (he's a bow-build) and thought: ok i'll just get into the boxing ring and shoot him with my bow, but nope, it's acctually a fair fight, meaning no weapons allowed. Another try after getting beaten to a pulp in two seconds, I thought, why not coat my fists with poison and just watch him drop? Ah nope.,.that did'nt work either, it says I need a weapon to coat.. ok, so one last try.. I coat a handy knife with poison, throw it into the boxing ring before I get in *te-he* this can't work.. can it? Lol..indeed it did. My thievish [nocando] steps into the ring, swipes up the poisonous dagger (seemingly unnoticed) and well, the big guy fell in one hit <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cool.gif" alt="" /> It was such a dirty underhanded trick.. that I really didnt think it'd work.. but it did, and it became one of those silly roleplaying moments where I could see the scene in front of me.. how my character dexteriousely takes the dagger unnoticed, stashing it away in some cloth sleeve.. and then just make a little gash with it quickly, stay back abit, watch your opponent go groggy, then just poke him once and see him fall.. with the crowd going wild with cheers..lol..

anyways, im rambling again.. hehe.. point is, I never had a moment like this in BD.. suffice to say, this game has already been more enjoyable, *and* much harder! I put it on hard mode from the start.. and it's proving to be quite the challenge.. probably cause im not playing the most powerful build out there.. and I havn't touched the "constitution" score..hehe.. so usually, I get levelled in 1-2 hits.. which makes it kinda.. interesting <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/winkwink.gif" alt="" />
(altho enemy archers with auto target-one-hit-kill makes me bang my head in brick walls and cry myself to sleep <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/biggrin.gif" alt="" /> )

/Kite

That assassin trick is just marvelous <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/ROFL.gif" alt="" /> I really have to try that one myself!

nice trick!
i never read that trick..
another trick was to trow some poison potions in front of the ring, to weaken/kill the boxer.

i realy hope that div2 will have the div1 looks

I don't think a 2d and a 3d game can be really compared. I do hope the graphics, though very different, will have a similar 'feel', a similar atmosphere.

Nice trick! I just beated him up when i was fairly high lvl.

Thanks =) I guess i'm just that sneaky by nature to come up with a thing like that..! (and larian ten times more sneakier to allow me to actually succeed at it lol)


As for the next divinity game keeping the same graphics.. I sure as hell hope it will retain the same style and feel, but sadly I don't think another game like that will *ever* be made again.. the end of the old "3D upon 2D background" was already dying when larian made beyond divinity (probably before). A whole slew of old classics were based on it (the baldurs gate saga, planescape torment, ice wind dale series, fallout 1 & 2, diablo 1 and 2 etc. etc.)
But to compete on todays market all game companies chose to go over to the full 3D look a'la morrowind, or the online games like world of warcraft etc. Now personally, I don't really like these games all that much.. I dont think this evolution (altho natural) is for the best. When bioware took the next step from baldurs gate to neverwinter nights, they screwed up majorely.. NWN is miles away from the old stuff they made.. the entire feel is gone, its just.. no heart <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/disagree.gif" alt="" />

The whole evolution can be compared, somewhat accurately IMHO, to the evolution in the movie industries... as a rule old movies had lots of work put on dialogue, intense scenes/feels/moods and strong plots. New movies as a rule, loose too much heart and feel behind the explosions and mass effects.. sure there's always exceptions.. but as a whole.. this is at least my view.. gosh. i'm gonna be one of those old guys nagging about how everything was better in the old days <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/biggrin.gif" alt="" />

Yep you look very old. 60 ? <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/silly.gif" alt="" />

Barta

PS : Maybe things were not better in the old days but they were a lot different.
Today there are remakes of a lot of things, songs, movies, TV series, etc.
Some people prefer the original version, other ones prefer the new version.
The same story than the DK's voice story. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/eek.gif" alt="" />
I guess some day, some new company will make an updated version of Divine Divinity, with full 3D graphics, with groundbreaking magic effects but with not any humour and not any poetry. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/rolleyes.gif" alt="" />

Barta

That is exactely how I felt. In the end I still think Neverwinter Nights is a great game, but compared to the Baldur's Gate sage, it will always be a little brother.

I didn't really like NWN1 (the only D&D game I've liked was acually Planescape:Torment), but NWN2 looks really promising. It's developed aby Obsidian (with help from Bioware), who was created by the old Black Isle team. Take a looke here for some info <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/winkwink.gif" alt="" />. A tips is to read the reviews, especially the IGN reviews.

Übereil

Not Baldur's Gate? <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/eek.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/ouch.gif" alt="" />

busy with another D&D game at the moment... and its not toooooo bad.... its a click twitch... but what the heck... it relaxes me... Dragonshard....

Baldurs gate was a nice game... but it started getting too click intensive... (you had to give too many commands, for things that could have been semi-automatic.

I guess that's a disadvantage of playing with six characters instead of one.

Honestly when I first tried playing this game years ago I hated the DK's voice but now with my recent playthrough I love it. I just have a different perspective on it then I did before. Before I thought the DK would be some bada** demon and just be very cool.

Now I just think of him as a guy in a costume who is always very angry all the time, and it's hilarious! Just looking at his very angry looking portrait while hearing him talk gets me laughing. I haven't gotten very far yet, pretty much just started ACT 2, but I hope at some point in the game there is a scene where the DK drinks tea and says something like "This tea is delightful" in his very angry voice. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

@faceguyhat:
I find your new interpretation of the Death Knight very amusing! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wave.gif" alt="" />

Especially the idea of the Tea Scene you described. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/biggrin.gif" alt="" />

it's pretty good for an indie release. apart from the utterly garbage voices of some guards and others (especially the drunken guards just outside the first prison) ..these guys were friends of Larian people, right? i HOPE they were not paid for the effort (heh. what effort) ..and if so, where the heck can i sign up for voice-over work?

i find the wounded imp at start (bone tooth quest) effect is annoying, anyone else?

taxelhix has ADHD or something.. i laugh everytime he tells me about his tribe and how they "taught the flame to dance long ago" or something.. (speaks a bit too fast)

the ghosts voice at the start of game (edmond and abbey) is fantastic.. when i hear the laconic/emotion in the voice.. it starts making me wonder what his whole life was about.. he definantly could have been expanded upon in the game? maybe even if you had to later get back INTO the prison to complete another quest of his.. it's one of the things i love about the game.

i didn't hear the other death knight voice, but every now and then you can hear something *different* about his voice. IIRC one of these times is when you first confront samuel. (it's like they forgot to use a certain filter) maybe they had to rewrite those dialogues or something? ..meh

<img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/evilgrin1.gif" alt="" /> "this tea is delightful" <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/up.gif" alt="" />

I have been playing the game for some time, and played DD before that. I played the female warrior following the post "Archery As A Female Warrior", and I liked the character's voice acting better than any of the male leads' voices. Plus, the picture was kinda pleasant to look at. The characters in BD don't speak their lines, so it's kinda moot whether it's male or female (But I imagine it would be irritating for a female gamer to have her character referred to by NPCs as "him" or "errand-boy".)
As to the Death Knight, I think he sounds like Marvin the Martian finally got past puberty. It's less annoying than funny, I just think the player should have as many spoken lines as the DK and NPCs. Otherwise, great game. It took considerable getting used to as it was very different from DD, but I think I would have been bored with a simple expansion of that game. I hope they haven't given up on making a third game in the series.

I myself truly like the voice of the Deathknight. I found it quite cool and unique.
Though a lot of npc's have in my opinion terrible voice-acting.

The voice acting in is great!