I like voice acting, I think more casuals do as well and at some point they have to cater somewhat to them.
As said Larian does quality VA work and the whole game won't be VA, so a balance is hit.
Psomm I agree with you, I can read much faster than actors who dramatize every line in games. That is why I have to turn off subtitles, so I don't do both which is the worst.
However for Text Only, I prefer a system that prints out the text as you read. Preferably a speed slider in setup so we can match our own speed-reading level. Why I like it, I can focus better. Instead of getting hit with a wall of text and my mind responding with fatigue. This way I don't know how short or long a streaming print will be and I can just follow and focus on streaming better.
Nintendo perhaps pioneered that, some other PC games have done it, I simply prefer it. Not that I'm even asking for it for DOS, but just some Armchair Designer talk.
I'm curious about the link between 'casuals' and voice acting?
Anyway, I don't mind the odd snippet of voice during play, but having some npcs chat only some of the time breaks immersion for me.
My guess would be, although I believe the distance between HC & casual is shrinking, the typical 'casual' player may need more 'hand-holding'..the VA's can engage w/o effort.
My wife for example I would consider a casual gamer, at no point do I expect her to be playing a game, but I'm not surprised when she does. Me on the other hand, my wife would expect me to be gaming on a typical evening...if not something must be going on.
So I went and asked my wife just now, what she said slightly surprised me..but made sense. She said she would rather read it as well, mostly because she said that the delivery is crucial...so she'd rather make those assumptions herself.
So I'd say it be great to have a volume slider to make all happy. What each of us think on our own is rather irrelevant.
