Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - General BG3 at Summer Game Fest!

Hmm, being a native English speaker I've never actually played a game voiced in a different language but subtitled in my own. With films, I do think I can appreciate quality performances even if they're in a language I don't understand though I suspect they must lose something. And of course it's different when you can actually see the actors. I've never even thought about whether I appreciate the voice performance in an animation that's in a different language. I'll have to ponder this next time I watch one!

But for me, good voice performances in English can definitely elevate a character and poor ones (given that I do understand what is being said) can break one that's otherwise decently written. As has been mentioned in another thread just today, the voice acting in BG3 so far is generally excellent and personally I agree it's great to see Larian continuing to focus on this area of strength. It's obviously a balancing act and good voice acting can't fix a game that's neglected other key elements, but I'm going to be optimistic that Larian know that and won't make that mistake unless or until I see conclusive evidence otherwise in the full release!

Many of us are a lot more focused on reading than listening when playing games that are not at all voiced in our language.
It would be wierd without any voices but to me voices are often more disruptive than immersive.

It always end like this : reading + skip until next lines to read.
I can't focus on reading french and listenning english at the same time and in games like that there are always unusual words, sentences / jokes that even players not that bad in english may not understand.

So yeah voice acting in BG3 is definitely not something I really care about and I'm not hyped at all by the famous actors voices as I don't even recognize them. The voice of actors are always the same in french too, but of course it's not the original one.

Would not be possible in BG3 because it is full of cinematics and close up but I personnaly have a better experience with voice acting in crpg like WoTR than in BG3. Never have been a huge fan of vostfr.

For me voice acting is crucial in RPGs. I'd always appreciate the art of bringing a character to life which cannot be achieved without a good VA performance. I always play in English even though it is not my native language, yet have no trouble to track both subs and voice simultaneously. Can't even imaging voice distracting from the text lines. Its literally same as watching films with subs. And cinema is a great example how VA can change the perception of the story and the flavor of characters portrayed. Take any Korean film and try watching in English dub or in Korean with sub. MASSIVE difference in character energy.

VA is very important for my first play throughs. It helps set the mood. Then I just read and skip. AO please no unskipable scenes like Hermaeus Mora in skyrim…

Don't get me wrong, I think voice acting can really help elevate a product, and I'm sure BGIII will be great in that regard, but 'look how star-studded our cast is' doesn't really tell me much about the quality of the game beyond that it will excel in that one particular area. But the quality of the VA in BGIII as already superb, and I don't really know what more celebrity voice actors is adding to the game at this point aside from Larian perhaps banking on their celebrity status bringing their fans to the game. It feels like more of a marketing gimmick at this point tbh.

I do wonder if this last trailer, so focused on character, voice acting, and conversational cinematics, is specifically trying to target untapped markets for CRPGs - e.g. maybe non-RPG female gamers (generalizing from a marketing standpoint).
Or just people that aren't familiar with the CRPG genre but gravitate towards stories and in-depth character interactions.

I'd assume whoever the target is, it's an untapped market for Larian and CRPGs, which is kinda where they have to go to maximize revenue.

I don't really care about voice acting either, and i think Larian going all in on it this way is actually damaging to the ability to roleplay properly in the game. Having said that, I basically will not notice voice acting quality unless it is truly terrible. My scale only has two levels, terrible and fine. VA is never going to be the thing I remember about an rpg like this. Also...I'm not sure if Jason Isaacs is a big enough name to hang on the marketting like this anyway. He's certainly not as mainstream as the guy who plays Kethric whose name has suddenly vanished from my head.

Frankly i don't think any of these trailers have really shown off the game's true strength; the number of choices you can make and the flexibility of the game outside of dialogue. Hell, for all that they're front and centre in marketing, I don't think they've ever really focused on the origins in trailers either.

Voice acting...

Well, stellar voice acting is good. Deep voice, fine oratory etc. are part of the charm, sure, sure.

But the fact is...
what I remember with nostalgia from BG1 and BG 2 is not the stellar voice actings (today mainly an understandable marketing tool).

What I remember at times are all the little spontaneous expressions and :

* "I need an ale ! Burp !" from the dwarf in an inn (now I say that at times outloud, for myself, without the burping part though)
* The guard, yawning, who was so tired (I say that too, in french : Oh la la, je suis si fatigué !")
* The nervous, proud and authoritative guard of the flaming fist "I serve the flaming fist !"
* The bandit : "So I kicked him in the head until he was dead! Nyeha."
* The condescending tone of the nobles saying something like "don't touch me"
* The famous "Heya, it's me, Imoen !"
* The famous "Life is adventure !" by Coran
* The stutterings, all manners of speech impediments, the strong accents...
* All those voices around you when you were walking in baldur's gate, without having to interact with people, which were alive and noisy even before you clicked on them...
* All the little nature sounds... birds, animals, small variations in music and sounds...

The little things, ordinary things, not literary, but just short, some words, like it is alive, it is real, I can relate to it

I don't remember the monologues of the bosses, though. I am sure there were good and I remember the sound of the voice of Sarevok, and it participated to the aura of the character, but I do hope, for the sake of the fun and the pleasure of the players, that we will find here a lot of ordinary/spontaneous lines, not just literary and nice punch lines...

I could be wrong, but I don’t think of either JK Simmons or Jason Isaacs as being the sort of actors that have a fanbase in that way. I suspect it’s more that many people will have come across them in other stuff and thought they’re good and possibly only likely to play characters they felt gave them something to get their teeth into, so they will gain confidence that the game has good performances and characters. Which I think is important, though I do agree it’s far from the only important thing about the game and am looking forward to the next info we get … tomorrow! … focusing on something else. And hope it’ll be followed by more updates that folk already playing the game will likely also be interested in, such as additional classes and playable races.

Yes. Definitely got my fingers crossed for something bigger tomorrow.

Hopefully so!!!🤞

I prefer to listen to dialogue if it is well voiced. I read and skip the voice if it’s bad.

Good voice acting is extremely impactful if done good. Remember Irenicus? Or the Barbarian Chieftain in IWD 1 add-on.. in modern games it’s Eder and Durance in PoE. Those performances are game defining. Also, in general, remember Mass Effect, RDR2, Witcher 3 etc etc. so many games would be totally different without the genius voice acting behind the characters.

On the other hand, bad/cringe voice acting can absolutely ruin the experience…

I hope they show something about the characters as well in the city presentation today. Some new armor options, to see if the problems with armor are finally fixed for example, some new races, some options maybe for builds, something. But most importantly, i hope it's not again a 1 minute video o.o'

As far as i know, the only thing that was promised for today was closer look at city ...

You saw the gate of the Flaming Fist HQ right?

Well, today, here's a closer view at it! :P

Still disappointing for me.

Yes, the city is nice, but nothing exceptional. I had hoped for a reveal of new classes, races or companions.
Should not have spend halft the time with that animation, even though its was nice.

I thought Baldur's Gate looked so cool in that PC Gaming Show trailer. I can't wait to visit! And find some of our tiefling friends again there and get that drink I'm owed . And I loved the little animation that showed first, which felt like it was a bit of fanservice for those of us who've invested in Early Access as I can't imagine it would mean much to anyone else. It also seemed as though the game was talked up by the host more than most of the games shown.

Still no new companions or classes, but I wasn't really expecting those as well as a city preview. I have my fingers firmly crossed for another community update soon, though.

EDIT: Feedback on the latest trailer and PC Gaming Show spot is now at https://forums.larian.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=851744#Post851744

Perhaps the next panel from hell will reveal more feats, classes and spells.