Really this thread reminds me of this scene from Galaxy Quest:
LOL
Brilliant. First my idea is stupid, then you resort to mockery. Completely uncalled for.
And let me address this while we're at it:
Originally Posted by Halycon Styxland
The OP seriously thinks THIS is a good idea:
1. One reads all the options one could pick what to say.
2. Then one picks the option one likes best.
3. And NOW .... a "full voiced protagonist" repeats what we just have read ...
And unsurprisingly all the OP can muster as "reason" for this obviously completely stupid idea is "its the 21 century".
How else do you think a voiced PC works?? You pick the line you want and then you SAY it. That's how thought-to-speech in our brain works in real life, but instead of reading, we think of what we want to say. Obviously, the game can't read your mind, so you have to pick a response - which is written because it's the only way for the game to present a choice to you. I don't see what is unclear about that. If you want a particular nuance, such as verbally expanding on what is written in the chosen option, yeah - I wouldn't mind that. I also wouldn't mind having the chosen line word for word. As long as I can hear and see my PC acting like a living being - just like all the other NPCs - instead of being a blank construct in a dialogue, I'm fine.
My mention of "it's the 21st century" implied that having a voiced protagonist is an advanced feature in (C)RPGs, one that was omitted from the majority of older games. The general philosophy was along the lines of: "Let's not bother with voicing the player, it's too much work, too much money, additional scripting, so just let the players imagine that the PC speaks, let their imagination do the job for us, they'll get used to it". Apparently we did get used to it, to the point when the voiced option is offered to us, we don't want it. For us, that means we have to force our brains to fill in the missing feature in the game, and the devs don't mind really, because it means less work and less investment for them. Nowadays video games look much better and feature better mechanics than they used to in the past, meaning the overall quality has improved, more features are added and improved upon - so why not voiced content as well?? You may feel fine about it all, but I feel like I've been denied a valuable feature that was supposed to be in the game - a high quality, modern game - in the first place.
Also, this wasn't the only reason, it's just the one reason you decided to hang onto for the sake of disproving me (which you attempted to do with no valid argument whatsoever).
Originally Posted by Anska
I am of a split mind about this.
I mostly play origin characters so I do really miss the characters' voices when they are my PC. However, much of the player dialogue is so bad, that even someone performing it couldn't save it. I think, one of the many reasons why Astarion Origin with Gale as my constant companion and romance is my favourite version of this game is that Gale has excellently written player lines which I can easily imagine in Astarion's voice - and I am quite happy with that. It does help though, that they have these cute little overheard conversations with each other - like admiring the Myconids' spore zombies or joking about the Wyvern poison - and I really wish there were more of those.
Though maybe if the lines had to be read aloud, they would overall be better.
Another point I have been thinking about is something Gray Ghost mentioned on the last page. Most of the Sorc dialogue is written to sound like the character is a pompous ass and the characters react accordingly. Most of the lines in Gale's dialogue that are neither obviously mean nor obviously nice are written as banter and Gale reacts to them as banter. So does the usually pompous Sorc suddenly develop a sense of humour when talking to Gale? Or is our resident wizard just a really good sport about an obnoxious PC? As Ghost mentioned, as long as the lines aren't performed, I can have my own theory about it.
See, perhaps a lot more care would have went into crafting certain lines if the PC was meant to be voiced from the beginning. Instead, it was an optional feature that was tentatively suggested to the players. Since it was rejected, the lines were crafted with no deeper thought to them, in a way that lets you "adjust your narrative" and/or "fill the blanks" with your mind. Or at least that's how it feels to me, since everybody apparently prefer to imagine things instead of experience what the game actually offers. If there's a bad feature in the game, or the lack of one, we can only suggest repairs and ask for content - just like I am in this thread - and hope for the best, I guess.
For me, a video game is a cinematic form of entertainment that is supposed to provide full experience. If I'm going to "imagine" something that isn't there, why am I playing it in the first place?? In that case, I'm better off at a table top D&D session where I am actually encouraged to envision and voice my interactions however I want. The biggest problem here is that people are trying to force the table top aspect onto a video game. They are two completely different methods of playing. A video game can only resemble the table top to an extent, but it's still a video game and that means operating within the boundaries of technical means and video game mechanics. You have a number of choices made for you and you can operate within the boundaries of those choices, whichever you opt for. Voiced content is also a part of premade aspect, it's there to make the game world come alive - including the character you play as. A video game is not something fluid where you can input whatever you want, you are limited by what has been developed into it, and that is the reality. However, I am not confusing "limited" with "cut content".
When a game cuts on content for the sake of "freedom of imagination", that is just plain wrong and defeats the purpose of the video game. Imagine your DM saying "You are communicating without verbal expression or gestures, you don't have a voice at all, but everyone around you just acts like you do. And if you want to address someone, you have to write it down, no talking". And no, it's not some elaborate curse or disability, it's just normal, that's you in the game and you have no other choice. Would you want to play like that all the time?
