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#678538 07/10/20 12:35 PM
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I just played this with my fiance and we are LOVING this game, mostly.

One thing which is really breaking the immersion for us is the lack of voice acting during our dialogue choices.
It's a bit jarring having to awkwardly wait for each other to read what the other is about to say before they say it.
It would be much better if we could both just watch it play out, fully voiced.

I know this is super expensive, but it would add so much more immersion to this game and make it a full 10/10 in my opinion!

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I agree, that would make the game stand out compared to other games with dialogue options.


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I agree. At the moment it is very jarring, especially since the camera focuses on your character but their lips never even move! It makes them feel very much like a doll or mannequin.

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I second this.
This is something what kills my immersion in most RPGs. You can select your own voice, but it´s hardly used.

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Swen had said in a reddit ama that all characters (custom and origin) would be fully voiced throughout the game. So either that feature was abandoned or it's been pushed to full release.

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Considering character creation spans multiple races, and includes totally different personas depending on the player's vision, fully voiced main characters seems really difficult, if not impossible without some big tradeoffs. You could be playing a dwarf man or woman, a heroic older paladin man, or a sniveling creepy necromancer. The voice options mean a lot for all of this. If you look at games like Neverwinter Nights, the dialogue was not voiced, but there were several dozen voice packs to pick from which would include battle lines and greetings, discoveries and other things, which would provide distinction to your character. Having all of these options in a custom character would be difficult in Baldur's Gate 3.

That said, it doesn't mean it can't be done. Having 2 actors voice every single possible line of dialogue just to get a male and a female, is a huge undertaking. Expanding that to four, or six, or eight is tremendous.

The funny thing about this is that its the cinematics that make the current system not work. Having closeups on faces and just picking a dialogue line that isn't spoken, followed by fully voiced dialogue everywhere else is really immersion breaking. It doesn't ruin the game, but it ends up making it so that I feel Larian should scrap all full voice acting for consistency.

Voiced characters would be better, but with the camera angles and closeups, it really disjoints me seeing my character refrain from talking.

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A good example of this is Red Dead Redemption 2: the single player game is extremely immersive when it comes to dialogues because the main character is voiced. When you play Red Dead online instead, your character is mute and it shatters immersion completely, it becomes a totally different (and much worse) game. Too bad this design decisions are probably made in early stages of development and if Larian didn't consider that before is very unlikely they will change that now, but let's keep our fingers crossed, maybe they will.

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I fully agree. Coming from HZD as the last game I played and loved for > 200 hours now, I really miss my characters actually talking.


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[quote]One thing which is really breaking the immersion for us is the lack of voice acting during our dialogue choices.
It's a bit jarring having to awkwardly wait for each other to read what the other is about to say before they say it.
[/quote]

The voiceless main character paired with the often very static idle animation in contrast with the well voiced and very well animated NPC's response are indeed jarring.
Made me wonder if we could disable the whole dialogs as a whole and restricted it to Divinity Style top down view and only hear the NPC voice response.

It's the big difference between the two that kind of breaks it for me.


[quote]Swen had said in a reddit ama that all characters (custom and origin) would be fully voiced throughout the game. So either that feature was abandoned or it's been pushed to full release. [/quote]
Would be so awesome if they manage to make it happen even if it doesn't make the initial full release and gets added too the game at a later time, it be well worth the wait.


Last edited by WildCatNL; 07/10/20 07:40 PM.
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What the other person said, it was in an AMA but after they they have been quiet about it. So whether they abandoned it or pushed to full release, we don't know because they have not been vocal about that.

Last edited by UnderworldHades; 07/10/20 07:47 PM.
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Originally Posted by drimaxus
A good example of this is Red Dead Redemption 2

Well its not, because it's not an RPG. It also feature a pre-made character - a complete opposite is what BG3 should strive for.

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Originally Posted by Wormerine
Originally Posted by drimaxus
A good example of this is Red Dead Redemption 2

Well its not, because it's not an RPG. It also feature a pre-made character - a complete opposite is what BG3 should strive for.

He means it's a good example of how a fully voiced protag adds a lot to a game. On one extreme we have a premade character that's fully voiced and well animated in a way that really brings them to life and dramatically improves immersion, on the other extreme we have a custom character that's not voiced and is animated like a mannequin in a strong wind, one that doesn't feel alive and detracts from immersion because it feels like the party are taking around a psychic lifesize doll with them. Right now BG3 is suffering from elements of the latter. It's good being able to make up your own character, absolutely no question about it, but it shouldn't have to come at the cost of said character feeling like a puppet standing alongside actual human(oid)s.

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I would have liked to see my character say the lines I select. For immersion, I think it would be a good addition! smile

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Originally Posted by golw
Considering character creation spans multiple races, and includes totally different personas depending on the player's vision, fully voiced main characters seems really difficult, if not impossible without some big tradeoffs. You could be playing a dwarf man or woman, a heroic older paladin man, or a sniveling creepy necromancer. The voice options mean a lot for all of this. If you look at games like Neverwinter Nights, the dialogue was not voiced, but there were several dozen voice packs to pick from which would include battle lines and greetings, discoveries and other things, which would provide distinction to your character. Having all of these options in a custom character would be difficult in Baldur's Gate 3.

That said, it doesn't mean it can't be done. Having 2 actors voice every single possible line of dialogue just to get a male and a female, is a huge undertaking. Expanding that to four, or six, or eight is tremendous.

The funny thing about this is that its the cinematics that make the current system not work. Having closeups on faces and just picking a dialogue line that isn't spoken, followed by fully voiced dialogue everywhere else is really immersion breaking. It doesn't ruin the game, but it ends up making it so that I feel Larian should scrap all full voice acting for consistency.

Voiced characters would be better, but with the camera angles and closeups, it really disjoints me seeing my character refrain from talking.


I think a really good example is Dragon Age 2 and 3 (yes, 1 was better overall but the cinematics in 2 and 3 were hands down better), or even the Mass Effect series.
These games have a fully animated and voiced character that you create yourself.
Again, I know its expensive but man it would be so worth it in my opinion - particularly in a game where story and choices is so important.

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Yes, for sure! I really like voice number 1 for my Wizard Elf. Kinda like Dragon Age does it. I really hope Larian adds those spoken lines for the created playable character.

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There definitely are voice lines in the game, but not in conversations yet. My half elf character said "Corellon preserve me" or something like that while exploring the mindflayer ship at the beginning. I'm guessing some of the lines have been recorded and some haven't.

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It's really more time consuming that it is difficult to my understanding. Dragon Age II, Dragon Age Inquisition, all of the Mass Effect games, and a handful of other games I can't think of currently have all had full-voiced main characters. Dragon Age Inquisition is the only one that I really know of that had 2 VAs each for male and female characters, but it has been done before. It seems that this will more than likely be included later on in the full release because there are times when your custom MC will say lines of dialogue, though they are often just during cutscenes and not during conversations (i.e. when your character says "This seems as good of a place as any to camp" or something along those lines the first time you camp). They are probably choosing to push it too the full release due to not having all the lines of dialogue recorded/completed and only having an MC talk sometimes seems a little weird.

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Having played a bit longer I am pretty sure this is just not complete yet. My character sometimes does talk. Most dialogues she stands like a passive doll, for some she animates a little and actually talks, and for very few she talks and is even lip synched. And the ones she talks in are not special scenes where something important is happening - they are just fairly ordinary scenes. So I think full lip synched voices are planned.

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Originally Posted by Wormerine
Originally Posted by drimaxus
A good example of this is Red Dead Redemption 2

Well its not, because it's not an RPG. It also feature a pre-made character - a complete opposite is what BG3 should strive for.


There are different types of RPG, let's first agree on what Role Playing Game means:

"A role-playing game (RPG) is a game in which players assume the roles of characters in a fictional setting. Players take responsibility for acting out these roles within a narrative, either through literal acting, or through a process of structured decision-making or character development. Actions taken within the game succeed or fail according to a formal system of rules and guidelines."

Somehow people incorrectly thinks that RPGs are only those games where you level up, unlock perks and attributes and have simple math based combat systems. I can understand that mistake coming from the idea that the first tabletop RPGs had those elements, but that was due to the time and the technology. Games have evolved, and thankfully we have plenty more system options nowadays.

I do agree with the part that is easier done with a pre-made character, but I would rather choose a voice from a series of pre-made "personalities" than playing with a mute character.

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I actually like the unvoiced main character because it means we can have more dialogue options/opportunity for role playing. Example: Dragon Age: Origins versus Dragon Age: Inquisition. In DA:O your main character could be whoever you wanted them to be and you almost always had a ton of dialogue options to fit the mood and personality of the character you created. In Inquisition, the character was voiced but you generally only got 2-4 options, and sometimes the voicing of those options was the same line with one element changed. That said, I liked Inquisition's main character, but it was Bioware's character--not mine. (In the same turn, I hated all three personality constructs of Hawk from DA:II)

Given that this game is all about the role playing, I think voiceless grants the player a great deal more flexibility.

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