upsilon48 Posted October 26, 2009 Share Posted October 26, 2009 Fallout 3 is unquestionably one of the finest games ever created and I hesitate to criticise but... Why, oh why, oh why did the developers allow the same voice actor to use the same god damned voice on so many characters? You must know the one I mean - the old 'dagnabit', 'what in tarnation', creaking, high-pitched, 'old timer cowboy' voice. Everywhere you go, he's there, sounding like the old timer in 'The Treasure of the Sierra Madre'. I mean why didn't the actor at least use a slightly different voice when voicing all those characters. Surely that's what you pay an actor for - to use his or her acting abilities! I swear, I like to play as a good guy but I've blown the head of many a character out of sheer irritation at that damn old timer cowboy voice. And believe me, I've nothing against old timers - truth be told, I'll be one myself in a few years:) It's just that I guess it could be any style of voice acting used ad nauseam which would irritate me. I just can't see the reason for such repetitious use of style. Anyone else feel this way or am I just an easily irritated old timer? :biggrin: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
3rdtryguy Posted October 26, 2009 Share Posted October 26, 2009 Wow.Here's a tip-- don't play Oblivion! They used some 8 actors to do all the hundreds of voices in Oblivion, and THAT is what's annoying. Fallout is a treasure trove of voicework in comparison. As for the oldtimer voice in fallout.. well..you might have noticed that a lot of these people all tend to LOOK alike as well. There's been a lot of inbreeding going on around here, and most folks are kin. Close kin. it stands to reason that they'd probably sound similar as well. Still, you're right. It would have been nice to have a wider pool of actors rendering more voices. This has long been a common complaint about Bethesda's games, though, so I don't know if we can ever expect much improvement. QUESTION: That Ghoul in Calvert Mansion in Point Lookout, was he voiced by Jeffrey Combs? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
upsilon48 Posted October 27, 2009 Author Share Posted October 27, 2009 Wow.Here's a tip-- don't play Oblivion! They used some 8 actors to do all the hundreds of voices in Oblivion, and THAT is what's annoying. Fallout is a treasure trove of voicework in comparison. As for the oldtimer voice in fallout.. well..you might have noticed that a lot of these people all tend to LOOK alike as well. There's been a lot of inbreeding going on around here, and most folks are kin. Close kin. it stands to reason that they'd probably sound similar as well. Still, you're right. It would have been nice to have a wider pool of actors rendering more voices. This has long been a common complaint about Bethesda's games, though, so I don't know if we can ever expect much improvement. QUESTION: That Ghoul in Calvert Mansion in Point Lookout, was he voiced by Jeffrey Combs? Ah! Good point about the wasteland having a limited gene pool :) About the ghoul in Calvert mansion (Desmond Lockheart) - voiced by Jeff Baker Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nagaoka Posted October 27, 2009 Share Posted October 27, 2009 The reason the actor didn't use a slightly different voice is likely the same reason there isn't a wider range of voice actors that worked on the project.....they'd have to pay for it. Using a different voice is basically voicing a different character, and the voice actors get paid extra if they play more characters. However, if they use the same exact voice as a single "old lady" character, then they will get paid for that one "voice" no matter how many times its reused. It'd be nice if Bethesda used a wider range of voices in their games, but it's obviously not a priority of theirs...though they did get Liam Neeson. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
3rdtryguy Posted October 27, 2009 Share Posted October 27, 2009 Yeah, I'll give them their props on that one; they do tend to spend the bucks to get really good talent for the most major characters. Still, who wouldn't want to voice a character in a major video game? If the guys at Bethsoft put a big sign in their window one day asking for people to come in off the street and say a few lines, they'd get more voices than they'd ever know what to do with, and probably for free. ( You hear me, Todd Howard??? Mine is a very odd yet malleable voice perfect for videogames, and I'd gleefully do a character for just one dollar ) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PsyckoSama Posted October 28, 2009 Share Posted October 28, 2009 Its because, like slack jawed idiots they really are, Beth once again blew the entire voice acting budget on one big name who was in it for all of 5 scenes then died. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
upsilon48 Posted November 3, 2009 Author Share Posted November 3, 2009 Actually, after having a little think about my original complaint about voice acting, I realise that my criticism was unwarranted. Fallout 3 is undeniably supberb. The way various sections of programming have been meshed to produce situations that often surprise and amaze is really breathtaking. Like no other game, Fallout 3 has continued to interest me and I think my quibble with some of the voice acting is mean and petty. After Playing a while the other night and saying out loud, 'Jesus Christ!!!' as I was attacked out of the blue by what I had thought was a snoring, sleeping Death Claw matriarch - the beast frozen in mid air by VATS as it leaped toward me as I scrambled in my Pipboy for a decent weapon - my voice acting complaint faded into obscurity. I realise now that there were various limititations Bethesda had to contend with when it came to voice acting and that I simply hadn't properly considered them before making my criticism. I take it back Bethesda - all is forgiven:) Fallout 3 ROCKS!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roquefort Posted November 3, 2009 Share Posted November 3, 2009 "...asking for people to come in off the street and say a few lines..." I'd bet that Ion Storm did just that with some of the minor characters in Deus Ex :biggrin: It's not a good idea.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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