Voiced Main Character

[DirtyRick]

This game should have been fully voiced from the start. Both Mass Effect games have it and their new Star Wars one is getting it so why did poor little Dragon Age draw the short end of the stick.

[LordKinoda]

This game should have been fully voiced from the start. Both Mass Effect games have it and their new Star Wars one is getting it so why did poor little Dragon Age draw the short end of the stick ?

 

A question I've asked many times, in many different places.

 

The argument that six voices would be needed isn't really that sound. Two would suffice. To say that money was the culprit is also flawed. Especially since BW is now a part of EA, they could of easily shelled out the cash for six people to do the lines of the main character if they really wanted to, let alone two.

 

BW, or anybody else, can say what they will, but doing the voices wouldn't of been hard AT ALL for them to do. In ANY way, shape, or form. Be it money, time, etc.

[Nhancer]

It is interesting how Mass Effect has got the main character using his own voice and it does add to the ambiance and atmosphere of the game, no doubt about that.

Shame Bioware did not include the same thing in Dragon age but i believe the reason for that was quite simple.

 

In Mass effect (1 and 2) you have only an option of male or female where as in Dragon Age you have that plus three different races with three different voices and accents so it would be a lot more work and voice acting.

 

Reason is obvious , COST CUTTING.

 

I hope they will introduce that in the next Dragon age game for it would be great to hear your own voice for once.(wishful thinking)

[nezroy]

To say that money was the culprit is also flawed. Especially since BW is now a part of EA, they could of easily shelled out the cash for six people to do the lines of the main character if they really wanted to, let alone two.

 

Companies like EA don't become big and rich by shelling out MORE money than the little studios. They do it by being ruthlessly cost effective and cutting out every possible expenditure that doesn't translate into the bottom line. EA looked at the game market and decided that the cost of adding voices for the PC was not going to pay back with sufficiently increased sales; all the BioWare RPG fans were going to buy this game regardless (not to mention the opportunity cost of missing whatever release window they were aiming for). Would it have made for a better game experience? Sure. Do you think EA actually cares about that if it means a smaller profit margin? Dream on.

[RetryAgain]

To say that money was the culprit is also flawed. Especially since BW is now a part of EA, they could of easily shelled out the cash for six people to do the lines of the main character if they really wanted to, let alone two.

 

Companies like EA don't become big and rich by shelling out MORE money than the little studios. They do it by being ruthlessly cost effective and cutting out every possible expenditure that doesn't translate into the bottom line. EA looked at the game market and decided that the cost of adding voices for the PC was not going to pay back with sufficiently increased sales; all the BioWare RPG fans were going to buy this game regardless (not to mention the opportunity cost of missing whatever release window they were aiming for). Would it have made for a better game experience? Sure. Do you think EA actually cares about that if it means a smaller profit margin? Dream on.

 

This.

[LordKinoda]

Do you think EA actually cares about that if it means a smaller profit margin? Dream on.

 

If they don't they're seriously deluding themselves into thinking their business will continue to provide profits if they continously screw over gamers on the basis of cutting costs. Money isn't always the best solution to consider. Sometimes you have to go for it regardless if it costs a little more without a profit margin, because it'll work out in the long run. Surely a publishing giant like EA knows that.

 

They could of easily gave BW the money without a second thought. It wouldn't of cost THAT MUCH. Sorry. Unless you used 6 high profile celebrities. Which would be dumb. Six regular "unknown/new" voice actors would have worked fine.

 

Or best of BOTH worlds *gasp* TWO ACTORS http://thenexusforums.com/public/style_emoticons/Dark/blink.gif 1 male, 1 female. A different voice for every race and sex isn't necessary.

 

I'm not super familiar with what voice actors are paid, I've been dinged on this somewhere else by somebody who knows more than I do before. However, no way it would have been more than 1 million dollars for 6 actors. What would that be ? 160k an actor ? Something like that. That's ALOT of frackin money to be paid to do a few hours of dialog. Crazy if they would make that much, heh.

 

So if they used just two actors ? What, 250-300k ? Chump change for EA. I still think that's way more than generous to assume they make that much, but as I said, not an expert on voice actor wages.

 

It's just a shame that video games (especially titles that are being made by devs such as BW) are not given the same lieniency and attention in terms of money and talent managment as any summer movie blockbuster. I'm sure they will one day (they're pretty close now).

 

Assuming THIS is accurate, which there is no real reason to think it's not, that's what ? 180 million dollars ? What was the budget on the game ? Probably around 20 some million ? They MORE than made plenty of profit on it to justify adding some voice actors. There was no reason to think that this game wasn't going to do well.

 

1. It's BW, they don't churn out crap titles.

 

2. They've thrown out hit titles for over a decade now right ? That's why EA purchased them.

 

Even if they paid 6 actors 1 million dollars each they still would have made off like fat frackin rats. Money CANNOT be the only reason they didn't do voice actors for this game. It's just not logical to assume that's the only reason.

 

 

[sythrael]

Not that this justifies any imagined injustices EA has arrayed against the player, but DAO was very much engineered to mimic an advanced version of NWN and NWN2. In both of those games, the player's character was voiceless, and if you ask me, there was good reason behind it. While it is usually obvious which conversation lines are intended to be good or bad, flirtatious or off-putting, every individual adds their own internal voice, tone, and attitude to the given phrase, making it their own and may possibly give the player more stake in the game.

 

That said, I agree that what has been done with ME and ME2 added a very enjoyable element, and I certainly look forward to experiencing it in SWTOR. DAO, however, I think was a call back to a previous generation of games, giving it a more classic feel to go along with a more classic genre of plot and setting. If they were to implement voices for the main character in further expansions, that would certainly not be a bad thing, and for many may even be more attractive (myself included). But I certainly won't hold the decision not to against them.

[DarkSpiral]

 

Or best of BOTH worlds *gasp* TWO ACTORS http://thenexusforums.com/public/style_emoticons/Dark/blink.gif 1 male, 1 female. A different voice for every race and sex isn't necessary.

 

What? Oh, Kinoda, hell no, man. I seriously disagree with you on this point. If my Human Male Noble sounded exactly the same as my Dwarven Male Casteless, it would utterly destroy the immersion for me. I'm certainly not saying having voice acting on the main character would be bad, but only having one voice for men and only one voice for women, out of six possible race/class combinations, would be a complete disaster. There are a few people that are annoyed by the silent protagonist, but there would have been an ocean of pissed off RPGers if every male protagonist sounded the same. I'm really not kidding. I'd have been one of them.

 

To be honest, games like Dragon Age where the player gets to decide who their character is probably shouldn't have VO for the main character. When I play Mass Effect, or Gears of War, the main character is usually pre-defined. Even Commander Shepard, with all the choices you can make, is not really your own. S/he's been defined by someone else, and even with the flexibility that Bioware has put into the dialogue choices in Mass Effect, the very fact that someone else is adding their inflections, tone of voice, and emphasis, makes the character less my own. Really, in Dragon Age, I play the character as if it were me. I can't do that with Mass Effect, or any other game where the main character is voiced. Now I'm watching an interactive movie, or listening to a Choose-your-own-Adventure novel. Still fun, but not in the same way.

 

Even if they paid 6 actors 1 million dollars each they still would have made off like fat frackin rats. Money CANNOT be the only reason they didn't do voice actors for this game. It's just not logical to assume that's the only reason.

 

No, you're probably right. But it almost certainly was the reason that carried the most weight.

[mycomwhiz]

Lets not forget something here all.

 

Mass Effect lost some content because of the size of the sound files. To add the sound files to the discs makes the game significantly larger which for computers is not as big of a deal but you have to keep in mind that the game is on all platforms.

 

 

now lets start by looking at mass effect to dragon age

 

dragon age has more content and almost twice the dialog that mass effect does.

 

Mass effect needs a Voice Actor for a male and a female Shep while Dragon Age would need a Voice Actor for Male and Female human, dwarf, and elf

 

now take into account that mass effect 2 added more content but had to be place on 2 discs because of size of game. Now back to dragon age the sound files alone for every possible dialog from 6 different wardens I mean rough est we would be at least 3 discs possible 4 for the consoles

 

now then you figure in the costs for hiring 6 voice actors to record every possible PC dialog then hiring the sound crew to edit every possible dialog and get the animations close then for fun figure in some of the other ideas mentioned here about the camera changing angels to account for the PC now talking so now that changes almost every scene in which the PC talks then take into account the game is now on several discs

 

Not saying it would not be possible cost wise and not saying that Bioware/EA doesnt have the funding for such a thing but I think it kinda boils down to what do you want you PC to talk and have cool scenes whenever he/she talks or have more content

 

Mass Effect does its job well as Dragon Age does it well just have to think about all the angels of it

 

just my thoughts on this

[LordKinoda]

but DAO was very much engineered to mimic an advanced version of NWN and NWN2

 

Granted. But they changed things with their titles now. They should of continued with that new direction with DAO. Throwbacks are not always a good thing. Rarely are they IMHO. New is always better. So the originals can stay what they deserve to be. Classic.

 

adds their own internal voice, tone, and attitude to the given phrase, making it their own and may possibly give the player more stake in the game.

 

Can't say I agree with that. Would much prefer to hear a voice. Or more to the point of this whole thread, my own voice. Then I truly would have a bigger stake in the game because I could add my own inflections and tones to the character and feel a very large sense of immersion I've probably never had with a game.

 

But I certainly won't hold the decision not to against them.

 

On the whole, I won't too much either. I still say they should release a DLC mechanic to make it easy to add your own voice to the game. Sorry for PS3 and 360 owners, but this should be more than easy enough to do for PC.

 

What? Oh, Kinoda, hell no, man. I seriously disagree with you on this point.

 

It would have worked just fine. Because that one actor would still be doing different lines. Alot of the lines would be the same. But the origin lines would still be unique, obviously. It worked just fine for Shepard in Mass Effect. If you've visited the "Shepard Pictures" thread on the ME forums you would see the myriad possibilities of how you can make Shepard look. The character generator isn't as limted as one might first think. And oddly enough, the voices work no matter what you make Shepard look like.

 

When I play Mass Effect, or Gears of War, the main character is usually pre-defined. Even Commander Shepard, with all the choices you can make, is not really your own

 

Again though. The BIGGEST point for the mod I'm suggesting to be made. So the character truly is your OWN. Why ? Because it's your OWN voice.

 

Mass effect needs a Voice Actor for a male and a female Shep while Dragon Age would need a Voice Actor for Male and Female human, dwarf, and elf

 

Still can't agree that 6 different voices are NEEDED. But this is BESIDES the point. Because if this mod were made, and made easily accesible to add your own sound files, the possibilities would truly be more than enough to create plenty of diversity for all the origins and possibilities.

 

PC to talk and have cool scenes whenever he/she talks or have more content

 

Probably true enough for consoles, I can't say one way or another because I'm not a hardware expert, but the PC doesen't have that problem as you mentioned. PLENTY of memory to go around.