Current Events > for RPGs, text > voice acting

(+) Yeah! (+)

text is pretty much objectively better as you can create so much more lore and world building compared to VA

VA you're massively limited by budget and file size

with text you dont have to worry about VA budgets and significantly less file size

you can create a richer, deeper world and dialogue options without the restriction of voice recording time

Thats why the main story is voiced and then all the logs, files and item descriptions etc are text

---

I kinda miss the days of just text dialogue

it made mod added content way more seamless too

---

As usual, Fallout 2 did it best.

---

Naw

---

bnui_ransder posted...

Thats why the main story is voiced and then all the logs, files and item descriptions etc are text

Persona

---

worst case is when your player character is voice acted

---

ThePrinceFish posted...

worst case is when your player character is voice acted

Honestly, I do prefer text over VA for RPGs but its not for that reason. For some reason, while I love the evolution of rpgs, I do like old style rpgs.

One game that bothers me with text and va is Pillars of Eternity. Dialogue is mostly spoken but some dialogue doesn't have voice and then some does...and then the dialogue really pulls me away from the flavor text...like I'm trying to read this dude's expression is and they're still continuing with the dialogue without a moment's notice.

It interrupts my focus.

I prefer text... As long as it comes on screen quickly, disappears quickly and no beeps for each letter. That gets old fast.

---

DravenRainrix posted...

I prefer text... As long as it comes on screen quickly, disappears quickly and no beeps for each letter. That gets old fast.

When you say beep, do you mean like Final Fantasy beeps? Sounds for the dialogue as it trails across the screen? I never had an issue with that but it showing up immediately is best because I'm a fast reader so..

Nah

Not everything needs to be voiced, main story stuff should definitely be voiced

Any Tales game with voiceless skits is a hard 'no thanks'

PowerOats posted...

Nah

Not everything needs to be voiced, main story stuff should definitely be voiced

Any Tales game with voiceless skits is a hard 'no thanks'

I remember the old days when I played Symphonia. Skits were all voiceless and I didn't think twice and then I played games after and how many of them had voiced skits(I dont' remember when they started doing voices in NA) but its definitely something I can't live without now.

Im inclined to agree. Voice actors are often why good games take years to get sent to the US.

Agreed, generally speaking.

---

A mix of both is best. All the major dialogue voiced, and then all the extra side stuff not voiced.

---

I usually agree. Great voice acting can really pull the experience together. And then there are messes like Trails of Cold Steel 4 where mid cutscene the voice acting cuts in and out because only one character is voiced in the scene (what were they thinking?)

I find it distracting when there is Japanese only voice acting as well, though I've gotten over that in recent years.

---

LightHawKnight posted...

A mix of both is best. All the major dialogue voiced, and then all the extra side stuff not voiced.

This, I can get behind.

---

Relient_K posted...

I usually agree. Great voice acting can really pull the experience together. And then there are messes like Trails of Cold Steel 4 where mid cutscene the voice acting cuts in and out because only one character is voiced in the scene (what were they thinking?)

I find it distracting when there is Japanese only voice acting as well, though I've gotten over that in recent years.

That shit is so annoying. Even in the first game, Rean would not be voiced when everyone else was. Like if Im trying to do something real quick, I can put on auto-advance for the voices, but I have no clue what the main character said because he wasnt voiced. Either have the whole conversation voiced or have none of it.

They never fail to have voice overs from Venice-worthy characters (Alfin/Elise) whose text I would want to skip anyway.

I prefer a mix, the main and important parts voice acted, the rest text based. I hate when everything is voiced, everyone talks so slow about boring shit. Usually I turn on subtitles and speed read what they have to say.

The part about the money limitations is true. There was an mmo called Star Wars The Old Republic. They made every single line in the game voice acted. At first it seemed cool but it caused problems as early as the first expansion

They had to severely cut down on their ambitions from the first expansion onward. Many of the original voice actors from the base game didn't return. And they also lost a lot of subscribers by the time of the first expansion of they had less money

WoW doesn't insist on everything being voice acted and they do a lot more with their story

Old Republic was too unrealistic and it failed to hold up under the drop in subscribers. People point to Old Republic as an example of too much voice acting

Relient_K posted...

I usually agree. Great voice acting can really pull the experience together. And then there are messes like Trails of Cold Steel 4 where mid cutscene the voice acting cuts in and out because only one character is voiced in the scene (what were they thinking?)

I find it distracting when there is Japanese only voice acting as well, though I've gotten over that in recent years.

Yeah I dont get why falcom does that. I love that XSeed actually fully voiced all the voiced scenes. Wish they continued with the series.

---

Voice acting > text >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> text with spoken "meleblemtlemdlem" gibberish.

---

For isometric RPGs, text is better. For a game like Skyrim? Voiced, probably.

---

Disco Elysium The Final Cut is probably the only RPG where I didn't read ahead and skip the voice acted lines.
---

The weirdest thing is when there's a scene where some of the characters are voiced but some are not.

---

I mean... if a game is going to be voice acted I would prefer the entire thing be voiced instead of just parts. Mostly though I'd rather play a game on mute with just the text sounds and background music.

If anyone wants an idea of what not to do... go look at Arc The Lad: End of Darkness. The last Arc the Lad game for a reason. Halfway through a cutscene the music just stops. And then the sounds stop. So all your left with is no audio. Frustrating as all hell.