First of all, consumers do not pay a large amount for the voice software in GPS devices. I don't even know where you get that idea. If you're going to try debating this, at least try doing it with facts.
And second of all, the cost to cover what cost there would be for a TTS engine would be more than covered by the savings from not hiring voice actors for every single word said by every last NPC. Not to mention the studio recording time, the editing, etc. They would save money by switching, not pay more for it. Their "sacrificing" would be having more money and time to do much better voice acting for the important NPCs.
I mean did you even listen to the voice acting done in Oblivion? And the horrible editing job from one speech clip to the next? They obviously bit off way more than they could chew trying to do that much voice acting. It was an ambitious gamble, but ultimately one with a very limited success.
I hate being wrong, but if you can show me evidence that I am, I will bow to your greater knowledge. Additionally I did listen and totally agree, voice acting in Oblivion is definitely not the way I want any of this to go, I was in support of going back to full text systems, with maybe greetings and very important main quest conversations being voiced.
Nvm, didn't see posts above.
Well, if they can do it, then I'm more than down for it. They most certainly will save money and recording time, as well as gain immense freedom for writing ability.
The main problem with voice acting is also its strength...In certain situations.
It is a corroborative work between the actor and the writer, if the actor isnt up to scratch or is not given the freedom to work to his full potential it is just as bad as bad writing, compare the much applauded dialogue in Uncharted 2, this fluidity and greatness came from the fact that all the dialogue was recorded with the actors together. They had the script and were given the freedom to bounce off eachother with improvisations and all the nuances of actually communicating. The downfall of Oblivion was that each canned line was disjointed from the last, there was no fluid transfer from oneline or character to another, they were talking at you in a bullet pointed fashion.
which is not how humans communicate.
Yes, I have. And I've seen the endless back and forth on their forums "Mark Meer is a terrible voice for my Shepard" "No he isn't, you are an idiot for thinking that", and "Jennifer Hale svcks at voicing Shepard" "You must be brain dead- she is fantastic" followed by threads of suggestions as to who would have been better.
I hope the pc is unvoiced.
QFT this is the point, when you provide the finished thing with bells and whistles on to someone who dislikes whistles and bells youre not winning any brownie points for the extra effort.
I like the text-based because it means NPCs can use my character's name. I like that, it seems really cool. I know, it's the oldest trick in the scripting book, but it still feels neat that an NPC will use whatever I type and respond with it. Kind of like those old DOS adventure games, or Scribblenauts (I've not played it first hand, only watched my sister play it). It adds a level of interaction, and even a level of humanity to the NPCs. Wouldn't you call someone by their name? That way, I don't feel like the nameless voiceless hero that the in-game history books record my character as.
This is possible with voiced dialogue as well in a way (except for names) as mass effect showed dialogue knows whehter shepard is male or female, saved the council or didnt, even though these changes are shallow at best they are still possible.
I would agree that it would be better in a text based situation though, allowing there to be more impact based on different player choices, as the cost of recording wildly alternate dialogue as well as scripted events is prohibitive.
Some people say Morrowind's system is boring because of all the generic topic responses. This is just developer laziness, though! We don't have to have every NPC in town giving a generic eloquent spiel about all the services in the area. You can just type more and more responses, no need for additional voicework or anything. That's the beauty of it all.
QFT also THE POINT!
What you say is true, but I still doubt that going back to text is the right way to go. Instead they should focus on improving the voice based system, which can be done well if money and time is focused on the right things.
Meh, it's a matter of taste I think, I read books and like to imagine peoples voices myself, or even better have a little bit of a soundbite fora character to use as a reference point, then imagine how that voice would say X, Y or Z.
This discussion is circular though, obviously money was spent without forethought on oblivion's dialog, and can be vastly improved by simply not thinking, what big name voice actors can we include, but asking "how do we make conversations sound genuine."
Just to burst the Mass Effect Bubble people have been playing with I was vastly displeased by the mood changes in dialogue if you chose certain replies followed by others, this might work if you had some ameliorating dialogue on the players part inbetween say an angry statement followed by a calfly spoken one, however that was not the case, and even in the ones that did play out like that, the lack of a player voice made it feel a little off to think that NPCs would jump from one emotion to another in their speech...
» Sat May 28, 2011 10:06 am 
