So, from Elder Scrolls lore and previous games we know that casting a spell in the TES universe requires several different components.

A somatic component is used to designate the target of the spell. Concentration is required to remember the incantation required for a particular spell. Lastly, a verbal component is required to actually cast the spell and I assume it also must vary by what type of spell is cast. This is shown in previous TES games through the spell effects Sound and Silence, one of which reduces the spellcaster's ability to concentrate and creating a chance for failure and the other halting all spellcasting altogether by not allowing the verbal portion of the spell to be performed.

This time around, we have the dragon shouts that activate effects verbally as well, even requiring different combinations of words in the Dragon tongue to form the effects. These shouts have been confirmed to be fully voice-acted.

Neverwinter Nights 2 is a game I can personally remember having phrases of magic (though there may be more), but they were more random I think, and hopefully if magic phrases were included in Skyrim they could vary by effect.

Just out of curiosity, how would people respond to having voice acting for spells as well, including different incantations the characters recite for each type of spell?

Discuss the topic if you like, but please keep it civil, this is just a suggestion out of curiosity.

Let me just think for a...

Hell. No.

Too damn much "everything has to be teh voice acted" already.

I sort of feel like it would take away from the epicness of Dragon Shouts if all spells were activated with the voice, my dragon shouts would no longer feel so special.

I could do without the dragon shouts too, really. When Beth makes my character sound a particular way, that limits what I can imagine for the character. Already, with Oblivion, I've had to add voice mods just so that I can have some more grunts and exclamations, because I associate the voices with particular characters and when I do another character who ends up with the same voice, it distracts me every time s/he makes a sound and it's in the voice of the other character. The less they define, the more room is left for my imagination.

But.... dragon shouts are the official gimmick of Skyrim, and that's that. I'd like to see a fairly wide range of voices - not just one for each race and gender, but multiple ones for each one, so I can replay it with a different voice for a different character, and if that went for the spoken part of regular spellcasting as well, that'd be fine. 'Course, that's a lot of voice acting and a lot of memory taken up, and I'd rather that money and memory was spent on something else, but, again, we're already getting the official gimmick of dragon shouts, like it or not, so....

In the end, I'd have to say no. If it was done well - with a broad range of voices and a broad range of chants - I probably wouldn't mind, but I'm certain that if it was done, it wouldn't be done well, and for that I'd rather it wasn't done at all.

I'm not at all convinced that casting spells require any verbal input. I've cast thousands of spells in my day without ever saying a word. Spells titled "Silence" are like that because all RPGs use them. I've always thought incantations required for magic spells was silly, just like requiring a conduit like a wand.

No thanks.

It's not a terrible idea, but I think it would be annoying if I'm spamming a spell.

Well, I can certainly understand and appreciate your reasons against this. It would require extra voice-acting work, which, if it detracted from overall gameplay, I agree that it would only detrimental.

And I also play with a certain personality and character in mind when I create a new PC. When I suggested this, I meant it to be in a sort of best-case-scenario sort of way. If there were very few types of voices or the voices were too annoying or badly done, I would likely oppose this as well and might even mod it out.

It likely won't be anything to worry about though if you don't want it, there isn't any precedent for this and the Dragon Shouts are likely to be voiced only because they're integral to the plot.

Dragon shouts much?

What?

In-game, of course

I mean that my characters and all other NPCs are constantly casting spells without ever saying a word. I trust more what I hear in-game than what the names of spells are suggesting.

Well left such features for modders, sometimes better if %PCname will be silent.
Personally I use modified version of
My Voice Extender
http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=29067
with some additional scripting and custom voice files based on voices from other games and edited in Sound Forge thats fit to my character well.

Wasn't there a book on silence that said it worked by bending sound so that the other person couldn't speak. I mean I don't want it either, but I do think I remember seeing that.

No, it would take too much space on the disc for it too be practical, even if it could be cool. And we already have the Thu'um to play with ;P

No, for one they wouldn't have every possible type of voice you could imagine your character having. Limiting it.

Two, I don't care for voice acting.

We already get Dragon Shouts specific to the race and gender you are playing. So, why not? Just fill in the verbal component we never were able to hear. ^_^

Noooooooooo!!!! My plans for a stuttering alchemist are foiled! CURSES!:P

You can't really stutter a Dragon Shout?, can you?

http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?/topic/1159493-how-does-silence-work/. Big debate about how much that applies and whether or not it was intended as just a pun. There was also a book about a mute who had lost his voice from the Crimson Plague, which, in-game, does nothing to hinder your magicka usage.

As I said, I'd prefer to stick with what I hear in-game as opposed to what one book implies. If there are suppose to be spoken incantations for every spell, then I expect to be able to hear them or find those "magic words." Yet they aren't written anywhere in any form and I've never heard them. And now it's a big deal that Dragon Shouts use verbal commands, which just leads me to believe even more that normal magic does not require verbal incantations.

Youre logic is flawed.
Sound and silence are illusion spells, not alteration.
They do not alter the physical world, they alter someones perception.
In this case, giving the mage the illusion his concentration is broken or he is otherwise unable to cast spells.
It is not physically sound or silence.

I know there is a book on silence that says otherwise, but that book is a novel. Its fiction. Its not a treatise by the mages guild on the workings of silence. Its simply an author using a plot device to achieve a pun.

There is in fact, to my knowledge, more of an indication that spells are an inherent ability, and would to an experienced caster require no more effort than, say, deciding to hop on one leg.
For a mnemonic a gesticulation could be used, yes, but I have seen very little evidence that spells recuire a verbal component.

Gameplaywise I wouldnt really want to say something everytime I cast a spell.
It would become tedious in five minutes, annoying after an hour.

Not voice acting but maybe a little crunt or 2

MINIMAL voices for player characters is all, ever! Let BioWare design for the american teen, they got a head start.

Oner of the reasons, I'd like to.

Fu-us-s R-r-r-roo D-da-hah!!!

Shoots out a mulitude of small little beams. Be like a rapid machine gun of magic. Or I would force push my self backwards or something. :hehe:

No way.

I don't think magic in TES needs vocal component at all. You can't hear anything during combat and there aren't any book that mentions syllables being spoken during casting.

Magic words is confirmed it's called Dragonshouts if i am right ?
and i think there is gonna be a little bit Voice acting when doing Dragonshouts like in the Trailer