I found so weird when 2 NPCs with totally different voices are saying the same thing with the same words...

They already changed the voice-actor, then why repeating the words?


Like a female NPC talking about a mudcrab
Then a male NPC talking about a mudcrab with the same words...

Agreed. Especially for combat taunts. Why do all enemies in Oblivion say the exact same combat taunts, as if they all got together and discussed what the best lines were? If you're going to have different voices, you might as well have different taunts. It's not like they're that hard to come up with.

They see lots of mudcrabs ^^

I never understood this either, they have to record the line again for each actor why not change it a bit. I understand it could cause problems if it was completly different, but minor changes would help alot.

For example, instead of each race saying: Hello, one could say good day, another hi,etc.

They actually do..... depending on how much they like you

It was even more weird when two npcs with the same voice were talking about another npc who also has the same voice; a la Imperial City.

The money that went to writers in earlier games now goes to the voice actors. Since voice out costs restrict the amount of text, there is no point in hiring a writer who can phrase a vast amount of inconsequential small talk phrases, so they make one list and use it for everyone. Careful what you wish for.

I agree. Just the slightest bit of variation would be so refreshing.

This is a good example.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R7m9DCNeh8M&feature=player_detailpage#t=27s

Yes. It was very irritating.

What annoyed me more was when beggars changed voice all of a sudden when asking about a topic...

I don't think this is so much the case. There are other games with extremely varied dialogue. Writers don't often make much money to begin with in many cases, and in others, the developers themselves write the dialogue. Also, it wouldn't be hard to say to a voice actor, "Okay, here's the list, but improvise on it a little. Where it says 'hello' for example, just give a couple of greetings for us."

I too would like to see more variety. Instead of every gender of every race saying, "I saw a mudcrab the other day," they should have a variety based on the same concept. "Have you seen those mudcrabs? Pests!" or "I killed another mudcrab yesterday" or "These mudcrabs are becoming a real nuisance."


Agreed. I think that was either a bug, or they simply didn't record extra dialogue for the beggars in the same style as the other bits in which case it was a rather bad oversight.

That always got to me, never gave them coin if they did, because they were all fakeing,

Agreed. That was the worst. How they never caught that in testing is beyond me. Maybe they just didn't care. Nothing in the game was as jarring as listening to:

"Please, I'm only askin' for enough to feed me family . . . " in a frail, old man's voice, only to ask for a Rumor and hear, "I hear the Fighter's Guild is looking for recruits." in a deep, strong baritone.