The voice acting is just FINE.

The way that dog talks seems out of place but that's the only thing that I've ever had to notice.

Oh I do lack discipline in more ways than I care to admit but I've still read all the bits of dialogue that I've come across in Skyrim and they really offer nothing to the questing that you couldn't get without just following the damn map marker. Don't get me wrong, the voice acting is superb, really nice, but it really just takes a lot of depth from the game when all the npc have to say are a few lines, even if they are voiced.

I've just met Barbas. Bit bizarre?

Skyrim is not Scandinavia, Norway etc. My problem with the voice acting is the lack of continuity with the style of voices from previous games. Compare the Nords from Morrowind (and, seeing as they're fortunate enough to have their own voice actor return, Oblivion) with those in Skyrim. I'd have hoped for at least a bit more continuity with that style.

Then you have things like the Terminator-sounding guards; even if it was intentional they sounded that way, it lacks the comedic value of the guards from Oblivion. And voice changing, oy... the Imperial guards stationed in certain cities after you completed a certain quest line in a certain way suddenly sounding like Arnie when they didn't before.

As I said earlier, I find that the NPCs have quite a lot to say. Even the ones that don't give you quests can talk for quite a while. If it bothers you that the places show up on your map, then just deactivate the quest in your journal and there's no more map marker.

Please understand the problem.

If you deactivate the markers there's no way in hell you're ever going to find the location. NPCs give absolutely NO hints or directions. (Well some do, but it's for like 5% of all quests.)

This really isn't about the quality of the voice acting or if they sound out of place or whatever. It's only about the fact that everything is voice acted and therefore the amount of dialogue, dialogue options and the importance of dialogue in general has decreased dramatically.

I don't get why Bethesda couldn't just use their own employees for voice scripting to add more variety to the game. I mean, i understand they were trying to hire actors that could supposedly do a more nordic sounding accent in the game, but honestly, some of the nordic accent attempts are more humorous than realistic sounding.

Also, having one or two guards that sound just like arnold schwarzenegger is fine, but when 60% of them in the game say the same exact thing in that tone, it gets a little old. But the lack of voice variety for me, is not as big a deal as the lack of weapon and armor variety in the game to be perfectly honeset.

Sierra Entertainment used to back in the 1990s, it was... entertaining. Go check out King's Quest V and Cedric the Owl.

Sorry but it's 2011 characters in games need voices now it makes it more interactive. I remember playing games as a kid in the 80s wondering whether one day if they will ever be able to have every character have a voice now they can and it's awesome. If they just dropped voices all together it would be like taking a step back

You guys are seriously insane for wanting text instead of voice. I really can't even believe this is a thread right now. Voice acting and quest handling could be done better, I agree, but wanting to go back to the morrowind walls of text? What is wrong with you guys?

My mistake. I guess I did misunderstand you. That does seem like a legitimate complaint. It doesn't bother me so much, though. You have a map, and the person shows you on your map where they need you to go. That's what people would do in real life too.

I'd rather see them improve on voice acting instead of reverting back to text.

I think we all do. But if we had an option right now some of us would prefer a bit more elaborate text system over a voice system that is lacking some key features.

Besides, it's been 5 years since Oblivion. I had really hoped they improved the voice acting a bit more than just multiple voice actors per race.

What I find funny is how all these Morrowind [censored] love to speak about the "depth" and "intricacy" of characters in Morrowind, that could only be supposedly achieved because of the text-only nature, when it was anything but. You would go to any Morrowind town and every other NPC you bump into was a "commoner" who gave the same speech. My first Elder Scrolls game was Morrowind, and I love it, but I don't sanctify it or anything. It's a great game, nothing more, nothing less. But, you would swear from some of these [censored] on here that it was the digital Second Coming of Jesus Christ Himself Shout Glory Hallelujah! People who fawn over the text-only, voiceless style of Morrowind will, in the same breath, decry Oblivion and Skyrim for the lack of "immersion". Keep it coming. I need a few laughs in this sick, twisted world.

I honestly think that people don't love Morrowind itself as much as the time they were playing Morrowind. It's all nostalgia factor. It happens to me with other video games. Zelda's Ocarina of Time may not be the greatest game in itself, but I have such fond memories as it was when I first got a job and first became an advlt, and I remember playing hours and hours on my own leisure time. I suspect Morrowind is the same thing for most people.

I dont like the idea of the pop up interrupting the game but I completely agree that the near non-existent text descriptions desperately need revision.

For e.g.: In a cave outside a certain town I found a series of journals left by an NPC. Picking up the first journal started a quest to find the remaining journals. The story in the journals was interesting, if succinct and immersed in its plot quite well. Once I had picked up the final diary however the quest description changed to 'Give the Journal to NPC name'. The quest marker placed her in a town near the opposite end of the map. There was no explanation for who this person was or why I knew he/she wanted the journals.

Everytime I hear an 'Arnold' guard I think 'Arnie is back'.

But the Arnie voice and there is a lot of it, is jarring and immersion breaking. It just sounds so out of place.

Not receiving directions verbally is not good. It is just 'Go to there and do that....' Without the map marker it is impossible to know the location unless it is somewhere you have been and know.

I figured after Oblivion and it's complaints of hand holding that Beth would make us less hand held through quests, but it seems to have gone the other way.

i dont much like the idea either, but, like you said, something needs to be done, and it was all i could come up with

I think you misunderstand most people who have this opinion.
Keep in mind it's been 10 years since Morrowind, so there are some expectations.

Morrowind's characters weren't very deep, no, atleast not the commoners. But it was still "neat" to have the option to ask them about their jobs and all that jazz.
Sure, it's not to be expected that they do this for every since character in Skyrim, but a bit more options would be neat. Especially quest directions.

Also, I don't even like Morrowind that much my friend. I think Skyrim is a lot more fun, but that doesn't mean it can't inherit some perfectly good features from Morrowind. After all, it's been 10 years and 10 year is a lot in the gaming industry.

invent a more real sounding voice synthesizer, problem solved. i like the voice acting and facial expressions, the daily schedules or "random actions" a vast impovement over npcs that sit in one place all the time wth no interaction but a script over their head with no expression nothing.

all the voice-actors will one day replaced by by robots...
"siri read the script."
"ok, ""STOP RIGHT THERE CRIMINAL SCUM"" "

Let the fans volounteer and record dialogues Bethesda writes,records which sound best get included for specific quest/npc,etc.There is no need to pay large amounts of money for actors for voice acting.

I think the ultimate way to handle this is to have unique introductory voice-overs for characters, and then keep the rest as text. For example, activating an NPC brings up a text-based dialogue window like Morrowind's, while in the background the NPC greets you in some way that is relevant. "Hello there, I don't believe we've met; I'm Belethor", for example, and then change that greeting to whatever is going on between you and the NPC. So if you're on a quest for that NPC and activate dialogue with him, he'd say "Have you done it yet? I'm anxious to see the results!" for example, but the meat of the dialogue is presented in the text box. This would give every character a voice but still allow for a lot of dialogue.

I thought having Nords finally sound German and Scandinavian was better than them sounding Scottish in Morrowind and whatever the hell they're supposed to be in OB.

And it would be brilliant if it wasn't a dead ringer for Arnold's voice. Of course not all the voices are bad, some are excellent. Just that the bad ones are really bad and immersion breaking. Not sure how the engish made their way to Skyrim, as evidenced by the thick english accents, but as an englishwoman I am proud. :rofl:

I thought the Oblivion nord voices were not bad at all.