557 réponses à ce sujet

[Shadow of Light Dragon]

In Exile wrote...

Silent VO (along with the lack of expresssions & body language) makes it impossible for me to know what the attempt to convey is. And then that leaves me with the NPC reaction. But if the NPC reaction is wrong, I can't correct it, and I can't explore the reasons for it. It simply is. 

And this is why I dislike silent VO. 

And for people like me, who *can* interpret the tone associated with the written words, voiced PC feels unecessary and often jarring. Perhaps a system that had mood icons along with the full dialogue would better clear things up, but not for people who purely prefer VO.

I don't. Until you can pick voices like we used to pick portraits, or have a sliders for pitch, gravel, accent, enunciation and so on, I'll find it too imposing. Unless it's an established character being voiced, not one I've created, I just prefer my imagination to handle the voice. :/

[Tirfan]

SilentK wrote...

Huntress wrote...

The best part of voice is main character takes part in the barten..
Isabela-Beth
Isabela-carver
Isabela-Anders
and many more, I just love it!

It's one of the things that I love with having a voice    =)    just did legacy last night and FemHawke and Carver has such wonderful wonderful sibling-rivalry-bits!!        

That just made my evening and it's one of those moments when I am so so happy for having a voice.

This I really can't understand, those moments felt like the game was taunting me, chanting "Na nana naa, this isn't your character, this isn't your character."

It's awful.

[Shadow of Light Dragon]

Tirfan wrote...

This I really can't understand, those moments felt like the game was taunting me, chanting "Na nana naa, this isn't your character, this isn't your character."

It's awful.

Or the parts at Hawke's estate (or Gamlen's house) where you can examine certain items. You get a reaction from Hawke, but it's not necessarily the reaction *your character* would have. It's imposed. It's not so bad when Hawke is just describing what she's looking at, but as soon as opinion or emotion is ascribed then...the game is controlling what your character thinks.

Modifié par Shadow of Light Dragon, 27 juillet 2011 - 10:50 .

[Gotholhorakh]

Tirfan wrote...

As if anyone doesn't know - I prefer silent.

I can't rp an character when he is voiced. End of story. I can feel some connection to the character if he is well written, but it is still not the same, the level of emotional investment in the story, if I am not in-character, is considerably lower.

This, kind of.

I feel the same way listening to a voiced main protagonist (often in a foreign accent) that I would feel if trying to read a book while someone read it out in a foreign acccent behind me.

It's distracting, it's OOC and it rankles in the same extraneous, irritating way that somebody narrating all of the graphics would (assuming I could see them).

I would be able to tolerate it, but it comes at a price - main character voice acting is a drain on time and resources, further it's a sheer obstacle to the change and improvement that naturally happens during the development lifecycle - it has potential for drastically hampering the editorial freedom of the developers, writers and designers when it comes to changing, dropping or expanding upon on game content to make the game better.

I'm not convinced the improvement is worth the price even if you love it. Since I wish I could toggle it because it annoys me, I'm in the Yes camp - silent protagonists, please.

Modifié par Gotholhorakh, 27 juillet 2011 - 12:56 .

[0x30A88]

Voiced might be nice, but four disadvantages.

1. We're no longer playing our character, but a specific individual. Immersion might be lost.
2. It comes with the price of losing 5 origins.
3. Some times hawke speaks without dialogue choices presented.
4. What we click != what Hawke says.

On characters that are predetermined, like Leliana in the DLC Leliana's Song. I find it to be more fitting than silent PC. But once a character creation process is there, and it's a character that's going to be representing you for the next 25 hours...not okay IMO.

Modifié par Gisle Aune, 27 juillet 2011 - 01:24 .

[T764]

I don't find either one to be better.

My problem with the warden was that i would often be disconnected from him or her due to the choices given or actions undertaken, because i was being forced to act out of character i found myself wishing that i could hear the wardens thoughts, just so that i could justify being forced to do something that i thought was daft.

With the fully voiced Hawke that sense of disconnection was there from the start, so when they did something stupid it was justified by being Hawke.

If i have more choices and i am not forced into out of character actions silent is better, if the story demands involuntary acts of stupidity then voiced all the way.

[In Exile]

phaonica wrote...
I don't see why it's so difficult to self insert even with some restrictions.

There are no choices I would make supported in game. The things I would do cannot be done or said in-game. So it cannot be a game about me. I would never (for example) stay in Ferelden or (if I stayed in Ferelden) march on Denerim in the endgame (or allow Riordan to split up and try to discover how gravity works again). 

And if I have to pick between various gameplay formats that both offer limited control, I'm going to choose the one that offers the most ability to self insert. 

Which, for me, is VO. The inability to correct misunderstands and speak for myself in parts already makes it impossible for the Warden to be me (I would never allow Alistiar/Anora to speak to the army on my behalf,  or Duncan to explain how my family died). 

Well in video games, I *am* a "getting involved" type because if I didn't want to be involved, I wouldn't be playing an interactive game in the first place.

It is not hard to write a story about the plot dragging you in. DA:O tried this... and then promptly gave up at Ostagar.

If I choose a sarcastic tone in which a line is to be delivered, and the NPC responds in a sarcastic tone (which you can see and hear: <crossed arms> "Ha, ha, very funny..." <_< ). Then even if I only heard the PCs line delivered in my head (ie not physically voiced or articulated by the PC character), I know that the NPC heard the line delivered in a sarcastic tone, and thus the sarcasm is validated. 

"Thank you for the flowers. I would be uncomfortable with going out to dinner with you, as we do likely live in separate locations. Although, you're right! Blue is a very striking colour on me. I will certainly take a raincheck."

If I responded that way to your post it would be pure nonsence. And this is what you're saying you want in a video-game, and why silent VO is good. 

Response follow from and react to what the person has said previously. If my reply is the sentence in quotes to you, what you say in your head is perfectly irrelevant.

Explain this bolded part to me. Do you have to physically hear the line voiced in a diplomatic tone before you trust that it was sufficiently diplomatic? 

I need to know what kind of diplomacy the game supports. DA:O forces the attitude I <3 Wardens after Ostagar. But as the player, you don't know you're forced into I <3 Wardens until choices like this simply show up.

You know what your character is trying to cause when you pick a tone. You don't need a voice, too.

No, I don't know what my character is trying to say simply with the tone. "Diplomatic" does not tell me anything about how the line is delivered, and whether the NPC reaction is believable.

And it doesn't make sense to me that you *require* a tone to be voiced in order to understand the responding reaction. If a PC and NPC are talking to each other completely in text, I don't think it's that difficult to figure out what kind of tones their lines carry.

P1: "The weather is perfect, don't you think?"
P2: "I just love the snow!"
P1: "Yes, if only we had this much show every single day."

So, what are the tones their lines carry? 

Even books don't simply throw dialogue at you. They explain moods and tones. And plays lack that, but you quite clearly see it acted and enunciated. 

That character wouldn't be responding <_< to "all possible interations" just to the possible tones of that one line. That's why you'd have multiple lines to choose from.

You said: 

It is possible to write an NPC reaction that accounts for different tones. For example, if an NPC is mad at you, and you say something like... "I know what I'm doing." You can say it like , ,,,, and the NPC could respond  no matter what and it would make sense. It is possible to write reactions in such a way that account for various tone deliveries from a single line.

The NPC has only one response. None of the lines you pick matter. You might as well have choices like:

"Do you want to poppy-**** the horse dog?" or "Spesllmusk frist begeg" for all it matters in terms of how the game reacts to you. 

Do you think DA2 did a good choice with quest choice? You're saying dialogue should be handled just like DA2 handled quest outcomes: the same result no matter what the player does. 

[In Exile]

phaonica wrote...

When I am engaged in a conversation in DA2 or DAO,  I'm usually not thinking about illiciting a specific reaction from the NPC.  For example, I'm not thinking to myself "Which of these options will earn friendship points with Merrill?" "Which of these options will make the Templar attack me?"

Why are you putting it in meta-game terms? That's not what I mean at all. 

When I say illiciting a specific reaction, I mean: I need Merril to understand the danger in her use of blood magic; I need to convice the Vicount that he should not allow [x] to occur. I want to mock Aveline for her pathetic attempts at wooing. 

Or to use DA:O examples:

I want to mock Alistair as he tries to mock me; I want to make fun of Morrigain for the absurd comments she just made, etc. I need Anora to agree with me to support Alistair, etc. 

I cannot simply say whatever I want, so then the lines must be chosen based on what would have a similar effect to what I would want my character to say. 

I'm dont' think of it as searching for the dialog option that will get the reaction I want, I only think about how my character would express themselves given the situation, whatever belief system, fears, biases, and whatever that I've decided to give them.

This is how my character expresses himself or herself. What will achieve what purpose I'm after is how the communicate.

In fact the only times I can specifically recall where I wanted a specific reaction from a character was when I had chosen which LI my character would romance and I was clearly pigeonholed into choosing specific dialog choices that didn't fit my character's belief system at all. That's no fault of the implementation of Voice, it's just a side effect of the way I decide which dialog choice I"m going to use.

If you think talking is about grabbing a podium and speaking at people, then sure, VO doesn't matter. But if you thinking talking is about actually achieving some purpose, then the reasonable way the NPC might take the line is important. 

[In Exile]

Shadow of Light Dragon wrote...
And for people like me, who *can* interpret the tone associated with the written words, voiced PC feels unecessary and often jarring. 

Then look back to the previous post I made, and tell me what tone I used in that 3 line interaction about the weather, and explain the tone. 

Perhaps a system that had mood icons along with the full dialogue would better clear things up, but not for people who purely prefer VO.

Mood icons still won't clear up the delivery of the line until you have the reaction to it.

I don't. Until you can pick voices like we used to pick portraits, or have a sliders for pitch, gravel, accent, enunciation and so on, I'll find it too imposing. Unless it's an established character being voiced, not one I've created, I just prefer my imagination to handle the voice. :/

Your imagination can't handle the voice. Everything is already determined, including how the lines sound. Do you think your imagination determines what characters sound like in books? 

[Blastback]

In Exile wrote...

I don't. Until you can pick voices like we used to pick portraits, or have a sliders for pitch, gravel, accent, enunciation and so on, I'll find it too imposing. Unless it's an established character being voiced, not one I've created, I just prefer my imagination to handle the voice. :/

Your imagination can't handle the voice. Everything is already determined, including how the lines sound. Do you think your imagination determines what characters sound like in books? 

Well, to a certian degree, yes.  Sometimes it does.  It depends on how much detail the author gives about how a specific line is delivered.  Say character A makes a threat, and character B reacts in a very scared manner.  But the actual delivery of the threat is not specified.  You just get the dialoge between the two.

That leaves room for my imagination to decide if said threat was a menacing whisper, a simple deadpan, or even playfully with a dangerous undertone.  There are limits to this sure, you can't imagine it any way you want, but potentially there are is room for individual interpritation. 

It's the same way with a silent PC.  I'll agree that some folks overstate the amount of freedom in interpreting dialoge that the silent PC gives you, but there is more than is available with a voiced PC.

[Cutlasskiwi]

Gisle Aune wrote...

Voiced might be nice, but four disadvantages.

1. We're no longer playing our character, but a specific individual. Immersion might be lost.
2. It comes with the price of losing 5 origins.
3. Some times hawke speaks without dialogue choices presented.
4. What we click != what Hawke says.

On characters that are predetermined, like Leliana in the DLC Leliana's Song. I find it to be more fitting than silent PC. But once a character creation process is there, and it's a character that's going to be representing you for the next 25 hours...not okay IMO.

If everyone in the game are talking and showing emotion and the PC does not that breaks my immersion, so I prefer voiced over silent. As for your list, number 1 happened to me during DAO where I could only play the character I wanted to play up to Ostagar. And for me, the Warden is BioWare's character, just like Hawke. They were never my characters.

[Gotholhorakh]

In Exile wrote...

Your imagination can't handle the voice. Everything is already determined, including how the lines sound. Do you think your imagination determines what characters sound like in books? 

YES. Absolutely.

[erynnar]

Shadow of Light Dragon wrote...

In Exile wrote...

Silent VO (along with the lack of expresssions & body language) makes it impossible for me to know what the attempt to convey is. And then that leaves me with the NPC reaction. But if the NPC reaction is wrong, I can't correct it, and I can't explore the reasons for it. It simply is. 

And this is why I dislike silent VO. 

And for people like me, who *can* interpret the tone associated with the written words, voiced PC feels unecessary and often jarring. Perhaps a system that had mood icons along with the full dialogue would better clear things up, but not for people who purely prefer VO.

I don't. Until you can pick voices like we used to pick portraits, or have a sliders for pitch, gravel, accent, enunciation and so on, I'll find it too imposing. Unless it's an established character being voiced, not one I've created, I just prefer my imagination to handle the voice. :/

Well said as always, Shadow. I feel the same way you do. It is just too jarring for me.

[erynnar]

In Exile wrote...

Shadow of Light Dragon wrote...
And for people like me, who *can* interpret the tone associated with the written words, voiced PC feels unecessary and often jarring. 

Then look back to the previous post I made, and tell me what tone I used in that 3 line interaction about the weather, and explain the tone. 

Perhaps a system that had mood icons along with the full dialogue would better clear things up, but not for people who purely prefer VO.

Mood icons still won't clear up the delivery of the line until you have the reaction to it.

I don't. Until you can pick voices like we used to pick portraits, or have a sliders for pitch, gravel, accent, enunciation and so on, I'll find it too imposing. Unless it's an established character being voiced, not one I've created, I just prefer my imagination to handle the voice. :/

Your imagination can't handle the voice. Everything is already determined, including how the lines sound. Do you think your imagination determines what characters sound like in books? 

To answer your last question, yes it does. Always has, always will for me.

[erynnar]

T764 wrote...

I don't find either one to be better.

My problem with the warden was that i would often be disconnected from him or her due to the choices given or actions undertaken, because i was being forced to act out of character i found myself wishing that i could hear the wardens thoughts, just so that i could justify being forced to do something that i thought was daft.

With the fully voiced Hawke that sense of disconnection was there from the start, so when they did something stupid it was justified by being Hawke.

If i have more choices and i am not forced into out of character actions silent is better, if the story demands involuntary acts of stupidity then voiced all the way.

See, that is what I don't get. I am the Warden. So I hear the Warden's thought's just fine. And yes, every Warden was different, so I play the character. My Aeducan is totally different from my Duster, from my Cousland etc. You supply the Warden's thoughts, that makes it roleplaying in my book.

Having Hawke speak her thoughts made her a TV show character like on "Laugh In," except less funny.

[Morroian]

Shadow of Light Dragon wrote...

I don't. Until you can pick voices like we used to pick portraits, or have a sliders for pitch, gravel, accent, enunciation and so on, I'll find it too imposing. 

Is there any technical reason why this couldn't be done now? It would certainly solve the problem of having multiple races but only 1 VA per sex.

[Captain_Obvious]

Voiced for me. It's getting more and more difficult for me to enjoy a game where the main protagonist is audibly mute. My idea of immersion includes a character that has a voice just like every other NPC, in Bioware games at least. I'll have to see how Skyrim handles, because that PC is not voiced. I don't care to sit around and ponder the tone in which I want my character to deliver a line. It never once even crossed my mind that I needed to until someone decided to tell me that I was "playing the game wrong." Yeah, that kind of argument is not going to work for me.

[erynnar]

Captain_Obvious wrote...

Voiced for me. It's getting more and more difficult for me to enjoy a game where the main protagonist is audibly mute. My idea of immersion includes a character that has a voice just like every other NPC, in Bioware games at least. I'll have to see how Skyrim handles, because that PC is not voiced. I don't care to sit around and ponder the tone in which I want my character to deliver a line. It never once even crossed my mind that I needed to until someone decided to tell me that I was "playing the game wrong." Yeah, that kind of argument is not going to work for me.

It's not that you're playing the game wrong. It's that you prefer to have someone else control who and how your character is. It s a prefrence., not wrong or right. You like having someone tell a voice actor what tone to deliver the lines in and you prefer to pick from a choice of three and watch how that plays out.

I prefer to be the director and the VA. I prefer to be in control, not sit and watch someone else control the avatar. The mute doesn't bother me because the avatar is just the skin I get to walk around the world in and interact with it and the people there. I provide the tone, the thoughts, and the voice, and I am the actor, not the audience. It is a preference, neither right or wrong either.

Modifié par erynnar, 27 juillet 2011 - 11:44 .

[VioletTheirin]

Personally I prefer a voiced character but I have enough imagination to enjoy a game with a non voiced character. I don't think there is a "right" or a "wrong" it is all just personal preference.

[Sabariel]

erynnar wrote...

Captain_Obvious wrote...

Voiced for me. It's getting more and more difficult for me to enjoy a game where the main protagonist is audibly mute. My idea of immersion includes a character that has a voice just like every other NPC, in Bioware games at least. I'll have to see how Skyrim handles, because that PC is not voiced. I don't care to sit around and ponder the tone in which I want my character to deliver a line. It never once even crossed my mind that I needed to until someone decided to tell me that I was "playing the game wrong." Yeah, that kind of argument is not going to work for me.

It's not that you're playing the game wrong. It's that you prefer to have someone else control who and how your character is. It s a prefrence., not wrong or right. You like having someone tell a voice actor what tone to deliver the lines in and you prefer to pick from a choice of three and watch how that plays out.

I prefer to be the director and the VA. I prefer to be in control, not sit and watch someone else control the avatar. The mute doesn't bother me because the avatar is just the skin I get to walk around the world in and interact with it and the people there. I provide the tone, the thoughts, and the voice, and I am the actor, not the audience. It is a preference, neither right or wrong either.

Nicely said. Total agreement from me

[Cutlasskiwi]

erynnar wrote...

Captain_Obvious wrote...

Voiced for me. It's getting more and more difficult for me to enjoy a game where the main protagonist is audibly mute. My idea of immersion includes a character that has a voice just like every other NPC, in Bioware games at least. I'll have to see how Skyrim handles, because that PC is not voiced. I don't care to sit around and ponder the tone in which I want my character to deliver a line. It never once even crossed my mind that I needed to until someone decided to tell me that I was "playing the game wrong." Yeah, that kind of argument is not going to work for me.

It's not that you're playing the game wrong. It's that you prefer to have someone else control who and how your character is. It s a prefrence., not wrong or right. You like having someone tell a voice actor what tone to deliver the lines in and you prefer to pick from a choice of three and watch how that plays out.

I prefer to be the director and the VA. I prefer to be in control, not sit and watch someone else control the avatar. The mute doesn't bother me because the avatar is just the skin I get to walk around the world in and interact with it and the people there. I provide the tone, the thoughts, and the voice, and I am the actor, not the audience. It is a preference, neither right or wrong either.

My problem is when other character actually have a voice that they answer the PC with. More often than not my intended tone and intent does not match their response and I'm pulled out of the game and need to reload. I'm generally curious as to how you deal with that? Acting out the tone and voice when the other characters around have voices and set responses, that is.  

[erynnar]

Yellow Words wrote...

erynnar wrote...

Captain_Obvious wrote...

Voiced for me. It's getting more and more difficult for me to enjoy a game where the main protagonist is audibly mute. My idea of immersion includes a character that has a voice just like every other NPC, in Bioware games at least. I'll have to see how Skyrim handles, because that PC is not voiced. I don't care to sit around and ponder the tone in which I want my character to deliver a line. It never once even crossed my mind that I needed to until someone decided to tell me that I was "playing the game wrong." Yeah, that kind of argument is not going to work for me.

It's not that you're playing the game wrong. It's that you prefer to have someone else control who and how your character is. It s a prefrence., not wrong or right. You like having someone tell a voice actor what tone to deliver the lines in and you prefer to pick from a choice of three and watch how that plays out.

I prefer to be the director and the VA. I prefer to be in control, not sit and watch someone else control the avatar. The mute doesn't bother me because the avatar is just the skin I get to walk around the world in and interact with it and the people there. I provide the tone, the thoughts, and the voice, and I am the actor, not the audience. It is a preference, neither right or wrong either.

My problem is when other character actually have a voice that they answer the PC with. More often than not my intended tone and intent does not match their response and I'm pulled out of the game and need to reload. I'm generally curious as to how you deal with that? Acting out the tone and voice when the other characters around have voices and set responses, that is.  

It doesn't bother me. I haven't either run into that problem or it's so infrequent I never notice it. And I am playing DAO right now, alll origins, have yet to run into it. Maybe I'm playing the game wrong, myself. But when I pick "Hey I'm a mage," and my Hawke says some lame thing like "All mages aren't bad."  I do notice.

And that is just one example of many where what I picked and what my Hawke said was so wimpy, or so douchey and unexpected that it pulled me out of the game. I noticed it a lot more in DA2 than I noticed a problem with my choice and NPC response in DAO. Probably because the writers wrote the lines in such a way they still went with the NPC response. As a writer on a mod, my NPC's response and what I am writing for the Warden, go together no matter what tone I intend. And even then, I know that the player is going to read a different tone than what I meant it to be. And that's just fine with me.

[stewie1974]

I don't know, but I do remmeber laughing out loud as my mute warden tilted his head and a line of text was displayed below him.... for some reason I imagined him speaking like Simon from Frisky Dingo....

I like a voiced character much better.




Simon = the blonde kid...

pretty much how DAO was in my head.

Modifié par stewie1974, 28 juillet 2011 - 01:03 .

[VioletTheirin]

erynnar wrote...

Yellow Words wrote...

erynnar wrote...

Captain_Obvious wrote...

Voiced for me. It's getting more and more difficult for me to enjoy a game where the main protagonist is audibly mute. My idea of immersion includes a character that has a voice just like every other NPC, in Bioware games at least. I'll have to see how Skyrim handles, because that PC is not voiced. I don't care to sit around and ponder the tone in which I want my character to deliver a line. It never once even crossed my mind that I needed to until someone decided to tell me that I was "playing the game wrong." Yeah, that kind of argument is not going to work for me.

It's not that you're playing the game wrong. It's that you prefer to have someone else control who and how your character is. It s a prefrence., not wrong or right. You like having someone tell a voice actor what tone to deliver the lines in and you prefer to pick from a choice of three and watch how that plays out.

I prefer to be the director and the VA. I prefer to be in control, not sit and watch someone else control the avatar. The mute doesn't bother me because the avatar is just the skin I get to walk around the world in and interact with it and the people there. I provide the tone, the thoughts, and the voice, and I am the actor, not the audience. It is a preference, neither right or wrong either.

My problem is when other character actually have a voice that they answer the PC with. More often than not my intended tone and intent does not match their response and I'm pulled out of the game and need to reload. I'm generally curious as to how you deal with that? Acting out the tone and voice when the other characters around have voices and set responses, that is.  

It doesn't bother me. I haven't either run into that problem or it's so infrequent I never notice it. And I am playing DAO right now, alll origins, have yet to run into it. Maybe I'm playing the game wrong, myself. But when I pick "Hey I'm a mage," and my Hawke says some lame thing like "All mages aren't bad."  I do notice.

And that is just one example of many where what I picked and what my Hawke said was so wimpy, or so douchey and unexpected that it pulled me out of the game. I noticed it a lot more in DA2 than I noticed a problem with my choice and NPC response in DAO. Probably because the writers wrote the lines in such a way they still went with the NPC response. As a writer on a mod, my NPC's response and what I am writing for the Warden, go together no matter what tone I intend. And even then, I know that the player is going to read a different tone than what I meant it to be. And that's just fine with me.

YES I too wish that they gave us more of a "heads up" as to what the crap is going to pop out of Hawke's mouth.  There were a couple of times that I picked something and when she delivered her "line" I was like  ...totally not what I intended. But, I think that is more a problem with the whole conversation wheel as opposed to the actual voice acting.

[Sutekh]

erynnar wrote...

It's not that you're playing the game wrong. It's that you prefer to have someone else control who and how your character is. It s a prefrence., not wrong or right. You like having someone tell a voice actor what tone to deliver the lines in and you prefer to pick from a choice of three and watch how that plays out.

Hai thar, ery!

Not in my case. That's not why I prefer Voiced. I do because Silent breaks my immersion badly from time to time, for the reasons I've already given at the start of the thread. And to be clear, in the case of DA2 I was lucky enough to be mostly in synch with the way the lines were delivered (male VA angry / sarcastic, haven't tried the fem one). When I'm not, I ignore the tone and supply my own instead. I know it might look weird, but that's what I do. But the BIG difference with Silent in that case is that the PC isn't a singled-out mute among talking people (among other things).

I prefer to be the director and the VA. I prefer to be in control, not sit and watch someone else control the avatar. The mute doesn't bother me because the avatar is just the skin I get to walk around the world in and interact with it and the people there. I provide the tone, the thoughts, and the voice, and I am the actor, not the audience. It is a preference, neither right or wrong either.

First of, I don't feel Voiced means someone else is controling my avatar. I still get to decide what he does, which decisions he takes, whom he loves, hates, share ideal with, is a rival of, etc... VA is just a very tiny thing in that regard.

As for the bolded part, I do too. Thoughts and voice aren't a problem (I provide the thoughts for Hawke too, btw), but tone sometimes is way off what the writers intended it to be, and then I'm in for one of those WTF? moments I'm not that fond of and that breaks immersion right there.

Example: There's one dialog with Morrigan where you discuss her chilhood, and she tells you how Flemeth used to go after Templars. One of your possible lines is something like "I feel sorry for those Templars". In my head, each time I see it, I read it as sarcastic. And each time I chose it, Morrigan reacted as though I was being dead serious and bam! -3 approval. And reload. Needless to say, I don't choose it anymore, which is a pity, because that's exactly what some of my Wardens would say, in a sarcastic way.

This is just an example. There's a lot of such moments in DAO, and in other games as well. What it means is you're not really free to choose the tone, even with Silent, because the writers have already chosen it for you most of the times. The only difference is you don't hear it, and might be at a loss re: some NPC's reactions.

(And yes, I realize the paraphrase system may lead to the exact same problem, but that's another story altogether)