130 réponses à ce sujet

[batlin]

Dragon Age Origins? Silent protagonist, great story.

Dragon Age II? Voiced protagonist, mediocre story.

Discuss.

[BanksHector]

I really enjoyed DAO but I do not see what was so great about the story.

[batlin]

BanksHector wrote...

I really enjoyed DAO but I do not see what was so great about the story.

It was epic in scale, you explored widely different areas each with their own history and culture, and your enemy and goal were made clear from the beginning which lends a great deal of weight to the climax of the game.

DA2 on the other hand is just three mini-plots that have little to nothing to do with one another.

[Dejajeva]

And I don't understand why some of you guys keep trying to beat us over the dead with this vo/sp debate. The voice actor is probably already hired!

[Wolven_Soul]

I think both have merit. 

The only downside I honestly see to a voiced protaganist is that it limits your customization of the character, most specefically race.

But story telling wise, either way can work.

[BanksHector]

EternalAmbiguity wrote...
However, I do agree about the voiced protagonist thing. This was implemented very poorly in DAII, with the dialog wheel often not really containing three different things to say, but three different ways to say one thing, which is a horrible cut to role-play. After all, you're being railroaded into one response, just with different ways for that response..

What is so different about that then in DAO? That is same way it seemed in DAO just that you got to see exactly what each line said, and I think DA2 implemented it in a very good way.

[TheShadowWolf911]

paraphrased dialogue options are highly misleading (i stated this in another thread, but heres my example again. In SWTOR, my Sith Pureblood, who i made light side, is in dialogue, he is asked to defeat some people, i click a dialogue option that was roughly paraphrased to "ok", when i selected that he said something around the lines of "IMA EAT THEIR HEARTS" this was out of character for my light side sith broke the immersion for me.) and can break immersion sometimes.

[Scarlet Rabbi]

Creating a voiced protaginist dips into the game's budget a lot more then making a silent one does, and it feels less personal to me. A lose-lose situation. All the funding that went to the voice actor could have been better spent on creating complex enviorments, adding more depth to the story, and/or fixing import bugs.

Dragon Age games don't have the biggest budget, and it seems shallow, to me, to shell out funds to a voice actor when we've all seen first hand how fantastic a DA game can be without one.

[Tommyspa]

The voiced protagonist is how Dragon Age is moving forward. It's about time to get over asking for silent and work on making voiced work better for you.

[Sutekh]

batlin wrote...

Dragon Age Origins? Silent protagonist, great story.

Dragon Age II? Voiced protagonist, mediocre story.

Discuss.

Not even discussing the respective quality of the stories (but, please, don't mix up story and execution, because DA2 story, I liked), what does it have to do with the Voiced or Silent PC?

[TEWR]

batlin wrote...

Dragon Age Origins? Silent protagonist, great story.

Dragon Age II? Voiced protagonist, mediocre story.

Discuss.

While DAII definitely had a mediocre story, I don't think that the voiced protagonist is the problem. Or at least, not the main problem.

Now don't get me wrong, I approve of the voiced protagonist. I find that it enhances my roleplaying, or it at least should. DAII didn't make the best case for me to feel confident on that stance for Bioware games, but I still maintain that it can do so if the game -- and the voiced protagonist -- are done well. DAII simply wasn't, and so I'm not confident that Bioware can do it.

I do, however, think that it can be done. But Bioware hasn't made the best case for me to think that they can do it. I do think that Bioware's implementation of the voiced protagonist killed us being able to make Hawke our own. From the dominant personality system to the dialogue wheel to a lot of things.

So while I don't think that the voiced protagonist is the cause of DAII's weak storytelling -- I blame the rushed dev cycle on that one -- I do find that it didn't help to strengthen it either. Maybe even exacerbated the weak storytelling, but it wasn't the cause of it.

If that makes sense.

Basically, it's a solid concept from my point of view but it needs a lot of work to actually mesh well with the series.

And there's not really much point in discussing voiced vs. silent, since voiced is what Bioware is sticking with (thankfully).

Modifié par The Ethereal Writer Redux, 26 mars 2012 - 05:12 .

[TheShadowWolf911]

as much as i didn't like DA2, i do agree its not because the main character was voiced, many other things had to with why DA:O was better.

Voice Acting was not one of them.

[BanksHector]

EternalAmbiguity wrote...

BanksHector wrote...

What is so different about that then in DAO? That is same way it seemed in DAO just that you got to see exactly what each line said, and I think DA2 implemented it in a very good way.

DA:O was saying several different things. Not really so with DAII.

Kind of like ME1, if you've played it. A lot of the different dialog options said exactly the same thing.

I guess you just see it different then I did. A lot of times in DA:O it felt they all was basically the same thing but just a different tone. Since it was silent, you got to see the whole line, but it just felt like 1.polite 2. joking and 3. jerk so I did not feel like it was that big of a jump to VP.(Now DAO did give a lot more investigate options and things like that, but I not counting those in what I am talking about now)

Modifié par BanksHector, 26 mars 2012 - 05:23 .

[Adanu]

We should rename this thread to 'batlin throws a tantrum because he/she can't appreciate voice'.

As it is, I preferred DA2 story over DA:O. The execution is what needed work is all.

[Morroian]

EternalAmbiguity wrote...

However, I do agree about the voiced protagonist thing. This was implemented very poorly in DAII, with the dialog wheel often not really containing three different things to say, but three different ways to say one thing, which is a horrible cut to role-play. After all, you're being railroaded into one response, just with different ways for that response.

I strongly disagree with that. I've got Hawkes with all 3 default personalities and in most cases I find the dialogue and the way its delivered to be quite different, certainly from a role playing point of view, and the responses from others can vary quite a bit as well.

Modifié par Morroian, 26 mars 2012 - 05:28 .

[Dave of Canada]

Apples and oranges, voice acting does not change the quality of a game's story. DA2 needed more work, period. No voice acting wouldn't have changed that, probably would've made it worse.

Modifié par Dave of Canada, 26 mars 2012 - 05:43 .

[Maria Caliban]

batlin wrote...

Is there any clearer evidence than the Dragon Age series that voiced protagonists do NOT necessarily make for better storytelling?

batlin wrote...

Dragon Age Origins? Silent protagonist, great story.

Dragon Age II? Voiced protagonist, mediocre story.

Discuss.

That's poor evidence as storytelling and story aren't the same thing.

Storytelling is to story what setting, decor, and waitstaff are to a meal in a restaurant. The plot and characters would be the food itself.

Modifié par Maria Caliban, 26 mars 2012 - 06:04 .

[Rorschachinstein]

Voiced protagonist makes the game casually friendly.

[Xerxes52]

Dave of Canada wrote...

Apples and oranges, voice acting does not change the quality of a game's story. DA2 needed more work, period. No voice acting wouldn't have changed that, probably would've made it worse.

Agreed. And I liked the voiced protag in DA2, I just hope they don't go (almost) full auto-dialog like ME3 in the next game.

[Plaintiff]

Rorschachinstein wrote...

Voiced protagonist makes the game casually friendly.

I know, right? Just look at all the 'casual' games that make extensive use of voice acting. Like... Bejeweled... and... Plants vs Zombies.

[Rorschachinstein]

Plaintiff wrote...

Rorschachinstein wrote...

Voiced protagonist makes the game casually friendly.

I know, right? Just look at all the 'casual' games that make extensive use of voice acting. Like... Bejeweled... and... Plants vs Zombies.

Yeah, cause unvoiced games like Call of Duty and Uncharted are played by nobody.

[Tommyspa]

Rorschachinstein wrote...

Plaintiff wrote...

Rorschachinstein wrote...

Voiced protagonist makes the game casually friendly.

I know, right? Just look at all the 'casual' games that make extensive use of voice acting. Like... Bejeweled... and... Plants vs Zombies.

Yeah, cause unvoiced games like Call of Duty and Uncharted are played by nobody.

Those are not "casual" games.