24 réponses à ce sujet

[SerriceIceDandy]

I was thinking about how Bioware might implement a voice protagonist for the multiple race/gender options, without an extensive budget required for multiple actors. If we just assume that we'd have a choice from the council races, and those who have played a large part in the ME universe so far, most could share the same VA recordings. The Human, Asari (for female VA), (and if they're an option) and Quarians  could all eaisly share the same dialogue, with a few tweaks here and there to account for character specificion. Even the turians could have the same recordings engineered to give them that 'metallic' sound in their voice. The only ones that I think really go off tangent are the Salarians and Krogans, which of the main races, tend to speak at higher/lower registers respectively to the rest of the mainstream galactic society.

Now, I don't think this would be a problem, even if you had two characters who share the same dialogue, these two characters would never exist simultainously. However, I can see a few people complaining that it'll break their head-canon immersion blah blah blah. Would you happily accept this as an option, or would you happily have everyone talk to a mute for the sake of multiple play-throughs having more individuality?

[SNascimento]

Keep an eye on DA:I. Most likely, if there are multiple races in ME'4' (which I don't want), it will be done in a similar fashion. 

[DextroDNA]

Keep an eye on DA:I. Most likely, if there are multiple races in ME'4' (which I don't want), it will be done in a similar fashion. 

Why wouldn't you want multiple races? Seriously, that's stupid. You get to choose what race you want to play as - what could possibly be bad about that?

[KevinT18]

Resources dude. Imagine a movie that has to be filmed 3 times because they had the leading male, female played by 3 different people...

[SwobyJ]

SO FAR, I don't go on the side of predicting that the next game will have multiple species selection in the single player campaign. It's a personal view, even though I do want it to be otherwise (omg I want to be geth or drell).

 

However, I think it's an inevitability. It will have to be done, to keep interest in the series high. So yeah, I'd keep a close eye on what Inquisition does. It's only a few more months left .

 

My personal prediction for ME:Next is that we'll have more variety in what the PC *IS*, as in his identity and maybe his general makeup, but not really his species. However, I'd love to see co-op expand to be more story-ish and even have mini story campaigns with story sections and multiple-species voice actors, to train up Bioware for their fully multi-species game

[Rahmiel]

Personally, I would not like multiple species for character selection simply because it will be resource intensive.  Plus, if you have humans, asari, and turians as choices you'll hear complaints about lack of salarians, quarians, drell, geth, yahg, etc.  But I've heard they do intend on making the PC multi-species so.. meh.  I also think it'll take away from the story a bit.  With ME, you were human and experienced the universe and a focused story which was awesome.  Not to mention, it makes the VO work easier.  If we rely on technology to alter the same work to character that character.. possibly it won't come out as well.  That said, BW does some amazing things so maybe they have it worked out.

 

To help get around this though, is have your friend play as a species they want in your game.  I loved the multiplayer for me3 a lot but I would also love to see it expanded in some way.  And not towards pvp, although I could see there being pvp.

 

Now, not related to N:ME but something I would love to see in a mass effect universe (besides other genres of games and possibly a space combat game) is a game similar to guild wars (but not mmo-ish).  But have a "vestibule" area where players can talk about the game as their character and form groups to take on certain challenges within the game.  Or play certain missions/sections.  And instead of getting "better gear" as in statistics, you could get different cosmetic options for your guns/armor etc.

 

But I think an over-glorified chatroom where you can see players would be awesome.

[Karlone123]

I am not really for race selection being in ME4 single-player mode, I am for it in DAI but not ME4. In this case I would prefer resources to be commited to a human character despite many of the forum users' protest to it.

[Han Shot First]

The new Dragon Age game supposedly has two voice actor options for each gender, and you can select which voice you want during character creation. That is four voice actors in total for the main character. 

 

Assuming DA:I pulls it off, why not Mass Effect?

 

You could have four playable races at start up with four voice actors. Lets say that in addition to humans there are three playable alien races: Turian, Asari, and Quarian. You could have one actor voicing both the male human and the male Quarian, another actor voicing the human female, the Quarian female, and the Asari, and one voice actor each for the male Turian and female Turian.

[DextroDNA]

If the game is going to be next-gen then adding a couple of extra races and extra dialogue shouldn't be too much of an issue, and it's not as if PCs can't handle it.

 

As for resources... if they're just going to be adding filters of the voice actors voices to make them sound different, it's not exactly going to cost a fortune is it? And it's not hard to say a few extra lines if you're in a situation where your race would affect what you say.

[KevinT18]

Its not just the voice actor's salary, or the physical reasources the systems require though. mp3 files are mp3 files, that's definitely not the issue. Paying another VO actor to read a dozen hours of lines is a minimal consideration in a massive AAA big budget game like this.

 

The problem is spreading the narrative too thin.

 

To have a story where there are so many variables, AND the story, characters, and universe have to react differently to even the most elemental thing - your origins - consistently and believably causes one of two things for the narrative: Either it's properly done and believable, and the game varies greatly based on your choice, or, like in ME1-3 (war hero, earthborn and colonist) which in my opinion I felt the background story had little to no effect on the overall story or experience in the games. And that is just origins. Imagine different races? Spreading the narrative too thin - it's too likely.

 

I'd rather have a human that is more moldable that we can identify with than multiple races which are less developed because they have to bow to the needs of the overall narrative or time constraints/writing parameters (that make a good cohesive story).

 

In fact, I'd rather have just one race, regardless of whether it's human or not, as it will result in that exactly - a cohesive story.

 

That's what I mean by resources really - not so much the GPU, CPU, RAM etc.

[Cainhurst Crow]

Why are people assuming race selection will be a thing? Was there a developer statement saying it would be a thing? And even if that was the case, what would stop them from using the same voice for everyone in the game, one for males and one for females? You can be multiple races, or even cybernetic, in swtor and you still sound and speak exactly the same. What's stopping them from goin that route, if at all?

 

And why, if they would go with multiple races, would they consider not just having the core galactic council races, IE Human, Turian, Asari, and Salarian? People keep throwing out drell and quanrian as if it's just the thing that will happen, ignoring that those two races can easily have been completely eradicated with choices in mass effect 3, through either siding with the geth or failing to save kahje. Why would they make either quarians or drell the playable races over turians, or salarians?

[CannotCompute]

The new Dragon Age game supposedly has two voice actor options for each gender, and you can select which voice you want during character creation. That is four voice actors in total for the main character. 

 

Assuming DA:I pulls it off, why not Mass Effect?

 

You could have four playable races at start up with four voice actors. Lets say that in addition to humans there are three playable alien races: Turian, Asari, and Quarian. You could have one actor voicing both the male human and the male Quarian, another actor voicing the human female, the Quarian female, and the Asari, and one voice actor each for the male Turian and female Turian.

 

Human, Quarian and Turian voices can be done by the same actors by applying voice effects (do a search on Youtube to see how fairly easy it is). The Human female voice can be re-used for Asari characters. Salarian and Krogan might be a bit harder to pull off using effects, but also do-able (pitch, tone and tempo adjustments).

 

So indeed, BioWare doesn't necessarily have to hire 6-12 voices actors to pull it off, 2-4 could also do the trick.

[Han Shot First]

Why are people assuming race selection will be a thing? Was there a developer statement saying it would be a thing? 

 

 

Speculation based on a rumored fan panel at Pax, where the fans were presented with all the main Mass Effect races and asked which two they would eliminate if they had to. People are speculating that the question was linked to a decision to have multiple playable races. Of course a heavy dose of salt is needed. Nothing official has been confirmed, but with the lack of any concrete details on the game, all there is to discuss are the rumors.

 

And why, if they would go with multiple races, would they consider not just having the core galactic council races, IE Human, Turian, Asari, and Salarian? People keep throwing out drell and quanrian as if it's just the thing that will happen, ignoring that those two races can easily have been completely eradicated with choices in mass effect 3, through either siding with the geth or failing to save kahje. Why would they make either quarians or drell the playable races over turians, or salarians?

 

If there were playable races I would expect the Quarians to be an option before the Salarians, just because they are a fan favorite. The most popular races in the series are the Turians, the Asari, and the Quarians. Because of that I think they are the safest bet.

 

As for a player choosing the Geth, they could aways have the Quarians not be playable for that player. Or alternatively they can have the species survive defeat at Rannoch, though severely depleted in numbers. We also don't yet whether the next game is going to be a sequel, prequel, or start during the Reaper War. Depending on where it is set on the timeline they may not even have to account for the player's decision at Rannoch. 

[Handmaiden]

I'm hoping for Asari (especially Ardat-Yakshi ), so I'm glad they're looking likely to be playable if there are playable aliens. And I want playable Krogan (my brother wants to play as a Krogan and I love Krogan too.) so I would be extremely disappointed if Krogan wouldn't be playable, they're definitely one of the more interesting aliens in my opinion. And I really want playable aliens altogether, I would be very disappointed if I have to play as a Human again. It will feel boring and I don't like playing as humans in RPGs.

 

The reason I'm expecting playable aliens in the next ME is because BioWare tweeted asking what players wanted to see in the next ME, and later they posted a follow-up tweet saying something like "Thanks for all of your feedback, playable aliens seems to be a popular suggestion!", and I don't think they would comment on it if they didn't at least consider it to a moderate degree.

 

But on topic, in a perfect world each race/gender combo would get it's own voice actor and full dialogue and it would be awesome, but since that would cost extra money and time I could see them doing something like the poster above me said (re-using the same voice actors as much as possible, and maybe even using voice modifiers).

[SwobyJ]

I see playable aliens in some capacity as likely, Handmaiden.

 

What I doubt is seeing them as fully fledged SP protagonist options. Not forever, but maybe at least in this next game.

 

More likely to me:

1)More involvement of MP concepts in the story somehow. Whether an optional integration into the party in SP campaign (think Dead Space 3 with Carver alongside Issac with some exclusive viewpoints of the world), or more story (voiced) aspects in MP instead of just smallish horde mode arenas.

2)We get to temporarily control various alien characters in the storyline, for various reasons (for tiny example, think of the mech in Arrival DLC in ME2).

3)We get more 'DA' style combat, where we can switch which character we want to control on the fly. Some may balk at this, but it was actually in the older gameplay trailers for ME1!

 

Obviously, none of these would likely make you happy (except maybe a version of #1), but it could be a stepping stone towards a more varied protag option in 'ME5'.

 

Or I could be wrong, and none of these things happen and we instead get full species section options or nothing at all.

[KaiserShep]

If there were playable races I would expect the Quarians to be an option before the Salarians, just because they are a fan favorite. The most popular races in the series are the Turians, the Asari, and the Quarians. Because of that I think they are the safest bet.

 

I agree with this.

[SwobyJ]

Assuming they don't merge/alter/explain/ignore player canon, that isn't likely.

 

Many more people picked Geth than Quarians. Even with Tali involved.

 

Personally though, I think they'd have an explanation...

[Etocis]

If you checked the codex entry after Rannoch, it says that a handful of ships escaped but their species days were truly numbered.

[PCThug]

Of course multiple race options would be awesome, especially since none of us are the ones crafting that narrative. No matter what the story in ME4 is, there has to be a reason for why the protagonist is there and apart of it. So you'd have to develop a scenario in which a human/asari/quarian/turian/salarian/etc are acting in an interchangable role. Not impossible, but certainly easier when you stick to one race. And then there are the many variables throughout the game that could turn it into a logistical nightmare. 

 

I wouldn't mind playing as a human again or if they chose a single, different race. Which I guess rules out the asari given how many male players would complain about having to play as a woman.

[SwobyJ]

I would absolutely play as an asari.

 

But as an alt. A significant alt, but an alt PC nonetheless.

[Dark Eff3ct]

If they do give players an option to choose race, they should do what DA:I is doing and pick 4 races. Like the 4 council races, then just have a choice to pick between two voice actors for each gender. Sure people are going to complain about not being able to play quarian, drell, krogan, and such but with limited resources and such, the four council races would be a great start with maybe other races coming in expasions/ add ons.

[Das Rouse]

Dude, didn't you hear? Nolan North is doing the voice acting.

[kyban]

Why wouldn't you want multiple races? Seriously, that's stupid. You get to choose what race you want to play as - what could possibly be bad about that?

When it comes to the main character being an alien, I'm more in the boat of "I'd rather not see it." That being said, if anyone can sell me on the idea it's Bioware. 

One of the easier tools a storyteller can use in order to make the main protagonist likeable, is by making him/her relatable to the audience. The easiest way to do that is make him/her human. 
In most classic stories the audience is able to identify with a protagonist early on. An example I like to use is the movie Star Wars: A New Hope. Early in the film we see Luke's position and we get a glimpse of his dreams right before he gets the call to adventure. Once the audience is comfortable with Luke, we start the adventure. 

I'm not saying it can't be done with a non human, I'm just saying it's easier. Plus, sometimes i like to pretend that I'm Commander Shepard when playing  . 

This also doesn't mean that another human lead character is Shepard 2.0. Just look at all of those other Star Wars games, TV shows, and novels. Are they all about Luke Skywalker? 

​Plus, in my opinion, from a writing perspective it's easier to write for one character, or in this case Race. Bioware would be able to focus more of their energy that way and not spread it across multiple races. What I mean by that is: writing broad dialogue to encompass multiple races could diminish the narrative.
I see people argue that you could use an effect over the voice to change it, but that just seems hacky to me and you still have the issue of not being specific. By specific i mean dialogue with lines like "I grew up on Earth." or "We humans stick together!" those are simple examples but with a team like Bioware they can really run with those concepts; hopefully you get what i mean. 


In summation: I'm not entirely sold on having an alien protagonist, i think a human would better sell the story because more races=broad dialogue and generalizing, but one race=more specific. 

[Sequin]

I feel like multiple aliens being options for the protagonist would help this game. It is hard for some people to move on from Shepard, I'm sure, and this would be a perfect way to help ease that transition.

But if it truly would be too much for Bioware to handle and still deliver an exceptional story (which I don't believe for a second, BTW), then perhaps it is for the best that they make Asari the only playable species. Humans can return for a later game.

[Han Shot First]

If Bioware ever has playable aliens in a single player Mass Effect game, it will almost certainly just be an option, and humans will still be playable. In fact human will probably always be the default.