209 réponses à ce sujet

[daveliam]

You know, I think I've done a 180 on this one.  When they announced that Hawke was going to be voiced, I had major issues with it.  I loved my silent protagonist in DA:O.  I was afraid that the series was going to borrow too much from ME and become unrecognizable from the "Baldur's Gate successor" image that it was going for.  However, I recently went back to replay DA: O and it actually took me out of the game a little when my protagonist wasn't voiced.  Now, I think about what Inquisition would be like without a voiced protagonist and I'm not sure if I like it.  I like that my Inquisitor is a very clearly defined, fully voiced character.  It takes it one step away from first-person insert playing as it forces you to see him/her as a character that someone else created, but I like it.  Of course, that worked against me in DA2 because I hate Hawke. 

[BuddyL0ve]

The only thing I loathe about the voiced protagonist is the blasted Wheel of Ambiguity. Inquisition has been a bit better about it than say DA2 or the Mass Effect series, in that what you pick to say is fairly close to what you say. ME and DA2 was notorious for, say, picking what seems like a funny, snarky response on the WoA, and hearing a completely opposite-in-tone arsehole response. With the mute protagonist, what you picked you is what you said. Honestly, just give us that! What you pick is what your character says.

[Jazinto]

I don't mind a voiced protagonist, but either it's a fixed character or it's my custom character. Don't give my custom character auto-dialogue, give me options.

[Pasquale1234]

I think a lot of the problem people had with the unvoiced Warden was due to the camera view presented during dialogue. I've seen quite a few people complain about the stony-faced, unexpressive Warden, but I personally never had an issue with that because I was not looking at the Warden during those dialogues - I was looking at the character to whom the Warden was speaking. More use of first-person camera might go a long way toward resolving that particular problem.

I've only recently started playing ME, and went into it with no expectation that Shepard would ever be my character. I'm enjoying it, but will never be as attached to Shepard as I am to unvoiced PCs. I'm directing Shepard through an interactive story, not really role-playing her. I've noticed that a lot of the dialogue options I'm presented are really just there to make players think they are directing the character. She says the same thing regardless of which one I choose.

Hawke was... dreadfully inconsistent, even schizo at times. The actual content of the dialogue was directly tied to temperament (personality?), making it difficult to, for example, turn someone down diplomatically. "No" was often associated with an assertive / aggressive delivery / personality, which gave the character a passive-aggressive personality at times. Despite multiple attempts, I don't think I ever really did get a grip on who the character was - her values, motives, etc. were always a complete mystery to me. Every time I tried to assert some for her, she would invariably do or say something that would directly conflict with whatever I had determined her internal mental and emotional state to be. I never really knew what she was going to say or do until she said or did it.

I have several Wardens with vastly different personalities, motives, values, and world views. I am deeply invested in these characters - I co-created them, and enjoyed a lot of emergent narrative in the process. I knew exactly what they were thinking and feeling every step of the way. It is impossible to do that when every last nuance of a character's behavior has already been fully voiced and animated. DAO's story line is not the be-all end-all of the game - it serves only as a backdrop, a stage upon which the player can fully express the Warden.

It's interesting - I've seen some complaints about the fact that some of the Inquisitor's dialogue is not fully staged and cinematic. I'm not sure whether they did that to cut down on cutscenes or if they were throwing a bone to those of us who want the story to play out in a more natural, organic way instead of everything being so theatrical.

In any case, the voiced PC is one of the reasons why DAI is on my "maybe, when I get around to it" list instead of a must-have-right-now.

[Marine0351WPNS]

Eh, I could never get behind a silent protagonist when everyone else was voiced. I hardly remember any of my Warden's dialogue and I couldn't give a flying nugfugget whether they kill the Warden off or not because I just don't care about him.

Shepard, Hawke or the Inquisitor on the other hand... there would be riots if they hurt Hawke and I still can't think about Shepard without being plagued by a deep, gnawing sadness. Yes, they were slightly less my characters, but it was worth it for how much more real and relateable they became.

be careful what you choose during into the Abyss.....

[Pasquale1234]

Tone and emphasis change the way something is written to give it new nuance when spoken aloud, so something intended one way was supposed to be taken another, regardless of what the player thinks the writer originally intended.  Companions will respond appropriately.  They get awkward expressions, or respond negatively (or positively) to what's said, even if the player ignores what happened, it doesn't change it, no matter what you head canon the response was.

Those sorts of disconnects can be easily solved by providing the player with tone / intent information rather than just exact words of dialogue.

[Kel Eligor]

Voiced protagonist any day. I have 0 connection to the Warden, or what their personality is beyond "Goodie-two-shoe" or "Power-hungry ass". There is no depth to their character, or motivations outside of the race origin story or the main quest; the rest is left to the infinite power of imagination. While that may satisfy the hardcore brand of pen & paper RPG enthusiasts, I prefer a strong narrative over that any day. The fact that people praise Origin's story over the other two games and consider it better has me seriously question what people consider to be quality story-telling. 

[Rawgrim]

I lost all connection to my inquisitor when he started to giggle like a schoolgirl while talking to Cassandra. The dialogue option didn't mention that bit.

[herkles]

Play on mute?

[robertthebard]

Those sorts of disconnects can be easily solved by providing the player with tone / intent information rather than just exact words of dialogue.

What about the blow ups on the Origins forums, back in the day concerning a two word reply that had the exact opposite effect of what the players thought it was going to have? You see, it's all good to claim that no voice means there's no misunderstandings, but since the responses are scripted according to the writer's intent, all of the stuff you list as having aversions to in a voiced protag are possible, and have even happened, with a silent one.

BTW, camera angles, never really made me forget the feeling of people talking at my Warden, instead of to my Warden.

[Aesir26]

Honestly, I'm glad to see the mute protagonist gone. Sure, they had more choices applied to them since their speech was strictly text-based but, for me, the way they just stood there with a usually dead-eyed expression on their face made them more of a prop or plot device than actual character.

 

I know this probably puts me in the minority but I care far more for Hawke and the Inquisitor than I ever did for my Warden.

[Zoralink]

I quit the game 90 seconds in. I went with the stay silent option, my inner child squealing with glee. I would finally be able to play the mute Qunari i had always envisioned. She was abused as a child and had run away from home. Raised by bandits she had had a smart mouth, so they cut out her tongue.

I was surprised to hear her speak mere moments after choosing stay silent, and i still havent worked out a plausible reason how she healed. Perhaps the divine did it when she booted her out of the breech.

Anyway ive been so distraught i havent played further.

 

You seriously thought they were going to let you be silent for every single dialogue choice? I really, really hope this is a troll post and I'm taking the bait.

[Zaw]

No thanks

Don't get me wrong.. I absolutely loved KOTOR.  One of my all time favorite games.. but going back now and playing those older Bioware games, it's painful to see a mute protagonist just nodding their head 17,212 times during the game.  It's one of the reasons I have no desire to sit through DAO again. I'm fairly certain the vast majority of gamers and movie-goers want full character interaction in a game with movie-style cutscenes.

The [protagonist] characters in most Bioware games aren't the same as some other RPG games either. They are established characters that are part of the story. They aren't you.  They were never intended to be. It would be like watching Star Wars, and pretending you're Luke Skywalker, and reading his lines of text while every other character can talk. You guide the actions of the character, but in the end, it's a character just like any other in the story.

I can respect all the people who adored DAO.. but there's just some game/story mechanics that needed to evolve.

[Frybread76]

As do I, but we seem to be in the minority.  I prefer a silent protagonist with lots of dialogue options than a voiced protagonist with fewer.

[Thrazesul]

I have to say I don't agree. I can't stand silent protagonists anywmore. Can't help but wonder if this is one of the reasons I don't even remember my warden and care a lot more for Hawke and the Inquisitor. Though they have to make sure the voice actors are good at it when they do it like this and there's one of the Inquisitor's voices I hate and abandoned a character for even.

[fabio012]

The way you said it wasn't like oohhh Immersion, it was more like I'm a master Mage in my local LARP association.

So if someone enjoys larping you think thats something they should be ashamed of I guess?

[fabio012]

There is no need to discuss this because there is already a correct answer. Trey Parker the co creator of South Park likes silent PCs and hates voiced ones because they are immersion breaking or how he puts it "I dont sound like that".

[robertthebard]

There is no need to discuss this because there is already a correct answer. Trey Parker the co creator of South Park likes silent PCs and hates voiced ones because they are immersion breaking or how he puts it "I dont sound like that".

Your point is invalid, because nobody knows what he really sounds like anyway, including him.

/hide

[iCooper]

I lost all connection to my inquisitor when he started to giggle like a schoolgirl while talking to Cassandra. The dialogue option didn't mention that bit.

Were you using the British voice? He does a little giggle during one of the Dorian romance scenes. It was kind of precious, actually.

[Corto81]

I prefer the silent protagonist.

 

And FWIW, I really did NOT like the two voice options in DA:I.

 

One was an english gentleman, the other Batman.

Neither sounded remotely close to  what I imagine my dude sounds like.

 

...

 

Not only that, but there were times I cringed at the tone and the way they said certain stuff.

[dreamgazer]

I don't, but we're working with solid VA work, so that factors into things.

[Morroian]

So yes while all the voice acting for te Inquisitor was very well done. I still hate it and hate that Bioware feels there is no market for it anymore even though the last game they did with a silent protaganist sold better then all the ones with voiced...

 

Pretty sure this is not true with ME2 and ME3 sales.

[No-one...\o/]

I much prefere the voiced character. It's part of why I loved Hawke more than my Warden. And my Inquisitor now, too. Yes, it takes away a little freedom of interpretation, but I personally enjoy the little touch it gives to the character I imagined. It's as if they "grow" a little on their own. And it gives the Character something to do - he is involved in a conversation and you sort of "see" more of him. The Warden was always standing there with a blank expression, turning his head.

 

It boils down to preference, for sure, just... I'm more in the "keep it voice acted" camp

 

I also like both voices for the (male) Inquisitor. The deep voice imo sounds a little different than the samples they chose, at least if you play him as a nice guy, he's not so gruff than, which fits my warrior perfectly, so yeah