257 réponses à ce sujet

[Fast Jimmy]

Right, but you picked an example where it's possible to imagine all those responses because it's non-interactive.

Any reaction from the companion in an interactive discussion must be neutral in order to fit all those possible imagined responses otherwise it breaks the character.

This basically limits the interaction with NPCs and would either make them neutral to your response (as your example) or contradict it by reacting to a canonical interpretation of your choice.

I remember asking Morrigan something about Flemeth in an entirely friendly tone and she construed it as condescending when the input didn't feel condescending at all. I instantly reloaded.

So you assumed your character said it wrong, instead of Morrigan not being overly prickly? Are you married? I say things to my wife nearly daily where my words and tone are meant to be joking and jovial but get interpreted as the wrong way and I'm sudden backpedaling to avoid further antagonizing.

Also I can apply the same imagination to this.

When talking to Solas:

You seem to know a great deal about it all -> Curious
You seem to know a great deal about it all -> Suspicious
You seem to know a great deal about it all -> Impressed

The voice of the VA fit all three descriptions when I played different inquisitors.

Yes, but you couldn't slip contempt in there - like your character thought Solas was a show-off for flaunting all of his Fade knowledge. Or sarcasm, as if your character felt he knew more qbout the Fade than Solas did, in a "oh yeah, Solas - you seem to know a GREAT DEAL about the Fade! <prfft>."

No voiced character will ever provide the range of options the silent protag will. You may have more ambiguous spoken lines that could be read a couple different ways, which is good. But it still narrows your tolerating options... not to mention you, as the player, don't know if a line will be delivered with ambiguity until after you choose it. After which, the character has already said it and your character can already have been broken.

The only way to create your own character is to have copious amounts of meta- and pre-game knowledge about how each response is delivered and what exact words are said. That's not the best format to play a game and it still leaves your options fairly limited.

[Sailfindragon]

Voiced. 

[Aaleel]

I prefer silent, if the voice acting is not up to par, or the voice just doesn't in any way fit the protagonist I created it just takes away from the game, and makes it harder to get into the character. 

 

I doubt we'll ever see a silent protagonist again because voiced, cinematic storytelling is all the rage for Bioware now.  But can we at least get rid of the god awful paraphrasing.  Some of the ones in DA:I weren't even close to what the Inquisitor actually said. 

[Forsythia77]

I much prefer my character to have her own voice.  Someone else up above said what I feel - you pick a response and the words that come out are different than what you are expecting.  I had a convo with Viv and the response on the wheel seemed much more agreeable, but when she said her response it was all "no, you're wrong!" which was not what I was expecting. 

 

I also feel like the budgets and production values for these games are so high that Bioware cannot not voice the character because people are expecting it from a top tier gaming studio.

[TevinterSupremacist]

The Inquisitor's dialogue is rather restrained and less caricature-ish than Hawke. I wouldn't equate it to a sitcom style of conversation

 

Also the sitcom style you're referring to can easily be applied to the Warden. Most of the Warden's jokes and jerk actions were outright insane.

We agree that Hawke was the worst, I don't doubt that.

As for comparing the Inquisitor and the Warden...meh...at least with the Warden you always knew what he/she was going to say, so you could avoid the sitcom if it wasn't your thing. With the inquisitor you don't have that option. On the whole I personally found the Quizzie had far more lolsofunnieh options than the Warden, but I don't suppose there's a point in making lists and comparing them all. It could be a difference in personal taste, but at least with the Warden you were 100% sure and could avoid the hilarity if you wanted to.

[Lebanese Dude]

So you assumed your character said it wrong, instead of Morrigan not being overly prickly? Are you married? I say things to my wife nearly daily where my words and tone are meant to be joking and jovial but get interpreted as the wrong way and I'm sudden backpedaling to avoid further antagonizing.
 

 

Well you can't backpedal in games when the conversation goes wrong. The only thing you can do is reload. 

So in either situation of voiced or non-voiced, character input can be misinterpreted and the reaction can contradict your intent. It's not unique to voiced characters. If you can "work with it' with a silent protagonist, why not with a voiced one?

 

 

Yes, but you couldn't slip contempt in there - like your character thought Solas was a show-off for flaunting all of his Fade knowledge. Or sarcasm, as if your character felt he knew more about the Fade than Solas did, in a "oh yeah, Solas - you seem to know a GREAT DEAL about the Fade! <prfft>."
 

 

Yes you can though, in the same manner that you slip contempt for non-voiced. You just imagine the contempt, much like you do for the non-voiced. I did so with the character I started who is a carbon-copy of Vivienne. "So you seem to know a great deal about it all*, while on the inside she was envious of his knowledge of the mark which is alien to her.

 

I'm not actually arguing that voiced characters have the same range of options as the silent one. Obviously a blank slate leaves more room for navigation. You're 100% correct in this.

 

I'm simply saying that the voiced protagonist isn't as detached and "impossible to work with" as some say, and to highlight that the silent protagonist has its own share of problems as well that can't be ignored.

 

I honestly hope that they work on the paraphrasing and such to make it at least enjoyable for those who vastly prefer silent protagonists such as yourself, as well as those who dislike breaking character (such as myself).

[xJLxKing]

As long as character is interesting. The inquisitor was a pretty boring character with very few scenarios where he wasn't.

[Fast Jimmy]

Well you can't backpedal in games when the conversation goes wrong. The only thing you can do is reload.

So in either situation of voiced or non-voiced, character input can be misinterpreted and the reaction can contradict your intent. It's not unique to voiced characters. If you can "work with it' with a silent protagonist, why not with a voiced one?

I'm going to conjure my inner-Sylvius... it doesn't matter what the NPCs reaction is. I can't control others reactions in RL, I can only control my own. When my own reactions are out of line with my character, my control and vision over that character is broken.

One situation involves other people (or NPCs) being crazy. One involves ME (or at least my character) being crazy. That's the difference - another NPC misinterpreting my intent as a player and my own character misinterpretting my intent as a player.

Yes you can though, in the same manner that you slip contempt for non-voiced. You just imagine the contempt, much like you do for the non-voiced. I did so with the character I started who is a carbon-copy of Vivienne. "So you seem to know a great deal about it all*, while on the inside she was envious of his knowledge of the mark which is alien to her.

I'm not actually arguing that voiced characters have the same range of options as the silent one. Obviously a blank slate leaves more room for navigation. You're 100% correct in this.

I'm simply saying that the voiced protagonist isn't as detached and "impossible to work with" as some say, and to highlight that the silent protagonist has its own share of problems as well that can't be ignored.

I honestly hope that they work on the paraphrasing and such to make it at least enjoyable for those who vastly prefer silent protagonists such as yourself, as well as those who dislike breaking character (such as myself).

I'd rather they didn't. I realize my expectations are too high and my demographic too small - I'd rather they just pursue a more set protagonist at this point. Just like I'd prefer if they pursued a more action-based combat system. Just like I'd prefer if exploration aspects were dialed back considerably. The end results don't match the high level set by other games on any front, so why not be the best at something rather than being a middle-of-the-road jack of all trades?

[Lebanese Dude]

 you were 100% sure and could avoid the hilarity if you wanted to.

 

Yeah but this often limited the options of the more sane Wardens

[themikefest]

I like for the next main character to have a voice

[ThreeF]

so why not be the best at something rather than being a middle-of-the-road jack of all trades?

Because it additionally attract the crowd that games with set protagonist don't.

 

I also don't mind that they go this route, this approach is very new and need more work, but it shouldn't be forfeit just because of that. It's good when gaming companies try to implement  new things, it should not be discouraged.

[robertmarilyn]

I liked both the male and female Hawke's voices and I like both British voices in DAI but I only play humans and I think the American voices work for the Dwarf and Quinari PCs. 

 

If I had to use either American VA for a human PC, I'd much rather have a voice-less PC. 

[Iakus]

Voiced and silent each have thier benefits.

 

Voiced characters makes the scene feel more immersive.

 

Silent allows for more RP possibilities,

[sjsharp2011]

What's funny to me is that Skyrim, one of the best selling RPGs of all time, has a silent protagonist. But the dialogue options in that game are, practically, non-existent. For the complete lack of lines, you'd think it would be Bethesda getting multiple voice actors for gender and race and Bioware leaving things unvoiced to allow the myriad of dialogue chocies to be easier to execute, but I suppose it is a matter of design choice.

Bioware wants to have scenes where the Inquistor can be moving and interacting like they are in a movie, not standing in front of someone choosing the occasional non-voiced line. Which is fine - but you can't make a good movie when the actors aren't established. It leaves too many unknowns and gaps in the process. Does Bioware want to give player freedom for role playing their own character? Or do they want to make their own well-crafted movie experience? It's a balancing act that is impossible to do both things exceptionally at the same time.

I agree that's why for me I think they try to do a mixture of both as I think a lot of people and I have to admit I'm probably one of them like a more cinematic experience but at the same time we want to put ourselves into that world. That is why they give us options in the character creation systems and a couple of voices to choose from for our character. The only way to truly completely solve this issue is to take the Star Trek r5oute and build ourselves holodecks and what have you. But seeing as that kind of tech isn't available right now we have to make do with what we've got. Bioware's solution right now is probably the closest we can come to achieving this right now.

[Lebanese Dude]

I'm going to conjure my inner-Sylvius... it doesn't matter what the NPCs reaction is. I can't control others reactions in RL, I can only control my own. When my own reactions are out of line with my character, my control and vision over that character is broken.

One situation involves other people (or NPCs) being crazy. One involves ME (or at least my character) being crazy. That's the difference - another NPC misinterpreting my intent as a player and my own character misinterpretting my intent as a player.

 

Hehe.

 

Fair enough. You put more priority on your character rather than on the interactions between your character and others. while I hold both to the same level of importance. 

 

 

why not be the best at something rather than being a middle-of-the-road jack of all trades?

 

 

Well they are the best at many things (at least in my opinion), particularly with companions and interactions with them. 

I know it's a bit of a rollercoaster ride since the three games are different, but I'm fairly confident that DA4 will break this trend. 
Whether or not certain people here like that DAI is the blueprint for future games in the series is another matter.

[Jason76]

Voiced.

 

Wish my warden in Dao would have had a voice too

[Lebanese Dude]

I like for the next main character to have a voice

 

How ecstatic were you when Alix was named the female British VA?

[SofaJockey]

Voiced.

 

I think we mostly all know that the silent protagonist ship has sailed...

[ThreeF]

You put more priority on your character rather than on the interactions between your character and others. while I hold both to the same level of importance. 

You pin pointed this very well, a voiced character to me at least feels much more part of the story, the unvoice often becomes the narrator, the story builder.

[themikefest]

How ecstatic were you when Alix was named the female British VA?

I was happy about it. Before she finished her first sentence I knew it was her in that video that introduced a few of the characters

[Medhia_Nox]

There's no point in arguing... it's going to be voiced.

 

But I would choose "No Voice" every time.

[Vegeta 77]

Always voiced. Not voiced is boring to me

[Lebanese Dude]

There's no point in arguing... it's going to be voiced.

 

 

Doesn't mean that people can't discuss the topic

[Giubba]

Doesn't mean that people can't discuss the topic

 

Every month ?

The pro-silent protagonist in their futile,useless,repetitive and BORING should stop to beat this dead horse they reduced it to a pulp.