28 réponses à ce sujet

[Dai Grepher]

First, this isn't another "bring back the Hero" thread. While I believe the Hero should be brought back and that there are many reasons why BioWare is downright obligated to, this is not the focus of this thread.

 

Rather I just want to discuss one of the problems that a returning Hero would face, that being the issue of voice acting.

 

If you're like me, then you have beaten Inquisition and have already used the custom character creator to remake your Hero of Ferelden. You may have even started playing the game with that character.

 

Well, I did this and I have to say, with the exception of a few minor differences, the Inquisition version of my Hero is pretty spot on in the looks department. So this is no problem. Some tweeking/additions + Black Emporium Mirror would make this perfect. While playing I came to two interesting conclusions.

 

The difference I truly noticed, leading to my first conclusion, was that even though my Hero and Inquisitor have the same British accent, their voices are not close enough for a satisfactory playthrough, which is why I will probably not carry this character through to the end of the game. My Hero has the Wise Human voice, my Inquisitor the British Male voice.

 

So, since the voice was just too distracting I began muting the TV (playing on a 4K) whenever the character had spoken lines. I also turned on subtitles, obviously. And this led to my second conclusion.

 

I would have absolutely no problem with the Hero of Ferelden returning with no voice actor and the dialogue lines being unvoiced.

 

Now, the Hero could still have all the shouts and action responses present in Origins, but as far as complete lines, the Hero needs no voice.

 

If BioWare can find a way to bring back all the original voices and make dialogue out of them, then they should. But I'm just saying, I'd be fine with a silent Hero again.

 

Of course, there are ways to do this, to voice the Heroes in their original voices (even Robin Sachs to an extent), but this topic isn't about how to voice the Hero. This topic is just to get thoughts, opinions, and suggestions about the idea of the Hero returning without voiced dialogue lines.

 

And to those who would condemn this idea without a second though, I highly recommend that you recreate your Hero using the Inquisition character creator and play as that character. Mute your audio or skip the lines that are voiced by the character. Experience this for yourself before you pass judgment. I didn't think it would work, but surprisingly I found myself not minding it at all. In fact I even found myself imagining the lines spoken in my Hero's Origins voice.

 

Seeing the Hero (age progressed) in Inquisition was quite the exciting experience for me. I liked Inquisition anyway, but this makes it seem even better. This is another reason I want the Hero to return.

 

Again, this isn't a thread to recommend bringing the Hero back. I'm just suggesting that if voice acting is one of the major things preventing this, then making the Hero a silent protagonist would be acceptable to me. If it means getting the Hero back, I'm fine with not having the dialogue lines voiced.

 

What does everyone else think of this suggestion?

[SofaJockey]

Honestly, voice acting is not the only issue.

You can bring the HoF back as a skeleton with some nice loot, then their lack of voice will be entirely fitting  .

[AlanC9]

It's difficult to evaluate the proposition since I've got no real interest in bringing back the HoF in the first place. But I get the feeling this would just end up looking very silly, with the HoF being the only unvoiced character in the entire game.

[Silent]

Maybe add an option to use voices or no voice at all? 

The subtitles would be automatically toggled on for the hero if you picked the silent option. 

[LapisLazzuli]

To me the voice acting is crucial. An unvoiced character is a major turn off.

[AlanC9]

Maybe add an option to use voices or no voice at all? 
The subtitles would be automatically toggled on for the hero if you picked the silent option.

Yeah, I think we'd have to go that route. If the ME series is any indication, there are plenty of DAI players who never played DAO and have no real interest in the Warden.

[sleasye74]

Idk I think the hero being silent in origins was acceptable because it was the first DA game and imo I think people have gotten used to have a protagonist with a voice cause of DA2 and DAI, at least I have and I wouldn't care what voice the hero would have cause I never pretended he had a certain voice.

[Rawgrim]

The lack of voice isn't the only problem. His spells aren't in DA anymore. Dual wielding is gone. Various other weapon combos are gone. Most of the specs the Hero could have have been removed. Rogues or mages wearing heavy\armour is gone. They would have to add s many things to the game to avoid ruining The Warden for people.

[sleasye74]

Rawgrim hit it on the head, a friend of mine played DAI first then after beating it he wanted to try DAO and DA2, he said DA2 was alright but when he played DAO he flipped a sh*t because DA2 and DAI did not have DW, AW, Bard, armor and weapons for any class, and he also is a fanboy of BM after playing origins. After seeing his reaction to the differences between DAO and DA2 and DAI I was then thinking damn they won't be able to bring back the HoF, too much to include for one character

[FadelessRipley]

The voiced protagonist is here to stay, according to BioWare. Much as I love my Warden and having no voice didn't bother me then, I do prefer voiced PCs and it would be very odd having just the Warden as silent. Personally I wouldn't care what voice the Hero was given, provided there is a British option. It's not like we ever heard them speak really anyways!  Not everyone would be happy with that, mind. 

 

It's certainly a massive obstacle, but possibly the bigger one is p*ssing off the Ultimate Sacrifice players. I guess in theory they could write a story the Orlesian Warden in Awakenings could fit into, but that would be tricky itself. 

[Dai Grepher]

Thanks for the replies, but lets keep in mind that this isn't about the weapons or talents. Those are separate issues with separate obstacles that would need different solutions to overcome.

 

Since I have played this, I can confirm that the character being silent in Inquisition is not weird at all. It's no different from how it was in Origins/Awakening/Golem/Witch Hunt.

 

I agree with the suggestion to switch the voice on or off. That's a good suggestion. But, I think what makes my suggestion a little better is the fact that BioWare would not have to voice the dialogue for the Hero at all. With the option to turn the voice off however, BioWare is basically voicing the Hero for no reason, since this voice can be turned off by players anyway. It's sort of a waste. But personally, I like the idea. Just saying that BioWare would see it as a waste of resources.

 

As for how the public would receive this, I think those who are used to voiced protagonists and have not played Origins, will obviously have a default world state, in which case the Hero is dead. No issue. However, those who played Origins and have a living Hero will be able to at least tolerate a silent Hero.

[AlanC9]

Since I have played this, I can confirm that the character being silent in Inquisition is not weird at all. It's no different from how it was in Origins/Awakening/Golem/Witch Hunt.

Oh, you want the HoF for a PC? I only thought it was weird because I was thinking this was for an NPC.

As for how the public would receive this, I think those who are used to voiced protagonists and have not played Origins, will obviously have a default world state, in which case the Hero is dead.

That's not necessarily true; someone who started with DA2 could have a living HoF depending upon startup choices. I don't think it would matter, though, since such a player still wouldn't have ever played the character, and so wouldn't have any voice associations. But would such a player be interested in playing the HoF?

[Saphiron123]

People forget the hero had a voice, he was never unvoiced. He just had a crappy one liner voice actor for random actions - so yes, a new better voice actor would need to come in, and yes it'd change a little, but that's a necessary evil of the modern age.

Truthfully single line voice actors are easily replaced, we'd adjust, what really makes the hof who he is the quality of the choices and dialogue options... Something I think came up short for the inquisitor.

I'd rather have him back with a slightly different voice then never play him again at all, and as for creating the hero in inquisition, the inquisitor is a different character who is unrecognized by the hero's friends so he was never meant to be the hero in the first place...

[eyezonlyii]

They could just say that as he or she aged, their voice changed. I mean, it has been ten years. And only a few people would have heard them speak anyway.

[KaiserShep]

I can't imagine most people even caring about the voices from DA:O, since it was all just generic repetitive calls. As for unvoiced, that's never coming back for PC's or NPC's that you can interact with, except maybe silent sisters. Abandon all hope, y'all.

[Dai Grepher]

Oh, you want the HoF for a PC? I only thought it was weird because I was thinking this was for an NPC.

That's not necessarily true; someone who started with DA2 could have a living HoF depending upon startup choices. I don't think it would matter, though, since such a player still wouldn't have ever played the character, and so wouldn't have any voice associations. But would such a player be interested in playing the HoF?

 

Of course. If the Hero came back as an NPC then voice overs shouldn't be difficult at all. It would be just a big cameo appearance, like what happened with Anora, or Flemeth.

 

If they started with DA2, then wouldn't they have one default Hero? In that case, only one voice over artist.

 

Whether the player would be interested in playing the Hero or not is irrelevant to this issue, but no I don't think those players would have a problem with it.

[Dai Grepher]

People forget the hero had a voice, he was never unvoiced. He just had a crappy one liner voice actor for random actions - so yes, a new better voice actor would need to come in, and yes it'd change a little, but that's a necessary evil of the modern age.

Truthfully single line voice actors are easily replaced, we'd adjust, what really makes the hof who he is the quality of the choices and dialogue options... Something I think came up short for the inquisitor.

I'd rather have him back with a slightly different voice then never play him again at all, and as for creating the hero in inquisition, the inquisitor is a different character who is unrecognized by the hero's friends so he was never meant to be the hero in the first place...

 

The fact that the Heroes had voices is exactly why you can't replace their voice actors.

 

"Slightly different" is subjective. BioWare might think they're getting a similar sounding voice actor, but it might sound completely off to you. And which voice would this new actor be slightly different from? Slightly different from wise male is way different from cocky male. So you wouldn't be getting slightly different, you'd be getting different. And like you wrote, the Hero has a voice already. One liners or not, there were many one liners to be heard. My Hero's voice is cemented into his character. As posted above, I tried listening to the British male voice my remade Hero, and it simply did not work.

 

If it came down to a different voice or no Hero at all, I too would choose the new voice, but I would also mute his lines like I'm doing now. That's my point. Is it even worth BioWare voicing the Hero? Just bring the Hero back as silent and rehash the auto files from Origins.

 

I don't understand your last point. I'm not saying anything against the game just because I recreated my Hero and am going through part of the game with him. I'm just doing it for the nostalgia and for some entertainment. I can headcanon my way through the storyline just fine.

[Dai Grepher]

I can't imagine most people even caring about the voices from DA:O, since it was all just generic repetitive calls. As for unvoiced, that's never coming back for PC's or NPC's that you can interact with, except maybe silent sisters. Abandon all hope, y'all.

 

Well maybe it should come back. By the way, the Zelda series, which is still popular for some strange reason, still has unvoiced characters. They just have gibberish actors, basically. And that's across the entire game, not just one character but all of them.

[Steelcan]

Well maybe it should come back. By the way, the Zelda series, which is still popular for some strange reason, still has unvoiced characters. They just have gibberish actors, basically. And that's across the entire game, not just one character but all of them.

I think he means for DA

[KaiserShep]

Well maybe it should come back. By the way, the Zelda series, which is still popular for some strange reason, still has unvoiced characters. They just have gibberish actors, basically. And that's across the entire game, not just one character but all of them.

Whether or not any of us think it should return (I don't), I think the ship has pretty much sailed. BioWare is not likely to go back to an old design after the massive success of the new one. I doubt very much that Zelda would be any kind of serious consideration in this.

[Dai Grepher]

I doubt it too. I'm just pointing out that there is a fantasy/adventure video game series out there that has ZERO spoken lines and yet it sells 10 times as well as Dragon Age. Therefore, I doubt most fans of Dragon Age would consider a silent Hero to be a deal breaker. Especially if it means actually getting to play as the Hero again.

 

Oh and, was the new design of voicing a massive success? I see complaints about it all the time, particularly the dialogue wheel.

[KaiserShep]

I see complaints about a lot of things, especially around here. That doesn't determine whether or not something is a success. Mass Effect, for all its faults, is a successful series, and BioWare has clearly committed itself to the voiced protagonist. The complaints about this are not likely substantial enough for them to revert back to the silent PC. If BioWare felt that the benefits were greatly outweighed by the cons and players in general didn't like it, they would probably have gone back to it by now.

[AlanC9]

If they started with DA2, then wouldn't they have one default Hero? In that case, only one voice over artist.

No, DA2 had three different starts if you didn't import. However, one of those went US, so you only need two voices.

[Dai Grepher]

I see complaints about a lot of things, especially around here. That doesn't determine whether or not something is a success. Mass Effect, for all its faults, is a successful series, and BioWare has clearly committed itself to the voiced protagonist. The complaints about this are not likely substantial enough for them to revert back to the silent PC. If BioWare felt that the benefits were greatly outweighed by the cons and players in general didn't like it, they would probably have gone back to it by now.

 

Then what does determine it? What is your reason for thinking the voice/dialogue design of Inquisition was a success?

 

Few complained about the Mass Effect series. It was the ending everyone had a problem with, and when fans complained the ending got changed. Seems to be a perfect example of how things that are complained about are not considered successful.

 

Whether they committed themselves to it or not makes no difference. My suggestion would not apply to all characters, just the Hero. I am not suggesting BioWare change it's direction. Just go back to the old style in this one case if that's what it takes to bring the Hero back. 

 

Technically, they HAVE gone back to it in this one example. I mean basically, a silent Hero is what we got in Inquisition, as the response was in text format. They haven't had a reason to go back to the silent protagonist until now.

[Dai Grepher]

No, DA2 had three different starts if you didn't import. However, one of those went US, so you only need two voices.

 

Which two, if it's not too much trouble? I'm just wondering.