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Forums > Home› Star Trek Online General Discussion

Voiceovers

oooooonoooooon Member Posts: 73 Arc User
edited July 2012 in Star Trek Online General Discussion
I know DStahl said that adding voice overs to bridge officers wouldnt be possible because it would require thousands of unique voices due to cryptics customisation options.

Why?

Games such as NWN 1 and 2 had extensive customisation options for their characters, however they only allowed the player to select from a few number of voices for their characters. Still made it 2 great games and it is better to have SOMETHING rather than NOTHING to choose from.

It adds so much to imersion to have voice overs in game. Even if its just the standard lines such as,

- approaching space dock, thrusters only
- Incoming message from Starfleet
- Picking up a distress call (insert title)

The same goes for simple interactions with your crew. Approaching a senior staff member and trying to interact with them and they could simply respond

- yes captain?
- Sir?
- I am busy
- What is it?

They did this for elite force 1 and 2 and it made the crew feel so much more "alive".

it doesnt have to be a popup dialog with an option to reply. It could simply be one of those small popup screens that appear for example when approaching the spacedock doors.

Again, a few generic responses could be provided by the devs to keep the costs down (and im sure some of them wouldnt mind doing so, remember the dominion series VO provided by devs?) I know they are not voice actors but saying a single 2 word line shouldnt be that hard?? :)

What you boys, girls and transgendered species think?
Post edited by oooooon on

Comments

  • cusashorncusashorn Member Posts: 461
    edited July 2012
    Simple answer: they probably don't have the money to afford it.
    "My frozen dairy-based confectionery attracts all the males of the species to the facilities. They all agree on it's superiority. Indeed, it is superior to yours. I could teach you the finer details but that would require monetary recompense on your part."
    -The Milkshake Song: Vulcan Edition
    [SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
  • thomas12255thomas12255 Member Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited July 2012
    If you want voice overs for the most commonly used things e.g. docking, full impulse, red alert etc then you'll really need high quality voice actors so it doesn't seem cheap.

    You'll also needs dozens of them for voicing both male and female officers who will be of different species, you want a Cardassian sounding like he's from New Jersey?

    It comes down to, what is the point? It really doesn't add much to the game and I bet you most people would turn them off after a while as they would be repetitive and annoying. Cryptic also don't profit from it at all and it's not as if some voice overs from your BOFF's will make people spend more money.

    If you want something to add immersion then go for new music scores, ambient sound effects and making interiors more interesting.
    [SIGPIC]http://stosignatures.ufplanets.com/Thomas45-STO.png[/SIGPIC]

    {UFP}Thomas45 - Thomas Nixon U.S.S. Majesty Unbound
  • lyanaarlyanaar Member Posts: 148 Arc User
    edited July 2012
    the really sad thing is: in beta, BO's had voiceovers, different ones...the soundfiles even should still be in your sto directory somewhere.
    But for some..."mysterious"...reason they were removed.
  • cormorancormoran Member Posts: 440 Arc User
    edited July 2012
    oooooon wrote: »
    I know DStahl said that adding voice overs to bridge officers wouldnt be possible because it would require thousands of unique voices due to cryptics customisation options.

    When did he say this? Because they were in during beta. Also the lack of 'cryptics customisation options' hasnt stopped them adding in a lot of uncustomisable things, like starship interiors.
  • oooooonoooooon Member Posts: 73 Arc User
    edited July 2012
    cormoran wrote: »
    When did he say this? Because they were in during beta. Also the lack of 'cryptics customisation options' hasnt stopped them adding in a lot of uncustomisable things, like starship interiors.

    It was in an interview a few weeks ago. I honestly cant recall which one but someone had asked a question about the possibility of adding Department head VO.
  • hyplhypl Member Posts: 3,719 Arc User
    edited July 2012
    Hundreds and hundreds of small voiceover lines (similar to what the OP mentioned) in different accents and styles have already been recorded for bridge officers, or perhaps NPC's in general. Even Leonard Nimoy and Zachary Quinto recorded lines. They were removed at launch due to problems in the beta.

    I'm hoping Cryptic will consider implementing them back in the game to give STO a better sense of immersion. No doubt it'll be a huge undertaking due to changes made to the game in the last two years. There's a program or two out on the web that lets you extract sound bytes from the game's .hogg files if you want to give them a listen.
    HyperLimited - UNUSED ROMULAN NOTIFICATIONS
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  • lyanaarlyanaar Member Posts: 148 Arc User
    edited July 2012
    The question is...why they are not used? They are present in every sto installation.

    Maybe its what console gamers call "DLC on the Disk"...so soon a "Bridge Officer Voice Pack" will show up in the Z-Store :D

    "Expand the Game! Now your favourite Bridge Officer can talk to you, Captain! And it gets better...customise every single officer with different voices. Tired of silence? Let your science officer sound like Leonard Nimoy"

    only $$$ Zen....well maybe more like $$$$ Zen :P
  • tenkaritenkari Member Posts: 2,906 Arc User
    edited July 2012
    the bridge officer voice overs never worked right in beta. which is why they were removed.
  • lyanaarlyanaar Member Posts: 148 Arc User
    edited July 2012
    so its time to put them back in :) Would be a great feature...even with random voices for the BO's...
  • nrobbiecnrobbiec Member Posts: 959 Arc User
    edited July 2012
    As I said in the other voice over thread. The vast majority of STO voice acting is just so poor, I don't want any more, especially not as regular as BOffs.
    The way I see it, do it right or don't do it at all.
  • oooooonoooooon Member Posts: 73 Arc User
    edited July 2012
    thomas12255 wrote: »

    You'll also needs dozens of them for voicing both male and female officers who will be of different species, you want a Cardassian sounding like he's from New Jersey? .


    Since I am not american i wouldnt know what part of the US a cardassian sounding voice actor needs to be from.

    I do recall a TNG episode where picard is being held hostage by the cardassians. Doesnt his captor speak with a british accent?

    If its about getting the right tone of voice then I can understand your reasoning, however if you listen to the VO work (which is done by a professional actress) of Admiral T'nae for the romulan featured episodes, you cant exactly argue that she sounds like a vulcan anyway.

    If they are able to release that, how bad can a few dev recorded lines be?
  • cusashorncusashorn Member Posts: 461
    edited July 2012
    I'll use EverQuest 2 as an example. Back when that game launched, pretty much every last NPC in the game had a voiceover. As time went on, not only were new voiceovers NOT added to new NPCs due to budget limitations, but some older npcs had their own quest dialogues changed just enough to make the voiceover obsolete. It was quite a shame. I think maybe the same applies here. You can always change written text, but you cant just re-record the voice without spending cash to do so.


    What EQ2 did eventually add was numerous "personality" voices for each player's race's emotes. Think of it like going to the tailor and choosing a stance for your officer. Races had different voices for being tranquil, crazy, intellectual, angry, etc.
    "My frozen dairy-based confectionery attracts all the males of the species to the facilities. They all agree on it's superiority. Indeed, it is superior to yours. I could teach you the finer details but that would require monetary recompense on your part."
    -The Milkshake Song: Vulcan Edition
    [SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
  • lyanaarlyanaar Member Posts: 148 Arc User
    edited July 2012
    from what i heard in the beta, the BO's sounded not that bad. And remember...i dont want long conversations...a "Fireing Phaser", "Fire" or "Yes sir!" etc. would be a good start. And an option to turn them off is important. We already have that with our ships computer voice.
  • nrobbiecnrobbiec Member Posts: 959 Arc User
    edited July 2012
    oooooon wrote: »
    I do recall a TNG episode where picard is being held hostage by the cardassians. Doesnt his captor speak with a british accent?

    Yes Gul Madred (I think) was played a Brit.
    We make good Romulans too. Hakeev is awful, though if they ever have a Romulan faction or conclude the Sela story I want Denise Crosby to do he voice, she was epic as Sela.
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