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Am I the only one annoyed with the poor Voiceover work from actual Trek actors?

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  • elemberq333elemberq333 Member Posts: 430 Arc User
    edited November 2013
    If I had to rate them...

    Dorn as Worf... Liked it and I hope he does more for STO! 8 out of 10

    Captain Koren... Loved her emotion and I think she fit the part very well 9 out of 10

    Adranna.... I hope I spelled that right, her VO was ok at times and terrible at other times. 6 out of 10

    Captain Shon... I have always liked who ever it is doing his voice and the FE was good as well. 9 out of 10
  • tinkerstormtinkerstorm Member Posts: 853 Arc User
    edited November 2013
    stuart1965 wrote: »
    Both Michael Dorn and Denise Crosby were absolutely brilliant in their voiceovers on sto.
    People should be grateful they are doing this,to add to the trek feel about it.
    I hope we will see more startrek characters do voiceovers in future.
    ha ha ha. You should do stand-up. You are funny.
  • michlomichlo Member Posts: 95 Arc User
    edited November 2013
  • tobar26thtobar26th Member Posts: 799 Arc User
    edited November 2013
    stuart1965 wrote: »
    Both Michael Dorn and Denise Crosby were absolutely brilliant in their voiceovers on sto.
    People should be grateful they are doing this,to add to the trek feel about it.
    I hope we will see more startrek characters do voiceovers in future.

    Have to agree Dorn's were great, I really felt it was Worf.

    Crosby sadly? If I didn't know she was voicing Tasha, I wouldn't have guessed, maybe that's just the age of the actress now making her sound different, but still...it irked me.


    That said VO work is very different to live acting.
  • logicalspocklogicalspock Member Posts: 836 Arc User
    edited November 2013
    I thought the voice acting was good, but not as good as on the show or in a number of other Trek video games.

    Voice acting is probably very different than actual acting, but I know Dorn has done it before (I watched a few episodes of Gargoyles as a kid).

    I'm not sure how they are doing the voiceovers, but if you are going to get the talent, you might want to put a bit more into the professional studio and audio directing.

    If not, it is fine too. It is nice to hear the actors' voices again.
  • szimszim Member Posts: 2,503 Arc User
    edited November 2013
    I keep comparing the voiceover quality to Patrick Steward's in various games. I always thought he was absolutely brilliant. A clear 10/10 every single time.

    Worf 7/10 not that good in the beginning but much better later

    Tasha/Sela 5/10 mediocre, Sela was better than Tasha but her sector introductions felt like she was talking to small children

    Spock 8/10 In my opinion Nimoy was very good
  • deathsremnantdeathsremnant Member Posts: 265
    edited November 2013
    This is not the Worf you knew from NextGen or DS9, you do realize he's a ambassador now, and this is 30 years later? He's a lot older in STO. Also Worf was never "like other Klingons" He was raised by human parents on Earth.

    Though I can agree with "Empress Lela" sounding like she did the voice lines over the phone (Then again there are probably reasons they killed her off in the ST series) I can't agree with you on Dorns job.

    Also as Taco mentioned in zone chat during day 1, Dorn did the VO in a recording studio and sent them to cryptic to work with. He never actually went to a cryptic office, so who is this magic person from cryptic thats supposed to be directing him? (A actor who has had how many years in the field?) But please show us how much better you'd of done it. Feel free to do your own version and post it on youtube. :3
  • azurianstarazurianstar Member Posts: 6,985 Arc User
    edited November 2013
    I really have no objection to any of the Star Trek actors voice work in STO. I really thought they all did a great job.

    Quinto had that emotionless feel as the EMH.

    Mr. Nimoy, what can I say, I just love listening to the dialogue all over again.

    Chase, unless you are constantly at the Dabo tables, you just have to smile when you hear her.

    Denise, I really enjoyed her as Tasha and as Sela. And with Sela, you can get that impression that she is the boss of the Empire.

    Now with Mr. Dorn. I honestly can't think of anything bad to say. The tones really fit nicely into the situation. When Worf is thinking, the tone is softer, but when there is action, he has that inflection that demands you to act!

    If I had anything to complain about the voice acting in SoI, It would be the voices are hard to hear in the space battle.
    From skimming dev blogs I get the impression that the vo's were in fact "phoned in". I don't believe that they ever actually went to Cryptic's office and recorded there. I also get the distinct impression that Dorn was not happy with the direction the writers were taking his character in, and if you're not happy with the direction it is hard to have the passion that really made his character good in the tv series.

    First of all, Denise Crosby obviously wasn't phoned in. They have video of her recording her lines. I'm guessing Mr. Dorn recorded in LA.


    As for Mr. Dorn not being happy. I hate to say it, but I agree with this statement. In his Star Trek.com Interview, he said this:
    DORN: Worf has learned he does not have to choose. Even if the writers on STO have him making statements to the contrary, I feel he feels that life is a journey and this is just a stop along the way. And maybe next year he?ll make a different choice and rejoin the Federation. You never know with Worf.

    Which to me, sounds like he wasn't too pleased in the direction they took Worf in STO. Perhaps now that they got Mr. Dorn's attention, maybe they could ask him for insight on future Worf storylines.
  • geforceultimategeforceultimate Banned Users Posts: 3 Arc User
    edited November 2013
    Anyone who watches Trek knows Tasha and Worf never sounded so plain in their line delivery.
  • baudlbaudl Member Posts: 4,060 Arc User
    edited November 2013
    this thread definately falls under the category:"This game could spit out 20 dollars an hour for each player and people would still complain that they weren't in sequential numbers!"

    i can respect the comments as opinions, because that is all they are...
    also it would seem that everybody has become an expert on the subject over night!

    compared to the actual quality of the game itself, they were great. And they fullfilled their purpose, which is to increase imersion.
    Go pro or go home
  • grtiggygrtiggy Member Posts: 444 Arc User
    edited November 2013
    honestly i think the voice acting has been pretty good considering, BUT.

    if your going to do voice acting DO MORE THAN THE FIRST LINE!
    honestly im pretty sure there were some instances where the voice acting was done for the first half of a sentence in some places which i quite a few cases felt like it broke the flow.
    if you are going to have voice acting then do all of it not just some.

    other than that the parts that were done were good imho
  • toivatoiva Member Posts: 3,276 Arc User
    edited November 2013
    grtiggy wrote: »
    if your going to do voice acting DO MORE THAN THE FIRST LINE!
    honestly im pretty sure there were some instances where the voice acting was done for the first half of a sentence in some places which i quite a few cases felt like it broke the flow.
    if you are going to have voice acting then do all of it not just some.

    Doing more than the first line gets very long and it breaks immersion. I can understand it when bringing Trek alumni, but to have all of the dialogue spoken would be terrible.

    It doesn't matter when you speed through replaying a mission, but when you play it for the first couple times, it gets boring and tedious to wait for the voice over to end (while you have finished reading it and it wouldn't feel right to cut the voice-over).

    EDIT: And on topic, I feel the VO in Sphere of Influence was very well done compared to most other missions. The only nitpick was the sometimes slower line delivery by Worf, but other than that, it felt pretty convincing.
    TOIVA, Toi Vaxx, Toia Vix, Toveg, T'vritha, To Vrax: Bring in the Allegiance class.
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  • shadowwraith77shadowwraith77 Member Posts: 6,395 Arc User
    edited November 2013
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gqed10FOmL4
    Sad part is the VO work from this STO video to me was better done than Denise and mike which I rated them at an 8.5-9/10, this video is not only better sound recording quality, but also the VO made me feel it was more fluent and believable so to me it gets an easy 10. :cool:
    tumblr_nq9ec3BSAy1qj6sk2o2_500_zpspkqw0mmk.gif


    Praetor of the -RTS- Romulan Tal Shiar fleet!

  • macroniusmacronius Member Posts: 2,526
    edited November 2013
    This is one reason why we can't have more Trek in game. Everyone complaining and nit picking every little thing. Where was the outrage when they announced laser Dino tag team edition STO ... i.e. Season 8?


    Yes some of the lines felt listless and some of Sela's dialog felt B quality ... But a big part of that is the writing. I for one am happy with this FE. If they made more of them I would almost forget about the p2w garbage and stupid silly TRIBBLE they throw in.
    "With the first link, the chain is forged. The first speech censored, the first thought forbidden, the first freedom denied, chains us all irrevocably."

    - Judge Aaron Satie
  • zachverantzachverant Member Posts: 111 Arc User
    edited November 2013
    I thought Michael Dorn did a fine job in his voice over's and I like that former Trek Actors are getting involved with the game. It would be nice if we could get a Bill Shatner (Kirk) sound bite before his life in this time line is over.

    I understand they are being paid for their time but they do not have to accept the job. By them accepting the voice over jobs it adds "Memory Beta" "Trek Canon" to STO...

    ie: The Trek actors accept STO as a "creditable" addition to the Trek Universe and they support the player base.

    These are my opinions, flame me if you want.

    Betty
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  • vhiranikosvhiranikos Member Posts: 208 Arc User
    edited November 2013
    lol, you guys hate on anything. There is very little contructive criticism (They could do xx better and this is how) and a ton of whining.
    Nit-picking? Seriously?

    We can't just be a bit critical for the sake of constructive criticism?


    what a steaming crock, there is nothing constructive about
    as is my favorite pasttime, Im calling out the Executive Producer yet again on this failing.

    nitpicking and plain ol arrogance.
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  • edwardianededwardianed Member Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited November 2013
    taken their time to visit...

    ...in exchange for payment.
  • cidstormcidstorm Member Posts: 1,220 Arc User
    edited November 2013
  • gavinrunebladegavinruneblade Member Posts: 3,894 Arc User
    edited November 2013
    There were a few lines where I noticed he had less emotion than I expected, and some of Denise's as Tasha were that way too. Her Sela lines were great (especially the mental jabs in that one brainwashing mission), and most of Worf's dialog was just fine. In particular the bits in the last room with the extending bridges.

    The one I felt was about his worst was while kneeling at the first closed door after you use the gate. Overall, I enjoyed having him and it sounded plenty Worf-y to me.

    One thing I've noticed in voice acting is that often the director likes to isolate the actors and have them do their lines alone for optimal recording quality and because you can get everything done in one or two sessions from a single actor without having to coordinate schedules.

    One of my favorite animations had all of the actors sit around a table with a boom mike just like they'd have used if it was live action and go at it together. A couple of the voice actors even wore costumes they made themselves.

    I can't help but wonder if that strategy would be possible in future work on STO. Certainly the scenes with the different captains talking would be more dynamic, as could have been the gate misfiring.

    Could it have been better? Yes. Was it terrible? No. As far as I'm concerned, it was worth doing and I'm glad he participated.
  • eldarion79eldarion79 Member Posts: 1,679 Arc User
    edited November 2013
    Who does the OP expect the fanbase, beloved Star Trek actors who to this day people line up to meet and get autographs from, or a loud minority of arrogant, entitled haters who give all of the nerd/geek community a bad name?

    Yeah, that's what I thought.

    Thank you, Mr Dorn and Ms Crosby and every other Trek alumni who has taken their time to visit our little corner of the Trek universe and make it brighter by their presence.

    I enjoyed the new voice over. I bet the op is one of those people who complain about the bread at the soap kitchen.
  • cidstormcidstorm Member Posts: 1,220 Arc User
    edited November 2013
  • a3001a3001 Member Posts: 1,132 Arc User
    edited November 2013
    I'm just happy Dorn actually did any voice work period.
    Rejoice JJ Trek people....

    http://www.arcgames.com/en/games/star-trek-online/news/detail/10052253

    Why are you not rejoicing?
  • vladdievladdie Member Posts: 117 Arc User
    edited November 2013
    Dorn did ok.

    If you want bad Trek voice acting, listen to Avery Brooks from Star Trek Legacy. He is essentially reading a phone book.
    Barihawk.jpg
  • lomax6996lomax6996 Member Posts: 512 Arc User
    edited November 2013
    griged32 wrote: »
    -blinks- did we play the same missions? Denise Crosby's voiceover work in Temporal Ambassador may not have been stellar (still good imo but not as top-notch as I would have hoped) but her role as Sela was downright creepy AND evil sounding

    as for Worf... JEEZE - some people are never satisfied! When that guardian came flying at me I jumped when he said LOOK OUT!! And the part when the Klingon homeworld was revealed as being under observation and he sounded worried I got little tingles up and down my spine wondering

    okay... are we safe ANYWHERE?

    And his playoff on Grilka's daughter was top-notch! I mean... come on! This WAS Worf - I heard that same disdain he has for techs and scientists in his voice when he was telling the Roms this plan was going to go horribly wrong :P sounded like it was straight out of DS9

    jeeze...

    Agreed! Sounded like Worf to me... now... if they'd just get him to do voice over for the Klingon tutorial episodes!
    *STO* It’s mission: To destroy strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilizations... and then kill them, to boldly annihilate what no one has annihilated before!
  • edwardianededwardianed Member Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited November 2013
    First of all, Denise Crosby obviously wasn't phoned in. They have video of her recording her lines. I'm guessing Mr. Dorn recorded in LA.

    "Phoning in" lines these days does not mean literally delivering the performance via telephone, it's a colloquialism meaning to do a recording quickly and to the minimum required standard for the paycheque. (Although, despite your literal misinterpretation, you are right in saying they didn't phone in their lines, they clearly put in a lot of effort to their performances.)
    baudl wrote: »
    also it would seem that everybody has become an expert on the subject over night!

    I am by no means an expert, but what I do know I've learned over fourteen years of study and experience, not one night of complaining :P
  • edwardianededwardianed Member Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited November 2013
    EDIT: Stupid double post.
  • purplegamerpurplegamer Member Posts: 1,015 Arc User
    edited November 2013
    While it's amazing to have these great actors coming back to reprise their roles for us, I agree with the OP's general sentiment that the VO work sounds stiff. Honestly, I suspect it's the directing; I think they're being told to be slow and stilted with their delivery in order to make sure they can be heard clearly and consistently. Cryptic is conscious of the fact that for VO to be useful, players have to be able to hear and comprehend the lines. Ultimately, this leads the actors to uncomfortably force a pace that is slower than that of normal speech.
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  • mirrorchaosmirrorchaos Member Posts: 9,844 Arc User
    edited November 2013
    First Denise Crosby, and now Michael Dorn. Does Cryptic even HAVE a sound director? Once again nearly every Worf line sounded like he was reading from a script. He read it slow and had no Worf aggression in his voice for lines that I KNOW he would have sounded differently on the show. Do Cryptic employees not have the guts to tell these actors how mundane their VO work sounds? Its pointless to get these actors doing their characters lines if they are all going to sound phoned in. And as is my favorite pasttime, Im calling out the Executive Producer yet again on this failing. Dan, hire someone who actually knows how to direct voiceover talent. Some of the auxillary characters know how to act their lines, but most dont. And the two biggest Trek stars are totally sounding bad. Its bad enough the characters can only use wooden emotes to act lines, but when the star voiceover work is wooden as well, whats the point. Anyone who watches Trek knows Tasha and Worf never sounded so plain in their line delivery.

    some of the lines were bland like tasha in the alternate reality, others were a bit over the top, the Karu'kan annoyed shouting before ordering his troops to kill after being rejected then the pretend angry orders. i felt as if Worf was a bit too tame in some of his voicing, however it seemed good enough on some of the scenes. compare it to star trek away team voice over with Spiner and other characters like Dorn, some were almost from the script, others had some depth to their voicing. The romulan taunts to the Klingons and the klingon speak was good when you talk with them.

    but i recognize that the voice over for Crosby is different then from before because well, she has a different person from before and so is her voice. i can not blame her for that at all, so i have no problem with her work no matter how bland it is.
    T6 Miranda Hero Ship FTW.
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