2. Aggravating this, was the offensively aggressive VO work of the actor who recorded Khev's lines. He really came across as insubordinate and pushy, IMHO. ... Now I wonder if Tovan's voice files have been replaced with alternate takes where he read them with more restraint, as almost all of them seem MUCH more mellow than I recall from hearing them at LOR's release.
First thought. "Wait, what? Tovan has voiceovers?" This explains a lot - I've never had a problem with Tovan, but considering that my spouse is rabidly anti-gaming and my computer doesn't even have a sound card, I play with no sound.
Second thought, I doubt seriously they've re-dubbed the voice work. I can't imagine Cryptic paying twice for it. Far more likely that you're simply not as sensitive to the 'tone' as you were the first time thru for whatever reason.
"You Iconians just hung a vacancy sign on your asses and my foot's looking for a room!"
--Red Annorax
The Ballad of Tovan Khev
(sung to The Beverly Hillbillies' opening and closing themes - The Ballad of Jed Clampitt)
Come and listen to a story 'bout this Tovan Khev,
Young Rommie punk, who's the fav'rite of a Dev.
Seems Christine T. wrote this blatant Marty Stu,
So now ev'ry Rom has this jerk on his crew.
Loud, he is.
Angsty.
Mouthin' off.
When you walk on your bridge, he's settin' in that chair.
You're shocked and say, "Khev, move away from there!"
You say, "The Sick Bay is the place you're gonna be!"
So you draw your plasma gun, and you set to "Fricassee".
Got the proc!
No effect.
Darn it all!
He whines about his sister, and his girlfriend's Tal Shiar.
I'd love to beam this cretin to the center of a star.
They won't let you dismiss the yutz, no matter what you do,
So ev'ry Green is seein' Red and feelin' kinda Blue!
Out the airlock.
Plasma Torp.
Don't come back now, hear?
This was funny (extra funny knowing the song is on playback in your head lol)
I in fact have both a Rinna Khev boff AND a Charva boff and the ironic thing is I have two sisters and one brother on the crew so roleplaying them is loads of fun.
Tovan is still on the crew mostly because hes gone from a freedom-fighting undisciplined semi-badass to a trained, disciplied Republic officer whose ready to serve.
I like Tovan for four reasons: He has GOOD abilities and traits (SRO no SRO it makes a one-second difference), Hes not that bad a guy and I like how he has a soul unlike the player, he is fun in roleplaying, and he has a unique look.
This 'whining' about his sister is not whining, he is CONCERNED for her and AFRAID that something bad has happened to her and he wants to get her back ASAP
And if he did lode Rinna you would probably find him it a bar somewhere with Dean Winchester
Try that for size my freinds
Captain Joseph Riker, U.S.S. Odyssey==General V'Mar, U.S.S. Blackwater-A==Admiral Laura Holmes, U.S.S. Forward Unto Dawn Grand Master Thotok, son of Koloth, I.K.S. Sompek==Dahar Master Shanara, I.K.S. Balth'Quv Admiral R'Tath V'Tirex, R.R.W. Dhael Glohha'enh==Commander Ta'eth Korval, R.R.W Hachae ch'Rhian==Admiral Vranuk, R.R.W Delevhas
So I had this idea. When Virinat is attacked and you are running to the shuttle, you have Tovan and Rinna with you. When you get to the shuttle you find it overloaded and someone has to stay behind. You have to make a choice, save Tovan or save Rinna.
All the dialogues would be the same after that, just you have either Tovan or Rinna giving them. It gives your character some reason for wanting to help find the sibling, since you were the one who had to choose to abandon them and would give you ownership of the boff you chose.
I like this.
There would have to be new VO work done, though.
NO to ARC RIP KDF and PvP 2014-07-17 Season 9.5 - Death by Dev
First thought. "Wait, what? Tovan has voiceovers?" This explains a lot - I've never had a problem with Tovan, but considering that my spouse is rabidly anti-gaming and my computer doesn't even have a sound card, I play with no sound.
Second thought, I doubt seriously they've re-dubbed the voice work. I can't imagine Cryptic paying twice for it. Far more likely that you're simply not as sensitive to the 'tone' as you were the first time thru for whatever reason.
Oh, I'm not suggesting that they brought the actor back for a second session simply because some people complained. But very little VO work is done in one take. Often, directors will ask for multiple readings and they will select the ones they like best. They probably had multiple versions on hand from the outset, and chose more intense ones at the beginning, and possibly replaced them with existing less intense ones later on, after seeing the backlash.
You certainly could be right, though, and I may just be less sensitive to it now than I was then. But it's SUCH a striking difference to me, that I really suspect that some replacement was done using existing alternate takes.
I have to say that from my point of view, those who say Tovan is the hero, not the player, are playing a completely different game. I see myself fighting off Tal Shiar spear carriers at Virinat. I see myself in the captains chair. I see myself talking to the villains. I see myself matching wills with Tal Shiar brainwashing. I see myself shoting Hakeev. Tovan does none of those. Instead, he's YOUR first officer, and one with a motivation beyond "I wanna be in starfleet" or " I wanna kill things for the Empire!". He just wants to find his sister and go back to minding his own business. He even says at first that he doesn't want to go join D'tan, and only changes his mind later.
I have to say that from my point of view, those who say Tovan is the hero, not the player, are playing a completely different game. I see myself fighting off Tal Shiar spear carriers at Virinat. I see myself in the captains chair. I see myself talking to the villains. I see myself matching wills with Tal Shiar brainwashing. I see myself shoting Hakeev. Tovan does none of those. Instead, he's YOUR first officer, and one with a motivation beyond "I wanna be in starfleet" or " I wanna kill things for the Empire!". He just wants to find his sister and go back to minding his own business. He even says at first that he doesn't want to go join D'tan, and only changes his mind later.
and tovan leads you around by the nose while you fight off the tal shiar at virinat, while you sit in the captain's chair, while you kill the villains, while you fight the conditioning. You're the puppet, hes the master.
You can die, Tovan lives on. It's Tovan's priorities that dictate your first 10-20 levels of existence, his story, not yours. at the point he becomes 'irrelevant', so do you-at endgame it's basically rehash of what everyone regardless of faction does, exercises.
I disagree with your assessment of the early story, but as I said, I do like Tovan. I can see where you're coming from in relation to the other starting paths.
Fate - protects fools, small children, and ships named Enterprise Will Riker
Member Access Denied Armada!
My forum single-issue of rage: Make the Proton Experimental Weapon go for subsystem targetting!
and tovan leads you around by the nose while you fight off the tal shiar at virinat, while you sit in the captain's chair, while you kill the villains, while you fight the conditioning. You're the puppet, hes the master.
Actually... that's a figment of your character's imagination. Tovan isn't even there. :P
Tovan's a great ground boff.. his stats are quite nice. They should've allowed him to be renamble or dismissible for those that don't want him. But you know.. it's a dead horse.. very dead.
Actually... that's a figment of your character's imagination. Tovan isn't even there. :P
I know... and that makes it worse imo :P
also supposedly if you hop into the game before the patch tomorrow you can turn him into a padd. someone else can go do it I dont want to find out how many bugs and crash issues that might cause
also supposedly if you hop into the game before the patch tomorrow you can turn him into a padd. someone else can go do it I dont want to find out how many bugs and crash issues that might cause
Like I mentioned in another thread. If enough people who have turned him into a manual and dismissed him can lvl as fast as possible thorough the romulan storyline, they can definitively prove once and for all if dismissing Tovan breaks gameplay mechanics or not, if it bugs gameplay lesson learned, if not it's a viable option the devs could consider for the people who don't want him, while not affecting the people who do like him.
Like I mentioned in another thread. If enough people who have turned him into a manual and dismissed him can lvl as fast as possible thorough the romulan storyline, they can definitively prove once and for all if dismissing Tovan breaks gameplay mechanics or not, if it bugs gameplay lesson learned, if not it's a viable option the devs could consider for the people who don't want him, while not affecting the people who do like him.
That might finally settle this issue.
Tovan already possess my Reman Borg during most cutscene and dialogue (it's kinda scary). I think that's because the game use the first tac, or higher rank tac in space, by default as tovan, since most players will have only him in the party for a while. Since I can have the Reman (LoR pack) right after character creation, I have him instead, and it bug.
Never broke the game, however.
But then, the devs don't want to add bugs willingly into the game.
It's a matter of what a certain youtube series calls a "Feeling of Agency" for a lot of players, the way Tovan is integrated into the game mechanics removes that feeling of agency-that sense that as a player, you're in charge of your experience.
basically what he does (inadvertently or not) for a great many players, is to remind them that they're playing 'on rails'-that is, that sense of being rail-roaded through content as a spectator, rather than participant or protagonist.
Yeah.... are you playing the same game? I mean really... There's only a handful of misisons tha tTovan does more than occasionally talk in.
Do you know when I feel like I'm playing "on rails"? It's when, for some unfathomable reason, my character suddenly runs around the galaxy with Sela at her side. If I were allowed to act in-character, Sela would be dead instead of running around the galaxy and mouthing off in her condescending tones.
and tovan leads you around by the nose while you fight off the tal shiar at virinat, while you sit in the captain's chair, while you kill the villains, while you fight the conditioning. You're the puppet, hes the master.
Cortana does that too, but I hear no one saying that the Chief, and by extension the player, are not the main character.
the one doesn't invalidate the other though-in some aspects the two reinforce it-you're a passive participant in Tovan Khev's epic, then a passive participant in a Federation storyline.
Yah, I don't see Tovan in this manner at all. There were two occasions when I found him semi-annoying. But I really think some of you are making a mountain out of a molehill. Hyperbole much?
So I quit playing my first Romulan way back in LoR because if the spawn of satan.
.
.
.
Today I did "Mine Enemy" at then end I beam to my ship to read the files, there HE is.. sitting on my bridge like he belongs there. #%&* YOU, TOVAN!
The solution is easy, do not play the Romulan faction.
Or... play a different game like... I dunno SWTOR? If you see Tovan popping up in that game then you have a serious problem because that means Tovan is stalking you.
Must be the only Romulan player that doesn't hate Toven.. Honestly don't mind the guy at all and enjoyed the feeling of having a buddy through the story.. And honestly I use him in my away team as he has good ground traits.
I don't hate him...people act like he takes up 5 boff slots and he has no space traits at all.
Plus I think it's silly all of these people saying they want a all female bridge crew...are people that hard up for female companionship they need to surround themselves with nothing but female pixels?
Can't have a honest conversation because of a white knight with power
I don't hate him...people act like he takes up 5 boff slots and he has no space traits at all.
Plus I think it's silly all of these people saying they want a all female bridge crew...are people that hard up for female companionship they need to surround themselves with nothing but female pixels?
Overeacting idiots
I agree its silly too, I have a perfect mixture of male and female crew members on all my chars.
This is a very dumb and very old thread
Captain Joseph Riker, U.S.S. Odyssey==General V'Mar, U.S.S. Blackwater-A==Admiral Laura Holmes, U.S.S. Forward Unto Dawn Grand Master Thotok, son of Koloth, I.K.S. Sompek==Dahar Master Shanara, I.K.S. Balth'Quv Admiral R'Tath V'Tirex, R.R.W. Dhael Glohha'enh==Commander Ta'eth Korval, R.R.W Hachae ch'Rhian==Admiral Vranuk, R.R.W Delevhas
Tovan Khev exists to tell A Story. One. Cryptic's.
I have more than one Romulan character. All of them have their own stories. (Particularly the Reman.) It's absurd to think they all were at Virinat, etc etc.
I would love to be able to ignore the Cryptic story completely, skip all the missions, and chart my own path through the galaxy. But no matter what I do, no matter how I dress him up, I can never get rid of Khev - a reminder that, ultimately, I am not allowed by this game to do what I want with my character, to define them as I wish.
And that, far more than him taking up a slot, or his stats, or what he says during the story missions, is what bothers me. Even if I bury him at the bottom of my roster... there is no getting rid of him, no getting away from him. I can't ever completely escape Cryptic's story to tell my own.
I don't hate him...people act like he takes up 5 boff slots and he has no space traits at all.
Plus I think it's silly all of these people saying they want a all female bridge crew...are people that hard up for female companionship they need to surround themselves with nothing but female pixels?
Not every person that hates Tovan wants an all female bridge crew. Some want an all Reman crew though or maybe and all borg crew. But you have to have Tovan.
Side note desire: I actually wish you could get a Rinna and/or Charva boff. I don't mean get a romulan and try and make them match. I mean you get Rinna in her female Tovan outfit. (Wouldn't mind unlocking his and Satra's outfits for all boffs and captains either.)
Originally Posted by pwlaughingtrendy
Network engineers are not ship designers.
Nor should they be. Their ships would look weird.
Not every person that hates Tovan wants an all female bridge crew. Some want an all Reman crew though or maybe and all borg crew. But you have to have Tovan.
Side note desire: I actually wish you could get a Rinna and/or Charva boff. I don't mean get a romulan and try and make them match. I mean you get Rinna in her female Tovan outfit. (Wouldn't mind unlocking his and Satra's outfits for all boffs and captains either.)
There is one toon that I don't want Tovan on and he hasent been created yet (Vranuk, my Reman eng).
Oh I DO have a Rinna and a Charva boff on my rom. But to be honest I never really liked the boff's survivor outfit especially the Tovan (I just go with the standard RR uniforms and have survivor assessories). Each of my chars has a story of their friendship with Tovan:
R'Tath is a longtime friend of the Khev's and they found a home on Virinat some years prior
Ta'eth is former Tal'Shiar but was covinced to leave by Temer. She changed her name from Tai'na to Ta'eth but crash-landed on Virinat, she nearly died but was saved by Tovan. They were friends ever since.
Vranuk is a Reman trader from Crataris who came to Virinat to discuss possible trade between the two colonies and he worked with Tovan to set it up.
Captain Joseph Riker, U.S.S. Odyssey==General V'Mar, U.S.S. Blackwater-A==Admiral Laura Holmes, U.S.S. Forward Unto Dawn Grand Master Thotok, son of Koloth, I.K.S. Sompek==Dahar Master Shanara, I.K.S. Balth'Quv Admiral R'Tath V'Tirex, R.R.W. Dhael Glohha'enh==Commander Ta'eth Korval, R.R.W Hachae ch'Rhian==Admiral Vranuk, R.R.W Delevhas
Yeah I've made up a story as to how my char knows Tovan as well. Sander Delvardus was a Tal Shiar Agent sent to Virinat to observe and determine if there was any involvement between them and the (at that time) newly emerging Romulan splinter government. That's how he initially met Tovan. As time went on and he discovered how despicable his agency had become, his loyalty to the Star Empire led to his betraying the Tal Shiar and taking out Hakeev. However, during that time he noticed how Tovan always seemed to steer things in his own direction, and how he never seemed to be the one in the line of danger. Upon further research he discovered that Tovan is actually a high-ranking member of the Tal Shiar, a deep-cover sleeper agent who's true memories and personality could be awoken at any time. He keeps Tovan on the crew so he can keep an eye on him and discover what plans the Tal Shiar have that involve him.
Comments
First thought. "Wait, what? Tovan has voiceovers?" This explains a lot - I've never had a problem with Tovan, but considering that my spouse is rabidly anti-gaming and my computer doesn't even have a sound card, I play with no sound.
Second thought, I doubt seriously they've re-dubbed the voice work. I can't imagine Cryptic paying twice for it. Far more likely that you're simply not as sensitive to the 'tone' as you were the first time thru for whatever reason.
--Red Annorax
This was funny (extra funny knowing the song is on playback in your head lol)
I in fact have both a Rinna Khev boff AND a Charva boff and the ironic thing is I have two sisters and one brother on the crew so roleplaying them is loads of fun.
Tovan is still on the crew mostly because hes gone from a freedom-fighting undisciplined semi-badass to a trained, disciplied Republic officer whose ready to serve.
I like Tovan for four reasons: He has GOOD abilities and traits (SRO no SRO it makes a one-second difference), Hes not that bad a guy and I like how he has a soul unlike the player, he is fun in roleplaying, and he has a unique look.
This 'whining' about his sister is not whining, he is CONCERNED for her and AFRAID that something bad has happened to her and he wants to get her back ASAP
And if he did lode Rinna you would probably find him it a bar somewhere with Dean Winchester
Try that for size my freinds
Grand Master Thotok, son of Koloth, I.K.S. Sompek==Dahar Master Shanara, I.K.S. Balth'Quv
Admiral R'Tath V'Tirex, R.R.W. Dhael Glohha'enh==Commander Ta'eth Korval, R.R.W Hachae ch'Rhian==Admiral Vranuk, R.R.W Delevhas
I like this.
There would have to be new VO work done, though.
RIP KDF and PvP 2014-07-17 Season 9.5 - Death by Dev
Oh, I'm not suggesting that they brought the actor back for a second session simply because some people complained. But very little VO work is done in one take. Often, directors will ask for multiple readings and they will select the ones they like best. They probably had multiple versions on hand from the outset, and chose more intense ones at the beginning, and possibly replaced them with existing less intense ones later on, after seeing the backlash.
You certainly could be right, though, and I may just be less sensitive to it now than I was then. But it's SUCH a striking difference to me, that I really suspect that some replacement was done using existing alternate takes.
[EDIT: typo.]
and tovan leads you around by the nose while you fight off the tal shiar at virinat, while you sit in the captain's chair, while you kill the villains, while you fight the conditioning. You're the puppet, hes the master.
I disagree with your assessment of the early story, but as I said, I do like Tovan. I can see where you're coming from in relation to the other starting paths.
Member Access Denied Armada!
My forum single-issue of rage: Make the Proton Experimental Weapon go for subsystem targetting!
My character Tsin'xing
I know... and that makes it worse imo :P
also supposedly if you hop into the game before the patch tomorrow you can turn him into a padd. someone else can go do it I dont want to find out how many bugs and crash issues that might cause
Like I mentioned in another thread. If enough people who have turned him into a manual and dismissed him can lvl as fast as possible thorough the romulan storyline, they can definitively prove once and for all if dismissing Tovan breaks gameplay mechanics or not, if it bugs gameplay lesson learned, if not it's a viable option the devs could consider for the people who don't want him, while not affecting the people who do like him.
That might finally settle this issue.
Never broke the game, however.
But then, the devs don't want to add bugs willingly into the game.
Wow. I'm just going to quote:
Do you know when I feel like I'm playing "on rails"? It's when, for some unfathomable reason, my character suddenly runs around the galaxy with Sela at her side. If I were allowed to act in-character, Sela would be dead instead of running around the galaxy and mouthing off in her condescending tones.
Cortana does that too, but I hear no one saying that the Chief, and by extension the player, are not the main character.
Yah, I don't see Tovan in this manner at all. There were two occasions when I found him semi-annoying. But I really think some of you are making a mountain out of a molehill. Hyperbole much?
The solution is easy, do not play the Romulan faction.
Or... play a different game like... I dunno SWTOR? If you see Tovan popping up in that game then you have a serious problem because that means Tovan is stalking you.
I don't hate him...people act like he takes up 5 boff slots and he has no space traits at all.
Plus I think it's silly all of these people saying they want a all female bridge crew...are people that hard up for female companionship they need to surround themselves with nothing but female pixels?
Overeacting idiots
I agree its silly too, I have a perfect mixture of male and female crew members on all my chars.
This is a very dumb and very old thread
Grand Master Thotok, son of Koloth, I.K.S. Sompek==Dahar Master Shanara, I.K.S. Balth'Quv
Admiral R'Tath V'Tirex, R.R.W. Dhael Glohha'enh==Commander Ta'eth Korval, R.R.W Hachae ch'Rhian==Admiral Vranuk, R.R.W Delevhas
I have more than one Romulan character. All of them have their own stories. (Particularly the Reman.) It's absurd to think they all were at Virinat, etc etc.
I would love to be able to ignore the Cryptic story completely, skip all the missions, and chart my own path through the galaxy. But no matter what I do, no matter how I dress him up, I can never get rid of Khev - a reminder that, ultimately, I am not allowed by this game to do what I want with my character, to define them as I wish.
And that, far more than him taking up a slot, or his stats, or what he says during the story missions, is what bothers me. Even if I bury him at the bottom of my roster... there is no getting rid of him, no getting away from him. I can't ever completely escape Cryptic's story to tell my own.
Not every person that hates Tovan wants an all female bridge crew. Some want an all Reman crew though or maybe and all borg crew. But you have to have Tovan.
Side note desire: I actually wish you could get a Rinna and/or Charva boff. I don't mean get a romulan and try and make them match. I mean you get Rinna in her female Tovan outfit. (Wouldn't mind unlocking his and Satra's outfits for all boffs and captains either.)
Originally Posted by pwlaughingtrendy
Network engineers are not ship designers.
Nor should they be. Their ships would look weird.
There is one toon that I don't want Tovan on and he hasent been created yet (Vranuk, my Reman eng).
Oh I DO have a Rinna and a Charva boff on my rom. But to be honest I never really liked the boff's survivor outfit especially the Tovan (I just go with the standard RR uniforms and have survivor assessories). Each of my chars has a story of their friendship with Tovan:
R'Tath is a longtime friend of the Khev's and they found a home on Virinat some years prior
Ta'eth is former Tal'Shiar but was covinced to leave by Temer. She changed her name from Tai'na to Ta'eth but crash-landed on Virinat, she nearly died but was saved by Tovan. They were friends ever since.
Vranuk is a Reman trader from Crataris who came to Virinat to discuss possible trade between the two colonies and he worked with Tovan to set it up.
Grand Master Thotok, son of Koloth, I.K.S. Sompek==Dahar Master Shanara, I.K.S. Balth'Quv
Admiral R'Tath V'Tirex, R.R.W. Dhael Glohha'enh==Commander Ta'eth Korval, R.R.W Hachae ch'Rhian==Admiral Vranuk, R.R.W Delevhas
So that's my Tovan story.
Seems legit.