I've dismissed VO somewhat in the past, saying my preference is for flavor VO (ie. greetings when you click on a character, voiced emotes, a few cinematic flourishes similar to what we have in STFs here)... I suppose my points of comparison have been WoW (which I feel handles it well) and TOR (which looks to go overboard, to a point where it feels like you miss out by playing the game with no sound).
Looking forward, I know that DCUO is announcing Mark Hamill and Kevin Conroy and Joker and Batman... But a pretty big cast beyond that which includes Gina Torres, James Marsters, Adam Baldwin, etc. These are big names in genre entertainment.
And looking at this, well... I'm second guessing my stance on VO somewhat. I don't know anybody who isn't doing heavy VO in an IP-based MMO anymore... and I'm starting to question whether failing to prioritize it is just something unthinkable in today's MMO market.
That's not to say you need lots of name actors (to my knowledge, TOR has none and WoW only has Michael Dorn and Cam Clarke in terms of truly big name VO) but STO, low budget or not, is standing out in this regard. It doesn't seem like anybody even does IP-based MMOs without VO anymore except for Cryptic... and I'm questioning whether it's necessarily the best move to sit on the VO they have rather than release it and improve or build on it as they can.
I'm with you on flavour VO. More than anything in this regard, it's the silence we fight in (since there is a lot of fighting).
Klingons do not give any battle cries and no one at all makes a sound when they die.
In space we have a little VO from the computer, but just a couple extra lines there could do away with the Tac officer popping up every few seconds in missions saying stuff like "DEFend the base" or "scan another pod" when on the ground.
I'm with you on flavour VO. More than anything in this regard, it's the silence we fight in (since there is a lot of fighting).
Klingons do not give any battle cries and no one at all makes a sound when they die.
In space we have a little VO from the computer, but just a couple extra lines there could do away with the Tac officer popping up every few seconds in missions saying stuff like "DEFend the base" or "scan another pod" when on the ground.
I remember liking the VO they had in beta, even if it was cheesy at times.
I'd rather they release that VO and occasionally expand or upgrade VO options than have it and sit on it.
I mean, have a checkbox to disable it, sure, but if it's recorded, why not use it?
I remember liking the VO they had in beta, even if it was cheesy at times.
I'd rather they release that VO and occasionally expand or upgrade VO options than have it and sit on it.
I mean, have a checkbox to disable it, sure, but if it's recorded, why not use it?
I could be wrong on this, but i think i read somewhere that the reason they probably dont use their VO is, because that way all BO's you would create get the same male and female voices over time, so maybe your personell identification / roleplay is disturbed by that. If they dont sound like you think they should sound, if you know what i mean. Its maybe getting to repetitive over time. And Cryptic was not 100% satisfyed with the VO they had, if i am not mistaken.
So i can understand the reasons why they dont did it yet. But on the other side, i like VO myself and i am sure that in combat situations (like variants of death sounds / enemy taunts in ground combat) the player immersion would benefit from more sounds.
One thing i really hope they do, is VO for more primary mission based characters. Its a little sad that we have to read so much. I mean nothing against reading, i am not that lazy, but you know what i mean?
With all the other issues of the game, I'd like them to work on those first. Still, fixing up the VO and putting it in game would be nice. Too bad I was only in OB, I would have loved to hear the VO in CB.
I don't think it is a critical issue given all the other problems, but when I went back to play the 25th Anniversary Game I was struck by just how much voice overs help you feel like you're in the game.
If there weren't a thousand other things to deal with first, I would definitely want major characters to have voice-work for story missions, and that the BOs and the "store" NPCs should have their "hi!"s and "how are ya?"s that help them seem like more than just text windows.
IF they could get the tech to work consistently without drawing resources away from other projects, I would be all for having a customizable set up of even just generic statements, even if its just 'modulating shield frequencies' 'deploying shield generator' or any of the other word bubble things my crew spout.
Oh I can certainly live without 'names' doing voices, frankly that can easily get too expensive for the impact. Just a little something even if you get some of your staffers to say 'There's Klingons on the Starboard Bow!'
VO is important. This games complete lack of any voices is distracting at best. The pop up window that is your officers talking to you at each mission every time you warp in is inconvenient and annoying.
Even if you move it out of the way and off to the side it's still nothing more than a nuisance that irritates me even more when I have to click through a second page to get to the playing. I think STO has some cool stories and I have read most of them. The only things skip are things that are repetitive. But it can become a reflex to reach to close the window that is CONSTINTLY popping up STOPPING the game play with a screeching halt every time it appears.
At times I have clicked through to MOVE on you could say. However where this pop up becomes the most disturbing is with the missions that are repetitive and/or the same. After a point, having the tac boff pop up on your screen to say- "Captain, Starfleet wants us to kill 14 patrols....." loses its excitement, and becomes annoying.
VO is critical to story and immersions, but it also is a very important thing to add for things that are going to be said over and over- to keep the same quest text off the screen as much as possible. If simple BOFF vos were added for actions; like healing, skill activations, and simple missions the game would benefit greatly.
Think about this---
When you hit High Yield Torpedo you not only hear the activation computer beep/chirp- but also your tac officer says.. High Yield Torpedo standing by sir.
When you warp in to a patrol mission why not just at the top middle of the screen have a picture of the person talking and their name at the bottom and have the VO come on- sir we have to defeat the hostile ships in the area then they go away.. and you can look at the quest tracker on the right to see how many I guess the whole UI needs work- its clumsy at best. But that is OT and I will cover that in another thread.
BioWare apparently thinks it's highly important if you're trying to build a game that tells stories in compelling ways... then again, they've always have... and they've got the funds for it.
To me, VO's are important, but I know they're not easily obtained so I don't expect Cryptic to direct their funds towards VO's in a meaningful in the near future.
...
To me, VO's are important, but I know they're not easily obtained so I don't expect Cryptic to direct their funds towards VO's in a meaningful in the near future.
unfortunately I have to agree with that statement.
therefore I will be spending a lot of time in the "other space game" when it comes out to get that "feeling".
I was hoping that I could choose the IP I love more (Star Trek), but that's not an option now.
I'll play STO occasionally since I have a LTS....but soon another mmo will be getting a majority of my time, and the money will be flowing that direction as well.....
I've been sucked 'too far' into " this" mmo monetarily and havent felt the return equals investment, and that sux... .... no more from me ... I'm sorry....but I gotta put my foot down somewhere.... better late than never I suppose.
....( and I had such high hopes for Season 2.... )
I jsut saw some stuff fro " the other SuperHero mmo " that is coming out later this year.... and it is relavant to the argument "FOR" voice overs.
Have you seen who is doing voice-overs for that one !!.....gonna be SCHWEET.
Mark Hamill, Kevin Conroy, Adam Baldwin, Gina Torres, James Marsters, Michelle Forbes ...etc..
gameplay movies have the characters "chattering" the whole time..... hmmm..... interesting that I noticed this while browsing this thread.
....
give us voice overs ( I dont care if its bigscreen actors or not...I jsut want good chatter ) ! it will make a world of difference in gameplay...... !!!!
CO has chatter..... transition movies.... big name foes who actually have character and are entertaining ! ... why cant STO ??
BioWare apparently thinks it's highly important if you're trying to build a game that tells stories in compelling ways... then again, they've always have... and they've got the funds for it.
To me, VO's are important, but I know they're not easily obtained so I don't expect Cryptic to direct their funds towards VO's in a meaningful in the near future.
They have the funds for it because they consistently deliver a good product that people want to buy. It seems like such a simple concept to some people, but the business world doesn't seem to grasp that customers will pay through the nose for something that is good, and won't pay much for something they think is TRIBBLE. VO work is just one of the many tools BioWare uses to put out a fantastic product that is immersive, fun, and has replay value.
I've heard it brought up in this thread that VOs in STO would be wonky because of the repetition. Well the problem, then, is not with VOs but repetitive content. We need to stop addressing symptoms in this game and start fixing the core issues. VOs would be great (infrequent or frequent) if the missions weren't so repetitive so quickly. Solve the latter and the former fits in nicely.
They have the funds for it because they consistently deliver a good product that people want to buy. It seems like such a simple concept to some people, but the business world doesn't seem to grasp that customers will pay through the nose for something that is good, and won't pay much for something they think is TRIBBLE. VO work is just one of the many tools BioWare uses to put out a fantastic product that is immersive, fun, and has replay value.
I've heard it brought up in this thread that VOs in STO would be wonky because of the repetition. Well the problem, then, is not with VOs but repetitive content. We need to stop addressing symptoms in this game and start fixing the core issues. VOs would be great (infrequent or frequent) if the missions weren't so repetitive so quickly. Solve the latter and the former fits in nicely.
exactly.....
It's just like the issue of not making the interior halls smaller because the camera goes wonky.....
If the camera doesnt work.... wouldnt you fix ' it ' ?
then ... you can make those warehouses a little more comfortable for the average Captain to walk around in.... and we will all rejoice !! yay....
They have the funds for it because they consistently deliver a good product that people want to buy. It seems like such a simple concept to some people, but the business world doesn't seem to grasp that customers will pay through the nose for something that is good, and won't pay much for something they think is TRIBBLE. VO work is just one of the many tools BioWare uses to put out a fantastic product that is immersive, fun, and has replay value.
I've heard it brought up in this thread that VOs in STO would be wonky because of the repetition. Well the problem, then, is not with VOs but repetitive content. We need to stop addressing symptoms in this game and start fixing the core issues. VOs would be great (infrequent or frequent) if the missions weren't so repetitive so quickly. Solve the latter and the former fits in nicely.
excellent points...and the same is true for any feature. For instance, many players want to control their ship from the bridge. Games have certainly done this before, but because of this particular engine and all the instancing it does...it just cant' be done.
So, rather than blaming the feature, blame the limitation that doesn't allow it.
excellent points...and the same is true for any feature. For instance, many players want to control their ship from the bridge. Games have certainly done this before, but because of this particular engine and all the instancing it does...it just cant' be done.
So, rather than blaming the feature, blame the limitation that doesn't allow it.
That would be the biggest example of that in STO, I think. You're absolutely right.
Yeah always nice to hear the sound of our favorit actors in a MMO.
Dont think they have any famos ones in TOR, and that is only because they choose not
to use any.Not because they canot aford them. I know they will have thousends of some of the best voice actors in the world,check out this dev video awesome ! http://www.swtor.com/media/trailers/video-documentary-3 But yeah i really wish there could be way more voice acting in this game,especially in the stf's.
Voiceovers... ANY Voiceovers... would help Star Trek Online. The world is silent and cold without it. I remember the voices in Beta that announced little tidbits of information, and they added immensely. Warcraft doesn't use them extensively, but "time is money, friend" and "may your blades never dull" add so much when properly placed.
Using WoW as a template, even though I like to make fun of the constant "For the hord!", and "Trust no one" chatter from vendors - it does really help establish a feel for the world tha can't be done through text.
But even more important, I think, is backgroudn music. WoW has it to the Nth degree - but even old games like Starfleet Command had epic, flowing music that felt much like Star Trek. Having quality music that changed for each zone, for special planets, etc. would do a lot towards completing the cinematic feel.
I've dismissed VO somewhat in the past, saying my preference is for flavor VO (ie. greetings when you click on a character, voiced emotes, a few cinematic flourishes similar to what we have in STFs here)... I suppose my points of comparison have been WoW (which I feel handles it well) and TOR (which looks to go overboard, to a point where it feels like you miss out by playing the game with no sound).
Looking forward, I know that DCUO is announcing Mark Hamill and Kevin Conroy and Joker and Batman... But a pretty big cast beyond that which includes Gina Torres, James Marsters, Adam Baldwin, etc. These are big names in genre entertainment.
And looking at this, well... I'm second guessing my stance on VO somewhat. I don't know anybody who isn't doing heavy VO in an IP-based MMO anymore... and I'm starting to question whether failing to prioritize it is just something unthinkable in today's MMO market.
That's not to say you need lots of name actors (to my knowledge, TOR has none and WoW only has Michael Dorn and Cam Clarke in terms of truly big name VO) but STO, low budget or not, is standing out in this regard. It doesn't seem like anybody even does IP-based MMOs without VO anymore except for Cryptic... and I'm questioning whether it's necessarily the best move to sit on the VO they have rather than release it and improve or build on it as they can.
A lot of MMO rookies have been raving and hyping up all the VOs that bioware is putting into KOTOR, but this has been done before back in 2002 with Earth and Beyond. About 90% of the game was all Vis especially the main quest line. It reminds me of oblivion in that regard. Apparently it was taken out of the game during a patch because it was too much work to edit the VOs and the just went to all text. One year later EA axed the game.
Comments
Klingons do not give any battle cries and no one at all makes a sound when they die.
In space we have a little VO from the computer, but just a couple extra lines there could do away with the Tac officer popping up every few seconds in missions saying stuff like "DEFend the base" or "scan another pod" when on the ground.
I remember liking the VO they had in beta, even if it was cheesy at times.
I'd rather they release that VO and occasionally expand or upgrade VO options than have it and sit on it.
I mean, have a checkbox to disable it, sure, but if it's recorded, why not use it?
I could be wrong on this, but i think i read somewhere that the reason they probably dont use their VO is, because that way all BO's you would create get the same male and female voices over time, so maybe your personell identification / roleplay is disturbed by that. If they dont sound like you think they should sound, if you know what i mean. Its maybe getting to repetitive over time. And Cryptic was not 100% satisfyed with the VO they had, if i am not mistaken.
So i can understand the reasons why they dont did it yet. But on the other side, i like VO myself and i am sure that in combat situations (like variants of death sounds / enemy taunts in ground combat) the player immersion would benefit from more sounds.
One thing i really hope they do, is VO for more primary mission based characters. Its a little sad that we have to read so much. I mean nothing against reading, i am not that lazy, but you know what i mean?
If there weren't a thousand other things to deal with first, I would definitely want major characters to have voice-work for story missions, and that the BOs and the "store" NPCs should have their "hi!"s and "how are ya?"s that help them seem like more than just text windows.
It'd be much better even if all you got was a "Captain" from NPCs, or a "Hello" from friendly NPCs or a "Die, weaklings" from the enemy.
id prefer the money is spent on the actual content but if they can squeeze some VO in at a reasonable cost then its all good
it's a major part of why I think STO lacks any real immersion or trek feel tbh.
Nemoy is cool on the initial zone-ins ( I would love anything Nemoy did, so I'm biased there).
but
I am NOT a fan of Quizno's voice in the tutorial .... he sounds 'bored'....
he doenst give a feeling of "excitement" that should be conveyed at the start of a game..... just sub-par IMO.
( I know he is playing the part of a hologram...but come on...... it's boring and monotone. )
(( lol...I wrote Quiznos ..... I hope you all know I was referring to Quinto ... hehe.... Freudian slip.. ))
the game desperately needs voice overs, especially the ships computer, considering we now have interiors coming into game.
Even if you move it out of the way and off to the side it's still nothing more than a nuisance that irritates me even more when I have to click through a second page to get to the playing. I think STO has some cool stories and I have read most of them. The only things skip are things that are repetitive. But it can become a reflex to reach to close the window that is CONSTINTLY popping up STOPPING the game play with a screeching halt every time it appears.
At times I have clicked through to MOVE on you could say. However where this pop up becomes the most disturbing is with the missions that are repetitive and/or the same. After a point, having the tac boff pop up on your screen to say- "Captain, Starfleet wants us to kill 14 patrols....." loses its excitement, and becomes annoying.
VO is critical to story and immersions, but it also is a very important thing to add for things that are going to be said over and over- to keep the same quest text off the screen as much as possible. If simple BOFF vos were added for actions; like healing, skill activations, and simple missions the game would benefit greatly.
Think about this---
When you hit High Yield Torpedo you not only hear the activation computer beep/chirp- but also your tac officer says.. High Yield Torpedo standing by sir.
When you warp in to a patrol mission why not just at the top middle of the screen have a picture of the person talking and their name at the bottom and have the VO come on- sir we have to defeat the hostile ships in the area then they go away.. and you can look at the quest tracker on the right to see how many I guess the whole UI needs work- its clumsy at best. But that is OT and I will cover that in another thread.
To me, VO's are important, but I know they're not easily obtained so I don't expect Cryptic to direct their funds towards VO's in a meaningful in the near future.
unfortunately I have to agree with that statement.
therefore I will be spending a lot of time in the "other space game" when it comes out to get that "feeling".
I was hoping that I could choose the IP I love more (Star Trek), but that's not an option now.
I'll play STO occasionally since I have a LTS....but soon another mmo will be getting a majority of my time, and the money will be flowing that direction as well.....
I've been sucked 'too far' into " this" mmo monetarily and havent felt the return equals investment, and that sux... .... no more from me ... I'm sorry....but I gotta put my foot down somewhere.... better late than never I suppose.
....( and I had such high hopes for Season 2.... )
.:(:(
Have you seen who is doing voice-overs for that one !!.....gonna be SCHWEET.
Mark Hamill, Kevin Conroy, Adam Baldwin, Gina Torres, James Marsters, Michelle Forbes ...etc..
gameplay movies have the characters "chattering" the whole time..... hmmm..... interesting that I noticed this while browsing this thread.
....
give us voice overs ( I dont care if its bigscreen actors or not...I jsut want good chatter ) ! it will make a world of difference in gameplay...... !!!!
CO has chatter..... transition movies.... big name foes who actually have character and are entertaining ! ... why cant STO ??
They have the funds for it because they consistently deliver a good product that people want to buy. It seems like such a simple concept to some people, but the business world doesn't seem to grasp that customers will pay through the nose for something that is good, and won't pay much for something they think is TRIBBLE. VO work is just one of the many tools BioWare uses to put out a fantastic product that is immersive, fun, and has replay value.
I've heard it brought up in this thread that VOs in STO would be wonky because of the repetition. Well the problem, then, is not with VOs but repetitive content. We need to stop addressing symptoms in this game and start fixing the core issues. VOs would be great (infrequent or frequent) if the missions weren't so repetitive so quickly. Solve the latter and the former fits in nicely.
exactly.....
It's just like the issue of not making the interior halls smaller because the camera goes wonky.....
If the camera doesnt work.... wouldnt you fix ' it ' ?
then ... you can make those warehouses a little more comfortable for the average Captain to walk around in.... and we will all rejoice !! yay....
.
excellent points...and the same is true for any feature. For instance, many players want to control their ship from the bridge. Games have certainly done this before, but because of this particular engine and all the instancing it does...it just cant' be done.
So, rather than blaming the feature, blame the limitation that doesn't allow it.
That would be the biggest example of that in STO, I think. You're absolutely right.
Dont think they have any famos ones in TOR, and that is only because they choose not
to use any.Not because they canot aford them. I know they will have thousends of some of the best voice actors in the world,check out this dev video awesome ! http://www.swtor.com/media/trailers/video-documentary-3 But yeah i really wish there could be way more voice acting in this game,especially in the stf's.
But even more important, I think, is backgroudn music. WoW has it to the Nth degree - but even old games like Starfleet Command had epic, flowing music that felt much like Star Trek. Having quality music that changed for each zone, for special planets, etc. would do a lot towards completing the cinematic feel.
A lot of MMO rookies have been raving and hyping up all the VOs that bioware is putting into KOTOR, but this has been done before back in 2002 with Earth and Beyond. About 90% of the game was all Vis especially the main quest line. It reminds me of oblivion in that regard. Apparently it was taken out of the game during a patch because it was too much work to edit the VOs and the just went to all text. One year later EA axed the game.