An RPG in 2023 with a mute protagonist???

[Riggswolfe]

On 8/24/2023 at 12:53 PM, fred200 said:

I would have hoped the unvoiced protagonist in Baldur's Gate 3 would have silenced the voiced proponents.

But I guess people just need something to complain about.

Starfield is close - keeping my finger above the Download button. So to speak.

 

I had that same thought. I was on my second replay of BG3 when I thought "I wonder if the people complaining about the mute protagonist in Starfield complained about it in Baldur's Gate 3?"

[ThyraUnn]

It's a Starfield Thread, it would be weird if people came to complain about BG3.

[Jellyfish505]

On 8/24/2023 at 6:49 PM, 27X said:

 

No one is going to play the game for you

 

That's a bizarre notion, sport. I just want someone to mod it in a way that makes it of interest to me ?

[Jellyfish505]

On 8/24/2023 at 6:53 PM, fred200 said:

I would have hoped the unvoiced protagonist in Baldur's Gate 3 would have silenced the voiced proponents.

 

 

Why? How is that even relevant?

[bjornk]

Bethesda Reveals That Starfield Almost Had a Voiced Protagonist

Lead designer talks about the impact of Fallout 4 and the decision to go in another direction.

 

Quote

"We hired an actor, we got the voice, we listened to him and we were like, 'You know what, this guy is too specific,'" Pagliarulo remembered.

 

Quote

"We realized that the only way to really do it and let the player be the person they want to be was to have an unvoiced protagonist," Pagliarulo said.

 

https://www.ign.com/articles/bethesda-voiced-protagonist-for-starfield

 

Makes you wonder what led them to a voiced protagonist in Fallout 4, why they didn't think any of these at the time.

 

 

Edited August 30, 2023 by bjornk

[31971207]

39 minutes ago, bjornk said:

 

Makes you wonder what led them to a voiced protagonist in Fallout 4, why they didn't think any of these at the time.

 

 

They probably thought with realBioware dead at the hands of EA here was the chance for Bethesda to be the king of both open world AND character driven RPG. They realized they are just not good at writing characters after FO4 is done so course corrected for Starfield.

Edited August 30, 2023 by 31971207

[FilthyWeaboo]

                                                                                                                 Question

                                                                                                          Yes                   Sarcastic Yes

                                                                                                                   No (yes)

 

Not something I want back lol

[bjornk]

On 8/30/2023 at 5:37 AM, bjornk said:

Makes you wonder what led them to a voiced protagonist in Fallout 4, why they didn't think any of these at the time.

 

I've just remembered that I had already answered this very question years ago, but no idea in which thread it was. If I recall correctly, I wrote that BGS had no idea what kind of a game they wanted to make, that they lacked creativity and vision, that they were trying to incorporate stuff from other games because of it; such as the voiced protagonist, the four option dialogue wheel, the base building system etc. Perhaps what I wrote was more true for Fallout 4 because it was not their own IP and when you've reached the fifth installment of a series of games you will struggle to come up with something new and you'll have to look elsewhere for inspiration. We'll see how much of my old criticisms will hold true for Starfield.

[Mexicola88]

I am glad the PC has no voice, this way there are much more possible lines, because there aren't two voice actors (male & female) that would have to record hundreads of thousands of lines. This way the mass of voice actors can speak a lot but nobody is forced to record that many lines alone.

 

This way there is quantity and quality simply because there is no voiced protagonist.

[dereIict]

I'm glad they ditched it. Voiced protagonist was why the FO4 dialogue seemed so linear, they only have so many recorded lines to use. Plus look at where we are with voice AI, modders will abolsutely step in just look at all the voice packs for Skyrim now with Dragonborn Voice Over. 

[FauxFurry]

Digital voices are not ready for prime time but when they are, they will be the ideal go-to for protagonist voices in games as players could not only choose from a huge array of presets (or adjust sliders to make their own), the player character would be able to pronounce their own name or the names of other characters or objects which have player determined designations. They do not even use up much space when they are wholly digital data rather than voice samples.

[judahel]

the female voice in FO4 was so good and zecksi...shame

[M.BISON]

Don't plan on buying this game yet, but I have mixed feelings about the protagonist not having a voice.

 

Was playing skyrim for years, and recently started playing FO4, Having Nora voiced was so refreshing, and although the dialog options all mostly reach the same conclusion lol. Hearing the voice tone change (anger/happy ect) and seeing face expressions (instead of just standing there like a statue in skyrim/oblivion), added to my immersion of the dialog I picked.

 

Oh well.

Edited September 2, 2023 by M.BISON

[Arethiel]

Voice acted protagonists in RPGs are absolutely terrible. A voice acted protagonist is what made Fallout 4 a significantly worse RPG for example, it never matches the character you make and it forces you to imagine the character the developers wanted you to play rather than the one you wanted to play, regardless of the options presented.

[poopoopuh]

Better RPG dialogue options are available with a mute protagonist. You get pigeonholed with a voiced one.

Edited September 5, 2023 by poopoopuh

[Vallsz]

Lmao nobody liked the Deadpool wacky voiced protag of fallout 4. There was a mod just to mute the protag with millions of downloads. The voiced protag was one of the biggest complaints of Fallout 4 and they learned from it 

[worik]

I am absolutely happy with an unvoiced PC in a world where I am supposed to create my own character.

The money is much better spend on meaningful NPCs

 

[Plaguetard2.0]

On 7/3/2023 at 2:33 AM, Jellyfish505 said:

Just discovered the player is unvoiced in Starfield. Instantly lost all interest in the game  

I prefer a voiceless player. Besides, if you want a voice, you can just mod that shit in later. Look at Skyrim. I made my PC sound like Ciri in that one. No reason to attach a voice to the game, when it can be done later. Maybe I don't WANT my PC to sound like the same person over and over like in Fallout 4.

[slizer40000]

There's so many big budget games with a voiced protagonist popping up all the time. It's as was mentioned before, a choice between a cinematic vs book-like experience. When either is done well the experience is enhanced. Also, player voice over takes development time away from coding bugs into the game. Would you play a Bethesda game without bugs?

 

If given the choice, would you choose Starfield without player voice over or Gollum with voice over? I'd pick Starfield any day.

 

I've yet to play a game where a generic voice works for a custom protagonist that I shaped. I can understand why they backpedaled on the voice. It could have hurt sales by a lot since Bethesda has a large established player base used to a certain type of presentation. Moreover, FO4 was criticized for having the voice over. For Bethesda games, less is more, at least as far as modding is concerned.

 

I find games like Skyrim and Elden Ring relaxing because I can relish the world/scenery/combat without having to listen to at times awkward Bioware style quips and one-liners that remind me that it's a game.

 

We should be grateful that Starfield doesn't have a voiced protagonist and unskippable dialogue.

 

[TheTraveler]

On 7/3/2023 at 3:33 PM, Jellyfish505 said:

Just discovered the player is unvoiced in Starfield. Instantly lost all interest in the game  

never played a game before FO4, I guess.

[TheTraveler]

On 7/3/2023 at 4:41 PM, Raisakas said:

oooo!

RPG vise that is actually a good approach! Not bad at all!

Maybe Beth is still capable of learning from her mistakes (like Fo4).... naah.... guns are still pulled out from thin air.

 

Really? That's what irks you? Not the whole, being able to carry enough wait to crush you without it crushing you?

[Raisakas]

4 hours ago, TheTraveler said:

Really? That's what irks you? Not the whole, being able to carry enough wait to crush you without it crushing you?

Yeeees?.... what was the point of your post? Keen to elaborate? Reads like a riddle...

[MrEsturk]

I never liked the voiced PCs in Fallout 4, Cyberpunk, etc. A lot of times the voice they assign just doesn't fit right with the characters I create.

 

On 9/2/2023 at 1:00 AM, FauxFurry said:

Digital voices are not ready for prime time but when they are, they will be the ideal go-to for protagonist voices in games as players could not only choose from a huge array of presets (or adjust sliders to make their own), the player character would be able to pronounce their own name or the names of other characters or objects which have player determined designations. They do not even use up much space when they are wholly digital data rather than voice samples.

 

Yeah, voiced PCs will improve a lot once AI voices get streamlined. So long as you are correct and developers use it to provide many different sounding voices for the player to choice instead of just two choices split between the sexes.

[AManNamedNorville]

On 7/2/2023 at 11:33 PM, Jellyfish505 said:

Just discovered the player is unvoiced in Starfield. Instantly lost all interest in the game  

Yeah thats because alot of people got mad when they found out the sole survivor from Fallout 4 was voiced.

[legendarytoyou]

To each their own I guess.  For me the voiced protagonist kind of hobbled the core aspect of the character and made it very constricting.  I'll admit though some of the sarcastic options in Fallout 4 were hilarious but the sheer fact dialogue in that game was regulated to just 4 blank options kind eviscerated the game to just being a looter shooter.

 

1) Yes
Yeah it could have used a little work.
2) No
I don’t see anything wrong with it
3) Why
What do yo think is wrong with it?
4) Sarcasm
Join the hate club wise ass.

 

It overall murders the core foundation of an actual RPG.  Now I realize some gamers have the attention span of shrew high on meth, crack and Red Bull energy drinks but that's beside the point.  Old school RPG lovers like myself actually loved this old/new concept.?