Get the mics warmed up - 2.0: you're going to need voice acting

Voice-overs, if done well, is definitely the way forward in MMO's. How anyone can suggest it isn't, is beyond me.

Neptune, how have you been?

I fully support voice acting

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Originally Posted by Mug

Voice-overs, if done well, is definitely the way forward in MMO's. How anyone can suggest it isn't, is beyond me.

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It's not a way forward.
Forward implies movement towards a destination.

It's just a way. Besides, some people actually prefer reading. Not saying I'm against it though. Just don't think it's all that great in an overall sense.

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Originally Posted by Gramul

, some people actually prefer reading.

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Those people buy books, not video games.

Full voice acting would be nice, but not a necessity.

Voice acting in major quests? Yes, please. And why not, an option to turn off voices for those that don't like VA.

Now, saying that the game will fail if 2.0 doesn't have full VA as SW:TOR, now that's just, no. Yes, Bioware invested a huge amount of money in their game, good for them. I also share the same opinions as others: I would prefer if resources were used in actual content and not in trying to imitate an imitation of another game (which some say is also an imitation).

"BUT DIFFERENT TEAMS, HAVING VA DOESN'T AFFECT ANYTHING IS A PLUS STOP TROLLING"

Seems that Bioware spent so much resources in voice acting that it affected some other stuff in the game like storytelling, getting some alpha engine instead of developing their own or perhaps it affected quality control .

But hey, you can at least have a loved one in the game. http://youtu.be/xoOQdU3zMzM

It's not about bashing SW:TOR, but I find it funny how some people seem to believe that the game will revolutionize the MMO market without admitting some of the flaws of the game. Have fun in both games! And enjoy a trailer http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o08e_xlXAVc

The point here is voice acting can benefit the game. We're trying to sell the idea to SE that we want voice acting, not warn them of all the negative things that come along w/ voice acting...

SO MUCH MONEY! IF VA SUCKS THEN GAME SUCKS! IF U PUT IN TOO MUCH VA, THERE IS TOO LITTLE OF OTHER GOOD STUFF! BE WARNED SE!!!! :@ SO MUCH HDD SPACE MY PC CANT HANDOL AL DAT VA!!! va is good but [SIZE="6"]VA CAN BE VERY VERY VERY BAD!@!@!@!@!@!@!@!@!@!!@ [/SIZE]

Only posting on the subject so much because yes, I care that much about having VA in FFXIV. And yes, VA has been revolutionary. I don't care about cutscenes. When I walk through a town it'd be cool to hear some voices, not pure silence, or footstep echoes. It's that simple. I can put faces and names on like 20+ NPCs in Skyrim, yet I can't even remember the elf NPCs name (who gives you the Ifrit/Moogle quest) or a single word of dialogue in FF14, which I've probably sunk over a years worth of time into.

fyi, my logic for VA being revolutionary is not because the 2 most popular MMOS on the market are using it (or 90% of platformers since the release of the N64), it's because there will never be a 'most popular MMO' that doesn't have VA at this day in age.

Those of you willing to argue popularity isn't a necessity;

1) You must love the silence of 14 right now.
2) SE's bank account disagrees.
3) If 2.0 isn't popular, then we have no game.

I'm watching Super Mario 64 on twitch.tv right now and even he has voice acting, (and text).

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Originally Posted by SniperRifle

Those people buy books, not video games.

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No. I'm pretty sure my brother buys both.

Lol, great post sniperrifle. It's true, some people must love the silence. lol.

While I think the main storyline should certainly keep it, I feel that doing it for everything is overkill and a waste of resources that could be better spent on similar things - animations, more music, etc. While having it everywhere in games like EQ2 and SWTOR is nice, it does not in any way make or break a game.

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Originally Posted by Neptune

I think we can all agree the opening of FFXIV is spellbinding. From the opening of the ship to Limsa Lominsa to Yda waking up in the forest, that great voice acting really captured the world's attention. How disappointing it was that playing through the next chapter in your story was met by dull text boxes.

The dialogue in this game is so cleverly translated into English (thanks fernehalwes & crew) that it is just a shame so much of it isn't acted out with the great voice talent procured for FFXIV.

As 2.0 approaches, Square Enix has an interesting decision to make. Do they make this the game it always should have been, or recoil even further from their great financial losses by going conservative in regards to putting even more resources into FFXIV? We all know what the noble thing would be do to, and one's thing's for sure: full voice acting would be one way to distinguish the new FFXIV from the old.

As we all know, Bioware invested over $100 million into their MMO, and truly, its great contribution to the MMO genre is the voice acting and its method of group storytelling. Next to it, FFXIV looks like the product of a bygone era, when gamers mashed the controller button to advance lengthy text dialogue boxes. Blizzard is also preparing to launch a major new MMO in the years to come. Is Square Enix ready to show the world that it is a major player in the MMO field?

Square Enix has invested many years into FFXIV, although to be fair it hedged its investment by using the same team that was constantly working on FFXI. It didn't see the financial results it needed to see that year that it posted over a $100 million loss, but let's not forget the $40 million in revenues FFXIV generated through retail sales. Let's be realistic. Expecting to sell another 600,000 copies on the PS3 is truly a longshot. FFXIV has a lot to prove to PS3 owners. FFXIV's only real chance at success is to recapture its PC market. The goal should be to get all 600,000 PC players back along with another 400,000. And if Square Enix truly wishes to command that kind of attention, it had better get with the times and start making the phone calls to the casting directors. Start warming those mics up. Because you're going to need a lot more voice acting if you want this game to really stand out. Even World of Warcraft has a lot of (bad) voice acting in its dungeons and cities.

Yoshi-P, I know I'm preaching to the choir, but I trust you know what needs to be done. It's time to make that phone call to Wada and tell him to suck it up and get out his wallet. I hope he has the balls to look the world in the face with 2.0 and be ready to challenge the major players with a strong offering.

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Good stuff :3

Hope to see voice acting in 2.0 as well \ (- o -)/

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Originally Posted by AreeyaJaidee

Good stuff :3

Hope to see voice acting in 2.0 as well \ (- o -)/

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You quoted the whole OP just to say that? -3-

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Originally Posted by DeadRiser

The difference between SWTOR and XIV is that you usually only do the specific quests once...

In SWTOR, you can have multiple character but have to do the exact same missions over and over again. I rather have voice acting because I don't care to read a wall of text, especially when you have them speaking in some weird accent lol. People can compare all they want to SWTOR, but XIV is totally different and the people playing or totally different as well lol.

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You know, when I found out about SWTOR and its 6 different stories for each class, I laughed, since that is worse then what people where complaining about in FFXIV and the each company had slightly different story info.

if I wanted the whole story out of SWToR I would have to make and play 6 different characters.... no thanks.....

Look, I'd love to have voice acted cutscenes -- at least for the main questline, if nothing else -- but you really think the key to winning 950,000 players is to have voice acting? Really? Really?

/facepalm

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Originally Posted by ObeiKinstar

Neptune, how have you been?

I fully support voice acting

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Hey Obei! I've been pretty good. Haven't played much lately due to the lack of things to do and large periods of waiting just to get the people together to do the few things left to do in the game. How have you been?

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Originally Posted by Dreamer

While I think the main storyline should certainly keep it, I feel that doing it for everything is overkill and a waste of resources that could be better spent on similar things - animations, more music, etc. While having it everywhere in games like EQ2 and SWTOR is nice, it does not in any way make or break a game.

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You know, let's break it down. What does it take from what is commonly known to implement more voice acting. Would it truely detract from more animations, music, and anything else? Well, before you can record voices you need dialogue. Guess what, there is a lot of dialogue already written. There is especially a lot of quest text written. So, SE needs to call up their casting director and get the voice talent booked and the sessions started. These people aren't members of the dev team. So their time is paid for by SE but no extra work is required to record their voiceovers. Once recorded, the files must be added to the game and cutscenes have to be tweaked, but guess what - they already have to tweak the cutscenes because they're putting in new MAP data and a new server. So this extra work flows naturally into what they must do anyway. And that's just for the most basic of implementations. By my estimation, what little extra work it requires would be worth the large payoff in production value, and they have to redo all the cinematics anyway. For the quest dialogue, all they have to do is add a generic mouth moving animation do the NPC and keep the existing text boxes when they add audio, for the most basic addition of full quest voiceovers. So for a start I think it's not as demanding as it seems .

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Originally Posted by Ashthra

Look, I'd love to have voice acted cutscenes -- at least for the main questline, if nothing else -- but you really think the key to winning 950,000 players is to have voice acting? Really? Really?

/facepalm

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I don't think it's the "key", but I think the key is align the game with people's expectations, and then innovate from there. I do believe that in 2013 if this game doesn't have more voice acting than it does right now it's going to be reviewed negatively for the PS3 launch, 2.0 release, etc. And what do you think is going to happen when the world reads more negative reviews of FFXIV?

Yay another thread about full voice acting for everything in the game.

TLDR; No, thanks. Let's just keep it to the main characters in the story.

As much as I've enjoyed the voice acting in games like Mass Effect, Dragon Age, and Heavy Rain, when I take a look back it wasn't that I enjoyed that everyone can talk, but more about the emotions that was showing in the main characters of the game which does not always become as apparent in text. Characters like ME2's Tali, or DA's Morrigan, HR's Ethan Mars, or even minor characters like the Witch of the Wilds in DA2. Voices there helps build the character personality and player attachment.

For me, voice acting adds immersion to the world. Such as main characters banter like the one from DA2 can reveal more about their personalities and group dynamics that you won't get with text unless if you run into a cutscene. However, I feel sometimes it cheapen the experience (E.G. Elder Scroll games), such as the cheezy lines from NPCs when you stab them in the face. Or your generic towns people with their banter, which sometimes repeats over and over again about your adventures.

There are at least two main problems with mass voice acting. First is the quality, you can't always get top notch actors for all the roles due the large range of characters. (E.G. Skyrim http://extra-credits.net/episodes/skyrims-opening/ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P3TjgTi0pd8) Second, reusing the same voice actor again and again would create a rather uneasy feeling as you meet someone new but heard their voice before.

There are other games where voice acting plays a large role. Such games like Portal, Bastion, or Stanley Parable narrations. However, since I doubt FFXIV needs or even wants narration, I think we can safely omit that.

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Originally Posted by lackofwords

Yay another thread about full voice acting for everything in the game.

TLDR; No, thanks. Let's just keep it to the main characters in the story.

As much as I've enjoyed the voice acting in games like Mass Effect, Dragon Age, and Heavy Rain, when I take a look back it wasn't that I enjoyed that everyone can talk, but more about the emotions that was showing in the main characters of the game which does not always become as apparent in text. Characters like ME2's Tali, or DA's Morrigan, HR's Ethan Mars, or even minor characters like the Witch of the Wilds in DA2. Voices there helps build the character personality and player attachment.

For me, voice acting adds immersion to the world. Such as main characters banter like the one from DA2 can reveal more about their personalities and group dynamics that you won't get with text unless if you run into a cutscene. However, I feel sometimes it cheapen the experience (E.G. Elder Scroll games), such as the cheezy lines from NPCs when you stab them in the face. Or your generic towns people with their banter, which sometimes repeats over and over again about your adventures.

There are at least two main problems with mass voice acting. First is the quality, you can't always get top notch actors for all the roles due the large range of characters. (E.G. Skyrim http://extra-credits.net/episodes/skyrims-opening/ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P3TjgTi0pd8) Second, reusing the same voice actor again and again would create a rather uneasy feeling as you meet someone new but heard their voice before.

There are other games where voice acting plays a large role. Such games like Portal, Bastion, or Stanley Parable narrations. However, since I doubt FFXIV needs or even wants narration, I think we can safely omit that.

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Coming from someone named lackofwords, umustbtrollin'.

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Originally Posted by Bowen

You quoted the whole OP just to say that? -3-

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Yes I did :)

I did xD

I most certainly did :3

Have a nice day :D

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Originally Posted by AreeyaJaidee

Yes I did :)

I did xD

I most certainly did :3

Have a nice day :D

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K, just wanted to clear that up. -3-

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Originally Posted by Bowen

K, just wanted to clear that up. -3-

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Good Idea :D

Good Clarity! :3

*snuggle huggles*

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Originally Posted by AreeyaJaidee

Good Idea :D

Good Clarity! :3

*snuggle huggles*

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/gives cookie
:3

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Originally Posted by Neptune

umustbtrollin'.

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huh? you've judged my post by my username?

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Originally Posted by lackofwords

huh? you've judged my post by my username?

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lol, no i was just joking. You made good points below your first sentence. But don't you think you could be emotionally engaged in that kind of storytelling in this game?

Yeah, the first sentence was just for TLDR purpose, giving my thoughts as concise as possible. Although, I didn't really mean 'forbid it' if I've given off that sense. More like, 'dialog serves its purpose in text for all the minor roles'.

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Originally Posted by Neptune

don't you think you could be emotionally engaged in that kind of storytelling in this game?

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Do you mean story telling with full voice acting? If so, then in short, maybe. It would be as much as I would enjoy a movie adaption of a book. Meaning it depends on who they've casted and the direction's portrayal of the work. Could be awful, or could be good.

Or if you're talking non-voiced scenes, like the scenes where main characters like Yda appear up in text instead of speech, yes it was awkward. However, I already had in mind what she sound like from her speech previously, thus there was already established context for me to infer off of.

I was even some what attached to minor characters with no story roles, such as retainers. They still have a personality that clearly is reflected by carefully chosen words. Such as shyness, ambitious, or elegance. Sadly, this does not become apparent until you actually pick them.

Or if you want me to refer to a text-only quest line,
(spoilers warning)

The THM class quest line, (below)

It pits you against a fellow THM in training, upon the first meeting with this character, you can already sense what kind of character she is by her actions and philosophy. Her personality clashes with your character's is clearly depicted without the need of voice. (well what SE makes out your character to be) You were made to hate that character, and I did.

However, as I mentioned, voicing story based characters would inherently give them more life when carefully casted by a director. But when applying it to a scale where everyone is voiced, minor characters get the short end of the stick. Where it might even break the player's immersion* in the game with poor acting, such as the examples given, where text alone would have still kept it intact.

Or in a worst case scenario; ever read a book or played a character where you've inherently gave the character a voice in your head, then went to see a movie or tv show adaption of it, and it breaks your vision of the character? This happens because of variance in how people interpret the work, and allows movies of the same story be directed differently.

A funny worst case scenario;
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FPxY8lpYAUM

*About immersion, voice only plays a small role. The sound, the environment, the music, the characters, all those sum up the full picture. Such as why does the club Afterlife in Mass Effect 2 give off a stronger impact than the bar in Dragon Age 2 where you meet Isabela? They both had similar elements, but where did Dragon Age 2 fall short? For me it was the visual design of the bar itself.

Yes to voice acting! Please add more square. I would listen to every bit of it. (not including the repeating stuff)

Please hire Norio Wakamoto to do all the voices.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ylpdf5MJ-7M

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Originally Posted by Neptune

Who's Nolan North?

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Give you a clue:

*ahem*


[SIZE="5"]SSPAAAAAAAAAAAAACCCCCCCCCCEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!
SSPAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACCCCCCCEEEE!!!!!!
YYYEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEHAAAAAAWWWWW!!!!!![/SIZE]

As long as I have a button to hit so I can skip ahead after I finish reading the line of subtitled dialogue, I don't mind what they do for everybody else. (Amazing how easy it is to appease both camps, isn't it?)

Make voice acting for all the mission based content. Dont add any in normal quests or in text based chat.

to OP

no we dont

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Originally Posted by KiriA500

I only approve of this if Nolan North does all the voices.

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Looks like he's indeed part of the original English voice cast.

You can find the cast list in the game credits, but it's all the way at the end. It's also listed on IMDB.

I was shocked to find Claudia Black in the credits! (She's most known for her roles in Farscape and Stargate: SG1.) I love her work, and had no idea she had done any voice acting in the game.

There were obviously some quality voice actors hired for this game. I personally think what little bit we get of it is top notch.

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Originally Posted by Chardrizard

most people skip over the voice actings just to get into the real gameplay

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Please don't generalize...
I love all the cutscenes...

And like I said in the other thread, my English is only me 3rd language and unfortunately I dont speak French, German or Japanese either.
Imagine reading a wall of text written in a different language from your mothertongue, then add a pirate twist to it. Or in 11 that STUPID TARUWARU language!!!
Yeah, it would take me 20 minutes to read through a cutscene if I wanted to keep up with the storyline.
I LOVE the voice acting, it makes my life so much easier and I can actually keep up with stuff and people don't have to wait around for the token foreigner.

I think we should have voice acting in all quests that have some kind of a story line, like for example all the job quests. I dont care so much about leve quests or some "oh no, go fetch me 3 mole meats so I can cook food!" quests, but anything that takes a bit more time to comprehend would be very nice to have (at least optional) voiced over.

OR... if not, please Square Enix, can you translate this game in either Finnish or Swedish for me so I can follow all the storylines.

Nice find Rowyne. Serves to illustrate the level of talent procured for this game. The opening Limsa Lominsa scene is so good. If they could just get those voice actors to do readings every week until 2.0 I think that would go a long ways.

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Originally Posted by lackofwords

Yeah, the first sentence was just for TLDR purpose, giving my thoughts as concise as possible. Although, I didn't really mean 'forbid it' if I've given off that sense. More like, 'dialog serves its purpose in text for all the minor roles'.



Do you mean story telling with full voice acting? If so, then in short, maybe. It would be as much as I would enjoy a movie adaption of a book. Meaning it depends on who they've casted and the direction's portrayal of the work. Could be awful, or could be good.

Or if you're talking non-voiced scenes, like the scenes where main characters like Yda appear up in text instead of speech, yes it was awkward. However, I already had in mind what she sound like from her speech previously, thus there was already established context for me to infer off of.

I was even some what attached to minor characters with no story roles, such as retainers. They still have a personality that clearly is reflected by carefully chosen words. Such as shyness, ambitious, or elegance. Sadly, this does not become apparent until you actually pick them.

Or if you want me to refer to a text-only quest line,
(spoilers warning)

The THM class quest line, (below)

It pits you against a fellow THM in training, upon the first meeting with this character, you can already sense what kind of character she is by her actions and philosophy. Her personality clashes with your character's is clearly depicted without the need of voice. (well what SE makes out your character to be) You were made to hate that character, and I did.

However, as I mentioned, voicing story based characters would inherently give them more life when carefully casted by a director. But when applying it to a scale where everyone is voiced, minor characters get the short end of the stick. Where it might even break the player's immersion* in the game with poor acting, such as the examples given, where text alone would have still kept it intact.

Or in a worst case scenario; ever read a book or played a character where you've inherently gave the character a voice in your head, then went to see a movie or tv show adaption of it, and it breaks your vision of the character? This happens because of variance in how people interpret the work, and allows movies of the same story be directed differently.

A funny worst case scenario;
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FPxY8lpYAUM

*About immersion, voice only plays a small role. The sound, the environment, the music, the characters, all those sum up the full picture. Such as why does the club Afterlife in Mass Effect 2 give off a stronger impact than the bar in Dragon Age 2 where you meet Isabela? They both had similar elements, but where did Dragon Age 2 fall short? For me it was the visual design of the bar itself.

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Overall, great contribution to the discussion. Are you trying to say that minor character in Skyrim broke the sense of immersion because of the careless attitude behind the voice. I agree that it doesn't sound very moody, but it's not that much of a stretch that random woman #2591 in Skyrim would really sound like that. In any case, Skyrim is a terrible example of quality voice acting. For one thing, you have the same 3 gd males voice acting nearly every character in the game. It's impossible for 3 people to represent all the different sides with enough variety, unless it's South Park. FFXIV already has a lot more voice actors than Skyrim, and they're all damn good.

Voice acting has pluses and minuses, and honestly for this game especially, full voice acting would be a bad idea. The money is better spent on the actual game.
And in a multi lingual game you have another huge buget limit.
Also we havent seen how bioware plans to continue to support the game as it grows, while having to include new VA into every content they add in the future.

Its really just not worth the cost in resources for this game. The massive amounts of time and money it would cost, dont equal how much value they would get out of the same money put into game/world/pvp/item/graphics development.

For those who thought VA won't affect content development

http://www.vg247.com/2012/01/17/next...-through-2013/

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“We have people working on content that won’t be showing up in the game until 2013,” he said.

“We have writers already finishing off content for that, so I can already play through stuff from 2013 content – just not with voiceovers.

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Do you want 2.0 to be similarly delayed to 2019?

ToR sucks though...

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Originally Posted by MariyaShidou

For those who thought VA won't affect content development

http://www.vg247.com/2012/01/17/next...-through-2013/


Do you want 2.0 to be similarly delayed to 2019?

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TBH... I don't mind waiting a bit longer to get a finished product.
If I wanted to read walls for text, I would buy a book.

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Originally Posted by Jennestia

I'm quite sure people don't buy a video game because of voice acting. SWTOR is the exception because they had to resell KOTOR somehow.

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So you are saying they needed to get people interested in KOTOR 2.0 ..

Just like SE will have to get people reinterest in FFXIV 2.0.

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Voice acting doesn't make an MMO. You'll find this to be the case in the coming months with SWTOR crashes and burns like every single other 'WoW killer' before it.

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Depends what you are comparing it to, if you are comparing it to the success of WoW then you are deluded to begin with.

No matter how bad it gets it will never get as bad as this games lack of success.

Lol when I first saw this thread (it cut off the last part with the words voice acting) I thought it was a request for se to give us some kinda voice chat feature haha. Totally off topic >.>

On topic: I don't care what they decide as long as 2.0 comes out relatively on time heh

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Originally Posted by SniperRifle

Those people buy books, not video games.

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Yet I can promise you people would complain if everything you did had a voice tied to it, including hovering over UI elements.

I don't see them doing this for things like instances that tells a major chunk of story.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rmDOLVlkntQ THis is her speech (0:00-1:20) before she's engaged talking to her room filled with minions. Would I love to see something like this? Sure but i don't see it happening.