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

[syntaxlies]

Investing money =/= investing the whole team -- You do have a budget for your game, this is why some smaller companies go bankrupt/close after their game is released whether it does good or bad, because once you're outta money, that's it lol.

SE is a business, they can't continually funnel money from other potential projects for one -- especially considering SE stated that XIV is self-funded, they already dumped over 16 months into the game without any profit, that's a lot of money already invested.

voice acting = sells boxes = makes money, maybe not to FF purist, but for the majority or people.

[DeadRiser]

Investing money =/= investing the whole team -- You do have a budget for your game, this is why some smaller companies go bankrupt/close after their game is released whether it does good or bad, because once you're outta money, that's it lol.

SE is a business, they can't continually funnel money from other potential projects for one -- especially considering SE stated that XIV is self-funded, they already dumped over 16 months into the game without any profit, that's a lot of money already invested.

Yeah that's understandable, but it doesn't justify that the lack of content would be based on voice acting lol. I think voice acting would be great, even if it was mostly the main story and specific scenes. Especially since we only go through these missions once, unlike swtor.

I honestly think that since subs have started, Lindblum hasn't had that big of a hit. There are a ton of people in Ul'dah doing stuff, and everywhere's else. It'll take time to get that money back, but I don't think voice acting would be detrimental to content lol

[Jennestia]

voice acting = sells boxes = makes money, maybe not to FF purist, but for the majority or people.

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.

[syntaxlies]

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.

is that why so many game marketers decide to write it on the box?

[auritribe]

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.

Lets see...EQ2, Age of Conan, Rift, Aion, the list goes on and on.

At the end of the day, the voice acting and the graphics will get players, but it's gameplay that will keep the players. 100 million spend on voice acting can be spent far more wisely on other things that will make the game more fun.

[syntaxlies]

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.

Lets see...EQ2, Age of Conan, Rift, Aion, the list goes on and on.

At the end of the day, the voice acting and the graphics will get players, but it's gameplay that will keep the players. 100 million spend on voice acting can be spent far more wisely on other things that will make the game more fun.

exactly, "will get players", you can not keep players in game unless you get them first.

[Elexia]

is that why so many game marketers decide to write it on the box?

I remember buying DRIVER 2 many moons ago that mentions on foot missions, yet I bet no one bought the game because of that but rather because DRIVER 1 was so amazing they were craving a Driver 2. The back of the box/case is almost always just listing features, not the selling point.

I agree though, no one buys a video game for voice acting, they buy a video game for gameplay. Why get a video game when you can buy a DVD/Netflix and have all the voice acting you want for 70-200+ minutes?

[Douten]

SW is also 100% voice over. i think people mainly just want the CS voiced over and pretty much everyone watches the CS's

Definitely. Not just any run on the mill quest cs though. Those that only cut to the character saying a few lines and send you off your way can stay text. More elaborate CS from quest, GC, and main storyline will definitely have a nice touch with VA's. I feel more attached to characters with matching voices :3

[DeadRiser]

exactly, "will get players", you can not keep players in game unless you get them first.

Yup and in SWTOR's case, the gameplay is really fun. It's funny to go into a cutscene and listen to your friends responses if they get the highest roll of the dice. I doubt he's played swtor to begin with.

I don't like reading long walls of text, and when an NPC reads it out for me.. it just makes everything better. You can still read it if you don't want to hear it...

[Renshi]

exactly, "will get players", you can not keep players in game unless you get them first.

First Case Scenario:
Don't have Voice Acting, keep 5'000 players playing your game because they're having fun.

Second Case Scenario:
Have Voice Acting, get 40'000 players and keep 5'000 because the other 35'000 grew boring of the game.

Believe me, Voice Acting Gets the people, but what you're aiming for at the first time is to actually do something that Keeps the people playing the game. Once you get that you can make Voice Acting =)

SWTOR has done a good job on balancing these two. I'm not playing though because trying it is not my MMO, but that's really another story.