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

[AreeyaJaidee]

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.

Good stuff :3

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

[Bowen]

Good stuff :3

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

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

[Neptune]

Neptune, how have you been?

I fully support voice acting

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?

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.

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 .

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

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?

[AreeyaJaidee]

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

Yes I did

I did xD

I most certainly did :3

Have a nice day

[Bowen]

Yes I did

I did xD

I most certainly did :3

Have a nice day

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

[AreeyaJaidee]

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

Good Idea

Good Clarity! :3

*snuggle huggles*

[Bowen]

Good Idea

Good Clarity! :3

*snuggle huggles*

/gives cookie
:3