Having your character talk during cutscenes

[LlenCoram]

I dont think because a company does it poorly that the idea itself is poor. In that matter anything FFXIV 1.0 did was a horrid idea and Yoshida made a horrible decision by keeping anything it had. (which some argue lol) But I know most people felt comfortable keeping most aspects but just reworking it a lot.

Imo, not a horrible idea and I think you are being highly unfair by pointing out mmos that failed entirely as example why the idea is bad.

Let me restate then. I think it's a terrible idea if the intention is to promote any connection we have to our characters. I'll agree that having our characters take a more active part in cutscenes would be nice, and having us grunt or laugh or sigh or cough or whatever would be fine, but the very second your character opens his mouth and spouts off a two sentence statement, using sentiments you yourself would never use, I can guarantee that you'll feel less connected to your character. It doesn't matter if this dialogue is voiced or written, in the end the writers are choosing to speak for you, which just can't work. The only possible way it could work is if they gave us speech options. Mass Effect did it beautifully, with the vague "gist" statements on the wheel that led to a more in-depth and lore-friendly statement by the main character. Even if it wasn't exactly something you'd say, there was still some connection because you chose for him to go in that direction.

I didn't use the example of the other MMOs having failed for having done the voiced character thing, I simply meant that other MMOs did it and it doesn't work, in my opinion. I'm all for having Llen grunt hit in a cutscene, or growl in an angry way if some guy is being a jerk, or gasp in shock or express sadness at something horrific having happened. Character integration into cutscenes can be achieved perfectly well without having our characters see something bad happen, take a knee, and say, "Oh, woe! I can't believe something like this happened! I'm angry, and I will vow to make them pay. Whether they pay with coin, or pay with their lives, they will pay! FREEDOM!" or some such nonsense.

[Shougun]

Let me restate then. I think it's a terrible idea if the intention is to promote any connection we have to our characters. I'll agree that having our characters take a more active part in cutscenes would be nice, and having us grunt or laugh or sigh or cough or whatever would be fine, but the very second your character opens his mouth and spouts off a two sentence statement, using sentiments you yourself would never use, I can guarantee that you'll feel less connected to your character. It doesn't matter if this dialogue is voiced or written, in the end the writers are choosing to speak for you, which just can't work. The only possible way it could work is if they gave us speech options. Mass Effect did it beautifully, with the vague "gist" statements on the wheel that led to a more in-depth and lore-friendly statement by the main character. Even if it wasn't exactly something you'd say, there was still some connection because you chose for him to go in that direction.

I didn't use the example of the other MMOs having failed for having done the voiced character thing, I simply meant that other MMOs did it and it doesn't work, in my opinion. I'm all for having Llen grunt hit in a cutscene, or growl in an angry way if some guy is being a jerk, or gasp in shock or express sadness at something horrific having happened. Character integration into cutscenes can be achieved perfectly well without having our characters see something bad happen, take a knee, and say, "Oh, woe! I can't believe something like this happened! I'm angry, and I will vow to make them pay. Whether they pay with coin, or pay with their lives, they will pay! FREEDOM!" or some such nonsense.

I suppose everyone connects differently and/or has different points at which connections can fail and in general the experience isnt hindered.

As silence or any other type of emote is also an action that a player may have not personalized. It seems you have no problem with those types of actions (probably because they tend to be subtle) vs actual vocalization (in this case written vocalization lol).

I on the other hand prefer the general choice of action and accept that it may not be 100% my ideal moment because its pretty much impossible to do that (similar to how you point out Mass Effect has "gist" choices that include dialog and emotions).

Of course if the character isnt meant to be "mine" then I start to judge on a character base not on a personal choice base, like watching a movie. so sometimes a silent character is cool and other times its like "why didnt you open your damn mouth and tell them that way was going to kill them."

When my character makes emotes that I dont agree with I feel distanced by him - specially in the opening scenes.. lol I was like close your damn mouth and go help out.

I think its more that the idea lends itself more to non-MMORPGs, a story where there is single player, or a limited number of actors the player can assume.

A voice lends a personality, a look into what makes the character tick. For example, Saints Row 3. There you have 6 voices to choose from, and each handles the events throughout the game in their own manner.(one's a faux Jason Statham kind of guy, the other a typical rap star, another a bipolar lady seeing a shrink[and voiced by Lightning], and so on.) Within their own game sessions they are their own person.

But multiply that by hundreds of thousands of players, in one game? Not so much.

We may have the likes of default character like Derplander, but a MMO gives the option of the player to make their own story and adventure with their own created avatar. adding a voice with responses that aren't yours takes some of that narrative away, now your player is someone else, with shades of the default personality cloud who you are in chat.

The day they can make me sound like a take-the-wrong-things-seriously Elvaan lass, though, I'm all for it.

OP should edit their post but later they clarify they meant written dialog only.