Having your character talk during cutscenes

[Venat]

Maybe you can select few options in your config and character creator to set on how YOU want you character to talk like by setting in options such as...
Stronger,Full of himself, Shy, scared... its alot of work to add those options into play in dialog. It's much easyer to leave it to the standard MMO style like it alwas has been or just make 2 types of dialog for females/males. Theirs already some stuff for characters to in game to say to you based on sex but would really like to see if it's other way around.

[Venat]

oh... lets look at other MMOs (ok the ONLY mmo to ever do this), they failed miserably after a year or so. I'm refering to Bioware's horrible SWTOR. The resources needed for this type of thing would take months upon months if not years. Its not as simple as plugging in some bum's voice into a character. its the cutscenes, the dialogue, the facial expressions, the models. Sorry for being Mr. Negative Nancy but dont ever expect this from SE for FF14.

Not talking about voice acting. Just the dialogue.

[Einherei]

The only way i'd see this working in line with SE is the example from God Eater Burst.
It too is a game where the player character does not directly speak or say anything even in the voice acting segments when other characters speak. The main character only nods or does gesture similar to XI or XIV.

However at one point during the main climax when the stakes are high at the end point they shout out (with the same voice you chose for basic battle grunts/emotes) "Don't give up on living!" and charges in to help one of the main characters in the story, it really surprised me because i wasn't expecting it, it immediately made the last fight very memorable as it was a quote said earlier in the game - something similar where you could believe that's actually what your character would say at a climactic moment would be something great to experience in XIV if they ever did limit voice acting.

[fusional]

http://youtu.be/oKI-tD0L18A

characters in MMOs which don't talk during cutscenes don't talk because the developers don't want the character's personality to clash with the player's idea of what the character's personality should be. so there is interaction and npcs talk *to you* but your responses are only implied as a means to provide a blank slate for you to fill in with your own imagination.

i can almost guarantee your character will never legitimately talk during cutscenes because of this. square doesn't want you to feel like you're playing somebody else's story. it's supposed to feel like your own.

[Nuru]

I'm currently playing through Fire Emblem: Awakening on the 3DS and I support the OP's idea. In Fire Emblem, you make your character, and even select a voice. There are only 3 voices per gender, and they don't really voice the entire dialogue, but for the most part, they do respond and makes you feel like your character is actually a main character in the story.

Even if it isn't voice acted, I feel like it would be nice to see some dialogue from your character, maybe even some more options to choose from when asked for a response.

EDIT: Just an idea, but maybe a separate response depending on your guardian diety, or maybe selecting an option for personality in Character Creation.

[LlenCoram]

That's the same old problem: however generic your line will be, it will always end up being something OOC (Out of Character) for at least somebody. FF MMO are about immersion, usually identifying with your character, which ends being not just a bunch of polygons.
The moment they make they speak, they're taking your character away from you.

I'm glad someone else mentioned this. I thought it would be cool that my character had a voice in GW2, but then she started saying things and responding in ways I'd never do. Just due to her having a voice, she ceased being me and was instead just some person I happened to control.

Giving my absolutely not to this idea. I know I'll get flamed for it, but this is one of the biggest immersion destroyers out there.

[Loggos]

I disagree on vocal dialogues for my character for the said reasons. Please don't make it happen.
I imagine to be this character and hearing her talk will never be like I would react, no matter how amazing the voice actor is. In the latter case (having a good voice actor) I play a character with a physical design I like and with a vocally greatly realised personality. But it's not me and to have my char be "me" is excactly what I want. :/

I think the idea of choosing text-based answers is ok though. If I had different options to answer something but it is not dubbed I could choose what would represent me most and still imagine how I'd say it.

[Zezlar]

I don't need to have my character talk, but I do want to see motion acting. Wings of the Goddess did the cut-scenes sooo sooo well. I'm hoping we get to see more of those actiony type scenes and less of the two Joe schmoes standing around talking like stiff twigs.

[Quesse]

Having a silent character nodding, shaking, and grunting has always been a turn-off for me.

Certainly not immersive in any way.

[Nakiamiie]

EDIT: Just an idea, but maybe a separate response depending on your guardian diety, or maybe selecting an option for personality in Character Creation.

That and have multiple answers to select from in a dialogue. It allows for the character to be like the players wants. My characters knows a lot more about the world than I do, so it makes sense to me that she could give answers I wouldn't have thought of.