So on the subject of voice acting...

ShaunzyBombzy · Apr 3, 2016

So I have heard a little bit on both ends about whether or not Sui Generis will be voiced. I very much hope that it will be. I myself am an actual professional sound engineer, and have been trying to get in contact with BareMettle to offer my services, but so far haven't heard anything back.

The main argument I've heard against it is that the devs think it would be too expensive. But I am entirely willing to offer professional services with no agreed upon monetary compensation, which leads me to believe if they put the word out there, they could have a DOZEN people like myself willing to contribute, just to make the game that much deeper.

What do you guys think? Are you into the idea of fully voiced characters, or has everyone decided they are more into the text-based dialogue system?

Parco · Apr 3, 2016

voice acting all lines for all characters would be really time consuming(and thus expensive) and that will also lower the quantity of dialogue choices, keeping it text based is simpler and will also allow for more dynamic/deep conversation. they are (or had) considering having greetings and small phrases voiced, but personally i think it will be better just keeping it pure text based, would be weird hearing a npc talk but when talking to the npc it suddenly becomes silent. what could work is adding a mumbling sound when a character talks.

Qazlal · Apr 3, 2016

I don't think this is a good idea for Exanima / SG kind of games.
Text-based dialog system much more flexible and makes a game deeper in some way. Voice acting entails a lot of work and unforeseen troubles.
For an instance, Grim Dawn was released recently, but voice acting in game is poor and cuts an ear.

Chase · Apr 3, 2016

Yes, there are many people who are willing to help with the game (damn near everyone on this forum, myself included), but BareMettle's employees are very passionate about their game and have extremely high standards. Not only that, but you have to consider that this is essentially the life's work of many on the team; taking on new people (especially strangers over the internet, no offense), for something that they have put so much of their lives into, probably isn't easy. I'm also not certain of the legality of accepting unpaid work from strangers in order to make a commercial product. While it might not be illegal by itself, I wouldn't be surprised if there were loopholes that could result in BM getting sued by someone who did unpaid work for them.
I agree with Parco and Qazlal here, text-based really is the best option.
On a similar note, BM want their game(s) to be at least somewhat mod compatible, so we will likely get our chance to contribute to the game eventually.

Knave · Apr 3, 2016

ShaunzyBombzy said:
What do you guys think? Are you into the idea of fully voiced characters, or has everyone decided they are more into the text-based dialogue system?

I personally like games that keep voice acting to the bare minimum because it leaves a lot of room for imagination to fill the blanks while still doing its job. A good quote with some "hum..." or "hurg!" sound on it is cheaper and easier to deliver than a fully voice-acted line and with this bare minimum you can make endless texts feel emotionally charged. Don't get me wrong, VA is great and it really brightens up some games, but it really ruins some others for me (I'm looking at you, Skyrim)

Basically, I'd add voice-acting, but in a very minimalistic way.

16iclark · Apr 3, 2016

Knave said:
Basically, I'd add voice-acting, but in a very minimalistic way.

I personally like how Pillars of Eternity did it, some of the dialogue is voice acted, some of it isn't.

ChavaiotH · Apr 3, 2016

Good example of voice acting is Divinity Original Sin Enhanced Edition. They did a good job but it took one year and it's really expansive. Text based is the best variant. It's more flexible for changes.

Gsprfdude · Apr 3, 2016

Knave said:
I personally like games that keep voice acting to the bare minimum because it leaves a lot of room for imagination to fill the blanks while still doing its job. A good quote with some "hum..." or "hurg!" sound on it is cheaper and easier to deliver than a fully voice-acted line and with this bare minimum you can make endless texts feel emotionally charged. Don't get me wrong, VA is great and it really brightens up some games, but it really ruins some others for me (I'm looking at you, Skyrim)

Basically, I'd add voice-acting, but in a very minimalistic way.

I agree with this. I think it would suit the game better if the dialogue was done with text but I think certain lines might benefit from voice acting. Like if you walk into an inn and the owner says "Welcome" to you, just the little things.

Syllabear3 · Apr 4, 2016

People will ask dialogues in other langages.
I am not against it anyways. A good game with good voices is wonderful.

The only game that i played that had awful acting voices and completly out of context is blade and soul na. One of the main reasons i left that awful game.

Pengman19 · Apr 4, 2016

Witcher 3 had pretty impressive voice acting. Fallout 4 was pretty good, especially for Bethesda which usually struggles here.

Elaxter · Apr 7, 2016

Voice acting is good, but you sacrifice a great deal of fluidity with the dialogue system. You can have more paths for dialogue, meaning more choices, meaning a better game overall.

Pengman19 · Apr 7, 2016

Elaxter said:
Voice acting is good, but you sacrifice a great deal of fluidity with the dialogue system. You can have more paths for dialogue, meaning more choices, meaning a better game overall.

I'm not against lack of voice acting, especially if proper resources cannot be allocated for it.

But I do not think having voice acting = less dialogue branching.

It just means more shit to record.

Elaxter · Apr 7, 2016

Pengman19 said:
I'm not against lack of voice acting, especially if proper resources cannot be allocated for it.

But I do not think having voice acting = less dialogue branching.

It just means more shit to record.

More shit to record = less dialogue branching. because work = money.

It's why Fallout 4 is a shallow RPG. Beth dumped too many resources into VA for the protag that they overlooked other, important things.

Pengman19 · Apr 7, 2016

I don't believe that more shit to record necessarily means more money to the point where it's unobtainable.

We also don't know what the amount of NPCs the game will have. It could be a fraction of Fallout4's NPCs, but with higher quality branching dialogues.

I personally think Fallout4, Witcher3, and soon Kingdom Come Deliverance, are solid RPGs. I'm excited about what Sui Generis will bring to the table, as Madoc very much so wants to make a different, and deeper RPG. World immersion is one of the biggest factors to have a rich and deep experience, and lack of voice acting inherently makes the world less realistic.

ArTIkBaNAnA · Apr 7, 2016

Pengman19 said:
I don't believe that more shit to record necessarily means more money to the point where it's unobtainable.

We also don't know what the amount of NPCs the game will have. It could be a fraction of Fallout4's NPCs, but with higher quality branching dialogues.

I personally think Fallout4, Witcher3, and soon Kingdom Come Deliverance, are solid RPGs. I'm excited about what Sui Generis will bring to the table, as Madoc very much so wants to make a different, and deeper RPG. World immersion is one of the biggest factors to have a rich and deep experience, and lack of voice acting inherently makes the world less realistic.

I don't think voice acting will even be possible with the dialog system that is planned for this game.
From what I remember, the answers are pieced together on the spot. I'll have to check that again, but I'm sure they wrote something about the dialog being dynamic.

Plus, for such a small, new company I'd say it would be smarter to focus on getting their game done and their core features polished instead of adding VA on top of everything else.
Maybe once Sui Generis becomes a big success they could splurge on VA for their next game.

Knave · Apr 8, 2016

I'll have to check that again, but I'm sure they wrote something about the dialog being dynamic.

Not sure I can explain how this makes me feel. This will be enough, I guess:

Elaxter · Apr 8, 2016

Pengman19 said:
I personally think Fallout4, Witcher3, and soon Kingdom Come Deliverance, are solid RPGs.

No offense, but I think you're out of your depth here.

Pengman19 · Apr 8, 2016

Elaxter said:
No offense, but I think you're out of your depth here.

I'm not quite sure what you mean. Maybe you're unfamiliar with the concept of people having different opinions. But I appreciate the necessity you felt in sharing your elitist viewpoints with me. Good work.

Elaxter · Apr 9, 2016

Pengman19 said:
I'm not quite sure what you mean. Maybe you're unfamiliar with the concept of people having different opinions. But I appreciate the necessity you felt in sharing your elitist viewpoints with me. Good work.

The idea that Fallout 4 is a good roleplaying game is simply false. It's an on-rails, Call of Duty shooter masquerading as an open-world Fallout game. Sure it has the (gutted) stats and perks, the (yes-man) dialogue system, and the (useless) loot, but it's shallow compared to previous iterations.

Sui Generis has already proved to be a far superior roleplaying game, even with the little information that we have about it.

I just noticed this was severely off topic! Sorry.

Knave · Apr 9, 2016

I'd love some dwarf fortress dialogue generation, but it's really hard to implement and sometimes, this happens:

No, but seriously, something like that, to a lesser extent, can make every quest a different one.

Now you mentioned Skyrim there is a mod that adds a lot of charm to it: it includes procedurally generated quests that go on their own (and expire) and random adventurers who take on said quests and MAY finish them before you do. It would be fun if you went on some good old headhunting and found that someone else is about to take your prize. What would you do? Up to you.