I think this owes to the limitations of the time. When first released, BG was 5 discs, and part two was 4. Add in one more for each expansion. It just would have required a lot more data, and thus discs, to have every line voiced. Dont get me wrong though, I loved those games.

The voice acting is, by and large, fantastic. As people have pointed out, the main issue is that Elder Scrolls games are so large it would be cost-prohibitive to try and get enough different character lines/reactions for people to not feel like it's repetitive.

the only actors i do not like is whoever voiced farengar (that actor didnt even try) and general tullius (he seriously sounds like the soldier from team fortress 2)

You underestimate the power of Christopher Walken.

What do you mean? The voice actor of Farengar nailed the part - He's supposed to sound arrogant, pretentious, distracted, and socially-awkward.

I've only come across one line in TES that I felt was bad voice acting:

"close shuuuuut......................... the jaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaws......................................... OOOOOOOOOOOOFFFFFFFFFFF OOOOOOOOOOOOOBLIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIVIONNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

That was narmtastic. Hell, I didn't mind Sunny Smiles' voice (probably because she's hot), but Patrick Stewart knew that was his last line, and boy did he ham it up.

I noticed a big drop in quality voice acting in skyrim compared Fallout: New Vegas..

Exactly.

People seem to think that good voice-acting means that you're supposed to love listening to every character. Which is just flat-out wrong.

Nothing beats Fallout 1 and 2's voice actors now those were amazing... baldurs gate also had great voice actors too.

Sadly, I find that he failed to do this. Talking in a monotone voice and overemphasizing words does not mean he is arrogant, pretentious, distracted, or socially awkward. It means he needs to go to acting school.

My two cents.



I'm supposed to not like a voice actor? If I don't like a voice actor, it's because he didn't do his part well. If he didn't do his part well, it's because he didn't even try to make his character believable, breaking the immersion that BGS wanted to create. So yes, I'm supposed to like a voice actor.

I think it's supposed to be Scottish, actually. lol But he's very popular with Americans. I don't think anyone actually considers it authentic, it is sort of Sheogorath voice, not any RL correlation.

As someone already pointed out, he's going for a bad, broad Scottish. And it's clearly intentional.

Also, as a proud Englishman, shouldn't you be able to tell the difference between Scottish and Irish dialects? I'm American and I don't think for a second that he's trying to pull off Irish.

I'm Scottish, and I don't think for a second he's trying to pull off Scottish.

The voice acting is good quality. But yeah Farengar sounds silly when he speaks. So do the male Dunmers, except Erandur.

What throws me off is when some Nords have an Altmer voice, like the Jarl of Falkreath.

I believe it's meant to denote characters who are arrogant or soft.

I'd rather have this than have like 4 voice actors in the entire game, like in Oblivion. That was just ridiculous, they couldn't even get one voice actor for every race.

I think the quantity and quality of voice actors in Skyrim is just fine.

if they didn't hire all the famous people to voice act, we could have had both.

I always think voice acting in games is lame, however most of what Ive come across in Skyrim isn't half bad.

I just look @ it like this, back in medeival/ancient times, language was broken and funny sounding as well lol.

Max von sydlow was the only one i recognised.

Farengars voice accents i've heard quite a few times but not in america.

The old ladies voices could of had another to add spice to the characters.alot of north european style accenting was used,it must of been hell to choose which voices to use.

The voice acting is huge,i was in markarth and got bugged at a save and was trying alsorts of things to see if i could get past it and i noticed each time i got near the bug the gaurds voice changed to a different actors but the same dialog.

My brothers and I do that. Hell, I bet he has a "More Convincing" voice than the one you use to speak normally in. http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/RealisticDictionIsUnrealistic, http://xkcd.com/1006/.

What did you think of Vorstagg's voice-acting?

Hmm, yeah, the character himself IS distracted, isn't he?

It's just one line that seems a bit misread. When Baalgruff first takes you to first meet him. I can't even recall it now, but whatever. Like I said, I don't mind the VA in general. He does a lot of decent voices in this game.

Except he doesn't sound "arrogant, pretentious, distracted, and socially-awkward" at all. He sounds like he's reading from a script, and doesn't know how to get anything across to the listener beyond the words he's speaking. It's the same exact thing with , whom he also voiced. I could practically hear the VA turning the pages of his script as he spoke.

> "OH-YES-I-COULD-USE-SOMEONE-TO-FETCH-SOMETHING-FOR-ME"

I'm pretty sure that this part (and some of the followup) was a deliberate gag (knocking against but not quite breaking the fourth wall) in that he outright tells you he's sending you on a fetch quest.

Although I am no professional I have done some voice overs for the Quest & Legends mod, for Dragon Age Origins; and, one for Fallout 3. (All for free mind you.) That said, it has been my experience that it is much more challenging to sit at my computer with my G35 headset and boom mike trying to act-- for example, like an Arrogant snooty Noblemen or a hard nosed sea Captain, or a Templar Commander. Recording each line of script individually each time and then saving it with a specific code number.

Now, whether their voice actors were in an actual studio, with technicians working all the gizmos or doing it as I have done, I don't know. But again, voice acting isn't as easy as acting out on a stage or back lot. It is all done with the voice. I hope this helps explain a few things? But, you probably already know this.