This is my first TES game and I absolutely love it despite the flaws. I've also done enough research to know about Oblivion and Morrowind. My question is, what was the point of selecting a voice to your character if he/she doesn't even talk? I think it would have added to the immersion if every dialogue choice was voice acted. Hopefully the next TES will have it.

What do you think?

Because we all are making our own characters, so a voice would kill who we want to be. The voice could be to deep, to high, too young, to old, etc. We all have our own idea of what our characters sound like, and for that reason, Bethesda will never officially voice the player.

We don't choose a voice for our in-game character.

This. Also he/she shouts.



That.

I think this topic has a rather obvious answer.

We hope, anyways.

I very much prefer a http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silent_protagonist in games, and especially so in RPGs. Much too often in RPGs when I hear the main character talk I just think "my character doesn't sound like that!", and even with games like Dragon Age Origins which offered several voices, there wasn't any voice that I felt was fit for my character.

Amen, brother!

EDIT: @Freddo. My feelings exactly. I bought 2Worlds2 the other day and could not get into it at all. One of the reasons was that the protagonist was voice acted and I could not stand the voice. Even with a few choices I doubt I would find one that would feel right. Silent is better.

You can't choose. And what do I think?

I think it failed miserably in ME having a scruffy bush voice for a female character. These are our characters. They should sound like we imagine them to sound.

Obviously because Bethesda don't know how I sound like.

My Dovahkiin talks to me...... he always dares me to try and kill the children..... they can't die, did you know that..... THEY CAN'T DIE!!!!!!

The Dragonborn does have a voice file, but its a very very quiet whisper that no one can really hear, otherwise the power of their Thu'um would rip the merchants and quest npcs to pieces and the Dragonborn would suddenly become a mass murderer of innocent towns people and merchants. His/Her shout is so powerful it would even kill the Greybeards. You do hear the dragonborn talk one time during the game, when Parthannax tells you to talk to him as a dragon, and rattles Parthannax pretty good and he gets off on it a little which makes it rather disturbing.

On a side note, the Dragonborn talks everytime you us a shout. Thats the Dragonborns real voice.

This^.

And the tiny amount of vocal sounds the character does make already annoys me. Especially when it's a male character and he gets hit by an arrow or something. Frankly it sounds like someone told a voice actor to imagine what it feels like to get kicked in the crotch by a guy with a size 25 foot wearing an iron boot---and then make the sound that accompanies the pain. Even worse are the pain sounds female orcs make.

The shouts aren't too bad though. But anything more would be lame.

It kills immersion.

I would take your idea straight to oblivion and leave it there for years to come. Absolutely not.

I think it fit nicely in Mass Effect. FemShep was an amazing voice actor, and fitting for the soldier type.

It worked in Mass Effect because they were telling the story of Shepard, not you. Plus, given the overall gameplay, a silent character would have been worse.

I would guess that's the rational of why they voice acted the protagonist in 2 Worlds 2, but then again, that is part of why that game did not appeal to me that much. When I play a game, I like to create my own characters. I am not really all that interested in playing some scripted character that someone else created.

I couldn't've said it better myself.

I didn't and don't care for it at all. It matched none of my Femsheps. It didn't work for me no matter who's story it was. It's still an RPG. You are a fan, that's great. I am a fan, just not of the voice. In any RPG, not just ME.

EDIT : It's my Shepard.
I choose the way they look.
I choose the way they fight.
I choose who they side with.
I am telling my story. i am not playing Deus Ex...and that's another one that fails.
I should not stuck with any voice, and definitely not a scruffy (I'm really a man in a woman's body) voice.

The Dragonborn technically does talk. Just use Throw Voice shout

It's for immersion. To make you feel like you are the person and not just controlling them. Similar to the classic doom games I think.

And how do you think he asks people questions in dialogue mode?

A talking character approach RUINED Deus Ex 3. All immersion was lost because of it. The game forced you to use a pre-built identity, and the identity was of some pretentious metrosixual dweeb. What a CATASTROPHIC decision on the part of the developers.

I would be very, very upset if Bethesda did the same thing with TES or FO DLC's and new titles.

Terrible idea. Firstly you NEVER select a voice for your character in Skyrim.

Secondly a lot of data is wasted for a mechanic which a lot of people would not appreciate. That data could have gone towards increasing quality or quantity of other, more important content to increase immersion.

Thirdly, you are entirely at the mercy of the voice actors. Most of the voices do not sound anything like they should for the character you are playing, and it's more detrimental for my experience to have a character with an ill-suited voice rather than no voice at all.
Agreed. There are some games where the voicing is done well for the player character - where the voice recorded makes sense for the character. After all, for these games it is his/her story you are playing. However there is always the danger that the voice doesn't match the character. Often this isn't in the case, but having a whiny, nasally, high pitched actor playing an SAS soldier would destroy the integrity of the story.

Where I say whiny, nasally, high pitched actor - this is what I was thinking.

Voices in videogames are only useful so that the character's story can be more fleshed out. Think characters like Ezio Auditore, Kratos, and Marcus Fenix. You get a feeling of who they are through what they say and it defines the character.

In Skyrim, your character's backround and personality is all up to you. So having a voice is pointless and most likely detrimental. If they DID have a voice, then it would give them a personality that someone else decided to give them. The character would be more defined. Like Commander Shepherd or Hawke. Worked (more or less) in those games, but Skyrim is all about creating every aspect of the character yourself. Hence the incredibly vague intro of your characters starting out as prisoners.

No, I don't want a voice actor doing my voice. The voice in my head is just right for each character I make. It would ruin the game for me if it was a preset thing.