I think we would be better off without it honestly.

i guess the whole point is its a Role - Playing game. His voice is your voice. Everything he says, you are saying. Having a voice would kind of ruin that, it would make him seem more like a person you are controlling than you.

Although he will grunt and moan when he gets shot.

No, I was paying attention. This happened on my very first play-through, so I was definitely paying attention. That is why I think the hint system svcks. My Shepard was talking to Jacob. Being nice/paragon instead of being a jerk ended up starting a romance that my faithful to Liara Shepard did NOT want. So I restarted and ignored Jacob ever after. You see, when I can see what my pc is going to say I can decide whether I want to pursue this line of conversation or not. I never accidentally romanced Zevran in DA:O, for example. I could see what my character could say before I found my character actually saying it.

I approached the system thinking it would work. I found myself saving before conversations though, after a few of the hints ended up different than what I wanted. I have reloaded to pick a different hint in the hope of getting the dialogue, or close to the dialogue, I wanted.

I never said the dialogue couldn't be mixed. There are times where my paragon switches to paragade; I can't not headbutt the krogan, for instance. Generally picking the upper right reply won't be a bad or jerk reply. Picking the lower response generally won't be the nice reply. I do roleplay. I just like more control over my role-playing than guessing at what I'm going to say.

yeah i'm for sure the outlier here. i'm not even saying there should be a voice (obviously there isn't) in NV. i think it's something to consider in the future.

i just think the Bethesda style RPG could use more focus, i mean i know that's the whole draw of those games, the blank sheet idea, but sometimes i feel like those games are MMORPG's and i'm the only person online, too much of a playground, not enough substance.

edit: talaran i just didn't find the dialogue to be that vague. maybe 10 decisions were too vague in the entirety of the game, give or take? so i'm not really sympathetic in regards to that issue. i dunno, i scored best in reading comprehension on the ACT's, maybe that had something to do with it.

Having a voice picked for you is definitely the worse of the two evils by far, in my opinion. And that's not even a fully accurate statement, as I don't see "being the only mute" as an evil- when I read what my dialogue choices are, my imagination provides them spoken in a voice that to me, fits my character.

There is no voice over for the player character in FONV, simply because there was no voice -overed player characters in any fallout game before it. Just as Link will never have a game in which he speaks, because link hasn't in any other games. Most games are defined by the games before it. The first game of 'a' being voicce or not will directly effect games all the way to game 'z'. Pretty much. I'm not saying this is how it is always, I mean look at fable 3 breaking out a talker after the other fables had mutes.

The debate is, would the change - a change against what were use to be good or bad.

I can think of any other cases right now. But, willl Fable 3 be alright despite breaking away? Would Fallout if done right, maybe able to change?

I think that made sense..sorry dead tired right now.

I'm on the fence on this, I personally would not like to hear my character speak any lines of dialogue. But I would like 10 or so preset voices per gender to make sound effects for when i get shot, blown up, encounter Fisto, Etc.. I think stuff like that would really help immersion. When your character dies he doesn't scream or yelp or do anything and that mentally disconnects me from the game experience a little bit.

I really don't know how adding a voice to your mute character would be a bad thing.... It works quite well in ME2. But if Obsidian had a tonne of money, then they probably would hire alot of voice actors to do different voices for the main character.

Your character isn't mute though. When you pick a dialogue line your character is actually saying that and the person you're talking to hears it; a mute character would be someone like Link from Zelda who doesn't talk at all. I honestly don't see how adding a voice to the protagonist contributes anything to the experience. It's no better than imagining what your character sounds like when he or she speaks a line of dialogue.

Having a voice actor to speak for the character would limit dialog options (more production time) and limit NPC dialog (substantially less discspace due to massive amounts of VO for the PC). Also, having someone, with a different voice than your own, can very often take the player out of the experience.

No.

To me, voicing the player character is the most annoying, most anti roleplay "feature" any roleplay game can have. I've come to detest otherwise decent games because of this.

I'd rather imagine what my character sounds like than be forced into a voice that may not jibe with the character concept.

The reason why it worked in the ME series was because you played as Commander Shepard. It may of been Commander Shepard the Hero, Commander Shepard the [censored], or Commander Shepard the Whatever-the-neutral-option-would-be, but you were always, even across different save files, the same character (Baring one interlude in 2, but that was only like 5-10 minutes). In the Fallout games, there is no Shepard-style main character. Besides the fact that you are a courier, or from a vault, or whatever, the games give you nothing about your character. This is mainly so you can fill in your own, more advanced background, instead of the game deciding it for you. It also means there's less pre-set personality, again, so you can fill it in yourself. Adding a preset voice can take the choice of personality from you, even if it's a choice that never effects gameplay. Many people don't want that

Every word I agree with. And yes, good thing too, we all have a swarm of characters we'd like to roleplay and I doubt they could have a set
voice for a drunken miner named Whiskey Pete

or a horribly grammar challenged tribal.

or a stuttering explorer.

The Nerevarine has a voice.
The Champion of Cyrodiil has a voice.
The Lone Wanderer has a voice.
So, too, will the Courier. But all you'll hear is grunts and other combat sounds.

No there is not. In games with this degree of player customization and dialogue options, it's not even worth having a voice. It's better to just imagine a voice and not be disappointed.

yes but those examples aren't even present in the dialogue of the game. if it is, it's all in your head.

i don't like to use my imagination to fill in the gaps that aren't present because of technical limitations. it's an illusion of freedom. maybe it's cuz im getting older but i need something a little more tangible. that's why i like mass effect which gives you backstory that characters talk about and react to, its real.

i totally understand if we're talking about table top games, where you actually can decide every aspect of customization, but don't pretend that the games of fallout actually satisfy that as well. actually screw what i say, pretend if you want, there's no reason why i should care how you play your own game. but don't say its superior customization

I respect you opinion and get what your saying. Mostly its in my head and I can make up explanations for myself. I just think of the dialogue choices you get in game are just bases of what your character is saying.

For example:

Guy offers you money to kill some innocent:

"No thats horrible!"-in game dialogue

"No sorry sir, this would bring unwanted attention to me for a certain group, I must decline." -In my head for a very polite neutral character.


But the reactions to dialogue by the NPC will of course be their own way and lead to contridictions to what I was thinking in my head to what was said in actual game dialogue. This is where the explanations I make upcome into play.

Its completely relevant. I said it would kill the role playing aspect in Fallout, but in the next statement it would be extremely awkward to not have a voice in the mass effect series.

ok...but you can't just say voice kills the rpg aspect in one game and then not with another game without providing details. the WHY is what i'm looking for.

I am Ever so glad that the player is not given a real voice - that destroys the immersion for me as the voice is never me. I much prefer the current form, even though it means the voice acting is all one-way - I prefer to imagine what I would say or How I would say the dialogue and go from there.

You're character talks, you just can't hear it because you're thinking to hard.

Actually, the nerevarine didn't have a voice. All you heard was the thwack of the weapon as it hit him, he never made any noise himself.

i would want a voice, i think its awkward without one coz my characters going around thinking omg this is so cool everyone can read my mind lol

The difference between Mass Effect and Fallout is that in Mass Effect you play Commander Sheperd. You don't play Joe Bob the drunkard cowboy, or Professor Bill the mad scientist like you can in Fallout. I ME your character is already pretty much defined from the outset, making it a different roleplaying experience, one that is noy worse because of an added voice. In Fallout they should not add a voice because what if you're a drunk, slurring everything, or have a stutter. Nope, same "I'm Commander Sheperd and this is my Favorite store in the Citadel".

No, Never. Simply put. It would break a lot of roleplay options. In Mass Effect you can choose a couple past options and the roleplaying stems from there. Fallout, however, gives you the ability to make characters with a multitude of different personalities, and in the case of New Vegas, pasts. Yes, stuff like that does require some imagination on your part, but that's just the kind of RPG these games are.