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Place yo' bets: Will Starfield have a voiced protagonist?
- Thread starter TissueBox
- Start date
Yeah... they arent going to go backwards with such a thing. Just hope the dialogue choice system isn't garbage
The multiple backgrounds you can give your character makes me think they are diving even deeper into character creation. That is as far away from a predetermined character you can get.
Judging how they handled expanded dialogues in F76, looks like Bethesda going to go back to silent PC.
Shit was awful in Fallout 4 lol
Shit was awful in Fallout 4 lol
That doesn't really say much IMO. You can choose between multiple backgrounds in Mass Effect too but Shepard is very much their own character.
I strongly doubt that having voiced protags for everything (single player) will be the way Bethesda will go forward. It kinda worked (well, in theory) for Fallout 4 and also for Starfield probably because the PC will be human, but for future Elder Scrolls games there is almost no way they will go with a voiced protagonist, unless they completely cut out different playable races.
I can't see them hiring 20 different actors (10 playable races, 2 voice actors per race to account for sex) to act out every single line in TES6. Even if they would have same voice actors doing the voice of (for example) Breton and Imperial races, they would still need to record two different performances for every single line of dialogue in the game because Imperials and Bretons don't sound the same.
Is not voicing the main character really a step backwards, though? Beside the fact that having non-voiced protagonists is still pretty much the standard in WRPGs, the choice to voice the protagonist was one of the most universally disliked features of Fallout 4. Even most people I know that liked Fallout 4, hated the voice acting of the main characrers.
I wouldn't be surprised if Bethesda wouldn't go for voiced protagonists this time because besides fixing one of the main criticisms FO4 got, it's also a massive time and budget saver.
After reading the thread and seeing the scope for character creation, I don't think Bethesda will have a speaking protag in this game. Which will be for the best.
I don't want to be a set or voiced protagonist in this sort of game. I want to be who I want to be. Don't saddle me with a pre established life. I don't want an SO or kid or career until I decide to have one.
Mass Effect works because, despite every one having their own version of Shepard or Ryder, at the end of the day you are still Shepard or Ryder and are working within the parameters of their characterization.
I don't want that here in this sort if open world RPG. It's limiting and removes any role playing at all. I can't be a hopeless romantic sniper or a drug addicted gunslinger or a former thief trying to redeem themselves that I want to RP as in Fallout 4 because I'm constantly reminded of my damn family everytime I talk to someone.
I don't want to be a set or voiced protagonist in this sort of game. I want to be who I want to be. Don't saddle me with a pre established life. I don't want an SO or kid or career until I decide to have one.
Mass Effect works because, despite every one having their own version of Shepard or Ryder, at the end of the day you are still Shepard or Ryder and are working within the parameters of their characterization.
I don't want that here in this sort if open world RPG. It's limiting and removes any role playing at all. I can't be a hopeless romantic sniper or a drug addicted gunslinger or a former thief trying to redeem themselves that I want to RP as in Fallout 4 because I'm constantly reminded of my damn family everytime I talk to someone.
Fair point, I completely forgot about how TES's handles avatar creation. Not sure how feasible a Watch Dogs Legion-type solution would be for this particular issue, but I personally wouldn't want them to try.
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Elder Scrolls will never have non automated voiced player characters, not as long as they have all the playable races they do. It's more up in the air with something like Fallout and in this case Starfield since you can only play as a human. In TES, not even including the human races, you have the likes of Khajiit, Argonians, Orcs, and Altmer, etc., all of which have their own unique speech affectations. Even for a big budget AAA production, that would just be far, far too many lines.
Yeah I worded that a bit weirdly. I meant that the actual dialogue feels limited in a way that there can't be an actual, natural conversation between the MC and NPCs. I just personally wouldn't want that the only way to interact with other characters is just some npc talking for x amount of time and then you choose a short answer. That's extremely limiting for cutscenes and big story moments also.
Of course there probably is more dialogue options if the protagonist is mute. Still, in a modern big budget game like Starfield, it would be absolutely possible to have loads of dialogue options with voiced lines, and thus you'd also have the freedom to have the MC talk even when player isn't choosing what to say.
This is actually a very tough question. That said, didn't Todd openly admit it was a mistake to make Fallout 4's protagonist voiced?
I really hope not but I don't have faith that they listened to the community about this. I'm replaying Fallout 4 with an alternate start and removed the voice; the game is so much better narratively.
edit: Will Starfield is now the cannon character name.
edit: Will Starfield is now the cannon character name.
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I don't think he said it was a mistake, but the gist of his comments about it read to me like he was dancing around saying it didn't work out.
If they do, I hope they go the Dragon Age Inquisition route and have multiple voices to select from. No point in having a character creator when your vocal choices are masculine or feminine flavors of audibly suburban white people.
I hope not. Kills most of your ability to roleplay. I really hope that Bethesda moves away from putting so much emphasis on their main quests. The best part of their games is literally everything besides the main quest. The main quest shouldn't be so urgent that it takes away from your ability to focus on other things. It should be in the background and it should weave into the other quest lines naturally. Like how the Dark Brotherhood actually had some connective tissue with the Thieves Guild in Skyrim. Make the main story quests more branching so that there's an "in" for all kinds of characters.
A voiced protagonist only exacerbates the issue with their forced main stories. In Fallout 4, not only are you forced to have a spouse and a child as well as a predetermined backstory, but even your voice is set in stone. You can't be any younger or older than the voice sounds. Your accent is set in stone. It's such a step back.
There are a couple of ways that it could work. One is that the game is simply more linear and story-focused. Not exactly what I want out of a Bethesda game but if it's good than it's good. The other would be to include a ton of voice presets but they are only there for actions and callouts kinda like Monster Hunter or something. Just for the grunts when you're jumping or callouts when you're throwing grenades. That kinda stuff. This could add some personality to the game while preserving the ability to roleplay. It would also allow the dialogue to be more than...
A: Yes!
B: No!
C: Yes, but I'm not happy about it!
D: Tell me more before I pick one of the first three options.
Which could still be an issue if they went the "massive budget" route of having voiced protagonists AND providing multiple presets.
A voiced protagonist only exacerbates the issue with their forced main stories. In Fallout 4, not only are you forced to have a spouse and a child as well as a predetermined backstory, but even your voice is set in stone. You can't be any younger or older than the voice sounds. Your accent is set in stone. It's such a step back.
There are a couple of ways that it could work. One is that the game is simply more linear and story-focused. Not exactly what I want out of a Bethesda game but if it's good than it's good. The other would be to include a ton of voice presets but they are only there for actions and callouts kinda like Monster Hunter or something. Just for the grunts when you're jumping or callouts when you're throwing grenades. That kinda stuff. This could add some personality to the game while preserving the ability to roleplay. It would also allow the dialogue to be more than...
A: Yes!
B: No!
C: Yes, but I'm not happy about it!
D: Tell me more before I pick one of the first three options.
Which could still be an issue if they went the "massive budget" route of having voiced protagonists AND providing multiple presets.
They seem to be making a big deal about it being a more hardcore older school rpg than Fallout 4 and their other recent stuff. Also they said you can define your character much more than their other RPGs, with background etc...
So I'm going to vote No.
So I'm going to vote No.
I mean, this is already the case with voiced protagonists. Short sentence from them followed by 2 - 3 lines of exposition and full sentences from the NPC. Maybe a dynamic camera angle or two if you're lucky. Repeat ad infinitum.
Every. Single. AAA Action-Adventure or RPG.
If anything a non-voiced protagonist allows for longer, more diverse protagonist dialogue. Here's a random bit of Divinity Original Sin 2 dialogue:
Look at the options you have! Plus all the freedom in the world to imagine your response in whatever tone you prefer. You don't get this with a voiced protagonist.
I've yet to play a voiced character whose voice matched the voice I had in my head when I created them.
Especially when I make a POC character, and it's still a generic white American voice.
I would have vastly preferred a silent protagonist in Fallout 4.
Especially when I make a POC character, and it's still a generic white American voice.
I would have vastly preferred a silent protagonist in Fallout 4.
I keep glancing at this thread title and seeing 'Will Starfield' and 'voiced protagonist' and interpreting it as the name of the guy you play as. William Starfield, Will to his friends.
I prefer a silent protag with robust dialogue systems for Bethesda style RPG's. The conversation pathing was not great in Fallout 4 and the characterization disappointingly rigid.
That said I think they'll go for it again, a la Mass Effect, given the budget and the appeal of a more cinematic approach. Lots of room for improvement if they do.
That said I think they'll go for it again, a la Mass Effect, given the budget and the appeal of a more cinematic approach. Lots of room for improvement if they do.
While I have to admit that over the years I've shifted from thinking voice acting in RPGs was "a waste of money" to being appreciative of it (when properly done it can add A LOT to the characters) I remain completely indifferent when it comes to the protagonist itself.
If it's a predefined character voice over is fine, but if it's custom-made I don't find "jarring" in the slightest that the MC stays silent and you have to read his line in your head.
That said a recent example that weirded me out is the Early Access of BG3, where the MC compensates to his lack of voice over by over-acting most cutscenes like a consumed mime.
If it's a predefined character voice over is fine, but if it's custom-made I don't find "jarring" in the slightest that the MC stays silent and you have to read his line in your head.
That said a recent example that weirded me out is the Early Access of BG3, where the MC compensates to his lack of voice over by over-acting most cutscenes like a consumed mime.
People saying that it definitely will because Fallout 4 had it sound like they either forgot or didn't play Fallout 76; that game has a non-voiced protagonist and was specifically praised for having better dialogue options. Of course, it also has fewer interactions with NPCs (and very very few at launch, since most were added with Wastelanders and beyond). So it's not a 1-to-1 thing.
I think the real trade-off with voiced versus non-voiced is going to come down to this: how many pieces of dialogue will the player character have that aren't choices? Silent protagonists usually feel bad because you're expecting the character to say something but they don't. But in RPGs like this, especially in the past, you chose the dialogue yourself, so it didn't feel like people were talking to a wall; they were talking to you, responding to the choices you made. But if there's no choice to be made, there's no dialogue.
The conversation flow changes to accommodate this; NPCs monologue more, I feel, when the protagonist isn't voiced, because every time they stop talking you either have to have a meaningful dialogue choice, some kind of player action, or the conversation has to end. So you don't get the opportunity for certain kinds of dialogue interactions that you might have with a voice protagonist: the player character asking obvious clarifying questions to move a conversation along or lead a discussion down a certain path, or the player character making snarky asides/cracking jokes as someone's talking. I'm guessing for many people that's a feature, not a bug, but it is different and does close the door to certain kinds of interactions (or at least makes them more difficult to implement).
Personally, I'm pretty used to non-voiced protagonists in Bethesda games and would be quite happy to see another one if it meant more meaningful or interesting dialogue choices. I'm not sure if they'll try to go back to the Fallout 4 style (which I thought was fine but in hindsight does seem a little worse), but I think 76 shows Bethesda is at least open to returning to non-voiced.
I think the real trade-off with voiced versus non-voiced is going to come down to this: how many pieces of dialogue will the player character have that aren't choices? Silent protagonists usually feel bad because you're expecting the character to say something but they don't. But in RPGs like this, especially in the past, you chose the dialogue yourself, so it didn't feel like people were talking to a wall; they were talking to you, responding to the choices you made. But if there's no choice to be made, there's no dialogue.
The conversation flow changes to accommodate this; NPCs monologue more, I feel, when the protagonist isn't voiced, because every time they stop talking you either have to have a meaningful dialogue choice, some kind of player action, or the conversation has to end. So you don't get the opportunity for certain kinds of dialogue interactions that you might have with a voice protagonist: the player character asking obvious clarifying questions to move a conversation along or lead a discussion down a certain path, or the player character making snarky asides/cracking jokes as someone's talking. I'm guessing for many people that's a feature, not a bug, but it is different and does close the door to certain kinds of interactions (or at least makes them more difficult to implement).
Personally, I'm pretty used to non-voiced protagonists in Bethesda games and would be quite happy to see another one if it meant more meaningful or interesting dialogue choices. I'm not sure if they'll try to go back to the Fallout 4 style (which I thought was fine but in hindsight does seem a little worse), but I think 76 shows Bethesda is at least open to returning to non-voiced.
Yeah, I completely understand where you're coming from. There isn't an objective truth here and I just prefer a voiced protagonist. I still completely disagree that every game is short sentences from the protagonist followed by full and long talk by an npc regardless of whether mc is voiced or not. In general many AAA games are moving to a more movie-like and higher quality presentation with their story, and it just isn't possible without everyone having a voice.I mean, this is already the case with voiced protagonists. Short sentence from them followed by 2 - 3 lines of exposition and full sentences from the NPC. Maybe a dynamic camera angle or two if you're lucky. Repeat ad infinitum.
Every. Single. AAA Action-Adventure or RPG.
If anything a non-voiced protagonist allows for longer, more diverse protagonist dialogue. Here's a random bit of Divinity Original Sin 2 dialogue:
Look at the options you have! Plus all the freedom in the world to imagine your response in whatever tone you prefer. You don't get this with a voiced protagonist.
Imo when mc can't say anything in a cutscene or react to anything without you choosing a line from a menu, it just greatly takes away from the immersion, presentation and storytelling in general. Only a small part of what the main character can say during a game is a chill two-way conversation with someone.
Mute mc obviously allows more options with certain aspects of the game like people have pointed out in this thread, but this makes other things worse. I've no doubt that Starfield could achieve absolutely great dialogue options even if the mc is voiced. This is obviously just my opinion.
The voiced protagonist and dialogue system were heavily criticized aspects of FO4. However, while I can definitely see them going back to a more robust dialogue system that is hopefully meaningful with its choices this time around, I feel like they see the dislike of a voiced protagonist as simply a growing pain. Over time, people will get used to it and it will be standardized for BGS RPGs going forward.
But who knows, maybe they will go back on it. I personally didn't mind the VA in FO4, but I wouldn't shed a tear if it was gone. Don't care either way.
It's not as bad as people say. I think when it comes to the comedic lines, the male VA was spot on with the delivery
But who knows, maybe they will go back on it. I personally didn't mind the VA in FO4, but I wouldn't shed a tear if it was gone. Don't care either way.
It's not as bad as people say. I think when it comes to the comedic lines, the male VA was spot on with the delivery
I chose the male protagonist and while he wasn't great, my main problem was the complete decoupling between dialogue options and what actually happened. Modding in the silent protag and the actual read out of dialogue options made the game better.
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Frankly, they were both pretty great. And responsible for probably some of the most recorded dialogue for a single character of all time. Shame about the writing, but alas, Beth gonna Beth it. :p
I always thought that roleplaying the tone of the voice is just a lie that the player tell themselves. There is an underline tone already implied in the reply, you can pretend the character is having another one, but the NPC will only ever recognize the tone intended by the writers. For all the difference it makes, you can roleplay that way even with a voiced protagonist, it just requires more imagination.
What's up with Era and all the recent polls bring so tied??
My guess is that it won't cause they never are? It could change of course but idk. It'd be nice tho if they get the voice over radio effect right.
My guess is that it won't cause they never are? It could change of course but idk. It'd be nice tho if they get the voice over radio effect right.
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My money is on, yes. I am trying to think of the last major western developed RPG, by sales and budget, to not have the MC be voiced and all I can think of is Skyrim? I would be surprised if they decide to do an unvoiced MC. Not that I think it matters since Bethesda isn't know for deep complex dialogue trees to begin with, so it's not like much will be lost with one. I would actually be more surprised if Starfield breaks that trend personally.
Wait, is the F76 protag voiced? I don't remember my char speaking out loud but I mighta forgotten.