The "complete" voice-over illusion.

[delnadris]

Before I make my point I'd just like to add that atm I'm really enjoying the game. I've actually been playing it quite a lot, and even though it's lacking in some areas, it's fun enough to keep me going. The story (for my class at least) is pretty good, and you always have that carrot in front of you to aim for your next level/mount/ability/talent/etc. Overall it's a fun game, but i have no clue atm if i'll be playing it in 1-2 months or not.

Despite all of this, there is something that really bothers me, which is a pretty big deal considering how this game has been advertised and hyped. SWTOR is in no way "fully voiced-over"; it's just a matter of fact. At the moment (level 37 and finishing Balmorra) I'm pretty sure at least 30-40% of the game is not voiced-over in a true sense. And i say this for the following reason: besides your class story questline, and the main questline for each planet (which are always fully voiced), the rest of the missions are mostly spoken in the alien language (the name of which i don't know), while your character mostly responds with generic answers (with the few exceptions of side missions where your quest giver is human). Therefore, most of the time you actually have to read the subtitles to follow the cutscene and understand why you're on the specific mission, though it doesn't really matter from an immersion point of view, as you can just simply read the quest text if you want, to get a short synopsis.

Before you flame me for drawing attention to the fact that you need to read the quest (the subtitles for the alian language that is), i'm not saying reading is a bad thing, i'm just saying the "voice-over" is completely and utterly useless. It just adds nothing to the cutscene, especially since most of the times the alien is saying something like "My.. my brother's dead.. I must revenge him Jedi. Please help me!" in a monotone cheerful voice, which in no way reflects what the subtitles say. Besides this, the alien language is mostly formed of a few phrases spliced together; most of the time, the aliens say the same phrases, while the subtitles (the translation) means something different from the last alien.

You could, of course, argue that at least your character says something that adds to your cutscene. I for one, do not agree with that. Your character has a set (a decently sized one though) of phrases which he almost always repeats. For example, you could choose to say: "I will punch those mercs in the face and have intercourse with their mothers", which results in my character saying: "The Jedi way is to serve" (this phrase actually gets repeated so often it's annoying). Of course this happens for side missions only, but at times these standard phrases are used in class, or planet-arc missions as well.

So, even though BioWare made a decent game, they were very liberal in defining their main innovation for the game. Sure, you can always hear voices when you get a mission, but it's almost annoying to have to just sit there and read what your quest giver says line by line, instead of having a simple wall of text found in most other MMOs. At the end of the day, a fair chuck of the game didn't have any voice-over production value put into it. It's just a simple rehash of a very, very limited alien tongue that only has a handful of phrases, and your character's standardized answers. For me at least this has gotten very annoying. Whenever i see a quest marker on the map, and then see the giver is an alien, i twich, and think to myself "God.. not that friggin alien language again...". I know i can just spam space, and skip the whole thing, but that's not the point of the game, nor its main selling point. Fully voiced-over is a mere illusion I'm afraid, and having advertised the game as fully voiced over was more of a technical term than a reality. And for a company to use deception like that it's just disappointing.

[unholytestament]

the rest of the missions are mostly spoked in the alien language

It's almost like this is a science fiction game based on a science fiction franchise that has aliens that don't speak our language.

But that's just crazy talk!

Also, "spoked"?

[Tarien]

Well there are only so many ways to say "Hello... yes I will help you... give me my reward... you're welcome", and as for the alien languages I think it would kill the game to have to learn Shyriiwook and other alien tongues before being able to complete quests.

You may have a point about the alien's inflections (sounding happy about their brother being dead or whatever), but then again they are aliens, their ways are not our ways. I read a book about cat aliens once, and smiling was considered an act of aggression to cat people (cats bare their teeth as a sign of hostility).

So I would do what anyone does when playing a fictional game: suspend your beliefs a bit for the sake of enjoyment.

[Oerba Yun Fang]

I wouldn't say the alien dialogue is useless per se. It does add to the immersion. If it was just subtitles or even only spoken english, it wouldn't be nearly as immersive.

While I was disappointed by the amount of repeated dialogue, I can also understand why. Having unique recordings for every conversation in the game would be very unrealistic. It's nice in theory, but the amount of money BioWare would have to shell out to voice actors would be insane.

That said, though, it is fully voiced, technically speaking. Every line of NPC dialogue has a voice attached to it, even if that line isn't actually unique

[delnadris]

It's almost like this is a science fiction game based on a science fiction franchise that has aliens that don't speak our language.

But that's just crazy talk!

Also, "spoked"?

You missed my point entirely. Allow me to make it easier for you to understand, as my numerous spelling mistakes and gramatical inaccuracies might have made it too difficult for you to read (sorry for that): my point was that BioWare used false advertising.
Also, thank you for pointing out that mistake. I have corrected it.

That said, though, it is fully voiced, technically speaking. Every line of NPC dialogue has a voice attached to it, even if that line isn't actually unique

Would you say the same if the game used the alien language alone? I know that's not the case, but like i said, a big chuck of the game uses it atm.

[Oerba Yun Fang]

Would you say the same if the game used the alien language alone? I know that's not the case, but like i said, a big chuck of the game uses it atm.

Yes, I would. I didn't say it was a good thing. In fact, I said I was disappointed with the amount of recycled lines. But to say it's not fully voiced (or that it being fully voiced is an illusion) when it is, in fact, fully voiced, is silly.

[CrypticSoul]

A game with aliens has...alien language...GASSSSPPP

[mystik]

you miss logic. it is fully voiced even if part of them are aliens. I don't know if you noticed but aliens are all over starwars. I haven't really noticed that many alien voice overs on Empire side. so your saying ALL ALIENS should speak basic just to fully promote full voice to cater to you? I think your nitpicking way too much.

[unholytestament]

You missed my point entirely. Allow me to make it easier for you to understand, as my numerous spelling mistakes and gramatical inaccuracies might have made it too difficult to understand (sorry for that): my point was that BioWare used false advertising.
Also, thank you for pointing out that mistake. I have corrected it.

You're still wrong.

Fully voice acted does not in any way imply that every single line in the game is paired up with a completely unique recording. It just has to be paired with voice acting.

Also, did you see Star Wars? I mean... Greedo, Jabba The Hutt and countless other aliens throughout a franchise that is pushing 40 years old and has featured movies, TV shows and video games just don't count because they're speaking a made up language?

[Ravenblade]

Heh, that's quite some percentages thrown around. To be honest I don't count beans, don't take advertisements by face value ever. I have never approached the game with the expectation of not having to read any text ever.

But it seems you just don't like them using the same alien language speech for alot of dialogues. From a production standpoint it makes sense to keep redundancy low and this is what they did. Unless you would after then 20th dialogue with alien speech still be able to notice the vast difference to the first one, chances are that the majority of players wouldn't, that's some prediction you have to make as producer and also make sure you don't have to wait through if you think it is silly. Because other players might like it. Jadedness can lead to the impression that they failed to deliver, when it fact it's just you being tired of it.

Before saying they are using false advertisement make sure to link us the advertisement where Bioware is using that phrase. Also mind you there is no generic view on false advertising and if we can't even establish whether they are using that in their official advertisements then the discussion is surely pointless.

[Legion]

You missed my point entirely. Allow me to make it easier for you to understand, as my numerous spelling mistakes and gramatical inaccuracies might have made it too difficult for you to read (sorry for that): my point was that BioWare used false advertising.
Also, thank you for pointing out that mistake. I have corrected it.


Would you say the same if the game used the alien language alone? I know that's not the case, but like i said, a big chuck of the game uses it atm.

False advertising? Excuse me...what? How should it have been advertised? "Majority of dialogues voiced in english, the rest are Twi'lek or w/e". Be reasonable. And yes, alien languages in dialogues do count for fully voiced. You're hearing it, not understanding it is a different thing. It would've sucked ass if every single alien spoke english. The story is made so that you know English is Galactic Basic or w/e it's called, and while most species understand it, not all of them speak. That doesn't mean they don't have their own languages.

[HeavensDemise]

This isn't something to complain about since it's the exact same thing in the Star Wars movies.

[smartguy16]

I have the solution to your problems sir. Turn on subtitles. Read subtitles faster than they are spoken. Press space bar. Repeat.

[tORbeatsLFR]

lmao...

So, OP wants the aliens to, what... speak real "alien?"

Get off it, haha.

[Mothhive]

At least the alien voice acting isn't as obviously repeated as in KOTOR. After 10 hours of playing I wanted to punch every Twilek in the face because hearing the same handful of lines over and over was driving me mad!

[Oneirophobia]

That said, though, it is fully voiced, technically speaking. Every line of NPC dialogue has a voice attached to it, even if that line isn't actually unique

By that, Spore is fully voiced over.

[Oerba Yun Fang]

By that, Spore is fully voiced over.

I've never played Spore so I can't comment on that, but nothing BioWare advertised is untrue. They never promised a unique recording for every line. They never promised unique dialogue for every conversation. They promise fully voiced dialogue, and they delivered on that promise. To say otherwise is just looking for something to complain about.

[Acidz]

You'd be more convincing if you argued that the sense of choice and variety, provoked by the game, is actually very superficial.

[Wakwazu]

You are being over critical of the game. Just enjoy it if you can. If you are unable to enjoy it then find something else that entertains you.

[Hoticehunter]

That said, though, it is fully voiced, technically speaking. Every line of NPC dialogue has a voice attached to it, even if that line isn't actually unique

That's a deceptive loophole though. The game gets touted as "fully voiced". The OP brings up a good point. Technically it is, but not in 100% useful way.