I've been a gamer my whole life and since hitting puberty, I've found reasons to complain about everything and anything. I'm not a particularly bitchy person in "real life"' but the gaming world tends to rustle my jimmies. E3 gave me a bunch of new reasons to be angry, but something unexpected happened... I found out that I even dislike the voice acting in the vast majority of video games, especially in the ones that are meant to be "realistic".
I realized this when I watched this video (the E3 reveal of Rainbow Six: The Division)
Now, I don't know whether I'm a dumbass or I was completely drunk in the morning or whatever, but for a LONG time when watching that live on the stream, even though in retrospect it was ridiculously obvious that the other guys were players, for a while I just thought they were scripted AI and I was VERY impressed with the voice acting which sounded genuine... it sounded like they were real people.
As it turns out, they were real people. It's embarrassing, but it made me realize that even though there are games with cool sounding dialog, there are NO games with realistic voice acting that sounds like real people are with you. Now, in many cases, I would think it's cool that Samuel L. Jackson has got my back. It's "gamey" as Totalbiscuit would say... but sometimes I would like it to be a normal guy and not some guy with an incredibly cool-sounding stage 2 throat cancer thing going on.
I want to point out that I'm not actually angry about this or anything, but I do think that it would be different if actors stopped over-acting, at least for some games anyway. What do you guys think? Am I wrong? Tell me what you think!
Poll: Is the voice acting in videogames typically too "gamey"?
No, it's not a problem (13)
45%
Yes definitely, always or almost always (9)
31%
Yes sometimes (5)
17%
Not really, maybe a little (2)
7%
29 total votes
Your vote: Is the voice acting in videogames typically too "gamey"?
(Vote): Yes definitely, always or almost always (Vote): Yes sometimes (Vote): Not really, maybe a little (Vote): No, it's not a problem
I voted yes definitely but for me it's almost always. I wanted to say Abathur from HOTS was amazing but in reality his character probably wasn't that hard to voice.
On June 22 2013 10:53 Plansix wrote: Also check out the voice acting in Bioshock Infinite and The Last of Us. Both games have great acting.
I played through Bioshock Infinite and although I do agree that the voice acting is good, I don't think it has the "feel" that I'm looking for. It did what it was meant to do perfectly well though.
I'll be getting The Last of Us very soon too so hopefully it's good. I'm pretty optimistic! As for Chivalry, it's not really the kind of game I'm looking for unfortunately.
There are a couple of question we need to ask, and a bunch of info we don't know...How involved in the process are the voice actors? If they are devoided from the actual process and brought into just read lines without context (or very little) it can easily turn into a wooden or unemotional performance. What is the intent of the direction of the piece? Part of this could also be implementation and whats going on underneath and whether the system is delivering the content appropriately (a much more subtle issue). That being said, some games have been freaking amazing in this regard, and some have been just awful but I would tend to doubt that the acting is the only deterrent here (its just the most obvious ones possibly).
For the Division, we don't know enough to really judge a whole lot, but the dialogue there is tailored to the online multiplayer aesthetic and so you are already being removed from the immediacy of the situation (also, are they real voice actors, or just random players with mics). Haven't played BI yet (will once I get my shiny new compy) so I can't really comment on that.
Well I understand that some settings make it more difficult, but sometimes, notably in The Division or similar games, they could have voice actors who can, well, act like normal people.
You have to consider that there's a lot more to "real" sounding voices than just "acting like a normal person". When you speak, you're not just saying line in a vacuum, you're shaping your words to suit the environment at that precise moment. Different syllables will have different emphasis, your voice will have different tones, even the words you use might change completely.
The issue with AI voices is that their lines will never match the situation perfectly, unless by complete coincidence, so they will always feel off.
On June 22 2013 12:13 WolfintheSheep wrote: You have to consider that there's a lot more to "real" sounding voices than just "acting like a normal person". When you speak, you're not just saying line in a vacuum, you're shaping your words to suit the environment at that precise moment. Different syllables will have different emphasis, your voice will have different tones, even the words you use might change completely.
The issue with AI voices is that their lines will never match the situation perfectly, unless by complete coincidence, so they will always feel off.
Yeah but I'm not asking for AI that sounds like actual people although it would be nice. I don't have unrealistic expectations, but even scripted lines could be made to sound genuine if they weren't written to sound so "hollywood" all the time. Every voice actor they seem to hire is completely balls to the wall in every situation, especially in big single player FPS games.
None of your squad members sound like they're real people, they always sound like a tough-sounding guy in a studio, pouring his heart out to convey an emotion 10x more than anybody would in real life given the same situation.
I think that some games that are set in a contemporary time period (Uncharted, AC, maybe a few others that I'm missing?) have pretty damn good voice acting (I'm thinking of both VA'ing and actual scripts while I am talking about this). As for the majority of video games (not set in the present day), well, you can't have "realistic" VA'ing as they didn't speak like we did back then/won't in the future. That said, there are many games out there with FANTASTIC VA'ing, and it's often overlooked.
Games with fantastic VA'ing (off the top of my head):
Baldur's Gate Planescape: Torment Some GTA games Sacrifice SC/BW WC (before WoW) Bioshock Halo (1-3)
That said, the vast majority of games are God-awful at both VA'ing and script.
On June 22 2013 12:13 WolfintheSheep wrote: You have to consider that there's a lot more to "real" sounding voices than just "acting like a normal person". When you speak, you're not just saying line in a vacuum, you're shaping your words to suit the environment at that precise moment. Different syllables will have different emphasis, your voice will have different tones, even the words you use might change completely.
The issue with AI voices is that their lines will never match the situation perfectly, unless by complete coincidence, so they will always feel off.
Yeah but I'm not asking for AI that sounds like actual people although it would be nice. I don't have unrealistic expectations, but even scripted lines could be made to sound genuine if they weren't written to sound so "hollywood" all the time. Every voice actor they seem to hire is completely balls to the wall in every situation, especially in big single player FPS games.
None of your squad members sound like they're real people, they always sound like a tough-sounding guy in a studio, pouring his heart out to convey an emotion 10x more than anybody would in real life given the same situation.
That's probably just the genre of games you're playing then. Most FPS/Military games want to be non-stop action all the time.
On June 22 2013 10:53 Plansix wrote: Also check out the voice acting in Bioshock Infinite and The Last of Us. Both games have great acting.
I played through Bioshock Infinite and although I do agree that the voice acting is good, I don't think it has the "feel" that I'm looking for. It did what it was meant to do perfectly well though.
I'll be getting The Last of Us very soon too so hopefully it's good. I'm pretty optimistic! As for Chivalry, it's not really the kind of game I'm looking for unfortunately.
The same guy voices Booker in Bioshock Infinite and Joel in The Last of Us
On June 22 2013 10:49 SnipedSoul wrote: I suggest you check out Chivalry: Medieval Warfare.
Over the top voice acting is awesome.
Totally. The death noises in particular are noteworthy. When you kill a guy, it really sounds like you fucking killed a guy. You get everything from the guy gurgling on his own blood to the small, hopeless crying that only comes from a man who's mortally wounded and can only wait for the dark to close in at last. I didn't know that there were people out there that could emulate dying so well.
I really liked Lara's voice acting in the Tomb Raider 2013 game Aside from that one I agree with you, voice acting is never really immersive so i just play games with music in the back ground and very quiet ingame sounds
On June 22 2013 22:53 PassiveAce wrote: I thought the Metro series had good voice acting I agree there is a lot of totally mediocre acting in many games tho
The actor for Pavel was very awesome, I'll say that. It would be cool to hear some good 'Merican voice actors though ^_^.
Yeah, I do agree with you. Realistic dialogue is usually pretty bad in gaming. And not just voice acting, even the writing is pretty suspect. There is some great dialog outside of realism though. For instance, I think The Secret World had, overall, awesome voice acting for what it was trying to do.
I think the voice acting has dramatically improved overall across games in the past few years. Few stinkers here and there. If anything, I feel it is more often a cause of the writing than the abilities of the voice actors themselves
On June 23 2013 04:11 Unleashing wrote: Vampire the masquerade has amazing characters and voice-acting.
I mean I don't disagree that it's good for what it is and the actor is amazing but that's far from being what your typical average person sounds like. And don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that everyone in every video game should sound like boring average Joe... but like if someone started talking to me like the dude in that video, I'd be scared. Nobody talks like that in real life, and those who do are probably thinking of stabbing me in the gut repeatedly.
On June 23 2013 04:11 Unleashing wrote: Vampire the masquerade has amazing characters and voice-acting.
I mean I don't disagree that it's good for what it is and the actor is amazing but that's far from being what your typical average person sounds like. And don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that everyone in every video game should sound like boring average Joe... but like if someone started talking to me like the dude in that video, I'd be scared. Nobody talks like that in real life, and those who do are probably thinking of stabbing me in the gut repeatedly.
That's kind of what you'd expect if you were talking to a character like him. He cuts a guy's throat pretty much immediately after that conversation.
VtM:B has a lot of incredibly memorable characters because they're not generic and they're voiced to fit it.
On June 23 2013 04:11 Unleashing wrote: Vampire the masquerade has amazing characters and voice-acting.
I mean I don't disagree that it's good for what it is and the actor is amazing but that's far from being what your typical average person sounds like. And don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that everyone in every video game should sound like boring average Joe... but like if someone started talking to me like the dude in that video, I'd be scared. Nobody talks like that in real life, and those who do are probably thinking of stabbing me in the gut repeatedly.
Well he's a century old vampire who used to be a pirate. Yeah, he's eccentric, that's a part of his character.
I mean this character is literally insane(The first one): + Show Spoiler +
But if you want someone who talks more like a regular person in VTMB, this is what comes to mind(A person that is behind a radio program): + Show Spoiler +
VTMB as i said has amazing characters and amazing voice acting, the voices all fit the characters incredibly well. If a voice actor doesn't fit the character then it is quite pointless if it is good voice acting.
On June 23 2013 04:11 Unleashing wrote: Vampire the masquerade has amazing characters and voice-acting.
I mean I don't disagree that it's good for what it is and the actor is amazing but that's far from being what your typical average person sounds like. And don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that everyone in every video game should sound like boring average Joe... but like if someone started talking to me like the dude in that video, I'd be scared. Nobody talks like that in real life, and those who do are probably thinking of stabbing me in the gut repeatedly.
That's kind of what you'd expect if you were talking to a character like him. He cuts a guy's throat pretty much immediately after that conversation.
VtM:B has a lot of incredibly memorable characters because they're not generic and they're voiced to fit it.
Hence the part where I said it's good for what it is but that's not the point of the blog
On June 23 2013 04:11 Unleashing wrote: Vampire the masquerade has amazing characters and voice-acting.
I mean I don't disagree that it's good for what it is and the actor is amazing but that's far from being what your typical average person sounds like. And don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that everyone in every video game should sound like boring average Joe... but like if someone started talking to me like the dude in that video, I'd be scared. Nobody talks like that in real life, and those who do are probably thinking of stabbing me in the gut repeatedly.
That's kind of what you'd expect if you were talking to a character like him. He cuts a guy's throat pretty much immediately after that conversation.
VtM:B has a lot of incredibly memorable characters because they're not generic and they're voiced to fit it.
Hence the part where I said it's good for what it is but that's not the point of the blog
True enough. The 'average' person doesn't have much place in most games, (particularly the superheroicmaxepicshooter type of game). Frankly, the average person also isn't much of a pleasure to listen to if they're narrating either, and that's why you have to have some ability or training to be a decent anchor/radio host/voice actor.
On June 23 2013 04:11 Unleashing wrote: Vampire the masquerade has amazing characters and voice-acting.
I mean I don't disagree that it's good for what it is and the actor is amazing but that's far from being what your typical average person sounds like. And don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that everyone in every video game should sound like boring average Joe... but like if someone started talking to me like the dude in that video, I'd be scared. Nobody talks like that in real life, and those who do are probably thinking of stabbing me in the gut repeatedly.
That's kind of what you'd expect if you were talking to a character like him. He cuts a guy's throat pretty much immediately after that conversation.
VtM:B has a lot of incredibly memorable characters because they're not generic and they're voiced to fit it.
Hence the part where I said it's good for what it is but that's not the point of the blog
True enough. The 'average' person doesn't have much place in most games, (particularly the superheroicmaxepicshooter type of game). Frankly, the average person also isn't much of a pleasure to listen to if they're narrating either, and that's why you have to have some ability or training to be a decent anchor/radio host/voice actor.
It doesn't need to be the average person but the people I know who have been soldiers in the army have maintained their vocal cords and they don't sound like action heroes.
EPT
