I would throw my hat in the ring for the non-voiced protagonist but voiced everything else. The voiced protagonist seems to always lead to less dialogue choices (for obvious budgetary reasons like those mentioned in the video), the dialogue wheel problem of lines not matching intent, a lack of replayability due to every character feeling the same, and the delivery of the voice actor varying too far from what I have in my head. If the lines are spelled out fully then I have already read the line in my head and don't need to hear it a second time on screen. Same with seeing my character "react" to things, I have already internally reacted to the moment on screen and I don't need the game react on my behalf a second time in ways often incongruent with my character. I think in general it boils down to games like Baldur's Gate 3 and Bethesda titles giving the player a lot of agency over their character, with voicing those protagonists limiting said agency, and games like the Witcher series having a predefined protagonist where voicing him makes a lot more sense.

I can't imagine playing the witcher 3 without Geralt being voiced. It adds so much character to him.

Voice acting and cutscenes are the icing and cherry on top, we need the cake first.

If the protagonist is a pre-defined character, they should be voiced. Examples would be Shepard (ME), Geralt (Witcher), or Hawke (DA2). But for a character that I'm creating, who has no pre-defined personality or backstory, I prefer unvoiced. BG3 is a curious case for me, as I was glad the game was unvoiced until I tried one of the Origin characters. Since they are already fully created, I wanted them to be voiced even though I was glad that my Halfling Bard wasn't.

The only thing that kinda takes me out of the game is when NPCS don’t say your name which is nearly all games with player creation so I’ve gotten used to it

In rpgs voice, protagonist characters hold back a lot of the role-playing. Look at vampire the masquerade bloodlines. I would be upset if my gangrel vampire character had the same voice as a malakavian. This voiced protagonist in the new bloodlines means they had to make one character that im not even excited about. All the face mapping and voice acting is money that could be spent making better gameplay.

Not necessary. If you are there to roleplay and therefore play a different character everytime, it's just really weird if they have same voices or a voice you just don't like/connect with. Studios should put their efforts where it really matters. The story and the gameplay 😊

I think this is just a difference in how some RPG players want to play an RPG where player freedom is paramount while other RPG players want to player RPGs where the mechanics of an RPGs are to enhance stories, characters, world and themes.

The very scene you're showcasing in this video of Shadowheart meeting her parents when she's voiced vs when she's in the same scene as the damn unvoiced origin protagonist, has a significantly different dramatic impact! As much as some people want to pretend that voiced characters are unimportant in a game as if it makes them sound cool somehow, one can't deny the impact! That said, a lack of a voiced protagonist in BG3, is quite frankly understandable from a budget perspective and I love the game none-the-less because I love CRPGs in general, but I doubt BG3 would have sold this well if it didn't have the cinematics and the voiced characters.

As much as I do like a good voiced protagonist (like V, Geralt or Commander Shepherd), I do still feel it limits the number of dialogue options your character can have, given the amount of resources need to go into recording an actor's voice.

I prefer the protagonist unvoiced but the NPCs to be voiced.

Ultimately, I'd say unvoiced is probably better. Allows for a lot more flexibility in player responses and choice.

Voiced protagonists have a tendency to reduce player agency over how their character participates in dialogue. I don't want to feel like I'm watching a movie and hitting next on a slideshow: i.e., Yes, No(Yes), Yes(Sarcastic), Leave. Non-voiced protagonists can have many more dialogue options and you can imagine your character sounds however you'd like (no posh British voice-acting!). I am actually a fan of the "chirp" voicesets you select when making a character in the old Infinity Engine games like Icewind Dale or BG 1&2. There aren't very many lines, but they add *just enough* characterization when compared to completely voiceless Bethesda protagonists.

I heartily support non-voiced protagonists. I think voiced protagonists lead to fewer dialogue choices, which to me loses so much more than it gains.

Hadn't really thought about it. The story is more important to me. I don't mind reading as long as I'm engaged and invested in the characters. That is what matters. Though I do like a good voice lol I play both male and female characters, but I do not engage in same sex relationships. Even with Liara in the Mass Effect Games. It's just not for me.

Everything voiced, dont need cinematics but i do appreciate in bg 1 and 2 since it was text based mostly there was more character in the language and people had more to say since its easier to text it all out rather than texting and then voicing basically acting.

Voiced is preferred, but not required. I enjoy reading and have no issue with text over cutscenes, so long as the story is strong. And, this may be an unpopular perspective, but I'm a woman and strongly prefer female protagonist options in my RPGs. Strongly enough that I'm unlikely to play an RPG that is male exclusive, even if it's a great story with amazing gameplay, because I personally can't self-insert with a male protagonist. If witnessing an amazing story unfold without actually impacting it myself is the entertainment I'm looking to consume, fictional novels do it infinitely better and I'm an avid reader for this reason. For me, RPGs did not replace books: I enjoy RPGs separately precisely because they allow me to self-insert a fictional version of myself into a fictional world and explore how that story would unfold. And, an RPG's ability to offer immersion (which, for me, is just accommodating my real-world preferences in terms of character creation, choice/consequence variety, companion options/personalities, character class options/themes, morality options, etc.) inevitably influences my inclination to buy/play said RPG far more than whether it is voiced or not, or it's all text or cutscenes.

As GenX I don't need the protagonist voiced, but I prefer all the npc's voiced. I think AI voicing will mitigate the cost of voicing npc's, look at the Glenmoril Mod for Skyrim, all the NPC's are voiced with VAsynth using the voices from Skyrim, it's not perfect but does the job.

Ah, the good old days, when Viconia was still hot. People demand voiced characters but I would rather have quality content.

I like BG3’s approach so much. I always play my own gender and when the character is not voiced, it helps me insert myself better into the game. I fear we could loose this kind of immersion if the characters are voiced. I don’t mind voiced characters, though. But I think it’s a better choice if you’re trying to have a protagonist with a personality at least partially independent of the player - like Geralt, for example.

Voiced, ALWAYS. I used to hate when old games characters was like "Hey.." and the rest was just text

I'm a millennial, and I think the decision for voice acting or no voice acting should be considered in the service of the game. Like any decision, it should be asked "does this addition serve what our game is focused on?" Here's a couple of points that developers should probably consider in making that decision, rather than just doing it because "it's the industry standard": -Voice acting should never come at the cost of dialogue quality. Voice-audio quality should also be considered. -Aside from quality, player agency should also be taken into account; if a game has a pre-defined lead character (think Geralt in the Witcher, or Commander Shepherd in Mass Effect) it would be in the service of the game to have fewer choices and voiced dialogue, but if you create your character from scratch and the game is trying to give you as much agency as possible, it is strange to have a voiced character. In creating the character, you may imagine the character as having a specific way of speaking, but a voice actor takes that imaginative aspect away from you completely. I've found that when games fall prey to these design flaws, I tend to turn the voice volume to mute and turn on subtitles instead, if that's an option.

I'll telling you, this obsession with cinemantics and voiced everything will be the doom of many promising studios and projects.

With the main character it's basically a style choice by the devs. With the rest of the cast it's a choice between voiced or saving money by not voicing but making no money because nobody will play your game.

I have limited vision in my right eye so voices are necessary for me.

I played 400 hours of Underrail and I loved it. I think this answers your question at the end.

Voiced NPCs ✔ Voiced Protag ❌ Though a distinction should be made for games with an established main character like Geralt in The Witcher series. You don't expect to roleplay as whoever you want because It's already his story so it's tolerable when the dialogue options are limited due to having a voiced protagonist.

its a pretty nice distinction. if the protagonist is an grounded established character, voiced. if not, unvoiced. voice a protagonist heavily restricts options in dialog and there are typically diminishing returns if the game is an RPG without limitations. a good example is Mass Effect Vs. Dragon age, Dragon age protagonist haven't really benefited from having voiced protagonist. its rarely brought up in reviews and none of their lines are remembered primarily due to openness of how you can dictate their character. while the mass effect voiced protagonist are a benefit to the story because we cant really change much in commander shepard's character, mainly just different expressions in paragon v. renegade. so there's a collective idea of who commander shepard is that we can all have that there isnt for Dragon age protagonists. on a side note I'm hesitant to say that the voiced performances had notable impact for my comparisons. while I would rank DA inquisitor low in bioware's voiced protagonist. i would put DA2 male hawke voice actor on par with both male and female commander shepard.

For me, story and choice consequence is very important. So as long as the developers can include high quality and quantity of those two, I'll take voiced. If budget does not allow, I'm fine with unvoiced. Regarding unvoiced, I definitely prefer at least partially voiced, like the introduction of a companion/major character, my imagination can easily fill in the rest. Just think of what Morrowwind would of been like without Dagoth Ur

One thing you forgot to mention was that many people who watch your channel, do so because they 'like' or at least 'feel comfortable' with your voice. If you just produced a text, then how many subscribers would read it. Or even if it was narrated by voices who we found 'grating' or 'shrill'. There are channels that I know who have good content, but I can't listen to the voice for long.

I think the best way forward with this is voiced lines but maybe like four to six options, half masculine half feminine. That way we can choose for ourselves which resonates with our CaC.

The video game industry has been experiencing significant growth, with revenues in 2023 estimated to be around $200 billion globally. This includes sales from game consoles, PC games, and mobile games. Movies: The global film industry had a somewhat slower recovery post-pandemic, with total revenues in 2023 estimated around $45 billion from box office sales alone. This figure does not fully account for digital rentals, streaming, and sales, which would increase the total significantly. Books: The global publishing market, which includes both print and e-books, was estimated to generate around $125 billion in 2023. This market has shown resilience, with consistent growth in digital formats and audio books, alongside traditional print sales. You not reading is in a minority buddy. Books make more money than movies.

You usually get better writing when there's only text (as seen in the classic CRPG's), but Larian has showed that if you do care enough to invest time and money into mocap and voice acting that it can work as well and appeal to mass audiences. But, unfortunately, not every developer nor publisher is interested in pursuing or giving the extra budget into that particular section of game development. That's why I think that Larian and CDPR are probably the only companies that could realistically throw "the kitchen sink" at VA,mocap & animations department and appeal to the masses that are into cinematic experiences, even if the games are RPG's in nature.

If this is a cutscene, voicing is needed, if this is more simple not interactive dialog, it's ok to read. Facial expressions, different portrait tweaks during such dialog would be nice.

I am an early millennial, born at the end of the 80's. Let me just say, I absolutely adore a game with limited voice work. Give me Legend of Zelda grunts and a good story. I really don't need an NPC calling me the chosen one for the one-thousandth time. Awkward sex and romance should always be optional. The only way I take them is if I get a boon from it. I don't particularly enjoy comical characters in voice acted games either. With a few stand outs. The comedy either feels forced or just doesn't fit with the frequency in which it takes place or when. Sorry for the big comment, really enjoy your work. Praise be to the algorithm gods.

As far as the discussion of silent/voiced protagonist goes it depends entirely on the nature of the story being told and what kind of protagonist we are working with. If we are in a Fallout New Vegas situation where the player character is entirely sculpted by you and the goal with the story is to provide a fairly wide variety of choices to the player then silent is better because more dialogue options means higher chances for there to be one that you personally would choose. Fallout 4 is an excellent example of why having a voiced protagonist in this same style of game doesn't work because to voice each line means there have to be significantly less options and in addition to that you have the potential problem of the line delivery not matching up with the feelings of the player. The main character of Fallout 4 practically shaking in rage while asking Kellog where their son is acts as a prime example of that complete disconnect for many players as they don't have any actual connection to him and/or may have even completely forgotten about him before reaching this point in the main story. On the other side of the coin if we take The Witcher for example, having a voiced protagonist for that game massively improves the experience because that narrative is about Geralt not the player. You guide his actions and can make a handful of branching narrative choices but they are all seen as being in character for Geralt himself. You are limited to only taking actions he himself would make and thus there is no chance for that same disconnect between player and player character because Geralt will always act in character and you as the player never have any reason to expect otherwise. TLDR: Silent works best for a blank slate characters. (more dialogue options, more choices for how the story can change, lets you define your own character) Voiced works best for more established characters. (less dialogue options and potential story changes but stronger characterization)

Voiced!

I think it’s a shame that all-voice acted dialogue is becoming a standard. It makes games more expensive to make and more movie-like. I vastly prefer video games over movies because of the player involvement and freedom of choice. All VA dialogue makes both of those things harder to implement. But since video games are mainstream and devs want to make things easier to consume, these things will continue becoming the norm.

Voice acting can add a lot to the game but it can also lead to bloated development times and budgets, limit the amount of dialogue possible and make patching/adding things harder to do. I don't think it's necessary personally.

I guess the decision if we want to voice the game or not should be taken very early in development as it potentially can affect the whole development proces (writing/pacing/animations/...). I myself am a millenial but I also grew up mostly with books and later cable tv as my country with regard to popculture/entertainment was 10-20 years behind the West at the time for political reasons, so I'm used to unvoived (or rather partially voiced) games like Morrowind, Baldur's Gate, Planescape Torment and Fallout, and also a bunch of DOS games (initially most of them were not even localized in my language so I fumbled around in the game world trying to make sense of it in English and learning quite a bit of the language as a side effect) so for me isometric games with a lot of dialogue is perfectly acceptable as the dialogue can go really deep without the constraint of VA performance as a more in-depth dialogue would be more difficult to perform I imagine. I opt for the best of both worlds and will enjoy both cinematic fully voice acted games and slower paced dialogue heavy games. But you're right the biggest constraint ATM is time. There are so many things competing for our time and attention these days that activities like focusing and reading complex texts seem more and more like a chore.

For the characters - if voiced like Shadowheart, then absolutely yes. If voiced like Goldman from The House of the Dead 2 then... still yes, just for the comedic value 😂 Protagonist should be voiced if he or she is not customizable and is basically a fully written character, but should be silent otherwise.

NPC characters must be voiced. That is natural trend since BG, Icewind Dale and Neverwinter nights. Though those times it were only a few NPC's voiced, all the rest was the narrator. I am honestly waiting for playable characters to be voiced. Having all that "AI technology" which is already present in the music industry since at least two decades it should not be a problem for a "game" to tak a few important voice samples and later implement them into simple voice phrases during the dialogue with NPC characters. I hope developers will see that too at some point.

I think the original release of Disco Elysium (pre-Final Cut) actually had a pretty good compreomise. Generally, when you first met a character there'd be an initial exchange where they'd be voiced, and there you'd get a bunch of questions you could ask, which would generally not be voiced. IMO, it worked well because the initial exchange made enough of an impression that I could imagine the character's voice saying the rest of the lines. A case that fidn't work quite so well was Tyranny, because it felt kind of random and arbitrary what would be voiced and what wouldn't. Sometimes, my companions would chime in with their opinions on somethibg, and 2 of them would be voiced, but not the 3rd. Or sometimes a conversation would be mostly voiced, but randomly cut out for a couple of paragraphs. It was kind of jarring whenever that happened. As for the protagonist, I'm fine with an unvoiced protagonist in a 1st-person or isometric game, but I'm really not a fan of games with shot-reverse-shot conversation camera when I can just see my character standing there mute.

I don't need cutscenes, as they usually break immersion with artificial facial animations, movements, and other limitations of the medium. I don't even need a voiced protagonist, which usually introduces problems with dialogue choices; it's not a rare thing that what's said doesn't match what was chosen - verbally or tonally. However, I like voiced NPCs. The sole performance of voice actors often boosts immersion and enjoyment. What I don't like are walls of texts, for which my brain doesn't have any immediate need and thus are easily forgotten. If I'm to play the game, I actually want to play it - not read through 4 paragraphs on every dialogue choice, spending 20 minutes on each NPC. I would welcome a happy medium. Voiced NPCs only, and/or concisely written dialogues.

Maybe it's just me, but I find that sometimes reading walls of text can be more interesting than listening to cutscence. While reading, I am getting information with preferred speed and more engaged in the story. Also, I had zero memorable moments with voiced cutscenes and a lot with reading text, but it could be just a small sample of games I played.

I am spoiled by the old Bioware and cannot play most games that aren't fully voiced. I think at some point I even craved for the devs to voice the main character in BG3 during its beta years.

I am in the voice camp. I find when I am say playing a Owlcat game I will read out-loud the text playing the voices. It just adds a lot more to the moment. To me it’s a big difference. When I play text heavy games, and there is little or no voice acting alot of the text is wordy and not needed. There is more you can do to add to the feel of the game than making it wordy and VA helps you do that and forces you to think what will write.

I liked Mass Effect's MC voice. Especially femshep. Generally, I prefer unvoiced RPGs. They are also more mod-friendly. It is generally immersion breaking when in a voiced RPG your mod dialogues are not voiced.

I like voiced games the most. I don't mind written dialogue in games since I grew up with it. I do mind when there are like 3 or more paragraphs of dialogue that just takes forever to end. I grow bored and just try to skip when I can. I just played Honkai Star Rail and the Penacony story was very heavy in dialogue both written and voiced. I had to watch videos going over the Penacony story for me to learn what I missed. Since, I didn't want to spend the majority of my limited time for gaming on reading or listening to dialogue.

If voice compromises quality and play time, then unvoiced it is. But i have to admit voiced is faaaaar more confy to play. Best comparision wold be BG3 vs pathfinder wotr Pathfinder has a far more convoluted and interesting plot than BG3. But i enjoyed bg3 more just cuz it wasnt tiresome to follow the plot.

i vote voice

I might be one of the few who actually enjoyed that the protagonist in FO4 was voiced. And I was mildly let down by the fact that your character in BG3 isn't. Sure there's a few times when the character speaks but it feels weird watching Tav just stand there after you choose the dialog option and say nothing, instead just emote with body language and facial expressions. I have heard that the reason given as to why the protagonist in BG3 wasn't fully voiced was that it would have taken too long to do. I call bullshit on that. It worked perfectly fine in Mass Effect and FO4. I think that Larian started recording dialog for a male and female Tav but dropped it after a while for most likely budgetary reasons. Also I think that they wanted the players attention to be on the companions voices and not Tav's or the Dark Urge. I think that was a mistake. I love BG3 but it's a flawed masterpiece and by not having a fully voiced protagonist is one of those flaws.

I sub because i like your voice and also your content is awesome.

i think its not needed for ppl who mostly already play crpgs, since they are accustomed to it. But i also think that voice acting can help reach a wider audiance, who usually wouldnt like sitting there for a long time just reading. Personally i prefer voice acting for everything but my own character. It feels more immersive, i can hear the emotions of emotional scenes (which for me personally hits harder than just reading how someone feels), and i can hear how the devs envisioned it, with reading there often is still a lot of interpretation open how ppl said the line. Also my Eyes start to hurt after a 2h session, which can be unfortunate since i would like to play more, but simply cant.

I prefer voiced, but only if I can pick from a selection of voices. But more than that, I'd prefer resources go towards making the game a good mechanically and storywise as it can be, and only then add voice acting. Bit of a tangent, this is part of broader trend I have a gripe with wherein games are becoming more like interactive movies, and increasingly less interactive. Cinematic elements are fine, but I would rather the industry shrink massively and focus on gameplay than cater towards audiences who cannot enjoy a game that isn't on some level trying to be a movie.

I want Fully Voiced NPCs with Silent Protags. that's how cRPGs should be

I prefer voiced protagonists by far. It makes the conversations seem more realistic and helps with immersion. Not hearing the main character scream or grunt when in pain, or just look mute when asked a question really grinds my gears.

Voiced.

If it must be voiced, let the voice acting be used sparingly. I was fine with intermittent dialog from characters in the mold of Pathfinder: Kingmaker and pre-Larian Baldur's Gate. While I was disappointed in many regards with Skyrim, not hearing a voice unless the Thu'um was used was a positive. I'm in the "can do without" camp, but as you noted, it could be a generational thing since I'm over the hill.

I prefer my CRPGs with unvoiced protaganist, as it makes their dialogue much more varied. I do prefer the other characters to be voiced, at least the important ones, as I find it jarring when half the convos are voiced and the other half isn't. Happened quite a lot in DOS2 and Pillars 1. But I can understand that smaller studios can't have a huge RPG with every single dialogue line voiced, and voiced well. So I adjust my expectations to the game. I will expect voiced dialogue in Bioware or CDPR games, but not necessatily in an Owlcat game or InExile game.

I never could do this “self-insert” thing with non voiced protagonist, so I always much more prefer voiced cuz voiced protagonist feels more authentic in dialogues to me and a part of the world. But there’s 2 sorts of unvoiced protagonists in rpgs, the dummy like in ff14 or choice of dialogue like bg 3, dao etc. I don’t like the nodding dummy the most in dialogue heavy rpgs xD

I don't *require* a voice actor, however i do very much prefer voice actors/voice acting. You can never truly make a complete blank slate mc unless you have a *lot* of choices and even then, i think for example persona 5, those little "dialogue boxes" you can pick? i think those kinds should be voice acted at bare minimum....especially when a character (like Joker) has full voice lines within battle calling out his persona's. I think Baldur's gate should have gotten the same treatment. At least voice out the selected lines if you're gonna give him a voice. "These boots have seen everything" or calling out in latin? i believe it is a lot of the spells. "Ignis!" it doesn't need to be on the same level as Mass Effect or a non-mmo final fantasy game but if you're gonna give them spoken lines apart from generic grunts of pain. Voice the selected dialogue options. That's just me, i won't die if my mc isnt voice acted. Just a preference and a minor gripe about certain things

I would pay another 60 dollars to have fully voiced wotr

I prefer a game with voiced cutscenes but it's not a must for me, but I believe it's important for the commercial success of a game, if I compare Divinity 2 with BG3 I actually think Divinity 2 is better written neverthless BG3 was the bigger commercial success

I just want to have voiced characters cause it's exhausting to read text in RPGs. Even an AI TTS would be fine for me. I find myself skipping dialogues and refraining from talking to characters in games just cause I don't feel like reading stuff.

Having voices for characters in crpgs is fine for the most part, it's when devs make your character voiced, that's the problem. It adds nothing and just takes away from the depth you bring to your character by limiting dialogue by how much you can say and how you say it, thus giving the player less agency with their character. This is true especially if it's used poorly/lazily. It doesn't automatically make the game bad, Mass effect and Dragon Age were still fun games, but when a studio takes a franchise that used slient protagonists and shifts it to voiced, no one is usually happy with that. It doesn't make your games better, you just limited it.

seldom remarks, catchwords, comments, battlecries and groans are 200% enough to set a character for me. assuming that voice acting and sound are done right, of course. another important thing to mention is that texts and ui's from old crps really look objectively bad on modern monitors, sometimes even from quite recent games (10-15 years or so).

Will never understand the "I want to RP a blue/yellow/pink/whatever, human/dragon/zombie/whatever, fighter/cleric/wizard/plant/squirrel/whatever who is tall/short/strong/weak/eloquent/nervous/whatever and does whatever whatever whatever, but they must NOT be voiced or I can't RELATE to my character" argument

It can depend but I generally love voiced protagonist. I really wish that we got the voiced cutscenes of Tav from the beta in the released version.

It depends on the nature of the game. Party-based CRPGs, I'm not a fan of voiced protagonists or heavy cinematics. But games like Witcher 3, Ghost of Tsushima, or Mass Effect, where the protagonist is essentially an established persona, then I do.

I read books every day, so I don't mind the idea of reading... however, reading while playing a game is not something I am fond of. I would prefer a fully voiced RPG.

It depends on the game. For stuff like Cyberpunk 2077 or Witcher 3, obviously they benefit from having a voiced protagonist. But games like Baldur's Gate 3 and... I guess Starfield (lol), they benefit from not having a voiced character.

I don't think protagonist needs VA, however npcs/companions are extremely appreciated. Also partially VAed is weird for me, straight makes me feel that non voiced part is not important. Also it prevents writers to write enormous amount of useless dialogues like they're getting paid for how much words they're putting in, not the actual quality (hello pillars of eternity 1)

When did voiced protag because the norm? it just about never untill the wicher 2 and mass effect 1 both 2007

I prefer the voiced protagonist hands down! BG3 would have been so much beter if your TAV was voiced! i believe that they couldn't due to the size of the game and the manpower to make it happen. I don't believe that it was a creative choice, if they could, the TAV would have been completely voiced. Hopefully there will be a mod in the future to make our TAV voiced which takes BG3 to even greater heights than it is already.

Millennial here. Of course I enjoy good voice acting but for me an engaging narrative that allows for greater freedom and expression of my character will always trump voice acting and cut scenes. Imagine wotr but it's like mass effect and you can only follow a gutted angel path or a gutted demon path...That's not what I want out of rpgs. Even bg3 it makes me wonder how much more game there could be if the money for cutsecenes and voice acting was instead put on narrative and so on. We might have a story that would have led us to lvl 20 and beyond Baldurs gate

In an ideal world I'm fine with everything being voiced all the time. But money and time exist, so it really just isn't as practical as simply having written dialog. Personally, I prefer reading anyway, honestly. I skipped about 80% of the dialog in BG3 because I simply read it way faster than the lines were delivered, and there is a zero percent chance I am playing any rpg without subtitles. The way owlcat does it is perfect for me, voice a line or two to give the character a defined voice, but have most of it still be read.

Voice acting is one of the MOST IMPORTANT thing to me, it's the difference in a "detailed" story being unengaging "noise" and a "slow burn" masterpiece.

BG3 does voiced/unvoiced characters in an interesting way they involve both. your main character will have no voice but everyone else will be voiced so being a created character is almost a better choice so you can hear all the companions voices and your created character is there involved witnessing everything going on and you get to hear it all.

Depends on the game. Psy-Horror games like Darkwood didn't need voice acting and the text was minimal. Many CRPGs, though I feel need it because it really helps me delve into the comradery aspect the game is trying to build. Many of those (most likely) Russian Psy-Horror coming out are so lazy and formulaic, relying on text in the form of one found letter after the other, complete with asset flips and mannequins as the monster. Some CRPGs tell but don't show enough when the voice acting is omitted. I don't care if the protagonist is voiced, but what Larian did with BG3 has me thoroughly spoiled.

In my youth, it didn't bother me much, I had time and energy so I passionately read through anything that had words on/in it. Now in my twilight years, I find it hard to focus, I just hit the next dialogue I don't read everything, I just scheme through them if they aren't voiced. For protagonist, I prefer silent protagonist if I'm gonna replay the game a lot. I'll make exceptions for games like Mass Effect, Cyberpunk, because your protagonist is semi-predefined you are Shepard, V, just have some agency with their looks and gender. I prefer blank slates. Ultimately I find myself not caring for games with fixed protagonists anymore. Haven't purchased any games like that in a long while and probably wont in the near future either. Half of the fun for me is to make a character, deciding their backstory and personality and how would act or respond within confined rules and available dialogue and a silent protagonist is just make it so much better, for me.

Id rather have more content and no voice acting than voice acting and less content. i find a good mix would be very important cutscenes with voice acting to at least give the characters voices while nearly the entire game is nonvoiced. i particularly hate the partial voice acting where certain segments of a convo get voiced while others remain silent

Millennial here, For me it depends tbh if it's a pre-established character sure voice them, On the other hand If its a created character. Why ask me for a voice type if my character isn't going to say anything outside of some quips during battle or grunts? Another question to those who prefer non-voiced protagonist, Do you speak out loud what your character says or do you just say it in your head? I know streamers/youtubers tend to say it out loud because they have an audience so i'm just curious if yall do it while you're alone?

I don't care so much since I'm old school, but voice characters definitely makes a difference, even if it's just a simple voice pack. Think of Minsc back in BG1. Go for the eyes Boo! The game wasn't fully voiced, but these lines made such an impact in remembering the character. So yeah, I think some voice, but not necessarily everything voiced is fine.

Only voice NPC's and only as long as you can have proper voice actors. PC always silent. Unless it is a clear story. Like the Alan Wake game. It is a game about him, so yeah he can be voiced. But if it is a self insert it should be unvoiced.

on topic- Voice vs non voices i prefer voices however its not a big deal eitherway. Gender if Human or Elf I play girls anything else i play Men. also note that the girls i make in games always end up looking like my wife. even before i met her lol

I think I mostly prefer text. I also play plenty of female characters or characters from games and movies. there is another reason why Bethesda got some flak for doing voices, dragon age too to a lesser extent. The voice lines didn't match the text selected. and the choices were limiting. amounting to yes, no with insult, sarcasm in some of the games.

Sorry i cant hear anything your saying in this video- The background is interesting? how did you get to this? Evil shadowhard play though ? i never knew Shar physically was in the game.

I prefer fully-voiced npc characters and non-voiced player character (like in Dragon Age Origins). In most games when they voice the player character they tend to repeat the dialog choice you've read(picked) and that annoys me a lot (witcher games are very bad with this). Mass Effect games managed to do a better job by rephrasing the written dialog option but the line itself was most of the time very short and that is not good enough in my book. Sadly the casual audience prefers voiced player chars and since most games are designed with the widest audience in mind, I never expect DAO style systems. Also, after Divinity 2 and now BG3 expect Pause & Play combat to completely disappear. Everything moved/is moving to turn-based (x-com) style of combat.

I want all the NPCs to be voiced but not the player character. Also in BG3 Tav and the dark urge do not have a voice. The other characters have less voice if your using them has your main character

Vooiced!

It's really a matter of pros and cons, I think. The obvious pro is how good VA can really elevate a game, and for an RPG in particular, really make those emotional beats hit harder. The con is cost, and maybe sheer size? Imagine how many lines would need to be voiced in BG3 for the protagonist, given all the branching decisions, and how different characters should probably sound different. Like a well educated character shouldn't sound the same as one who grew up in a remote mining community. I think in a game with a fixed protagonist going voiced should be a given, like Geralt. Even with something semi-fixed, like Mass Effect (even CP2077 probably falls into problem of character background, like Corpo V, Nomad V and Street Rat V should probably speak at least a little differently from each other, though the VA in that game is truly excellent), if you have a male and female voice I think that's great. As soon as you get to a broad character creator like BG3 or the Pathfinder games, I think it would snowball out of control rather quickly. If the price I have to pay for having the vast array of choices we got in BG3 means not having a voiced protagonist, I'll happily pay it. If we can get both that'd be great, but not unless gnome wizard and my human barbarian don't have to share the same voice pack. That would make it crappy again.

My favourite games are voiced, Shepard, Geralt, Nathan Drake, Arthur Morgan/John Marston, was the problem with Fallout 4 the voiced protagonist or the game dialogue in general? I often wondered while playing Dragon Age: Origins, what if this character was voiced and then I remembered, that would be crazy, look at the choice you have starting this game, No not all games need to be voiced.

I think full voice-acting makes the game so much better when it's for a character in the universe that's supposed to have a specific personality and history in the universe. Otherwise, even the BG3 Tav approach might be slightly too much with occasional quips and comments. Now, cutscenes I think are too much, unless it's very specific moments like the WotR opening. I do hope there's space for small games without voice acting, but the writing has to be phenomenal to bridge the gap and charm people with story and character alone. People like people, and voices and faces are a huge part of that.

I think what matters is matching the choice to the rest of the game. For one, we have to be honest, many people prefer unvoiced because it's tradition, and 'it's easier to RP', but that really isn't true in most games now a days. BG3 is a good example, can you really insert any voice you want, when you have body postures and facial expressions giving you cues? I sure can't. Regardless, it is partially voiced anyway, so do we really think people are imagining a different voice from the one they hear in the overworld? Or is it more likely that they come to associate the voice they chose during character creation with the text they are reading anyway? I know which way my brain naturally goes, if I think any thoughts from my character, it adapts them to the voice and intonations that the character has established, so not having the dialogue voiced for cutscenes doesn't really give creative freedom. As for matching it to the rest of the game. People underestimate how easy it would be for them to adjust to text I think. Regardless though, what is odd is that all characters are voiced except the protagonist. That works in a game such as the various Legend of Zeldas (at least the ones I've played), because they're often written to accomodate the silent protagonist in such a way that if you are just playing, and don't fill dialogue in in your mind, the silence still works as what is actually happening in game. In BG3 the conversations are interactive, so it is off setting to have the only 'voice' that takes place from the PC to be the narrator. It's made worse for the origin characters, because people will have become used to hearing their voice from the companion role. The other factor is, where do players see the money went, and how do they perceive the cost. In BG3 where there were MANY voice lines that were made only for them to decide to not use them, and much of the bulk of the cost of voicing the MC is done for all origin chacters (as they serve as companions in a custom run) it is difficult to justify 'budget' or 'freedom to RP' as a reason for not having them be voiced. For custom there are quite a few VAs they paid to do the overworld chatter, why not have voiced be an option, and only pay one of each gender to voice the character (at least for The Dark Urge custom who has canon settings)? If they're silent for RP reasons (theoretically) then we are aserting that these people are ignoring the overworld voice anyway, so why have multiples, at the cost of people who want voiced getting that option? Perception is part of the battle here, and I would honestly suggest any game that doesn't do voiced protagonists then also doesn't create a bunch of NPCs with random throw away lines. That can cause people to subconsciously discount valid 'budgetting' reason with 'oh but you could afford to give me 100+ people I don't give two flips about to listen to'. Not saying that's a fair stance, I don't know the pay scales to actually state that, but that is a common way for the human mind to work.

Voiced always.

Interesting theme....I personnally since I have to use reading glasses when playing on the computer am gratefull when all is voiced, it quickens the game for me. But I also do enjoy the text wall apon occation...The game then needs to be constant. Pathfinder kind of bothered me due to half voice and then you are like...wait what...Oh I need to read the rest. So full voice or full text is my preferance..... So I know what to expect. Thx for the video. Peace

I usually remove voices in crpg with a lot of text to read. It is much faster and confortable just to read. I keep the voices only if dialogs are not just boxed texts, but acted cutscenes. Still, I don't care about cutscenes.

I will say this. I'll sit and read walls of text in pathfinder rotr, but for me it feels like less playing of the actual video game. It's not a bad thing, I enjoy reading, but for an rpg it feels less immersive. Less like having an actual conversation. Now, not every RPG is completely about the story, some might be all about the builds you make, the numbers you crunch, etc, and I think that's good and unique and voice acting isn't needed. BG3 I think did make a great call making it more cinematic with excellent voice acting, and it really matched how BG and BG2 felt with their games voice acting. I think it serves a purpose to the type of game its trying to be. It really depends on what the game wants to convey, and how it's implemented. If I have to read, or if npcs are voiced but I'm not, or if everyone is voiced, as long as it's quality work and stays true to the game, it's fine with me. I will say I like BG3 where your character has a voice and can say little quips and participate in party banter, but for constatation has no voice. That felt like an ideal balance

It depends on the game, but I can go either way on whether the protagonist is voiced or not. All of the other characters need to be voiced though.