Main character: Voiced or non-voiced?

[BoboTheMighty]

There are good and bad examples for both. Plenty of older rpg's offered more roleplaying opportunities, but also had jarringly dissonant dialogue. From one I played recently, I thinkj it played out something like this:

Please Sir/M'am step back! There are plague victims behind this door and I do not wish for others to get infected.
A ) I shall go forth and rescue these souls from the clutches of this vile plague!
B) and C) Different tones of Indifference
D) We must kill them all!

And there are games with non-outstanding characters or writing hugely elevated by phenomenal voice voice acting performance ( Red Dead Redemption and pretty much everything Rockstar, in particular).

Ideally if they are shooting for both, CDPR would do well to scout out talents among less expensive/well known voice actors...there is surprising potential even among modding community.

Plus always listening Baker/North/Bailey/Hale/and others in every other AAA title is becoming a bit tiresome.

 

[metalmaniac21]

NO! Never! If CP2077 will have a blank state protagonist, main character voiceover is really unnecessary. And another conversation wheel will be a cancer for sure, in any form.

 

[Mebrilia]

Yes no conversation wheel please..

 

[Zeika]

As a roleplayer, I'd rather use my own imagination to give my life to my character voice and personality. I know that a lot would argue that a voiced player character gives personality but I disagree with that, Shepard, Hawke always felt blank due to the fact that they were voiced. What I did like about Witcher 3 was that all options were true to Geralt's character more or less but that's because Geralt is already an established character.

But in Cyberpunk 2077 to my understanding we're supposed to play our own characters and having them voiced is something I feel would diminish that somewhat, the reason for this is because an actor or an actress would never come to close enough to represent to what I would feel my character would react to a given situation.

So when it comes to me, it is a big no. I would prefer if my character was non-voiced.

 

[janoszebambosze]

I think if CDPred are trying to make revolutionary RPG (and I believe they do), they will want to do voiced protagonist with a lot of dialogue options just because it's a challenge. No one has ever done this right. I'm pretty sure they can pull this off. I mean, for me it would look kind of weird... such an advanced game, with crazy cinematics, stunning visuals, great audio (I can assume that based on what they did with TW3) but silent main character? For me that's kinda unacceptable in current-gen AAA games, when technology is so advanced.

 

[cyberpunkforever]

don't you think it's boring a slient character when communicationg with another npc? besides, it's not realistic at all, other people cannot read the protagonist's mind

 

[Zeika]

don't you think it's boring a slient character when communicationg with another npc? besides, it's not realistic at all, other people cannot read the protagonist's mind

That's the point with RP - You're supposed to give life to your character with your ideas and thoughts about your character's motivation, this of course my opinion about this. :>

 

[janoszebambosze]

With that logic, you could as well have non-visable character When I see my charchter (and I'm almost sure we will see our hero no matter if the game will be FPP or TPP) I want to hear him as well. cRPGs are not Pen and Paper RPGs.

What I'm trying to say is that modern video games needs to be fully voiced, if tey're not - that creates kind of a disharmony. As I said in some previous post - it's like watching silent movie nowadays... It's tiring, it's breaking the flow of the story and it's simply less fun.

 

[Zeika]

With that logic, you could as well have non-visable character When I see my charchter (and I'm almost sure we will see our hero no matter if the game will be FPP or TPP) I want to hear him as well. cRPGs are not Pen and Paper RPGs.

What I'm trying to say is that modern video games needs to be fully voiced, if tey're not - that creates kind of a disharmony. As I said in some previous post - it's like watching silent movie nowadays... It's tiring, it's breaking the flow of the story and it's simply less fun.

I won't give you any comments about whatever cRPG are not and what it is because it is actually pointless. ;p But have you played VTM Bloodlines for example? That's a wonderful game which didn't have any voice acting (old which is the reason) but it does deliver so much more then modern RPGs does in my opinion.

The reason why I play RPG games is because just that, roleplay, I want to be immersed within a world by the character itself, I do believe opposite then you about this, Shepard, Hawke, most character from BioWare games acts like they have a bipolar disorder due to have voice acting, one moment sorrowful and the other happy and that's not even when it fit with the story or the scene itself.

The thing is that, in my opinion Witcher 3 did awesome with it voice acting because every option fits with Geralt's personality, if CD Project manages to do that with custom characters for Cyberpunk 2077 then sure, I'm okay with it, I don't prefer it but I will be okay with it.

 

[janoszebambosze]

I haven't play VTM, but I did play some games where characters weren't fully voiced, and to be honest I didn't enjoy them as much as I would if characters were voiced. I guess it's ok-ish in isometric games, maybe in games like Skyrim because the storytelling is less important and less cinematic. I mean in Skyrim it was pretty weird for me, but acceptable. I just don't think it would be ok in a game focused so much on a story, with a lot of cinematics (and I think that's the game they're doing), where all other characters are voiced (and well voiced). Don't you think it would be weird to play Mass Effect the way it is, but with silent Shepard?

Guess it all depends on what kind of game they're trying to do

 

[Sardukhar]

Don't you think it would be weird to play Mass Effect the way it is, but with silent Shepard?

Nope, not at all. I don't even recall what Shepard sounded like. Sure would have liked to have more to say, though. I also didn't build Shepard. Or Geralt. Not really.

CRPGs are not PnP RPGs - CRPGs are typically lesser role-playing games. In shooting for the pretty effects, you lose the freedom and the depth. Going further down that path is rarely a positive, from a role-playing perspective. I like role-playing more than pretty effects, but many prefer the pretty. CDPR has always tried to balance that, but this will be their first time with a you-build-em character.

 

[Zeika]

Don't you think it would be weird to play Mass Effect the way it is, but with silent Shepard?

I think you bring something interesting here, would Shepard be boring without voice? Yes, this is something I believe about but that's also because Shepard is not a developed character, there's no direct character growth even through the 3 games. Yes things happens as the story progress but even if it does the character still remains blank. It is absolutely true though, without voice acting it would be even more boring but I don't think it would be by the lack of voice acting but because of the nature of the game.

Please correct me if I am wrong here but to my understanding, Cyberpunk 2077 will be somewhat like a sandbox game which we will be able to create our own custom character (gender and whatnot) this is something which is very important by the very essence of RP, now in my understanding as well, Cyberpunk 2077 might also be more about whatever or not our character succeed in contracts and what not (which is also why I posted about my dream for multiplayer). I think that people might be thinking about too much in the line of Witcher 3 when it comes to Cyberpunk 2077 storytelling which might be completely different then it was in the Witcher games.

 

[Suhiira]

It's possible the storytelling might be different, but probably not much.
CDPR did a pretty damn good job with the Witcher series, it's what that know, it worked. While they have no doubt looked carefully a games like Torment and Bloodlines I really don't expect them to vary their method that much from what's worked well for them in the past.

 

[janoszebambosze]

It's possible the storytelling might be different, but probably not much.
CDPR did a pretty damn good job with the Witcher series, it's what that know, it worked. While they have no doubt looked carefully a games like Torment and Bloodlines I really don't expect them to vary their method that much from what's worked well for them in the past.

Exactly. That's what they great at, and I guess they'll keep doing that, even push it further and further. They do STORY DRIVEN RPGs - that's their thing.

Please correct me if I am wrong here but to my understanding, Cyberpunk 2077 will be somewhat like a sandbox game which we will be able to create our own custom character (gender and whatnot) this is something which is very important by the very essence of RP, now in my understanding as well, Cyberpunk 2077 might also be more about whatever or not our character succeed in contracts and what not (which is also why I posted about my dream for multiplayer). I think that people might be thinking about too much in the line of Witcher 3 when it comes to Cyberpunk 2077 storytelling which might be completely different then it was in the Witcher games.

I think we're going to have semi-set character. In fact I could bet some money on that. By semi-set I mean: fully customizable in terms of look and gender, but with a set backstory, motives etc. I mean our hero won't be no-one, it won't be a blank page where we write whatever we want.

 

[Suhiira]

I think we're going to have semi-set character. In fact I could bet some money on that. By semi-set I mean: fully customizable in terms of look and gender, but with a set backstory, motives etc. I mean our hero won't be no-one, it won't be a blank page where we write whatever we want.

I rather suspect they'll give us a blank slate character. If they include backgrounds I don't expect them to matter much tho, maybe one reference.
More's the pity.

 

[227]

While they have no doubt looked carefully a games like Torment and Bloodlines I really don't expect them to vary their method that much from what's worked well for them in the past.

It's not like they're unwilling to try something new. Before 3, the Witcher games were linear with branching paths. That was what worked well for them in the past and yet they looked to another game that saw success (Skyrim... blech) for a new direction anyway. A terrible new direction (opinion!), but still.

Exactly. That's what they great at, and I guess they'll keep doing that, even push it further and further. They do STORY DRIVEN RPGs - that's their thing.

Non-voiced doesn't preclude the game being story-driven, though. Many (arguably most) of the most renowned and enduring stories in gaming throughout the years have had no voice acting for the main character.

Voice acting is great for RPGs driven by the main character where the entire world revolves around them and their actions. Not so great if they're just another nobody trying to make it, as I very much hope is the case here.

 

[Sardukhar]

Not so great if they're just another nobody trying to make it, as I very much hope is the case here.

Prooooooojecting?

 

[Suhiira]

Prooooooojecting?

I'm not quite sure how you'd pull it off but being a nobody that's not going to have a significant impact on the world at large would certainly be a change of pace from 99.99% of other games.

 

[227]

Prooooooojecting?

My therapist says that I have sociopathic tendencies, but never mentioned anything about projection. I'll have to dig him up and ask about that.

I'm not quite sure how you'd pull it off but being a nobody that's not going to have a significant impact on the world at large would certainly be a change of pace from 99.99% of other games.

The second Witcher game was pretty good (not perfect, but definitely better than most) about that. Characters were constantly doing things of their own volition and you were forced to roll with the subsequent punches. You could still leave your mark in places by intervening here and there, but there was no situation where you could help everyone because the scheming was too layered to immediately recognize and react to, and you weren't the world's babysitter anyway. The lack of a fixed character would enable them to push even further into that territory.

Basically, this could be a story about struggling for a personal victory instead of one where you're everyone's savior. And if you're not everyone's savior, chances are they're not going to care one whit about your dramatic cutscene poses and voice lines. It'd make no sense in a world where you're practically irrelevant.

 

[Garrison72]

The second Witcher game was pretty good (not perfect, but definitely better than most) nt.

Pretty good? It was absolutely fucking superb in this regard, TW2 should be the template for role playing in Cyberpunk.