NPC voices and dialog

Odin

Odin

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RPGCodex is reporting that GamesFirst! conducted an interview with Gavin Carter of Bethesda, they talk about Oblivion but since Bethesda is going to use the same engine on Fallout 3 we can get some clues on how it might be. Here's an interesting bit:<blockquote>GF!: How have the NPCs been revamped for Oblivion as opposed to Morrowind?

GC: Reworking our NPCs is a major focus for us with Oblivion. Everything about NPCs has been redone from the ground up. For starters, all of their dialog is fully voiced. Being able to actually hear the characters speak out loud really adds to the atmosphere. We’re making revisions to how dialog functions in the game as well. Gone are the encyclopedic database characters of Morrowind who had lists of generic topics that scrolled off the screen. We’re trying hard to give all NPCs a sense of personality and keeping their topics down to things that are interesting and unique. The dialog system itself has been revamped to remove the hyperlink-style keywords sprinkled in among the dialog. You’re now presented with topics and dialog choices in between NPC dialogs. We find this helps you focus on the information (as well as our incredible facial animation system) much more, instead of just hunting through the dialogs for the colored words like in Morrowind.</blockquote>Hmm, interesting..Now we don't know that this means squat for Fallout 3, but it's safe to assume that the choices they make on Oblivion can affect Fallout 3.
Link: Oblivion interview@GamesFirst!
 
I would love all NPC's in FO3 to have dialogue and more personality. That was one thing I always loved was the NPC's that did in FO 1&2.
 
I'd say it would be safe to assume that this applies to Fallout 3 as well. I believe the commercial success of Kotor 1 and 2 set the new standard considering voice acting in RPGs. I always wanted the characters in the Fallout games to have voices (the talking heads were a real treat when they showed up from time to time, though).

Now that most new computers are able to read DVDs, one will also have less issues with having to conserve space on the media, making room for more voice files.

edit: typo
 
It sounds promising. The voices aren't all that important IMO, but I really didn't like the dialogue interface in Morrowind. As a matter of fact it was one of the things I disliked the most about the game. If they can make a dialogue interface that gives the npc's more personality and make conversations more interesting, that'd be a huge step up.

Of course, they'll also have to write some dialogue that's acually interesting...
 
Amen to that. The dialogue in Morrowind was far from interesting, basicly just the same phrases over and over with a few variations.
 
This makes me feel a little better. Morrowind dialoge was horrible. Anyone know if they are changing the combat system at all?
 
Don't know about horrible dialogue, but more individuality and personality for NPCs in F03 would be a good thing in my book.

And talking heads. Must have talking heads.
 
I don't know if that's a good news for Fallout 3, but that's a damn good one for Oblivion. I really hated the dialog system. Reading an encyclopedia was completely boring.
Dialogs are one of the most important things in a RPG IMO, and we couldn't even name Morrowind's ones "dialogs".
 
I can see problem with this.

Lets say the voice talent they hired really sucked, and since EVERYone is voiced, you have no choice but to listen to crappy voice acting.

It's like some of the Koei's North American release, the voice dub is horrid. :?

Just a thought.
 
Actualy Deus ex was voiced all to the last bit and it whent out a lot earlier than kotor 1 but gues it hadnt had such a commercial sucses to influence the market :( but still a great game :D
 
We will see how well they handle the voice actors. Hard to judge these things ahead of time. At very least I hope there is a separate "Speech" sound volume slider (always want that option, I like to set it independently of sound effects and music).

At times full voice acting can limit responses. Because each NPC response has to be voice acted, there are more limits on the amount of dialogue that can be included. Of course, it's also been a function of the type of games that have been fully voice acted to date.

Err... Egis, adventure games have been fully voiced acted for quite some time now.
 
Kotario said:
We will see how well they handle the voice actors. Hard to judge these things ahead of time. At very least I hope there is a separate "Speech" sound volume slider (always want that option, I like to set it independently of sound effects and music).
Click to expand...

Hay, I think Fallout 1 and 2 both are good examples of how in CRPGs, as opposed to adventures etc., voice acting is very much a question of quality over quantity

I don't want to be bombarded with voices, I want a few standout voices that make the whole setting clicks. If you're going to bombard me with voices, they better damn well all click.
 
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