Music = Good. Voices = ...

Sorry for moaning, but I can't hold it in any longer...

There seems to be a very heavy investment into the sound in RTW - rumour has it that the sound is of such high quality that sometimes people with on-board sound experience slowdowns as a result. But what's the point of having high quality recordings of sound if the sounds themselves are low quality?

Yes, the music is lovely. The sounds might even be too (hadn't had much chance to notice). But the voices?

I've only experienced the tutorial voices and the battle voices for the Julii, but what I've heard so far is not good... The battle trainer was only okay, the announcements when the enemy general dies lacks the bite it had in previous games, and Victoria sounds like she didn't want to be in the recording studio that day! Even the voices when you select or order a unit seem lacking.

For example, let's comparing the "the enemy general is dead" type messages:

Shogun: A choice of English or Japanese announcements, if I recall right!

Medieval: "The enemy general is dead, unfortunately slain before the pox could kill him." And that had such a brilliant attitude to it!

Rome: Well, truth is I can't remember - they didn't stand out very well. But I seem to recall the script was very much sub-par compared to Medieval, and it sounded like the announcement was being given by a eunach! (sp?)

Or how about the responses units give to orders? In Medieval, there's a choice of three different languages depending on the faction. The sound of archers/longbowmen firing volley after volley to the audible orders of their unit commander in Medieval will forever occupy a small portion of my brain... In Rome, the effect just isn't there. It doesn't help that when you order a unit to march casually to a different location (no rush...) the unit's commander feels the need to shout "Hurry!"

Okay, so we do have some useful advice at the beginning ("The enemy is attacking us - let them wear themselves out!") Well thanks a lot, I never realised that was my fatal mistake. Shogun and Medieval really weren't hard, but it sounds like CA are dumbing Rome down for the masses! (Actually, the thought occurs that maybe they are attempting to appeal to the graphic-loving hordes, even if it means sacrificinf - well, everything :( ) The agonising pauses between one bit of advice and the next don't exactly help either!

So, I ask again - what's the point in recording voices at great quality, when the original voices are just... lame...?! The voices (and sounds and music in general) in Medieval really did appeal to me - they were the icing on an already perfect cake.

Honestly, if I'm the only one experiencing this, please tell me. Who knows, maybe it's a problem with my computer! Really, I would love that to be the case, but I don't like the odds...

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Zild

Sorry for moaning, but I can't hold it in any longer...

There seems to be a very heavy investment into the sound in RTW - rumour has it that the sound is of such high quality that sometimes people with on-board sound experience slowdowns as a result. But what's the point of having high quality recordings of sound if the sounds themselves are low quality?

Yes, the music is lovely. The sounds might even be too (hadn't had much chance to notice). But the voices?

I've only experienced the tutorial voices and the battle voices for the Julii, but what I've heard so far is not good... The battle trainer was only okay, the announcements when the enemy general dies lacks the bite it had in previous games, and Victoria sounds like she didn't want to be in the recording studio that day! Even the voices when you select or order a unit seem lacking.

For example, let's comparing the "the enemy general is dead" type messages:

Shogun: A choice of English or Japanese announcements, if I recall right!

Medieval: "The enemy general is dead, unfortunately slain before the pox could kill him." And that had such a brilliant attitude to it!

Rome: Well, truth is I can't remember - they didn't stand out very well. But I seem to recall the script was very much sub-par compared to Medieval, and it sounded like the announcement was being given by a eunach! (sp?)

Or how about the responses units give to orders? In Medieval, there's a choice of three different languages depending on the faction. The sound of archers/longbowmen firing volley after volley to the audible orders of their unit commander in Medieval will forever occupy a small portion of my brain... In Rome, the effect just isn't there. It doesn't help that when you order a unit to march casually to a different location (no rush...) the unit's commander feels the need to shout "Hurry!"

Okay, so we do have some useful advice at the beginning ("The enemy is attacking us - let them wear themselves out!") Well thanks a lot, I never realised that was my fatal mistake. Shogun and Medieval really weren't hard, but it sounds like CA are dumbing Rome down for the masses! (Actually, the thought occurs that maybe they are attempting to appeal to the graphic-loving hordes, even if it means sacrificinf - well, everything :( ) The agonising pauses between one bit of advice and the next don't exactly help either!

So, I ask again - what's the point in recording voices at great quality, when the original voices are just... lame...?! The voices (and sounds and music in general) in Medieval really did appeal to me - they were the icing on an already perfect cake.

Honestly, if I'm the only one experiencing this, please tell me. Who knows, maybe it's a problem with my computer! Really, I would love that to be the case, but I don't like the odds...

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You and me both. :bow:

and a few others around here

Try the "barbarian" factions, shorter speaches and more to the point.
Instead of having a "castrati" screaming "Victoreeeee..." you hear a rough voice saying: "You've killed till there's nothing left to kill..."

The voice acting is more in line with what you find in a average animation series than that of a good "Historic Film" production.

Its more like Skeletor vs He-Man, than Gladiator or Braveheart (if these were the references they were aiming for, as stated).

I too have found the investment in voices and music odd. Like the quotes that appear with the battle prep screens they are fun for a while and add to the flavor but after the 100th time? I've turned em off.

One interesting thing, though... the end voice for the Greek-type factions sounds just like the Jurgen Von Strangle character on the Fairly Oddparents - heh.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by D. Boon's Ghost

One interesting thing, though... the end voice for the Greek-type factions sounds just like the Jurgen Von Strangle character on the Fairly Oddparents - heh.

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I don't know which voice you're talking about (the end voice?) but Jim Cummings did the general voices for the generals of the Greek and Eastern cultural factions as well as most of their troops ("Mighty General!" and "Greek cavalry!"). Jim's a serious talent in the animation voiceover industry but I feel he was miscast for RTW. Many PC gamers know him for his work as Minsc in the Baldur's Gate series, one of the most popular NPCs in a computer rpg.

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0191906/

Nothing on Victoria?

Seriously, whilst the voiced tutor is a new addition (I think...) to the game, it really did sound like she had places she'd rather be... She actually sounds bored!

I was hoping other factions (especially "less civilised" ones) would have better voices. I guess part of it is that the Romans all seem to lack any kind of accent. Now, I've no idea what a Roman accent should sound like - maybe it shouldn't sound like anything... But it does just sound like they've picked up a couple of random 30-odd year olds at the unemployment centre...

I guess the pre-battle advice kind of fits in well with the camera panning across the army, and I am interested in knowing what the other factions sound like here. Perhaps a few (ideally a lot) more sayings to choose from might be nice, with a shorter pause between each phrase. Or how about just one phrase every battle?


Also, another problem (I don't want to sound really harsh by starting a dozen "problems with RTW" threads)... The "Start" button that terminates the deployment phase. Two problems:

1) Why make it so that the Return key activates it, rather than deselecting units like the rest of the game? Is it really that hard to click it?! Many times on MTW I accidentally started the game with units deployed all over the place...

2) Why couldn't they put the button in a box, rather than just straight onto the screen? In MTW, I always moved the Start Battle button out of the way so I could actually see! Now that option is gone :( What point is there in beautifully rendered troops when there's a bloody button in the way?!

CA! You had things so right with MTW - why did you have to go changing them?! :furious3: :furious3: :furious3: :furious3: :furious3:

"Victoreeeee"

or why not

"The day is oOOWUUUURRRRSSSSSSSSSSSS"

:dizzy2:

more people complaining about the pimple faced geek who did the "victoreee" or "day is ourssssss" voice overs,

dont mind me,
KEEP complaining,

if i ever lay my hands on that particular geek he wont be saying anything much ever again....

WHY IS THERE NO OPTION TO TURN THE "PIMPLY FACED GEEK VOICE OVER" OFF????

i mean i think after over 4 years playing the game i KNOW when i get reinforcements i need to "send them to fight",
i KNOW when an enemy general dies his units all lose moral and "their hearts are filled with fear",
i HAVE eye's, i can see when my troops are "at the gate"
i dont need to be told every time i win that "all rome will be amazed at such a victory",
i WANT HIM TO SHUT UP!!!

"oi, Triarii give me your spear, Centurion hand me your sword, RIGHT, geek c'mere...
(*slice...thud...squdge*)
(chops off geek's head and puts it on pike)...
RIGHT THEN, Centurion take this and put it at the gate as a warning to all Pimply Faced Geeks to stay OUT of recording studio's...

AND THATS ANOTHER THING,
a jug of my finest wine goes to the first person to make a mod the ELIMINATES the "general dies", "gates open" and "wall broken" cut scenes
- i want to turn them off too!

So ... you like the in-battle voice, barocca? :gring:

After hundreds/thousands of wins, some more generals killed and lots of walls broken I thought I couldn't stand it anymore.

Well, I tried to play with no sound (...had to, at work...) No way! And you know what? (Sorry to admit it, but...) I missed the geek :embarassed:

Medievals European Battlefield announcer and narrator was Sean Pertwee. I have no idea how they got Sean Pertwee, but the results are obvious. He was excellent. He puts a lot of attitude into it.

I generally don't mind the voices in Rome, I don't hear the natural accents of all these people in my life anyway, it's not a concern to me as long as the barbarian sounds angry all the time. The only problem is when they seemingly have made do with a substandard recording, when the voice actor has slipped out of his voice during it! This is enormously prevalent with the Greek guy, who continually falls completely out of the voice! It's like listening to a Greek guy going through puberty with his voice constantly breaking.

Personally, I love the Roman voices. They're cool. "Triarii!" Yeah ya are! Get in there you gruff machine of death you!

First up, something (vaguely) good... I agree the gruff Roman voices sound quite good - especially "Triarii!" But sometimes the words they say seem a little innappropriate...

And I guess the good thing with Victoria is you only have to endure her once - or set the required stat in preferences.txt so that you never have to do the tutorial, but I have to admit even after playing Shogun and Medieval for years that there are some things I need to learn from the tutorial still (I hope they're in there!)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by eeyoredragon

"Victoreeeee"

or why not

"The day is oOOWUUUURRRRSSSSSSSSSSSS"

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That's it! That's exactly the one I meant! Do I assume by this that it at least doesn't get any worse?!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by barocca

i HAVE eye's, i can see when my troops are "at the gate"

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I'm glad you made a point of this as I forgot it myself - indeed, when the wall falls or a gate is forced open you want to order your men in straight away (the battle tutor even tells you this!) Instead, you have to sit and watch the "action"... I too wish this would be changed to just an announcement - Sean Pertwee (the name's so familiar, but I'm going to have to search to find out what else he's done) did some good voice-overs for such things and I think the game would not be complete without them (although perhaps suitably delayed if playing general view and the general himself is in battle :) ) But cut scenes? Really, guys at CA, we know it looks lovely - no need to cram it down our throats!

The good thing is I'm sure these could all be pretty easily fixed in a patch - if CA consider it worth the money to call in voice artists again. Whilst the cut scenes should be easily removed, in theory, fixing the voiceovers (which is probably the least of their worries right now, but really matters to some of us!) might be a little hard... Although replacing one sound file with another should be pretty easy, getting the actors back into the studio again might be hard... You know, they're only allowed so many days off at MacDonalds ~D

Honestly, at the very least I think somebody should make a mod to replace "The day is ours!" with "Would you that as a meal?" and "Victoryyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy" with "Pizza delivery!"

Seriously though, I would imagine this is a sign that they've not used professionals. I would like to think that professional voice-over artists would want to redo a clip in which they dropped their accent or sounded ineffectual - hell, I wouldn't want my work released if it sounded like the RTW pizza boy. Really, I doubt anybody who ever hears that performance (or Victoria's) will seriously consider employing them for voice-over work.



Actually, this has given me an idea... I wonder if there's anybody here who could remake some of those files? Replace the pizza boy with a real man, and the Greek with... whoever! (Sounds like they cast the Greek and the pizza boy the wrong way round, actually!) Hopefully somebody with good recording equipment and access to a willing (albeit maybe not professional) voice-artist would be able to provide "alternative" voices for the community. Hell, they could even offer it to CA for inclusion in a patch...

Any volunteers?? ~:grouphug:

Yeah that is something I keep forgetting to whine about, those damn little cutscenes. I'd much rather have Sean Pertwee shouting that I've totally ruined my enemies pretty wall rather than being taken away from the battle for this stupid cutscene. Frequently it happens when I'm trying to micromanage unit movements. You angrily discover that whilst you've been away, your cavalry who were supposed to back off from the pikemen got turned into mincement. But don't worry lads! I got to see the enemy general fall off his horse in super close up!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by eeyoredragon

"Victoreeeee"

or why not

"The day is oOOWUUUURRRRSSSSSSSSSSSS"

:dizzy2:

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the way that guy's voice cracks...I think we should have the option of raising him on the flag pole in the town square after a successful seige.

I liked a lot of the roman voices actually. I can't say so much for the other nations though..

Still, it's ok. Though not nearly as great as sticking shogun on Japanese and hearing the guy go nuts when the enemy general died!

Well about the speeches and the advice given. Pointless, I do not bother hearing advices. I want to hear "braveheart/lotr/(any other warmovie) - style speeches that geers me up" :)

But the speeches are fine actually, I think it was a nice feature to the game. What only annoys me is that in the replays the speeches are not shown, but the long and booooooooooooooring deployment phase is shown ~:confused:

In all my years of Total War, I've never replayed a single battle, actually...

But that does sound... yuk :dizzy2: