Why I'll always say Morrowind is the best TES game

**lars573** · 08-12-2009, 17:16

Even though it was 70% the same voice actors in both games?

**Guru** · 08-12-2009, 18:13

Originally Posted by lars573

Even though it was 70% the same voice actors in both games?

Yeah, that's my opinion. They better have Jeff Baker doing the dunmer male voices this time. Oh, and I really don't want to hear Craig Sechler's (Oblivion male elves) voice anymore. Really.
I recon part of the annoyance in Oblivion was caused by the fact that the same actors voiced way too many characters and there was a lot of talk. Too much for so few actors; same man voicing four races? In Morrowind there was a lot less voice acting, it didn't get that boring and repertitive, the characters didn't really speak.

Anyway, I'm hopeful. The quality of voice acting has got better in Fallout 3 (by Bethesda too, some same voice actors). I'm hoping this development will continue in the next TES. And I do hope they'll manage (and understand) to hire more voice actors. It's kind of blaah when whole races are voices by the same people. In my opinion anyway.

**lars573** · 08-12-2009, 18:49

Voice actors cost money though. Which you could say was Oblivions problem with dropping text blocks and going for full voices for everything. They went whole hog on getting Patrick Stuart (Uriel Septium VIII), Terance Stamp (Mankar Camoran), Sean Bean (Martin Septium) for major speaking roles. So they had to go with 1 person for multiple races to save time and money. Even though with voice acting you get a seperate payday for each character you voice. Maybe background voices are different.

I'll be happy as long as they keep Wes Johnson (imperial male, Lucien Lachance, Shivering Isles Sheogorath, Fallout 3's Mister Burke) he's a great performer (to me). I wouldn't mind Jeff Baker being back

**Guru** · 08-12-2009, 20:11

Originally Posted by lars573

Voice actors cost money though. Which you could say was Oblivions problem with dropping text blocks and going for full voices for everything.

Yeah, well, the text boxes, it's a two-sided issue. If they had kept the box system, it would probably have gotten called old-timed or obsolete, and the text box system can be a bit "heavy" for less patient people if you know what I mean. But the other side of the coin is that with the text box, it'd have been possible to make more (unique) dialoque for everyone. And you wouldn't have to listen to some certain voice you've grown to hate.
I don't think there's goin' back to the box system anymore though. I guess they could afford the actors, with so many successful games they've made. Reminds me of The Witcher's Enhanced Edition, this talk about voice acting. That thing had all dialoque in like 10 languages..

**Sheogorath** · 08-13-2009, 05:06

What bugged me most about Oblivions voices, Dunmer aside, was the way that some people CHANGED VOICE ACTORS MID SPEECH.

The beggars seemed especially prone to fits of vocal multiple personality disorder.

**Raz** · 08-13-2009, 11:32

Originally Posted by Sheogorath

What bugged me most about Oblivions voices, Dunmer aside, was the way that some people CHANGED VOICE ACTORS MID SPEECH.

The beggars seemed especially prone to fits of vocal multiple personality disorder.

True, so very true. It was absolute stupidity that a beggar would come up to me in an old, sickly lady's voice saying "Ss-pare a coin for an old begg-ar?" and as soon as I hand it over she'd suddenly become this healthy, happy youth of a woman saying "Thanks darl!". I gave my money to a sickly woman in need, not a fraudulent con artist.

**lars573** · 08-13-2009, 15:46

Originally Posted by Sheogorath

What bugged me most about Oblivions voices, Dunmer aside, was the way that some people CHANGED VOICE ACTORS MID SPEECH.

The beggars seemed especially prone to fits of vocal multiple personality disorder.

Actually they didn't. If you had a Dunmer beggar it was the same womans voice no matter what she was saying. What would change was the delivery of the dialouge. Oblivion broke up the background voices into small senteces. When a beggar asked you for a coin it was delivered in a certain way. Tired and beaten by the world was the usual way. When you gave them a coin however it changed to an exuberantly happy thank you. But it was the same voice that said each line. Unless you were playing the PC version and the sound files got screwed up.

**Krauser** · 08-13-2009, 19:03

Originally Posted by lars573

Actually they didn't. If you had a Dunmer beggar it was the same womans voice no matter what she was saying. What would change was the delivery of the dialouge. Oblivion broke up the background voices into small senteces. When a beggar asked you for a coin it was delivered in a certain way. Tired and beaten by the world was the usual way. When you gave them a coin however it changed to an exuberantly happy thank you. But it was the same voice that said each line. Unless you were playing the PC version and the sound files got screwed up.

Yeah I think they just tried to reuse as many lines as possible. That same VA probably did a "thank you" for a regular women NPC. Then they just took that same sample for every other elf "thank you". I think I saw an interview of the lead sound guy for the game. He said something like they wanted full voice overs but they didn't want to give him the budget to do it well. He had to compromise. He also said he never supported full voice overs, but did what he was told.

**TinCow** · 08-13-2009, 20:17

Originally Posted by Guru

Anyway, I'm hopeful. The quality of voice acting has got better in Fallout 3 (by Bethesda too, some same voice actors). I'm hoping this development will continue in the next TES. And I do hope they'll manage (and understand) to hire more voice actors. It's kind of blaah when whole races are voices by the same people. In my opinion anyway.

Heh, in the beta of FO3 I played, they didn't have all the voice acting done yet, so some of the lines had just been done in monotone by random Bethsoft employees to give it some filler. There was one particular part I remember at the very beginning while you're escaping Vault 101, two random people are gunned down by vault security and the 'temp' voice acting for it was so utterly hilarious that I told them they should forget the paid voice acting and keep it that way. Unfortunately, they didn't listen, and the final version was far more 'dramatic' and far less entertaining.

**Guru** · 08-13-2009, 20:46

Originally Posted by TinCow

Heh, in the beta of FO3 I played, they didn't have all the voice acting done yet, so some of the lines had just been done in monotone by random Bethsoft employees to give it some filler. There was one particular part I remember at the very beginning while you're escaping Vault 101, two random people are gunned down by vault security and the 'temp' voice acting for it was so utterly hilarious that I told them they should forget the paid voice acting and keep it that way. Unfortunately, they didn't listen, and the final version was far more 'dramatic' and far less entertaining.

Talking about FO3 voice acting, I really liked the super mutant dialoque, Uncle Leo and Fawkes. But so far my favourite is Harold. His voice acting, appearance and story... Hoping we'll see stuff like that in the next TES.