VA; Now vs Then (Ode to Mr. Stein)

#1 - July 15, 2014, 7:14 p.m.

Shortly after launch, I started a discussion on how disappointed I was with the voice acting in GW2’s main campaign. Bobby Stein himself was gracious enough to add his $.02 to the conversation and it actually had some really good discussion!

Now, I’ve never been a fan of the Living Story. I thought season one was boring and never logged in to the events because, really, at the end of the day they were of little consequence. While I still think there are several glaring issues about the game, that’s not what this post is about. I’m here to talk about the state of the game’s voice acting.

In the game’s main campaign, a huge majority of players hated how monotone the acting was and how the one-on-one cut scene style really broke the flow of the narrative (myself included).

The living story only briefly began to pick up the pace in terms of its story telling near the end – the really impressive stuff really starting during the nightmare tower – which is when I really started to get back into the game.

And now we have season two, and whoa, color me impressed. The flow of conversation between characters (whether in the world or in missions) seems natural – though NPCs in the world really do repeat themselves quite often, particularly in Dry Top – and I’m in love with the fact that the two character cut aways are gone and we’re really starting to see some proper cutscenes (the end of episode two was glorious!)

If I have one complaint it’s that the PC doesn’t really seem to be involved with the narrative anymore outside of text bubbles, but the game has seen leaps and bounds since launch, and I’m willing to bet the lack of PC acting it due to time constraints (since the PC is technically ten separate characters).

Bobby, if I ever meet you in public I’m going to give you a right-proper man hug. Because you – and your team – have restored my faith in this game and for this first time in many months I am actually excited to see what the future of GW2 has in store.

EDIT: Now that I’ve actually posted this, I’m aware that it might be more beneficial to have posted this in the ‘story’ section of the forums. Oh well.

BobbyStein

#2 - July 16, 2014, 9:35 a.m.

Tyloric.7520:
And now we have season two, and whoa, color me impressed. The flow of conversation between characters (whether in the world or in missions) seems natural – though NPCs in the world really do repeat themselves quite often, particularly in Dry Top – and I’m in love with the fact that the two character cut aways are gone and we’re really starting to see some proper cutscenes (the end of episode two was glorious!)

Thanks for the kind words. We’ve been working hard to improve our story presentation.

Tyloric.7520:
If I have one complaint it’s that the PC doesn’t really seem to be involved with the narrative anymore outside of text bubbles, but the game has seen leaps and bounds since launch, and I’m willing to bet the lack of PC acting it due to time constraints (since the PC is technically ten separate characters).

We’re currently exploring ways to make the PC speak again. It’s more of a technical consideration and not really about actor availability or voice budget. We’ll share more on this when we’re ready.

Tyloric.7520:
Bobby, if I ever meet you in public I’m going to give you a right-proper man hug. Because you – and your team – have restored my faith in this game and for this first time in many months I am actually excited to see what the future of GW2 has in store.

Glad you’re excited. We are, too!

BobbyStein

#5 - July 16, 2014, 12:01 p.m.

BrunoBRS.5178:
is there a technical reason behind why all dialogue (that i recall) has to be played while the characters are standing still (i.e. halting progress)? one of episode 1’s missions got a lot of flack because players had to stop progressing it every now and then to listen to marjory and kasmeer talk, when it seems to me that a conversation like that could be had while moving. there are other examples like that, but the point is, i feel a good part of the community would like it if the conversations during missions didn’t interrupt gameplay unless it made sense to have us stop to listen (like on concordia, when you’re listening to the guy describing the attack).

It’s something we’re investigating along with other potential VO implementation improvements. At this point, though, we can’t promise any features.

BrunoBRS.5178:
and, if i may, another thing: what about adding more animations to those conversations?

We do this on occasion, actually.

BrunoBRS.5178:
those are my two main questions about the narrative aspect of the game, which rightfully deserves the praise it’s getting (but doesn’t mean you can get comfortable just yet ;P).

We’re always trying to push ourselves to do better. We appreciate the feedback.

BobbyStein

#8 - July 17, 2014, 10:57 a.m.

timmyf.1490:
I also appreciated the new way conversations integrate into the story. I don’t know if it’s just because I’m appreciating it more, but I’m noticing voice acting in places I never had before. (I created a new character and the first mail to me from my buddy Quinn was voiced! Was this always there, or had I just noticed it?)

So that’s a bug! We originally planned to voice all mails in the Personal Story, but we decided to cut scope due to time constraints, redesigns, rewrites, etc. We should have removed all the associated sound files but I think one or two are still hanging around.

timmyf.1490:
One problem I had, though… did Jory’s voice actor change for parts of this episode? She sounded… different… to me in parts. That could just be because of the situation: she sounded different due to emotional distress. But it just didn’t sound like Jory to me.

Jory has had the same voice actor from the beginning, so if you’re noticing a change it’s likely due to the direction we gave her during the recording session. Episode 2 had some emotional moments and we were trying to reinforce that in the actor delivery. So as long as you didn’t hear voice processing on her lines we’re in good shape.

timmyf.1490:
Anyway, keep up the great work!

Thanks!

timmyf.1490:
Oh, one more thing! The ambient audio in Dry Top is amazing. The wind sounds, specifically. I know that’s a weird thing to comment on, but I love the wind sounds. I’ve got a decent pair of headphones (Sennheiser 558s) and catch myself just stopping and listening sometimes.

Glad you like it! I’ll relay your kind words to the team. I’m sure they’ll appreciate that you noticed their hard work.