Voiceactors. Hey! Its that guy!, Wait...I don't care. Options

[Voran]

So I finished my 1st playthrough of New Vegas yesterday and really enjoyed the experience. Will take a little break before running through it again.

However, it did get me thinking. While they didn't make a huge deal of it, part of the initial adverts for New Vegas pointed out who various named-actors were lending their voices to characters in game. Hey its Worf, playing that supermutant again! Hey its the Guild girl/Slayer prospect playing a brotherhood scribe! its Chuck playing...etc etc.

I wound my way through the game, only to realize, does it really matter who the voice actors were? Was my game experience enriched by having those actors voicing those characters? And I had to say...no, not really. The only real voice I care about in Fallout is Ron Perlman, and they got him. In general, the fallout 3+ series has done a good job with voice actors, the workhorse ones, not the special appearing 'named actors'. I'm pretty sure I recognized a few voices from the anime/voiceacting world, I'm pretty sure Crispin Freeman, for example, is in fallout new vegas.

It makes me wonder why we care if some named actor is lending a voice. Mass Effect was fun in that it tended to model both the physical model and voice after the actors, but fallout for example just plugs a floating voice into the characters.

Anyway, named actors lending their voices, does it hurt or help a game?

[Karoline]

I doubt it hurts the game any, but I don't think it really helps it. Well, I guess it could hurt some if they're putting tens of thousands(?) into paying big name people to do voices.

But yeah, I didn't even know there were any big names, and didn't notice them. Of course, I'm also one of those people who really really fails to care about actors and other 'famous' people. I really doubt that anyone would look at a game like Fallout 3:NV and go "I'm not sure, do I really want to... Holy crap, Worf voiced someone? Heck yeah I'm getting it!"

Seems like more of a waste of money (unless these people are doing it out of the goodness of their hearts without pay or something) since it doesn't enhance the gameplay and isn't really going to influence anyone to buy it.

[Kagetenshi]

Most of the games I've played recently have prominently listed their voice actors, and this appears to be expected practice. It doesn't seem to have hurt them.

~J

[Karoline]

Most of the games I've played recently have prominently listed their voice actors, and this appears to be expected practice. It doesn't seem to have hurt them.

~J

But did it help them? And I wouldn't say hurt as in the difference between a great game and a bad one, but I really don't think a company is going to see a real return on the investment in big name voice actors. Of course it's really really really hard to tell for sure, since you can't have sales figures both with and without those actors. I guess you could put out a game that has no famous actors in the basic version, but you can get the one that does have famous actors in it for an extra dollar or two or however much. Sales on the more expensive version would be a good indicator on how much people really care about this sort of thing. Of course, even then you'll have problems because so many people will see it as a 'money grab' and so on.

[Kagetenshi]

I can't really speculate; I'm relatively new to the RPG-slash-dating-sim genre, so I know neither what kinds of fees the voice actors command nor what positive effects recognition has.

Also, holy crap some of these voice actors are younger than I am. That's depressing.

~J

[Karoline]

Hehe, dating sim? What dating sim are we talking about?

[Voran]

I don't mind so much when they use 'named' guys that are predominately voice actors nowadays anyway, like Mark Hamill, Tony Todd, etc. And I admit I can't imagine playing Vice City without Ray Liotta voicing the main character, but in general, yeah I wonder how much money they 'waste' going for named actors when you don't really need them.

Dating Sims, that's going to strip clubs right?

[Yerameyahu]

It helps in that they tend to be high-quality voice actors, not cruddy generic ones. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif) And it can be a nice little bonus: I think people really appreciated the Firefly actors in Halo ODST, for example.

[Kagetenshi]

Hehe, dating sim? What dating sim are we talking about?

Record of Argalest War ZERO and Superdimensional Game Neptune. I guess the latter has named voice actors and hasn't yet shown any dating sim elements (or a male character, for that matter), but the companies are the same and the voice actor credits prominently displayed.

I don't remember if the voice-actor credits were prominent in My Girlfriend is the President, though. I should check, and finish that game.

~J

[StealthSigma]

I am disappointed that there was no Steve Blum. He's friggin everywhere.

[Karoline]

I don't mind so much when they use 'named' guys that are predominately voice actors nowadays anyway, like Mark Hamill, Tony Todd, etc. And I admit I can't imagine playing Vice City without Ray Liotta voicing the main character, but in general, yeah I wonder how much money they 'waste' going for named actors when you don't really need them.

Dating Sims, that's going to strip clubs right?

Right, I agree, I think people who are professional voice actors are likely worth the money to hire, and non-voice actors would be worthwhile if they don't cost any extra. I'm running under the assumptions that 1. We're talking about people who are famous for a reason other than their voice acting, and 2. We're talking about them getting paid more than normal because they are famous.

[Kagetenshi]

Oh, ok, scratch my comment then. Everyone I've looked up has been a career voice-actor (with the usual sidelines like the occasional album or two).

~J

[nezumi]

I agree with Karoline. They need to hire voice actors who are good. Worf has a great voice. Myrna had a very memorable voice. Voice-acting can really make or break a game (imagine Portal if done by a monotone voice actor). Oftentimes people who have great vocal control also do well as actors, so it would make sense to hire people who are successful actors so they lend their voice to the game. However, the actors need to be hired based on the quality of their voice, not their name (with few exceptions - getting the actors from Firefly for a Firefly game would be an obvious one).

[Doc Chase]

Some folks get the A-list voice talent because they hope it'll sell the game. Others get it because it's a commitment to craft, and still others get it because the talent wants to do it. The Fallout Series has had high-B talent since the first game when McGuyver did the voice for the sheriff of Junktown. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/nyahnyah.gif)

Cheaping out as the installments continue, IMO, would be a betrayal to the commitment of their craft. Bethseda seems to really want to continue the quality that Black Isle started, and Obsidian's comprised of ex-BIS employees so you know they believe in it.

Besides, having Wayne Newton run a radio station in New Vegas just makes things classy.

[StealthSigma]

Some folks get the A-list voice talent because they hope it'll sell the game. Others get it because it's a commitment to craft, and still others get it because the talent wants to do it. The Fallout Series has had high-B talent since the first game when McGuyver did the voice for the sheriff of Junktown. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/nyahnyah.gif)

McGuyver? You mean Colonel O'Neill.

[Doc Chase]

I mean Killian Darkwater. There. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/nyahnyah.gif)

[Jhaiisiin]

Interestingly, the RPG games I played most recently I only noted the notable voice actors after I heard their voice in game. I don't recall them being mentioned anywhere in the descriptor for the game or anything. For me, it was a fun thing to hear them, and in some cases, it really did help. (Note: The games in question are Mass Effect 1 & 2)

[Wounded Ronin]

Rogue Warrior was worth playing only because of Mickey Rourke.

It would be fun to meet David Hayter.

[Doc Chase]

It would be fun to meet David Hayter.

I wonder how often he hears "SNAAAAAAAAAAAAAAKE!" whenever he goes somewhere.

[Mercer]

Most of the time, having a "name" actor doing a voice is either pointless or distracting for me, but the exception was James Woods in GTA: San Andreas. A lot of his line readings cracked me up, and he seemed to be having fun with it.

On the other side of it though, nothing is worse that bad voice acting in a game. For me, the one that stands out is the wounded cop you run across early in the police station in Resident Evil 2. "A couple of weeks ago... there was an incident involving... zombies." My roommate and I used to play that game a lot and we'd always parrot that line back in a bored cop radio voice, "Yeah, I got a 212 at a mansion outside of town, zombies playing a stereo too loud."

[Zyerne]

I generally don't play much attention to to who the voice actors are but hearing Nathan Fillion voicing Gao the Lesser in Jade Empire was both amusing and bemusing at the same time.

[hobgoblin]

You know your out of the loop when you could not tell if they use a known actor or not...

[Karoline]

You know your out of the loop when you could not tell if they use a known actor or not...

I never know that.

[StealthSigma]

I never know that.

I didn't realize that Claudia Black did the voice of Morrigan until a friend pointed it out.

Considering my raging love for Farscape (<3 Aeryn, <3 Zhaan, <3 Chiana, <3 Jool, <3 Sikozu, <3 just about any female including eye popping Frau Blucher), I am a wee bit embarrassed about that.

[Doc Chase]

I didn't realize that Claudia Black did the voice of Morrigan until a friend pointed it out.

Considering my raging love for Farscape (<3 Aeryn, <3 Zhaan, <3 Chiana, <3 Jool, <3 Sikozu, <3 just about any female including eye popping Frau Blucher), I am a wee bit embarrassed about that.

I'm just as amused that Kate Mulgrew voiced her mother.