And the mask comes off.

[MM3squints]

Paragon Motors: Awful car, but cheap to insure!

Paragon Motors, trusted to be thrown by grav control since 2004

[hejtmane]

Paragon Motors, trusted to be thrown by grav control since 2004

Do not worry you have time to dodge because it takes them 10 years to throw the stupid car  :P

[Cobra Man]

The Secret World has done an amazing job utilizing voice work into an MMO.  Your character never speaks. Cutscenes are always observing conversations between NPCs or from an NPC to you, not you speaking back. 

It does bring the world to life in a way that MMOs could use to attract the younger generation of players. That being said, it should be used sparingly, and a mix of voice and text is the best approach, in my opinion.

So for example:

NPC 1 (V.O.): "So if the Trolls aren't put down fast, Superadine is going to flood the streets. I don't even want to imagine what Skyway City will look like after that happens. Are you in?"

Your character:  select one of the following text box responses
   [I'm in. Let's move.]
X[I agree, but I have something I have to first.  I'll be back, I promise]
   [I'm sorry, but this mission isn't for me. Good luck and godspeed.]
x- represents your selection

NPC 1: (V.O.) "OK, but please don't take too long. Those shipments could start hitting the streets any time now."




Also, @Irish Girl:  You are amazing. That work you've done is incredible.  Not only does it REALLY feel like CoH, it looks even better! I'll be in touch to help once you settle on a way to contact you and begin organizing.  I'll be bringing the CS6 suite and my own UE4 to the cause. :-)

Pretty much this :)

The Secret World was just about the only game that I could bring myself to play after CoH was closed.

The immersive nature of that game was helped immeasurably by the use of speech integrated NPC's.

I would certainly recommend that any revamp of CoH uses speech.

[ObsidianPhoenix76]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qyn_YuMLSNc

Almost there!

[Safehouse]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qyn_YuMLSNc

Almost there!

I literally watched that exact video earlier today. It made me cry, it was so beautifully done!

[Cailyn Alaynn]

By the way...  A note to anyone who has/will PM me...
Forgive me if I don't respond right away. I'll try to at least respond to PM's before the day's out.

[gypsyav]

I may be the one person who feels this way, but I prefer it when games don't have speech, so all of the conversation uses my character's actual name.

Nope, you're not the only one. I have trouble focusing on audible communications and just end up feeling lost in games with speech.

[Ironwolf]

Downloading the UnReal 4 client now.

The version is the newest one but I assume you can rollback. I did not see options to get a different one.

I did get word from Codewalker that he is fine with porting Icon over to UnReal 4. Now to figure out how to do all this stuff!

[KennonGL]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qyn_YuMLSNc

Almost there!

Darn it all, I have to stop watching those CoH videos (That one, the "City of Heroes Remains", the original one from
Angry Angels, and of course anything from SamuraiKo).  Now I have to type through watery eyes.

[hopelives]

I literally watched that exact video earlier today. It made me cry, it was so beautifully done!

totally agreed.

[hejtmane]

Nope, you're not the only one. I have trouble focusing on audible communications and just end up feeling lost in games with speech.

I play most MMO's with out sound now I use to rock my kids to sleep in one arm while playing DAOC and it was hard to do with headsets back then they did not have near the wirless options they do now and it was a lot more back then on the ones they did. I just started playing with the sound off so when i transition games I was just use to playing with no sound so I just turn it off and play music.

[opprime2828]

I play most MMO's with out sound now I use to rock my kids to sleep in one arm while playing DAOC and it was hard to do with headsets back then they did not have near the wirless options they do now and it was a lot more back then on the ones they did. I just started playing with the sound off so when i transition games I was just use to playing with no sound so I just turn it off and play music.

I think that's why it's always best to use a mix.  Players who prefer no dialogue should get the option for subtitles or text boxes, and players who prefer dialogue get the option for dialogue alongside the others.


The key is to keep a minimal addition to the game that adds a level or realism and professionalism to help games compete with more elaborate titles and systems, and bring the world more "to life" without taking away from anything. 

[opprime2828]

Aaaand for the  double:


TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN:

I will gladly get a second mortgage if it meant we could somehow get Bio Armor online if CoH goes back up. 


I mean Bio Armor was just so...pretty...and good...and pretty. 


Did I mention how pretty it was?

[hopelives]

 already thinking of how mind-blowing it would be, and on top of that, the chance to re-unite with some dear friends from the game again.....man, 2 nites in a row, tearing-up...that's not "good form" for a Blaster,lol :)  All Blessings upon all those who have been laboring so hard to bring this about.

[Kistulot]

that's not "good form" for a Blaster,lol :)

I seem to remember a Blaster being thought of as good as long as they didn't die every few seconds, run from the tank when they had aggro, and didn't kill the team by pulling a room the tank wasn't expecting. So, from where I'm standing, you're doing a fine job :)

[gypsyav]

I just thought of another problem with speech. Suppose you want to update something down the road. You have the following choices:

• You try to hire the original voice actor to voice the new content
• You hire a new actor to redo all the content so the voice is consistent throughout the game
• You hire a new actor for the new content and hope the change in voices doesn't break immersion for people
• New content gets no voice overs

It's different in a game that isn't going to be seeing a lot of updates but I wouldn't want theme to be held up over concerns like this.

[hopelives]

I seem to remember a Blaster being thought of as good as long as they didn't die every few seconds, run from the tank when they had aggro, and didn't kill the team by pulling a room the tank wasn't expecting. So, from where I'm standing, you're doing a fine job :)

a Blaster that..that..doesn't die ?   no such critter,lol ;)

[Phaetan]

I don't know about that.  Erkia Enriche (Water/Mental Blaster) was pretty sturdy, even coping with being Goldside.

I just wish I'd gotten more time to play with her before shutdown, as it was a really fun character, both concept and power-wise.

[ivanhedgehog]

I just thought of another problem with speech. Suppose you want to update something down the road. You have the following choices:

• You try to hire the original voice actor to voice the new content
• You hire a new actor to redo all the content so the voice is consistent throughout the game
• You hire a new actor for the new content and hope the change in voices doesn't break immersion for people
• New content gets no voice overs

It's different in a game that isn't going to be seeing a lot of updates but I wouldn't want theme to be held up over concerns like this.

swtor broke the bank on voice overs and now hasnt had any class story released since the start of the game. it is very limited as to what content they can add.

[Phaetan]

Another minor point about voiceovers is that it isn't terribly friendly for international players or the hearing-impaired.