Josh Sawyer Q&A Thread

[rusty_shackleford]

FFS everything having to do with voice-over has to have someone providing direction to the actors. Fallout, Torment, and Icewind Dale's voice director was Jamie Thomason https://www.mobygames.com/developer/sheet/view/developerId,13526/

Just making things up to get mad about now.

Voice overs are a waste of RPG budget, what's your point?

 

[Roguey]

Voice overs are a waste of RPG budget, what's your point?

Most people would disagree. Full VA, sure, but a lot of people like having some voice acting which has been the standard for over 20 years now.

 

[<3sRichardSimmons]

Voice overs are a waste of RPG budget, what's your point?

Most people would disagree. Full VA, sure, but a lot of people like having some voice acting which has been the standard for over 20 years now.

Ekera, it is so.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

Voice overs are a waste of RPG budget, what's your point?

Most people would disagree. Full VA, sure, but a lot of people like having some voice acting which has been the standard for over 20 years now.

nearly as many people own atom rpg on steam as dumpsterfire despite it costing probably 1/40th as much to produce

 

[Roguey]

nearly as many people own atom rpg on steam as dumpsterfire despite it costing probably 1/40th as much to produce

Voice acting isn't the make/break that Feargus thought it was, but when it comes to player preferences, I'm confident most people would rather have some of good/great quality than absolutely none at all.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

nearly as many people own atom rpg on steam as dumpsterfire despite it costing probably 1/40th as much to produce

Voice acting isn't the make/break that Feargus thought it was, but when it comes to player preferences, I'm confident most people would rather have some of good/great quality than absolutely none at all.

they're a vocal minority

Spoiler

get it?

 

[Alienman]

Voice acting in isometric feels like a major waste of time. Any other setting, I think it's fine, like third or first.

 

[Nano]

"Voice acting in isometric feels like a major waste of time", they say after orgasming over how good the voice acting is in the IE games.

 

[Roguey]

"Voice acting in isometric feels like a major waste of time", they say after orgasming over how good the voice acting is in the IE games.

Or the praise for all the Jagged Alliance 2 barks.

 

[Alienman]

Barks, story presentation, snippets of voice acting, all fine. But having every character voiced, how major, or minor, droning on, when you read what they say anyway. There is no facial expressions to notice either. You are just listening to stuff you have already read in your head.

 

[mediocrepoet]

I usually enjoy some voice acting, at least for major bits, or maybe chapter narration as in the IE games. But when it's overdone it's sooooo slow and I either have to start skipping stuff or actively look somewhere else/turn subtitles off in order not to hate it. Even then, I tend to get annoyed since I sat down to game, not to watch a movie.

All that being said, VTMB wouldn't be the experience it is without its talented voice actors and direction. Like the first meeting with Jeanette where she introduces herself is memorable in large part due to the voice acting.
As I recall, Margaret Tang was credited highly with the voice casting and bringing that together. I don't know if that extended to direction or who was responsible for that though.

 

[Nano]

As I recall, Margaret Tang was credited highly with the voice casting and bringing that together.

She was on Alpha Protocol too. Which makes me wonder if Mina Tang was named after her.

 

[Major_Blackhart]

Hey,

Arcanum certainly had some great voice acting. Gar, Magnus, Virgil, Torian Kel, a few others.

 

[Faarbaute]

The thing that's always bugged me about having a game be fully voiced over, is that it creates a really uncanny effect when you inevitably start skipping through dialogue.

Other then that though I think it's lovely when a game has a good narrator or voice acted quips and dialogue. As long as it's done in moderation. Nobody wants to listen to NPCs drone on forever about nonsense.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

biggest problem with VO is that there's never a way to speed it up
I regularly listen to podcasts and various YT videos at 1.25x speed

 

[†††]

biggest problem with VO is that there's never a way to speed it up
I regularly listen to podcasts and various YT videos at 1.25x speed

Holy moly of zoomeritis+ADHD.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

biggest problem with VO is that there's never a way to speed it up
I regularly listen to podcasts and various YT videos at 1.25x speed

Holy moly of zoomeritis+ADHD.

Why would you want to listen to something slower if you can understand it just as well sped up?

 

[Roguey]

As I recall, Margaret Tang was credited highly with the voice casting and bringing that together. I don't know if that extended to direction or who was responsible for that though.

Casting and Voice Director Margaret Tang (Womb Music)

She was on Alpha Protocol too. Which makes me wonder if Mina Tang was named after her.

Likely a coincidence, Avellone frowned on fourth-wall-breaking references (though the "asshole Parker" line was very likely a reference they kept because it made sense in-story ).

 

[Nano]

Likely a coincidence, Avellone frowned on fourth-wall-breaking references (though the "asshole Parker" line was very likely a reference they kept because it made sense in-story ).

Mitsoda was probably the one who named her, though.

 

[<3sRichardSimmons]

biggest problem with VO is that there's never a way to speed it up
I regularly listen to podcasts and various YT videos at 1.25x speed

Er... do you adjust pitch as well or are you just listening to Alvin and the Chipmunks constantly?

My big beef with VO is that I can read roughly 5-6X faster than a human can speak, but if I'm reading text that someone is also speaking aloud my reading speed drops to around 3X faster and my comprehension/retention also suffer. Provided one can turn off VO it's not a huge deal, but I do view total VO as a massive waste of money, and I'm apathetic towards partial VO (and pretty much all of the games with great partial VO are from the late 90s/early 00s).

 

[rusty_shackleford]

biggest problem with VO is that there's never a way to speed it up
I regularly listen to podcasts and various YT videos at 1.25x speed

Er... do you adjust pitch as well or are you just listening to Alvin and the Chipmunks constantly?

My big beef with VO is that I can read roughly 5-6X faster than a human can speak, but if I'm reading text that someone is also speaking aloud my reading speed drops to around 3X faster and my comprehension/retention also suffer. Provided one can turn off VO it's not a huge deal, but I do view total VO as a massive waste of money, and I'm apathetic towards partial VO (and pretty much all of the games with great partial VO are from the late 90s/early 00s).

25% speedup isn't enough to cause distortion, give it a try.

 

[OSK]

Voice acting is pretty much a requirement when trying to attract a mainstream audience. Personally, good voice acting adds nothing for me and bad voice acting detracts from my experience.

 

[Efe]

like a black mirror episode where everything you watch becomes extra skills video

 

[BlackGoat]

Voice acting is pretty much a requirement when trying to attract a mainstream audience. Personally, good voice acting adds nothing for me and bad voice acting detracts from my experience.

And yet games that don't have full voice acting routinely attract bigger audiences than Deadfire

 

[Berengar]

biggest problem with VO is that there's never a way to speed it up
I regularly listen to podcasts and various YT videos at 1.25x speed

Er... do you adjust pitch as well or are you just listening to Alvin and the Chipmunks constantly?

My big beef with VO is that I can read roughly 5-6X faster than a human can speak, but if I'm reading text that someone is also speaking aloud my reading speed drops to around 3X faster and my comprehension/retention also suffer. Provided one can turn off VO it's not a huge deal, but I do view total VO as a massive waste of money, and I'm apathetic towards partial VO (and pretty much all of the games with great partial VO are from the late 90s/early 00s).

25% speedup isn't enough to cause distortion, give it a try.

It's downright necessary for some audiobooks and slow ass youtubers. Would be a great option in any game. Rusty knows what's up here.