Adventure Gamers - Forums

I want to say it doesn’t matter. But the truth is, I’ve gotten pretty used to ‘talky’ adventure games since… Fate of Atlantis? I can’t think of a major adventure game I’ve played since that didn’t have spoken dialog.

So… while I want to say its not a deal breaker… it might actually be so.

As for lip sync… I don’t that matters as much.

Antrax - 02 February 2014 11:53 PM

I always turn on subtitles and usually skip ahead when I’m done reading what’s being said. If I can’t skip ahead, I get pissed off.

I do this myself actually.

I prefer to have voice acting. I don’t want to say I wouldn’t buy a game without voice acting, but at this time and age there should be a good reason for omitting it.

And lipsyncing doesn’t really matter that much.

I went for very important but I do play games without voice acting a fair bit, however, how much I would pay for them is a different question!

Voice acting is very important for me, in that it can really raise a game from good to great. If we’re talking freeware then I can happily live without it but for commercial games it is pretty much a must for me as if I am paying I want something good and regardless, I want a game to be the best it can be and (opinion) that almost always involves voice acting. Many of the best games that stand out for me have brilliant voice acting performances.

Having said that, bad voice acting can be damaging and I would probably rather have no voice acting than really bad voice acting.

I did just beat The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds, and while its not an Adventure Game (per-say). Its does have no voice acting. And that was perfectly okay!

So maybe voice acting isn’t as important as I think?

I voted for “I like it but it doesn’t sway my decision to purchase.”

I like games with voice acting, and I love games with good voice acting, but I’ve played plenty of games without it throughout the years (even after it was commonplace in games), and a lack of voices never bothered me.

In fact, I’ve played the floppy disk (non-talkie) version of Fate of Atlantis WAY more times than the CD (voiced) version. And that’s one of my all-time favourite games!

I also played my share of DS games and most of those have very limited voice acting at best (Layton games only had voiced cutscenes, Phoenix Wright only had a couple of key shout phrases like “Take that!”, “Hold it!” and “Objection!”, and most other games only had blips and bloops when characters were talking) - limited cartridge space does that.

I prefer it if the games DO have voice acting, of course, especially nowadays, but it’s not bad if they don’t.
Actually, no voice acting is better than bad voice acting, so quality talent is still needed (they don’t have to be established names, though, they just need to be good).

As for lip synching, I’ve never had poor lip synching be a problem or immersion-breaker for me. I know how hard it is to program a thing like that, so if it’s lacking a little, then meh.
I do want the mouths to move when things are being said, though. If the lips only start moving halfway through the sentence and continue for a few seconds after the sentence is finished (like in those old badly dubbed Hong Kong movies), then it’s a different matter.
Lips should move when they’re supposed to, they just don’t have to match the exact sounds that are uttered.

And yes, I prefer to be able to skip the dialogue as well. I usually don’t, unless the acting is particularly bad or if I’m hearing a line for the third/fourth/umpteenth time, but I do want the option to be there.

I voted for “Very Important”.

I do occasional buy games without voice acting, but this is really the exception, and it has a big influence on the decision of buying a game or not. I am of course more tolerant about freeware games without voice acting, but when it comes to commercial games then I can’t really see any reason for text only.

Lib-syncing doesn’t matter to me at all, and skippable dialogue is not a big issue either, I really only use it if I have already heard the same lines before, or if I get extremely impatient because of some long winded monologue.

Voiceacting is very important, it can make or break a game. Day of the Tentacle with its marvelous voiceacting is so much better than the original version. But voices (or even text!) are not necessary. Last year I replayed the great little game Botanicula and played The Journey of a Roach, Lilly Looking Through, Gone Home, and Kentucky Route Zero. Enjoyed all of them. The only voice in Gone Home was essential for me though, and I didn’t want to turn it off, like others did. The lack of voices in Kentucky Route Zero didn’t bother me at all.

But I don’t know how to vote.  Somewhere between options 1 and 2.

I voted for the second option.  I like voice acting but have played some wonderful games that don’t have it.

It really depends on the game. Monkey Island 1 and 2 were made without voice acting in mind. Adding voices in the remakes felt like unnecessary thing to me. Then again, Curse of Monkey Island was quite heavy on dialogue, voice-acting was a nice addition. Then AGAIN, there are many RPGs very heavy on dialogue that doesn’t have voice work at all.

Personally I’m not a fan of long winded dialogues, so it doesn’t matter that much to me.

Very important… BUT with certain exceptions…