Voice acting as opposed to text.

[nik0tine]

Since FFX came out, Square/Square-Enix have started to use actual voices in their games rather than just text. Personally, I liked the games alot better without the voice acting. It gave it a much more origional feel, plus, ever time a character would talk, I would hear MY voice, so I kind of grew closer to the characters in that way. What do you think? Do you prefer the voice acting or the text better? There are obvious pro's and con's to both sides, so why do you like on better than the other?

[Chris]

Voices

The good things about voice acting are far to few.
I don't feel like I can make a connection when I hear their voices, as opposed to when I'm reading the text I'm totally hooked.
However, actually reading the lines makes me way more comfortable.
I feel more of a connection when I can make my own assumptions of how the characters actually would sound like.
So I guess...NO, I know that I like it much better without the voiceovers.

[Jolts]

I prefer voice acting. Why?, because I don't really like having to read all the time (I'm not too fast with it).

Pros

• You hear the emotions the way they were intended.
• You don't have to read it.
• Auron's pre-Yunalesca battle speach...'nuff said .

Cons

• Sometimes, the actor isn't talented enough for the part, and his/her voice sounds robotic.

[Cz]

If the voice acting is done well, then there's no real reason not to have it. Text does have a certain charm, but it can be difficult to apply emotion to a character without actually hearing their voice.

[aeris2001x2]

i despise them. i prefer text

But of course many ppl like voices.

i,ve said many times...there is a simple solution to this problem, having the option of japanese/english vocals and turning the voices on and off.

hardly rocket science, why dont Square Enix use it????

[kikimm]

I don't know....I think I like the voice acting, as long as it's done well. I like being able to hear these characters talk---there's something about it...it makes them feel more realistic, or more of a personality maybe.

But I do like text, for the sake of being able to stop reading whenever I want, and do something else, like go to the bathroom, without missing anything.

Hrmm......they're both just swell. Yes.

[Lon611]

well, there are always good and bad points to voice acting, as there are with nething in a FF game.

i like aeris's theory of what should be done. i actually thought u can do that in FFX until i tried....but all you can do is turn off the subtitles, not the other way around...

but i do like voice acting when the voice acting is good and the actors play out an emotional/humorous scene really well ie luca scene when tidus finds out about his dad, home when you find that yuna's (SPOILER)gonna die,, auron's speach at yunalesca, and yuna's and tidus's voice acting in the ending fmv. also, nething humourous wakka or lulu says ITS ENTERTAINING

but i don't like it when square speeds up the voices to match the lip synching (when yuna says "yes", etc.)

i too hear voices in my head when playing past ff, and thats good because you make those voices sound exactly how you want them to sound (NO, im not crazy :rolleyes2 ), and the automatically match the charcter designs because your brain MAKES the two match.

but, reading gets boring, no matter how interesting the game is. i can't play a final fantasy literally from dusk till dawn unless there's voice acting.

all in all, i agree with aeris's suggestion of what should be included to deal with this problem. some times i love it, other times i hate it

[Kawaii Ryûkishi]

I wish FFVIII had voice acting just so I could see how the voice actor for Fake President Deling would handle lines such as, "HoW daRe YOU InSUlt tHe presIDent!!!"

[Storm]

I didn't think the voice acting in FFX was really that bad. I actually enjoyed it. It's fine as long as they have the text with the voice acting.

[Rase]

ii,ve said many times...there is a simple solution to this problem, having the option of japanese/english vocals and turning the voices on and off.

[Samuraid]

Good voice acting like in KH =

Mediocre voice acting like in FFX =

[Rusty]

I liked the voice acting in FFX, it was a good game to put voice acting in, but I prefer text in all the other games.

[Zifnab]

I think each has it's merits. Sometimes with text I'll get incredibly lazy and skim through it, either because I'm tired or because I'm annoyed with all the reading. But if a voice is bad it's hard to imagine it to be good. If they kept to the same quality as games like Lunar/Lunar 2 and Grandia it would be nice. But Square have always been about making things look nice.

[Del Murder]

Good voice acting like in KH =

Mediocre voice acting like in FFX =

Yes. I think I like the games are better without it. Maybe every once in a while in a cutscene or something isn't bad. KH did a really good job and I think the voice acting made it a more enjoyable game.

[Jolts]

Metal Gear Solid and MGS2 beat out both, but since this is in General Final Fantasy, I guess I'll have to talk about FF .

Anyway, I didn't mind FFX(-2)'s voice acting too much. Tidus and Yuna's voice often sound like the actor/actress was embarrassed to do voice acting only, but hey, it wasn't all that bad.