(10-05-2013, 07:51 PM)Naunet Wrote:(10-05-2013, 06:38 PM)Elissa Wrote: Voice acting is expensive to the average person and for small indie localization companies - but it's in the tens of thousands range usually (especially since most games are not fully voiced), not the millions range. Here's an example of rates - scroll down to video games. This game has what, a couple of minutes of dialogue for each character, at most?
Think of games like SWTOR, in which EA/Bioware hired over 200 voice actors for 200,000 lines of dialogue. The amount spent on that was obscene, but did it actually give any lasting power to the MMO? Nope. Voice acting is like the little sprinkles on top of the detailing on top of the icing on the cake. In terms of what it lends to a game in the long term, it really doesn't matter.
Graphics, music, voice acting, none of that can make up for other problems or save a game from tanking. Films that have had obscene amounts of money invested into them can tank, too. Garnishing doesn't save the cake, but it sure makes it more attractive to customers. It won't keep them coming back, but it'll help draw them in the first time.
Either way, this game has a lot less voice acting than that - there's really no excuse for it to be this crummy, especially since obvious care went into the JP cast. If you're going to have poor voice acting, it's best to just not have any. It's really not comparable to SWTOR.
@Tobias:
Quote:Now, just to clarify, are you saying because the voice acting is "small potatoes" in comparison to the other aspect of the games, they should be able to afford 'good' voice acting OR are you saying that because of the game's "magnitude" that they aren't really worried about the VA due it being "small potatoes"?
I was saying the cost of VA is small potatoes next to development costs for a game of this magnitude.
So because the cost is small next to what it costs to develop a title like FFXIV, they should, undoubtedly, have been able to afford better VA. Or at the very least put a bit more effort into searching for amateur talent.
