Has Voice Acting killed stories?

V-r0cK

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V-r0cK on 04 February 2012

No, just 98% of anime english dub.

Reasonable

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Reasonable on 04 February 2012

badgenome said:

Reasonable said:

badgenome said:

Reasonable said:

Mr Khan said:
Cinema moreso than voice-acting. The gaming media is better suited to a subtler form of storytelling than the kind favored by cinematography

Hang on, you're saying games are subtler than films? Based on what? I don't see that at all.

Being suited to it doesn't necessarily mean that developers have been realizing the full potential of the medium. If it sounds like a ridiculous claim on its face, it's probably because gaming has developed backwards compared to film. Whereas films were meant to be an outlet for artistic expression from the word go, games started as a purely commercial endeavor and stayed that way for decades. But looking at interactive poems like Flower, Kaim's memories in Lost Odyssey, Paz's voice diaries in Peace Walker, or a game like Nier where you really only start to understand things on your second playthrough and suddenly see all of your previous actions in a different light, I think I can see what Mr Khan is getting at. I'm not sure if it's necessarily subtler than film, but games can tell stories in a way that films would be hard pressed to approximate.

Sure but none of those are subtler examples than film IMHO - I don't mean Transformers obviously! Not sure if this is a European vs US thing as I note most of my US friends see film as primarly entertainment which I don't really (nothing against entertaining films of course). By film I mean the medium as well - i.e. documentaries, film used within interactive art projects, etc.

While I think the medium of videogames can support subtle experiences I don't see evidence that it is generally subtler than film. Also Mr Khan's comment was exclusive - games are suiblter medium than film as a given. I've seen no evidence of that ever in any game I've played.

It's not my fault you can't appreciate the nuances of Michael Bay. You see, Sam wants to jump Megan Fox's bones but he can't because it's rated PG-13, so he has to make do with awkward sexual innuendo instead! And the robots are cars which are also robots! Is your mind blown yet?

Anyway, I didn't read what Mr Khan was saying as "games are subtler than films, full stop", or even than most games are subtler than most films, only that the medium lends itself to a subtler form of storytelling. There's no doubt that games have seen a much slower maturation than film did. We're still at the stage where something like Heavy Rain passes for a high brow experience for Christ's sake, and I think it may be many years yet before we see gaming's Citizen Kane. But I do think the rare flashes of true brilliance I've seen in games show the promise of the medium, and while film is old hat by now and seems to be in terminal creative decline (in my estimation, obviously), gaming only stands to get better now that "games as art" is finally a real and somewhat commercially viable thing.

Okay I'll give Transformers another try :) Maybe I'm not digging deep enough for the meaning. Anyway - whether videogames are or can be subtler I remain 100% sure voice overs aren't somehow harming story quality as per the OP.

Do agree though - and I do love stuff like Flower and the like when I feel a sense of promise of what might be.

Try to be reasonable... its easier than you think...

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badgenome on 04 February 2012

Reasonable said:

Anyway - whether videogames are or can be subtler I remain 100% sure voice overs aren't somehow harming story quality as per the OP.

Yeah, it's just another aspect of games like anything else and can add to the quality if done right or be detrimental if not done so well. (Or be really fucking awesome if it's done badly enough. See: House of the Dead.)

Sounds more like the OP is just coming to grips with the fact that post-Gooch Square kinda sucks.

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d21lewis on 04 February 2012

Voice acting messing up stories? I laugh at your statement sir!

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lordmandeep on 05 February 2012

funny thing is that game has one of the better stories in recent games with voice acting and likely one of the most infamous video game scenes ever...

lol