Who would you suggest to play a major role in the future of ESO for Voice Acting?

JKorr

Cazador wrote: »

Mark Hammil is definitely up there for me, I do have a few others that come to mind (plus a role for those that don't know them by name)

Mark Meer- male Commander Shepard, mass effect
Brandon Keener- garrus, mass effect
David Hayter- Solid Snake, metal gear series

I heard about Mass Effect and got really interested. Then I saw and heard the teasers/trailers with maleShep, and immediately ignored everything about ME until, finally, the trailers/teasers with femShep released. I did get the game. I really tried to play with maleShep, and couldn't make it all the way through Eden Prime.....his voice just totally ruined it for me.

Personal preference influences a lot of "which VAs are best".

DMuehlhausen

Other (Post in Forum)

Danny Devito and Arnold and have them be twins.

Saint-Ange

Other (Post in Forum)

Bill Murray
Laura Post

Enemy-of-Coldharbour

Other (Post in Forum)

Christopher Walken

DrNukenstein

Other (Post in Forum)

Dave Chappelle, The Trailer Park Boys Ensemble, Snoop Dogg, The japanese voice actor who played Joseph Joestar in JoJo2: Battle Tendency, Nick Cage, Mike Myers playing 3 different characters that interact with eachother regularly, Ice T

Freelancer_ESO

Other (Post in Forum)

Computer Generated Voice.

This would allow for certain characters to have significantly more options for dialogue and to be updated more regularly.

The Computer Generated Voice isn't going to match the quality of humans or the marketing potential of a human but, it will likely be far cheaper per line which will open up possibilities for the occasional character that talks a ton or offers a variety of different responses.

ZOS_Kevin

Hi all! Thanks for your suggestions so far. Always appreciate thoughts on future Voice Actors for ESO. If you have any more suggestions, please feel free to send them our way. Making no promises on who may join the ESO roster next, but we'll pass this on to our internal teams to have on their radar.

Thanks @Bluedog164 for starting up the conversation.

Holycannoli

Other (Post in Forum)

Another great one would be Roger Clark, Mr. Arthur Morgan himself. One of the greatest voices in a videogame ever.

DrNukenstein

Other (Post in Forum)

Alastair Duncan reprising his role as Senator Steven Armstrong as a chapters big bad dude

DMuehlhausen

Other (Post in Forum)

Chris Rock and Chris Tucker

LalMirchi

Other (Post in Forum)

Samuel L. Jackson

AvalonRanger

Mark Hamill

Or, Lance Henriksen.
Like the "admiral hackett" voice of MassEffect series.

Elsonso

All these suggestions and no "Aela the Huntress" from Skyrim?



Of course, she does World of Warcraft, so maybe that can't happen.

Beilin_Balreis_Colcan

chessalavakia_ESO wrote: »

Computer Generated Voice.

This would allow for certain characters to have significantly more options for dialogue and to be updated more regularly.

The Computer Generated Voice isn't going to match the quality of humans or the marketing potential of a human but, it will likely be far cheaper per line which will open up possibilities for the occasional character that talks a ton or offers a variety of different responses.

Agreed, and computer-generated voices are getting quite good, see here (contains link to audio samples):
https://www.technologyreview.com/2021/07/09/1028140/ai-voice-actors-sound-human/

Elsonso

vsrs_au wrote: »

chessalavakia_ESO wrote: »

Computer Generated Voice.

This would allow for certain characters to have significantly more options for dialogue and to be updated more regularly.

The Computer Generated Voice isn't going to match the quality of humans or the marketing potential of a human but, it will likely be far cheaper per line which will open up possibilities for the occasional character that talks a ton or offers a variety of different responses.

Agreed, and computer-generated voices are getting quite good, see here (contains link to audio samples):
https://www.technologyreview.com/2021/07/09/1028140/ai-voice-actors-sound-human/

It is only a matter of time before AI + Computer Generated Voice becomes the go-to for game studios with games that have a heavy VO component.

wenchmore420b14_ESO

Matt Mercer. Hands down.

Bluedog164

Joshua Waters

chessalavakia_ESO wrote: »

Computer Generated Voice.

This would allow for certain characters to have significantly more options for dialogue and to be updated more regularly.

The Computer Generated Voice isn't going to match the quality of humans or the marketing potential of a human but, it will likely be far cheaper per line which will open up possibilities for the occasional character that talks a ton or offers a variety of different responses.

No, just no. It’s a great disservice to voice actors.

Kirawolfe

Other (Post in Forum)

chessalavakia_ESO wrote: »

Computer Generated Voice.

This would allow for certain characters to have significantly more options for dialogue and to be updated more regularly.

The Computer Generated Voice isn't going to match the quality of humans or the marketing potential of a human but, it will likely be far cheaper per line which will open up possibilities for the occasional character that talks a ton or offers a variety of different responses.

No thanks. They really can't carry the emotional authenticity you need for this kind of work.

I'd much rather have less lines said with true gravity and humanity than so many more lines said with the empty patterning you get with computer generated voices.

There are some great general use voice generators out there, don't get me wrong, but they don't hold a candle to what a VA can do naturally.

Kirawolfe

Other (Post in Forum)

Nolan North

katanagirl1

Morgan Freeman and Patrick Stewart are great choices, too. Patrick Stewart was in Oblivion as the emperor, I think.

I like having famous actors doing the voices. They are so much more professional and have real life accents. The hubby said the voice acting for the base game was great but the dlcs sound like they were voiced by college students.

Freelancer_ESO

Other (Post in Forum)

Bluedog164 wrote: »

chessalavakia_ESO wrote: »

Computer Generated Voice.

This would allow for certain characters to have significantly more options for dialogue and to be updated more regularly.

The Computer Generated Voice isn't going to match the quality of humans or the marketing potential of a human but, it will likely be far cheaper per line which will open up possibilities for the occasional character that talks a ton or offers a variety of different responses.

No, just no. It’s a great disservice to voice actors.

Voice acting isn't cheap. Last I looked SAG was running nearly $500 for the first hour at a minimum and you'd need to pay that for every language. Most of the people we've heard of likely are pulling well over that.

As a result, it puts a serious damper on the ability for games to cost effectively have stories that branch into multiple options or have content that regularly updates in small ways.

You'll notice that as voice acting has become more common more games have moved towards less choices for the player because it's not economical.

Kirawolfe wrote: »

chessalavakia_ESO wrote: »

Computer Generated Voice.

This would allow for certain characters to have significantly more options for dialogue and to be updated more regularly.

The Computer Generated Voice isn't going to match the quality of humans or the marketing potential of a human but, it will likely be far cheaper per line which will open up possibilities for the occasional character that talks a ton or offers a variety of different responses.

No thanks. They really can't carry the emotional authenticity you need for this kind of work.

I'd much rather have less lines said with true gravity and humanity than so many more lines said with the empty patterning you get with computer generated voices.

There are some great general use voice generators out there, don't get me wrong, but they don't hold a candle to what a VA can do naturally.

The generators have gotten quite good of late and not every character needs to be the type of a character that would be requiring the full skills of a voice actor.

I'd argue for example the characters that offer repeatable quests would be prime candidates for Computer Generated Voice content as the characters are arguably far more emotional/dramatic than they need to be which can get to be a bit annoying and they quickly end up repeating lines.

Computer Generated Voice could also allow for content to cheaply be produced for small areas of the game that already physically exist but lack content or lack content outside of a specific quest. For example, the Imperial City's Waterfront District exists but, cannot be accessed readily and it's likely far too small to merit being included in a full blown DLC. If you used Computer Generated Voice for most of the characters and mostly/entirely re-used visual assets you could likely afford to make it part of the game people could actually use if someone had a good idea for it ever. Otherwise, the cost could easily be too high to be worth implementing.

Amottica

Other (Post in Forum)

I would suggest Raquel Welch but sadly that is no longer possible.

amig186

Other (Post in Forum)

Kirawolfe wrote: »

Nolan North

He already played Ritemaster Iachesis.

BretonMage

Other (Post in Forum)

chessalavakia_ESO wrote: »

Bluedog164 wrote: »

chessalavakia_ESO wrote: »

Computer Generated Voice.

This would allow for certain characters to have significantly more options for dialogue and to be updated more regularly.

The Computer Generated Voice isn't going to match the quality of humans or the marketing potential of a human but, it will likely be far cheaper per line which will open up possibilities for the occasional character that talks a ton or offers a variety of different responses.

No, just no. It’s a great disservice to voice actors.

Voice acting isn't cheap. Last I looked SAG was running nearly $500 for the first hour at a minimum and you'd need to pay that for every language. Most of the people we've heard of likely are pulling well over that.

As a result, it puts a serious damper on the ability for games to cost effectively have stories that branch into multiple options or have content that regularly updates in small ways.

You'll notice that as voice acting has become more common more games have moved towards less choices for the player because it's not economical.

Good voice acting is essential for me. I'd go so far to say that I would in fact prefer more voice acting and fewer choices, than the other way around.

Katheriah

Bluedog164 wrote: »

chessalavakia_ESO wrote: »

Computer Generated Voice.

This would allow for certain characters to have significantly more options for dialogue and to be updated more regularly.

The Computer Generated Voice isn't going to match the quality of humans or the marketing potential of a human but, it will likely be far cheaper per line which will open up possibilities for the occasional character that talks a ton or offers a variety of different responses.

No, just no. It’s a great disservice to voice actors.

@Bluedog164 are you in the business?

My prediction is that computer generated voices will become better and better in the future.

Mesite

Other (Post in Forum)

Claudia Black and Ben Browder always worked well together.

Saucy_Jack

My boy David Hewlett

Braggar

Other (Post in Forum)

Courtney Ford oh yeah!

Seminolegirl1992

Other (Post in Forum)

Hapexamendios wrote: »

Peter Dinklage

omg yes please

tincanman

@ZOS_Kevin, @ZOS_GinaBruno, @ZOS_MattFiror , @ZOS_RichLambert, @ZOS_JessicaFolsom et al

If they don't already, they should have cameos anyway. Not annoying npc's with omni-triggers, something subtle requiring activation and full player interaction.

Maybe pithy talking books 'lost' from Hermaeus Mora's collection?

Gina could maybe reprise her role with Alcast?