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

Aztrias

Mark Hamill

Maybe I wouldn't dislike Sheogorath so much if he was voiced by Mark Hamill

HumbleThaumaturge

Other (Post in Forum)

Mary Faber (who provided the voice acting for my favorite ESO character)

Castagere

Other (Post in Forum)

Tony Todd
Keith David

Priyasekarssk

Other (Post in Forum)

I don’t know any of them. I didn’t buy the game because of voice acting. This game spending too much on voice acting which’s not needed. [Snip].

[Edited for baiting]

Hoghorn

Priyasekarssk wrote: »

This game spending too much on voice acting which’s not needed.

do you believe that if they drop the (meh) voice acting they'll redirect that money to improving the game? that seems very unlikely to me, it will go into management and shareholder pockets.

Shagreth

Other (Post in Forum)

Wes Johnson, because he's one of the most talented voice actors out there. It was a huge mistake changing the VA for Sheogorath, Wes IS Sheogorath. Luckily he's back as Herma in Necrom so there's that.

TheImperfect

Whoever said James Earl Jones, definitely!

Muizer

Aztrias wrote: »

Maybe I wouldn't dislike Sheogorath so much if he was voiced by Mark Hamill

Isn't the entire point of Sheogorath's voice to make us hate him? Can't imagine it having any other effect.

Anyway, in addition to the Blackadder cast, how about Black Sails actors Zach McGowan (Charles Vane) and Jessica Parker Kennedy (Max)?

WhiteCoatSyndrome

Mark Hamill

ArchMikem wrote: »

I don't usually remember Actors by name but, I mean c'mon, who could say no to Mark Hamill?

Same boat. I don’t recognize any of the other names, but Mark Hamill did an excellent job as the Joker in the old Batman cartoons IIRC, and of course he played Luke in Star Wars, so between those two roles I think he’s got some decent range.

Animar111

Other (Post in Forum)

Bruce Campbell Would be an awesome option for voice over

Julia_Nix

Other (Post in Forum)

Gideon Emery

Northwold

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.

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.

I don't think the move to less player choice, if that's happened in gaming, can be pinned on the cost of voice acting, which looks like one line item out of many in the grand scheme of things. Unless you're using movie stars, the main cost is in the development.

The level of environment / visual design, most obviously, is night and day compared to the games of even ten years ago, and the expectations of players to have vast, vast amounts of content in AAA games has led to studios being forced to adopt a cookie cutter approach to activities. Animation, also, is moving on to using full motion capture. Added to that is time pressure -- most studios cannot afford to let a game take 10 years from conception to release -- but at the same time hand crafting a 10 mile long jungle is a vastly more involved task than dropping one of four near identical dungeon building blocks into place ad infinitum (which is what used to happen).

The customer expectations of what "AAA" looks like mean that a lot more work is needed for the same amount of play time.

FayJolyn

Other (Post in Forum)

Benedict Cumberbatch is pretty versatile I think. He's good because he's able to really blend into his characters I forget it's him. I've heard him do great radio comedy in Cabin Pressure where he plays an ambitious airplane pilot but I know most people know him from Sherlock ofcourse. He also did baddies like Smaug in the Hobbit. I could def see him playing an Altmer/Dunmer or something. But you can throw almost anything at him and it will be great.

MasterSpatula

Other (Post in Forum)

Big Finish has proven that most of the Doctor Who casts are excellent voice actors.

Can you imagine Colin Baker as a High Elf chamberlain-type character who comes off as a bit of a windbag but turns out to have a deep ethical core and powerful resolve when it's needed?

Or Sylvester McCoy as a Bosmer elder so in touch with The Green that he appears more than a bit mad most of the time?

Or Tom Baker as the voice of one of the less-unsavory Deadra? Or even better, as an Aedra? I don't know about you, but now that I'm thinking about it, I have a hard time imagining Akatosh sounding like anyone else!

For a brief moment, I thought the recast Verandis Ravenwatch was actually voiced by Paul McGann. Ever since, I've wanted to hear McGann voice something for ESO.

Nicola Bryant's been faking an American accent for decades. She could effectively play a member of nearly any of ESOs races.

Imagine Janet Fielding as a rather fussy Orc who you do. Not. Want. To. F***. With. Are there Australian Orcs? There are now!

Imagine Sophie Aldred as a revered elder priest of the Tribunal Temple who secretly sees the Tribunal for what they are but believes the Tribunal keep her people united and strong, so she's a more fervent (and potentially dangerous) supporter than any true fanatic.

Imagine what a damned coup it would be to get David Tennant or Christopher Eccleston or Billie Piper or Freema Agyeman or Peter Capaldi or Catherine Tate or Alex Kingston to do anything for this game!


Oh, and one more name, this one outside the Doctor Who wheelhouse. Lance Reddick. There's a man who can do no wrong.

katanagirl1

Animar111 wrote: »

Bruce Campbell Would be an awesome option for voice over

He would have to be a king so he could say “hail to the king, baby.”

LadyLavina

Other (Post in Forum)

Cast Sean Bean as a character that dies, of course.

SatanicSister

Other (Post in Forum)

Yesterday, I watched The Lake House again and was instantly reminded how much I like Shohreh Aghdashloos voice. So beautiful, calm and soft, with a touch of sadness. I don't think she's been a VA for ESO (although she has been VA for some other video games, correct me if I'm wrong) and I would love to hear her voice in the game.

Jarl_Ironheart

AzuraFan wrote: »

Jennifer Hale.
Jo Wyatt.
Alix Wilton Regan.
Carrie-Anne Moss.
Claudia Black.

Jennifer Hale is Lyris Titanborn

Papasears1982

uh duh, Simon Templeman (b '')b

MjolnirVilkas

Tim Curry

Henry Cavill would be my first choice, but of the one's listed, Tim Curry.

Northwold

LadyLavina wrote: »

Cast Sean Bean as a character that dies, of course.

Does turning into a weird dragon thing count? https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0462271/characters/nm0000293

Tandor

Other (Post in Forum)

ArchMikem wrote: »

I don't usually remember Actors by name but, I mean c'mon, who could say no to Mark Hamill?

Me for one, I'm not sure that he would bring anything to ESO that other voice actors haven't already done. This is one of the areas where I believe that ZOS have excelled, even with the unknown voice actors who have captured their role perfectly. I don't think adding more household names (and voices) would achieve anything.

BenTSG

Other (Post in Forum)

Brandon Keener.

God I'd go nuts if he actually had a voice in this game.

Flangdoodle

Diedrich Bader or Chris Parnell.

Bluedog164

Joshua Waters

Flangdoodle wrote: »

Diedrich Bader or Chris Parnell.

I think we got them already

Saucy_Jack

Since the thread got shut down, this is just a reiteration of my humble request to bring the team from Viva La Dirt League onboard to ESO.