Voice acting or text?

Remember back in the day when we had just text, and had to use our imagination?

Which would you rather have?

i like having both at the same time

some games i can deal with just text but id rather have voice acting

In almost every case, voice acting. In some rare occasions, text.SpruceCaboose

this

Watch this video then change your answer to text:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=BAtC1SzWSXg
lolololol

Voice acting easily, i hate reading stuff all the time, and it takes me out of the experience of the game imo.

voice acting if they get good voice actors.

text if they cant.


text gives me the abbility to use my imgination on voices, where as voice if the voice actors are good surpass what my imagination creates.

Watch this video then change your answer to text:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=BAtC1SzWSXg
lolololol

death919

Wow what did they do to Shadow Heart Covenants cast? They are completely out of personality. Some of the worst voice acting I have ever heard.

voice acting if they get good voice actors.

text if they cant.


text gives me the abbility to use my imgination on voices, where as voice if the voice actors are good surpass what my imagination creates.

WilliamRLBaker

It like watching an anime with subtitles. Not really a big deal but voice acting would be nice.

Why would you not want voice acting?

Reading is so 5 years ago

I don't mind if we have to read a couple lines now and again, but the story should be told through voice acting.

Any one who played Super Paper Mario should agree

Remember back in the day when we had just text,

Dynafrom

voice acting if they get good voice actors.

text if they cant.

WilliamRLBaker

[QUOTE="Dynafrom"]

Remember back in the day when we had just text,

Panzer_Zwei

Yeah even a few SNES titles had it, but somehow almost none on N64.

I definatly say voice acting, if its bad, you can usually just swap it to Japanese, I think a title like Zelda should have voice acting for non-Link characters, its up to the staff to pick good voice actors, there are plenty that are good as well, if a game ends up with horrible voice acting, you can only blame the publisher, or in some cases, the developer.

Why would you not want voice acting?

Reading is so 5 years ago

BigDizz

I use to play text only games. Like Zonk or Zork and then online Solar Realms.

if they can get quality voice actors then voice actors. if not then dont bother...just use text. or have an option to turn VO off. actually have that in all games.

theres nothing worse than rubish voice actors in a game..they can singel handedly break a game imho. tales of symphonia came THAT close to being ruined by it.....rubbish voice acting accross the board in that game. absolutely dire. thankfully the rest of the game was great....but argh.

i dont mind a game with just text though.

Voice acting if teh following two conditions are met

(1) Vocie actign is good ( that the voice match characters, specify characters emotions properly etc)

(2) Devs do not cut on number of dialogues options (esp in rpgs) to cut cost and size

depends.

I usually like JRPGs to keep to text while only using dialogue in cutscenes.

Voice acting if teh following two conditions are met

(1) Vocie actign is good ( that the voice match characters, specify characters emotions properly etc)

(2) Devs do not cut on number of dialogues options (esp in rpgs) to cut cost and size

naval

Watch this video then change your answer to text:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=BAtC1SzWSXg
lolololol

death919

Usually voice acting, but it has to be well done. Text only is annoying on consoles, but I don't have a problem with it on handhelds.

I prefer text because I can fill in the gaps with my imagination. Good text can give a character far more personality than if it were voice acted. Look at Issun (The bug guy, if I got the name wrong) in Okami. However, that is not to say that voice acting can not be pulled off and is "bad." Most of the voice acting in MGS4 is quite good, but you really cringe when you hear those cheesy poorly executed "It even rained on my birthday" "You can shine through the darkness" lines. With text, those *very* bad pieces of dialogue can be downplayed, as you're not actually hearing it and can just hit a button to scroll through text in a quick manner.

Games that go the route of voice acting require -more- than just a few good voice actors; they need a good script. (Which is not to say that games with text-based dialogue shouldn't have a good script)

Edit: Whether or not a game should have voice acting or text also depends on the genre and general style and direction the developers wish to go with their game. As other posters have said, Zelda would not be Zelda without text and a game such as Gears of War would not be Gears of War if all dialogue was text (even though there's not much of it :P).

some games will be crap with voice acting. like the Zelda games. never ruin thos games with voice actors! lol

I can't even imagine how it would be like with Link having a voice(other than his battlecries)

VA, if it's well done

otherwise i'd want text .. it's not always fun reading a load of text, but it's better than bad VA

VA with subtitles is the best though

Both, Morrowind style.

depends

Text based games are fine 2 generations ago, but in this day and age voice acting should be standard...

nuff said

Watch this video then change your answer to text:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=BAtC1SzWSXg
lolololol

death919

then watch this and vote for voice acting

http://youtube.com/watch?v=wwTEGOvjiMk

:D

Fantasy games: Text

Realistic games: Voice.