Constructive criticism on voice and story telling

[Chilkoot]

Devs - the Wintermute story mode is really great, and the Redux makes picking up the game mechanics very natural and smooth. But... there are some experience-breaking "cringe" moments with the interactive cutscenes/story advancements and studio work.

There are some pretty serious moment-killers in Mintermute that you should consider addressing for Eps. 3-5:

• Hire an experienced voice director. Don't record another piece of dialogue without. The actual voice acting is good, but the voice direction is unfortunately very poor (if there was any at all). Levels and projection are horrid - inconsistent, and wholly unnatural. Every character using hushed tones in every situation is deadly on the audience. This is the Great White North, not an emo murmur fest!
  
• The dialogue is way too homogeneous across the characters. Every NPC uses half-riddle-speak like they're part of some hidden conspiracy, assuming we already know the whole story. Leading conversations with an aloof "She didn't know how dangerous it was, but she did it anyways" before giving any hint of the subjects of the conversation or the situation they are in is really bad form. You can get away with it once to add atmosphere depending on the character, but having every NPC use this "pronouns before proper nouns" approach after just meeting someone gets old *really* quickly.
  
• Your on-rails cutscenes work far better than the interactive stuff. My discussions with the Grey Mother on my first playthrough were so disjointed, I had no idea what was going on. Creating mystery is one thing, but outright player confusion is another - and it's not a desirable mechanic, for sure. Keep those interactive discussions streamlined, and again, limit the riddle-speak to one NPC at most.

I can't stress the need for strong voice direction enough. You need a director with a dog-eared copy of the script in hand keeping things consistent and flowing between sessions with the various talent (who are presumably not all in the studio at the same time). If you want to see great voice direction, check out the original Shrek (2001). Even the most talented actors need strong direction or you end up with a disjointed, inconsistent mess.

Again, the story modes are great, but that voicework and the overall dialogue is like getting hit with a bucket of cold water while relaxing on the beach. If one area of the experience is substantially sub-par it pulls the whole effort down, and with the rest of the game being so well executed, you really need to consider addressing this problem for future episodes.

[Chilkoot]

Originally posted by Hugor Hill:

@Chilkoot

Let me guess...you are a voice director?

Ha ha ... no ;) Crappy direction or audio of any kind really jumps out at me though. The sound design is otherwise really good in this game, so the deadpan perma-hushed dialogue sticks out like a sore thumb. The main actor is much stronger in the second act, but there is almost no variation between his voice and the hunter... that's a casting issue.

This problem is quite common in indie titles (and homebrew mods, etc), where people think "Hey, our team can write, program and do graphics. We can manage voice work in-house no problem." But they can't. For every 100 people that can do pro-level graphics, there's 1 that can do pro-level voice work. Even Blizzard's early stuff was really weighed down by Chris "Cookie Monster Klingon" Metzen's voiceovers. It was like a boat anchor on the otherwise stellar work.

Another great example of stellar voice acting/direction elevating a game substantially is the reboot of The Bard's Tale from 2004. Some boners in there (friends/family as extras), but otherwise all-star. Get pro's for the voice recording, people!

[dreamwolf27]

Just caught this one though I dont know if its new or has been in since the redux.
Talking w Jeremiah in his first scenes I remember his voice deep and growly. While I get that may be hard to understand, we have subtitles. I got the cutscene after getting the Bear Spear and tbh I had to watch his mouth to tell when he was speaking or if it was Mackenzie cause their voices are so similar. Dont remember this being the case with any of his other cutscenes.
Not saying it needs to be rerecorded, just saying it was confusing and took me out of the moment.

[Trismegistus]

I 100% agree with this, don't get why this hasn't been mentioned before. The dialogue in the story of this game is horrifically cringy.

[Qwigs]

A great example of this is when you first meet the Grey Mother, she's aiming a loaded rifle at you and the instant she says "Outsider?" makes the main character calm down completely. Like what? She's still aiming this gun at you and if your main character were a real person they absolutely would still be freaking out, how does her saying "Outsider" calm him down completely?

[Goweigus]

I've only played Episode 1 Redux and I didn't have any problem with the voices or dialogue. I was certainly curious as to what happened in the town since the old lady was losing her mind. Finding out what really happened after going to places she mentions was fun, if she had told me everything she'd seen and heard like she was a healthy young adult then it would have made the next several hours of gameplay much less interesting.

However, I've seen people talk about the way things were before redux and I'm rather upset that I have to stare straight at her the whole time when before there was a cutscene similar to before getting on the plane with Astrid. I'd like to see the source of my voice more than once? Its story mode so it doesn't need to be first person all the time...

edit: I'm guessing they got rid of the cutscene because they didn't want to have to make it compatible with whatever we may be wearing (why can't i ever see the gloves im wearing?!),. That and reworking it to fit how much they changed the interactions with her.

I'll probably try playing episode 1 without redux before moving to episode 2

edit2:

Originally posted by Qwigs:

A great example of this is when you first meet the Grey Mother, she's aiming a loaded rifle at you and the instant she says "Outsider?" makes the main character calm down completely. Like what? She's still aiming this gun at you and if your main character were a real person they absolutely would still be freaking out, how does her saying "Outsider" calm him down completely?

good point

[kopo79]

i realy dont like this story mode...its like just reading from paper....there is no acting at all.
i have 18 rifle bullets in story mode but still i have to find spear.

[The Time Traveler]

I don't like the way the Mona Lisa painting looks. I should be able to get it changed now yea, maybe add a moustache it's too gender biased...

so i should just be able to knock down the freakin white house and put up a comic book store. It's much more appealing to me i like comics. but politics...not so much.

I believe that's how the entitlement you display works here. I thought we were all listing things we would change if we were all super entitled.

[Chilkoot]

Originally posted by Shadow Edge:

I don't like the way the Mona Lisa painting looks. I should be able to get it changed now yea, maybe add a moustache it's too gender biased...

so i should just be able to knock down the freakin white house and put up a comic book store. It's much more appealing to me i like comics. but politics...not so much.

I believe that's how the entitlement you display works here. I thought we were all listing things we would change if we were all super entitled.

People who have paid for the game are certainly welcome to voice their opinions here. Attempting to stifle discussion or belittle others, however, is not something the developers permit.

[Goweigus]

Maybe I just enjoy things too much, but i don't understand peoples complaints about the voice acting (havent played episode 2 yet)

I literally see nothing wrong with the voice acting, the tone of voice and speech pace seem to fit perfectly for each scene, i seriously don't get the complaints. The closest thing i take issue with is old lady rifle sounding more mysterious than full of dementia