No voice-overs in the game, is it all text???

[NuM_Brrr_WoN]

Just started playing the game and not noticing that the characters say anything is that how the game is or is it bugged or am I missing something in the settings?

[Silamon]

A little of ARR is voiced, but mostly only major cutscenes and the old VA is of very mixed quality (most are bad, some were great. I miss old Merlwyb VA).

Heavensward on has a lot more voice acting.

[NuhUh]

Text-dialog is not bugged. It working as intended. Voice Actors are expensive so Square Enix usually only utilize VA actors in MSQ (Main Story Quest). The 'less' relevant part of MSQ is also text-dialog. Side quests will not contain VA.

ARR is 'mostly' text-dialog, sprinkled with some VA moments. Heavensward & Stormblood has a lot of MSQ VA. Shadowbringers MSQ is filled with VA.

The higher the expansion, the more VA you'll experience.

[NuM_Brrr_WoN]

Okay, like I mentioned I havent played before and have mostly been playing ESO which all of the characters and quest givers are fully voiced, not used to having to read everything.

[Hobo Misanthropus]

Originally posted by NuM_Brrr_WoN:

Okay, like I mentioned I havent played before and have mostly been playing ESO which all of the characters and quest givers are fully voiced, not used to having to read everything.

Tangential aside, FFIX was written at a College+ reading level, and the only reason I know this is because I always tested several years ahead of my classmates (G6-8) and Final Fantasy 9 was the closest thing to a book I ever read during that time.

Imagine that Meme with Steve Carell accepting the award awkwardly. Now put "Top Reader in <Not gonna dox myself> Middle School Award" That was literally me.

Return to Tradition.

[Killance]

First expansion forward has MUCH more voice acting.

[Jin-]

Originally posted by NuM_Brrr_WoN:

Okay, like I mentioned I havent played before and have mostly been playing ESO which all of the characters and quest givers are fully voiced, not used to having to read everything.

ESO can do this since each quest and story part has only few lines of dialogue. Look at Fallout 4 for another example.
Voice acting is highly expensive, especially in Japan where not only Hollywood failures end up working

[DirtyMick]

There's basically just waaaay more non voiced dialogue than there is voiced. Occasionally you get voiced scenes.

[tracksone]

Originally posted by Silamon:

A little of ARR is voiced, but mostly only major cutscenes and the old VA is of very mixed quality (most are bad, some were great. I miss old Merlwyb VA).

Heavensward on has a lot more voice acting.

No it doesnt, HW has maybe 5% more voice acting, its very slight. As with the other expacs,

[Silamon]

Originally posted by tracksone:

Originally posted by Silamon:

A little of ARR is voiced, but mostly only major cutscenes and the old VA is of very mixed quality (most are bad, some were great. I miss old Merlwyb VA).

Heavensward on has a lot more voice acting.

No it doesnt, HW has maybe 5% more voice acting, its very slight. As with the other expacs,

Yes it does. ARR has a voiced scene once in a blue moon for major events, HW has one or two almost every quest.

[DaniTheHero]

Originally posted by NuhUh:

Text-dialog is not bugged. It working as intended. Voice Actors are expensive so Square Enix usually only utilize VA actors in MSQ (Main Story Quest). The 'less' relevant part of MSQ is also text-dialog. Side quests will not contain VA.

ARR is 'mostly' text-dialog, sprinkled with some VA moments. Heavensward & Stormblood has a lot of MSQ VA. Shadowbringers MSQ is filled with VA.

The higher the expansion, the more VA you'll experience.

Originally posted by NuhUh:

Text-dialog is not bugged. It working as intended. Voice Actors are expensive so Square Enix usually only utilize VA actors in MSQ (Main Story Quest). The 'less' relevant part of MSQ is also text-dialog. Side quests will not contain VA.

ARR is 'mostly' text-dialog, sprinkled with some VA moments. Heavensward & Stormblood has a lot of MSQ VA. Shadowbringers MSQ is filled with VA.

The higher the expansion, the more VA you'll experience.

You’d think that with the amount of money they earn from subbing alone, they could at least afford in voice acting the intro area. Terrible first impression.

Money is the last thing to be an issue here. They clearly just don’t care.

[Awaken]

The voice acting's sparse and inconsistent.

[Silamon]

Originally posted by DaniTheHero:

Originally posted by NuhUh:

Text-dialog is not bugged. It working as intended. Voice Actors are expensive so Square Enix usually only utilize VA actors in MSQ (Main Story Quest). The 'less' relevant part of MSQ is also text-dialog. Side quests will not contain VA.

ARR is 'mostly' text-dialog, sprinkled with some VA moments. Heavensward & Stormblood has a lot of MSQ VA. Shadowbringers MSQ is filled with VA.

The higher the expansion, the more VA you'll experience.

You’d think that with the amount of money they earn from subbing alone, they could at least afford in voice acting the intro area. Terrible first impression.

Money is the last thing to be an issue here. They clearly just don’t care.

ARR was made with a tight budget and limited time because they didn't know if it would succeed or not after the horrible failure of 1.o.

It gets significantly better in both quality and quantity in HW and later.

[NuM_Brrr_WoN]

I see alot of people saying it gets better in the expansions, so question as a new player should I play through ARR first before buying the expansions / is there some sort of level requirement? Or should I just get them now?

[Silamon]

Originally posted by NuM_Brrr_WoN:

I see alot of people saying it gets better in the expansions, so question as a new player should I play through ARR first before buying the expansions / is there some sort of level requirement? Or should I just get them now?

ARR has pacing issues because of the limited time they had to make it, but it also does a lot to set up the world and get you to know who people are and what they want.

I'd say try to get through it, it does have its moments as well. Post ARR is a slog but the ending is quite good.

[NuM_Brrr_WoN]

Originally posted by Silamon:

Originally posted by NuM_Brrr_WoN:

I see alot of people saying it gets better in the expansions, so question as a new player should I play through ARR first before buying the expansions / is there some sort of level requirement? Or should I just get them now?

ARR has pacing issues because of the limited time they had to make it, but it also does a lot to set up the world and get you to know who people are and what they want.

I'd say try to get through it, it does have its moments as well. Post ARR is a slog but the ending is quite good.

Like I mentioned I'm not the biggest fan of reading the text so I'm basically just grabbing all of the quests and side quests skipping through dialogue and trying to blow through the quests and work on leveling. I'll try to get through ARR and see where I'm at, if you buy the latest expansion do you get the other(s), like in ESO you get all the previous expansions with the purchase of the newest one, or do you have to buy them all individually?