Is the new voice acting any good?

[Tazor]

And can you disable it and have just the voice acting that was before? I hate it when games force new features with updates. Wreckfest became a mess when they changed how physics work with no way to revert.

I still have PTSD flashbacks from the voice acting in Pillars of Eternity 2 (loved the first one, even if it only had partial VO). Just terrible. It felt like they needed to record hours upon hours upon hours of non stop voice for the game on a really tight budget. They ended up saying "♥♥♥♥ it, just pick random people off the street and tell them to do their best italian accent. oh and Xoti? she should be from down south for no apparent reason."

Is it any good in this? Any weird fake accents? Any amateurs who sound either bored to death or cheesy over the top? Any difference in the quality of the hardware used for recording the updated voices? Anything that sticks out?

[RedRock]

New voice acting is pretty bad. There are like 2 or 3 exceptions, but for the most part game just got worse.

Also they added voicing for the narrator which is a questionable decision to say the least, and it kinda ruins the atmosphere.

[Amygdala]

Kim is great obviously, the character with the 2nd most voiced lines

The skill narrator probably has the most, his voice is definitely very good but the delivery can get pretty monotonous, IMO reading the crazy ♥♥♥♥ made it more enjoyable and stream of consciousness. Plus from what I've played it seems like all the skills have the same tone?

Everyone else can be hit or miss

[RedRock]

Originally posted by Amygdala:

Plus from what I've played it seems like all the skills have the same tone?

Yeah they all voiced by the same guy and in the same way. From what I understand the logic behind this is that all of the skills are just your inner voice and you only have one, so here you go.

[Eddie]

Originally posted by RedStone:

Originally posted by Amygdala:

Plus from what I've played it seems like all the skills have the same tone?

Yeah they all voiced by the same guy and in the same way. From what I understand the logic behind this is that all of the skills are just your inner voice and you only have one, so here you go.

That's genuinely so strange. Each inner voice def has its own tone though, likes its obvious. Authority is obnoxious, Shivers and Echos are sad. Inland Empire is the massive and should be booming. The same voice with the same tone is just....off-putting...

[BIG D' williamson from mBHS]

Originally posted by Tazor:

And can you disable it and have just the voice acting that was before? I hate it when games force new features with updates. Wreckfest became a mess when they changed how physics work with no way to revert.

I still have PTSD flashbacks from the voice acting in Pillars of Eternity 2 (loved the first one, even if it only had partial VO). Just terrible. It felt like they needed to record hours upon hours upon hours of non stop voice for the game on a really tight budget. They ended up saying "♥♥♥♥ it, just pick random people off the street and tell them to do their best italian accent. oh and Xoti? she should be from down south for no apparent reason."

Is it any good in this? Any weird fake accents? Any amateurs who sound either bored to death or cheesy over the top? Any difference in the quality of the hardware used for recording the updated voices? Anything that sticks out?

You cannot revert the voice acting. Most of the cast has been replaced and most of it is not great. Additionally, I hate to confirm your worst fear, but the sound quality at times is not up to par and they use weird filters to try and hide this (echo, reverb, high pass, etc.). I think there was some budget recording situations going on over the pandemic at home studios if I had to guess.

[Krag]

So far I find it excellent.
Kim, Klaasje, Joyce, René and Gaston they're all delivered really well. Cuno I was worried I'd have to listen to his ear piercing voice from the original but they actually found a tone that sounds similar and yet much easier on the ears.
The guy who does the narrator and the voices in your head, he's pretty impressive because at first he sounds like he's reading everything in a flat and monotone voice but the longer you play and the more you start to recognize each voice.

[Eddie]

Originally posted by Krag:

So far I find it excellent.
Kim, Klaasje, Joyce, René and Gaston they're all delivered really well. Cuno I was worried I'd have to listen to his ear piercing voice from the original but they actually found a tone that sounds similar and yet much easier on the ears.
The guy who does the narrator and the voices in your head, he's pretty impressive because at first he sounds like he's reading everything in a flat and monotone voice but the longer you play and the more you start to recognize each voice.

I'm glad you're enjoying it bud, i am. But it also sounds like your taking every single complaint people are saying, and actually saying they are wrong and its actually good. Like everyone u listed, except Kim, majority of people have said they are disappointed. so it seems kinda...baity? Ya know? I do believe you are genuine but some ppl are mean

[Krag]

Originally posted by Ponky:

I'm glad you're enjoying it bud, i am. But it also sounds like your taking every single complaint people are saying, and actually saying they are wrong and its actually good. Like everyone u listed, except Kim, majority of people have said they are disappointed. so it seems kinda...baity? Ya know? I do believe you are genuine but some ppl are mean

I didn't quote anyone, only listed the characters I've talked so far and the ones I was most worried about, namely Cuno and the Narrator since I'd heard them in a video prior to the update. But I've grown to like them.

[Eddie]

Originally posted by Krag:

Originally posted by Ponky:

I'm glad you're enjoying it bud, i am. But it also sounds like your taking every single complaint people are saying, and actually saying they are wrong and its actually good. Like everyone u listed, except Kim, majority of people have said they are disappointed. so it seems kinda...baity? Ya know? I do believe you are genuine but some ppl are mean

I didn't quote anyone, only listed the characters I've talked so far and the ones I was most worried about, namely Cuno and the Narrator since I'd heard them in a video prior to the update. But I've grown to like them.

Gotcha, I do hope it grows on me. I ofc will continue to play it and want it to wash over me still.

[arroutado]

Pray for the original Cunno.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uluhBgrtZUg&ab_channel=LevityBooks

[akhv]

Originally posted by arroutado:

Pray for the original Cunno.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uluhBgrtZUg&ab_channel=LevityBooks

Wow, Cuno got so much worse from both artistic and technical points of view. New voice got much less lo-mids with lots of reverberation on top, as if he's talking to you from far away in a big hall when in fact he's standing near you on the street, and original VO got it right.

[FWSchultz]

A matter of taste.
I found Cuno a bit overemphasized in the original. No freaky kid talks like that, sorry. It's much more believable in Final Cut.

I think a lot of people here just have the problem, like in newly dubbed films, when other speakers act. I can understand that, but it shouldn't be overestimated.

[Stoibs]

Cuno got robbed.
He kind of sucks now and I wish there was a mod or some way to get the original VA back.
Not just for him but for everyone really. The Baldur's Gate style of an initial sentence or phrase spoken and then text was perfect, and I don't know why there was so much pushback or insistence to change it?

I've already toggled the Voice setting back to 'psychological' so I don't have to listen to the monotone narrator doing the same delivery for all the skills, and I can go back to imagining them being all distinct like how I did on my first release playthrough.

Apart from Kim who was always great, I'm not at all impressed with the final cut changes so far =(

[Mikejamese]

I think the issue is less about any of the new voice performances sounding inherently bad, and more the problem of completely erasing the original versions with no given option to revert back to them. Casting changes are hard to get used to at the best of times, but it's exacerbated here by the fact that we're losing something we already had for the sake of something different.

The new voice-actors for Cuno and Klaasje sound perfectly fine. They're solid performances, and I'll probably grow more used to them over time on a full playthrough, but I also enjoyed the tone and delivery that I've already come to associate with those characters, and would appreciate the choice to be able to revisit the game in the same manner in which I was introduced to it.