Why are there voice changes?

ZaramMaldovar

I've noticed the selection voices for NPCs in my party (Khalid, Safana, and even recently introduced characters like Dorn and Neera) have been changed. I can understand changing actually spoken lines (since we can't have every voice actor return) but why the selection text? And why recently introduced characters such as Dorn and Neera? How hard would it have been to keep the selection voices from BG? They did it for BG:EE and BG2:EE so why not SOD?

I noticed when I played through BG:EE (even with the SOD overhaul) the old voices remained intact, please tell me that this will be the same for BG2:EE, as I do not approve of the new voices (no offense to the voice actors, I'm just nostalgic)

TheArtisan

Because it would be extremely grating on the ears for a character's selection lines and their banter lines to sound completely different. I'm not just talking about voice actors, but also the quality of recording, volume and even things like accent will be different than 20 years (?) ago when the original voices were recorded.

The other reason is that BG1 soundsets were incomplete. Less selection phrases, less battle cries, and completely lacking things like 'Hide in Shadows' comments, 'Pick Pockets' comments, and etc. Again, it'd be very inconsistent if new NPCs had full voicesets while the old party members used outdated ones.

ZaramMaldovar

@Artemius_I Are the original BG2 voices still in tact? And why do Dorn and Neera have new sets when their sets were already new.

AstroBryGuy

The original characters did not have the same selection sounds between BG1 and BG2. Compare Minsc's "Happy" sounds in BG1 and BG2:

BG1: "Camaraderie, adventure, and steel on steel. The stuff of legend! Right, Boo?"
BG2: "We are all heroes, you and Boo and I! Hamsters and rangers everywhere, rejoice!"

Even when the line is kept the same, it was re-recorded for BG2. Listen to Minsc's "morale" sound from BG1 and BG2. Both lines are "Despair not! I will inspire you by charging blindly on!", but it's not the same recording. The line was re-recorded for BG2.

SoD followed the pattern. Some selection sounds are new, some are re-recorded versions of old lines, e.g., "Go for the eyes, Boo. GO FOR THE EYES! RrraaaAAGHGHH!" (which is in Minsc's selection sounds for BG1, BG2, and SoD, with three different recordings).

ZaramMaldovar

What I'm asking is if the lines from the Original BG2 (which remained from BG2:EE) are still the same as they were before, or if the new voices from SOD are used.

AstroBryGuy

BG2EE uses the original BG2 lines (except for the EE NPCs, obviously).

ZaramMaldovar

@AstroBryGuy But do the EE npcs use the EE voices from BG:EE and BG2:EE or their voices from SOD? And why did THEIR voices change?

TheArtisan

Because Neera has an in-story reason (sort of) for it and because recording quality can change over the course of a couple of years? It may be the same people but it would still sound different sticking BG2 voices into SoD. I dunno about you but I can clearly tell the difference between SoD-Dorn and BG2-Dorn.

ZaramMaldovar

@Artemius_I So can I, I just want to know if BG2 Dorn and Neera's voices remain the way they were in BG2, or if they were changed because of SOD

AstroBryGuy

Dorn, Neera, et. al. use their original lines from BGEE in BGEEv2.x and their original lines from BG2EE in BG2EEv2.x. New lines were recorded for SoD.

Why?
* It was a new expansion, with voiced dialog, so the actors were easily available for recording new sounds.
* The old returning NPCs were getting new, expanded soundsets; it's therefore consistent to give the EE NPCs new soundsets too.
* The original BG1EE NPC soundsets were limited like the original BG1 NPCs (e.g., one battle cry, no "spell failed" or "picket pocket" sounds). Not updating them would leave their soundsets "incomplete" compared to the new soundsets for the older NPCs.

And don't forget, Bioware did the same thing for Imoen, Minsc, Jaheira, Edwin, and Viconia in BG2 (i.e., give them new soundsets rather than just reuse the BG1 soundsets).

ZaramMaldovar

@AstroBryGuy OK thanks guys, and three more questions.
1. I've heard Jim Cummings and David Warner returned, is that true
2. Jaheria's voice didn't seem to change, is this true or did I just not notice
3. Is that Tara Strong as SOD Imoen?

AstroBryGuy

1. Yes.
2. Jaheira's voice is the only one that does not change in SoD. Heidi Shannon, the original voice actress in BG1 & BG2, could not be located (she has no IMDB credits since 2002). Beamdog recorded lines with a new actress, but decided that it wasn't working. For whatever reason (time, money) they did not recast Jaheira again and simply re-used the BG1 character sounds (also note that none of her lines in SoD are voiced).
3. No. It's Melissa Disney (the original Imoen).

The recast Jaheira's voiced lines are in SoD, just unused. I've got a mod that restores them, so you can have Jaheira's planned SoD sounds.

https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/52633/jaheira-recast-v1-2

ZaramMaldovar

Thank you guys you've been really helpful