[IWDEE]Is original IWD NPC voice?

Comments

• Aozgolo108 Member Posts: 79

  November 2014

  The original Icewind Dale, as well as all of the Infinity Engine games were NOT voice acted, and Icewind Dale is perhaps the only one that could get away with full voice acting WITHOUT breaking the bank but would still be a considerable endeavor, the other games are waaaay too wordy to be Voice Acted fully.
  
  I'm perfectly fine with the way it is, Infinity Engine's dialogue system is one of my top favorites next to perhaps Morrowind, but IE allows verbose dialogue interaction as well as simple multiple branching paths. If Voice Acting were considered to be important for these games they never would have had this level of dialogue at all.
  
  Look at games like Skyrim with an enormous HUGE voice cast and thousands of lines of voice dialogue yet significantly less in-game dialogue than it's earlier predecessor Morrowind which like Infinity Engine games only used Voice-over for simple interactions and not for full dialogue trees.

  2
• lunar Member Posts: 3,460

  November 2014

  Err, I am not sure I understand your question, but it has always been like this in vanilla iwd. Little voiced lines, no interaction between party members.
  
  But the game has amazing dialogue trees even with commoners in Easthaven/Kuldahar. Try talking to a commoner with a bard. Or a half-orc. Or try talking about the undead priests/Ilmater with a commoner with your party cleric or paladin. You will get new and different lines that lead to various conclusions. Some even give xp and monatery rewards. Often times, your charisma or wisdom/intelligence determines your lines, a high wisdom character will agree with the elven adventurer's worries in Easthaven while a bubbly, low wisdom char will say something like 'huhh? Troubles? Never noticed nothing, no sir!' Or try convincing the drunk fisherman in Easthaven with a low charisma/high charisma character, or even a thiefly character will have something different to suggest.
  
  These are only the first few examples of good dialogue branching in the game, and I love these little touches because it offers immense role playing for the character you choose to talk to that npc or another.

  2
• Strunk Member Posts: 21

  November 2014

  Aozgolo108 said:

  The original Icewind Dale, as well as all of the Infinity Engine games were NOT voice acted, and Icewind Dale is perhaps the only one that could get away with full voice acting WITHOUT breaking the bank but would still be a considerable endeavor, the other games are waaaay too wordy to be Voice Acted fully.
  
  I'm perfectly fine with the way it is, Infinity Engine's dialogue system is one of my top favorites next to perhaps Morrowind, but IE allows verbose dialogue interaction as well as simple multiple branching paths. If Voice Acting were considered to be important for these games they never would have had this level of dialogue at all.
  
  Look at games like Skyrim with an enormous HUGE voice cast and thousands of lines of voice dialogue yet significantly less in-game dialogue than it's earlier predecessor Morrowind which like Infinity Engine games only used Voice-over for simple interactions and not for full dialogue trees.

  I think you are right. I felt it's just hardly acclimated yourself to this new region right after you outside the baldur's gate. You re accustomed to those calls of hawkers peddling their wares when you traveled through BG areas. Now, you are in Icewind Dale. So I just assumed I entered a tranquil, languorous town that the weather is so cold everyone won't talk, and be calm. LOL.
  
  I strongly agree with you that less voice effects will allow for more great dialogues. Now I just found beauty within. Sometimes interactions unexpectedly branched into different path that give you a surprise. and avoided the BG's regularly issue that the voice acting sometimes mismatches text.
  
  Anyway, I think IE is a great game with or without fully voice acting. thanx for the reply.
  

  1
• Strunk Member Posts: 21

  November 2014

  lunar said:

  Err, I am not sure I understand your question, but it has always been like this in vanilla iwd. Little voiced lines, no interaction between party members.
  
  But the game has amazing dialogue trees even with commoners in Easthaven/Kuldahar. Try talking to a commoner with a bard. Or a half-orc. Or try talking about the undead priests/Ilmater with a commoner with your party cleric or paladin. You will get new and different lines that lead to various conclusions. Some even give xp and monatery rewards. Often times, your charisma or wisdom/intelligence determines your lines, a high wisdom character will agree with the elven adventurer's worries in Easthaven while a bubbly, low wisdom char will say something like 'huhh? Troubles? Never noticed nothing, no sir!' Or try convincing the drunk fisherman in Easthaven with a low charisma/high charisma character, or even a thiefly character will have something different to suggest.
  
  These are only the first few examples of good dialogue branching in the game, and I love these little touches because it offers immense role playing for the character you choose to talk to that npc or another.

  You are right! I found out not only different classes trigger new talks, but also different races do the same. In cradle tavern my dwarven defender got "Another dwarf in town, You with Hildreth?" while my half-elf got nothing. This makes more fun that sometimes I jotted down interesting talking. im' noting that you said abilities will also adjust dialogues too, so at the time I will try that out. Thx for noting this.

  3