The voice acting is a little inconsistent, especially as Nate.

Nate can go from "manic" to "stone cold" in the span of 2 dialogue choices...

Nick is by far the most consistent VA in the game however.

I vastly prefer the voiced protagonist in FO4. I think it's a huge shame they abandoned it for Starfield. All they need to do to satisfy all is have the protag voice as an option.

Originally posted by kdodds:

I vastly prefer the voiced protagonist in FO4. I think it's a huge shame they abandoned it for Starfield. All they need to do to satisfy all is have the protag voice as an option.

That drastically increases the cost of the game, at the expenses of how much budget you have for other voices, in addition to the majority of players not enjoying the experience.

I get that you liked it, but spending that much money on something that is "optional" is not an option.

I have never hired a voice actor, but I believe the number of lines has a lot to do with their pay scale. A quick google search suggests that the two voice actors for FO4 recorded 13,000 lines of dialogue apiece. This data comes from Todd Howard, however, who notoriously exaggerates everything Bethesda does.

I've also seen interviews with professional voice actors like Fred Tatasciore, who suggested that voice actors are the same as a regular actor, which is patently false as they're never in front of the camera, don't have to show expression or be in a certain shape, wear costumes and makeup, etc.

But I can see why he has to maintain that because voice actors have a history of getting shafted on the pay scale and as I said, with studios and mod makers trying to replace them with AI, it's an even bigger issue.

A lot of people don't realize that the original Filmation Masters of the Universe cartoon that everyone loves to meme on often re-used a lot of footage to keep cost down because lots of other cartoons at the time (GI Joe, Transformers) were outsourcing the animation overseas and Filmation was trying to keep the workers here in the United States employed.

One of these cost-cutting methods involved Lou Scheimer, one of the original owners/founders of Filmation and his wife and daughter doing a lot of the voice work for the cartoon. When I was younger, I always thought it was a nepotism thing because his daughter is responsible for some very bad voice acting in the series.

I believe his wife went uncredited for a lot of stuff, and Lou Scheimer did a lot of voices under the alias "Erik Gunden" as well as going uncredited as well.

Later as an adult when a lot of information on production starting getting released, I realized two things:

One, there was a union rule regarding voice actors at the time that they were only allowed to voice a limited number of characters. I can't remember the exact number.

Two... Erika Scheimer is actually one of the singers in the "For the Honor of Love" She-Ra song, and she actually has an amazing voice when she stays in her lane.

I actually liked it, I hope more games from Bethesda do the same thing and have full voice acting.

VA adds to immersion, if done properly. I don't mind the NPC VAs, but am lukewarm over Nate's and Nora's VAs.

The good ones, yes. The bad ones, no.

Cricket, Ada, Curie and Mirelurk Queens are the top. Granted, I'm partial to them but don't judge.

Nick and well... damn near everyone else are great.

Preston? Not so much. Half of his dialogue sounds like he's reading a bedtime story.

Yea...
A voiced protagonist is one of the most controversial things in gaming.

The general consensus seems to be that if you are playing AS a character (like Geralt in The Witcher), then a voiced protagonist is fine as it helps to ground the character.

But in a open RPG where you design a character, then a silent protagonist seems to be the preferred option as many players say that the "voice" really locks in a Character, making replayablilty harder as the character always has the same voice, thus its always "Nate/Nora" no matter if your character's name is "Bob/Sally".

Larian cited some study to that effect as to why the protagonist wasn't voiced in BG3, despite every other character being voiced acted.

Originally posted by Nitemares:

Yea...
The general consensus seems to be that if you are playing AS a character (like Geralt in The Witcher), then a voiced protagonist is fine as it helps to ground the character.

But in a open RPG where you design a character, then a silent protagonist seems to be the preferred option as many players say that the "voice" really locks in a Character, making replayablilty harder as the character always has the same voice, thus its always "Nate/Nora" no matter if your character's name is "Bob/Sally".

This is exactly my thoughts. I am also speculating that people may react differently depending on if they have an internal monologue or not.

Of the two protaganists i thought noras' voice was more consistent but i would have preferred no voice.
I thought the main npc's were mostly pretty good. Piper, curie, Nick, Danse and Hancock.
The rest were ok. Nothing really stood out as bad. Preston maybe but i think i was just sick of him droning on rather than anything to do with the voice actors performance.

I will say it stands up pretty well to other games i've played lately.

Originally posted by Mathius:

Obviously, the PC being voiced is a contentious topic. Most people didn't like it, but some do. I think it's very hard to roleplay as a different type of player with Courtnay Taylor and Brian T. Delany's "suburban couple" voices.

I mean I feel like it'd be hard just to not imagine yourself as middle aged, with Taylor's voice that has just a hint of raspiness like she's a smoker or something.

But what do you think overall of the voice acting in the game?

I know Nick Valentine is a favorite, but I have to say I d*mn near _hated_ Stephen Russell after hearing his voice over and over again in Skyrim.

The more I play, the more I realize the constant Boston accents annoy me. Outside of FO4, I don't know anyone with an accent like that, and my go to in my head would be Bill Burr.

I also think a lot of it has to do with having the same voices and lines hammered into your head over and over again over 1000's of hours of playing, so I think that may resonate differently with some of you depending on the amount of hours you've played.

I think moving forward in the industry, I think the sheer necessity of voice acting is possibly a limiting factor in the length of games at this point, and for sure is a driving force in the industry for game studios trying to wedge AI voice acting into their games to get costs back down.

As I said in a previous thread, I'm very much against AI, but that doesn't mean I can't understand where their head is at with this.

But that feels like a side topic, and I'm interested what you think overall of the voice acting in FO4.

It was mediocre, most of it's recycled skyrim voice actors.

Worst part wasn't the voice acting but the "I GOTTA FIND SHAAAAUUUUUNNN" main quest.

super mutant voices are too wonky sometimes, unrealistic.. but i like the voice cast in general, faces and voices match, especialy named npcs'.

I don't like the protagonists' voice.

But, that's a general problem with having the protagonist voiced. I prefer it like it is in Fallout 3 and New Vegas: No voice.

Originally posted by Zes:

super mutant voices are too wonky sometimes, unrealistic.. but i like the voice cast in general, faces and voices match, especialy named npcs'.

Am I the only one who was triggered when you met Allie Fillmore or Alana Secord and heard that voice from the Gourmet quest in Skyrim? Who is enjoying that?

I remember watching a clip of Joan Allen doing the voice for Delphine in the sound booth and the Bethesda people were in the other room like, "Oh, she's so amazing!" and I'm like WTF!?

This is apparently their standard.

Any VA. ...as long as it's not 3Dog, from FO3. The VA for 3D is good but that character ruined anything he voices. It's why I no longer do the Dark Brotherhood quests in Skyrim.

He did a narration for a space documentary. A long series. I never made it past the opening scene of E1. I hear that voice and I start reaching for a Minigun.

The rumors he posted about returning to the FO universe in FO4 were not taken very well.

Originally posted by Senor Cinco:

Any VA. ...as long as it's not 3Dog, from FO3. The VA for 3D is good but that character ruined anything he voices. It's why I no longer do the Dark Brotherhood quests in Skyrim.

He did a narration for a space documentary. A long series. I never made it past the opening scene of E1. I hear that voice and I start reaching for a Minigun.

The rumors he posted about returning to the FO universe in FO4 were not taken very well.

I thought the VA did fine for the role he was given.

Remember, he doesn't write the dialogue he just "acts" it into a microphone... right down to the emotional prompts given in the script...

But some people's voices just "stick" with us.. for me its Lance Hendrickson... Anytime I hear his voice, all I "see" is Bishop from Aliens. Even if its just a voice over.