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EQ2 Voiced By Hollywood Actors
An anonymous reader writes "Sony is going to have well known actors voicing major roles in its upcoming Massively Multiplayer Online Game. Christopher Lee is doing the voice for the Evil Lord Sir Lucan D'Lere, leader of the city of Freeport, and Heather Graham is doing the voice for Antonia Bale of the good city of Qeynos. An interview with Christopher Lee is also available on the Sony site." It will be interesting to see how this affects the fight between EQ2 and World of Warcraft, which are rumored to be coming out on the same day.
I'm in the beta, so I don't want to go and break the NDA but the game is simply amasing all the NPCs have full voice and it really makes a diffrence because it feels more like your there, the graphics are simply stunning and after playing both WOW, and EQ2 I'm having the feeling that sony is gonna keep getting my money....
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Does anybody really want to hear actors in a game? I personally think that money could be spent in a better way. I would rather see that money go toward physics engine or graphics or anything else. Or maybe, they could just give that extra money back to us in terms of lower game pricing? Do other people think that paying actors will add that much value to the game?
I just don't say myself saying "But it has voice acting made by Christopher Lee! I MUST buy it!".
In my opinion, it would have been money better spent elsewhere. Like reducing the horrible monthly price they ask for this. And I don't even talk about the time investment required to 'do good' in these games... I saw numerous friends lose their life (job, wife, friends) to EQ1, playing 6pm-3am everyday. For 20$ (CAN) by month, I'll pass my turn, thanks.
Of course, if he (they?) did it for free (which I doubt), then I have nothing about this...
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What if they need to record new dialogue for this characters at some point down the road? It's not going to be easy (I would assume) to get celebrities back into the recording booth just to do a few lines every now and then. Then again I suppose they could just hire people to do impressions of the celebs, but still... seems kinda stupid to me.
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Quest Leader Apu: "I need you to get me the legendary Squishy Recipe from Duskwood Forest. Thank you, come again!!"
Return with said recipe
Quest Leader Apu and hot Indian girl break into 20 minute song that you must pay attention to or you lose the entire plot thread of the quest.
You better watch out, there may be dogs about . .
But what do I know? If Heather Graham can get hired as a voice actor maybe there's still hope for me to make it as a pop star.
Countless times playing City of Heroes, I've wanted to hear SOMETHING other than blips and zaps and pows. Hearing the enemies call out and taunt you, or hear NPCs thanking you for rescuing them, or even screams of terror when people run around... voice beats no voice, hands down. As long as the acting is reasonably good and doesn't stand out for being Resident Evil levels of horribleness then it can add to the atmosphere in the same way great graphics do.
An MMORPG which nails great graphics, an interactive musical score ala old Lucasarts games, and good voice acting... well, then you've got one heck of an experience. As is MMORPGs seem to focus completely on the graphics. The audio side gets third billing at best.
What kind of game is this?
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I read somewhere that Heather Graham is also going to be doing a cameo (not sure how) in the game with Oliver Clothesov
I'm sure that having celebrity voices will make up for Sony's historical lack of responsiveness to its players, tendency toward leaving significant bugs extant for months at a time, incredible ability to back and fill when their community representatives contradict themselves, and so on.
:)
I played EQ for 2 years and while I did have a lot of fun, I was never especially happy with how they handled customer interaction. It didn't help that every single expansion they released had numerous, major bugs, and unfinished content that would get implemented months after launch, and then immediately get broken by players doing things the developers never thought of. Then they'd rebalance that content, and it would still be broken, merely in a new and interesting way.
Then there was the incredibly variable customer service. GMs were given an extremely wide latitude about how they could do things, which led to a lot of situations where someone did X, and was told it was okay, and someone else later also did exactly X, and was warned/suspended/banned for it. I was a Guide for six months on Brell Serilis (Tovarax Two Tone, troll bard), and we had a cool GM (Hi Oribi!) but a lot of other servers weren't so lucky. Even some of our guides were anal-retentive assholes, while others were easygoing. This kind of thing led directly to the impression that EQ customer service was capricious and cruel. It didn't help that there was no guarantee that a CS person would be online at any given time, so you might have an issue and have no chance of it being resolved before you had to log off.
Don't even get me started about the disaster that is Star Wars Galaxies. (It's not a game, it's an economy simulator with a Star Wars-themed front end.) Unless you saw it, you can't imagine the pandemonium on the beta boards when they announced that the game was launching in 9 days. Everyone thought SOE was nuts. The game was released less than half-finished, and over a year later it's still got huge problems.
I'm sure EQ2 will be pretty and flashy and have lots of cool stuff. But I have severe doubts -- well-grounded in history -- about SOE's ability to keep things good in the long run. Certainly wouldn't mind them proving me wrong.
Meanwhile, World of Warcraft in beta is already a better game than EQ was three years after it launched
"Destroy science and religion. Science would re-emerge exactly the same; but not religion." - Penn Jillette, paraphrased
I have been playing EQ for 5 year. I play with no sound and the lowest level of graphics detail. The reason I play with no sound is because years ago the sound could cause problems or crash. So, i turned it off, and have never turned it on again. The reason i play with the lowest level of graphics is so that i can run two instances of EQ. I have more than one account. One account runs a Bazaar selling character which is in a minimized EQ window. The other is the character I am actually playing. For best results I reduce all the graphics options to the lowest level. Also, I have another computer which is fast, and has a nice graphics board with 128 megs of ram. I tried running with all the highest level of graphics options, but ultimately, in a raid situation, it's too slow. So, over time that machine got reduced to the lowest level of graphics options. The story? What story? When i do quests i don't even talk to the NPCs. Just give my my item, thanks. I know there are some people that actually follow the story, or even try role playing. But, for the most part. EQ is not about the graphics, the sound, or even the story. It's about items, items, items, guilds, raids, items, buying, selling, items, and becoming more powerful. So, why bother with EQ2? I guess only to reserve a good name and be one of the first.
There are 10 types of people in the world... those that understand binary and those that don't.
I suggest james earl jones, because its true to life.
There goes my karma.. oh well..
I welcome our new 99% overlords.
..EQ2 and World of Warcraft, which are rumored to be coming out on the same day.
Anybody wants to buy a girlfriend?
My disagreement here is getting the name-brand actors. Honestly, I could not care less that Christopher Lee is doing the voice. I just want someone who can do good accents and put proper emotions into their performance. Heck, head out to your local theater and you can probably get voice acting just as good for the price of dinner. At that, some will do it just for notoriety and another entry for the acting resume.
This sig has absolutely no significance and serves only to take up screen space and waste the time of the reader.
You should try this other MMORPG called "ebay". It's about items, items, items, buying, selling, and becoming more powerful.
WoW is hardly a "clusterfuck". You're basing your opinion on two misconceptions.
1) The rest system is not a big deal. It doubles the EXP for kills for a short while, but it's not a free ride. If you don't log on for a whole week, you might gain enough "free" doubled EXP for a single level. (Also, I disagree with your premise is that the point of an MMORPG is to "work" at the game. WoW is not a level grind to be the first Warrior to hit 60. We'll always have EQ for that.)
2) The servers are split as follows: Asia, North America, Europe. There is no case where two people from the same continent will be unable to play with each other. The reasons are partly practical and partly business; aside from language barriers and the late European launch, the non-US servers are being run by different divisions and even different companies. Even considering that, Blizzard has publically stated that there will be some way for guildmates to play with each other internationally some time after the European launch.
Really, these are non-issues. WoW is a very enjoyable game, not a "clusterfuck". I do have some issues with the way that Vivendi is handling the launch, but this is not a SOE-level disaster.
Okay, so the voice actor comes into the studio one day, records fifty lines he or she has never thought about before, and leaves. They might sound good the first time around, but these will get so tired, so fast.
First encounter at the camp: "Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more; Or close the wall up with our English dead. In peace there's nothing so becomes a man As modest stillness and humility: But when the blast of war blows in our ears, Then imitate the action of the tiger; Stiffen the sinews, summon up the blood, Disguise fair nature with hard-favour'd rage; Then lend the eye a terrible aspect; Let pry through the portage of the head Like the brass cannon; let the brow o'erwhelm it As fearfully as doth a galled rock O'erhang and jutty his confounded base, Swill'd with the wild and wasteful ocean."
The next day, arriving at the camp. "Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more; Or close the wall up with our English dead. ... " yeah, yeah, whatever, gramps
Ten minutes later, walking past. "Once more unto the breach, ..." shut UP already
Five minutes later, walking past. "Once more ..." mute button
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Ahem: Blizzard has publically stated that there will be some way for guildmates to play with each other internationally some time after the European launch.
Nobody claimed it was a perfect solution. The European launch will be much later than the US launch, probably delayed by 4-5 months. I'm not exactly thrilled about that. No doubt that Vivendi has something to do with that.
But, all you need a North American billing address to play the US version of the game. It shouldn't be too hard for trans-atlantic guilds to figure that one out.
If you would take the time to read the EQ2 dev chats/journals, you would realize that for music they intend to play it once to set the mood. For example, whenever you enter a zone, it plays a music score once, then fades it out. I imagine (haven't checked for sure) they'll be doing a similar thing with voices; you hear it once, then the rest of the time is just text. That way it NEVER gets old.
Why ? Look at what Sony is putting there money in. Actors, fancy graphics and marketing.
... AGAIN. They really don't care what people think, or problems with the game.
Mean while, there combat, quest system, (no PVP) are all badly under developed. EQ2 is Alpha quailty marked with Beta. This game would not be ready for at least another year and a half.
Sony and there great ideas, have decied they are going to release EQ2 on the same day as WoW, ready or not. They don't care if the game works or not. They are going to pull another SWG.
Blizzard on the other hand, is making it right the first time. They aren't going to release until the game is ready, end of story. So far, WoW (yes, I am in the beta) has a serious edge on EQ and EQ2. They fixed all the serious MMO problems. For example: Instead of killing the same mob all day, for 2 weeks straight in order to get 5 levels, you get most of your exp from quests. PVP already works 50 times better then EQ PVP. (I played on SZ for 3 years)
The biggest problem Sony has is QA and customer service. It takes them 8 - 10 hours to respond to an ingame ticket. Meanwhile, Sony cuts there GM force down by half
Blizzard DOES care. I get a response from a GM within 2 mins. The listen to the customers on what they would like to see. Hell, I have personally suggested at least 5 large changes that made it into the game.
With EQ1, there are large problems with the game that have been there for over 4 years. They KNOW how to fix it, they just don't care.
This is why I could careless about EQ or Sony. They will continue to release shit until the end of time.
until (succeed) try { again(); }
That's Christopher REEVE who died recently. Not Reeves.
First, Superman could fly. Then, Superman couldn't even walk. And now, Superman can fly again. Peace be with you, Christopher.
You should try a different MMORPG, like Asheron's Call: Dark Majesty. Turbine has done almost everything possible to make the game enjoyable without the need to give up your 'real life' and stay in the game 24/7. The graphics are a little antiquated (a new graphics engine is due out next year) but the game play is still going strong, and you don't have to constantly pay for expansion packs ($20-30 extra every 6 months) as Turbine adds new content (dungeons, monsters, weapons, etc) in every month's patch. And it has player-owned housing, something that EQ still has yet to provide... I have a nice lake-side cottage up in the mountains.
A computer once beat me at chess, but it was no match for me at kick boxing -- Emo Phillips