Who is still opposed to Voice Acting?

I'm all for it. Miyamoto won't allow poor voice acting, so there is nothing to be afraid of.

Voice-talent can only add to the personality of the game if the writing is already good. Nintendo can even give the player the option to listen to voice-acting, or just read the text. Everyone wins!

Link is stuck in limbo. He isn't a real character, because he has no personality to speak of and he has no voice or anything. He isn't an avatar since you can't customize him or change anything he does since everything is linear. He's trapped in an awkward mess of empty and bland.

Originally Posted by SheikahSage

Not gender changes. Link has been male for over 20 years, you can't just go off an switch the gender. I think customizing looks is stratching it. I want the character to remain recognizable as Link. The most I'm willing to deviate on the main character is customizable clothing.

Zelda isn't Fable, the main character should be consistant, not some user created thing. That would be like choosing what gender Mario is gonna be at the begining of each game.

None of the Links are the same, where as Mario is the same character in every game. Who is to say one Link couldn't be female? You can't say "Link is a male character" and then proceed to leave Link a ****ty, bland empty character. That's just having your cake and eating it.

Originally Posted by SheikahSage

I think voice acting is definantly needed. My one condition is that Link remains a silent protagonist.


No, instructional things should not be voiced. To you have any idea it is when a character actually says out loud "push the control stick forward to move"?

You were suppose to read the rest of my post. I'm not talking about tutorial instructions. I just wan't to be warned if a boat is collasping, or if the ceiling is falling or is the water is abnormal without having to read something. It seriously drives me crazy when the game expects me to read and control Link at the same time.

It's like Trauma Center, I had to listen to the nurse throughout the whole game, but she only spoke through text. But then they made the sequel with voiced instructions and I could actually get through the game without feeling extremely stressed out. xD This is the same reason Tetra Tracker's had full voice acting.

And is it really neccesary to name Link? I name Link, Link everytime unless I'm naming him something stupid like "Zelda" or "I'm Drunk" His name was defaulted in Four Sword Adventures, and no one could change the name. I didn't even realize they took the option away until my 3rd playthrough.

Edit: Link can't be a girl because Link is the brave boy who saves the world when evil rules all. There are things you can't screw around with and Zelda prophecies are one of those non-srcewy things.

I always name him Alec. I definatly noticed a difference.

Originally Posted by GK: 5895/9999

Link is stuck in limbo. He isn't a real character, because he has no personality to speak of and he has no voice or anything. He isn't an avatar since you can't customize him or change anything he does since everything is linear. He's trapped in an awkward mess of empty and bland.

I wouldn't say that. The Link of Majora's Mask and The Wind Waker had plenty of personality. One of the scenes that stick out the most for me in the Zelda series is is when Link buries Mikau, and bows to show respect for his passing.

Even the Link of Ocarina of Time and Link's Awakening have personalities. The great thing about Link is how he acts the way we feel, so he is still an avatar in a way, but he is also his own character (with the exception of the Twilight Princess Link who was really just a big push-over).

Originally Posted by Crab Helmet

None of the Links are the same, where as Mario is the same character in every game. Who is to say one Link couldn't be female? You can't say "Link is a male character" and then proceed to leave Link a ****ty, bland empty character. That's just having your cake and eating it.

The only diffrences between link in the games since OOT is age. He still has pointed ears, blond hair, ect in every game. He still looks the exact same (unless you count the diffrences made by cel sheded graphics). Link can't be female because he is already established as male. I see no problem with having a zelda game with a female player chracter, providing that she is an entirely new character.

I'm a little nervous about the whole Link talking thing. If they did it well, and gave him personality that isn't just stereotypical heroic babble, then yeah, that would be awesome. But it has never actually bothered me that he doesn't talk. I like silent protagonists, and I've actually found Link to have a lot of personality even without talking in most of the games. I kind of like imagining what he's thinking. Maybe I'm weird, but hey.

I was playing TP the other day, and noticed how one-dimensional the conversations were getting just reading through them. I know it allows for more imagination when there isn't voice acting, but the point of playing a video game is to be entertained. And I wasn't really entertained. Voice acting is a must have for any new Zelda down the road. Why? Because I found myself being more interesting in Midna's incoherent babble than anything else the other characters had to say, because I felt it was more dynamic.

In short, voice acting would colorize the story and make the characters more definable and believable, making the entire game more easy to become absorbed in.

If people are really upset about the change, I suggest using voice acting only in cutscenes, and text + grunts/sounds in game.

Originally Posted by GK: 5895/9999

Link is stuck in limbo. He isn't a real character, because he has no personality to speak of and he has no voice or anything. He isn't an avatar since you can't customize him or change anything he does since everything is linear. He's trapped in an awkward mess of empty and bland.

This is one of the things which sets him apart from most other videogame heros.

The thing with Nintendo games, they aim to make the gameplay so good that you wouldn't care about not being able to customise Link (it doesn't always work, but you get it)

The problem of linearity is just that, a problem. One that can be fixed.

EDIT:

I made this really good point in Crabby's thread about VA and storyline:

Originally Posted by Me, in another thread

My point is that, whenever you're fighting a boss, traversing through a dungeon or just plain exploring Hyrule, the deepest storyline with the greatest Voice Acting doesn't do Jack sh** to make the overall experience better, and these moments are easily 80+% of the game, especially a Zelda game.

However, when you're fighting a boss, completing a dungeon or just exploring, you pay attention to how the environment/enemies look, you pay attention to the music and what it adds to the atmosphere, and you are playing the game (gameplay). This is why I think that a good combination of gameplay, music and graphics is far more important than VA or a deep storyline.

the only reason people want voice acting is because everyone is getting stupider and can't read anymore>_<

but yeah, idk.
i think the only personwho shouldn't EVEREVERVEREVRVEVREVRV have VA is Link

I liked how Midna had a unique voice of her own when she spoke.

I don't know about voice acting though. I'm all neutral about it.

If it's done, then it's done.

Heck no I'm not opposed to Zelda voice acting. I'm all for it as long as they do it like it was done in the 3D Fire Emblem games. The voices were amazing in those two games. If Nintendo can pull if off like Intelligent Systems can, then they should go for it! :]

Originally Posted by Lady Ranny

Heck no I'm not opposed to Zelda voice acting. I'm all for it as long as they do it like it was done in the 3D Fire Emblem games. The voices were amazing in those two games. If Nintendo can pull if off like Intelligent Systems can, then they should go for it! :]

Well, I think Link should remain as silent as possible, even if he does have a voice (as he does say "Come on!" in WW).

But for the other characters like Princess Zelda or Ganondorf... They would be interesting.

I can imagine Miyamoto saying: "Yes, there will be voice acting in Zelda Wii and Link will talk. However, you can turn it off if you like [laughs]".

With that second line, I can imagine loads of Zelda fans going "UGHHH THANK GOD! ZELDA DOESN'T NEED VOICE ACTING LINK SHOULDN'T TALK". But honestly, you know those people are all going to play the game with voice acting. Even if they like it, you're going to see:

-> ZU Forums > Zelda > GameCube & Wii Zelda
---> BAWWWWWWWWWWWW LINK SOUNDS DUMB

Holy ****, this is a game and a game character. Let his pixelated mouth wabble a bit to make sound they recorded in a studio.

Personally, I don't like voice acting. It has come along way since the cheesy PS2 platformers, and I think Fable 2 did a fairly good job.

However, Zelda is an established franchise with fans that have been playing for years, and everyone has their own ideas of character voices. If you just slammed a regional dialect on Zelda then for some people it could possibly ruin it.

I personally imagine Zelda having a Queen's English dialect, but that might be hideous to other people. If Zelda had a Scottish accent or something, I'd cry, (not that it's a bad accent, far from it, but I don't think it would suit Zelda at all.)

I will still play the game even if it does have voice acting, but I think Zelda traditionally doesn't give a huge amount of background detail to the characters and has never had voice acting, which allows for the fans to build up their own thoughts on how the characters are.

I liked the way they suggested voice with Midna without her speaking every word, it gave a sense of character while still leaving some to the imagination. I think this is the way to go.

Originally Posted by SheikahSage

The only diffrences between link in the games since OOT is age. He still has pointed ears, blond hair, ect in every game. He still looks the exact same (unless you count the diffrences made by cel sheded graphics). Link can't be female because he is already established as male. I see no problem with having a zelda game with a female player chracter, providing that she is an entirely new character.

Some of the Link's have been descendants of the original Link. Why is it impossible that the next decendant is female?

Originally Posted by GK: 5895/9999

I can imagine Miyamoto saying: "Yes, there will be voice acting in Zelda Wii and Link will talk. However, you can turn it off if you like [laughs]".

With that second line, I can imagine loads of Zelda fans going "UGHHH THANK GOD! ZELDA DOESN'T NEED VOICE ACTING LINK SHOULDN'T TALK". But honestly, you know those people are all going to play the game with voice acting. Even if they like it, you're going to see:

-> ZU Forums > Zelda > GameCube & Wii Zelda
---> BAWWWWWWWWWWWW LINK SOUNDS DUMB

Holy ****, this is a game and a game character. Let his pixelated mouth wabble a bit to make sound they recorded in a studio.

Oh man... You sure bring life to these threads.

I agree. But the thing is, what if Link was introduced with speech?

And I'm thinking about the acsent (don't know how to spell) that they would place on him. I'm pretty sure that everyone will not be happy if Link had this very strong British accent. (I apologise to British people).

Originally Posted by Eternal Legend

And I'm thinking about the acsent (don't know how to spell) that they would place on him. I'm pretty sure that everyone will not be happy if Link had this very strong British accent. (I apologise to British people).

Yeah, I wouldn't like that either and I'm English haha. I'm not really sure how I'd like him to sound, but whatever they do is fine for me. So long as it isn't the generic view of an English accent coming from an American. Actually, I'm just becoming a pain that I'm arguing against. They can have that too, if they do it - they do it. Let's hope they won't ,_,".

My point is that, whenever you're fighting a boss, traversing through a dungeon or just plain exploring Hyrule, the deepest storyline with the greatest Voice Acting doesn't do Jack sh** to make the overall experience better, and these moments are easily 80+% of the game, especially a Zelda game.

However, when you're fighting a boss, completing a dungeon or just exploring, you pay attention to how the environment/enemies look, you pay attention to the music and what it adds to the atmosphere, and you are playing the game (gameplay). This is why I think that a good combination of gameplay, music and graphics is far more important than VA or a deep storyline.

This is the ****tiest, lamest excuse I have yet to hear. Of course 80%+ of the game wouldn't be improved by voice acting. But then, we aren't talking about an 80% game here. We are talking about a Zelda game - they should damn well be getting straight 100%s across the board from reviewers. Even if Voice Acting still only gives that extra 2%, of the story only adds around 10%, they should still be put in, because that extra 2%, that extra 10%, that willingness by developers to go the extra mile, that's what signifies a good game. Your excuse is pure laziness - "well, it doesn't really need voice acting". Well, that's true, it doesn't. But if we're going by what Zelda only needs as an absolute minimum, we'd be back to 8 bit graphics, and MIDI music, because hey, as tLoZ showed us, that's obviously all we need.

I never disagreed with you in the fact gameplay is the most important aspect of Zelda story, but it can't, and never will be everything, and as long as the developers continue failing to address all the other areas in which could they improve, the Zelda series will constantly be stuck in the past. Zelda may get tha 80% gameplay absolutely perfect, but I damn well want my other 20% as well.