So.. EQ2 is gonna have some famous actors do voices of a few of the major characters. Actors include Heather Graham and Christopher Lee. To prove that the actors have no idea what the heck an "Everquest" is, they provided nice little press quotable quotes about EQ2 and their characters:
http://www.sonyonline.com/corp/press_releases/EQ2_Voice_Over_Talent.html

While Lee's quote sounds like he's reading a paper description of the person he's trying to voice (probably), I love Graham's comment - "Ms. Graham commented, “What's cool about EverQuest II is that it's an interactive experience where you are the hero in your own personal adventure.”

I swear the first thing that popped into my head was "and this one time... at band camp..."

I dunno but I dont really pickup on voices that well, with the exception of those who are extremely distinct (James Earl Jones). Do you think it's really going to make a diffrence with these 2 characters?

It won't with me. I play with the sound off.

Christopher Lee has a great voice, he was Saruman in LotR, and Count Dookoo (sp?) in Episode2. In the same league as James Earl Jones, imho (but not, of course, surpassing the king!)

It won't with me. I play with the sound off.
So do I, and so does anyone I've ever asked. Maybe we should have a poll, because I really just cant stop boggling over the EQ2 team's pushing and spending money on these "features" that it seems most people will turn off either immediately or very soon after purchase.

All I can say is don't knock it till you tried it.

EDIT: Going to edit this to make it more NDA friendly.

I remember a few weeks ago there was a thread on this board about Doom3 and the amazing mood enhancing sound that it had. Sound can and does add alot to the level of immersion that any game has. Sound could possibly be EQ2 biggest strong point. Particularly the voice overs could add a level of immersion that creates a strong theme for an area. Very good sound could even want to make you play the game with the sound on. It could make you even want to go out and but that 5.1 dolby surround system you've been wanting to get *hint* *hint*.

I think I used enough weasle words to cover my butt. "It depends on what the meaning of the word is, is."

It always makes me laugh when people say that about sound.

I played EQ with sound off, too. not because I hate sound in video games, but because the sound sucked in EQ.

When I played CoH, L2, and WoW... you guessed it, I always left the sound on. I think people are silly for expecting to turn the sound off in EQ2... its a different game...

Sound, yes. Voices? Are you going to sit there and listen to the voice actors read the text slowly that you finished reading and would rather just click past? Yeah, there's something to be said for immersion. I dont think it's the same thing in an MMOG though. You can get 30 hours of gameplay from Doom3 if you take your time, but that wouldnt even be scratching the surface of an MMOG, and doom3 sounds get tiring and annoying after a while. But, you've gotta keep em on or the beasties will get ya hehe...

As for CoH and WoW... yeah, nice sounds, but they arent spending thousands of dollars on voice actors. I played CoH for like 3-4 months, and I did turn the sounds off after about 2 months. Many of them just got annoying. You just dont want to hear the same things over and over and over. WoW is the same way, I have them turned on for now, and I turn up the speakers to hear the little voice emotes sometimes, but I can see myself basically turning them off in the not too distant future.

But again, ambient and gameplay related sounds are completely different from voices. It's more comparable to say, the Speech Pack Addon for Wing Commander (mighta been wc2...) The game was fine without it. The game was fine with it. And once you bought it and heard how the people sounded, you didnt need to hear them read every piece of onscreen text, because you can read faster than they spoke and it was easier to let your mind do the work. At least that's how I felt about the voice overs.

And once you bought it and heard how the people sounded, you didnt need to hear them read every piece of onscreen text, because you can read faster than they spoke and it was easier to let your mind do the work. At least that's how I felt about the voice overs.

Thats exactly how I feel.

Morrowind was a great game but that didn't stop me from turning off the voices so I could play without getting distracted by a voice 3 sentences behind me.

If you enjoy that, great. I honestly don't see it as a major draw for most gamers.

Yeah, I'll agree with that. In most games, I just clicked through the voice overs after a while because I read a lot faster than they talked. It was good the first few times, but after that it was just annoying, especially in games where you could click through it.

I won't knock it until I've seen it in EQ2 though. I was dubious of cut scenes and how much they'd add to the game, but after seeing them in FFXI, I wish more MMOGs would pick them up. Of course, the people doing the voices matter very little to me. I wonder how much they could've saved by going with someone who isn't a big name. Heather Graham and Christopher Lee's voices have no impact whatsoever on how good a MMOG is or whether or not I'll buy it.

Heather Graham and Christopher Lee's voices have no impact whatsoever on how good a MMOG is or whether or not I'll buy it.

I am guessing that they are choosing actors because many of them are experienced in voice acting. I have played a few single player games where poor voice acting changed a pretty good game into something annoying.

Heather Graham and Christopher Lee's voices have no impact whatsoever on how good a MMOG is or whether or not I'll buy it.

Maybe it doesn't effect you but, it may effect others purchase decision. I agree that Christopher Lee was probably chosen for both his distinctive voice and popular cache. I'm out of touch enough to know nothing about Heather Graham to have an opinion. I even googled her and found out that I have seen none of the movies she has been in. I guess I'm a Square.

Voices? Are you going to sit there and listen to the voice actors read the text slowly that you finished reading and would rather just click past?

Yes, I will. I did so in Knights of the Old Republic. I can't stand playing any game wihtout sound. It drives me bonkers. So count me in for aural immersion.

Yes, I will. I did so in Knights of the Old Republic. I can't stand playing any game wihtout sound. It drives me bonkers. So count me in for aural immersion.Not me. I turned off voices and clicked through the text.

I would rather my imagination supply the voice. The last thing I need is to click on a guard and hear Will Smith say "WASSSSSUUUUPP!"

Yeah actually Tiane I agree - I *hate* having voiceover while the text is on screen. I read absurdly fast, and they talk absurdly slow.

My only disagreement was about turning all sound off - I havent turned ambient/combat sounds off in any of the games mentioned above.

I think if theyre gonna make these voiceovers work they need to make them voice-only, or a voice-only OR text-only switch. Cause yeah, reading faster than the speech is very annoying.

I have craptastical hearing, so while I like the immersion that voice provides (single player only) I always have subtitles on (this includes when I watch movies) because the odds are good that I'm going to hear a key plot revelation as "green mayo force" or something equally absurd.

Haha, but in Doom3 no one could camp the airlock key. :)

I think this is nothing more than a marketing gimmick. It will be cool the first time but after that you won't care.

Yeah actually Tiane I agree - I *hate* having voiceover while the text is on screen. I read absurdly fast, and they talk absurdly slow.

KOTOR had the option to turn subtitles off. It made the game feel more cinematic to me. *shrugs* I liked it that way.

I play EQ with the sound on (no music tho). Although I do mute the "voice" thingies - mostly because they startle me and then people start spamming them during raids and it just gets annoying.

But like yesterday, helping a bard finish her epic in Torment. Mob casts an AE silence every whatever seconds. I could hear it go off, zoom out of cover, nuke, run for cover and listen for it to go off again. Yes, I could have counted seconds between me nuking - but so much easier to just listen for the AE.

But EQ2 beta I play with the sounds on. I think it's cool. Some of the British accents are pretty lame, but the EQ2 frogs crack me up.

As long as they didnt hire Kevin Costner or Keanu Reeves for their awesome British accents, it cant be all bad!

If Alan Rickman lent his voice to it, I'd for sure play with sound on. That voice. . . *swoon*

But EQ2 beta I play with the sounds on. I think it's cool. Some of the British accents are pretty lame, but the EQ2 frogs crack me up.

Ugg! Don't get me started on the frogs! That probably the only sound decision I have a disagreement with so far.

Just in case you haven't seen it yet - I will admit, he's a heck of a voice.
http://movies.station.sony.com:7000/patch/web/eq2/lucan_interview.wmv

Just in case you haven't seen it yet - I will admit, he's a heck of a voice.
http://movies.station.sony.com:7000/patch/web/eq2/lucan_interview.wmv

Yeah but, get a load of those Glasses. If they were going to do a live action version of Mr. Magu he would be on the top of my list.

BTW Aly I want you to know I am hoping that you win a beta spot. They need you badly.

BTW Aly I want you to know I am hoping that you win a beta spot. They need you badly.

Er... :confused: ... :twak: ... :mad2: ... I don't want a beta spot. And this late in the production of EQ2, anything I say about it is completely pointless. Nothing major is going to change because of anything the current beta testers say, unless it's every single beta tester saying it or it's a game breaking exploit/bug.

Besides, I've read enough of the technical side of gameplay (staying away from spoilery things) to know I'm pleased with at least the beginnings of the game. As long as I enjoy playing for more than a month or so, it's worth the money spent. Unlike DAoC which I played maybe five days.

Besides, I'm on dial-up. Even if I did get in to the beta... it'd likely be Gold and in retail stores before I finished downloading it.

Er... :confused: ... :twak: ... :mad2: ... I don't want a beta spot. And this late in the production of EQ2, anything I say about it is completely pointless. Nothing major is going to change because of anything the current beta testers say, unless it's every single beta tester saying it or it's a game breaking exploit/bug.

Besides, I've read enough of the technical side of gameplay (staying away from spoilery things) to know I'm pleased with at least the beginnings of the game. As long as I enjoy playing for more than a month or so, it's worth the money spent. Unlike DAoC which I played maybe five days.

Besides, I'm on dial-up. Even if I did get in to the beta... it'd likely be Gold and in retail stores before I finished downloading it.

Your right it's too late. The NDA was lifted yesterday. Which probaly means they intend to push the game live on the release date of Nov 15th. This incredibly buggy, laggy and, incomplete game. This isn't just SWG. This is worse. All I can think is someone needs a Christmass bonus to fill their stocking...Peachy.

I myself with while I did get into beta Everquest 2 does not support my graphics card which is G-Force 4 so pretty much could never play it. My choice of actors and actresses that I think would make a better voice crossover would have to be Sean Connery(like duh) he has a great voice, Owen Wilson has a very smooth mellow laid back voice. Anthony Hopkins has a great voice as well and would make the best voice for an evil tyrant. The actresses/singers I would have liked to see have done this are Catherine Zeta- Jones, Jewel(incredible range), Shakira( quite nice dirty and playful voice), Monica Belluci has a very sexy voice, Amy Lee just incredible, and Kate Beckinsale would be my number one choice I love her accent and speaking voice and would find it quite pleasant and appealing.

But, unfortunately I would turn the voices off and just read the text. While it is nice that they would do this for the players, I would think that it would definately be turned off to enhance the performance of alot of computers that players use as it may help contribute to lag related issues and such other issues.

Owen Wilson, he's the guy in Shanghai Knights? Right? I can't watch him on screen. That broken nose-look of his just irks me. Same for Joaquin Phoenix. I can't stand the cleft lip thing. It creeps me.

Yeppers,That would be Owen Wilson in Shanghai Noon/Knights among others. He does the voiceovers on the Michelobe light commercials on radio. They are quite funny, and you do not even have to see his nose!