#Half of the new dialogue sounds off. (BETA STORY SPOILERS)

108 messages · Page 1 of 1 (latest)

placid lily
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This thread features spoilers from the 1.0.0 beta branch, do not click if you don't want spoilers on the story.

I started going through the tutorial in the 1.0.0 beta branch and while I am liking it a lot, I do have some critique about it what I've heard so far:

On a technical level, the volume for the supervisor's lines is TOO LOUD. I'm sure this is mostly a bug and could easily be fixed by turning the volume of her lines down.

The guide and supervisor characters feel a little too friendly and upbeat, ||considering that you are an altered human and they obviously wouldn't trust you at first.|| Lines like the guide calling you "buddy" (Why is he calling me buddy? I just met him and he treats me like we've been friends for many years?) and the supervisor being so dorkish feels too much like the game treating you like a child. (Her lines almost remind me a lot of recent games with "AAA dialogue" or recent memes like Triple-A Mario, which is a writing trap that the writers/developers should be very careful of not falling into.) Such dialogue just feels out of place in a game like this and I'm hoping that past the tutorial there is less frequency of lines delivered so condescendingly to the player.

The dialogue for the entity at the very beginning and the UNPSC base voice are well done and fit perfectly in the game, I would keep those!

I still need to play more past the tutorial section, but I'm looking forward to the rest of the beta in general. I want to game to stay as immersive and atmospheric as the first ITR game was, so I hope my feedback helps and it isn't too late to rework some of the dialogue.

gentle ingot
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I would like that character to be a little bit more laconic, say more with less

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Often times when characters start talking at length, moreso in VR, I find myself just walking away

fallow ermine
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the guide is so goddamn unlikable.

gentle ingot
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Personally I feel it's just how he talks, it gives off that vibe of "Did I just kill that monster, with my mind?!" Mentality and it's grating. I wouldn't mind him having a chipper attitude if he wasn't so out of place with his speech

fallow ermine
gentle ingot
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The thing is, I think the handshake travel is neat

fallow ermine
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this guy is just like "erm that just happened"

gentle ingot
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Yeah, exactly

fallow ermine
gentle ingot
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I do hope it's just placeholder acting for now

crystal dirge
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i wanna shoot the guy every time he speaks

fallow ermine
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always like "take so I can, warp? shift? teleport!"

crystal dirge
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it also lowkey removes some immersion from the game compared to before this update

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like having no actual live human presence

gentle ingot
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Also I think this might just be me, I don't like the "Oh you'll be free if you keep this up!"

I don't wanna be free. I wanna do weird science stuff and shoot things

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I wanna live on a diet of pineapple and beef chuck until I am 30 percent that

fallow ermine
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bro is like "welcome! you know nothing about the zone, and have no reason to hate it, the gameplay is fun, but don't worry, if you go into the radius, you will be free of, idfk something I guess."

placid lily
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I'm resuming the game and oh dear.

The guide is very intrusively written.

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I'm sorry devs, but I think you guys might have fell into the AAA dialogue trap I was talking about with the guide character.

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His "Go get 'em!" attitude is really innappropriate for this game.

placid lily
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The guide and the supervisor both sound like they're trying to be Katya from the first game, but their tone does not work at all here, AT ALL.

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I'm gonna continue tomorrow, gonna need breaks between the dialogues. I didn't expect to hear a quirky "teehee" line in a STALKER-like game.

fallow ermine
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honestly, I know this isn't completely related, but so often, I would find myself thinking, "I wanna go back to the normal game"

hazy thistle
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I agree with everyone here for the most part. The dialogue for the superviser can be looked past because shes behind a desk, but I really dont like the guide either. Id rather they be a distorted entity (most likely the explorer from the first game) that helps us. I dont like how they bring us to a random place inbetween travel, it really interrupts the flow a lot. He says something about them knowing us, but we lost our memory, but id rather he be a stranger.

placid lily
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I do like the concept of the guide character, but his over-friendliness does not make sense to us players just meeting him for the first time, especially if the character we're playing as doesn't remember him.

He comes off so jarring, as if the devs expect us to know his personality prior to playing ITR2. I suspect the guide is actually explorer 61 from the first ITR game (who we played as), which if he is explorer 61 then why does he not take the anomaly and what he has been through with the UNPSC seriously?

As for the supervisor, the more I think about her, the more unnecessary she feels in the game, because the UNPSC base voice already fills that technical role. Having the supervisor character also adds unneccesary humor and quirkiness when the base voice already does that much more subtly and in-tone with the rest of the game.

hazy thistle
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Ive also noticed some of her subtitles not matching up as well in the tutorial. So far, the voice acting has lowered the quality of the game id say, honestly wouldnt mind them delaying the 1.0 launch to fix this because first impressions are important and id rather they not be perminate additions. Did anyone else notice the entity in the intro sounding almost AI or was that just me?

placid lily
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The entity seemed normal to me. I actually like how simple and to the point the entity is. Giving just enough context to your existence, and giving you your goal.

hazy thistle
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I meant that it sounded almost ai generated, but maybe that was just me

placid lily
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I don't know if it is. The entity does remind me of Katya's voice from the first game.

hazy thistle
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ill have to go back and listen to it, hell maybe thats her after the first games events now

placid lily
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Half of the new dialogue sounds off. (BETA STORY SPOILERS)

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Changed the thread title, it's more accurate now as to what I'm trying to talk about.

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I think the voice quality is good, just the direction of the acting and lines for the guide and supervisor are very disjointed and out of tone with the rest of the game.

hazy thistle
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from what ive looked into, there are already ai generated voice lines in the game for the entities, so there is a stronge chance some of the new voice lines are generated too

placid lily
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Hopefully that is temporary...

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But AI generated or not, it has nothing to do with the poor dialogue and writing direction.

hazy thistle
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I agree, honestly would rather have the story telling from itr1, this feels bad man

placid lily
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I'm going to bed now. Might post more later.

hazy thistle
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from @fallow ermine I think

fallow ermine
hazy thistle
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should stream or something

fallow ermine
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Nah, but if he made video essays, I'd totally watch them.

hazy thistle
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he sounds ai generated too...

fallow ermine
hazy thistle
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the guide I mean, birdeye sounds good

fallow ermine
exotic ocean
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Like tbf in the situation the guys in at least going by what I've played of itr1 and 2

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Id fucking jump off a bridge because serious WHAT would be the point

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So like I wouldn't blame a guy for putting on a facade of happiness just to keep a shred of sanity

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It'd be cool if they went down that route personally

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From what Im hearing though they aren't

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Another thing is it almost sounds like they're trying to make the guy feel like playing with like an online friend while solo which is weird? Since if it sounds like he's happy and isn't taking shit seriously that sounds like what happen if id play with my friend

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But that's a big stretch

grave urchin
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when you first see the guide he does say hes a friend of yours and you dont seem to remember, but that's certainly no excuse for the way his lines are portrayed

fallow ermine
grave urchin
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yeah what i was getting at is its yet another thing that misses the mark. instead of us finding something to imply that, or any build up, the line is just "yeah bro we were friends remember? so anyway..."

exotic ocean
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From what I'm hearing I think they just gotta down it down a smidge and it'd be fine

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Like make the guy voice acting smoke a couple packs of cigarettes and it'd be chill

grave urchin
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yeah, someone called it millenial coded dialogue lol, its so accurate

exotic ocean
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Id be down for a endearing kind dude talking to me if he at least somewhat feels like hes experienced the radius

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Like he's too clean if y'know what I mean

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Needs more dirt

grave urchin
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yeah, it doesnt feel like a guy that was killed in a catastrophe and somehow manifested into a new entity

exotic ocean
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I haven't played the beta yet but just from seeing him

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Way too clean

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His outfit looks like he's an office worker

grave urchin
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hes got on a military style jacket and that blue and white striped russian military shirt

exotic ocean
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Well is any of it dirty?

grave urchin
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arms and legs are that white color of the original guy

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actually now that you mention it yeah i dont remember seeing any grime

exotic ocean
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I just think the guy needs to be dirtied up a bit and his lines would be fine

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Stupid comparison but like imagine if he acted a bit like some of the tarkov traders in manner

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Skier or prapor I think would fit a bit but maybe not prapor

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I mean a good example of a good looking guy in a shitty world but still looks good is well

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Ragman!

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Just add some dirt fr fr

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If y'know what I mean

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If I can give tarkov one thing it's setting

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It's done SUPER well

fallow ermine
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He talks like subnautice below zero PDA conversations.

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Real people dont talk like this.

exotic ocean
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I mean from what I hear he isn't fully even a guy but tbf that doesn't excuse it

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I'm guessing with all the negative feedback they'll maybe delay the full release to change the voicelines which id be fine with

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Id rather there be another beta release before full release

placid lily
exotic ocean
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Before 1.0 I'll be real the gameplay is alot better in itr2

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So they gotta make sure they don't fumble with the story this bad

placid lily
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I legit don't know if I want to keep playing the game knowing that intrusive moments like that is going to happen.

exotic ocean
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The game can be a full replacement over one if they capture the itr1 fear

placid lily
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Full on Amnesia Rebirth PTSD kicking in.

fallow ermine
hazy thistle
placid lily
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I don't think I want to keep playing. This is the type of writing that actively hurts the flow of the game.

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it's intrusive, deimmersive, condescending, and outright innappropriate for a game to have this.

hazy thistle
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Agreed, it hurts the game a lot

placid lily
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It reminds me so much of that one recent horror game by blumhouse with the statues and blood fueled guns where the game just doesn't SHUT UP.

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(I forget the name of it, someone refresh my memory.)

fallow ermine
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They remind me of sonic boom, rise of lyric, where sonic and friends JUST WONT SHUT UP.

placid lily
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Damn, I didn't see we had threads for beta feedback. I wonder how to move this thread over to beta-feedback?

tender vapor
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Yeah, both the guide and Eva are mood breaking.

Katya, even though a young girls voice, kept the dark mood with moments of hope.

This is like throwing jim Carey in Silence of the Lambs and expecting a good result.

glass vine
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I think along with the criticisms mentioned here, the voicelines for Eva and the announcer voice should get additional filters and get lower audio quality in general, just to sound more in line with the game's setting.

Having it all just be all plain VA with next to zero audio effects kinda sucks imo :\