Voice acting in games

[nocturnal YL]

I think I have been taking voice acting too much for granted lately. Ever since Tokyo Mirage Sessions ♯FE, most RPGs I've played had full voice acting, so I was actually taken back a little when I saw RPGs that don't have voice acting in story cutscenes. It makes sense when I move across different series, but then there are cases like Atelier Lulua's DLC not having voice, or worse, Atelier Ryza 1 losing side story cutscene voice (to its credit, it traded quality for quantity and had more NPCs with story roles).

I was also surprised to learn that even with the big names, voice acting is not a given. Persona 5 isn't fully voiced, and even DRAGON QUEST didn't really have full voice acting until release number 11.5, from what I know. Other smaller RPGs like the Disgaea series also use partial voice acting.

So am I simply spoiled by the later Fire Emblem and the middle Atelier games (and, for a non-RPG example, the Star Fox series), and the reality is that voice acting isn't nearly as prevalent as I thought?

(In Atelier's case, this only applies to Japanese voice. The English voice acting doesn't cover everything, so a lot of players chose Japanese voice and the series eventually went Japanese voice only since Lydie & Suelle.)

[Nester the Lark]

I think it can be easy to get used to hearing voice acting in games, so it's conspicuous when it's absent. Hearing characters actually speak adds a lot to their personalities, as well as the tone of the game.

I've had similar experiences as you when I play a game that only has partial voice acting. I think it might also be the case that even if a character isn't voiced, you kind of create a voice for them in your head, and then forget that you only imagined it.

[Compa]

I feel like this thread needs an obligatory mention of Chaos Wars.

Idea Factory what drugs were you on www.youtube.com/watch?v=BAtC1SzWSXg