Unit voices?

[Crazy_Jonny]

I actually loved the new Zealot lines. "We are the Blades of Aiur!" "Combat is the anvil of will!" They re-inforce the fact that spirituality plays a great role in the Protoss military mindset, much like Samurai.

Even though "None can withstand a Templar!" has a slightly comical ring to it, as if all Templar have such annoying personalities that "none can withstand" their company, and they're proud of it too...

Oh yeah, those lines are good. They even kept "honor guide me" in there. But any line with the word "justice" in it has to go.

Why would voice acting for unit quotes be particularly expensive? Especially if they're using their own employees? One would think model making is more time consuming. It is recording campaign dialog that would be expensive.

You pretty much answered your own question. They do hire people for the voices, so to keep making changes would cost more money. But when they use placeholders (their own employees), that's costless. The thing for me is being able to tell what IS a placeholder.

How do you know?
From what I've heard of the marine, he sounds completely different (and his death voice sounds hollow and crappy), and I've never actually heard the Ghost.

His death voice has been there for a long time, and am willing to bet is still a place holder. If you watch one of the newer SP demos, you can hear his voice, and it sound pretty good to me (perhaps a little less stereotyped than the original). Whether thats still a PH I dont know.

Because voice acting is expensive. Once they've decided what the unit is supposed to sound like, they're unlikely to change it.

And the Zealot actor was a Blizzard employee who left the company several years ago, so he's unlikely to come back. Marine actor is the same, Ghost actor is the same too.

Dunno about Battlecruiser (hope they change this one completely with the new portrait) or SCV.

Ive heard the BC a while back in some video, its sounds pretty close to the original, but its not really hard to do.

And I knew the original voice for the zealot was Bill Roper, but it honestly cant be that hard to duplicate such a voice. When it comes to protoss, its really the sound effects that nail it.

[mr. peasant]

You pretty much answered your own question. They do hire people for the voices, so to keep making changes would cost more money. But when they use placeholders (their own employees), that's costless. The thing for me is being able to tell what IS a placeholder.

Thing is, in previous Blizzard games, the staff often provided voice work even in the finished product. It's likely they only bring in outside professionals for specific characters (e.g. Raynor, Kerrigan) or when they're unsatisfied with their own work. Consequently, I think most of the standard unit quotes we hear were made in-house.

[Eligor]

Oh yeah, those lines are good. They even kept "honor guide me" in there. But any line with the word "justice" in it has to go.

Agree here, the "justice" line sounds too superhero-ish.

[Aldrius]

How do you know?
From what I've heard of the marine, he sounds completely different (and his death voice sounds hollow and crappy), and I've never actually heard the Ghost.

Because they're both voiced by Chris Metzen. The new marine is exactly the same actor as the old marine.

Why would voice acting for unit quotes be particularly expensive? Especially if they're using their own employees? One would think model making is more time consuming. It is recording campaign dialog that would be expensive.

Voice acting has a stupid payscale. You get paid the same amount whether you say one word or have 5 pages of straight monologues. It depends on how many characters you play, not how much dialogue you have. And every session costs money.

Thing is, in previous Blizzard games, the staff often provided voice work even in the finished product. It's likely they only bring in outside professionals for specific characters (e.g. Raynor, Kerrigan) or when they're unsatisfied with their own work. Consequently, I think most of the standard unit quotes we hear were made in-house.

It's mostly only Chris Metzen and Bill Roper who do (did) any voice acting for the games. (in a large capacity, anyway) Something which will likely only get more true (less employees) now that they've hired Andrea Romano.

[Dread_Reaper]

Voice acting is not terribly expensive unless you're using big name actors, and generally speaking, video games tend to not go for big identifiable Hollywood stars. Regular people audition for it and are selected, paid for their time, ect.

The voice work will of course be improved upon. Regardless of cost, Blizzard has sunk years and years and millions of dollars into this product. Do you really think they would allow sound, which statistically makes up 60% of the gamer's experience, to be anything but superb? Please.

Its likely that they won't finalize the voices until the units are 100% set and ready.

-Dread_Reaper

P.S. Fun fact: Fenix was voiced by Blizzard employee Bill Roper, head of the Diablo franchise.

[Eligor]

P.S. Fun fact: Fenix was voiced by Blizzard employee Bill Roper, head of the Diablo franchise.

As was Diablo himself.

[Aldrius]

Voice acting is not terribly expensive unless you're using big name actors, and generally speaking, video games tend to not go for big identifiable Hollywood stars. Regular people audition for it and are selected, paid for their time, ect.

It's expensive enough that they won't be wishy-washy and continuously re-do the sound until they like it. Was my point.

[Visions of Khas]

Why would voice acting for unit quotes be particularly expensive?

Some friends of mine were working on a digital medical presentation and went to a professional voice actor. They needed five minutes' worth of content, which he did for free. However, he said he would normally charge some exorbitant rate like $300 - $500 for something like that. It really depends on who it is that Blizz hires.

[mr. peasant]

Thing is... until they are 100% certain those are the final lines for the respective units, would they hire professional voice actors to do things or would they just do it internally first?

[Crazy_Jonny]

Thing is... until they are 100% certain those are the final lines for the respective units, would they hire professional voice actors to do things or would they just do it internally first?

I think they do it internally first, but I don't know when they do the final lines. I assume they could start anytime after completion of Single Player, but I need someone to confirm that for me.