Voice responses. Would it be so hard?

[Tryst]

When we ask for docking permission, all we get is a message on the screen. Would it be so hard to have an ACTUAL VOICE? We have a computer voice to tell us what's going on in our ship.

All it needs is a voice that says, "Welcome commander, permission to dock granted, please use pad "
Then program a CASE statement to speak the number of the pad. (Even if it left a small pause as if the controller had to check the number on the screen before telling you, it would be acceptable.)
Variants of this could be used to make it less boring.

Some other things could be spoken too, such as the NPC comments in dogfights, pirate demands and taunts, other NPC's we meet in USS that want us to divert our delivery and such. If players can turn them off if they don't want them, it would suit everyone. However, I think most players would leave them on, otherwise, until we dock, there are no voices at all. It can get a bit boring when there are no sounds apart from the noise of the engine, the rattle of the guns or the squeaks and groans of the ship under stress in SC. Even some undecipherable background radio chatter would be nice other than only near a station, we feel so isolated in this game, even when we are in busy systems.

Anyone else go along with this idea?

 

[Nurmi]

+1 have some rep!

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Also, it doesn't have to be even recorded: just have toggle that makes the game use text-to-speech for everything in the comms panel.

 

[Tryst]

+1 have some rep!

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Also, it doesn't have to be even recorded: just have toggle that makes the game use text-to-speech for everything in the comms panel.

It would be a cheap alternative for now. But at some point, I would prefer those voices to be recorded so we can have several characters/accents and so on, much like the announcers in stations, (without the echoooooo ).

 

[Blackcompany]

I...dont think this is a good idea. Its one of those suggestions that sounds really good. Until you hear the same bark or reply for the 100th time. I'm already beyond sick of the voice replies my ship does make.

Frame Shift Drive enabled? Yep; sure is. That's why that little countdown thingy appeared on my hud. Really dont need more voiced comments, barks, confirmations, etc. In fact...I wish I could turn off the ones we do have. How many times do you want to hear 'drop cargo or I shoot' before it becomes the stuff that haunts your nightmares.

 

[Magic Man]

Unless they recorded dozens and dozens of different versions (plus all the different language equivalents for game localisation) then hearing the same voices at different places over and over again is going to get tiresome - especially when they say the exact same phrase and only that phrase each and every time. Would get very artificial quickly,

i.e. the current solution is a neat way around all those problems. The docking exchange is done electronically with your ships computer giving you the acknowledgement.

 

[Nexxio]

I like it. This will bring more "life" to the game .

I...dont think this is a good idea. Its one of those suggestions that sounds really good. Until you hear the same bark or reply for the 100th time. I'm already beyond sick of the voice replies my ship does make.

Frame Shift Drive enabled? Yep; sure is. That's why that little countdown thingy appeared on my hud. Really dont need more voiced comments, barks, confirmations, etc. In fact...I wish I could turn off the ones we do have. How many times do you want to hear 'drop cargo or I shoot' before it becomes the stuff that haunts your nightmares.

You can turn them off. Options/Audio... ?

 

[Fost]

Great idea!

 

[Zephyriel]

I wish this would happen but it probably won't. It was perfectly implemented in Freelancer, and just as you describe.

Also, they probably won't implement TTS responses, these often sound very bad. You have to change the way you write certain words so they are read properly, the flow is often wrong...

 

[InMemoriamSirocco]

As long as those prerecorded messages can be turned off in the audio options, I would be very happy about them. I think I have seen some gameplay videos from people who use voice attack to simulate exactly that kind of response from stations, and it felt awesome, made the game feel much more alive and immersive.

 

[Zephyriel]

I use processed TTS responses for many actions (check the video in my signature), they sound nice but require heavy use of audio effects, and often changing the words spelling, and adding commas everywhere to make the voice "breathe" a little instead of rushing.