This has always bugged me, the fact that 16-bit video games like Genesis had no voice audio, but instead made you read through scrolling pages of text, especially on RPG's and certain platformers. Can it be explained why Intellivision had its voice module in the early 80's with computerized voices, but Genesis and SNES could not put audible voices into games some ten years later?
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Thread: Voice
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03-02-2012, 08:26 PM #15200 controllers repaired Master of Shinobi
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Voice
It is finished!
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03-02-2012, 09:08 PM #2YM2612+SN76489 = eargasm! ESWAT Veteran
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Cartridge space. Lots of voice samples would require huge ROMs to store the samples. See Super Street Fighter II.
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03-02-2012, 09:15 PM #3Master of Shinobi
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Riddle me this though. As most will agree, whenever voice samples were used (i.e. Altered Beast, Trouble Shooter, Street Fighter 2, the various Thunder Force games etc.) they were quite poor compared to their competitors. So the question is whether the SEGA Genesis was capable of quality voice samples? For example, there is only 1 voice sample used ("Rise from your grave") in Altered Beast. So the question begs a suitable answer: Is it a case where the hardware falters when voice samples are used (not enough ROM space to include good voice audio) or does the blame fall squarely on the software developer not investing enough time to get the voice sample as clear as possible?
The fictional character Gordon Gekko once stated,"Greed, for lack of a better word, is good". Gekko is sometimes unfairly judged. There is a big difference between maintaining one's moral compass in business and that which operates in one's personal life. In business, the reality is that if you are not willing to crush your competitor, you might as well get out of the game while you're still ahead.
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03-02-2012, 09:17 PM #4YM2612+SN76489 = eargasm! ESWAT Veteran
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03-02-2012, 09:26 PM #5Master of Shinobi
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That is impressive. And the simple answer is ROM size. But I have a feeling that for some of the games in the SEGA Genesis library, some developers didn't take the time to invest in quality voice samples. As mentioned above, Altered Beast only contains one voice sample. I can't see it taking that much room on the actual cartridge.
The fictional character Gordon Gekko once stated,"Greed, for lack of a better word, is good". Gekko is sometimes unfairly judged. There is a big difference between maintaining one's moral compass in business and that which operates in one's personal life. In business, the reality is that if you are not willing to crush your competitor, you might as well get out of the game while you're still ahead.
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03-02-2012, 09:34 PM #6YM2612+SN76489 = eargasm! ESWAT Veteran
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It's a miracle that they managed to squeeze the entire Altered Beast onto a tiny 4 Mbit cartridge....
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03-02-2012, 09:44 PM #7Master of Shinobi
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Well, one of these days someone with enough skill will likely confirm or deny my suspicions. It is a case where this was one of the first games released. I suspect that the quality of the audio could have been better in spite of the 4 Mb limit. The developer could have implemented a few tricks. For example, reducing the quality of the musical score during cut scenes (personally I consider this track useless overall) could have set the stage for including quality voice samples.
The fictional character Gordon Gekko once stated,"Greed, for lack of a better word, is good". Gekko is sometimes unfairly judged. There is a big difference between maintaining one's moral compass in business and that which operates in one's personal life. In business, the reality is that if you are not willing to crush your competitor, you might as well get out of the game while you're still ahead.
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03-02-2012, 09:51 PM #8YM2612+SN76489 = eargasm! ESWAT Veteran
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No, MD music is generated by the FM chip. It is stored on cartridge as commands, and not just played back like a voice sample. For that one voice sample in AB they could have included many hours of music.
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03-02-2012, 10:00 PM #9Master of Shinobi
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Well if your statement is accurate, I shall make like King Louis XVI and "head" over to the guillotine!
The fictional character Gordon Gekko once stated,"Greed, for lack of a better word, is good". Gekko is sometimes unfairly judged. There is a big difference between maintaining one's moral compass in business and that which operates in one's personal life. In business, the reality is that if you are not willing to crush your competitor, you might as well get out of the game while you're still ahead.
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03-02-2012, 10:36 PM #10Outrunner
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I thought Altered Beast had more than one voice sample. Wasn't there "Welcome to your doom!," "ooh" when you get hit, and "aaaaaaahh!" when you die?
Edit: Oh yeah, and "Power up" and the transformation roar.Last edited by ItellYaHuat; 03-02-2012 at 10:41 PM.
"I can't hold it!" - Vapor Trail Pilot
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03-02-2012, 10:50 PM #11Master of Shinobi
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Actually your right. I forgot about the other voice samples in the game. One thing that should be said is that that the game received much criticism for the poor quality of phrase "Rise from your grave". It was so bad, it is a still a source of ridicule today. If memory serves me right, ""Welcome to your doom" was noticeably clear.
But man, that previous phrase left my brain screaming Altered Beast's death motto ("aaaaaaahh"!) every time I heard it spoken!The fictional character Gordon Gekko once stated,"Greed, for lack of a better word, is good". Gekko is sometimes unfairly judged. There is a big difference between maintaining one's moral compass in business and that which operates in one's personal life. In business, the reality is that if you are not willing to crush your competitor, you might as well get out of the game while you're still ahead.
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03-02-2012, 10:53 PM #12I quit video games ESWAT Veteran
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Another example of a short voice clip that sounds really clear is in "Dungeons & Dragons: Warriors of the Eternal sun". When a character gains a level of experience, he/she will say "Yeah!", which is clear as a bell. I'd say it was so clear because it was short, and took up very little cartridge space.
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03-02-2012, 11:03 PM #13Master of Shinobi
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There was one other game that I was quite disappointed with when it came to voice samples. I always felt that the voice samples in Thunder Force II could have been alot clearer. Personally, the background music was the game's strong point and was one of the reasons why I did not relegate this game to the waste side (i.e. my shelf
).
The fictional character Gordon Gekko once stated,"Greed, for lack of a better word, is good". Gekko is sometimes unfairly judged. There is a big difference between maintaining one's moral compass in business and that which operates in one's personal life. In business, the reality is that if you are not willing to crush your competitor, you might as well get out of the game while you're still ahead.
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03-02-2012, 11:48 PM #14Master of Shinobi
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Technosoft's sound driver was notoriously awful for voices (scratchy AND interrupts music), yet awesome for music.
Originally Posted by SEGA.GENESIS1989
There was one other game that I was quite disappointed with when it came to voice samples. I always felt that the voice samples in Thunder Force II could have been alot clearer. Personally, the background music was the game's strong point and was one of the reasons why I did not relegate this game to the waste side (i.e. my shelf).
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03-02-2012, 11:55 PM #15
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To the OP's original question: I'd much rather have text I can quickly read ans scroll through in an RPG than each line being voiced. A game like JB Harold Murder Club on the TurboGrafx does have each and every line of text voiced and there is a lot of text in the game. If you leave the voices on the game really drags. Turn them off and you're free to play at your own speed. The Intellivision's voice module was synthesized speech, like Speak and Spell or crappy text-to-speech programs. Cool for the time, kind of laughable today. Though I always thought that the Sports Talk games on the Genesis sounded like Speak and Spell, but according to something I read somewhere the voices are all digitized.
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