tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1510920011443550663.post5845388498752987113..comments2024-03-28T10:18:05.213+00:00Comments on Inventory Full: Goo Goo Barabajagal: SW:TORBhagpusshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03499162165023939880noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1510920011443550663.post-80804592656429310912019-05-14T16:36:15.183+01:002019-05-14T16:36:15.183+01:00I thought about that while I was playing. I don...I thought about that while I was playing. I don't remember it being an issue in the movies either, but I haven't seen the original trilogy for thirty years so it's hard to be sure. <br /><br />After reading your comment I watched several clips of Jabba the Hutt in return of the Jedi, that being the prime example I could think of where alien language is used. There are three crucial differences. First, as you say, the dialog is not repetitive. It may be gibberish but it's individually crafted gibberish. Second, the issue of proper nouns does not arise. You can clearly hear Jabba say "Jedi" at least twice after someone has mentioned "Jedi" in English. <br /><br />Last, and most important by far, there are no translations. The viewer isn't required to understand what's being said, or indeed pay attention to it. Sometimes English-speaking characters give a brief mention of what has been said but mostly they just react to it and we get as much information as we need from that, from context and from visual clues. That makes an enomous difference.<br /><br />In brief, the alien languages in the movies are background or flavor whereas in TOR they are foreground and need to be understood (or you can't make informed dialog choices). That makes the flaws very much harder to ignore.Bhagpusshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03499162165023939880noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1510920011443550663.post-19160417484249110672019-05-14T13:07:15.827+01:002019-05-14T13:07:15.827+01:00Now that you mention it I'm a bit surprised th...Now that you mention it I'm a bit surprised that it didn't bother me much, but it really didn't.<br /><br />I guess the main reason is that this is, in fact, a Star Wars thing. I'm not talking about anything Wookiepedia or any other SW lore site says (I've never cared about any of that), but the movies themselves. Granted, there obviously isn't nearly as much repetition in the movies, but it all sounds and feels exactly as it does in the game, at least to me.Mailvaltarhttp://mailvaltar.wordpress.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1510920011443550663.post-14449442249099518432019-05-13T08:36:47.496+01:002019-05-13T08:36:47.496+01:00I haven't used the space bar to skip through c...I haven't used the space bar to skip through conversations. In fact, I didn't know it was an option. I wouldn't normally do that but I will seriously consider it next time I'm faced with an Ugnaught.Bhagpusshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03499162165023939880noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1510920011443550663.post-72484550146223878562019-05-13T08:35:19.621+01:002019-05-13T08:35:19.621+01:00On the comment button, I haven't noticed it bu...On the comment button, I haven't noticed it but probably. Some other stuff has changed in Blogger recently. Google never seem to announce any of this, they just do it. For years now I have been in the habit of copying every comment I make everywhere to the clipboard. I save like I'm playing a Spectrum game in 1985.<br /><br />On the main issue, yes, it's the sheer shoddiness of the whole thing that surprises me. Surely they could have done better with the tiniest fraction of that huge budget?Bhagpusshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03499162165023939880noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1510920011443550663.post-2896455226104709262019-05-13T08:32:10.905+01:002019-05-13T08:32:10.905+01:00Exactly!Exactly!Bhagpusshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03499162165023939880noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1510920011443550663.post-41574292222781152642019-05-13T05:58:16.356+01:002019-05-13T05:58:16.356+01:00Poo doola moosta vo brahdee ampioo oo pooshee womp...Poo doola moosta vo brahdee ampioo oo pooshee wompa!Shintarhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16758343475446510635noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1510920011443550663.post-32466373799948395742019-05-12T21:50:45.689+01:002019-05-12T21:50:45.689+01:00Back when I still wrote on my blog, and when the g...Back when I still wrote on my blog, and when the game was only a few months old, the alien gibberish was also one of my major gripes with the game. (The other one, reading what I wrote back then, apparently was bad optimization, making a jet plane out of my PC even at modest quality settings. I don't notice that any more now I gave the game another spin. Either they did some optimization work in the last years or, more likely, that issue solved itself they way it tends to do as hardware becomes more powerful.)<br /><br />So I was warned when I came back to the game. What I had forgotten, though, is how badly those ever-repeating lines are fit into the overall conversation. It happens regularly that an Alien says its gibberish, followed by 2-3 seconds of awkward silence before the conversation moves on, almost as if everybody's doing a double take or frowns inwardly at what was said. It's a surprisingly shoddy job for a game that otherwise polished the conversation mini-game quite well.<br /><br />Also: gaaaah! Did google recently change the button layout on the comment box, or have I just become senile? This is now not the first, but the second time in a week that I clicked on "sign out" when I meant to click on "publish", which immediately logs you out without asking for confirmation. Worse, it wipes the contents of the comment box, so you need to type out everything again. Bit of a bother.floschhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05784402621836933199noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1510920011443550663.post-52742995326481514852019-05-12T20:37:24.376+01:002019-05-12T20:37:24.376+01:00From a game development perspective I know why the...From a game development perspective I know why they have so many aliens speaking gibberish: you can change the quest dialog without needing to redo the voice lines. Since the voice recording seems to happen earlier in the development cycle I'm sure it is a special hell to alter quests if something in the story line needs to change because of other things not working out.<br /><br />I do know the Devs have said that the voice actings costs weren't a major contributor to the huge costs. Prior experience with heavily voice-acted RPGs had given them enough experience to budget that part of the game reasonably well. I suspect feature and scope creep was what got them. As you say, eight big class stories, planetary arcs, side missions, etc. were huge efforts to create.<br /><br />As a practical matter since I'm a fast reader I'll read the text and then space bar the gibberish to get to the next line of text faster. It always feels awkward because the normal spoken rhythms aren't there, but it is less annoying for me.Pallaishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01052537793722183657noreply@blogger.com