[POLL] What do guys think of VAs being mocapped into games?

Do you like that VAs get mocapped into videogames?


  • Total voters
    7
I personally dislike it very much; it has homogenized game character designs to lean more and more towards being 'realistic' instead of devs being more creative with anthromorphic artstyles in the recent years, with 'realistic' being the quickest artstyle to go outdated with every incremental update in technology.
We are all human with flawed faces and subjective beauty. Why inject people's average/ugly mugs into videogames when they could be the exact chads/chadettes that the devs desire? Same for 'villain' characters that they want to make look evil.

Another big issue I have with this is the Hollywierd celebrities trying to infiltrate gaming with their mediocre VA, but wanting to be compensated for their so-called 'stardom', thus inflating the price of games even more. There is also the issue of legality and copyright when a dev want to continue with sequels but the mocap now wants to move on. I think devs should either use renowned professional VAs that already know the game, or hire new talents instead. Keep mainstream movie people away (for the most part).

Lastly and most obvious; making OCs doesn't restrict the physical appearance of the character to the VA (Race, BMI, Beauty, Eye color, Imperfections etc)

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I think using real-life faces is a bad idea overall, and devs should follow the anime industry route; where no two characters by the same VA look even remotely the same.

A few examples:
Excellent VAs that didn't have their faces in the games
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Masked I know, but the is still valid since its the same character.
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Its clear that they started with Nolan's face here, but beautified it for Nathan, which was a great choice.
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What games should strive for:
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A few examples of what I don't like:
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Why change his look in Dead space remake into the VA?
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Alan is no longer Alan in Alan Wake 2
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Movie guy in my video game. Why?
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Lame rapper now forever bound to NFS unbound
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Everyone in this game except Joel and Ellie suck compared to TLOU (The Original, not Neil's "Part 1")
 
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I don't see an issue either way. The reason they often use VAs for mocap is the animations better match their voices, as the person is better able to act it out, without the disconnect between action and voice. It's more natural and fluid.

It's fine either way, whatever the creative directors see as best.
 
The original Dead Space actually had the other Voice Actors scanned/modelled and play the characters in the game, which I think helped make those characters believable and has actually made that game age more gracefully because they're based on real faces.

But then weirdly as a consequence of that, because they couldn't get those original actors back for the Remake, they had to completely recast the main characters and ended up with much worse/cheaper actors as a result, so ultimately this very issue, in combination with what was likely a lower budget, actually compromised the remake.

Peter Mensah, Keith Szarabajka, Navid Negahban are incredible actors who exude screen presence, only to then be replaced with literal nobodies with no charisma. Maybe the issue is that great, charismatic actors with cool faces can positively help a game with their faces scanned, while mediocre actors being scanned in actually damages the quality of a game.
 
Of course. It's one of the few ways video games have become a legitimate medium of entertainment, past for being known as something only nerds could enjoy. You think Keanu Reeves would have signed on to Cyberpunk if he couldnt get his likeness in the game?

wake up burn GIF
 
I think I prefer new faces over familiar ones. Popular faces comes with familiar history where you have already situated them on other famous projects.

But really don't care either way.
 
Of course. It's one of the few ways video games have become a legitimate medium of entertainment, past for being known as something only nerds could enjoy. You think Keanu Reeves would have signed on to Cyberpunk if he couldnt get his likeness in the game?

wake up burn GIF
I'm sorry but gaming has always been a legitimate medium of entertainment. I find your inferiority-minded view irksome. Gaming has been bigger than movie biz for a few years now, and if anything. Its the Developers and VAs crossing over to that medium that should be given the celebrity treatment. Keanu is a darling celebrity and humble person irl yes, but he is the exact exception that proves the rule. Most people from mainstream hollyweird are insufferable twats with baggage. Let them stay in their lane.
 
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