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Destiny has some fairly big names behind their NPCs. Big enough to get lots of people legitimately excited for a game that certainly wasn't clearly explained early on. Considering all the vague teasers that came out before the alpha went live, wouldn't it have been money well spent to produce a quick 3-minute video with footage from these celeb voice actors in the recording booth, introducing some actual characters in the process?

We see this all the time from games with smaller marketing budgets. Examples: Mass Effect 3's voice actor feature with Martin Sheen, Keith David, Seth Green, etc., and Alien: Isolation's voice cast video arguably got more people excited for the game than any gameplay footage shown before it.

We all knew about Peter Dinklage's inclusion before the alpha, but outside of an IMDB search or this Xbox Wire post 3 weeks after the game's launch, nobody (certainly not Activision) pushed the fact that so much fan-favorite talent was featured in the game. It's fun to hear a familiar voice once you have the game running, but that doesn't boost hype during pre-orders.

Just look at this roster:

Peter Dinklage (Game of Thrones, X-Men: Days of Future Past): Ghost
Nathan Fillion (Firefly, Serenity, Castle): Cayde-6, Hunter Vanguard
Peter Stormare (Fargo, The Big Lebowski, Constantine): Arach Jalaal, Dead Orbit Merchant
Bill Nighy (Harry Potter, Pirates of the Caribbean, Shaun of the Dead, Underworld): The Speaker
Lance Reddick (motherfucking Lt. Daniels from The Wire, Fringe, The Guest): Commander Zavala, Titan Vanguard
Lauren Cohan (Maggie from The Walking Dead, Archer, Chuck): EXO Stranger
Shohreh Aghdashloo (Mass Effect, 24, X-Men: The Last Stand): Lakshmi-2, Future War Cult Merchant
James Remar (Dexter, X-Men: First Class, The Warriors): Executioner Hideo, New Monarchy Merchant
Lennie James (Snatch, The Walking Dead, Low Winter Sun): Lord Shaxx, Crucible Handler
Gina Torres (The Matrix, Firefly, 24, Alias): Ikora Rey, Warlock Vanguard

Everyone knows this cast. If some of the names don't look familiar, you'll know their faces:

Why not push this in pre-launch marketing? The people I've talked to who were loosely involved in Destiny's production shrugged when I asked them.

 

[Gaz_RB]

Because other than Dinklage, they each have like 10 lines.

 

[mjc]

Because other than Dinklage, they each have like 10 lines.

This, and they're all dogshit for delivery.

 

[LiamR]

It's pretty evident that they didn't need to do that.

 

[Toa TAK]

Maggie was the Exo Stranger WHAT?

All of these actor's had their talents wasted.

 

[myca77]

It could be because a lot of the performances are pretty poor, although I'm sure that is to do with the poor writing rather than the actors, as you can't polish a turd.

 

[Raide]

People just want loot. And most of the VO is pretty average at best, even for those great names.

 

[Fedemgsuy]

First post nails it, but i cant help to think that all of them recorded a lot of unused dialogue.

 

[GECK]

The budget obviously went to voice acting instead of actual content.

 

[Captainbojanglesiii]

Great cast, but I personally don't think people will be influenced to by a game by seeing some actors' names.

If they are, that's news to me and there's no excuse ti not have been advertised.

 

[danwarb]

Bungie had a lot of famous voices in their Halo games too.


They're are not a big part of the game.

 

[DarkKyo]

This, and they're all dogshit for delivery.

Eh.. I feel like the Speaker sounded okay.

 

[Veldin]

They probably threw out a lot of their voicework and didn't bother hyping that up.

 

[maximum360]

This, and they're all dogshit for delivery.

It sounds like they're all reading words off a page. The delivery is that bad.

 

[James Scott]

Maybe they didn't want to be associated with the game? Dinklage came under heavy criticism for his poor performance. Don't remember anyone being noteworthy in the story anyways

 

[cakely]

They all have quite a bit of dialog, but most of it is delivered as you approach or finish a transaction with a vendor, and it's usually just one short line.

It's not bad, actually.

Also, Dead Orbit is Karl Hungus. That makes my day.

 

[Sullichin]

Lt Daniels wants to me to kill Sepktis prime cause I'm real police.

 

[bearythebear]

Did they seriously hire these well known names for 3 fucking lines? Did they cut a whole bunch of content that uses those characters?

 

[EL CUCO]

My mind just seriously exploded.

Now when I get home I'm going to take a jog around the Tower and listen to some voices

 

[Lockjaw333]

Dude this game is so bizarre. I would love to read a documentary on the development of this game, something that digs deep into the reasons behind some of the stuff they did.

The more you find out, the more it just reeks of a game that had issues with direction. Who was the head producer on the project? He didn't do his job very well.

I feel like this game needed another year at least, it seems like it was just scissor-cut at the end to go out for release.

Insane they spent as much as they did. Little things like all the money they blew on voice talent for these characters that have little to no impact on the game, those things add up and I bet theres a ton of them in the development saga of this game.

Instead of the usual resolution nonsense and other clickbait, these game websites should be investigating this stuff. Would LOVE to read more about it.

 

[darthbob]

Did they seriously hire these well known names for 3 fucking lines? Did they cut a whole bunch of content that uses those characters?

It's pretty much accepted that these characters were going to have larger roles but were then cut.

 

[Zomba13]

because having things like "Staring Nathan Fillion as that guy that sells you stuff but only if you're a hunter" isn't really a selling point.

 

[-griffy-]

They all have quite a bit of dialog, but most of it is delivered as you approach or finish a transaction with a vendor, and it's usually just one short line.

It's not bad, actually.

Also, Dead Orbit is Karl Hungus. That makes my day.

They don't really have quite a bit of dialog though. They each have like 5 random one liners they'll say as you approach/leave, 5 random one liners for patrol missions, and then maybe one introduction monologue to a mission/strike. It feels like each of their dialog could fit on a 1 page script. Completely baffling why they would waste that crap on the voice talent they hired.

 

[tensuke]

Because it's mostly terrible.

 

[Ethical Hedonism]

I have fun imagining Jessica Pearson asking me to go pierce the veil of the Summoning Pits.

 

[Hyun Sai]

Because they did a piss poor job any no-name could have done better ?

 

[Zomba13]

I have fun imagining Jessica Pearson asking me to go pierce the veil of the Summoning Pits.

The Summoning Pits are about to get Litt up!

 

[CreeperBlocks]

Lennie James was in Destiny? WHAT.

 

[PerezDeCorcho]

Looking at that list...

Wow.

What was Bungie/Activision thinking? What a waste of budget.

 

[See You Next Wednesday]

So Bungie was taking away money from real voice actors in the industry to get b-level celebs for absolutely no reason whatsoever other that they are celebrities.

 

[Tabris]

I bet you they have a huge amount of recorded lines that were dropped by Activision's "let's dumb it down" initiative.

 

[BouncyFrag]

Every time I hear the Firefly cast members my soul saddens a little bit.

 

[dallow_bg]

Man, they could have really saved some money here.

 

[Ethical Hedonism]

The Summoning Pits are about to get Litt up!

Hahahaha gotta bring a mug for Phogoth.

 

[Dodecagon]

There is an absurd amount of talent wasted on vendors and other non story npcs

 

[ComputerBlue]

Because other than Dinklage, they each have like 10 lines.

Pretty much, they wasted great talent on such useless NPC's. Dead Orbit dude says a few lines. Meanwhile Stormare is a great actor. They all are, but play such insignificant roles really.

Dinklage also sucked on the delivery front. No point in advertising something that doesn't add value to the game. They wasted money on real actors in my opinion when there are more than enough great VA's that should have been given the job.

 

[Briarios]

Claudia Black does the voice for Tess Everis ... Can't miss it. Every time I walk by, I hope she says more. She never does

 

[Keyser Soze]

Claudia Black (Aeryn Sun in Farscape) is the only voice I like in the game. She appreciates me as I look at my Emblems and Special Orders.

 

[Jakabok]

OP you missed Claudia Black (from Pitch Black and Farscape) as Tess Everiss. Yes, the blue chick who in the tower who sells crappy emblems and shaders and never updates her stock.

 

[Hyun Sai]

I like Hollyday voice (Courtenay Taylor), especially the collect line in patrol, but that's pretty much it.

 

[myca77]

Lt Daniels wants to me to kill Sepktis prime cause I'm real police.

In the words of the man himself.

I’ll swallow a lie when I have to, I’ve swallowed a few big ones lately. But the stat games. . . that lie, it’s what ruined this department loot. Shinning up shit and calling it gold...

 

[Definity]

I still get a kick out of listening to Peter Stormare deliver his dead orbit lines.

 

[Hubbl3]

They wanted to let the game's story be its selling point.

 

[EGM1966]

Because they either cut all their lines or ended up only giving them a couple each depending on which rumour you with as to why the game has ended up with practically no story or narrative.

Should add in general when you squander talent - which is the case here - you try and downplay it hence the lack of PR.

 

[sturgboski]

Peter Stromare should have been the ghost. Or even Bill Nighy. Great character actors. Though we would lose the term dinklebot...

 

[RMI]

What was Bungie/Activision thinking? What a waste of budget.

This. They should have used some of that budget to hire a few more level designers.

 

[Omega]

AAA gaming, where you hire well known actors and actresses to do poor voice acting.

 

[E92 M3]

The story is nonexistent - they wasted a lot of money on voice actors.

 

[Dahbomb]

AAA gaming, where you hire well known actors and actresses to do poor voice acting.

Pretty much.

The budget used for VA could've been used for something better.

 

[2thepoint]

I actually can't understand why they went about getting voice talent, and paying them to record a few lines.

Maybe, the rumors about the story being gutted are true?