Computer voices - unimmersive?

GlassDeviantGlassDeviant Terra Join Date: 2017-02-27 Member: 228342Members
Back in the 1970s and 1980s, we had computer voices somewhat on par with some of the automated messages in Subnautica. Given the era in which the game is situated, do you find it as unimmersive as I do that there are such archaic sounding "computer generated" voices?
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  • Kouji_SanKouji_San Sr. Hινε Uρкεερεг - EUPT Deputy The Netherlands Join Date: 2003-05-13 Member: 16271Members, NS2 Playtester, Squad Five Blue
    edited March 2018
    Back in the 1970s and 1980s, we had computer voices somewhat on par with some of the automated messages in Subnautica. Given the era in which the game is situated, do you find it as unimmersive as I do that there are such archaic sounding "computer generated" voices?

    Galaxy Class computer voice was neat, and Data confusing the computer was funny as well
    mqdefault.jpg


    TBH, the lack of a voice input for search is more infuriating than anything else :D
  • GlassDeviantGlassDeviant Terra Join Date: 2017-02-27 Member: 228342Members
    That would actually be pretty cool, but I'm yet to be impressed with any game that had voice commands. One was entirely unplayable because the entire magic system was wholly dependent on speaking the "magic words" out loud. If I wanted to appear even more of an idiot in front of my entire family, I can think of many better ways to do it.
  • jamintheinfinite_1jamintheinfinite_1 Jupiter Join Date: 2016-12-03 Member: 224524Members
    It is probably cheaper for Altera to use a text to speech program than to pay someone to read stuff.
  • Kouji_SanKouji_San Sr. Hινε Uρкεερεг - EUPT Deputy The Netherlands Join Date: 2003-05-13 Member: 16271Members, NS2 Playtester, Squad Five Blue
    That would actually be pretty cool, but I'm yet to be impressed with any game that had voice commands. One was entirely unplayable because the entire magic system was wholly dependent on speaking the "magic words" out loud. If I wanted to appear even more of an idiot in front of my entire family, I can think of many better ways to do it.


    How about this thing :D
    mqdefault.jpg
    https://youtube.com/watch?v=9kBMscW_dVg&feature=youtu.be&t=7m28s
  • GlassDeviantGlassDeviant Terra Join Date: 2017-02-27 Member: 228342Members
    edited March 2018
    Even that can't make me look more goofy, although it would give me a bit more geek cred.

    Reminds me of this, though: https://imgur.com/gallery/eJFb1I9

  • scifiwriterguyscifiwriterguy Sector ZZ-9-Plural Z-α Join Date: 2017-02-14 Member: 227901Members
    Kouji_San wrote: »
    That would actually be pretty cool, but I'm yet to be impressed with any game that had voice commands. One was entirely unplayable because the entire magic system was wholly dependent on speaking the "magic words" out loud. If I wanted to appear even more of an idiot in front of my entire family, I can think of many better ways to do it.


    How about this thing :D
    mqdefault.jpg
    https://youtube.com/watch?v=9kBMscW_dVg&feature=youtu.be&t=7m28s

    If we could find a way to make that thing work with a modern PC, Markiplier's videos would become absolutely psychotic. :lol:
  • ranmafanranmafan Join Date: 2018-02-04 Member: 236837Members
    I've realized that the voices get more and more 'human' the higher up the tech tier you go, all the way to the almost normal human voice in the escape vehicle. That kind of works for me.
  • RboxRbox Belgium Join Date: 2018-03-17 Member: 239227Members
    edited March 2018
    On a side note, the welcome phrase always makes me chuckle: ' Welcome aboard Captain ' is said in such a way that to me it sounds as 'welcome aboard the captain '
  • Kouji_SanKouji_San Sr. Hινε Uρкεερεг - EUPT Deputy The Netherlands Join Date: 2003-05-13 Member: 16271Members, NS2 Playtester, Squad Five Blue
    edited March 2018
  • scifiwriterguyscifiwriterguy Sector ZZ-9-Plural Z-α Join Date: 2017-02-14 Member: 227901Members
    Kouji_San wrote: »

    Just not Clippy, please.

    "Hi! It looks like you're trapped on an alien deathworld and have contracted a fatal bacterial infection! Would you like help with that?"
  • Kouji_SanKouji_San Sr. Hινε Uρкεερεг - EUPT Deputy The Netherlands Join Date: 2003-05-13 Member: 16271Members, NS2 Playtester, Squad Five Blue
    Kouji_San wrote: »

    Just not Clippy, please.

    "Hi! It looks like you're trapped on an alien deathworld and have contracted a fatal bacterial infection! Would you like help with that?"

    Heheheh, well at least Prody can sing you a song or tell you a joke :D
  • scifiwriterguyscifiwriterguy Sector ZZ-9-Plural Z-α Join Date: 2017-02-14 Member: 227901Members
    Personally, I don't find the computer voices immersion-breaking, but rather the people voices. Someone from a "Mongolian" company has an Edinburgh accent? Last I checked, Scotland was a long, long way away from anything describable as Mongolian. The fact that everybody on a voicelog with the exception of Avery Quinn sounds either British or Scottish is rather jarring - like how the Empire in Star Wars seemed to recruit exclusively from London.
  • SkopeSkope Wouldn't you like to know ;) Join Date: 2016-06-07 Member: 218212Members
    Personally, I don't find the computer voices immersion-breaking, but rather the people voices. Someone from a "Mongolian" company has an Edinburgh accent? Last I checked, Scotland was a long, long way away from anything describable as Mongolian. The fact that everybody on a voicelog with the exception of Avery Quinn sounds either British or Scottish is rather jarring - like how the Empire in Star Wars seemed to recruit exclusively from London.

    Exactly!

    I think Marguerit's voice actor was very well done, I've grown to like Bart's voice actor (even though it doesn't make a lot of sense), but why is Paul Scottish?

    Maybe it was the closest they could get to adding something about Aurora Falls into Subnautica.
  • scifiwriterguyscifiwriterguy Sector ZZ-9-Plural Z-α Join Date: 2017-02-14 Member: 227901Members
    Skope wrote: »
    I think Marguerit's voice actor was very well done, I've grown to like Bart's voice actor (even though it doesn't make a lot of sense), but why is Paul Scottish?

    Agreed and agreed. Paul practically gave me whiplash. "Cool! Now I can finally hear Paul Torgal. Maybe like a Ricardo Montalban doing Khan or...or...Scrooge McDuck? What the...?" ;)

    Marguerit was spot-on, and the re-recorded Avery Quinn was excellent as well. Praise where it's due.
  • SkopeSkope Wouldn't you like to know ;) Join Date: 2016-06-07 Member: 218212Members
    Skope wrote: »
    I think Marguerit's voice actor was very well done, I've grown to like Bart's voice actor (even though it doesn't make a lot of sense), but why is Paul Scottish?

    Agreed and agreed. Paul practically gave me whiplash. "Cool! Now I can finally hear Paul Torgal. Maybe like a Ricardo Montalban doing Khan or...or...Scrooge McDuck? What the...?" ;)

    Marguerit was spot-on, and the re-recorded Avery Quinn was excellent as well. Praise where it's due.

    I don't know, I really liked Avery Quinn's old recording. He sounded a lot more, "Oh come on, Alterra again?!"

    Then again, that could be the nostalgia talking.
  • IMBACOREIMBACORE Join Date: 2015-03-02 Member: 201638Members
    Back in the 1970s and 1980s, we had computer voices somewhat on par with some of the automated messages in Subnautica. Given the era in which the game is situated, do you find it as unimmersive as I do that there are such archaic sounding "computer generated" voices?



    Hmm that's an interesting concept but if you think about it, that far into the future, they may be able to use natural-sounding AI voices. While that would be plausible, it would render that aspect of the game uninteresting.

    But that's just my two cents of course.
  • Kouji_SanKouji_San Sr. Hινε Uρкεερεг - EUPT Deputy The Netherlands Join Date: 2003-05-13 Member: 16271Members, NS2 Playtester, Squad Five Blue
    edited April 2018
    I want Intellivoice Voice-Modul
    mqdefault.jpg






    Hey guys!



    Wouldn't it be nice...



    If we could

    MOD THE GAME EASILLY
    :trollface:
  • MaalterommMaalteromm Brasil Join Date: 2017-09-22 Member: 233183Members
    It's simply a matter of fashion. Like most other aesthetical features it comes and go with time.

    Maybe the current gen finds that retro computer generated voices help identify the speaker as a computer to contrast with fellow human speakers (cellphones at the time must be worn/implanted in the head, that's why we can clearly hear the PDA underwater).
    Bear in mind that in a common setting you might have several different computers talking to you.
  • AnomalyDetectedAnomalyDetected Alterra Housing District: Planet Vicaron Join Date: 2017-04-19 Member: 229741Members
    Kouji_San wrote: »
    I want Intellivoice Voice-Modul
    mqdefault.jpg






    Hey guys!



    Wouldn't it be nice...



    If we could

    MOD THE GAME EASILLY
    :trollface:

    That's why Qmods exists.
  • TalanicTalanic United States Join Date: 2018-02-21 Member: 238014Members
    Perhaps they deliberately use more or less artificial-sounding voices to indicate the level of intelligence and/or independent function that each specific computer has?

    Your pda sounds human and automatically synchronizes with most of your gear, and can cross-reference scans to extrapolate common ancestors. Your cyclops doesn't understand how to trigger its own fire suppression system.

    Can't remember how the Neptune sounds, but it handles interstellar navigation for you at the touch of a button...
  • WhiteWeaselWhiteWeasel Join Date: 2012-11-25 Member: 173197Members
    Talanic wrote: »
    Perhaps they deliberately use more or less artificial-sounding voices to indicate the level of intelligence and/or independent function that each specific computer has?

    Your pda sounds human and automatically synchronizes with most of your gear, and can cross-reference scans to extrapolate common ancestors. Your cyclops doesn't understand how to trigger its own fire suppression system.

    Can't remember how the Neptune sounds, but it handles interstellar navigation for you at the touch of a button...

    The neptune is the most "human" sounding of the computer voices. Less like text to speech and more like the computer from The Next Generation.
  • RecursionRecursion The cosmos Join Date: 2017-07-01 Member: 231505Members
    It is probably cheaper for Alterra to use a text to speech program than to pay someone to read stuff.

    Have you seen google's TTS? I'm not sure how it works, but it delivers the most realistic voice I've ever heard come out of a computer. And it's free.
  • narfblatnarfblat Utah, USA Join Date: 2016-05-15 Member: 216799Members, Forum Moderators, Forum staff
    Alterra corp. may have decided that realistic voices would confuse whoever was using the equipment. "Welcome aboard, Captain." "Who said that?" This would be extra problematic in the Aurora survivor's situation, as it might momentarily make them think they have found another human.

    Or it could just be because Unknown Worlds thought it sounded cooler. :)
  • Kouji_SanKouji_San Sr. Hινε Uρкεερεг - EUPT Deputy The Netherlands Join Date: 2003-05-13 Member: 16271Members, NS2 Playtester, Squad Five Blue
    At least Alterra provided the TSF with an improved AI voice :D
  • Employee427Employee427 Join Date: 2018-03-22 Member: 239396Members
    Skope wrote: »
    Skope wrote: »
    I think Marguerit's voice actor was very well done, I've grown to like Bart's voice actor (even though it doesn't make a lot of sense), but why is Paul Scottish?

    Agreed and agreed. Paul practically gave me whiplash. "Cool! Now I can finally hear Paul Torgal. Maybe like a Ricardo Montalban doing Khan or...or...Scrooge McDuck? What the...?" ;)

    Marguerit was spot-on, and the re-recorded Avery Quinn was excellent as well. Praise where it's due.

    I don't know, I really liked Avery Quinn's old recording. He sounded a lot more, "Oh come on, Alterra again?!"

    Then again, that could be the nostalgia talking.

    You're right. Old Quinn sounded FAR better. The re-recording is terrible. It's emotionless and dull.
  • Kouji_SanKouji_San Sr. Hινε Uρкεερεг - EUPT Deputy The Netherlands Join Date: 2003-05-13 Member: 16271Members, NS2 Playtester, Squad Five Blue
    And they stole our "Greetings Survivor, great job not dying" bit, that shit was a hilarious introduction to the game :disappointed:
  • AnomalyDetectedAnomalyDetected Alterra Housing District: Planet Vicaron Join Date: 2017-04-19 Member: 229741Members
    Skope wrote: »
    Skope wrote: »
    I think Marguerit's voice actor was very well done, I've grown to like Bart's voice actor (even though it doesn't make a lot of sense), but why is Paul Scottish?

    Agreed and agreed. Paul practically gave me whiplash. "Cool! Now I can finally hear Paul Torgal. Maybe like a Ricardo Montalban doing Khan or...or...Scrooge McDuck? What the...?" ;)

    Marguerit was spot-on, and the re-recorded Avery Quinn was excellent as well. Praise where it's due.

    I don't know, I really liked Avery Quinn's old recording. He sounded a lot more, "Oh come on, Alterra again?!"

    Then again, that could be the nostalgia talking.

    You're right. Old Quinn sounded FAR better. The re-recording is terrible. It's emotionless and dull.

    I like the new Quinn though... :(

    To me, he doesn't sound as emotionless as he sounds scared and nervous.
  • Employee427Employee427 Join Date: 2018-03-22 Member: 239396Members
    Skope wrote: »
    Skope wrote: »
    I think Marguerit's voice actor was very well done, I've grown to like Bart's voice actor (even though it doesn't make a lot of sense), but why is Paul Scottish?

    Agreed and agreed. Paul practically gave me whiplash. "Cool! Now I can finally hear Paul Torgal. Maybe like a Ricardo Montalban doing Khan or...or...Scrooge McDuck? What the...?" ;)

    Marguerit was spot-on, and the re-recorded Avery Quinn was excellent as well. Praise where it's due.

    I don't know, I really liked Avery Quinn's old recording. He sounded a lot more, "Oh come on, Alterra again?!"

    Then again, that could be the nostalgia talking.

    You're right. Old Quinn sounded FAR better. The re-recording is terrible. It's emotionless and dull.

    I like the new Quinn though... :(

    To me, he doesn't sound as emotionless as he sounds scared and nervous.

    He says "it's coming from the surface" in the most monotone voice I've ever heard now. Utter lack of dramaticism. Before he actually sounded panicked. And don't even get me started on the awful "we have a saying" line.
  • TheSwiftStrikeTheSwiftStrike Join Date: 2018-01-08 Member: 234894Members
    Back in the 1970s and 1980s, we had computer voices somewhat on par with some of the automated messages in Subnautica. Given the era in which the game is situated, do you find it as unimmersive as I do that there are such archaic sounding "computer generated" voices?

    Think of the computer in the PDA as GLaDOS, not really helping, just commentating.
  • Kouji_SanKouji_San Sr. Hινε Uρкεερεг - EUPT Deputy The Netherlands Join Date: 2003-05-13 Member: 16271Members, NS2 Playtester, Squad Five Blue
    At least our Bitching Betty doesn't say that it cannot do certain things for us...


    Wait a minute, where are our weapons man, or at least the phonenumber of the TSF!
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