Does voice acting help you get more immerse in video games?

[IceBrand]

For me it does. Hearing a character speaks gives me a better understanding of that character( even better if it's speaking in a language I understand). This does however make it harder for me to return to older games like Chrono Trigger(although the writing and combat make up for everything).

[NinjaMonkey]

First of all, I like to imagine what the character sounds like for myself, rather than being told by the game what he/she sounds like. Secondly, most voice actors tend to be American, which is unfortunate for me because I absolutely hate American accents.

So, no, I don't get more immersed in games with voice acting. Instead, I tend to get less immersed in games with voice acting, than those without.

Edited February 24, 2015 by NinjaMonkey

[General Horace]

It depends on the game. I couldn't imagine playing Star Fox 64 if only the text boxes popped up at the bottom of the screen.

On the other hand, FFIVDS could have had no voice acting and I would have felt the exact same about the game.

[Maritisa]

Only if the VAs are good. That goes without saying.

Though, after playing Xenoblade Chronicles, I've found I really do prefer non-american VA's. Maybe because the differences in accentuation and all give characters even more depth than they already had.

...But again they have to be good VAs. And the game has to be built to accept them. I hate when games try to lip sync the words of a character but fail abysmally because the original scene was made in japanese. <.<

I personally quite like when I can have JP VA's but have all their text still be in english, then it's kind of like "playing" a subbed anime, which is pretty cool.

[Emeraldfox]

No, it doesn't. It doesn't hurt it for me either. If lack of voice acting does hurt your immersion you weren't into the game that much to begin with.

[Loki Laufeyson]

It really depends on the kind of game and structure it has. A game like Xenoblade would have suffered from lack of voice acting. It would also have suffered from bad voice acting. (boy did they luck out there with the cast.) And games like Zelda without the short voice clips would feel a bit empty. But not having voice acting isnt a huge deal overall, but most AAA titles have some kind of voice acting. Personally, i kinda like getting an idea of what my protagonists sound like.

[peener weener]

Ehhhh. Bad voice acting can ruin dialogue horribly. Bravely default and arc rise fantasia have awwwffffuuuulll voice acting (not that the dialogue is too great to begin with lol), and in both cases i just... Turned it off

Edited February 24, 2015 by fuccboi

[MisterIceTeaPeach]

Yes it does.

It's normally easier for me to discern a story of a game by the audio than by reading very long texts. It makes me tired after a while.

However a it should be a balanced mix of (cutscenes with) voiceacting and non speaken texts.

[BrightBow]

No. The stiff models in video games just cannot keep up with the performance of the actors playing the characters. It's just ends up looking all kind of weird that way.

[Sentacotus]

I tend to like it more often than not so I think it adds to the overall experience. For a game like Fire Emblem it helps add a little bit of character when you get an idea of their tone and mannerisms even if its just a little bit.

[Wen Yang]

Good VA work helps with immersiveness, and similarly, poorly done VAing can ruin it.

[Ein]

Good writing > voice acting

[Rapier]

I usually play with voice acting off. I dislike the american accent and the japanese are too hammy sometimes. Though sometimes I admit I like hearing what would be close to the characters' voices. I never get tired of listening to Kamiizumi (Bravely Default)'s voice actor, for example.

[Radiant head]

I always imagine my own voice for characters based on the tone I perceive from text dialogue.

[IGdood]

It helps a lot in strategy games, particularly when the units chat amongst themselves.

[Original Alear]

Sometimes. But I'll admit that if it's dialogue I can skip through after reading, I often don't listen to the full voice clip for a line of text.

Voiceovers that give you queues about when something is about to what happen during gameplay and stuff is definitely appreciated. Or just voiceovers meshed well with gameplay, even if it's not much in the way of significant information. Chit-chatting between characters in Bioware games is an example of this (though sometimes the conversations are dumb).

[BigMomma]

As long as the animations fit with the voice acting then absolutely.

[Lord Raven]

It's kind of one way or the other, I really don't care for FE13's voice acting and it didn't really do anything for me but games like Metal Gear were definitely amplified by the voice acting. Bad voice acting doesn't really make or break a game (if you have the option to turn it off), mediocre voice acting makes the game feel a bit dull (but not dull enough to want to turn off, it's weird), and then great voice acting just amplifies the game.

People like me who just read text for what it is may have a harder time getting immersed into stories without voice acting, so I'm not going to say that lack of voice acting does nothing for me, but it can definitely can make a dull story more exciting.