Voice acting is often the key to whether a story-heavy game sinks or swims.
Granted, itispossible for a games voice acting to become iconic, even with a crappy dub.
They and the smiling Evil Otto are signature features of old-school nightmares.
A good example is the opening narration ofTransformers: Battle to Save the Earthin 1987.
It exists to set the games tone, and the gravelly digitization emphasizes the nature of these robot saviors.
That game wasManiac Mansions beloved sequel,The Day of the Tentacle.
But for each historical moment, there were some truly terrible lows.
However, itwasthe firstFinal Fantasygame to use voice acting to carry the heart of its story.
Crucially, the game also relied on a notable cast of professionals to bring that story to life.
Looking back at the voices of Spira, we find names familiar today.
Meanwhile, both Wakka and the reticent Kimarhi are voiced by currentvocal legendJohn DiMaggio.
Then in the early years of his career, he was already known asFuturamas Bender.
They also added depth to the quieter moments, FMV and otherwise.
The only drawback, arguably, is Squares already visible adoration ofmore.
At least the unique voices help carry the threads!
Yet,Mass Effectwas only one checkpoint for the next generation of video game voice acting.
They even relied on Gollums own Andy Serkis to direct the motion capture team.
The already considerable gift of the human voice had grown into a near-total mimicry of the cinema experience.
