not intuitive at all. there's nothing on the orders/settings/account page that even indicates you can change that part.

I didn't say I want no voice-acting. I actually enjoy good voice-acting a lot. I just find it depends on the amounts of text. I actually find the way PoE handles it rather good. Voices for character introductions and important story lines to create the mood, text-only for the massive dialogue trees.
Also consider that games like PoE have really complex and deep dialogue trees, with varying lines depending on character, reputations and past deeds. To voice everything would be a tremendous effort - while most players will maybe only come in contact with one fourth of it during a single playthrough.

In the end it's often a design choice. Morrowind for instance had long and detailed text - for instance directions - and no voice-over (except in a few select places). Oblivion has full voice-over but the texts are much shorter. And instead of directions (which I loved!) you have the "dumbed down" quest arrow.

Usually women say that my pillar isn't eternal and that I always deadfire...

Yes I agree, would be better on the general settings. Anyways, the text you want is SKYRIM!11!12!!

i would if i could find that damn setting. i think they got rid of it.

Follow the red trail...

da fuk?! awesome! i forgot that was even there. see, there's a different 'my settings' button on gog, and it does not take you there. lol.

You say that about every game you play. ;p

games are cool!

More like, it's a way to cut corners and cheap-out. 2018 is late enough into gaming history to stop accepting such things, especially with the publication of games like Divinity Original Sin 1 & 2 which both feature massive amounts of full voice-acting.

If anything, I *prefer* text over voice-acting in RPGs as objectively speaking it allows for so many more choices and possibilities. Can good voice acting help immerse a player in a game world? Sure. However, I would argue that having a deeper game world itself is more immersive, as it feels more like a real world instead of narrowly defined paths.

Of course, a great developer can still put out massive games with voice acting and ample player choice. For example, Fallout: New Vegas has great player choice whereas Fallout 3's morality is very black and white, with more limited choice. Both games run on the same engine but have different writers and developers.

That said, even if a great developer can put out a massive game with voice acting and ample player choice, they can put out a massive game with ~significantly more player choice~ if the voice acting is not there. It is unfortunate that those of us who love the most possible amount of choice don't get many of these games, since others demand voice acting.

Earlier in this topic, the analogy was made that games favoring text are like interactive e-books. I would rather have an interactive e-book than an interactive movie. Because the book has more depth. Also, I always watch movies with the subtitles on anyway :p

EDIT: I see you discovered what I was talking about. I thought I was clear, apologies if I was not.

Have fun :)

That does sound a bit disappointing. Based on this, I think I'll pick up the DLCs for the first one before venturing on to Deadfire...

As long as I can flip a switch and only have initial greetings voiced.

Cut corners? It's a both a design and budget decision. Having some lines non-voiced allows for having the same line having several variations which are chosen depending on factors like reputation and past actions. You get different lines of dialogue depending on if you're known as "benevolent" or "aggressive", or people will or will not refer to you have yet completed the "save the village" quest. I found this pretty impressive playing PoE.

The next thing is that the same line of text might need different readings depending on the situation: An NPC might be relieved (if you are known as benevolent hero) or shaking with fear (if you are known as cruel thug). In writing this is easily established by a single paragraph at the start of conversation. With VO you would need to have the same line spoken several times with different inflection - or use a "neutral" VO - which could actually be detrimental to the experience.

While maybe the total amount of text in one playthrough is roughly the same in PoE and D:OS 2, the total amount of possible lines is several times higher in games like PoE. Although I read somewhere, that while the number of dialogue steps is comparable in PoE and D:OS 2, what's three lines in latter are more like three paragraphs in the former...

And then there's the problem that good voice acting costs... There's things like budget and time to consider. Not to mention that once VO is recorded the lines are pretty much set, while no VO allows for tinkering and polishing the dialogue until release.

So in the real world you simply can't have everything, you have to make concessions to time and budget restraints. Game designers have to make decisions what they are aiming for (in this case either a tremendously complex dialogue system or full VO).

It's fine to voice your opinion that you are not happy with the decision and would like they had done things differently. Accusing the devs of "cutting corners" is not.