Author: Ashtar Ventura

One of the key reasons classic text-based RPGs such as the legendary FFVII were/are so powerful:

The ability to enter your own name as the protagonist (“cloud”), in a text-based RPG, enables the game to speak to the role-player’s conscious mind, subconscious mind, and unconscious mind.

This powerful key feature is *absolutely* absent from modern voice-acted RPGs and the remake.

I’ve said before that they should at least attempt to use modern voice synthesis which is able to SPEAK the player’s name, alongside the voice acting. This is the only way to even get close to such dimension of what an RPG is supposed to feel like. A role-player could even use their own voice to train a “deepfake” machine-learned “A.I.” voice for the protagonist.

in the case of the original FFVII in particular for example, the game exploits this further by eventually revealing to the role-player that “cloud” is not who he thinks he is, his memories of his past are false, and he falls into the life stream and has to find his “true self”.

You were telling people before that you were EX-SOLDIER 1st class …? No… that was Zack… remember? Zack died… you picked up his sword though … that wasn’t you in that old photo you remember … that was also Zack …

Thus, the role-player experiences “oh… this is who i really am”, and continues the role-playing game from there.

This is of course even more effective to younger players as they may still be developing their sense of “true self” and identity in the real world.

In various parts of the game, a high frequency constant tone may sound like tinitus, the screen may flash, fade or suddenly switch to a pure black or pure white screen, then dialogue text appearing, speaking to the role-player’s mind, akin to an inner voice inside one’s head, but other times as an external voice speaking into the mind … JENOVA? Sephiroth? Cloud’s consciousness? Are you a puppet? Hmm? Who are you? Are your memories real?

In this way, it was a true masterpiece which exhibits and exploits techniques which yield powerful experiences and effects to the role-player which is impossible for voice-acted RPGs to achieve… unless they implement realistic voice synthesis to speak the role-player’s inputted name, and exploit “deepfake” machine-learning for the protagonist to mimic their real voice.

so, when will we get good voice synthesis for RPGs? machine-learned player voice? wen FFVII remake voice synth mod? enter your real friend’s names as the other party members? train their voice etc?

let’s mosey
(where to? the knowlespole? or temple of the ancients? let’s maybe talk to the JENOVA’s witnesses, where have all the Cetra people gone anyway… ?)