hot take is that I think they can… if applied well. I think about some of the shopkeepers in Skyrim or the Witcher, the background NPCs that only have 1 line. Those are characters that AI could really enhance.
However, I do not think that it means executives can start firing actors right and left. The shopkeeper in Oxenfurt would be great with AI to help, ask it things like “What’s going on in town?”. Yennifer or Dandelion would not.
I don’t think it’s such a hot take to say that this AI stuff would work best when only used on the random background NPCs that offer no services and have nothing to do with any quest or story. It definitely would feel more alive if all those random people walking down the street and driving cars were not super predictable robots that basically had only two states.
Depends who you ask. Personally, I think AI is fine if used ethically, and I think that’s an ethical case - as long as the voice actor is compensated for their voice.
But AI can do voices, too…
Not from scratch - just like with other AI models they are created by mixing together a bunch of existing voices.
Removed by mod
I work for Belethor, at the general goods store
This is after Skyrim already lost me for having the same 3 voices for every npc
I’m more interested in seeing this kind of tech applied to low-budget community efforts like OpenMW, where it could help close the gap between Free Software games and AAA ones.
OpenMW
All the NPCs just shouting “n’wah” at you
Man, I feel like I’m getting old. I know there’s many people who gush over these kind of graphical advancements, but I’m just thinking, if I want to look at reality and get depression, I can just go outside. Give me something interesting. A novel experience. I don’t need to play Talking Simulator 2025.
Plus, Outside has had a weird bug recently where old storylines are being repeated, and the devs have buffed top players in response for some reason.
Not the lesson I think they should have taken away from watchdogs: Legion…
I always wanted to punch Like Barinholtz in the face, and Noe, with the game used as the reference photo, I actually can!
