By now, anyone who has done any research into Guild Wars 2 knows about the voice over work, and has probably been very impressed. The game as a whole, even in its current pre-beta stage, has been dropping jaws across the world; the work ArenaNet has done on the voiceovers alone has been an extensive reason for that. Even better, the Guild Wars community got a firsthand look at the creative process (not to mention meticulous hard work) that goes into these voiceovers, as we followed Peter Fries on his journey to Burbank, California for a two-week recording session.

All of this has kept the Twitter and Facebook feeds fed, but there’s a portion of the gaming community as a whole who are asking if voiceovers are actually good for their games, especially in lieu of the recent big-name release which also touted voice over acting as a big headliner feature (I was able to play that particular game when it was still in beta, and while I found it fun and interesting, I could see the concerns I’d read on various forum posts: eventually, the voice acting gets old.).

Mind you, it’s not entirely fair to compare these two games, especially having only had hands-on experience with one of them. But the comparison is still there, whether it’s in the back or the front of the players’ minds. And honestly, these voiceovers could be completely different. Judging by the demos, they appear to be shorter and a little more concise.

The important thing to consider is whether or not ArenaNet has enabled a “space bar” feature, where antsy head-bashers can skip any dialogue they don’t want and move on. The MMO genre is a melting pot of different play styles, making this a necessity – a player’s worst nightmare is an unskippable cinematic. Overall though, it’s safe to say that voiceovers have been an improvement to our gaming experience. It takes immersion to a whole new level, and allows the true idea and design of the story to unfold in a natural, realistic manner. The time spent playing the game suddenly shifts from a simple pleasure to an experience. The only drawback with so much immersion is the possible lack of hygiene and eating…

Uh, can someone read this to me?

Luckily, ArenaNet probably has human degeneration in their best interests, so an assumption can be made towards the length and balance of frequency in the cut scenes and conversations. The focus won’t be on showmanship of development, it will be on making the player feel as though they’re actually involved with the world on a personal level, and that they’re doing something truly important. The shine of these cinematics appear in the subtle things; a good example are the cut scenes from the original Guild Wars, when many players first saw their character in the scene complete with actual gear and customizations.

All of this boils into one enveloping question: is voice acting the next benchmark for our next-gen games? A large portion of the answer lies in the success of Guild Wars 2. The reaction from the previously mentioned other recent release was so mixed, it’s hard to filter true state of the game, as it were. To some, voiceovers are just the current flavor of the market, and will fade into obscurity; to others, it’s finally a breath of fresh air in a disputably “stale” genre. For everyone, the test of time and the beauty of execution will be the final judges, and with Guild Wars 2 being the second big-name, fully-voiced title, it will have to answer to both. Until then, all gamers can do is speculate.