So bout that HORN-OVER

Sukishoo·Feb 25, 2015·4 votes·2,015 views

Yup, you heard it, bard is another champion that doesn't speak, he blows dat horn

15 Comments

The Red WardenFeb 25, 20156 votes

This could have just been his special effects but instead we lose the voice-over a part that has been crucial to understanding champions because of the lack of lore. If we just get the standard 3 sentences for Bard, then he will have no character and just serves as a mechanics object instead of an actual person.

In my opinion the Voice/horn over is a failure because unlike other champions or even Rek'sai this leaves us with barely any insight into the character. We already have lots of champions whose mysteriousness serves as one of their main themes (Jax, Aatrox, Amumu, etc.)

OneMoreDaySKFeb 25, 20151 votes

Eh, I think the bigger problem is the lack of interaction between champs nowadays and the stagnancy of the narrative.

Baron Von BanginFeb 25, 20151 votes

Wow, third thing in a row WITHOUT a real voice over, Rek'Sai, DJ Sona and Bard. Riot is getting reeeaaallly lazy lately. I seriously don't get it.

The Red WardenFeb 25, 20151 votes

DJ sona actually does have a voice it is just jumbled a bit though so that the lines fit perfectly into a song.

Rek'sai is meant to fully fulfill the primal beast theme so it makes since that she is voiceless (though why other Void creatures talk and she doesn't is a mystery). The various growls and sounds are each very different though so you can get some since of emotion from her.

Bard is what feels lazy to me. His VO is basically just his sound effects. Now because of the lack of lore the VO has been a necessary tool to get a hold of a champions personality but because of how Bard's VO is, that becomes impossible. We will probably only get a 3 sentence bio and without a VO Bard is basically limited to a game-play component who has no actual character.

SukishooFeb 25, 20151 votes

Yeah. DJ Sona is just a remix of her audio, so she speaks... just it's all mixed up, and they didn't give her a new voice over like they did for the other ult skins but it still works.

Baron Von BanginFeb 25, 20151 votes

Sorry, I think she says "metronome" somewhere in there. Riot said it was supposed to be based on Draft Punk, but you can understand them, unlike the new Sona skin. I figure its just easier to use your already on staff sound guy over a professional voice actor.

SukishooFeb 25, 20151 votes

You can hear her say Metronome as like I said it's just a remix of her audio but all of it isn't 100% clear. However Riot did say it was actually done the way it was so that you could focus more on the music rather then her talking. This is also why when using the skin, a script is running that makes her "audio" not play as often.

Baron Von BanginFeb 25, 20151 votes

That's fine. THey can have their reasons, just like I'm sure they have their reasons for Bard just being a horn (so we can focus on his Meep gathering). But to be it just boils down to them being lazy. THey were perfectly capable of adding a synthesized voice to Sona that fit her music and didn't play as much so the player could "focus on the music", but they took the easy route and just sound edited already existing audio files.

Baron Von BanginFeb 25, 20151 votes

Honestly it just feels like a cop out to me. Seriously, of the last three "voiceovers" Riot has put our they've all been unintelligible. That's pretty bad. By my standards I don't count DJ Sons. Its her old lines jumbled up the player can't understand them. And I'm not even counting Gnar in those three.

It's just plain laziness, there's nothing else to it. There's plenty of ways to fulfill those fantasies with intelligible voiceovers. But apparently they're going the way of champion dance emotes: minimal and lazy.

BlackSunNocturneFeb 25, 20151 votes

[{quoted}](name=Baron Von Bangin,realm=NA,application-id=aAJWt2b9,discussion-id=F1ZXb6oj,comment-id=000100000001,timestamp=2015-02-25T06:33:26.280+0000)

Honestly it just feels like a cop out to me. Seriously, of the last three "voiceovers" Riot has put our they've all been unintelligible. That's pretty bad. By my standards I don't count DJ Sons. Its her old lines jumbled up the player can't understand them. And I'm not even counting Gnar in those three.

It's just plain laziness, there's nothing else to it. There's plenty of ways to fulfill those fantasies with intelligible voiceovers. But apparently they're going the way of champion dance emotes: minimal and lazy.

"Meddler: Bard will be the last champ without a voice for a little while at least. Something we identified last year was that there was some cool stuff we could do with non verbal champions. Original plan was to space Rek'Sai and Bard out a bit so they weren't back to back, in part because of the lack of voice lines, these release times ended up being better for other reasons though."

-cough-

Also, doing the audio like Bard's is harder to do than just recording dialogue from a sound perspective. You have to create it all, as opposed to adding layered effects on a person's voice.

[{quoted}](name=Baron Von Bangin,realm=NA,application-id=aAJWt2b9,discussion-id=F1ZXb6oj,comment-id=0001000000000000,timestamp=2015-02-25T06:42:29.560+0000)

Sorry, I think she says "metronome" somewhere in there. Riot said it was supposed to be based on Draft Punk, but you can understand them, unlike the new Sona skin. I figure its just easier to use your already on staff sound guy over a professional voice actor.

You can understand French? Because none of the singing in Daft Punk's music is Thomas Bangalter or Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo. It's either other musicians, or vocoders. That and maybe Sona's voice actress was unavailable to do recording for the new skin?

Baron Von BanginFeb 25, 20151 votes

Fine. Meddler can say that Bard is the last champ for a "little" while that doesn't actually have a voice over. That doesn't invalidate the fact that Riots past three major releases all lack a real, spoken voice over.

You might wanna cover your mouth when you type the "cough" in. Don't wanna spread your germs.

And doing Bard's voice isn't any harder. In fact it's easier. Riot has a sound guy/staff on salary already on working (I guarantee you Riot pays salary based on the hours a game company will have you working). He's getting paid the same amount no matter what. If Riot has to bring in Erik Braa to do Vek'koz's voice or whatever, they have to pay the actor PLUS the guy editing the voice. But by having Bard just be a horn you only pay the sound staff to blow a horn and edit it, that way you get to cut out having to pay those pesky actors.

And no. I don't understand French and I fail to see how that's relevant. Last time I checked Get Lucky, One More Time, "Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger", Da Funk, Lose Yourself to Dance, Robot Rock, and Around the World (to name some of Daft Punks' more popular songs) all have understandable lyrics that go with their song, it doesn't matter if it's Thomas Bangalter or Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo, there's stil la voice in their song that you can understand and it not gibberish. I would have been fine with almost anything for DJ Sona's voice over, provided it was an actual voice over and not just a bunch of noise.

BlackSunNocturneFeb 25, 20151 votes

Bard is clearly a Tripod from War of the Worlds (those opening noises)

Also, look up Princess Mononoke.... or any Studio Ghibli film. Bard seems to be heavily inspired by them and the mystical beings in them rarely "talk" in a traditional sense.

My issue with it is that he only has three and a half minutes of audio, whereas Rek'sai has 7.

OneMoreDaySKFeb 25, 20151 votes

Personally, I'm waiting for a skin that features him playing a Tsungi Horn. Very calming and whimsical, his current one is.

SukishooFeb 25, 20151 votes

Yeah I could see that.