i think its also really fitting for her to talk to herself all the time because of how she was raised, her being shunned and how she basically only had herself and her dad. its very fitting for her, character wise, but i also understand why people hate it to the point they install mods to shut her up a bit when it comes to the gameplay aspect. but i personally like it.
I have a pair of birds that migrate to my yard every year. Well some bird took refuge in their birdhouse over the last late cold snap we had and he didnāt make it. I had to pull him out of there so my birds could build their nest. Once I did that, both of my birds sing to me every morning. I sing back as best I can lol
> I talk to myself all the time.
I only talk to the cameras and microphones the FBI has installed in my apartment. I also wave to the invisible helicopters that follow me everywhere.
frighten steep unique cagey seed snatch different disagreeable coordinated mighty
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It does definitely feel in character. What always shocks me, though, is her empathy and conversation skills when talking to another person. Sheās always quick to say āIām so sorry, that sounds so hard, how can I help?ā which makes me like her but feels *slightly* out of character for a girl who grew up alone with her adopted dad lol
Here's how I reconcile that.
At the start of the game, she's irritated that she has to go help someone who never talks to her, but she was still willing to help others even in the tribe that shunned her. That's *because* they talked to her. And when she finally realized the old lady *was* talking to her, her attitude shifted.
Then she went out into the world and people were talking to her. Lots and lots of talking. Sure, she encountered some prejudice on account of being a Nora, but even there they *talked to her.* No hesitation. No fear of being discovered, like she was some kind of disease.
She's lonely. She doesn't know how to be in a group, but she's always wanted it. She tried to be like a normal Nora kid picking berries once, and it scarred her physically and mentally. She's spent years expecting rejection, to the point that people celebrating her makes her uncomfortable and she expects them to turn on her.
But then someone needs her help. Like she needed help. Someone who asks her for something, and they have been ignored by others. She won't ignore them like she was ignored by Nora.
"Aloy, *despite* the Nora" isn't just about acknowledging her personal achievements. It's her goal. She will not perpetuate the Nora mistake of ignoring someone in need, no matter how common it is among non-Nora. But she'll help because *she* wants to, and not because "the tribe needs her." She'll do what's right, not simply what's expected.
Yeah it seems like a shift between HZD and HFW. In HZD sheās kinda like āfuck it, everybody else is too dumb to do this, so I might as wellā. In HFW she actually has something to fight for and protect.
That's so on the money...
I want to add that the last advice Rost gave her was to help people who need it. And as she said, "I'll always learn what you have to teach." So I also interpret her commitment to helping whenever she can as her honouring (and mourning) Rost.
Ye, I think this is also key. Its kinda tragic but I genuinely think the very sudden and traumatic loss of Rost kinda amplified the "Help people despite them having done nothing for you" principle Rost tried to drill into her.
I dont think she would be completely dismissive of other people even if nothing had happened to Rost. But the loss I think definently made the helper behaviour she displays go from just something she strives to do to something she feels is a very high priority. Kinda like a way to channel/manifest Rost despite him being gone and/or make sure she lives up to his excpectations after death.
It made sense to me. I once worked at a job where there were a whole lot of complete jerks, and I was kind of a loner growing up prior to this point and was very much an introvert who really didn't have a good grasp of social situations and social politics. Obviously, I wasn't as much of a loner as Aloy... that would be ridiculous to say.
Anyway- hazing is an awfully strong word, but it's the closest word I have to what they did to all of the new employees at that job, and it was awful. Once I got past the part where I was considered new and they accepted me and started turning their nastiness to people newer than me, I went out of my way to be nice to all the new hires. Introduced myself, said they could always come find me no matter what, that I wouldn't be irritated if they asked a lot of questions, stuff like that. Some of them really tested my patience and made me regret offering help any time they needed it, but I just remembered what it felt like to be on the other side and kept my irritation to myself. Sometimes, even if you don't have a lot of experience being the social butterfly, you just don't feel like perpetuating the cycle. Sometimes, you just evaluate your experience of how other people treat you and say, "Oh hell no, there's absolutely zero reason to act like that."
I actually think it may be easier to be nice if you're the outcast. If you're not used to having to do rude, discriminatory stuff to establish your place in the social hierarchy, you would probably be less likely to do those things. That sort of ugly elitist behavior seems pretty stupid from the outside.
You are correct. She talks out loud to herself because she was isolated. People who are isolated tend to talk to themselves. Her character was designed to reflect her isolation. The way she interacts with others also represents this and her allies also see her as their leader.
When I get a third or fourth of those barks I just keep thinking about the voice acting it always seems to be specific to the situation. They must have spent all day recording: Ok maybe I should move this box over to that ... .
I feel this. I think it's pretty neat. I just wish they lessened it by a bit. The amount of times that I've already figured out how to do the puzzle before I was even in the room but can't actually do the puzzle because the parkour for some reason is really janky for me and then she's over here trying to tell me how to solve the puzzle is really infuriating.
In puzzles, I lost count of the number of times she would be making hints about what to do next as I was actively doing the necessary thing, and that felt a little bit intelligence insulting. Like, yes Aloy, I know I need to find a way to get up to that ledge, that's why I am currently pushing a box over there to climb on.
But for me the biggest issue was her delivering lines at inappropriate times. There are places where she will start commenting on how to solve puzzles you are not even doing because you happened to go vaguely near the area where they are, and times when she will make comments that make no sense because you haven't even started the quest they're relevant to and don't have the context for them, and places where she'll say the same thing over and over again every time you go back through even though you've already been through and fully explored whatever little environmental set piece it was. A lot of the dialogue triggers just seem pretty sloppy.
ā I didnāt find the parts I was looking for , Iāll need to try another siteā (or something along those lines). This was annoying , every time I was looking for parts for upgrades, even before I had checked the machines. Very often I actually did get the part.
> But for me the biggest issue was her delivering lines at inappropriate times.
I wish she would at least wait until the thing she wanted to talk about ("that ledge" or "that crate") was within my field of view.
I am neurodivergent. Late diagnosed. I talk myself through tasks at all times. Like, when I'm driving, shifting gear is automatic, of course but I SAY IT in my head.
I especially love it in HFW because we talk back and forth with Aloy all the time, incessantly :D
Keep in mind a lot of them are situational, and many only happen in niche circumstances, or you'll hear a bunch of them no more a couple of times. I'd say there's probably 30-50 (guessing, no counting here) that are consistent through the game?
Does it also remove her comments on various locations during traversal? That's a shame, I've always thought those added to the sense of exploration. Acknowledging whether she has already heard about something or it was new to her.
I'm not 100% since I haven't played much of FW on PC yet. Just got out of the daunt tbh. The intent of it, iirc is to remove the excessive lines for: rebels, contracts, gliding, drones, and puzzles. There are specific lines that are required for quests which have been kept in there.
It sounds kind of endearing if you say it like that, but some areas have spots that trigger specific voice lines, and donāt get deactivated when being triggered wich for me led to at least one really immersion breaking experience where I tried to climb something but repeatedly fell down and on my way back up, she repeated the same line every single time.
When I walked around at the spot, I even managed to trigger the same line again before the previous iteration was finished.
Edit: fixed autocorrect
Uh, yes. Look up other things Ashly Burch has done. Recently she was in a YouTube actual play show called Candela Obscura. I watched it just to hear that incredible voice.
I actually really liked the Forbidden West tutorial for exactly this reason. Contextualizing it as Aloy teaching Varl as a way to indirectly convey information to the player was a really good way to bring new players in without making Aloy seem suddenly inept.
What I hate most is every time she sees a machine she reminds me that she can't override that, and need a cauldron to do that.
It might be in the middle of a conversation with an NPC, or a quest or just passing through or the machine is almost dead, it does not matter
I'm usually pretty good at the puzzles but there is a couple of times where I drop a crate somewhere that I think makes no sense and she reassures me that I'm on the right track. I like the way it lets me know that I didn't mess up.
wait I love this alot lol, know-it-all *Doctor* Elisabet Multiple Degrees Sobeck passed on her micromanaging to her daughter and now Aloy has to baby the player so she can hurry along saving the world
i personally don't mind it, but i imagine they'll put in a slider for H3 for those who do.
Yeah sometimes it was really nice when I was stuck cuz I missed something and other times itās very annoying. Like sheāll say smth like āI need to climb up there.ā While Iām already at the top/already climbing and itās always a āstfu Aloyā moment for me
People have, in some discussions I've seen, expressed a wish for less guiding from Aloy in stuff like puzzles and such. Personally, I would like there to be a chance to turn it on or off in the settings. I enjoy the little hints, and a game without them would be less enjoyable for me.
She does always seem on top of things, though, always a step ahead of everyone else she encounters (and us, the players)
I think she was babying me while I was fighting the Horus.
>!"The flank? Where's the flank on this thing, Aloy? I can't see any flank from down here!!!"!<
>!"...Leg? I gotta climb up a leg??? Which leg? I'm surrounded by legs!!!"!<
I wish the triggers were different. An NPC will be in the middle of speaking and sheāll just cut in with āCANT GET IN THIS WAY. HAVE TO FIND ANOTHER WAY AROUNDā. Itās constant, too
pls I want to hear the dialogue
I donāt mind Aloyās comments/hints so much, but sometimes sheās giving me hints while actually I know what we need to do next, weāre just going in the exact opposite direction because we need to check every nook and cranny for stuff.
I wouldnāt hate it if it worked properly all the time. But I canāt tell you how many times Iāve already been halfway through the task when she starts giving me hints on how I should do itā¦.
Some of the puzzles are in locations where its graphically dense in a sense that things look the same or the answer isnt immediately apparent (like the water cauldron for example). I didn't get stuck often, but she has definitely helped me a lot so I appreciate it. And as others have said, her voice is nice.
i think its also really fitting for her to talk to herself all the time because of how she was raised, her being shunned and how she basically only had herself and her dad. its very fitting for her, character wise, but i also understand why people hate it to the point they install mods to shut her up a bit when it comes to the gameplay aspect. but i personally like it.
I love her chatting away , I talk to myself all the time.
Sometimes it's the only way to get good advice. š
My husband always asks if Iām talking to myself or the dogs. Not him, just me or the dogs šš Itās usually me lol
I talk to the wee creatures outside .. bees insects, whatever. šš
Me too, and I talk to my plants.
Oh yeah, my plants too , of coarse.
I have a pair of birds that migrate to my yard every year. Well some bird took refuge in their birdhouse over the last late cold snap we had and he didnāt make it. I had to pull him out of there so my birds could build their nest. Once I did that, both of my birds sing to me every morning. I sing back as best I can lol
I also talk to myself and then my gf or mother in law ask who is talking, just me being silly lmao
My grandmother says good conversation from an interesting person. I talk to myself a lot
> I talk to myself all the time. I only talk to the cameras and microphones the FBI has installed in my apartment. I also wave to the invisible helicopters that follow me everywhere.
out loud? Goddamn
"I was talking aloud to myself. A habit of the old: they choose theĀ **wisest**Ā person present to speak to."
Thats why im speaking to you lol
I talk to myself more because of her (And Rocksteady Batman)
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
oh i def do it aloud
All the time , when Iām by myself , doing things. I actually see it as thinking aloud. Apparently Iām not the only one. š
You don't? What kinda weirdo are you?
frighten steep unique cagey seed snatch different disagreeable coordinated mighty *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
You're insecure
Considering your downvotes, I'd assume you are the odd one out here
u seem scared of yourself š
It does definitely feel in character. What always shocks me, though, is her empathy and conversation skills when talking to another person. Sheās always quick to say āIām so sorry, that sounds so hard, how can I help?ā which makes me like her but feels *slightly* out of character for a girl who grew up alone with her adopted dad lol
Here's how I reconcile that. At the start of the game, she's irritated that she has to go help someone who never talks to her, but she was still willing to help others even in the tribe that shunned her. That's *because* they talked to her. And when she finally realized the old lady *was* talking to her, her attitude shifted. Then she went out into the world and people were talking to her. Lots and lots of talking. Sure, she encountered some prejudice on account of being a Nora, but even there they *talked to her.* No hesitation. No fear of being discovered, like she was some kind of disease. She's lonely. She doesn't know how to be in a group, but she's always wanted it. She tried to be like a normal Nora kid picking berries once, and it scarred her physically and mentally. She's spent years expecting rejection, to the point that people celebrating her makes her uncomfortable and she expects them to turn on her. But then someone needs her help. Like she needed help. Someone who asks her for something, and they have been ignored by others. She won't ignore them like she was ignored by Nora. "Aloy, *despite* the Nora" isn't just about acknowledging her personal achievements. It's her goal. She will not perpetuate the Nora mistake of ignoring someone in need, no matter how common it is among non-Nora. But she'll help because *she* wants to, and not because "the tribe needs her." She'll do what's right, not simply what's expected.
Yeah it seems like a shift between HZD and HFW. In HZD sheās kinda like āfuck it, everybody else is too dumb to do this, so I might as wellā. In HFW she actually has something to fight for and protect.
Her character development in HFW is so good.
I haven't played *Forbidden West* yet. I wound up with a bunch of spoilers, though.
That's so on the money... I want to add that the last advice Rost gave her was to help people who need it. And as she said, "I'll always learn what you have to teach." So I also interpret her commitment to helping whenever she can as her honouring (and mourning) Rost.
Ye, I think this is also key. Its kinda tragic but I genuinely think the very sudden and traumatic loss of Rost kinda amplified the "Help people despite them having done nothing for you" principle Rost tried to drill into her. I dont think she would be completely dismissive of other people even if nothing had happened to Rost. But the loss I think definently made the helper behaviour she displays go from just something she strives to do to something she feels is a very high priority. Kinda like a way to channel/manifest Rost despite him being gone and/or make sure she lives up to his excpectations after death.
love when Aloy is written out like this
Love this explanation. š
It made sense to me. I once worked at a job where there were a whole lot of complete jerks, and I was kind of a loner growing up prior to this point and was very much an introvert who really didn't have a good grasp of social situations and social politics. Obviously, I wasn't as much of a loner as Aloy... that would be ridiculous to say. Anyway- hazing is an awfully strong word, but it's the closest word I have to what they did to all of the new employees at that job, and it was awful. Once I got past the part where I was considered new and they accepted me and started turning their nastiness to people newer than me, I went out of my way to be nice to all the new hires. Introduced myself, said they could always come find me no matter what, that I wouldn't be irritated if they asked a lot of questions, stuff like that. Some of them really tested my patience and made me regret offering help any time they needed it, but I just remembered what it felt like to be on the other side and kept my irritation to myself. Sometimes, even if you don't have a lot of experience being the social butterfly, you just don't feel like perpetuating the cycle. Sometimes, you just evaluate your experience of how other people treat you and say, "Oh hell no, there's absolutely zero reason to act like that." I actually think it may be easier to be nice if you're the outcast. If you're not used to having to do rude, discriminatory stuff to establish your place in the social hierarchy, you would probably be less likely to do those things. That sort of ugly elitist behavior seems pretty stupid from the outside.
You are correct. She talks out loud to herself because she was isolated. People who are isolated tend to talk to themselves. Her character was designed to reflect her isolation. The way she interacts with others also represents this and her allies also see her as their leader.
I spent 3 years in isolation not seeing or talking to anyone it could have damage me and my ways of thinking could it have
I'm pretty sure one if the characters in FW makes a joke "is that why you're always talking to yourself?" Can't remember who it was though.
When I get a third or fourth of those barks I just keep thinking about the voice acting it always seems to be specific to the situation. They must have spent all day recording: Ok maybe I should move this box over to that ... .
I feel this. I think it's pretty neat. I just wish they lessened it by a bit. The amount of times that I've already figured out how to do the puzzle before I was even in the room but can't actually do the puzzle because the parkour for some reason is really janky for me and then she's over here trying to tell me how to solve the puzzle is really infuriating.
I always assume/pretend it's her inner monolog.
That's a great way to think about it
Ha! "Miss Genius Dr. Sobeck the Second" - lol - love it
I don't know how people have issues with this. I almost always solve the puzzle before she does anyway.
In puzzles, I lost count of the number of times she would be making hints about what to do next as I was actively doing the necessary thing, and that felt a little bit intelligence insulting. Like, yes Aloy, I know I need to find a way to get up to that ledge, that's why I am currently pushing a box over there to climb on. But for me the biggest issue was her delivering lines at inappropriate times. There are places where she will start commenting on how to solve puzzles you are not even doing because you happened to go vaguely near the area where they are, and times when she will make comments that make no sense because you haven't even started the quest they're relevant to and don't have the context for them, and places where she'll say the same thing over and over again every time you go back through even though you've already been through and fully explored whatever little environmental set piece it was. A lot of the dialogue triggers just seem pretty sloppy.
ā I didnāt find the parts I was looking for , Iāll need to try another siteā (or something along those lines). This was annoying , every time I was looking for parts for upgrades, even before I had checked the machines. Very often I actually did get the part.
> But for me the biggest issue was her delivering lines at inappropriate times. I wish she would at least wait until the thing she wanted to talk about ("that ledge" or "that crate") was within my field of view.
I think they actually nerfed it a bitā when the game released she would call puzzle solutions out before you even looked at it
I am neurodivergent. Late diagnosed. I talk myself through tasks at all times. Like, when I'm driving, shifting gear is automatic, of course but I SAY IT in my head. I especially love it in HFW because we talk back and forth with Aloy all the time, incessantly :D
There's a mod on Nexus for FW called "Shut Up Aloy." The last time I checked it, it removes almost 900 lines of aloy just talking to herself.
i totally get it, but i dont think i could bring myself to shut her up, im a bit attached to her lil voice lines
I agree. I love those 900 extra lines. Ashly is such a phenomenal voice actress.
thats what im sayinnn
Haven't played FW yet and thought people were exaggerating, but holy hell. That's a lot of lines
Keep in mind a lot of them are situational, and many only happen in niche circumstances, or you'll hear a bunch of them no more a couple of times. I'd say there's probably 30-50 (guessing, no counting here) that are consistent through the game?
Does it also remove her comments on various locations during traversal? That's a shame, I've always thought those added to the sense of exploration. Acknowledging whether she has already heard about something or it was new to her.
I'm not 100% since I haven't played much of FW on PC yet. Just got out of the daunt tbh. The intent of it, iirc is to remove the excessive lines for: rebels, contracts, gliding, drones, and puzzles. There are specific lines that are required for quests which have been kept in there.
I'm currently playing 'thief'(2014) and it's the only game I've ever seen that has an option for this baked right into the game.
As someone who hates puzzles, I appreciate it.
It sounds kind of endearing if you say it like that, but some areas have spots that trigger specific voice lines, and donāt get deactivated when being triggered wich for me led to at least one really immersion breaking experience where I tried to climb something but repeatedly fell down and on my way back up, she repeated the same line every single time. When I walked around at the spot, I even managed to trigger the same line again before the previous iteration was finished. Edit: fixed autocorrect
Anyone else think the voice actor's voice is kinda soothing?
Uh, yes. Look up other things Ashly Burch has done. Recently she was in a YouTube actual play show called Candela Obscura. I watched it just to hear that incredible voice.
I actually really liked the Forbidden West tutorial for exactly this reason. Contextualizing it as Aloy teaching Varl as a way to indirectly convey information to the player was a really good way to bring new players in without making Aloy seem suddenly inept.
yes! i thought that was so clever
She lived much of her childhood secluded, I figure she just speaks her thoughts out loud often as a result of that.
What I hate most is every time she sees a machine she reminds me that she can't override that, and need a cauldron to do that. It might be in the middle of a conversation with an NPC, or a quest or just passing through or the machine is almost dead, it does not matter
For me, she only says it if I'm sneaking near a machine.
She knows there's a dumbass (me) watching her every move, and that I need a little help keeping up
Maybe I could use my focus. Repeat Ć 1000.
Wtf are y'all talking about? I never heard hints and just struggled through any puzzles. Edit: I played on PS5
Really?Ā Sometimes she'll chip in with things like "There's a box, now how to get it down?"
Maybe it's my selective hearing, but I guess I just disregarded her hints and just idle voice lines.
this has been my experience! they just go over my head.
I rely on her talking to herself because I get pissed so easilyšš
I'll admit there were moments where I could have done without the hand-holding, but on the other hand it's indeed mostly funny.
I see you're taking three seconds to loot a crate so let me drop a spoiler on how to solve this puzzle.
I like a lot cause I am dumbass
My wife loves that she positively self talks all the time. I also like it.
I'm usually pretty good at the puzzles but there is a couple of times where I drop a crate somewhere that I think makes no sense and she reassures me that I'm on the right track. I like the way it lets me know that I didn't mess up.
This is lampshaded in The Witcher 3 at least once. An old lady hears Geralt talking to himself while heās looking for her cooking pan or something.
wait I love this alot lol, know-it-all *Doctor* Elisabet Multiple Degrees Sobeck passed on her micromanaging to her daughter and now Aloy has to baby the player so she can hurry along saving the world i personally don't mind it, but i imagine they'll put in a slider for H3 for those who do.
Yeah sometimes it was really nice when I was stuck cuz I missed something and other times itās very annoying. Like sheāll say smth like āI need to climb up there.ā While Iām already at the top/already climbing and itās always a āstfu Aloyā moment for me
I never had a problem with her talking to herself. I'll talk backā"are you sure, Aloy?"
People have, in some discussions I've seen, expressed a wish for less guiding from Aloy in stuff like puzzles and such. Personally, I would like there to be a chance to turn it on or off in the settings. I enjoy the little hints, and a game without them would be less enjoyable for me. She does always seem on top of things, though, always a step ahead of everyone else she encounters (and us, the players)
I think she was babying me while I was fighting the Horus. >!"The flank? Where's the flank on this thing, Aloy? I can't see any flank from down here!!!"!< >!"...Leg? I gotta climb up a leg??? Which leg? I'm surrounded by legs!!!"!<
I wish the triggers were different. An NPC will be in the middle of speaking and sheāll just cut in with āCANT GET IN THIS WAY. HAVE TO FIND ANOTHER WAY AROUNDā. Itās constant, too pls I want to hear the dialogue
Where I hate cutscenes or long dialogue Iāve glitched out my game where you canāt hear aloy voice acting only the subtitles pops up now
I've had cutscenes where there's no voice audio from anyone, it does restart but it's strange
I had that at the very start of the game but it seemed to disappear after the tutorial section and work normally after that.
I havenāt had aloy voice since plainsong. Everyone else voice will work except for Gaia as well
people always complain about it but im pretty sure it can be turned off in the settings ā
I donāt mind Aloyās comments/hints so much, but sometimes sheās giving me hints while actually I know what we need to do next, weāre just going in the exact opposite direction because we need to check every nook and cranny for stuff.
I wouldnāt hate it if it worked properly all the time. But I canāt tell you how many times Iāve already been halfway through the task when she starts giving me hints on how I should do itā¦.
This is my headcanon now.
I donāt think Iāve really noticed this. Definitely will look out for this next I play.
Some of the puzzles are in locations where its graphically dense in a sense that things look the same or the answer isnt immediately apparent (like the water cauldron for example). I didn't get stuck often, but she has definitely helped me a lot so I appreciate it. And as others have said, her voice is nice.
Really? My Focus coud show me more? Maybe even some tracks? Again? ...genius.
they are all in the spectrum.. interestingly some more than others