If they invest in greater production values, I'd love to see voice-acted in-universe quotes by the faction leaders and famous heroes, like the ones found in Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri. A short, well-acted snippet of text for new technologies, the first time a given improvement is constructed, and for important events such as the first colony or the first space battle, would add a lot of character to the game. Those blurbs where one of the greatest successes in world building for Alpha Centauri back in the day, and I still remember some of them.

Short animations for the greatest achievements (founding the galactic market, building a wonder, launching your first large battleshipt...) would be another welcome addition, but the voice-acting would be the first step, in my opinion.

Endless Legend already has excellent voice acting, it's just that there is not very much of it. The narration for the intro cinematics of the Necrophages and the Forgotten in particular are chilling, but the other ones do not lag far behind. If they could take that a step further and implement that same voiceover in the faction quest and maybe even an outro cinematic... well, let's just say it'd be grand.

Oh, I didn't mean to say the current voice actors are bad. It just that there is so little of it.

I like these ideas, especially the intro/outro one. Perhaps adding to it; maybe some defeat animations to make losing an empire in the galaxy so much more rewarding to those who accomplished it, and terrifying for those who didn't.
I've seen, across the internet, defeat images from Endless Space 1, but I've never experienced them myself... That's not to say I've never lost, I have, but I've never been eliminated from a game. If that's where they're displayed.

But I can imagine custom 'movies' playing depending on the way you win, or lose. Witnessing the fall of your empire should you be eliminated, or the unparralled advance of another empire while yours is left to serve. Demoralizing, yet epic.
I get giddy just thinking about them~

In terms of voice acting... not too sure - I mean, if we look at it from an Endless Legend direction - most notably Necrophage Heroes' idle animations; they screech, so you know there is an army nearby. Perhaps fleets or ships give off signals / radio chatter / humming (or slooshing in case of the Amoeba, should they return) that are audible relative to the camera.
Though I guess that's not really voice acting... I would adore seeing the flavour text for technologies voiced though. That'd be amazing, much like what Civilization games do.

Hiyouren wrote:
Though I guess that's not really voice acting... I would adore seeing the flavour text for technologies voiced though. That'd be amazing, much like what Civilization games do.

I hope they improve the flavour text of technologies, in Endless Space they were very lackluster technobable and Endless Legend wasn't much better. I think the problem is the approach:

- Amplitude seems to subscribe to the view that the flavour text should describe the tech, possibly explain how it works in a technobable sort of way "reversing the polarity of the flux capacitor..."

- Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri had a different approach. The flavout text desribed the reactions of society to the possibilities/threats raised by the newly discovered tech, or demonstrated the personality of the factions. Pic very much related, we aren't told how it works but have a quote that perfectly illustrates the Hive's opinion on the technology.

Yeah, the defeat screens were extremely emotive so imagining how great outros/win/lose animations would look gets me hyped.

SMAC actually contained the same kind of technobabble if you clicked the little button on the bottom right of the tech window. However, I definitely agree that the leader quotes were the truly important part of the tech descriptions. That is the kind of addition I would like to see.

Likewise - Having not played that game, I was more thinking of Civ Beyond Earth's 'diaries' whenever you level up in an affinity. Similar to the leader quotes - which I really like, by the way.

Beyond Earth tried to follow SMAC's approach. The intro to BE was fantastic but in my entirely subjective view the other lore was somewhat lacking. Pandora is another 4X that tried to walk in SMAC's footsteps and I think it did very well with the lore.

I definitely agree on voice-acting. It's what brings a game to life if done well. In SMAC you truly had the impression that people like Morgan or Sister Miriam were actually people since they not only appeared as in-game characters but also lent their voice to various tidbits related to techs, discoveries and events. This is what some games which tried to go the VA route forgot. you had either some annoying voice speaking from the off or a mostly silent game interrupted by characters speaking to you. However if you incorporate these characters then *boom* every aspect suddenly feels connected and not just added to the game.

In my opinion the UI design is another thing. The flat Metro'esque design of the UI in the Endless games so far are fine and functional, they are strictly adhering to the ease of use principle with all their well-arranged elements on the screen. But they could be enhanced by UI artwork which adds flavour and to the immersion overall. I think a lot games play like gamified apps rather than a game due to their strict and flat UI design. Distant Worlds and the Endless series are somewhat standing most out here. Nice games, but cold and dry UI.

Well, looking at the faction reveal trailers, we definitely got some improvements in the voice acting department.

24.8.2016: An interesting interview with SEGA on the acquisition of Amplitude.

It's somewhat reassuring to read that SEGA has a more hands off approach.

That's good, considering the fact that a lot of fans on STEAM are angry about this acquisition.

SEGA has quite the negative reputation when it comes to the games they publish. A lot of good but unfinished games got pushed out before they were ready just so SEGA can get those sweet profits for their shareholders.

Basically, studios like Amplitude have no say whatsoever now that SEGA controls the metaphorical wallet.

Falkner wrote:

24.8.2016: An interesting interview with SEGA on the acquisition of Amplitude.

It's somewhat reassuring to read that SEGA has a more hands off approach.

Thank you for posting this. I much less worried about this now.