If the mod had a stomach, it would undoubtedly be Gorr. Zora would be its heart, and Qa’Dojo would be its mind. If the mod had a soul, however, it wouldn’t be any of its signature characters. It would be a quiet, stuttering girl roaming the empty halls of the Winking Skeever, begging for a chance to be heard. Asteria may be its lungs and Gnives its toes, but Fironet will always be its soul.
Fironet is life imitating art, and art imitating life. She was inspired by some of the early auditions I received for other characters – every stuttering, uncomfortable person wanting a chance – partially annoyed with the sound of their own voice. Fironet is performed by an actor, alienslikechocolate, who had never voiced a character before. Fironet’s song is the one bard tune that is unoriginal, which Jay33721 tirelessly constructed without having the musical background of Giramor or Arisen1. Fironet embodies everything about the mod’s infant stages, and perhaps modding projects in general. Made by amateurs, but made with passion.
That’s what we all are, until someone with money says otherwise. Amateurs. Dream chasers. They say this generation more than any other is obsessed with celebrity. And why not? I imagine being a celebrity is awesome. Yet I suspect it has nothing to do with a generational shift or a rewiring of the universal consciousness. More people chase fame for one simple reason. Fame is no longer whizzing away in a high powered Italian automobile. Fame is overweight, has cheetos on his breath and is riding a segway. In the past, the amount of talent, opportunity, and dumb luck required to make it was astronomical. Today, becoming a celebrity, even a temporary one, doesn’t seem so unrealistic. Fame is accessible. Fame can be caught.
Like Fironet, many of us aren’t sprinting after it. We aren’t buying new sneakers and training every day to shorten the gap. It’s just there, in front of us, so we might as well reach for it. And when our fingers sort of scrape at its back, some of us may get enough courage to jog.
Perhaps some of Fironet’s aspirations were my own, as well as every actor, writer, or sound guy who auditioned for this mod. Still, even with the mod’s limited success, it didn’t take me long to figure out that I couldn’t go to a restaurant and demand their finest table, no matter how many times I showed the maître d’ a printout of my Nexus page. Listen Pierre, I am someone important. What do you mean you’ve never heard of Interesting NPCs? Do you even Google?
That is to say, if I didn’t believe this was something of substance, I would have quit the day the police dragged me out of that restaurant. While celebrity and substance are not mutually exclusive, few ever achieve both. Most learn to stomach having one without the other.
If she had to choose one, Fironet would choose substance. For someone as demure as she is, achieving fame without recognition would be an interminable nightmare. Her biggest fear is that she’s just good enough to get attention, and just bad enough to embarrass herself. Yet with every endorsement, her voice gets a little crisper, a little louder, to the point it begs to be heard, even if she isn’t a fan of her own voice.
Alienslikechocolate did a great job voicing her. I’m quite surprised this was her first ever role.
I have about 100 mods installed so I forgot completely I had Interesting NPCs. I was talking to her and she was so compelling (and I NEVER really care to talk to NPCs) I had to look her up. Good job, I actually cared about a NPC in a game.
Same here. I walked into the Winking Skeever after a couple cave raids. And she stutters out of nowhere. Instantly captivated. I thought she was a new npc from the dragonborn dlc.
I really can’t believe this was her first voice acting. She sounds so… Innefable.
Since I started playing this mod, all the characters taught me something. Most, about myself.
But this girl… She’s become one of my favorite ones, in the podium of my favorite ones. Zora and Serana are the others (in no particular order.)
I hope she gets more lines. She’s wonderful.
Great job, just like always… And cheers to Alienslikechocolate. Wonderful.
…The NPC’s of this mod have been pretty hit or miss for me. That being said, Fironet became if not my favorite, at least my top 5 NPC’s in all of skyrim. Modded or not.
First, you have the ability to remove NPCs you don’t like via the console. “Setstage DialogueFironet 500” for instance, turns Fironet into clutter and fails any related quests. You control what NPCs are in your game. See this video for further details.
Second, you should always be specific with your feedback, because that’s how things get improved. You mentioned Fironet as a “hit,” but who missed? More importantly, why? Otherwise, I can’t really evaluate if changes need to be made.
Her voice is different from the vanilla NPCs and it’s very noticeable. Her voice isn’t as loud and it seems to have been recorded with a regular microphone.
You can turn her into clutter with the console command “setstage dialoguefironet 500.” It will give her a vanilla voice.
As an older NPC, I have thought about replacing her actor. But I would be crucified for it as she’s pretty much beloved by everyone. For instance, the person who I was replying to hated all the NPCs EXCEPT Fironet.
Given the complainers will never agree on anything, I’ve given you the power to remove them yourself. Use it. It will take less time than it took you to write your comment.
ah, so that’s why her voice sounds so different. i was wondering why… why don’t you get a new voice actor and then allow people to use a fix to retain her old voice instead? you could make her marriageable and more.
I walked into the Skeever after a long day and the first thing I hear is Fironet testing out the old vocal cords. And it reminded me of nothing so much as the opera singers in Thief Gold’s “Song of the Caverns” mission. Always a treat. :)
hmmm, you should just put a hot_fix for those who want to retain her old voice, so that you can move on. maybe, they will like the new version better. can i just disable her? i don’t think she’s involved in any of the quest and each time she talks to me, it’s like a stab to my heart. i don’t really care that her voice acting isn’t on par, but her voice is so much different.
You can disable her, but the setstage is a more ideal solution because other characters will make reference to her.
She does have a very small part in a quest as well. So the setstage should fail that but I’m not entirely sure as she might not need a voice for the quest to function. That’s why the Setstage is so much better than the disable option, because a lot of times it leaves the quests intact, and if it doesn’t, you’ll know exactly what quest has failed because it’ll tell you in big bold letters.
I’m also going to try and see if I can get in contact with the original actor. Sometimes their mic situation does improve.
or maybe just audition people and take someone who sounds like her before skyrim becomes less popular and less people will be willing to do the voicing for skyrim mods.
man i swear i even tried to play with the sound settings just because it’s that annoying when you hear a voice that seems to be out of place completely.
Or another thing you can do. Separate the project into multiple files. One file for each city so that the quality can stay consistent within each “sub project”, because right now the quality is all over the place. Some have very good quality and some don’t at all. It will allow you to move forward continuously instead of backtracking all the time and redo the voices of many characters.
You can do this yourself. At the start of your game, remove every NPC you don’t like. Use the videos as a guide. You’re still complaining about a voice when you should be complaining about your own inability to disable or enter a console code. Your finger should be pointed at the mirror.
Because your request isn’t feasible. The NPCs are all connected. They are conditioned to check if you’ve spoken to them. They refer to each other, they talk to each other, and interact in quests together. If the mod were built like you say, everyone would be quarantined in their own little box. A quest that involved two NPCs would depend on you having both mods installed, and one dependent on the other. Pretty soon, every NPC is dependent on someone else, and you end up having to install them all anyway.
Even if it did work, it would be a ridiculous amount of effort on my end to satisfy a small portion of nitpicky users, who will never be able to agree on what sounds good and what actors they like. But if I give you the power, you can make your own decisions. If I fail the quests, there’s no worry of breaking anything. Even if you wanted to remove EVERY NPC except 1, it would take you what, an hour? Two at the most? I’ve been working on this for 2 years for free.
My time and focus of the mod will always be on improving the full version for the people who enjoy the full version.
Lastly, if you think many of the characters need to be re-done, I wholeheartedly disagree. Trust me, I am fully aware of what needs to be replaced and what doesn’t. Fironet was on my list due to the recording quality (I still believe her performance encapsulates the beauty, uncertainty, and soul of a volunteer, and a volunteer project), but I don’t think it’s nearly as bad as you suggest, and ultimately I was still weighing the feedback. Given how popular she is, this is not something I’m going to do just because 1 person doesn’t like her and end up pissing off 1000. And I’m going to give the original actor every opportunity to fix the flaws in the recording.
In fact, I’m pretty much aware of everything in this mod. I can probably name all 200 NPCs off the top of my head and tell you exactly what makes them imperfect. I can also tell you why those voices should stay, and why in some cases compromises had to be made. This is a mod project. We are not a multi-million dollar corporation. We are not even a thousand dollar corporation. The budget is zero dollars. These people are volunteers, with every day jobs and lives sacrificing time and money to give you something for free. And for that reason, sacrifices must be made (More so back then, but even today when the mod is popular). Maybe one actor lives in a house with vaulted ceilings, and there might be some slight room echo. But if the voice, acting, and quality of the mic are outstanding, I’m not going to choose the bad actor with the studio over her. If the role is 2000 lines, I’m going to choose the reliable actor who will get it done promptly over the great actor who will take years before they bother to do 100. Ultimately, you have to make these kind of choices. It’s very hard to check all the boxes, and only a handful of people in the world can do it. And they won’t do it for free.
If you’re the type of person who can’t deal with anything less than studio quality performed by Oscar-winning actors, or can’t be bothered to use the console code to tailor the mod to your expectation, then it’s best you uninstall.
Actually, the only one I really think is bad is Fironet as of now. It’s not her voice acting. I am not that nitpicky, but like I said it’s the quality of her voice man. Also, I don’t think I can just disable her. If I just turn off her voice, it will also break immersion whenever I click on her.
It won’t turn off her voice. The console code will give her a vanilla voice type. She will say hello/goodbye like any other NPC, with a vanilla voice.
Hey, nevermind. Can you make a mod that adds a random event where a high level fully voiced champion rides a dragon and comes down to duel you?
Scripting and special effects aren’t really my forte.
the guy who does arghus is a genius
And like most top tier actors, extremely busy. He did the first 50 lines of 200 lines and has disappeared for 2 months. So I may have to replace him, but I’m willing to wait it out.
So when people say, why can’t you get this actor to do more roles? Well, in many cases, I have to grind through a year of waiting just to get them to do the 1.
I just encountered Fironet. Wish she was a follower. She is a mix of timidity and passion. Love it. Her voice was amazing, especially when she sang. Good job my man!