The Finals Open Beta began on October 26 and will continue till November 5, 2023. It is an upcoming free-to-play arena shooter coming to PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S and PC. The game is set to release this year, with no definite release date revealed so far.
The game seems like it is aimed to be an eSports title. With The Finals Open Beta now out currently, it is making good numbers on the Steam charts. If numbers are to go by, it seems like there is plenty to love about the game.
The Finals was announced in August 2022 and it is both developed and published by Nexon subsidiary Embark Studios. The game focuses on team-based matches on environmentally-destructible maps.
The first closed beta before The Finals Open Beta took place between March 7 to March 21, and the second one between June 14 to June 21, 2023.
Alongside all the praise for The Finals Open Beta, there seems to be AI Commentary in the game, which players do not like. To provide context, The Finals focuses on people competing in a televised virtual combat show. It also features holographic crowds as part of the experience.
AI Commentary From Announcers in the Finals Open Beta Is Unpleasant
The game certainly looks promising in terms of graphics and also in terms of the fast-paced gameplay mechanics. However, the fact that announcers and commentators for The Finals Open Beta is entirely powered by AI, doesn’t seem to bode well for the game.
It feels like an incredible attempt at making a competitive, free-to-play FPS game with a destructible environment. Sadly, given the setting of the game, commentators are inevitable. On top of that, using AI for the task gives a very pineapple-on-pizza feel—a unique dish with an unwelcome topping, as per many fans.
So I guess The Finals is going with AI voices…? pic.twitter.com/PIAbR43ZrT
— Gianni Matragrano (@GetGianni) October 28, 2023
It is worth noting that the announcers’ voices seem very lifeless in The Finals Open Beta, and one can instantly figure out that they are AI-generated. The enthusiasm seems as made-up as it gets, and the intonation looks pretty forced. The annoying alliteration and rhymes are straight-up obnoxious, to say the least.
In a snippet of a Podcast titled Meet The Makers | The Finals: Audio shared by voice actor, Gianni Matragrano, on Twitter, the Audio team revealed and shared their reasons for using AI instead of real voice actors for announcers.
One of the team members said:
The thing is we use AI with some exceptions. All the contestant voices,… both our commentators are AI text-to-speech.
Talking about vocalisations which involve certain respiratory sounds related to player movement. He continued:
For things we call vocalisations like player breathing, vaulting, jumping… That’s something we use us in the studio to record.
Stating the reasons why the team went with AI text-to-speech instead of using real voice actors. The team member revealed that:
The reason that we go this route is that AI text-to-speech is finally extremely powerful. It gets far enough in terms of quality. It allows us to be extremely reactive to new ideas.
He continued, citing an example:
… For instance if a Game Designer comes up for a new idea for a game mode. We can have voiceover representing that in just a matter of hours instead of months.
He also went on to say that using AI voices eliminates the need to use temporary or placeholder voices, which then need to be replaced.
All the Game Modes in the Finals Open Beta
In The Finals Open Beta, the following game modes are featured:
- Unranked Tournament
- Ranked Tournament
- Quick Cash
- Bank It
In the first two modes, four teams of three set out in an attempt to find the most cash by looting cashboxes and depositing them. Quick Cash is a casual-friendly version of the first two with three teams of three. It also has faster respawns and looting times.
Bank It is another casual-friendly mode with four teams of three battling it out to collect the most coins.
The Finals Open Beta is now available on PC, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S.
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