Line #133 Main/VoiceGrunting


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4	->''"HYAA!!!"''
5	-->-- '''Link''' in just about every ''Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda'' game
6
7	Voice acting is ubiquitous in video games today, but in the old days, when budgets were smaller, sound hardware was more basic, and disk/cartridge space was limited, developers relied on text where story was emphasized. Figuring that some of the drama was lost when a potentially emotional scene was pantomimed like a silent movie, the developers had to get creative. Generally, there are two solutions to this problem.
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9	One form is the use of beeps at various pitches syncing to the text, generally speeding up or slowing down depending on how quickly the speaker is talking. More creative sound designers will use different sounds for individual characters to give a sense of variety and a voice to otherwise soundless dialogue. This method was common in the 16-bit era but has mainly fallen out of practice among modern games with at least a modest budget, though this style can still be found among indie and role playing games as a homage.
10
11	The other workaround for games with a higher budget is to employ brief, character-specific voice clips over the relevant text boxes. Examples: "Yeah!" over "Alright, guys! Let's do it!"; "Oh no!" over "I can't believe I was fooled for so long!"; "Aaaaaaaaah!" over any number of alarmed outbursts; and the ubiquitous grunts, battle cries, and double-takes when facing down a boss. This type of voice grunting is often featured in games that have a handful of key scenes that are fully voice acted.
12
13	A third, somewhat less common method can be combined with either of the above. Characters, particularly party members and important bosses, would have full sentences or shouts during battles, with a victory quote or two. This way, players can still get a grasp on a character's voice without having to go through the trouble of creating clips or sounds in regular dialogue, though again combinations of these three have been used.
14
15	Not to be confused with a particular stage teenage boys tend to go through.
16
17	Compare SpeakingSimlish, when Voice Grunting is turned into a ''language''. Also compare MusicalInstrumentVoice, where characters are "voiced" by musical instruments or synthetic tones.
18
19	----
20	!!VideoGame examples:
21
22	[[foldercontrol]]
23
24	[[folder:Action Games]]
25	* Every cutscene in the ''VideoGame/WarioWare'' series with the exception of ''[[VideoGame/WarioWareGold Gold]]'', which uses full voice acting.
26	* In ''VideoGame/CopyKitty'', characters use various pitches and mechanical sounds in their textboxes. Boki, being a [[CatGirl Kitera]], speaks in high-pitched squeaks and mews. Savant has a lower-pitched chattering sound since he's an insect. The delivery person AKA Lymia, has a softer, high-pitched chirp to match her GenkiGirl personality. The commander of the Constructs (Supreme Thremnat) speaks with metallic beeps that are replaced with loud clanging sounds when he's furious, [[NoIndoorVoice which is often]]. As of version 3.1, Exchikkes speak in jumbled, pitch-shifted murmurs [[EnemyChatter that grow more distressed or quiet]] as you destroy their comrades.
27	* The first two ''VideoGame/StarFox'' games utilized this for the Arwing pilots, though there were a few actual voice clips here and there (most notably at the beginning of the game). Every game from ''VideoGame/StarFox64'' onward (aside from "VideoGame/StarFoxCommand") has been fully voice-acted.
28	[[/folder]]
29
30	[[folder:Action-Adventure]]
31	* In every 3D ''Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda'' game since ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaOcarinaOfTime'', all characters of importance (and some lesser ones) will do this, be it a laugh, grunt or a single word (Why hello there, Navi). The only pre-''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaBreathOfTheWild Breath of the Wild]]'' exceptions are [[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTwilightPrincess Midna]] and [[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaSkywardSword Fi]], who have full lines of [[SpeakingSimlish gibberish]] that are picked at random each time the line is said.
32	** Link is so famous for this trope, some people can find it jarring if they see media where he ''actually speaks'' (even in text!).
33	*** The GBA remake of ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaALinkToThePast'' utilized this to the point where it got rather irritating. The original game only had standard [[AudibleSharpness sword]] sounds, but the GBA remake had the poor guy yelling so much you'd wonder why his vocal cords weren't screwed up for life.
34	*** In addition to his usual grunts and screams, Link also says "Come on!", "Hey!", and "[[ItMakesSenseInContext Meow!]]" in ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTheWindWaker''.
35	** Used as a case of subtle foreshadowing due to SignificantDoubleCasting in ''Ocarina of Time''. [[ItWasHisSled Sheik is Zelda]] and thus the two share a voice actress.
36	** In ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaSpiritTracks'', when Zelda learns that the BigBad has taken her body and intends to [[DemonicPossession possess it]], she gives a very audible "Iyaaaaaaaa!" (That's Japanese for BigNo.) Presumably it was left alone in the various translations of the game because it could be understood as just a generic "Eeeyaaaaugh" scream.
37	** Even though ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaBreathOfTheWild'' is the first game in the series to have full voice acting during cutscenes (not counting [[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaCDIGames the CD-i games]], which are CanonDiscontinuity), most of the lines still feature this trope instead of being fully voiced, with Link himself having zero lines of spoken dialogue. Only main characters[[note]]King Rhoam, Impa, the Champions, the "new Champions," and Zelda[[/note]] get full voice-acted cutscenes.
38	* ''VideoGame/{{Geist}}''. Only during cutscenes will people actually say all their lines. Soldiers will generally have "Sir!" if you're inhabiting a man, "Ma'am." if you're inhabiting a woman, and "Hey boy!" [[BodySurf if you're inhabiting a dog]]. Gigi will always say "Raiiii-mi" or giggle. In one particular case when you're possessing an engineer, his irritable boss says "Walters!" each and every time you talk to him.
39	* Par for the course in any VideoGame/LegoAdaptationGame. ''VideoGame/LEGOBatman'', for example, involved many scenes where Batman just goes, "HMMM!" As of ''LEGO Batman 2'' onwards, they're SuddenlySpeaking.
40	* ''Franchise/{{Metroid}}'': Samus rarely speaks, only vocalizing screams when she dies in the mainline games, and grunts of exertion or pain in the ''Prime'' series. Though to be fair, given that she's usually exploring by her lonesome, she wouldn't have anyone to talk to regardless.
41	** Samus does have a tendency for internal monologue, though these were never voice acted until ''VideoGame/MetroidOtherM''. ''VideoGame/MetroidPrime'' also had [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xG4ei3it8B0 intro narration]] that was ultimately [[WhatCouldHaveBeen unused]] in the final game.
42	** She gained a few short voice clips as taunts for ''[[VideoGame/SuperSmashBros Super Smash Bros. Brawl]]'' upon the introduction of her Zero Suit form as a fighter, which would be reused in all subsequent ''Smash'' games.
43	* ''VideoGame/HenryHatsworthInThePuzzlingAdventure'' uses this, but most characters (oddly enough not including Henry) have one legible phrase they'll throw in at the ends of their sentences. Cole has "guv'ner", [[AbhorrentAdmirer Lady D]] has "Yoohoo!", and so on. Weaselby, most noticeably, has an EvilLaugh.
44	* In ''VideoGame/{{Okami}}'' all the characters seem to be speaking like they are drowning (yes, even when standing on the land!) while the text appears at the bottom of the screen. Amaterasu just barks, whimpers, growls, and howls.
45	* Characters in ''VideoGame/AHatInTime'' normally have full voice acting, but the Mumble Badge reduces their dialogue to this instead. Evidently the devs of the game are ''not'' fans of this trope, as the Mumble Badge is one of two badges to have flies circling it in the menu and be described by the Badge Seller as one of his "terrible badges that people inexplicably buy". The only other one to get this treatment is the awful [[OneHitPointWonder One Hit Hero Badge]] useful only for {{Self Imposed Challenge}}s.
46	[[/folder]]
47
48	[[folder:Adventure Games]]
49	* ''VideoGame/ZackAndWiki''. Grunts and squicks, as WebAnimation/ZeroPunctuation put it in his review.
50	* ''VideoGame/{{Starbound}}'': {{Non Player Character}}s grunt when they say something (with the actual dialogue supplied in a speech bubble), with the sound dependent on their race and gender. Humans tend to make high-pitched squeaks, Florans growl, and Glitch make bleeping noises.
51	* In ''VideoGame/DetectivePikachu'', important humans and Pokémon have voice clips when talked to, with the Pokémon speaking in PokemonSpeak.
52	[[/folder]]
53
54	[[folder:Fighting Games]]
55	* This is everywhere in fighting games. For older fighting games most of the in-game voices were grunts and CallingYourAttacks, but more modern fighting games have more voice lines to add some variety. For more realistic fighting games like WWE games or anything that has character customization, it's much more prominent.
56	* [[GuestFighter Link]] in ''VideoGame/SoulCaliburII'' was rather memetic for this. Most of the characters have at least a few [[FountainOfMemes highly quotable]] lines, but for Link ''all'' his voice lines were grunts and yells, and people noticed.
57	[[/folder]]
58
59	[[folder:First-Person Shooter]]
60	* There's a very simple reason why the bog-standard enemy soldiers in the ''VideoGame/{{Quake}}'' series are called ''Grunts''. In fact, most of the humanoids and other creatures in the ''Quake'' games make ''some'' sort of random unintelligible sounds, but nothing complex enough to be considered as any sort of a language.
61	* In ''VideoGame/TeamFortress2'', if your previously chatty buddy is reduced to spamming default voice commands, odds are that they are an enemy Spy.
62	[[/folder]]
63
64	[[folder:Platform Games]]
65	* Most ''Franchise/SuperMarioBros'' games since ''VideoGame/SuperMario64'', with a few exceptions.
66	** There's one line in ''VideoGame/PaperMarioTheThousandYearDoor'' where we hear Peach yell "Oh no!", over a text box reading the same. Mario himself has, as usual, a few lines like this, particularly with "Oh yes" and "M'hm". The UsefulNotes/NintendoSwitch gives characters individual voice sounds. For example, Luigi's "voice" sounds just like Creator/CharlesMartinet's portrayal of him, where Koops sounds like a Koopa.
67	** ''[[VideoGame/MarioAndLuigiSuperstarSaga Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga]]'' and the subsequent ''VideoGame/MarioAndLuigi'' games have the plucky plumbers SpeakingSimlish (of a [[AsLongAsItSoundsForeign vaguely Italian-sounding]] nature) with a few English phrases such as "Oh yeah!" or "Oh No!" thrown into the mix.
68	** ''VideoGame/SuperMarioSunshine'' features full voice acting for Peach, Toadsworth, and the Toads. Bowser and Bowser Jr. also talk for the first time in the (main) series. Mario himself is a lot more chatty in [[DummiedOut unused voice cues]].
69	** Kamek and Baby Bowser speak in dialogue boxes, accompanied by a "wallawalla wallawalla" sound effect in ''[[VideoGame/YoshisIsland Super Mario World II: Yoshi's Island]]''.
70	** To evoke the feel of games such as these, ''WebAnimation/SuperMarioBrosZ'' uses the same technique (notably, Mecha Sonic's voice clips are supplied by [[Anime/DragonBallZ Cell]]).
71	** Toads in ''VideoGame/SuperMarioGalaxy'' utter a little "Oh, no!" when giving bad news.
72	** ''VideoGame/SuperPaperMario'' plays around with Mario's voice clips a little bit. At one point, Tippi asks Mario some yes-or-no questions. The clip of "Oh, yeah!" is played for affirmative answers, and the clip of "No, no, no" is played for negative answers.
73	** When the Mario Bros. find Peach in ''VideoGame/MarioAndLuigiBowsersInsideStory'' in Bowser's stomach, the princess yells out "Mario!" and "Luigi!" over a text box with the same words.
74	** The first ''VideoGame/MarioVsDonkeyKong'' game has Mario speaking in full lines.
75	* Featured in handheld ''Franchise/{{Castlevania}}'' games: ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaHarmonyOfDissonance'', ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaAriaOfSorrow'', ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaDawnOfSorrow'' and ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaPortraitOfRuin''.
76	* In ''[[VideoGame/MikuMonogatariYumeToTaisetsuNaMono Miku Monogatari : Yume to Taisetsu na Mono]]'', the creator used the [[Music/{{Vocaloid}} Vocaloids']] voicebanks to make voice clips. Tako Luka in particular uses a very high-pitched voice of Luka Megurine.
77	* Most dialogue in ''VideoGame/MischiefMakers'' takes the form of text boxes with [[SpeakingSimlish accompanying beeps at varying pitches]] representing characters' "voices", but Marina and most other important characters have several exclamations or other short lines of actual voice acting. Some of these are surprisingly distinctive, like Lunar's "Eat lead!" or Marina's "STOOOOP!" and her "Shake Shake" though that one is said during gameplay rather a cutscene.
78	%%* ''VideoGame/{{Iji}}''.
79	* In ''VideoGame/{{Portal}}'', Chell will scream if hit by a cube that damages her but does not kill her. Other than that, she does not speak, even when being shot by Sentry Guns (or we might not be able to hear her over the bullets). She grunts if hit by bullets. And there is at least one sound clip that [=GLaDOS=] claims has her speaking. If it is her speaking, no wonder she doesn't talk that much.
80	* ''Franchise/SonicTheHedgehog'':
81	** The Wii version of ''VideoGame/SonicUnleashed'' makes Sonic sound like he's dropping a massive turd every five seconds.
82	** The first ''Sonic Rivals'' game also makes use of it. The sequel (which is much, much larger) has fully-acted voice lines over the text boxes instead.
83	** ''VideoGame/SonicGenerations'' also includes this for Sonic's pals when talking to them in the overworld.
84	** Also in ''VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog2006'', whenever you talk to an NPC.
85	* ''VideoGame/{{Zeliard}}'' uses beeps for dialogue in cutscenes and building screens, but not for narration or talking with [=NPCs=] in towns.
86	* ''VideoGame/JakAndDaxterThePrecursorLegacy'' used this for the mute-at-the-time title character; much akin to Zelda, he would grunt when jumping, performing attacks, and generally any action/reaction event during gameplay.[[note]]This made it rather silly when spinning in the air, as he'd shout a cacophony of "Hya-Hoo-Hwua-Hya!" during his descent.[[/note]] In the Japanese language track, he was given several more expressive vocalizations at certain moments. In the sequels Jak decided to start talking, so his gameplay grunts were replaced with air-whooshes and wisp sound effects.
87	* The voice acting in ''VideoGame/RogueLegacy'' is limited to nondescript shouts when the player is attacking and grunts of pain.
88	* ''VideoGame/ShovelKnight'''s dialogue boxes are accompanied by beeping noises approximating the speakers' voice. Specter Knight's beeping sounds metallic and ethereal, Plague Knight's is high-pitched ("hee, hee!"), diving suit-wearing Treasure Knight's is metallic and [[HornyVikings Polar Knight's]] "voice" is appropriately gruff, among other examples.
89	* Mari, Jowee, The Mayor, Wilfre, and the child Rapos from ''VideoGame/DrawnToLife'' all have voice bytes with various exclamations. They range from sighs and laughter to short words ("Hey you!" "Oh no..." "Wapo!" etc.) and each of the listed characters have several sound clips for various emotions. They even sigh when you close the DS and cheer when you open it back up!
90	* Dallin and Unicorn from ''Videogame/WillYouSnail'' have dialogue accompanied by voice grunting (i.e. sighs, gasps, etc.) for emotive effect. Meanwhile, the player character, Shelly, has no dialogue but will still make chirping sounds when jumping and pained cries when dying. The only character who is an exception is the BigBad, Squid, who has full voice acting.
91	[[/folder]]
92
93	[[folder:Point & Click Games]]
94	* ''VideoGame/TheHex'': Every character has VoiceGrunting. Weasel Kid, Bryce and Lazarus have low-pitched grunting, Chandrelle's voice grunting is feminine-sounding, the old barkeep and Rust have low but slightly raspy voice grunting. Sado's voice grunting is noticeable for changing every sentence.
95	[[/folder]]
96
97	[[folder:Puzzle Games]]
98	* ''[[VideoGame/QuiltsAndCatsOfCalico Quilts & Cats of Calico]]'': When you initiate a conversation with the [=NPCs=], their voice clips play at their first line of dialogue.
99	[[/folder]]
100
101	[[folder:Role-Playing Games]]
102	* Ludger from ''VideoGame/TalesOfXillia2'' is the closest thing the ''Tales'' series has to a SilentProtagonist. He [[CallingYourAttacks calls his attacks]] in battle, says short answers like "yes," "right" and "got it," and occasionally grunts or gasps during skits and cutscenes. Nothing else. Though, there is an option to give his dialogue trees voice acting in NewGamePlus.
103	* All [[VideoGame/GoldenSunDarkDawn three]] ''VideoGame/GoldenSun'' games. Hilariously, the third game didn't do a thing to resolve the ViewerGenderConfusion over Rief, who used a high-pitched voice squeaking usually reserved for girls.
104	* This is actually the ''only'' type of voice acting in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXI''. No words, just grunts.
105	* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVI'':
106	** During the opera performance, the performers' singing is rendered as vocal grunting.
107	** Kefka's famous {{Evil Laugh}} is voiced, which probably contributed to its fame. Uwehehehehehe!
108	* The ''{{VideoGame/Izuna\|LegendOfTheUnemployedNinja}}'' games have a lot of this, though the sequel does have a small amount of actual voice-acting as well.
109	* The ''Franchise/BaldursGate'' series is an especially odd example. Some dialog is fully voiced, but most of it is only partly voiced, with just the first sentence or page of dialog being spoken in a conversation.
110	* ''VideoGame/RuneFactory3'' has voice clips for everyone, mostly short phrases that correspond with what they're talking about ("Sorry" and "Hello" and the like). A few of the plot-important cutscenes are voiced, but not all of them.
111	* ''VideoGame/IllusionOfGaia'' has characters with differently pitched sounds accompanying their dialogue, with each character even having a different text color.
112	* ''VideoGame/TheWorldEndsWithYou'' does this during every instance of textboxing. There isn't any form of beeping or booping, but there are little snippets of dialogue, laughing (or girlish giggling in Joshua's case), grunting, gasping or any other one-second sound a human can make as well as little questions and phrases like "Ask Away" or "Alright. It's Time". For really important moments, the game breaks out cutscenes with full dialogue.
113	* ''VideoGame/{{Mother}}'':
114	** ''VideoGame/Mother3'' uses bleeps with different pitches to indicate the voice of the current speaker.
115	** Also, in its predecessor, ''VideoGame/{{EarthBound\|1994}}'', when you name the characters, the confirmation noise is a clip of creator Creator/ShigesatoItoi saying "Okay desu ka?" ("Is it okay?")
116	* In ''VideoGame/ValkyriaChroniclesII'', some scenes are full voiced out, but most of the minor scenes have Avan saying "I'll do it!" even when it doesn't make sense.
117	* ''VideoGame/SkiesOfArcadia'' includes a few short lines for each character used in random circumstances.
118	* ''[[Franchise/ShinMegamiTensei Persona]]'':
119	** While ''VideoGame/{{Persona 4}}'' features full voice acting in most of the cutscenes, things like talking to VA'ed characters outside of cutscenes and in Social Link scenes will just have them chime in with short voiced snippets from time to time. You know you've almost completed a Social Link when the character gets particularly talkative.
120	** ''VideoGame/{{Persona 5}}'' also uses this trope outside of cutscenes. However, all characters have full voice acting in the first and last scenes of their Confidants. [=NPCs=] also speak with audible voices to each other when the protagonist is in their vicinity. A returning feature from the [[VideoGame/{{Persona 1}} first]] [[VideoGame/Persona2 two]]/[[OneGameForThePriceOfTwo three]] ''Persona'' games is that enemies (unbound Personas) can be [[BefriendingTheEnemy persuaded during battle to join the team as Personas]], and they also have their own voice clips when talking to the protagonist.
121	* ''VideoGame/KingdomHearts358DaysOver2'' and ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsCoded'' (the DS remake) both use this during the in-game rendered cutscenes. The [=FMVs=] use full voice acting, though.
122	* This is the only voicing you'll hear in ''[[VideoGame/MagicalVacation Magical Starsign]]'', and only as exclamations during battles.
123	* While there is some full voice-acting during the animated cutscenes in ''[[VideoGame/{{Boktai}} Lunar Knights]]'', most other instances of consists of grunts and short phrases during dialogue.
124	* ''VideoGame/DragonAgeOrigins'' does this when you order characters around outside of cutscenes, and in combat. Notably, Alistair seems to do his "Alright, let's go!" thing every. Single. Combat. The game lets you choose from several voices per race for your character, but all they are ever used for is voice grunting and short quips when you order your own character around.
125	* All of the non-generic characters in ''VideoGame/FireEmblemAwakening'' have these in the "short voice clips" form.
126	* In ''VideoGame/TheTwistedTalesOfSpikeMcFang'', every character talks with different-pitched beeps.
127	* In ''VideoGame/MonsterHunter'', the player characters make grunts in the same way [[{{Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda}} Link]] does. You can even choose from several different voices for your character to grunt in!
128	* ''VideoGame/{{Undertale}}'' lacks voice acting, though a small handful of scenes feature a short voice clip, every major character has a unique "voice". Some of these "voices", including the one on the GameOver screen, belong to characters you only actually get to meet much later.
129	* Similarly to [[VideoGame/{{Undertale}} its predecessor]], ''VideoGame/{{Deltarune}}'' has no voice acting (except for some short voice clips for [[spoiler:Jevil and Spamton]]), opting to use this instead (including the original voice grunts of the characters from the previous game).
130	* ''VideoGame/TrailsSeries'':
131	** ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfHeroesTrailsInTheSky'' only has this in battle, on the party selection screen, or as a victory quote. The text sounds don't distinguish between characters, it can be hard to tell what a character's supposed to sound like with so little to go off of. Subverted with Kloe, she actually has a bit more to say in battle with some full sentences. Kevin also has a distinctive voice that even [[DarkerAndEdgier changes]] to reflect his [[StepfordSmiler mood]] as ''The 3rd'' goes on. Blessed with a much larger budget, the Evolution remakes have full voice acting in every story scene. Characters also get voice acting in Alternative Saga, a crossover fighting game with ''VideoGame/{{Ys}}''.
132	** ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfHeroesTrailsFromZero'' and its sequel ''Trails to Azure'' use the second method. Scenes are mostly silent, but occasionally characters will react in plot-important scenes with "Understood!", "Got it!", "Thank you!", and the like, combined with ''Sky'''s use of battle quotes. When characters have full sentences and are directly speaking with one another, something big's about to go down. The ''Evolution'' remakes also provide full voice acting in story scenes as with the above.
133	** ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfHeroesTrailsOfColdSteel'' and its sequels have a lot of voice acting and there's plenty of CallingYourAttacks, but this doesn't stop this from being used a fair amount in battles, probably as a stylistic choice. Rean tends to do it a fair amount, particularly when using his Spirit Unification ("ogre power"). Angelica is another character that does it a fair bit.
134	* In ''VideoGame/FairyFencerF'', your characters will often voice grunt once they've reached enough tension to [[SuperMode fairize]], though they'll just as often as not simply say something.
135	* Sister series ''VideoGame/{{Neptunia}}'' has a large variety of quips and short phrases in battle that keep the girls a chatty bunch in dungeons. A few characters even have jokes and banter with each other if you leave them be. In ''VideoGame/HyperdimensionNeptuniaUActionUnleashed'', while confirming/canceling characters to select or during loading screens, each character has something to say.
136	* In ''VideoGame/{{Miitopia}}'', in addition to SpeakingSimlish, Miis may also make grunting, laughing and yelling sounds depending on what's going on.
137	* ''VideoGame/NiNoKuni'':
138	** While ''VideoGame/NiNoKuniIIRevenantKingdom'' is generally pretty polished, there wasn't a budget for voice acting outside of major cutscenes. As such, all other dialogue is rendered in on-screen subtitles, with accompanying snippets such as "Mm," "oy!", "Excuse me!" and "Flippin' heck!"
139	** ''VideoGame/NiNoKuniCrossWorlds'' has this of the "voice clips" type, though a bit more fleshed out than most examples. While the game has voice acting, you tend to hear rather less out loud than what's displayed on-screen. For example, the text box that appears may read "Hmm... We do issue badges to those who complete enough errands, but I'm apprehensive about giving work to outsiders...", but all that will be voiced out loud is "I'm apprehensive about giving work to outsiders." Extremely important story scenes tend to have full voice-acting, while some of the most minor quests will often have more typical grunting, with only a single word said, or just a vocalization of surprise, etc.
140	* ''Franchise/TheElderScrolls'':
141	** In ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIIIMorrowind Morrowind]]'', with the exception of a few cut-scenes with spoken narration, all spoken dialogue is handled in this fashion. All NPC characters have a handfu, l of shared spoken greetings based on their race and gender, as well as battle cries, short taunts, and groans from taking damage. The PlayerCharacter only has the latter of these three. All other dialogue is in the form of text.
142	** ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIVOblivion Oblivion]]'' expands voiced dialogue to all [=NPCs=], but this trope is still in effect for the player character who only audibly communicates in the form of groans and grunts during combat or when otherwise taking damage.
143	** ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim Skyrim]]'' largely follows the same format as ''Oblivion'', though adds [[LanguageOfMagic Dragon Shouts]] to spoken dialogue for the player character. There are only two versions, however, regardless of race - a male voice and a female voice.
144	* In ''VideoGame/{{OFF}}'', every character (barring The Batter) has a little voice clip that occurs every time they start to speak. The Judge purrs, the Elsen make deep inhaling noises, Zacharie laughs [[spoiler:and later meows when he's disguised as the Judge]], Dedan screeches, Japhet chirps, Enoch chuckles, [[spoiler:The Queen softly whispers (actually a reversed soundbyte of someone speaking), Hugo coughs and Sugar giggles]].
145	* ''VideoGame/TalesOfArise'' has full voice-acting during story cutscenes. However, during the acceptance and completion of sidequests, dialogue is presented in text-boxes, along with brief lines, i.e. "Right," "Mm-hmm," "I'm not so sure," etc.
146	* ''VideoGame/BugFables'' uses different sound effects depending on what character is talking. A few minor [=NPCs=] share sound effects with each other, but main characters have more distinct "voices." Of the playable party, Vi's is high-pitched, Kabbu's is lower, and TheStoic Leif uses monotone "boop" sounds.
147	* ''VideoGame/EpicBattleFantasy'' has short voice clips added in [[VideoGame/EpicBattleFantasy5 the fifth game]] when talking to [=NPCs=] or when party members are killed. In games before that, animals made their expected noises, usually when animal enemies were killed or overworld animals were interacted with.
148	[[/folder]]
149
150	[[folder:Simulation Games]]
151	* Each character in ''VideoGame/{{Spiritfarer}}'' has unique vocalizations whenever they talk to Stella, while Stella herself grunts as she does her everyday activities. Even the generic spirits grunt when they talk to her, with some having vocalizations that [[VocalDissonance don't match with what one would expect from their genders.]]
152	* Most ''VideoGame/StoryOfSeasons'' games since ''VideoGame/HarvestMoonAWonderfulLife'' have characters who make a noise when talked to.
153	* The ''VideoGame/TraumaCenter'' series does this for every notable character in the game. Voice clips for Dr. Stiles range from the short "Yeah" and "What!" to full sentences like "Let's begin the operation" or "I WILL save this patient!" Different characters also yell out "Dr. Stiles!" when they need your attention or if you messed up something. ''New Blood'' adds full-voice acting for everyone.
154	** At one point in ''Under the Knife 2'', Angie's voice clip says "Yes!" while her text box says "no."
155	* ''VideoGame/YesYourGrace'': Characters utter various sounds while speaking, usually one each time their dialog is scrolled through.
156	[[/folder]]
157
158	[[folder:Sports Games]]
159	* ''VideoGame/MarioGolf'' Advance Tour and ''Mario Tennis Power Tour'', both based off of the ''VideoGame/GoldenSun'' engine, use the same type of bleeping text. They also include stock voice clips for all the players.
160	[[/folder]]
161
162	[[folder:Survival Games]]
163	* In ''VideoGame/DontStarve'', every character is voiced by a musical instrument. For example, [[PyroManiac Willow]] is voiced by a flute, [[LightningBruiser Wolfgang]] is voiced by a trombone, and [[AIIsACrapshoot WX-78]] sounds like a synthesizer.
164	[[/folder]]
165
166	[[folder:Visual Novels]]
167	* The ''Franchise/AceAttorney'' games have voice clips just for the series' famous catchphrases. OBJECTION! HOLD IT! TAKE THAT! GOTCHA! EUREKA! NOT SO FAST! Other than that, everyone uses beeps and boops for speech, with females and children typically having higher pitched beeps than adult males. Interestingly, especially in the later games, the beeps come in several different octaves (male, female, old male, old female, and so on). One character, Dee Vasquez, appears to have smoker's lung - she uses the male beeps. Whenever a character is yelling, there will be loud sound effects for the dialogue in question.
168	** This is lampshaded in one of the commercials, where Maya and Phoenix have an aside conversation using the beeps, and Edgeworth complains that they should stop doing that.
169	** They start playing around with it more in ''Spirit of Justice''. During the first trial, a character ''[[UnconventionalCourtroomTactics sings]]'' his testimony, and his voice beeps change pitch to play the melodic line. Once his personality takes a 180 and he becomes a HeavyMetal rocker, his voice beeps become bass blips.
170	* In ''VisualNovel/FleuretBlanc'', characters have a variety of short lines and exclamations that they say at certain points, sometimes directly quoting the actual text and sometimes not. A few of these are repurposed for BossBanter.
171	* ''{{Franchise/Danganronpa}}'' uses the "voice clips" approach for most of the game, save for some key lines and all dialogue in the trial sequences, which are fully voiced.
172	[[/folder]]
173
174	!!Non-video game examples:
175
176	[[folder:Web Animation]]
177	* Creator/DisneyChannel has released a series of shorts entitled ''Chibi Tiny Tales'', which feature characters from animated Disney shows in {{Animesque}} style. The shorts have very little spoken dialogue, with most of the sounds being grunts, laughs, screams and yells, and in the case of the ''WesternAnimation/PhineasAndFerb'' installments, the occasional "Mom!" from Candace.
178	* ''WebAnimation/LittleRunmo'': Pikit speaks through wood creaking noises at varying pitches.
179	[[/folder]]
180
181	[[folder:Other Media]]
182	* {{Lampshade\|Hanging}}d in the {{OVA}} adaptation of ''Gestalt''. "[[ManicPixieDreamGirl Manic Pixie Slave Girl]]" Ohri, coprotagonist along with the straight man Oliver is [[CuteMute mute]], [[spoiler: having had her voice and mystical might stripped away some time before the beginning of the narration]]. While she can still grunt and whine, she usually uses her residual voice along with a text box popping on the screen, and acting as she were fully aware of it, using grunts and facial expression as you could expect from an RPG character during gameplay. The other main characters are fully aware of this oddity, and despite express initial shock and surprise they're fully able to understand her.
183	* The Indian telefilm ''Shorr'' has Kankoo, a CuteMute and ManicPixieDreamGirl. She's mute, but not voiceless: she usually gets along with a huge lot of Voice Grunting and made-up HandSignals, and she's still able to be somewhat understood.
184	* In ''Anime/HidamariSketch Honeycomb'' Episode 3, when [[MindlinkMates Hiro and Sae]] communicate in a PsychicLink, their mental conversation appears on the screen, with the words being accompanied by beeps.
185	%%* Part of ''WebOriginal/GwainSaga'''s charm. (Zero context)
186	* In the original version of the Australian animated film ''WesternAnimation/Epic1984'', the main characters communicate with grunts and yelps; the U.S. release on the other hand has them [[SuddenlySpeaking speak]] to the point of NarratingTheObvious.
187	* The 3-minute episodes of the anime adaptation of the comedy manga ''Manga/JoshiKausei'' are silent, so the "voice acting" is limited to gasps, squeals, and giggles.
188	* In the 2005 StopMotion series ''Hello Kitty Stump Village'', Franchise/{{Hello Kitty}} and [[Creator/{{Sanrio}} her friends]] communicate by making noises such as gasping, laughing, or crying. The narrator is the only one who talks with words and explains what's happening.
189	[[/folder]]

Context Main / VoiceGrunting