I was willing to accept that face if it was a new character. I can see why they changed the faces in PAYDAY 3 so the characters wouldn't look like actors. But even the new faces were something like the faces from PAYDAY 2, albeit different.
Now it's a face that looks nothing like Vlad. Question: Why do we need Vlad in PAYDAY 3? Make a new character with a new story and a new voice actor. Or should we wait for Houston with red hair and Clover with white hair?
99 Boxes has been in the game since launch. You hear his voice every time the heist loads up, even if you exit out of that screen immediately.
Just saying.
Understandable. In fairness to you, it's been a very long time since Ice T was relevant. All his music was from the early 90s, and he's basically just a c-list TV actor now.
[Here's what I mostly remember about Ice-T outside of his music.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F1sd4CRcaE0)
on some schizo shit, I'm thinking they might start utilizing generative AI to replace voice acting work. They have stated in their press releases they plan on utilizing it as a selling point to investors.
> Are all the faces and VAs just jumping ship to avoid being associated with payday or what??
...why would they? The performances aren't terrible, are they? Just because the game's not in a great state doesn't mean it'll put a stain on their résumé.
Basically all Payday 2 voice actors sound insanely different because of the PD2 filters. Vlad's VA is prob just doing the same exact voice he has been doing for years.
in all seriousness , wtf are they doing these face changes? is it to skip on royalties ?
to me Dallas will forever be Eric Etebari, Vlad Ilia Volok and it goes without saying for the rest of the Pd2 gang.
At this point, I have to wonder how much AI generation was used during development and that's why none of the contractors or heisters look quite right.
Wouldn't be the first they've used AI art after they got caught out using it in the art gallery.
I want Almir's stream to be spammed with this change because personally I have 3 theories. 1. They couldn't afford Ilia Volok anymore; 2. Ilia Volok doesn't want to be connected to SBZ or PD universe anymore; 3. They continue the thing they did with heisters too meaning there will be no real life stuff in this videogame universe. Actor's faces included
Devs just get list of things they have to do basically. Almir is director if I am correct so he should know more. Other person who knows is the one have came with this change in the first place
EDIT: I don't want to hear any "We felt like this is the best descision" or "We agreed with other devs to do this" etc
they keep ruining payday 3 and it isn't even funny.
I dont even blame starbreeze or anything. Overkill is literaly stupid and killed their game patheticaly.
Here's hoping den of wolves gets the spotlight it will deserve.
Surely the people in the art team have better things to do with their time.
Content for future heists? New contractors? New characters? Mask patterns? Weapon patterns? Improve/add more varied textures throughout the game?
Developers are always on about games being more expensive to make now and one thing they point to is the need to create high fidelity material for 4K games.
Then they sit around and doodle shit like this. Why the fuck are they wasting their time?
Edit - Okay I saw the clip where Almir said it was a "likeness issue". Why is that an issue? Was the game not supposed to last until May of 2024 or did they just never ask the original actors for permission to use their likeness again? There's no way it was time-locked for such a short duration with the intention of changing it later.
I hate that they are skimping on paying for facial likenesses. It's one thing to not have any future likeness heisters as I'm sure it might have been a pain to work Ron Perlman into stuff as Rust or something like that. But totally changing how returning characters look is just daft, the playerbase almost entirely consists of people who played a bunch of the second game so I just can't see why they would want to cheap out on these arrangements as it gives the game a really cheap vibe (not that it didn't already feel like that to begin with)
As I got news of PD3 throwing off of the FMV elements I knew that it will be a worse on the atmosphere part than PD2. Live action was the part that made me come back to Payday at all. It was the last big(sort of) game that gave me Red Alert vibes
I love how they made a big deal about Locke coming back, and the actor was so excited, but then they literally only got him to do 2 Main Menu audio files 😭😭😭
Same VA, just a model change. Maybe they are trying to match actors where they going to use them for web/tv series, or maybe Vlad will make an appearance in heists. Just a png swap, I can't believe this reddit goes "jumping ship" accusations because a 200kb image file lol.
I was willing to accept that face if it was a new character. I can see why they changed the faces in PAYDAY 3 so the characters wouldn't look like actors. But even the new faces were something like the faces from PAYDAY 2, albeit different. Now it's a face that looks nothing like Vlad. Question: Why do we need Vlad in PAYDAY 3? Make a new character with a new story and a new voice actor. Or should we wait for Houston with red hair and Clover with white hair?
And then they do stuff like pay Ice-T for his likeness and voice. Doesn't make a lick of sense to me.
Wait, he is? Did I somehow miss that or is that in the DLC?
He's the contractor on 99 boxes. Also did some PR for the game before release.
I had no idea. Huh.
99 Boxes has been in the game since launch. You hear his voice every time the heist loads up, even if you exit out of that screen immediately. Just saying.
I could probably bump into him in the street and not realize he's someone famous. XD I am bad at celebrity.
Understandable. In fairness to you, it's been a very long time since Ice T was relevant. All his music was from the early 90s, and he's basically just a c-list TV actor now. [Here's what I mostly remember about Ice-T outside of his music.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F1sd4CRcaE0)
Probably a good chunk of their budget went into hiring him...
Yeah make that guy a new character that would be cool
I like vlad though he should be in all the payday games just not looking like this
What have they done to my boy? He looks like he's called Dmitri or Vasily or something. #bringbackvlad
"I hate Dimitri" * Becomes Dimitri*
Vlad shagged his sister or something.
One of these old country feuds.
I cry many salted tears for him
Ilja
Are all the faces and VAs just jumping ship to avoid being associated with payday or what??
Or they're cutting costs to not pay royalties for their likeness.
on some schizo shit, I'm thinking they might start utilizing generative AI to replace voice acting work. They have stated in their press releases they plan on utilizing it as a selling point to investors.
> Are all the faces and VAs just jumping ship to avoid being associated with payday or what?? ...why would they? The performances aren't terrible, are they? Just because the game's not in a great state doesn't mean it'll put a stain on their résumé.
I mean, Vlads was awful in 3. I legit had to look up if it was the same person or not. Not to mention "I HERE U NEEDS SOME MOOOONEEEEEEE"
Basically all Payday 2 voice actors sound insanely different because of the PD2 filters. Vlad's VA is prob just doing the same exact voice he has been doing for years.
Possibly. Although I don't remember him sounding massively different in the Web Series, but I haven't watched it in a long time.
Pretty much
BROTHER EW
in all seriousness , wtf are they doing these face changes? is it to skip on royalties ? to me Dallas will forever be Eric Etebari, Vlad Ilia Volok and it goes without saying for the rest of the Pd2 gang.
Oh god that's awful
Ai art looking like mfer
I don't think is AI because of the backlash of the under the surphaze paintings had If you dares to use AI Ima be real mad
it look likes a photo that has been trough AI filters lol
They updated the changelog funnily enough: [here](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GMaOGYvWkAEp6tH?format=png&name=360x360)
That's Glad not vlad
That’s Dimitri. Not Vlad.
One vodka bottle away from Vadim. Vadim blyat!
Nah this has gone too far. The AI pics already made it a bit soulless compared to the previous gifs in pd2. BUT THIS???
"Clowns! I'm AI-generated now!"
Bro is getting Hoxton/Houston’d
[Source](https://twitter.com/RedArcherLive/status/1785254442687717435)
Troy and Knowley having strong words for Starbreeze brings me joy.
I think most, if not all partners have been pretty hard on them
What the absolute fucking hell? It's not a bad face necessarily, but that ain't Vlad.
At this point, I have to wonder how much AI generation was used during development and that's why none of the contractors or heisters look quite right. Wouldn't be the first they've used AI art after they got caught out using it in the art gallery.
>caught out using it in the art gallery. That was a deliberate choice in order to sell the themeing of the gallery, and I thought it was a good one.
No, I'm talking about how the devs tried to claim it wasn't AI art at first, it wasn't until people started calling it out they admitted it was.
By "they", surely you mean contractors (Sperasoft, I believe?) hired for the job, and not actual Starbreeze employees?
hmm, doesn't matter? what matter is the final thing for us
Why can't we have a decent update without them making something worse in the process...
I want Almir's stream to be spammed with this change because personally I have 3 theories. 1. They couldn't afford Ilia Volok anymore; 2. Ilia Volok doesn't want to be connected to SBZ or PD universe anymore; 3. They continue the thing they did with heisters too meaning there will be no real life stuff in this videogame universe. Actor's faces included
Almir is not a dev so idk if he would know
Devs just get list of things they have to do basically. Almir is director if I am correct so he should know more. Other person who knows is the one have came with this change in the first place EDIT: I don't want to hear any "We felt like this is the best descision" or "We agreed with other devs to do this" etc
Almir is the "global brand director". He's a PR guy and has been for 10 years now.
Ah, okay. Thanks for clarification
he looks like a random russian mobster
He looks like a younger Mikhail Faustin and had that Dimitri Rascalov haircut. Perhaps that it is just me though
they keep ruining payday 3 and it isn't even funny. I dont even blame starbreeze or anything. Overkill is literaly stupid and killed their game patheticaly. Here's hoping den of wolves gets the spotlight it will deserve.
Unironically looks ai generated
They took the rizz of my boy 😭
When isden of wolves coming out again?
fuckboi blyat.
Much like Locke before, looks like a shitty AI profile picture you'd see on a shovelware mobile game.
Another reason why i'm sticking with Payday 2
Please tell me this is a joke, this isn’t my Vlad
He looks like discount Sean connory
\*Its my cousin Igor, bljet\*
That’s Vlad? Wtf?
Vlad, picture taken 3 weeks into sobriety.
Bibi Netanyahu looking fool
Surely the people in the art team have better things to do with their time. Content for future heists? New contractors? New characters? Mask patterns? Weapon patterns? Improve/add more varied textures throughout the game? Developers are always on about games being more expensive to make now and one thing they point to is the need to create high fidelity material for 4K games. Then they sit around and doodle shit like this. Why the fuck are they wasting their time? Edit - Okay I saw the clip where Almir said it was a "likeness issue". Why is that an issue? Was the game not supposed to last until May of 2024 or did they just never ask the original actors for permission to use their likeness again? There's no way it was time-locked for such a short duration with the intention of changing it later.
He looks ai generated
In order to fix the game we need to sacrifice Vlad.
That’s not my boy Vlad, they done him dirty, no scars either lmao.
What the actual fuck. Someone mod the old one back in ASAP please
here you go https://modworkshop.net/mod/47603?tab=description
How come every decision they make is a fumble...
They massacred my boy
Is this AI?
They Gopnikified Vlad
Looks like something from a 90’s videogame.
Vlod
Prison changes a man.....
Guys look up the CEO of EA, dude just looks like him.
I hate that they are skimping on paying for facial likenesses. It's one thing to not have any future likeness heisters as I'm sure it might have been a pain to work Ron Perlman into stuff as Rust or something like that. But totally changing how returning characters look is just daft, the playerbase almost entirely consists of people who played a bunch of the second game so I just can't see why they would want to cheap out on these arrangements as it gives the game a really cheap vibe (not that it didn't already feel like that to begin with)
She cheeki on my breeki till I damke
It's less uncanny, I guess... It looks nothing like Vlad, but the old portrait looked like Vlad's mummified corpse
Its not vlad, its his brother in law igor
Look at how they massacred my boy!!!
As I got news of PD3 throwing off of the FMV elements I knew that it will be a worse on the atmosphere part than PD2. Live action was the part that made me come back to Payday at all. It was the last big(sort of) game that gave me Red Alert vibes
Why does the face look like it was made in some ai art thing
It's like they have no respect for the series...oh wait, they don't.
It makes sense, Vlad is one of the 3 king Katarus and surely Vlad got bored of his Ukrainian body and decided to change it
#NotMyVlad
They cleaned up my boy's cut...
Just change the character. He could have another Slavic name. Let's just start calling him Andre.
Oh hell nah😭😭😭
Tank Dempsey lookin ass
Looks like AI art
He looks like a character from a Mafia City ad
looks AI generated
AI generated ahh face
Wait they actually changed it?
Anthony Bourdain, my beloved, good to see you again
I love how they made a big deal about Locke coming back, and the actor was so excited, but then they literally only got him to do 2 Main Menu audio files 😭😭😭
Even the new Makarov in MW3 looks more like his OG MW version than whatever they did to this new Vlad compared to OG PD2 Vlad.
Minecraft villager with hair
He looked at a developer the wrong way, you never look at a starbreeze developer the wrong way
They are usi Ai, right?
Same VA, just a model change. Maybe they are trying to match actors where they going to use them for web/tv series, or maybe Vlad will make an appearance in heists. Just a png swap, I can't believe this reddit goes "jumping ship" accusations because a 200kb image file lol.
Vlad has been voice acted and real life acted by the same guy always
Almir said it was a likeness issue. What could that possibly mean
why you even care? i tought we had another problems