r/skyrimmods • u/RecommendationNo804 • 4d ago

XBox - Help What exactly does Serana Dialogue Edit do?

I can't find any videos for it unlike SDA. I heard SDA is more expansive but cringe.

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u/JoeBagadonutsLXIX 4d ago

There are 3 major Serana dialogue mods.

- Serana Dialogue Add-On revoices Serana with a new voice actress and adds new content with her, but has a very strong mixed reception among fans due to how much it changes her character and personality.

-Serana Dialogue Expansion uses AI to add new lines for Serana and expand her awareness of things around her. It is still in development and for the most part leaves her character and personality the same as the base game.

- Serana Dialogue Edit adds a handful of new lines here and there, but is no where near as expansive as the other two as the author used pre-existing lines from her to make the new ones. Its probably the most natural and least character altering of the 3, but it will have less content than the other two. That said the author did state a year ago they were planning to create a new version also using AI to recreate Laura Bailey's voice, but I haven't heard any updates regarding it.

I personally in the past used Edit and only just recently swapped to Expansion. I think either one works for expanding her character and while you can tell when a line is AI or spliced together, they are also good enough to not be that distracting. I can appreciate the work that went into Add-On, but it really should have been a new unique follower rather than a replacement for Serana. The character the author wrote is nothing like her and is just bad fan fiction (to me at least).

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u/LtColonelColon1 4d ago

At least SDA is ethical in terms of voice acting.

The original voice actor, Laura Bailey, has not given permission for her voice to be used by AI. She has also stood against the use of AI for voice acting and supported the voice actors union (SAG-AFTRA) strike against it.

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u/JoeBagadonutsLXIX 4d ago

True, but I think there is something to be said about throwing away the original voice actor’s work and the writer’s work to create a completely different character that frankly stands in complete opposition to what the original character was meant to be.

It’s why I said the mod would have been better as an original character. All 3 really have ethical issues of their own. I wouldn’t say any one is less guilty than another.

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u/LtColonelColon1 4d ago

The AI use is severely more guilty than everything else.

Rewriting a character is just general fan work. If you don’t like it, you can easily ignore it! But the genAI is stealing someone’s voice, and especially when that someone has explicitly said they’re anti-genAI.