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Tobias Nightbringer · (10-03-2013, 06:09 AM)

(10-03-2013, 02:33 PM)Zyrusticae Wrote:

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SpoilerI...

Well.

That's interesting.

I really have nothing to say, other than I do not agree with any word of that post with exception to Papalymo.

Haha hah...ahhhhh...heh. Umm, well everyone is a critic, amirite?! xD

And also, Zyrusticae, being an amateur, and I DO mean amateur. Wait...no scratch that, I meant AMATEUR. Ahem, anyway so being an amateur/VO artist in training (thus far I have had a small amount of professional training), I can at LEAST say with confidence that good voice acting is 100% about TRUTH. I can NOT stress that enough. It is the inflection and nuances. We all know the basics if we think about it because what makes a good film actor? More than likely the same thing that makes a good voice actor, just with some small differences. I won't go into greater details because that is more so for talk between VA's discussing and bouncing the fundamentals around, which probably would bore most people with the wall of text xD.

As for the CASTING aspect, THAT falls DIRECTLY onto the casting director/producer. NOT the actor themselves. So if the casting was bad, it isn't on the actor for that fuck-up!

(10-03-2013, 02:30 PM)K'nahli Wrote:

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SpoilerI have zero trust for english voice acting in games like these nor for anime either. I immediately chose Japanese VAs for this game without even sampling the english. I was very satisfied as usual, Japanese VAs never disappoint I find.

I recently played a cutscene with the english voicing just to torture myself though. I chose the scion scene to hear each of them. Needless to say I was horrified.

What makes good voice acting? When the tone and accent actuallyÂ suitsÂ the character. It is especially bad with females but I swear that english VAs just never take their job seriously outside of big franchises/console games.

Thancred is meant to be a youthful, desirable male but he sounded nothing of the sort from what I recall.

Papalymo sounded like a jolly, little leprechaun whose voice would never serve me any immersion in any respect that I can imagine.

Yda sounded a bit annoying I think. Granted she's kinda meant to be a bit eccentric but the VA didn't do her justice and made her seem more insufferable than anything.

Mysterious Elezen might have been 'okay'.

Y'shtola certainly wasn't the worst but, as with so, so, many english female VAs, she sounded too old. Minfillia was the same but to a much greater extent. The sentences were far too solid and unemotional, totally lacking anything that saysÂ "I am not reading from a script".

Its not about having high standards. I don't sit in front of a cutscene for the first time, waiting to critically judge the work of the VAs. I hear the voice and wince and recoil in horror as I listen to what the developers are trying to pass as 'quality acting'(in cases where I didn't like it). I don't know how these people have earned themselves jobs outside of fan-made games/productions. I simply can't imagine how people could take it seriously, let alone subject themselves to it.

I have a question though. How many of you heave heard the English VAs and find them bad/questionable/lackluster or simply 'okay' and still choose to listen to them over a different language that could easily offer a better experience? Not once have I found the Japanese language lacking myself. The VAs are incredible. They are emotional in their dialogue, TOTALLY suiting their characters' personalitiesÂ andÂ age and just brings everything to the table that you'd come to want and expect. I don't understand why anyone would say:

"Oh, well English is my language so I best listen to it even though I don't really like it". Why are subtitles so bad, especially when you spend 90% of the game reading what the characters say anyways?

K'nahli may have very strong opinions, but that just may mean he has a calling to become a director or casting agent! xD Severity CAN breed quality after all, but not without the indispensable ability of tact.Â

To which I ask again to all that have an opinion on the matter, if people do not understand the language, do they tend to have a more biased opinion in favor of foreign languages sounding 'better'?

I am not saying K'nahli is wrong by any means, but I would be interested in hearing any clarification of their statement of 'does the voice suit the character'. What does that mean exactly? Does the voice not fit the face? I can guarantee you I have had MANY people say my voice does NOT match the way I look. Or is it simply the voices are not believable? Those would be two entirely different things. Again, not a slight on you in any way shape or form. Harnessing that critique and shaping it to be constructive can actually be a very good thing if you were to say get into the entertainment industry. Like a psuedo-Simon Cowell xD

(10-03-2013, 06:21 AM)X Wrote:

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Spoiler
Since I've been re-playing through the early levels and have had to suffer through some of the cut scenes again I've actually switched the VO language toÂ German. Which I understand on a fluent level, but am awful at communicating.Â

And I'm having the same sort of 'eh' reactions to a lot of the voices. Like Papalymo? WAY more tolerable in German. He actually sounds like a funny sort of annoying instead of just...Â ohgodwhyÂ annoying. Yda? Maybe because I'm accustomed to the amount ofÂ DERPÂ coming from the English voice actress, but she just didn't sound right. Y'sholta I kinda wasn't sure how to feel, because she was one of the ones I didn't overly mind in English and I missed her cheery British accent. And Raubahn? I just... I would recommend go rolling a new character on some throw away server and re-leveling just to hear his German voice acting. I can't even really give you an opinion, you just gotta hear it...Â

I think the voice acting in this game is just internationally 'meh'

Also, we have voices for random people yelling in the background for the memorial services... and why don't the respective leaders of the Adventure's Guild branches have voice acting!? Those are the first important characters you meet in the game! I am shocked and offended they didn't think Baderon Tenfingers was important enough to voice. And I am doubly offended he isn't voiced by Tom Kenny. Simply unacceptable Square.Â
I ALWAYS read all of Baderon's dialogue in my head with a 'Patchy the Pirate' voice ;;

Opinions on the V.O. for This Game

RPC has moved! These pages have been kept for historical purposes