(10-03-2013, 07:38 PM)Knahli Wrote: As for yourself, Zyru, I won't combat your personal opinion but if you'd care to watch the cutscene for the Scions('Where the Wild Rose Blooms' I think it is called), where they all introduce themselves, can you honestly tell me that the voice acting in that scene is in any ways believable or impressive? Minfillia's voice in particular was so old and mundane to me. For the record, I think I listened to 'most' of it up until after everyone introduced themselves.This is where we differ.
And if you still think its fine, then try listening to the japanese version and comparing the standard of work, emotion, tone and youthful sound and let us know which you think best represents the characters' personalities.
I don't think it's supposed to be impressive, particularly in something as mundane as an introductory scene, just believable, and I certainly felt the voice acting is believable in general (and I've played through the entire story in English, just FYI). I never once did get the impression that someone was just reading off their script.
Perhaps I will rewatch that scene later with the Japanese voice overs. Just listening to those in the Japanese dub of the Crystal's Call trailer, however, I already felt like Garuda's and Raubahn's English actors are superior, Cid's was miscast and Kan-E-Senna's was overacting. More than that, the English voice overs, even with their sometimes forced accents, feel appropriate for the time and place, and actually help to improve my immersion in the game. Somehow, going Japanese simply does not feel right.
When it comes right down to it, I feel like a lot of this is a matter of taste rather than ability. It's not like any of the actors outright fail at their jobs (at least that I've heard), it's just that you prefer a different sound and a different level of emotion than what, perhaps, the English voice director prefers.
Now, if there's anything we can all agree on, it's that the lip syncing is awful and that they really need to work on actually letting characters carry things in their hands instead of exchanging invisible objects. I found those a lot more jarring than any instance of voice acting in the entirety of the game.
