(10-03-2013, 08:09 PM)Zyrusticae Wrote: This is where we differ.
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.
Haha, unfortunately I am very bad at describing things(*indirectly scares away all potential RP meetings with this declaration*). I don't mean to say that every dialogue piece should make me go;
"Wooow! This acting is amazing!"
Not at all ;; Rather I mean pretty much what you said. I need the acting to sound believable and true to the character they are portraying so that I can take it even remotely seriously. I can't comment on those other voices you mentioned since I haven't heard them but to reflect on the one thing that comes to mind when I think about the 'tone' of the voice, then it'd be in that same cutscene. Minfillia meets you for the first time. She was enthusiastic about meeting you and came off as very friendly in the written dialogue, whereas I don't feel the English VA did that justice at all. She just sounded.. plain really.
In any case, its down to taste as you say and I just rarely find myself supporting English VAs in these types of games.
(And Theo, you made a very valid point I think ^^)
![[Image: ecec20e41f.png]](https://puu.sh/xvMxb/ecec20e41f.png)
Characters: Andre Winter (Hy'ur) / K'nahli Yohko (Miqo'te)
