Hah, yeah, that was pretty bad. I love the way the characters and plot all seem to completely ignore the fact that there are monsters roaming around killing everything as if it's an everyday occurrence to them.Duraine said:
Bad and Good voice acting
- Thread starter Ryanrulez5
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Well, it was April Fool's. If someone came up to you covered in blood and talking gibberish about monsters and space viruses, would you believe them?shrekfan246 said:
I mean, any sensible person would take it as an April Fool's joke. It's the perfect way to catch your enemies off guard!
All resi evils IMO
...and if you have ever had British dubs on xenoblayde chronicles too (which i think is the default)
If you have trouble spotting the difference, just think...can you believe the character actually means what they're saying, or does it just sound like the line is being read off a bit of card in a tesco car park? Sometimes cartooney sounding too.
Though you can have a bad script with good voice acting, which surely must show talent on the actor's behalf
Lastly, not sure what can be said of tails from sonic games...incredibly annoying, but bad?
...and if you have ever had British dubs on xenoblayde chronicles too (which i think is the default)
If you have trouble spotting the difference, just think...can you believe the character actually means what they're saying, or does it just sound like the line is being read off a bit of card in a tesco car park? Sometimes cartooney sounding too.
Though you can have a bad script with good voice acting, which surely must show talent on the actor's behalf
Lastly, not sure what can be said of tails from sonic games...incredibly annoying, but bad?
It was the most ingenious plan! How could it have been... foiled? By that bumbling blond rescue guy who... really didn't manage to rescue anybody.Duraine said:
I see a promotion in order for him, myself.
I think it's just a question of whether you find the acting believable. With good acting, you can actually forget there is an actor and just associate the voice to the character. With bad acting, you feel that there is a disconnect between the character or situation and how it actually sounds
Good voice acting: It just has to sound natural, credible, and not like someone just reading lines from a script. It's pretty obvious, but if a character is supposed to be angry, she should sound angry (I guess that's the most common emotion in video gamesRyanrulez5 said:
), if she is frightened, she should sound frightened, and so on. A rallying speech before a battle should actually sound somewhat inspiring. Few games really manage that, and dubbed movies have just the same problem (though the extent varies considerably, not least depending on the language). And if two people argue, there should be no break between their statements, and they should talk at the same time sometimes. Because that's just how real arguments usually go. I'd say the last example in particular is a good indicator for really strong voice acting, and even the best games rarely get it right. At the end of the day, you'll still be reminded that it's just two (or more) persons reading their lines from a script, orderly one after another so the sound files are easy to work with, but with a less than optimal result.
Edit: I want to add Tomb Raider (2013)'s Lara Croft to the list of positive examples that have already been mentioned.
Best voice acting: Azariah Kyras
"Blood for the blood god! Skulls for the skull throne! LET. THE. GALAXY. BURN!"
Worst voice acting: Indrick Boreale
"We ah the Spess Mahreens! We ah the Emprah's Fureh!"
"Blood for the blood god! Skulls for the skull throne! LET. THE. GALAXY. BURN!"
Worst voice acting: Indrick Boreale
"We ah the Spess Mahreens! We ah the Emprah's Fureh!"
Bad or inconsistent voice acting is one of the worst things in video games today, that and the lack of some new ideas in terms of writing.
Often bad voice acting can be confused with the voices not having the right volume or not working well with the animations. Animations are very important in all games and if they fail a lot can suffer, acting as well as gameplay.
I see many people mentioning Mass Effect and though many of the main characters have very decent voice actors indeed, some of the less important characters really do fail to perform.
I'd say good examples of voice acting can be found in games such as Bastion, Dear Esther, Mass Effect, Mirrors Edge, Portal, LA Noire, Max Payne 3 and even the Saints Row series. Naturally I also have to mention The Stanley Parable, which is a mod.
I found Hitman: Absolution (frustrating game by the way) to have a very good main voice actor but was otherwise to silly to comment on further.
Examples of bad voice acting are so many I can't even remember all but a good example would be The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (and I'm probably going to get bashed for this) but also The Walking Dead.
Often bad voice acting can be confused with the voices not having the right volume or not working well with the animations. Animations are very important in all games and if they fail a lot can suffer, acting as well as gameplay.
I see many people mentioning Mass Effect and though many of the main characters have very decent voice actors indeed, some of the less important characters really do fail to perform.
I'd say good examples of voice acting can be found in games such as Bastion, Dear Esther, Mass Effect, Mirrors Edge, Portal, LA Noire, Max Payne 3 and even the Saints Row series. Naturally I also have to mention The Stanley Parable, which is a mod.
I found Hitman: Absolution (frustrating game by the way) to have a very good main voice actor but was otherwise to silly to comment on further.
Examples of bad voice acting are so many I can't even remember all but a good example would be The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (and I'm probably going to get bashed for this) but also The Walking Dead.
When the personality of the person is believable but not grating or too hammy, I tend to find that good voice acting. Bad voice acting usually comes from the obvious bad voicing of the character in tone, actual sound of their voice or lacking effort, for instance, I find it really irritating when I play Tales Of Graces F and I use Infernal Torrent, the character usually says "Buurrrrnnnn!" in a elongated and lacking way that doesn't even sound like he has any malice, THEY WILL KILL ME LET'S HEAR SOME ACTUAL AGGRESSION.
As some other folks said, this is super subjective, even when it appears most objective on the surface. (I have a friend who plays a lot of JRPG's and most of the dialogue AND the voice acting makes me cringe or put's me to sleep, yet he loves it)
For me, if I feel like the person is doing their best and actually trying to put some emotion and character into their lines, I will generally be fairly happy.
Even better if they talk like a normal person. (in whatever particular scenario/circumstance the character may be in)
For me, if I feel like the person is doing their best and actually trying to put some emotion and character into their lines, I will generally be fairly happy.
Even better if they talk like a normal person. (in whatever particular scenario/circumstance the character may be in)
Best voice acting has to go to Legacy of Kain, without a shadow of a doubt.
Say what you want about the writing, whether it be pretentious or not (I disagree, the writing makes the series great) but the voice acting was glorious.
Bad is tricky, though.
Some modern VAs for JRPGs tend to be amateurish at best and appalling at worst (FFXIII, I'm looking at you).
Say what you want about the writing, whether it be pretentious or not (I disagree, the writing makes the series great) but the voice acting was glorious.
Bad is tricky, though.
Some modern VAs for JRPGs tend to be amateurish at best and appalling at worst (FFXIII, I'm looking at you).
Best:
Mass Effect series
Tales of Symphonia (...or maybe I'm biased since it features a lot of my favorite voice actors)
Bioshock Infinite
Worst:
Unm... the old Resident Evil games?
Mass Effect series
Tales of Symphonia (...or maybe I'm biased since it features a lot of my favorite voice actors)
Bioshock Infinite
Worst:
Unm... the old Resident Evil games?
Go look up that Mega Man game that has the line which includes "Doctor Wowee". That should be Wily if your not familiar. If you can't tell the difference between good and bad, use that line for comparison and I think it'll become a little easier.
Also, any Bethesda developed game oblivion+ has terrible voice acting.
Also, any Bethesda developed game oblivion+ has terrible voice acting.
Best:
- Persona 3 & 4, damn these games have great voice acting. Also some top tier talent in here as well (Troy Baker as Kanji Tatsumi being the most obvious)
- Dragon Quest 8, it gets really impressive when you realize that each "region" of the game speaks with a different kind of British/Isles accent.
- Shadow Hearts: Covenant, this game is the hammiest of the hammy but damn does it fit the story and make you fall down laughing when appropriate.
- Mass Effect 1, 2 & 3, not much to say about these other than some top notch voice work and voice direction. Best of the best.
- Dragon Age 1 & 2, same as above really.
- Uncharted 1, 2 & 3, while Nathan Drake sounds like... well... a Nolan North character, Sully, Elena, Chloe Frazier, Flynn... all pretty damn fantastic.
- Arkham Asylum & Arkham City, because it's KEVIN CONROY and MARK HAMILL! The BEST Batman VA and the BEST Joker VA... on top of that you have Nolan North putting in an incredible performance as The Penguin in Arkham City.
- Bioshock Infinite, this game just wouldn't be what it is without the great performances of Troy Baker and Courtnee Draper.
Worst:
- Just Cause 2, though this almost gets into "So bad it's good" territory because the VA in JC2 is just...so...BAD.
- Resident Evil 2, the first time I ever noticed really corny VA in a Video Game... just... so many bad lines... though not as many glaring ones as RE1.
- Tales of Xillia, Teepo... seriously... shut the hell up... the voice director who cast you needs to be fired.
- Star Ocean: Last Hope, the worst of Anime Style Voices done by English VA's... but even the Japanese Cast is nearly impossible to take... so many characters with super annoying voices.
- Persona 3 & 4, damn these games have great voice acting. Also some top tier talent in here as well (Troy Baker as Kanji Tatsumi being the most obvious)
- Dragon Quest 8, it gets really impressive when you realize that each "region" of the game speaks with a different kind of British/Isles accent.
- Shadow Hearts: Covenant, this game is the hammiest of the hammy but damn does it fit the story and make you fall down laughing when appropriate.
- Mass Effect 1, 2 & 3, not much to say about these other than some top notch voice work and voice direction. Best of the best.
- Dragon Age 1 & 2, same as above really.
- Uncharted 1, 2 & 3, while Nathan Drake sounds like... well... a Nolan North character, Sully, Elena, Chloe Frazier, Flynn... all pretty damn fantastic.
- Arkham Asylum & Arkham City, because it's KEVIN CONROY and MARK HAMILL! The BEST Batman VA and the BEST Joker VA... on top of that you have Nolan North putting in an incredible performance as The Penguin in Arkham City.
- Bioshock Infinite, this game just wouldn't be what it is without the great performances of Troy Baker and Courtnee Draper.
Worst:
- Just Cause 2, though this almost gets into "So bad it's good" territory because the VA in JC2 is just...so...BAD.
- Resident Evil 2, the first time I ever noticed really corny VA in a Video Game... just... so many bad lines... though not as many glaring ones as RE1.
- Tales of Xillia, Teepo... seriously... shut the hell up... the voice director who cast you needs to be fired.
- Star Ocean: Last Hope, the worst of Anime Style Voices done by English VA's... but even the Japanese Cast is nearly impossible to take... so many characters with super annoying voices.
Lara Croft isn't bad, but Larson Conway is hilariously bad.
The story is also a bit strange here, as I don't think it makes much sense to hire someone to get an artifact and then hire someone else to murder her and take it. Wouldn't it have been simpler to just pay her for it? Is a hitman actually cheaper than a thief? Wouldn't it have been better to keep Lara on the payroll in case DuPont got flattened by a boulder or something?
I'd say all the Blizzard franchises have stellar voice acting. Be it Warcraft, Starcraft or Diablo.
Dota / LoL have do a fine job too.
And a game nobody has mentioned yet: Dust: An Elysian Tail. Brilliant voiceacting, specially from Fidget.
Dota / LoL have do a fine job too.
And a game nobody has mentioned yet: Dust: An Elysian Tail. Brilliant voiceacting, specially from Fidget.
Dont know who will agree, but darksiders 2 had some incredibly deep voice talent. Every voice had such an increase of testosterone including the females that my manliness was pounded to nothingness within the first hour or playing
Speaking of bad, I find that with some Japanese games, the Japanese VAs are better than the American (though that may just be dub experience)King of Asgaard said:
The one exception I could think of would be in Persona 4 in that Kuma/Teddie's actor sounds the same type of (annoying) quality but the rest of the Japanese cast seems to resonate with me a bit more.
Anyone know about good examples of Japanese voice acting and bad examples just to give me an idea?
My favorite voice acting was in Red Dead Redemption. I can't think of my ultimate worst but i recently re-played Sonic Adventure and I think the voice actors must have recorded it after some cheap brain surgery.