Best or worse voice acting?

[Beautiful End]

So today I started playing God of War III at last. Thought it's a great game but by no means my favorite, I have to admit that the thing that impressed me the most wasn't the new, shiny graphics or the titanic battles. Yeah, you guessed it: It was the voice acting, specifically Kratos. In past games, all he does is yell at everyone; that's how he communicates. In this game, though, he manages to speak calmly and even sad during a specific scene short after you face Zeus at the beginning of the game. The few times that he looks LESS angry, his voice changes a lot. Compared to past games where he never showed other emotion(s) other than anger and super angry, this is a great improvement and it didn't fail to catch my attention. Yes, his movements/rendering/whatever helps this a lot, but we all know what good animation does when a game has a horrible voice acting, isn't that right The Legend of Dragoon?

So spoons: What game do you think has the best voice acting? Or the worst? What game you wish had a better (Or worse?) voice acting? Heck, do you miss the good ol' days when games didn't need voice acting to deliver a compelling story and believable characters?

 

[PlasmaFrog]

It's games like Legend of Zelda that did the whole "make up your own personality thing" because it worked fairly well. It allowed me to search through the unused segments of my mind called creativity which in turn opened a whole new world to exploration and infinite possibilities.


Besides that, there is a game that I recently played that I'd love to object to - Bulletstorm.
The dialogue is awfully unconvincing and the ocean of sexual slurs and cussing did nothing for it either.

 

[lettucethesallad]

I've said it before and I'll say it again - FFX. I HATE Tidus with a passion. It's really terrible on all levels.

 

[Faladorian]

Best: Mass Effect
Worst: A lot of translated anime games... Also, the Resident Evil games. especially the first one

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pVyOCssIXgQ

 

[PlasmaFrog]

I've said it before and I'll say it again - FFX. I HATE Tidus with a passion. It's really terrible on all levels.

It doesn't get any worse than Vance, does it?

"I'm Captain Basch! Don't listen to Ondore's lies!"

 

[lettucethesallad]

I've said it before and I'll say it again - FFX. I HATE Tidus with a passion. It's really terrible on all levels.

It doesn't get any worse than Vance, does it?

"I'm Captain Basch! Don't listen to Ondore's lies!"

I'd go out on a limb and say that Tidus is worse. I didn't feel like smashing my head into the screen every time Vaun (that's who you mean right?) spoke. Then again, Vaun is pretty damn annoying too, you're right about that.

But just to prove my point...

 

[katsumoto03]

Best: Mass Effect. I love the voices of both male and female Shepard.

Worst: Turok (the new one). God, it was fucking horrible.

 

[PlasmaFrog]

I've said it before and I'll say it again - FFX. I HATE Tidus with a passion. It's really terrible on all levels.

It doesn't get any worse than Vance, does it?

"I'm Captain Basch! Don't listen to Ondore's lies!"

But just to prove my point...

Alright, I'll shaddup' now. You're right, I submit.

 

[redeyecoyote]

I can't particularly say if it was the worst voice acting I've heard, but Alan Wake has some of the worst writing I've heard vocalized. Everything he says is terrible.

 

[Katana314]

Kind of a spit at the thread type, but Ace Attorney games actually seem to instill a "voice" in the characters without actually that many voices. It's a text-based system, but they get all the right pauses and changes in expression, such that they feel just as believable as any spoken character.

Anyway, for actual voices, I might say someone like Alyx or Eli from HL2.

 

[ChupathingyX]

Mercenaries: Playground of Destrcution has always been my favourite game in terms of voice acting, almost all of the characters sound perfect and great.

Also Dawn of War: Soulstorm gets an honourable mention for having voice acting so bad that it's actually funny, something Just Cause 2 failed miserably.

 

[Monkfish Acc.]

I nominate Two Worlds for both best and worst.

Although House Of The Dead 2 has some bits that are so deliciously awful.
"I've been wai-ting for you... friends."

 

[Beautiful End]

I've said it before and I'll say it again - FFX. I HATE Tidus with a passion. It's really terrible on all levels.

It doesn't get any worse than Vance, does it?

"I'm Captain Basch! Don't listen to Ondore's lies!"

But just to prove my point...

Alright, I'll shaddup' now. You're right, I submit.

Well, maybe it was because I was fairly young and new to the whole Voice acting on video games, but I never thought FFX was THAT bad. But now that I look at it again after all these years, I guess it kinda is. The random "Heh...heh...heh...heh..." and the whole dialog seems kinda forced, kinda like what you would see if it was a Japanese sitcom. Or a sitcom, period. Pity because I love FF.

Having said that, yes, Vaan sucks. But I thought a couple of characters were okay. For example, I always thought Basch was okay along with Fran. Balthier was okay but he tried too hard to sound like a "hero". But I digress...

Should I even get into the whole Kingdom hearts topic? DX

 

[Vault101]

To be honest I think games in general are gettign better in this regard as I cant think of that many with horrible acting

the worst is Oblivion because everyone just sounds so bored they arnt into it at all

Fallout 3 the acting actually isnt bad but you can tell its only a certian number of people doing the voices

best: saints row 2 is actually pretty good, considering its multiple voices as well

worst: male comander shepard......well I guess thats subjective...kinda

 

[Defense]

I thought the voice acting in NieR was fantastic through and through. All of the voices seemed to fit their character, Weiss especially. But I never shut up about that game so what do I know.

And I usually play acclaimed games, so I'll just say Mindjack had the worst voice acting despite only seeing trailers. I can usually stand mediocre dialogue, but that seemed really half-assed on so many levels.

 

[redeyecoyote]

Also my nomination for best is Full Throttle.

It's the only nominee.

It wins.

 

[The Blue Mongoose]

Best voice acting in a game: Possibly Liam Neeson in Fallout 3, possibly most of Mass Effect.

Worst: Final Fantasy X and XII have got to be up there... But I think the newer voiced Sonic games are probably the worst...

Spoiler: OH GOD WHY?

 

[Faladorian]

Best: Mass Effect
Worst: A lot of translated anime games... Also, the Resident Evil games. especially the first one

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pVyOCssIXgQ

Best: Lost Odyssey

But I agree on the worst, despite the fact that I love the early PSX incarnations of that series.

"You were almost a JILL SANDWICH."

Hahaha yeah there's something about PSX and N64 games that, no matter how slapdash and crappy they are, they're still really fun and they still somehow get on your list of "amazing games" even though they're actually some of the glitchier and crappier games (ie: Tony Hawk's Pro Skater, Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (in my opinion one of the best games ever ^^)) I don't have a playstation, but i tried to play RE1 on an emulator, but my computer wouldn't have any of it

 

[bullman422]

Best: Dragon Age Origins (PS3/XBOX/PC) - Pretty professional all around.

Worst - Enchanted Arms (XBOX/PS3) - Most of the voice acting is listless and boring, that is except for team member Makoto who only succeeds in keep the gay stereotype alive and kicking.

Classic Worst - Last Alert (Turbografx CD) - As a game it was a rather enjoyable RPG/Side scrolling Shooter but what made it such a classic was that it was so horribly translated and voiced. Classic lines like Hero Guy Kazama declaring that "No one can Hire my feeling" or A Enemy Boss telling Guy Kazama that "People don't like it if you get too Stingee" kept me rolling on the floor laughing until I nearly wet myself.