Poll: English vs Rest of the World: Do some games get worse/better with different audio

[trollnystan]

I'm playing The Witcher right now - as in right this second (multitask FTW!) - and hate the English VA enough that I'm going through the other languages to see if there is one I like better. Only tried Polish so far and Geralt's voice (which is the one I'll hear the most) still annoys me so probably not that one. On to Russian!

I prefer watching movies and series - animated or not - in their original language and I'm the same with games. That's not to say that sometimes the new audio isn't better or just as good in it's own right; I prefer the English audio for Xenoblade for instance. It really depends on the actual game and the quality of it's VA's and/or VA director.

EDIT: In case anyone is interested, I'm now leaning towards either French or German.

 

[Caledh]

I'm German but I almost never put up with German dubbing in games. I choose English if possible. I even imported some games from the UK for the sole reason of there being no English VO on the German disc.

I am not very familar with Japanese. I miss out on every accentuation, therefore I avoid it when possible.

 

[Kaimax]

For me it's a yes, for the sake of the context itself. I don't want to play Way of the Samurai when all of them speaks in english, like another one said it just takes us out of the immersion.

One of the "Smartest" examples of actually implementing these language audio was "Marvel Vs capcom 3". you can actually choose "individually" which characters you want in english or Japanese.

 

[Dandark]

I like to have the choice.

I am constantly switching between English and Japanese voices in Blazblue for example and I usually watch anime in Japanese.

 

[purf]

Okay, I have to substitute English with German and Japanese with English and then I'm going to say that all interest I had for Arkham City immediately vanished when I tried out the demo for which Steam had apparently decided to ignore both my IP-address and my language setting and give me the german version.

Let's just say: ewww.

 

[kingthrall]

depends. If Im playing a total war game its nice to hear native languages as the commands instead of all English. If its a japanese game on the extreme rare occasion that I actually pick one of those woeful things up id rather it in Japanese.

That said I prefer a mix of languages so long as subtitles are clearly visible to non-english vocals.

 

[Chimpzy_v1legacy]

I prefer spoken dialogue to be in the language that makes most sense given the setting, with English subtitles if I don't understand said language.

So, if the game takes place in Russia with an all-Russian cast of characters, like Metro 2033, I want them to speak Russian (an option which the game provided). Likewise, Germans in a WOII game should speak German.

Exceptions can be made if the voice-acting is unbearably horrible, picking whatever sounds best instead. Or if the setting doesn't really fit any language, in which case I default to English.

 

[chadachada123]

I cannot stand the vast majority of Japanese female voices, be it in video games or otherwise.

They're always so...whiny. Like an American Valley girl, but with EVERY. FUCKING. JAPANESE. CHICK.

But in games, I generally always choose English voice over, or at least never alter the default setting.

 

[Uriain]

@Akalabeth - lol true, SoulCalibur does bring a multi-national crew to its ring.

 

[joshuaayt]

I've been pretty lucky. Valkyria Chronicles, the Disgaea series, Persona 3-4- these are my main non-native games, and they all have had excellent English VAs.

Even with other series', I'll generally avoid translation subtitles- not because I hate reading, but rather because at least voice actors are required to be coherent. I hate staring at lines that make literally no sense, and they seem to pop up quite frequently in subbed anime.

 

[Scarim Coral]

Abit since I tend to listen to the dub version than the original Japanese dialoge with subtitles. In saying so however I just need to buy a new TV since my is old (since sometime the subtitle look rought looking on the screen).

 

[Steephill]

In Deus Ex:Human Revolution when you go to china the NPCs speak(I'm assuming) Chinese. I kinda liked it, it added to the atmosphere imo. If it's an issue of native audio though, native always wins.

 

[Sennune]

If the characters in the Yakuza series were dubbed in English it would bother me to no end. Deus Ex: Human Revolution did well with the Chinese. I really like the mix of English/Cantonese in Sleeping Dogs. It definitely adds to the immersion and makes being in Hong Kong more believable.

 

[MasterOfHisOwnDomain]

[...] Dynasty warriors, SoulCalibur, DoA. These games to me, should be in Japanese as I find that it just fits better with the story, and frankly, even the way the voice actors yell/grunt/shout.

I agree on DoA, and my Japanese vocabulary now consists of a mix of threats and girly pleas for some understanding. But the other two, not so sure. Definitely not Dynasty Warriors - that would make no sense to be in Japanese. Soul Calibur I've just gotten used to having in English.

 

[eimatshya]

It depends on the game for me. There are some games that have really good voice acting in the English version, so I wouldn't want to change that. Other games are... less good. For example, the English language voice acting/dialogue in the Witcher was often pretty bad, so I ended up playing the whole game in Spanish (which I speak as a second language). This still wasn't great since Spanish VO artists always use this strange, overly theatrical delivery which usually sounds pretty silly, but it still seemed like an improvement to me. Also, it allowed me to improve my Spanish while playing, which was great and made me feel like I wasn't wasting 80 hours of my life (or however long it took me to finish that friggin' game). Unfortunately, the Witcher II doesn't have a Spanish dub, and when I tried to go back to the English VO it just annoyed me (especially Triss; my god, she sounds brain dead. Does not fit her character at all).